Welcome Bob & Frances! How lucky to be able to cruise as often as you do. I'm very familiar with the area where you live because my mom lived there until her death 2 years ago. There's so much to see and do in marin county (and good eating too!) Your life stories are fascinating, It would be so interesting to hear Bob tell his experience in the alaskan earthquake, I was in the big one in Guatemala in 1976 (almost 30,000 died) and it's one of the few natural disasters where there is no warning and no place to hide!
I agree that cruises 10 days or more are the ideal! Heaven, right? Again a warm welcome to you both! Barbara

Bob & Frances-

Nice introduction and since we are sailing together to Bermuda it's good to "get to know ya". I LOVE Alaska - we did a cruise in 2001 and it is my all time favorite cruise. I want to go back and do a tour on our own of the main part of the state. I would repeat that cruise every year.

Looking forward to seeing you on board.

Kathy & Kent

Welcome to all the new posters that shared their stories with us all while I was away. Great to have new people "on board".

Welcome to Barbara and Bob & Frances! My checking of LCT has decreased since I'm on vacation and I didn't notice your stories until today!

Masaki

Masaki:
What tough duty you have right now!!

Jim - it's a struggle but I manage to get by. :)

Masaki

My intro:

I am a constant arm-chair traveller, thwarted by a job and a family, but now we have an empty nest. I had several prejudices against cruising: I can get seasick in a ferry; my mother had been a freighter traveller, and always poo-pooed cruise ships; we both hate dressing up; the thought of spending a week in a floating mall did not appeal.

The South Pacific was always a placed I dreamed of, so I started plotting our 20th anniversary in 2000 almost a year in advance. Wonderfully romantic trip. Also safe, sea-sick wise. And a small, intimate ship.

Came back not necessarily addicted to cruising, but addicted to: Polynesia; wonderful food and service, and Radisson.

David is a university physics teacher, we live pretty simple lives really, but are blessed right now with good jobs, so why not spend some money? These dream, luxury trips are for us romantic getaways. We have a great time just being together and having interesting experiences--we rarely need anyone else, although people watching is really fun, and I always enjoy the people we meet.

Hi Wandra and welcome to the board! I think that if you like the Paul Gauguin, you will also like your upcoming Diamond cruise. :)

Wendy - welcome! Apparently the PG made such an experience that you had to repeat 2 years later! :)

Masaki

Hi Masaki,

Yep. My husband originally said that the 2000 trip was a "once in a lifetime experience". When I booked the 2003 trip, he amended that to, "every three years".

We'll see about the Diamond trip, when we return we might have to amend it to "once a year"!

Hi Wendy; I had been waiting for you to intoduce yourself here - welcome! I appreciated your participation on the CC board where your answers helped me so much in the planning of our upcoming trip on the PG.

Kathy

Mariner, Alaska, June 2001
PG, FP, August 2004

Hello fellow LCT'ers. My wife Sheryl & I are in our mid-to-late-thirties (her mid/me late). We have two girls; Thelma & Louise (six yr. old english mastiffs 175 lbs.each). We both work as Air Traffic Controllers in Oberlin Ohio. No tower/airport: an enroute center working planes between N.Y. & Chicago (think John Cusack in the movie 'Pushing Tin'). We are celebrating our ten yr. anniversary on the PG cruise in May. My wife is the cruise vet. She took her first cruise @ age 12 & goes every spring to the Caribbean w/ a bunch of gals while I do the golf trip w/ the guys down south. I am a rookie. I had no desire to do the 'masses of asses' cruises, but the RSSC appealed to both of us. We've heard nothing but great things about PG since we signed up & hopefully will be enjoying them long into the future. My wife wanted to add that she talked w/ Ngaire while we were researching the trip & found her to be very informative & exceptionally nice. Thanks everyone.

Welcome on board Chris
You will have a wonderful time on the PG
Please ask the LCT group if you have any questions. :app:

Welcome Chris! These are great boards, enjoy!

R

Wendy - and pretty soon you'll be like these other nutheads and booking RSSC cruises every 3 months or so (right, Betty?? :) ) I really need more vacation time. And more money to book cruises with.

Chris - you'll have a great time - I'm very envious and you'll have to tell us all about it when you get back!

Masaki

Time and money seem to be an either/or for me.

Right now I have (some) money, but very little time!

If I stop working, I will have plenty of time, but not as much money.

So it goes.

Just read your introduction post Wandra. When my husband and I travelled we always wanted to go alone. We did not even like going with another couple. We always loved to cruise and as you said enjoyed meeting other people but we were definitely loners. We also really enjoy each others company and are very compatible.

Then we started this cruise business and we found we needed to go along with some groups. This turned out to be fun and all of a sudden we started to really enjoy the social aspect. Now I just cant imagine it any other way. We went on the Silversea trip with just one other couple and thought "wont this be great" wrong!! We missed being with a group. Those who know us now know how much we have changed. Interesting how lifes adventures can change us.

You just sounded so like me about four years ago I could really relate to your post.

Sometimes the fellow passengers can be the nightly entertainment :banana:

Wendy - I hear you! :)

Masaki

Well, it's taken me some time to post on this board. So glad to see all the wonderful, and upbeat comments. We love cruising Radisson Seven Seas and a few of the other lines. We just got back from a 11 day cruise with the family and those wonderful grandchidren. Son-in-law is not much on cruising, but we created two more cruise addicts in the way of our 9-year old grandaughter, and our 15-year old grandson. One morning I asked my grandaughter(Haley) if the ships motion kept her awake a night, and her commets was"the ship was rocking?" She cried when the cruise was over. My kind of gal!!!!
We're planning on doing the P.G. for 3-weeks in Nov., my favorite ship. Sandy

Welcome Sandy, Like you, we have found cruising to be a great way to be with family. There is something for everyone, and everyone has their own space.....there is no discussion about where to go for dinner and no one has to pick-up after anyone else.

