Gil and Arlene go cruising:

Saturday, January 28
Seas: choppy with up to 9’ swells
Temperature: low 70’s; near gale force winds

Thursday morning dawned bright, cold and windy in NY. Our cab picked up us ontime and we were early to the plane. While there, we were told the plane would be delayed 15 minutes as the plane originated in Buffalo and they had snow.

Finally after ½ hour we were boarded…and there we sat….and sat….and sat. We were told that the air controllers computers were down, so they had to file another flight plan manually and were just waiting for clearance. Finally we were cleared for takeoff and started rolling towards the runway…about ½ way there, we stopped. This time we were told there was something wrong with the bathroom panel at the rear.

So we taxied back to the gate, and they came onboard and tightened a screw and finally after two hours we were on our way. We then got our bags within 5 minutes of landing and were on our way. It was after 6PM when we finally got to the hotel. As for the hotel? The Holiday Inn Express is not a hotel I’d recommend. (not even a sheet on top of the blanket)

We showered, got dressed and walked across the street. When we arrived at Bravo, Anthony and Paige were already at the bar waiting for us. Their flight had arrived on time. Ray and Penny arrived within a few minutes of us arriving and we all had a good dinner with excellent company. What a great group of people! And in true LCT fashion, we closed the restaurant down.

Friday morning found us frantically looking for a comfortable pair of sandals that didn’t look like my great grandmothers. First we walked down the block from the hotel…no luck. Then I begged and pleaded for Gil to go to the galleria mall. Grumbling and swearing I owed him bigtime we headed off to Dillards in the mall, where I met with success. So now, I’m up to 7 pair.

Finally we were on our way to the ship. Boarding was unusual, in that we had to wait in line, whuch Gil pointed out he had not done before on any RSSC cruise. And then an even longer line at the buffet lunch. The lunch served was very good and nicely arranged. Both of us enjoyed our complimentary champagne and salads, leaving dessert for dinner. We weren’t allowed into our rooms until 2:30. They eve had the doors into the hallways where the cabins were locked until we could go t othe rooms. We had asked for no feathers in the room and a magnifying mirror (Arlene can’t see anything closer then 8 feet without her glasses). Both were there in the room. Yes the room does look slightly worn, but otherwise everything was clean and as it should be…or so we thought.

Sailaway was delayed from 5PM till 6:30 as they still were loading fuel. Hmmm…do I sense a pattern here? We decided to walk around the ship, and stopped for appetizers and seltzers in the Galileo Lounge. The singer actually was good and we watched the gentlemen hosts do their thing.

Then we headed to Compass Rose for dinner. We asked for a large table with Ricardo hoping to meet interesting people…and we did enjoying ourselves with a couple from Michigan and the onboard bridge instructors. Ricardo was wonderful, and immediately learned my name…(we’re not sure he even heard Gil’s…lol) When dinner was just about over, Ricardo came over to us and made mention that Suzie and Pam had ordered a special dessert while on the ship a few weeks ago. I immediately said, “oh you mean the grand marnier soufflé. He beamed and asked if we’d want to order it and tonight we’ll be having that for our dessert.

And for those who were on Mint, we had a wonderful wine steward who some of you will most definitely remember…Filipe. He remembered Olivia and Suzanne, Ken and Ngaire and of course the Cosmo King! After dinner we went walking around again, looking for some “action.” Sorry to say the place was somewhat dead. But we did run into elipe pretty much everywhere!

After Gil tried once again to learn craps from the dealer, we headed back to the room. While we were out, we had asked for an egg crate foam mattress. Well we got back to the room and noticed that there was a huge lump halfway down my side of the bed. When I pulled the sheets up I saw what the problem was. They apparently did not have one crate for the whole bed, and instead used two, each of which was about 2/3 the width of the bed, overlapping…certainly not the way to be able to sleep! We called the night steward who shook his head in disbelief and went off to try and find us another one.
We also pointed out to him that there were no cushions on the balcony chairs – yet another Sigh from him.

