A quick addendum .... sailing with our kids has been a joy. We have sailed together on the megaships and then on the RSSC Voyager through the fjords; and three weeks from now we will all be on the Paul Gauguin.

AND, our kids love and appreciate RSSC -- in fact, they acknowledge that they are spoiled and Meredith has even commented "how can I possibly go with my friends on a spring break Carnival cruise?!?!". With apologies and fair warning to their future spouses, we look forward to future RSSC family travels with our spoiled (yet appreciative) kids.

Luke

Okay, this is rediculous...I can't take it...I HAVE to go on the Norway cruise...I've got time to save up the money...(Ngaire, email on the way....)

It's addicting isn't it LeeAnn???? :D

LOL!!!! Actually, I was telling my mom that I was doing all these per diem calculations of the cost of different cruises and she told me I had it all wrong. She said the per diem I should calculate is to spread the cost of the cruise over 365 days since I only take one big vacation a year.

I liked her method much better! Heck, maybe I'll go to Norway too!

I'm determined to go on an LCT cruise, and this seems like the best one to go on! It's rediculous -- since I joined, I've been on one cruise, and I've got three other cruises booked, and not ONE of them has any LCT members. So if I'm gonna do it, I might as well do it right!

That's right LeeAnne - go for it!! No pressure here...

Denise, for Bordeaux tours contact our pal Alain
who owns Dionysos tours Bordeaux. He is great! His email:
dionysos.bordeaux@free.fr
Tell him" bon jour" from me..
he'll take you on wine tastings tour and all over.

For Provence we had good experience with Louisette
Durand
http://www.taxidurand.com
uses Mercedes van

WOW is this turning into a great LCT cruise!!

Lawrence, can't wait to finally meet Allison. Joanna and I promise to be good so we don't scare her off...unfortunately,all bets are off with Tony and Tom! :D

Thanks, Claudia. I can't wait to get started on the planning!

Does Alain have a website?

Poor Alison - I hope she is not thin skinned -

I'M IN! I'M IN!!!!
:woh:

Way to go LeeAnne. Sure wish I could too!

:woh: :woh:

Nancy

I don't know..just ask him what the tours he proposes are..definetly have him take you to St.Emilion!

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Leejnd:
<strong> I'M IN! I'M IN!!!!
:app: :app: :app: :app:

Wow -- this is going to be one amazing cruise!

My husband turns 50 in Sept. '07 -- I've decided to give him this cruise as a 50th b-day gift. Now all I've got to do is round up enough freelance writing projects between now and then to PAY for it. Wish me luck!

This is unbelievable - so happy Tony and I will get to meet so many people I have chatted with on LCT - Claudia, Suzie, LeeAnne, Lawrence, Andrea and anyone else I have missed....look forward to Norway - :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
Joanna :lct:

I am seriously considering the Norway cruise...sent hubby an email, but he's in a meeting until 5 p.m.

I turn 50 in March 2007 and he can give me the cruise as my gift...right?!

It would be nice to be able to meet so many of the fun people on this board! :lct:

Hey, Claudia

We (Freddie, Pat, Kathy, Frank, Wendy and David) booked with Alain - that's who we were forwarding to Denise.

JoAnna, I think you will get to know many of these this summer on MUSH!

Sue: You are absolutely right - what a neat gift for your 50th and keep my fingers crossed he'll agree - Joanna

Kathy: Other than Andrea are any of the people I mentioned on Mush??? Gosh guess I have not looked at Mush list in long time - thanks - Joanna

I think that the list was just updated. Lawrence is on there and I thought Claudia is a maybe.

If we get you out this way, we'll have a lunch/brunch for the LA people so you can meet them.

