Kimmi,

I do like some of the newer groups, but to be honest names escape me. I have a hard time finding the music and ususally discover it by mistake (on newsgroups, etc).

Any suggestions?

I have seen Pantera 3 times. Hated when they called it quits.

Anthony

Anthony, maybe we should start a music or hobbies thread :D I'm a little embarassed to say what I REALLY like, but my musical taste is varied, to say the least. This is our dinner music: I like a little classical, all the italians - Cecilia Bertoli, Andrea Bocelli, Giacomo Puccini, etc., a little jazz, Wynton/Branford Marsalis, the standards-Frank, Dean Martin, some new guys Gromen, Peter Cincotti(love him!). Love Sade, Marley, Mambo Kings, Buffet, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Santana, Elton, Billy Joel. ALL 80's hiphop and hair bands, I was in love with Bon Jovi for a decade. Ratt, Van Halen (loved Eddie), Def Leppard, Scorpians. INXS, CURE!, Oingo Boingo, Depech Mode, The Cult. Oasis, Cranberries, Coldplay, No Doubt, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Sheryl Crow. A little Skynyrd. OF course:U2 and the Chili Peppers :D I like lots of hiphop. Current Rock:FUEL (the best), Tantric, Puddle of Mudd, Drowning Pool, STP, Disturbed, Tool, Incubus, Stained. A little Mudvayne and Godsmack. A little SKA music, 311.
Told you it was varied, with the exception of country. I know, I know, I'm from SC :D :D

My husband, John, and I live in Dallas, where we have been fortunate to make a short trip to Ngaire's office and meet her and Ken in person. Now we're eagerly awaiting the day we are able to sail with them!

Our first cruise was with a Smithsonian group on the Song of Flower as my "semi-retirement" present in 2001. We loved the Song but still didn't think again of cruising until last year, when our 25th anniversary was approaching. We were looking for something different and special to do, so remembering our wonderful Song experience I got a Radisson brochure. We booked a Ft. Lauderdale to Bermuda cruise on the Navigator, I somehow found the Cruise Critic boards, and then we were hooked on both counts! A few months later we contacted Ngaire about doing a 2004 cruise on the Song and were disappointed when she told us that Radisson was only wait-listing the ship for 2004, so on the spot we booked a September farewell cruise on the Song. Within a week of being back home I was back in touch with Ngaire and ... well, you all know the drill. Suffice to say, we're booked on the Voyager for the Norwegian fjords this coming July.

I grew up in a tiny Mennonite town in Kansas, which is where family still is and where we love to go back to visit, a complete change from the city. John is a Dallas native. I've been in two professions that get lots of scathing comments -- newspapers and law. (I know how to pick 'em, don't I?) John spent his entire career in newspapers. No human kids, but a series of canine and feline ones -- currently two adorable spaniels and one monster kitty! Both John and I have found our volunteer passions to be anything to do with animals, and we both have worked with local humane groups and on various animal causes.

After years of working long hours and being able to get away rarely, we have traveled more in the past three years than ever before and have loved every minute of it. So many places to see still! Besides Ngaire and Ken, we've met Sheri and "the dolebludgers" (Richard and Carol) on our RSSC travels and hope to meet many, many more of you great folks one of these days. Now, I'll stop rambling!

Boy am I jealous! Reading all these profiles cruising in their thirties. We didn't have the time or money til we were 65+. My sister, who has cruised everything but the Titanic, picked our 1st cruise for us, the Mariner to Alaska in 01. Were hooked to say the least. Have done the Navigator to South America, Mariner to Amazon, Mariner to Panama Canal and Diamond cross-Atlantic. Dick and I are the crotchity old loners you'll find in the smoking sections. Bette, looking forward to meeting you and Marty on the VTC. My legs have given out on me, so I look forward to sitting with Marty and hearing his stories. Vicki

My turn, here goes....
I am 47 a stylist in a very large up scale full service salon. Ben and I have been together for 24 years come September. He has three daughters and one verrry beautiful five month old grandaughter. Travel, golf and boating are my passions. I do all types of pleasure trips, from Egypt to Australia and New Zealand and every where in between. My love for crusing started with a Renisance (small ship to greek islands) then the Diamond to French and Italian Riveras then Renisance for two weeks in Europe, then a Celebrity Infinity to the Caribeen.On that cruise I was by myself and had the suite next to the penthouse suite ,boy was wishing I had that suit instead! Next was the Mariner to Caribeen and the next year Ben decided to take all three Daughters and one son inlaw on a cruise. We sailed the Constalation Celebrity in the 2000 sq.foot penthouse plus two suites for the girls. This was an increadible experiance. My next cruise was VOF and as alot of us know it was great. I will be traveling solo on my next cruise to Europe on the Voyager in September.
I think that RSSC is the best of the best a comfortable fit for me!!! Macy

This is an amazing thread. So very interesting to read all this. When/if it finally slown down and most everyone is represented I'm going to print and add it to my cruise files (don't worry, not a stalker). It's a keeper and a wonderful diary or snapshot of the many fine posters to these boards. Thank you for allowing me a look inside.

