Peggy,I would have loved this 'excursion'! 3 of my grandparents were Russian from Norka.

Betty & Peggy, thanks for the seamail. It sure sounds like a fun port....too bad there was such a delay with the officials BUT, sounds like everyone still had enough time to have a good time. Petropavlosk is a port stop on the '09 Ring of Fire.

Peggy, I wish I were with you out in the woods singing and drinking vodka! What a hoot.....and I don't even like Vodka unless it's in a Cosmo!

Thanks for your seamail!!!! It is appreciated, Betty and Peggy - J

Wow, what a fun excursion. Sounds like a great story for your friends when you return to normal life!!! Keep the fun times rolling! We are counting on it.

Peggy, your excursion sounded like so much fun. Those are the kind of memories that stick with you from a trip. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Don & I are really concerned that Peggy, Jerry, Betty & Al aren't having enough fun.!! Can it get any better, you guys??!! We are laughing so hard over your fantastic Russian bar-be-que in the woods! (I hope you've emailed your submariner son about this, P&J!) You'll soon have your LCT reinforcements so get ready to party on!!

Michele, how I wish those reinforcements would have you and Don among them!

O, sure wish we were going....waa waa ..but,(sigh) we'll be in that cabin next door to you "in spirit"! Have a ball for us!! We'll be watching!!

I loved the Russian BBQ story ... one of those unique travel gems you will treasure ...rest up as the LCT reinforcements require "stamina" - Michele is the stamina the right word

Boy, that's FOR SURE, Joanna! Fasten your seat belts.... S-T-A-M-I-N-A is required! But, I think this bunch has the right stuff for the job!!!! (Took me a month to recover from Fjords!) :) :)

I agree! Just wish the four of us were trying our stamina again on Panda :app:

You betcha. We need to PRACTICE MORE! Nothing better, working on our stamina on Ngaire's trips!! :banana:

We're doing well with the stamina thing--what we need is some new brains. We have come in one point short in trivia nearly every day. Pathetic!
It must be all that vodka in the woods... We've had two straight days of fog and fog horns, but the sun finally came out a couple hours ago and it's warming up. In the meantime we've been soaking up all the wonderful jazz here and there around the ship. We're closing in on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, as we speak and will dock in Hakodate in the morning where I plan to do the initial test of my yen conversion skills. Tonight we're having dinner in Latitudes to get in the "Asian" mood. Sayonara for now--we'll let you know how it goes in Japan.

Oh it sounds like you guys are having a wonderful trip. Keep up the good work of having fun and keep sending us Sea Mail! :app:

Hi,

Thanks for keeping us up to date!

I just read in CC from a poster who is in the Mariner that the Captain is ill and had to be evacuated from the ship in Hakodate via stretcher and ambulance!

Maria, I just read that too!! I hope the Captain recovers quickly, quite a scare for the crew I imagaine!

Yes, Captain Phillipe was taken off the ship by ambulance yesterday in Hakodate. We had an announcement last night that he was in stable condition and expected to recover and be fine in a few days. Barry did tell us later that the Captain was literally exhausted after having to spend 24 hours on the bridge at least three times on this cruise--once during the bad storm we had and two nights in a row due to dense fog. He didn't say it was a viral infection, but I suppose that's possible. We haven't heard any more about his condition today. Right now the Staff Captain in driving the ship. We just arrived in Sendai, Japan. We aren't going to be here very long, so we've decided to just stay on the ship today. The weather is kind of dreary and rainy anyway. We did have a visit from some cute Japanese children to welcome us. Yesterday, in Hakodate, we had a fun time at the market in town. We tasted some fabulous melon that were everywhere, had a local beer and helped the executive chef pick out some humongous King Crab to take back to the ship. We almost went to a tea ceremony but since you have to sit on the floor we thought it might be a little embarassing when we tried to get up.
:rolleyes:
As we were leaving the port, a whole bunch of people from the town came out to play music and wave goodbye to us. Last night we listened to some more jazz and then had a great dinner --Beef Wellingon, my favorite. Tomorrow we'll dock in Yokohama. We're planning to take an all day tour to Tokyo. We won't see Marc and Arlene because they've already left for Osaka--but we'll see them soon.

"We almost went to a tea ceremony but since you have to sit on the floor we thought it might be a little embarassing when we tried to get up."

OH I can relate Peggy!!!!!! Love your news

Mercy!! I wish this good Captain a speedy recovery. And, yes, no floor work for me either:)

So sorry to hear that the Capt. has taken ill. Good to know he will recover fully.

Peggy, sounds like another wonderful day! I'm enjoying your reports!

Jerry, Peggy, Al, and Betty....have a wonderful day in Tokyo! It still will be warm so take care. See you in a few days.

