Hi All,

Crystal and I along with our friends will be boarding the Voyager in just a few hours. We've had three great days in London. Staying two nights (with points) at the Crowne Plaza Kensington and moved yesterday to the Chesterfield Mayfair (Regent hotel). Loved staying in Kensington... so easy to get around. We've enjoyed the pubs, had two days on the HOHO, had lunch at Harrods yesterday (my first time in the doors), had fun touring Buckingham Palace and much more. Will post from the Voyager later today or tomorrow (a sea day). For those who know, we have a new member of the Sisterhood.

Will get the staff and crew ready for the WINEoS!!

Have a great time Beth. Look forward to your seamail. :bv: Glad you managed to avoid all the riots in London.

Have a wonderful trip and anxious for your seamail. Your stop in London was a nice pre trip!!

Beth, you are so lucky to get a head start on all the WINEo's. Have a great trip!

Have a great trip! We're staying at one of the hotels at the port in Southampton, so we'll wave at you when you come in. And I say again, please leave some wine for us :D

Have I mentioned I'm jealous? We have so many friends on this trip....have a blast!

Drats, I didn't realize that Beth and Crystal were not continuing on B2B with the WINE'o's. :(

Hi Beth,

Enjoy the cruise, looking forward to your posts. I'm sorry you're not staying for WINES!

Hi, Beth and Crystal!! Glad you had a good time in London. Can't wait for the Sea Mail and photos!!!
(BTW, Alice and I just returned from her birthday trip to Grand Cayman. Had a great siting of a hammerhead on one of the wall dives on her birthday. :eek: )

Have a wonderful cruise around the British Isles!! I'll be watching for your posts.

Unfortunately we aren't WINEoS. We had a great dinner in Prime 7 last night. One of the bar waiters was on DINGO. Of course the onion rings were wonderful and I had a half order of King Crab Legs. Since I've never indulged in the Golden Cake (14 layer chocolate with pistachio sauce) I didn't pass it up this time. After dinner we went up to the Observation Lounge and enjoyed Constantine, the pianist, who is quite good. We will go back to see him.

For you WINEoS, here is a list of staff from the Passages:
Master-Gianmario Sanguineti
Staff Captain-Daniel Green
Safety Officer-Serena Melani
Chief Security Officer-Narayan Rana
GM-Franck Galzy
F&B-Joe Vagos
CD-Dionne Potiphar (newly married)
ACD-Chris Martin
Social Hostess-Elsa McLean
Cruise Consultant-Brian O"Brien
Exec. Chef-Jonathan Smid
Restaurant Manager-Franco Lampis

If you would like to have more names, let me know and I'll investigate.

So that is where Chris Martin is hiding. Please give him my regards and also to Daniel and Franco from "Diamond"

yay for you women!

WineOs will need to check out Constantine on the piano. We are his groupies.

Lots of good company and good fun.

Hi Crystal,

I'm one of the WineOs, thanks for the tip! Where does he play?

Hi Beth and Crystal,
It sounds like the cruise is off to a wonderful start. Hopefully, the weather is not putting too much of a damper on the shore excursions. Sure wish I was a groupie with you! Are there any hot toddies with single malts?

Today we are on the Firth of Forth the port for Edinburgh. Dave, Trish and I took the Edinburgh Castle tour. It was cold (I personally loved it.), rainy and breezy. Unfortunately our tour wasn’t the best as we had to wait in line and didn’t see much. Not complaining, just a shortened tour due to the weather.

Crystal and I had dinner last night with Erica and Goran Radojicic, the executive concierge and hotel controller, respectively. It was an entertaining evening with delightful people. Of all the dinners with officers I’ve had, this one was one of the best. We hear that in dry dock, all the carpet and tile will be replaced with other soft goods that need replacing.

Maria, Constantine has played so far in the Observation Lounge. He will have his own show one evening in the theatre. Tonight we have an Irish comedian, Billy Boyle who has acted on British TV. Then later, our Constantine will host Name That Broadway Tune in the O Lounge.

Carman, Wish you and your entourage were with us. We are finding lots of toddies: hot and cold. After the lovely red wine at lunch, I am enjoying a warm glow right now.

David, will look for your friends and give them your Hellos!!

Kim, saw Alice's photos... they looked great. Do wish her a Happy Birthday.

Tomorrow is Invergordan and the Glenmorangie tour at 9:30am……. I’ve been in training for this excursion!!

More as time permits.

I wound up not doing the tour that Beth mentions, but instead took the train to Edinburgh and using the HoHo (hop on-hop off) bus. The rain made hopping off a little less than desirable, but once the rain stopped, it was enjoyable. Edinburgh is clearly a place that demands an extended stay to really experience the place.

Alas, I could not fit in a Fringe Festival performance, but hope to come back during this season and enjoy that.

Onward to the highlands and Scotch!

Sounds like you guys are having a great trip. Love reading all about it !