He came back with another egg crate which was no better then the one we had, so we asked him to take it off the bed for us. He then set about remaking the bed…only to discover that the blanket they gave us didn’t even cover ¾ of the bed… we wanted to get to bed, and we were not happy with this.
They left, and came back about 10-15 minutes later. This time they got it right. They found a large enough blanket to put inside a duvet cover. This morning we were apologized to by everyone we met, and we did get a correct size egg crate on the bed. The bed was a bit hard (but we prefer it that way, and Gil’s half was higher then mine, but otherwise it was fine. The foam pillows required two to be the right height…still not a big deal as I prefer that to those oversized ones where your head is almost in an upright position.

Today we’re relaxing as it’s a sea day, and we’re hoping tonight to have dinner with the LCT gang. I’m sure Pina Colada’s will be ordered for all. After breakfast we enjoyed the carribean cooking lesson and now we’re relaxing till we take our ballroom dancing lesson and then head to a wine tasting (Gil) and the black pearl lecture (me) and then to our massages. Now to answer the other questions…yes the boat is rocking and I’m sure it bothers a few (Gil is wearing his sea bands for only the second time in all his cruises), but heck we’re on the sea and it is 9 foot swells and the winds have been near gale force for about 18 hours…so what would people expect? All in all we’re off to a great start.

Arlene, I'm sorry you are having some unhappy times.

But, just in case...we didn't order the Grand Marnier Souffle, we ordered Cinnamon Ice Cream. So if that is what you get for dinner tonight, don't be surprised. In fact, I believe we skipped dessert on the night they had that souffle, so we didn't even taste it.

Ricardo is such a sweetheart!

Arlene...sounds like you're getting a bumpy ride...hope the seas calm down soon. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us - wish we were there with the LCT gang!!!

i don't want to imply for a second that we're not having a great time, because we are. the rough seas have been tough on alot of folks on the ship...luckily i'm fine so far.

Pam he did remember you and Suzie and we'll be sure tonight to ask about cinnamon ice cream.

Arlene and Gil, I'm so jealous...wish I was back on board. Tell Ricardo Marilyn, Suzie and the Captain miss him. Ask to see his adorable children. Wishing you calm seas for the remainder of your cruise :)

Arlene, thanks for the sea-mail! A rocky start usually ends well! Glad you are having a great time, and please give a big hug to Felipe for me! Todd and I were with him in Chile, MINT, and he was on NINJA with Joanna and me and others in Norway this summer. It is so nice when our cruising friends think of us back at home, bored and needing our travel fix. Please post often and tell us of your adventures!

Arlene, I hope the seas calm for you soon; we had one rough day, too.

I was just looking at your ports. Once, many, many centuries ago we had charted a sailboat in the Virgin Islands. When we docked in Roadtown, the RSSC Diamond was right next to us. From a tiny sailboat, that thing looked HUGE, and we decided we'd love to sail on it. That never happened, sadly, but at least we have gotten to sail on three of her sisters.

There used to be an incredible spice store in Roadtown. I still have some spice containers from there, even though the spices are long gone.

Roadtown - have a Planter's Punch at Pusser's. Good stuff!

I think once on a chartered sailing from Tortola, we had to get off and clear customs, and then went on to Pusser's. They had pirhannas (how do you spell that fish?) in a tank! Mean drinks at the bar, too, but I thought it was a store.

Well - to add to our adventures - tonight I was seasick for the first time, after many many cruises, through a hurricane & many storms.
And in the middle of it all, the toilets went down. FOrtunately, they got them back up again in about an hour or two - during dinner time. Most people had lobster for dinner, and arlene had a wonderfual Grand Marnier Souffle. I had rice & a banana. I am no longer green however - feeling human now.

And now we are hearing that we may not be stopping at Grand TUrk because it will probably be too rough for the tenders. Some ships cancelled that stop today.

But we're having a good time - between bouts of Mal De Mer
Now off to MeclaznieLand.

Back tomorrow!

Oh you poor things..I'm so sorry that you are having such rough seas.

Nancy

Gil, hope you and the other Coladas have calm seas and no need for drugs! Fine wine, yes. Drugs, NO!

Hang in there, guys!

