Happy to be on the Mariner again after a couple really cold days in Fort Lauderdale. We left DFW Friday morning where it was 17 degrees and flew into a somewhat nicer (although temporarily) FLL to meet Betty and Al Wolf who drove over from Bonita Springs. We spent the day and had dinner at the Hyatt Pier 66--it was so great spending time with them. Saturday we headed over to the Fairmont Turnberry for the Regent party for Full Circle passengers. We had a great dinner but nearly froze to death there when the temperature went into the 30's. For some reason the heat didn't work in our room so it was coooooold! Now we're back on the Mariner and she's in fabulous shape. We know lots of the crew so it's like old home week. Had dinner last night with Jan and Fred--it's great seeing them again too. Dinner was very good as usual. They have new china in both Compass Rose and La Veranda that matches the decor. The captain is Felice Patruno who was on for Dragon so it should be a great cruise. Terry Breen is here as well and Cornell is the chef. What could be better than that! Plus, we're on our way to warm weather--I can feel it already!

Good to hear from you Peggy. It sounds like you and Jerry are off to a great start. Happy Terry Breen and Cornell are on board, doesn't get much better! Get warm soon!

I am glad you have settled in and you are sailing out of the cold!

Peggy can't wait to catch up with the Mariner on January 24. We leave one week from today on the 18th. Glad to hear the ship is in great shape, it's been awhile since we have be on her.
It's starting to warm up in TX but is was very cold all weekend.
See you soon.
Carolyn

Hey, Peggy & Jerry, glad you are steaming towards some warm weather. Enjoy the ride for the rest of us poor souls back home. You've got a tough job!

Peggy, Glad to hear you and Jerry are back on the Mariner. Say HI to Terry and I hear that Daniel Mason (cruise consultant) and Cody Dopson (singer) are aboard also. Hi to them, too. Looking forward to more seamail.

I'm envious Peggy!!! Have a great time and check in with your "stuck at home" buddies, now and then...

Brian O'brien is the cruise consultant. Colin is defintely aboard...we met him at the block party. It has been "cold" for this part of the world, but the Mariner is warm. Tonight was Captain's wecolming party tonight. Peggy, Jerry, Fred and I spent a bit of time in Observation Lounge waiting for Compass Rose to clear bit. It is 64 degrees right now and we should be in Cozmel tomorrow morning as we are on schedule. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer than 64!

Mariner is in great shape!

Jan

Peggy and Gerry,I think Mariner has become your second home. Enjoy the cruise and be sure to tell Capt. Patruno that Alan and Donna said hello. He's great!

Jan and Fred, happy cruising to you, too.

Looking forward to tons of SA seamail from you guys.

As Capt. Patruno says, "Chow, see you later."

Beth, you're right, Cody is onboard. You'll probably also remember Florian who was Food and Beverage director on the DC (and now on the Mariner) and Ricky (from Australia) who was bartender in the Navigator lounge and is now Assistant Food and Beverage director here. We had to bypass a short stop in Playa del Carmen this morning because of swells, so we sailed into Cozumel early. It's still only in the high 60's, but supposedly is going to warm up more this afternoon. We docked right behind the Disney Magic--I love the Goofy figure hanging from the back of that ship. Off to check out Cozumel for the umpteenth time--we're taking a tour to go around the island this trip. Believe it or not we've never done that,we've always gone snorkeling or something like that when we've been here.

Peggy, sounds like a great start to your newest adventure. We're attempting to hold down the fort here at home, which makes it especially good to hear from you!

We had a fun day in Belize yesterday on our airboat adventure. We saw some Belizian wildlife in the lagoon and, at the pier, lots of American wildlife from the other five cruise ships in port. Those of you who have been to Belize know that you have to tender into the port. We loved Regent even more when we walked right on to our tender to return to the ship. The lines for the tenders to the other ships were over a block long
:eek: .
Now we're docked in Santo Tomas, Guatamala, still in search of warm sunny weather. Although it's finally into the 70's, we still have cloudy skies.
Had dinner last night in La Veranda. They currently have a Mediteranean menu so we pigged out on the tapas. Actually we just ate the tapas and skipped the rest (except desert of course). Tomorrow is a beach day in Roatan--lets hope the sun shines!
Editing to add--our trivia team consiting of three women has won trivia two out of the three days onboard--lets hope we can keep that up.

Ah, it's the women

Bet Peggy can spot the smartest ones on the ship, too. Congrats, you go girl!

We've finally found some warm weather. It was in the 80's yesterday in Honduras and today as we sail down the coast of Nicaragua to Costa Rica. We're settling into our "ship routine" --get up, breakfast, internet, lecture, lunch -- you get the picture. Me missed winning trivia yesterday by one--we didn't get the right answer for some interesting questions: what's the third longest river in the world, what's the second largest land mammal, what are the four English words ending in "dous"? We only got three of them and thus came in one short of winning. Oh well, tomorrow is another day (which by the way was also a trivia question: What was the last line in "Gone With the Wind"?). Something new--Regent has put in all new art work throughout the ship. I'm calling it "interesting art" which is my way of not saying something negative about it ;) .

We are off for our pre cruise adventure. We will see everyone on Sunday, can't wait to be on the Mariner again.

Carolyn and Don

Once again we loved our time in Costa Rica. We took the long trip to San Jose, but we had such a great guide that the time on the bus went by in a flash. Now we're going through the Panama Canal. Jerry, the engineer, is always fascinated by this canal--and so am I. The weather continues to be good now, so we're happy campers. Carolyn and Don--have a great time on your pre-cruise trip. We look forward to seeing you. Our all girl trivia team is back in the groove--we've won the last two days--that makes five wins, so far. Oh by the way, they have two web-cams in the canal--one at each end. Someone should try to stalk us. We should be going through the Pacific Locks between 2 and 4 this afternoon.

Bon Voyage, Carolyn & Don! :ohmy:

So happy we're getting seamail...we're so envious. Safe travels Carolyn & Don, looking forward to hearing from you too.

Forth one is : hazardous.
Think of SH,TH

Ah!!! Thank you for that, Pat & Ray! I will sleep well tonight :)

LOL

Hazardous was the fourth word we didn't get--should have had Ray on our team! We had a wonderful day in the Panama Canal yesterday--sunny, warm and spectcular scenery. Today's a lazy sea day before we get to Manta, Ecuador. We aren't big show people, but many have said the entertainment has been really good so far. I was surprised to see that tonight's show is Florence Henderson (remember her from the Partridge Family?). I've always liked her, so we'll probably actually go to the show tonight. Oops--editing to add that Florence Henderson was in the Brady Bunch, not the Partridge Family--either way her show was terrific and she looks great.