What fun! I'll weigh in here as one of the "elders" of the entire group.

Mark and I have been married 23 years, and it's not the first time for either of us, so I can't claim that he swept me up out of nursery school. The fact that I have a 40-year-old daughter would shoot my claim down, too.

I also have a son who's almost 35, Mark's three are 34, 31, and 28 (two of them are choosing not to speak to us right now, and with the histrionic personalities involved, that's not a bad thing at all). My daughter has three children, 10 1/2, almost 8, and just 2 (she was a surprise, but a fun one).

When we got married, we had both been previously married to people who just "didn't get" the itchy feet that we had, so we set out to make up for the lacks of the years before. We did two Windjammer cruises right away, but other than that, we preferred to fly to an island and stay there. In 1989, we went to Fiji and stayed on Turtle Island (where both "Blue Lagoon" movies were filmed) for a week. That was an adventure, and we wanted to bring the entire staff home with us. We had planned a return trip for four years ago, but American Express PTS dropped the ball on us, and we just cancelled the trip. Our replacement trip was the Mariner to Alaska. Once on RSSC, there's no other line to look at.

We had cruised RCCL four or five times, including taking the kids on one ship with us (that was a disaster, think keystone kops). We also have done land-based trips with them, and will continue to do that while the kidlets prefer WDW to anything else. The older two are travel veterans, Sarah has a little way to go.

Voyager this past December was a spur-of-the-moment booking and we loved it. The other MINT, we had booked before the first MINT group formed, and decided to stay with the 10-day itinerary. Besides, both our birthdays fall during that 10-day period.

I'm yearning for a British Isles trip in 2005.

Mark is a roofing contractor on his second "go-round". He sold a really big company that he had built from the ground up, and started a smaller one. It was supposed to stay small, but he can't seem to keep that thought in his head. Whatever makes him happy. I stay home and spend money.

(It's lovely to spot spelling errors 12 hours later, and still be able to edit!)

Well, I am ChatKat (Kathy) from Ca. I have been lurking and occasionally posting on the cruise chat boards since my Panama Canal Cruise last year.
Thank you, Ngaire, for putting this board together. I sense that you are a very special lady from the posts I have read about you. I am very thrilled to get to know many of you through the board and eventually on board!

I am late 40's and a California Native. My first husband hated to travel since he was a salesman. Nearly all of our vacations were beach vacations. I got him to cruise the weekend cruises a few times and I was hooked and wanted more. So I divorced him! (Well, really not because of that!)

Frank has 3 grown children and I have a step daughter from my 1st marriage with twin granddaughters. My current children are the furry kind - a pound rescue name Gizmo and a Cairn Terrier (like Toto) named Daisy.

When I remarried in 1997, Frank suggested a two week cruise for our honeymoon and I was in heaven. We've cruised each year and this year we will cruise twice. We met on the internet we married within a few months of meeting. I think the only lie he has ever told was that he was 10 years younger then he really was in order to meet me. He is a CPA and I have a bookkeeping/financial consulting business. I joke that if he didn't like me when we met, that maybe we'd refer business to one another. We really had so much in common and we are perfect lifemates.

Anyway, we were looking for our next vacation when our TA sent us a brochure with a two for one and inaugural sailing on the Mariner to Alaska. Frank has travelled extensively so I try to plan trips to places he has not been so we will both have the thrill of new adventures. It was six star and the price and dates were right. We thought it'd be a one time thing on RSSC because even at half price it was still costly and over budget. So we changed the budget instead. We'd taken a cruise on the Millennium after our RSSC experience and decided that we liked RSSC so much, we'd have to make that our regular cruise line. We usually take 2 or 3 trips a year.