Masaki

Arlene and Gil, thanks for the seamail, and here's hoping for fair winds and calming seas for the rest of PC...Arlene, treasure your positive attitude in the face of minor inconveniences, your a good model for us all--keep your cruise chin up and for Gil the mal de mer down....r/wes

Sunday, January 29, 2006
Seas: slightly choppy (well compared to yesterday)
Temperature: low to mid 70’s, windy

Yesterday we had to skip the dance lesson since they moved the time. I went to the pearl lecture and discovered that too had been moved from 3 to 3:30. I noticed that some folks had already put their slips for the drawing into a box so I asked about it. The gentleman handed me a slip which I filled out and then decided I might as well go to the wine tasting. (oh how we have to suffer onboard.) After Gil and I headed back to our room, before we headed for our massages. Definitely a must-do onboard! It was so good, we booked a second one for later in the week.

After the massages we came back to the room. Gil showered and I grabbed the computer to see if I could get my daughter on AIM since there is no phone service at all for me. She had her away message on so I typed a few things for her, and then headed back to the room.

Gil was coming out of the shower saying he didn’t feel well and needed to lie down. After my shower I sat with Gil and he seemed to get whiter by the second. He definitely had the mal de mer (as did over half the ship). As we had dinner plans with Rebecca, Gordon, Paige, Anthony, David and Laura, I headed down to dinner myself, leaving Gil feeling miserable as he watched Casablanca on the TV.

I arrived and met Gordon, Rebecca, David and Laura. When I explained Gil wouldn’t be joining us, Laura and David decided they’d prefer to dine with us all another night. Shortly after Paige and Anthony showed up and we sat down. Anthony upon hearing of Gil’s predicament, went back to his room to pick up some anti sickness meds to give to Gil. I excused myself and went to give them to Gil, who was still looking a cross between his usual self and green. I left to rejoin the dining party and after sitting there for another 15 minutes, I realized that it was much calmer in the dining room then in our room. I excused myself again and went back upstairs to convince Gil to get dressed and come downstairs. My feeling was that being with people would be better then just rocking in the room. He hadn’t taken the meds given him, but did manage to dress and come downstairs. As the evening wore on, and with such enjoyable company, we all watched as his color returned to normal and he became the vibrant man I know and love.

After dinner, (we almost closed Compass Rose), Gil and I headed to the library so I could again try and reach my daughter. This time I met with success and I had a delightful AIM “conversation” with her.

We decided that since almost no one made it to dinner last night that we’d skip any evening entertainment and head back to the room to watch the end of Casablanca. (we agreed that last night was a good payback for my dragging Gil to the mall to look for sandals for me before we boarded the ship on Friday.)

Today between 6:30 and 7:30 AM (what was I doing up so early!!!???) we felt the seas actually calm down considerably. We were supposed to have a stop today in the Turks and Caicos, but because of the waves crashing against the shoreline, they couldn’t tender in, so we’re now headed to Tortola where we’ll have a full day instead of ½ a day. The seas are still a bit rough, but certainly tolerable today. (for Gil that is)

We relaxed this morning and then went on the bridge tour…met some of the officers…a delightful bunch. One of them explained that people with good balance tend to get sea sick more then those without good balance. That certainly would explain why I haven’t been sick. My soon to be ex used to say I trip over air. Later today we are going to try our hand at trivia and then head to the RSSC cocktail party. And late tonight I hope to finally get Gil up on the dance floor.

Pam and Suzie, Ricardo says hi to the three of you and I have to agree. He’s a top notch waiter! Also since the “fiasco” with the bedding the first night, everything has been wonderful since. Our stewardess has been bending over backwards trying to make sure we’re happy.

Wes I’ve always believed that some things WILL go wrong on vacation and the best thing to do is make sure it’s corrected if possible and just enjoy the fact you’re away and relaxing…

Thank you all...despite the minor problems we are really enjoying ourselves and enjoying the time together...which reminds me...i'd better head back to the room!

Arlene, thanks for the seamail! I love hearing your stories though of course I am so sorry Gil has been seasick. That's a terrible feeling and you can't get away from the situation.

I hope you have calmer seas the rest of the time and that everything is just tons of fun.

Thanks for the enjoyable seamail; certainly hope things continue to improve for you all!

Arlene, I'm glad your seas have calmed, and that you are enjoying being cared for so well by Ricardo. Next you need to try a Chocolatini, but tell them to "thin it down" a little bit with some club soda.

I've never been to Grand Turk, but I'm sure you can find a whole day's worth of sight-seeing on Tortola. We've been there a couple of times and always enjoyed it. I remembered the name of the spice shop; it's Sunny Caribee.