The weather today in Tokyo was very nice. Much less hot and humid than yesterday. And no rain...the lucky rain poncho continues to work!

We are really enjoying all the info on your crossing. Wow - seeing all those humpback whales must have been wonderful.
That crossing is one of the cruises on the top of our list and we are so grateful to hear all your comments. So glad you're having such a fun time - we're there in spirit.
Surely hope Captain Phillipe will be fine soon. He is such a wonderful person and very nice. Our best wishes to him.
Thrilled to hear Terry Breen is back - will she be on the South America cruise?
Finally, your barbeque in the woods sounds like such a hoot!!!!! We can just picture it.
Thanks SO much for all the info. Now waiting impatiently for LAMB.
Safe travels to all the PANDAS!
John and Kathy

So happy to hear Capt. Phillippe is doing better. Sounds like he sure needs the R&R. Peggy, Betty, Lauri and all.....thanks for being so good about checking in with your seamail. We love it!

Glad that Capt. Phillipe is doing ok. I'm loving your seamail and can't wait for more. What a fun trip and it's about to get even better.

Joanna - there's still room for you & Tony. C'mon .. what's that inheritance for? Fire up the private jet and get onboard the love plane. Perfect STAMINA practice opportunity! We'll leave the lights on for you!!

Cheers, Anne

Anne: We'd soooo love to be with all of you - betting you have one of the best LCT groups ever!!! Our adult children are well aware we're "SKI" with NO guilt!!! After so many years of educating 5 of them and all the other $$$ stuff they required - IT IS OVER!! Took some longer to hear that message than others ....they KNOW all our $$$ goes to Regent!! :cool: :cool: :cool:

LoL Anne!! Joanna, when you and Tony fire up this private jet of yours....swing by OC and pick us up too!

You and I will be waiting on the runway...hoping to catch a Delta coach flight

Someone could almost write a book about this cruise -- thank you for taking the time to write about it. We almost booked that cruise but, instead, will be doing the San Francisco to Vancouver sailing next May (same cruise as "Sue&TomInGeorgia" except we are enbarking in Seattle). Hope the Captain will be returning in good health soon!

Good news -- Captain Phillipe will be getting back on the ship on the 26th in Osaka. Yes, this cruise is definitely one for the books. We just learned yesterday that during the big storm, the galley flooded. We were wondering why they wanted everyone to get room service that day! There was a small buffet in Compass Rose and tuna, turkey or ham sandwiches from room service. Now we know why.
We had a great day in Tokyo yesterday, but it was a little long. We went to a couple temples, the Imperial Palace, had an excellent Teppanyaki lunch and last, but not least we were forced to shop in the Ginza area for a couple hours. Actually, none of us really wanted to shop, but the bus wasn't allowed to go back to the ship early--so we found a sidewalk cafe, drank coffee and people watched. We were all exhausted when we got back, however, a cosmo saved the day and Jerry and I made it to dinner and to the jazz fest after dinner. Betty and Al did room service (boy, was that tempting) but Al joined us in the Horizon Lounge later. When we left Yokohama it seemed like half the city had come out to wave goodbye. We were hollering Sayonara from our balconies and they were hollering Goodbye from the shore. Now there's good international relations!! There's a beautiful ferris wheel just behind the cruise terminal in Yokohama that's all lighted up --the lights are constantly changing. It was a wonderful parting sight.

Wonderful news Peggy about the Capt!!!! A nice nice gentleman happy he is doing well - I felt I was part of your "parting sight" -- thanks!!!! Long excursions take a toll on me - :(

Great to hear about the Captain and really enjoy all your reports Peggy!

We're really looking forward to seeing everyone when they get on the ship tomorrow. We won't be on the ship when the Pandas arrive because we've decided to take the bullet train to Hiroshima and visit the Peace Park there. We should get back to the ship around 4:00 and will start searching for everyone then. Hopefully someone will read this and know why we aren't around when they board.

I'll let people know if I see them, Peggy.

Masaki

Has anyone seen Sheri and her parents yet? I am hoping that they arrived safely.

They haven't checked in yet as far as I know - I checked around 9 PM or so when we got back to the hotel. I left her a voice message to call me tomorrow to see if we can all do breakfast together, though I suspect that she'll be majorly jet lagged.

Masaki

Thanks Masaki, I hope they had smooth "sailing". One more question, what is the name of the harbor where the ship will be docked? I am trying to find a webcam.

Karen - it's the port of Osaka. More specifically, it's the Tempozan Harbor area of Osaka. I don't think that there is a webcam - I already tried to look. :(

Masaki

Karen - just had breakfast with Sheri, Martha, and Bill. They're surprisingly good considering the distance that they've traveled. :)

Masaki