Hi Beth & Crystal:

You two are doing an itinerary we'd love to do sometime. We share your enthusiasm for Constantine Dragulyov. He was one of the highlights of our 20 day cruise on the Navigator two years ago. Great pianist and entertainer and personable too. We're glad he's still with Regent. Pat

Have fun girls!! :)

Though we didn’t win at trivia yesterday, our team with the help of new friends Tim and Lynn won big at Name That Broadway Tune last night with 28/30 right. We had loads of fun with Chris Martin and our guy, Constantine. David, Chris was delighted to hear from you.

Today we saw an odd golden orb in the sky. After our typical Scottish weather yesterday, this was a welcomed sight. We took in the Glenmorangie tour filled with much information and some tastings. It’s amazing that the distillery only employs 19 people. This afternoon, we plan to hit the hot tub and then enjoy the a Scottish pipe and drum band will entertain us in the theatre.

Kirkwall tomorrow.


......... Forgot to add that in drydock, the Voyager Coffee Connection will be expanded.

Keep enjoying, we love your posts ! :app: :app: :app:

Great to hear from you both! Just wondering, Beth, did you see the odd golden orb before or after the Glenmorangie tasting? :3smile:

Oddly, I believe she saw it more before than after.

Hi girls: Have been following you each day in spirit. So glad you're having a great time. Wish you were here! Lee

Lee, we should have gone with them!

Hi Crystal and Beth. Sounds like you are having alot of fun! Keep posting!

Yep Betty - great idea! How are you at swimming? Lee

Lee and Betty, wish you both were here. Your ears should be burning!!!

Sorry for not posting, but we have been having so much fun and had connection issues.

Two nights ago, we enjoyed dinner with Ngaire’s daughter, Cindy, her husband, Mark and their daughter, Taylor. What a delightful family! I knew the second I saw Cindy and she was related to Ngarie. Taylor was so much fun to talk with.

We have had two great days of tours: Including Kirkwall with the Ancient Treasures of Orkney (sites over 5000 years old) and today the Giant’s Causeway with magnificent volcanic formations on the water… very dramatic. Tomorrow we are going to visit Snowdonia in Wales.

Today was the Gold, Plats and Tits event – a special cooking demonstration from executive sous chef, Florian and the Signatures sous chef, Christian. They make a good comedy team!

David, Franco was glad to hear from you and wonders why he hasn’t seen you. I also told Franco that the WINEoS are coming.

More later, y’all…..

"Today was the Gold, Plats and Tits event"

Beth Tony wonders what was unique about last event???? :eek: :eek: ;) ;)

OMG, Beth, my first time with Cindy, I heard her laughing before I saw her! It was on ROAR 2, and knew this beautiful lady was a Ngaire progeny. Honestly, she is Ngaire on steroids! So much energy, and Mark a delight, and both so smart and personable. They were one electric couple if I've ever seen one, and worked so hard helping to keep all of us straight on that huge group that was Roar2, moving and moving from place to place. Lovely couple and so much fun to be with. She makes Ngaire proud, I am certain.

So glad to hear the cruise continued to be so enjoyable!

I second the comments about Cindy, Mark and Taylor. We had the pleasure of meeting them in a cruise last year and they are a lot of fun. Are they staying on for WINES??

Enjoy the rest of the cruise! We're off to London tomorrow!

We've had sun.... all day long. A first for us on this cruise. We took the excursion up to Snowdonia which was a beautiful ride into the mountains with a stop in the resort town of Betws y Coed. Welsh is a difficult language to read and speak but everything is in both Welsh and English. We did see a helicopter that may have been flown by Prince William.

Joanna, tell Tony I don't seem to have much good luck with the GPT events. Most seem to be duds.

Olivia, you are certainly correct about Cindy. She is all that!

Maria, Cindy, Mark and Taylor are disembarking on Friday. Poor Taylor has to go back to school soon. :( Do have safe travels to London.

Tonight is the Cirque show and tomorrow we land in Dublin.

Sounds like a great cruise. Enjoy Dublin, it is such a fun city.
------------------
Helen

Thanks so much for checking in...Hope the good weather continues for the rest of your trip! If you get a chance please tell Cindy we said hi!

Today is starting off lovely in Cobh, the port for Cork City, Kinsale and the Jameson distillery. The sun is showing its face early today, so we are hoping for a great day all around. Before leaving port today we will be entertained by "Rhythmic Feet" Dance School - young Irish Dancers. It should be a great show.

On the entertainment front: Le Cirque Voyager was two nights ago and different from the show we saw in November on the Navigator. It was amazing as seeing it the first time. Jamie Michael Stewart, of Love Boat fame, is onboard and will continue on the next segment. We didn’t see his show last night, so can’t report. Tonight is Krew Kapers and we hear there is a new show. I’ll report on it later.

Off to Kinsale in a few minutes. The internet has been spotty, so not sure if I can get on later in the day.

Loving your reports Beth. So glad you are having such a great time. Yes, Krew Kapers is always good. Keep having fun!

I have enjoyed your posts Beth! Thanks for taking us along and sounds like a fun trip! Goes so fast :mecry: :mecry:

Our luggage is out in the hallway and we are ready for bed. We have heard our last Constantine song.... we will forever be the "Puttin on the Ritz" girls!!!!

We have the ship ready for the WINEoS!!!! Good night, all.....

That did indeed go by quickly. Enjoyed following along with you, Beth!