This is Gil - feeling fine - had a fun dinner with Gordon & Rebecca, off to the Disco now. Last night there was NO ONE there - let's home tonight some people show up.
We were to get into Tortola in the AM. But the seas are still rough, and tonight the captain told us he "thinks" we'll be there before lunch.

Cannot get over the service here though - if you ask for something, within minutes - there it is.

Will check in again later!

For the future, hit GNC and get 500mg ginger root caps. NASA has proved they are the best sea-sick meds that you can get without a prescription. LOL, there is a reason Ginger Ale does make you feel better (or was it the liquid spice it up you put in the ginger ale. )

Meclizine also works well and is available without prescription. :) Glad to hear that you're feeling better, Gil!

Masaki

Arlene, what great reports! Thanks for keeping us in the loop. Hope the mal de mare ships out. Cheers, Anne

Thanks for the seamail, Gil and Arlene. Hope you have calmer seas. Have fun and enjoy!

Arlene & Gil,

Sorry about the rough sea days!
Glad you are having fun!
I am enjoying your reports. We love the Navigator!!

Betty

Arlene, I'm so glad you're having such a good time, despite SOME seasickness etc.! Keep on smiling! You're on the Navigator, this is a goooood thing!

Who is your cruise director, and will he/she be our cruise director on Feb. 14th?

Charlene

Steve Lewis is the cruise director and last night we were talking and figured out he was cruise director on my one other cruise back in 82 on the Oceanic. Great reminices.

I'll post more later after I have had sometime to refresh. We just returned from Tortola.

Arlene, I stalked your ship today and it appeared that the seas were calm in port! I hope you have smooth sailing for the rest of your trip!

Gil & Arlene - please say hello to Steve for Gary and me. Thank you!!

Anxiously awaiting your next installment!

Cheers, Anne

Seas Calm.
Just back from poolside bbq - good food, good conversation, dancing, perfect weather - AHHHHH!!!

Nice snorkeling trip today in St. Bart's. DOcked next to Wind Spirit today - Navigator looks MUCH nicer.

BEAUTIFUL Sunset tonight. We were in an ideal location, and took a couple of dozen beautiful pictures - will be posting cruise pics on our return early next week. (This is GIl writing - I find it amazing how Arlene & I can be in the same place, and she sees beautiful photo ops that I miss. That artist's eye - sees the beauty in things like rusted doors, shutters, etc. It is quite an education for me).

People are suddenly appearing on the ship that we have not seen before. The prevalent color is no longer green.

We are off in a couple hours for St. Maarten where we are going to do the America's Cup YAcht race - hopefully I (Gil) will not go overboard. Arlene is the experienced sailor in our duo.

Off we go now to beatles show in Stars - hopefully someone will show up tonight. That has been a major disappointment - no one has been in Stars all week.

Cannot believe there are only 2 more nights here.

Good news, Gil and Arlene! Glad seas are finally calm. Should last til the end of your cruise. We look forward to hear if you revived the Stars Lounge! Marcie and Joanna have done this on Voyager, if only for a night!

So glad seas are calmer & you enjoyed St. Bart's. I will have to remember snorkling is good if we return there. Thanks for the tip.

Enjoy St. Maarten's! Hope the best of your trip is yet to come. Cheers, Anne

Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Weather the last three days? Beautiful.

Sorry for not writing. We’ve been having too much fun and yes now the seas are calm. Monday we were in Tortola. We had no excursions so walked around “town” for a bit, and then we hired a taxi to drive us around the island to see the best sights…and we did. It’s a beautiful, if somewhat poor island and the scenery from on top of the mountain can’t be beat. We have pictures but aren’t sure how to download them from here. I’ll be able to when I’m home.

We dined with the LCT group (always a blast) and then I excused myself to talk online to my daughter…later Gil and I went looking for some “excitement”. None on this ship is to be found in the evenings, although in the Navigator lounge is a wonderful piano player and up in Galilleo each night is a woman singing and she’s great. Of course though, the company I’m with is always good.

Yesterday we were in St Barts, a beautiful island. In the morning Gil and I went snorkeling and had a great time seeing all types of fish and coral. It was definitely something worth seeing.

