Hi everyone!

I haven't been in the "cruise" mindset for a while, so I've been pretty much staying off the message boards. But I've got two cruises coming up in the next few months, so I guess I should put my cruising hat back on!

I hope you all are doing well. I'm fine, I've been working a lot on my freelance writing projects. :)

We're leaving in three weeks for a Caribbean cruise on RCI's Navigator of the Seas. This one's really for the kids -- we promised them this cruise if they got decent grades on their final report cards. I know it won't exactly be the RSSC experience, but that's fine -- hey, we got a cabin with a nice big balcony, so who can complain? Also, DH & I just starting our SCUBA certification course this week, and we'll be taking our four open-water dives to finish our certification while on this cruise, in St. Thomas and St. Marteen. I figured it would be much nicer to do those dives in warm Caribbean waters than these cold Southern California waters!

Then we've got the Auckland-LA cruise on Nov. 30 with my Mom. They just opened up the online booking for shore excursions for that one, so Mom and I have been scrolling through them and picking out the ones we want. I'm going to do four different dives at four different islands! I'm pretty excited about that.

I do have one question -- how do you sign up for the Cordon Bleu class, which our cruise is having?

Oh, and get this...when we booked this cruise, it was listed as an 18-nighter. I kept looking at the itinerary feeling a bit confused tho...it listed Sat. Dec. 2 twice, one as "At Sea" and the other as "Crossing the International Dateline". I figured that meant that we get to have Sat. twice -- two full days, both of them Saturday, right? But when I added up the nights, it added up to 19. So...did that mean that it's just LISTING that Saturday twice? Having never crossed the int'l dateline before, I wasnt sure. Well, when I looked at the cruise online today, the itinerary now lists it as a 19-night cruise. So I was right! This might all sound a little dense...oh well, I'm an Int'l dateline virgin, what can I tell ya? I think it's pretty cool that we get one more day onboard than I thought, tho!

Anyway, it's nice to be back on this board! I've missed y'all! :)