Kathy: roo roo roo! :D :D What was your website's address again? That picture of Daisy and Gizmo staring out the window (like a couple of furry little children) is priceless. :)

COME ON!!!!!!! I look forward to reading new "stories" and now we've hit a wall....all of you shy introverts go ahead and post!!! Joanna

Hello all,
We are relative newbies to cruising, but are making up for lost time. Our first trip was on the Diamond, but since then, we have sailed on (can you guess?)the Mariner. We were also on the shakedown and inaugural cruises on the Voyager. My husband gets seasick on a ferry, but he is fine on the Mariner. I guess that is why we try to book her almost exclusively.

We've been in Florida for the last nine years, as both of us are retired New York City teachers. Being in Florida we can spend time with our grandkids(I guess that is obvious that we are in the 45--60 age range).

Hope that this intro shows up.

Marilyn

Welcome Marinergal, I guess you explained your screen name pretty well. Look forward to your posts.

Welcome, Marilyn.

We, too, are ex-NYers, who now live in So. CA.

Looking forward to your posts, as well.

Lawrence - It's www.hometown.aol.com/krappaport and yes, they do go "Roo Roo Roo"

Kathy - I loved that line about "chasing dust". Our cats do that too ... :)

FWIW, our website is here for anybody who wants to take a look -- but no pics of our fuzzballs here. I'll have to change that one of these days ...

Masaki

Masaki! I really enjoyed your website - thanks for sharing!!!! Joanna Beautiful pixs and what a gorgeous wedding

Masaki!
Wow! Fabulous pictures. What a beautiful wedding...what a beautiful wife!
Thanks for sharing!
Sheri

Now you HAVE to come to the PG in May after seeing those pictures - the wedding was beautiful, we all need to meet you both. I love these links to things like this and this area of the board is fast becoming my favorite. So nice to get a sense of the real person behind the posts. ANDI you are BRILLIANT - fantastic idea.

Marilyn - you did it! Now you have to check in regularly. FYI - Marinergal and her hub were our next door neighbors on our 2003 Mariner NY's cruise! Herb introduced us to the wonderful risotto in Portofino!

Kathy - that's so funny Dino does that too but when you see him from behind it looks like Casper the ghost is at the window! Luckily, my builder must have forseen that I would own a Maltese and all the Windows on the first floor are low enough so he can stand there and look out.

Thanks Kathy! That picture is the greatest!

Masaki!

Thanks for sharing your photos!
Wonderful!

AND YOU USE A MAC!!! I knew you were a great guy from your 1st post!

Doug

Masaki,

What great photos...what a great looking wedding party! I'm surprised the in-house dophins didn't try to get into the shots near their pool (or did they?)

I'm also a "Fan" of the hotel...

Thanks guys for the compliments. I will pass on the compliment, Sheri, to my "beautiful wife" ... but on her behalf, thank you. I thought/think so too. :) Doug - I'm an original Mac user - have had Macs since the original Mac 128 ... but my dirty secret is my primary computer right now is a Dell laptop (gasp!) :) Ngaire - I'm getting a feel for the special nature of the group here and I have to say, I'd really like to meet all of you in person in the future! Suzanne - we're going back to the Kahala Mandarin to stay for our wedding anniversary - it was such a great experience, we've promised each other we'll try to recapture the feeling by revisiting the hotel each year. The dolphins were not cooperating that day with the photo shoot - our photographer tried tipping them but they sniffed at the herring.

Joanne and Bob - I'm cracking up over here with the image of Dino standing at the window looking like Casper! :)

Masaki

COOL!!

Another "land cruise"!!!

Just give us the date of your wedding anniversary and we'll be with you in droves at the Kahala...

Don't panic...only kidding ;)

How about a 2nd (or so) honeymoon on MINT??

Masaki - great photos - I am an amatuer photographer and have taken many courses. Great composition and lighting! Digital or Film?

Joann - Daisy and Gizmo would love company to help out at the breakfast room window. It faces the street and sort of a side street where there is lots of foot traffic. The more barking the merrier. And we have plenty of dust for sharing. We are remodelling and there is a new inch a day (or so it seems)

Suzanne - would love to join MINT but we have a wedding to go to in November ... :( Maybe next time? Our wedding anniversary is April 20th ... we'll be looking for you at the pool-side buffet at the Kahala!

Kathy - I can't take any credit for the wedding photos - those are courtesy of our wedding photographer. Any of the other photos - I take full responsibility for any ugliness that you see. :) All photos were digital - including the wedding photos (Nikon digital SLR). Mine were on a Canon Powershot S40.

Masaki

Masaki - what great photos of your wedding and alaska (both times). Thanks for sharing them. I would never dare create a home page with my pics - even the digitals don't come out that great - maybe some day.