We then headed back to the ship to change before heading out again on the tender to see the town. We walked around town till the shops closed. While walking I found a great bag for my daughter but was debating with myself so decided to leave it till after lunch and siesta. We walked to shell beach to see a restaurant that sounded appealing (when we figured the cost for the two of us, it quickly lost its appeal), so instead walked to Buckeneers, where we had a salad and a great burger. Because it was only 2:30 and all the stores were still closed, we headed back to the ship where we relaxed.

As we were tendering back to the ship, I decided I’d go back to St. Barts a third time to get that bag for my daughter. So after resting for awhile, I headed back out alone at around 5 PM. Gil decided he’d prefer to stay on our balcony and read instead of coming shopping…(I don’t understand why… ;) ) I waited almost 20 minutes for the tender, got to St Barts just before sunset, and ran to get the bag. Meeting with success, I then took my time walking back to the tender area so I could window shop. I got back in time to see the sunset…and it was spectacular…all I kept saying was, “I hope Gil is getting pictures of this.” (he was!)

I then threw some dining clothes on, and we headed up to the pool deck to the bar-b-que. What a spread. Anything and everything was available for dinner. We sat with some people I had met on my last tender trip (going and coming back) and two women. Dinner with new folks is always fun too.

Later I had wanted to go to the Krew Kapers show, but first wanted to talk to my daughter for a bit. Well Gil never reminded me about the 10 PM start of the show (he really wasn’t too keen on going), and I just kept talking to my daughter ( I had completely forgotten about it…sigh). So I can’t give a report about it, but Anthony and Paige said it was great.

We did get to the stars lounge to witness Beatles night though. We stayed awhile, then decided to go up on deck to watch as we sailed away. It was a beautiful night, and it was nice just relaxing up there seeing the lights of St Barts fade away. We headed back downstairs to the Stars Lounge, only to see no one making use of the disco. I feel bad for the two gentleman hosts as they’re bored at night with no one to dance with.

We then picked out a dvd and came back to the room to watch…that seems to be a popular activity here on Navigator.

This morning we slept late…well I did…apparently Gil heard all the noise as we docked at 6:30 AM…(I slept through it.) Finally we managed to get ourselves up and out and headed into St. Maarten to walk around till our America’s cup race. Gil wound up buying a carryon suitcase to store our new stuff, and I bought my son one of those tee shirts that change colors in the sun. I was not impressed with the dutch side of St. Maarten at all. Very touristy.

ok well that's all i had time to write now, so my next update will include the race and dinner tonight with the LCt gang. (You'll be glad to know we once again closed down Compass Rose)

Arlene, this is your first Radisson cruise, right? I'd love to know what you think of the line overall.

It sounds like you are having a wonderful, relaxing time. I know it goes all too quickly. I really loved the Navigator last fall, it's the perfect size and the standard cabins are so comfortable.

Arlene,

Thank you for reporting in. I love the itinerary you are on ... it's so restful and the sunsets are amazing. Glad to hear you've had a great time.

Enjoy the rest of your voyage Arlene and thanks for sharing it with us! :)

Arlene, I'm enjoying your reports and so glad that the weather is nice and the seas have calmed down. We will be in the Caribbean in December on the Voyager so so all your port information is a big help. Thanks for the wonderful seamail,

Doris

Arlene,
Thanks for taking the time to post for all us poor landlocked souls. I especially liked hearing your reports from a love sick Navigator groupie :rolleyes:

Thanks Gil and Arlene for your reports. There are three of us boarding the Navigator on Valentine's Day for our seven day "girls cruise" and our very excited. Should be interesting to experience Valentine's Day on board with just us girls! Anyway thanks for leaving the ship in good shape. I'm looking forward to seeing islands I have never seen before. I have only experienced land trips the USVI (I'm a huge fan of St. John) and will be curious to compare to the other islands in the Carribean.

Dixie, we will also be boarding on the 14th!!!!

Alas, for only two hours. My folks are boarding (fathering celebrating his 75th birthday) and we are coming onboard for lunch before we fly back home.

Are the three of you pre-cruising? We will be at Caribe Hilton starting on Saturday.

Have a great cruise!!!

Marc,
We are only pre-cruising one night. We are staying at the Ritz Carlton Monday night. I think I may recognize you from your picture so we will stop and say hi should our paths cross! What day is your father's birthday? Mine is the 16th - although we really didn't plan our cruise around that!

Sally