Enjoy your cruise on the P.G.

Betty

Welcome sandy! And make sure you let us know what you thought of the PG when you get back in November - 3 wks! Wow!

Masaki

Sandy: Three weeks how wonderful!! Haley sounds like my kind of gal too! Joanna

Ngaire, yes perhaps you're right. Time, and opportunity will tell the tale.

We have great friends here at home, and love socializing with them. Maybe we just have to meet the right people. Both our trips on the PG we met very nice people, it's a matter of proximity and common interests I guess.

One couple in particular made a great impression. But maybe one of you will recognize them. They travel a great deal, American but live most of the time in New Zealand, but also have interests in Colorado? or somewhere like that. He is a psychologist, did a lecture on board, she some sort of entrepreneur maybe. His name was John, her name I can't recall. He is tall and thin, kind of balding, she is very short, dark and petite. Frequent Radisson cruisers--had been on the PG many times, and were doing a back-to-back when I met them. Anybody know who they are?

I dont know the couple but I have to tell you that your avatar is the BEST. You look so good in that and with the ship in the background.

Greetings and welcome to all new board members!

OX - We have a friend, John S, whom we have known the past 16 years from Special Olympics, and is a Controller at Oberlin as well. He's really a big hearted chap.

And hey, I sure would love a match-up between the Huskers and the Buckeyes.

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Thanks Ngaire,

That was the 2000 trip. I gained back about 20 pounds after that :( , so my pix from 2003 don't look so good! But I'm losing it again. Maybe I should start a thread on diets!

I have been reading this fun forum since we booked our Alaskan cruise with Ngaire in February. So I figured it's about time I jump in. As you can probably figure out, I grew up in Green Bay, hence my login name. Jim, my husband, is from a Chicago suburb, but he is a bigger Packer fan than I am. We both grew up when Vince Lombardi lead the Packers through the "Glory Years" of the 60's.

I am 50 and Jim is 51. We live in Flower Mound, Texas, which is a smallish nothern suburb of Dallas. We moved down here 14 years ago with Jim's job. He is a regional manager with a large pharmaceutical company and my job is to make sure he works hard so I don't have to! We don't have children but we do have 3 kitties that we love.

We finally cruised for the first time on the Diamond during the last week of March to the Caribbean. We had a wonderful time and loved the ship and staff. We are really looking forward to our time on the Mariner in June. We love to travel and usually plan 2 week land trips with overnights in nice bed and breakfast inns. So this cruising on a luxury cruise line is a nice alternative.

Nice to meet all of you and hope to see you in person on one of these wonderful ships!

Ginny Schultz

Welcome aboard Ginny.

Love the furry friends names!!! :cool:

Well, here goes. My name is Jean and I'm a long time "lurker" who has neve posted for the simple reason that I am a member of what Tom Brokow calls the "Greatest Generation". In other workds, OLD! I guess most of those who post here are the ages of my children and grandchildren. But nevertheless, I really enjoy reading everything that you post here and have learned a lot even though my husband and I have been cruising since the 70's. We tried the "biggies" but now love Radisson and have cruised on all but PG. Think we would really feel out of it on that ship. We're booked on Silversea this fall, London to NYC and that will be our third cruise with them. We've done 13 with Radisson and if our health holds out hope to do many more in future. Don't know how to do all those cute little faces so please excuse this bare bones reply.

jgnaip: So happy you posted and don't give a hoot about age - this seems to be a diverse group in age, interests, hometowns, but we all do love Radisson - keep posting - Joanna

Welcome to the Board to all of those who have responded as of late.

Anthony

Welcome Ginny and Jean!! So glad to see other "learners" coming out of their shells! :)

Masaki

Welcome to our new members.

I thought "gopack" meant go pack for a trip. Isnt it funny the Green Bay Packers never entered my head. I guess you know that I think about travelling more than football. Though I am a die hard Cowboys fan of course.

Jean you might be surprised. On one of my PG trips there was a couple called Lovejoy. They were in their 90's I believe and they were still in Love and a Joy to be around. They were the hit of the group. What spirit they had. I will never forget them.

So there is room for all ages, it is a state of mind really. Sounds like you have that great state of mind you are living life to the fullest and enjoying yourselves. So glad you posted check in often and share your opinion it will be welcomed. There is no substitute for experience.

Ngaire,

I love your remark about my login name, gopack! That is great! I never thought about the name in relation to packing but now I will.

Of course, you being a big Cowboy's fan would naturally NOT think of the Packers!! Makes sense.

Go Pack Go! :>)

Ginny

That's what I thought...
Go PAck one of our favorite things

jgnaip!

Welcome to your first post! Do not let age stop you from doing anything. I think you should go on the PG soon. That way your RSSC protfolio will be complete. For a smile, just type a colon and a close paren. like this :) the board magic will take care of the rest...see? :)

R

I am just now playing catch up on the latest introductions. Welcome, one and all!

Hi Ginny,

So good to see that you have introduced yourself. Great to hear that you enjoyed your cruise! I'd love to hear more, so please e mail me when time allows.

Robert: Thank you for your welcome and instructions on making little funny faces:) I tried it but no picture came up! I'm hopeless but I sure do enjoy reading all the post on this board. I'll stick with it and keep learning.