Kathy - you don't know what you say, Dino thinks he is a big dog in his mind and barks and barks and barks! I am sure he would give Gizmo and Daisy a run for their money!

Joanne

This is a great thread and it is fun to hear about everyone on the board. So I thought I would introduce myself.

My husband and I experienced our first cruise on the (now sunk) Windsong in Tahiti on our honeymoon in 1994. We had a fabulous time - loved Tahiti and being on a "country club casual" ship with no assigned seating for dinner. We fell in love with cruising and Tahiti. Our second cruise experience was on RCCL, Monarch of the Seas, and almost cried because it was such a disappointment to me. Even though we were with a group of people that were alot of fun, the crowds, meals and cabins were nothing like our first experience. Then in 2000, we went back to Tahiti with 3 other couples on the PG which exceeded all of our expectations. French Polynesia was still just as magical as our honeymoon and the PG was exactly how we like to cruise. We are now looking forward to a back to back in September on the Diamond. A Med. cruise has always been a dream of mine and is our 10th wedding anniversary present to ourselves.

I am 54 and my husband is a very young 65. I am orginally from So. California and my husband is a born and bred Alabamian. We met while we were both on special assignment in Washington DC. We both work on the space program, my husband worked for NASA and I for a large aerospace corporation. I have worked on rocket engines (yes, I am a rocket scientist :) ), specifically on the Space Shuttle nearly my entire career. I have experienced and worked through both the Challenger and Columbia tragedies, both life altering experiences for me. Our jobs have taken us all over the world and have provided us the opportunity to meet very fascinating people. After we got married, we were transferred to Huntsville, Alabama (hence my screen name dixiechick) to work with the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA), where we are very happy living on 9 acres in the country. When we got married I also inherited 13 grandchildren from his previous marriage, two of which are twins that we enjoy very much.

Anyway, it is great meeting you "on-line" and we hope to meet all of you in person on a cruise. Everyone seems so nice and I really appreciate the opportunity to participate on this outstanding board!

Sally

Dixiechick: You are going to love your back to back on the Diamond - we did it last Sept, first time cruising, spectacular!!! Joanna

Well, I'm new here so I'll inroduce myself. My name is JoAnn and my husband Frank and I are avid cruisers. We started cruising in 1969, when I was pregnant with our first child and have been cruising ever since, with kids, with Grandparents, with friends, by ourselves - doesn't matter. Our three kids grew up on cruise vacations and its still their favorite whenever they/we can manage it.

Frank is retired 2 years now, I'm an outside cruise agent for an internet based company - been in the travel business 28 years. We have three married kids, and three granddaughers, and still counting.

We try to cruise about twice a year, problem is so many cruises and so little time/money. We did our first Radisson last year on the Mariner to the Panama Canal, one of our dream cruises. We met ChatKatR (Kathy) and Frank, and had so much fun with them we planned another cruise together, going Sept on the Navigator. We've cruised just about every line and some that don't exist any longer. Haven't met a cruise ship yet we didn't like, but obviously some more than others.
------------
JoAnn

Welcome to the Board JoAnn

Anthony

WOW - that was fast, thanks so much.
JoAnn :rolleyes:

Dixiechick-

You are just down the road from us - we're in Franklin, TN. My sister-in-law works with NASA with Raytheon in CA and loves it.

Kathy

SKicruiser45-

Hard to believe there is someone so close by, aren't you just outside of Nashville?

Sally

Welcome Sally and JoAnn! Truly a nice group of people here ... I'm hoping to meet all of them in the future!

And Joanne - I'd bet if you posted the photos, we would think that they were great! :hyper: We're always much more hypercrticial of our own work than others are of us ...

Masaki

Dixiechick - my son and daughter in law and 2 of our little granddaughter's live in Thompson Station TN, right next to you practically. We get down there fairly frequently, hate the 10 hour drive - would much rather be cruising!!
JoAnn
:hyper:

Masaki - Your wedding photos are the best I have ever seen. What a beautiful reminder of your wedding day. By the way, the photos you took are pretty good too!

Dixiechick-

Yes we are just South of Nashville about 20 miles - great area - I love it. My step-daughter lives in Pulaski and they go to Huntsville all the time. I haven't been yet. We're not from here originally - FL. If you're ever heading up this way let me know I'd love to meet up with you.

Kathy

Thanks, Donna, on behalf of myself and Garrett Nose, our wedding photographer. :)

Masaki