Kathy, wish you were going to Norway! Can't we talk you into it? I say we kidnap her...threaten to read the entire 2006 tax code (both state and federal) over and over until she succumbs and BOOKS! ;)

Lawrence not on Mush and thought Claudia was going to Paris with her sister - I'll go to LA for any reason and the last brunch Denise put together was a ten plus - Joanna

Wow - Andrea, Pam, Suzie & Marilyn, Lawrence & Alison, Lee Anne, & Claudia - What a riot -terrific! Tom & Sue, hope to have you signed up soon. What a fun ship this will be. - :) Michele

I just looked at the pricing for the cruise before the fall 2007 crossing on the Voyager. (MC to Funchal)Those prices are unbelievably good. I am not one that wants to repeat a cruise until I have done all the others, but this is very tempting. I paid more than this advertised price in 2001 & I only got as far as San Juan. For those of you considering a crossing I urge you to also take the cruise before the crossing. Many friendships are formed during that segment. To my own disgrace, I never made a point of meeting anyone that boarded in Fuchal. Friendships were already formed. Shame on me.
Hello, Ngaire!

We're thinking about making the crossing a back to back with the pre-cruise. We're booked for the pre-crossing segment in 2006 - but - maybe we'll just move it to 2007. We won't decide for a while.

Still thinking about MUSH..no Paris plans in ugust yet...........

I though Europeans were all on Vacation in August making it a miserable time to go to Europe...but perfect time for Alaska...and to go with 100 friends, well, that would be the best trip to take.

He is THE BEST..so you can tell him bon jour from me too.
:app:

Good point about attaching the prior cruise to the Crossing, Betty. We took the MC to Funchal back to back with the Crossing last Nov. We did meet everyone on the first cruise making it more fun for the Crossing. Then there are some folks who board in Funchal & do the Crossing every year so already know many others. - Michele

This Norway cruise is phenomenal :app: Like a tidal wave of LCT people and ROARers. I'm excited to finally meet everyone!

Waaaaa! to all of you on the deck during cocktail hour on the outer banks!!

Oh well, still thinking about the "Grand crossing" in Nov 2007, just can't get Frank on the train right now - but I will eventually. Just have to let him work it thru in his own time. He likes it, but says its so far ahead that he just can't think about it right now. Leaving this weekend for our Oceania cruise, then of course we have MUSH, so just have to take it one step at a time with him!! Thats my Frankie!!! :D :D

JoAnn, that's what Mark did at first. Then he decided "we" needed to see Italy and Greece. He is so good at saying "I'll be on this bench when you get back, so take your time", so I asked him if that was going to happen in Italy and Greece (neither of which are high on my priority list, and I know they are walking intensive). He huffed and puffed, then said "book Norway" because he knows I'll have buddies to keep me occupied while he occupies the bench.

As to the children and grandchildren, nothing will match those memories.

Joanne, Anywhere, anytime on the Outer Banks is a treat...I love it there!

Well, I've emailed Ngaire to combine the crossing and pre-cruise in 2007 and cancel SNAP. While I love the Photography theme, some of my favorite crusing friends are contemplating that too.

It makes more sense to do the B2B and it's a better deal, better ports than 2006 as well. Oh, and we can celebrate my birthday in Barcelona!

Editing to add, JoAnn, maybe on the 2006(Mush) 2007 (crossing)cruises, we can convince the Frank's to do Norway in 2008!!!

Well, you guys are going to think I'm a total flake, but I ended up switching from the Norway cruise to the British Isles cruise. I got to thinking about my intention to give this as a gift to my husband, and how would he react and all that...and I realized that I should pick a cruise that HE really wants to do, rather than one that I really want to do. I know that the British Isles are at the top of his travel to-do list, because we almost did a land tour there this year, but then chose this Windstar Costa Rica cruise instead.

The good news is that it's still an escorted cruise, so Ngaire will be there, as well as a bunch of LCT'ers. Plus, it's closer to his b-day, which is on Sept. 14. AND, it gives me more time to save up for it!

So all in all, I'm thinking it was a good decision to switch.

So British Isles folks, I'm joining you! :app:

So all in all, I'm thinking it was a good decision to switch.

So British Isles folks, I'm joining you!

LeeAnne smart move especially if it makes your husband happy - I think we get caught up in the "oh everyone is booking Norway I must book too mentality" - you may have had a moment of that but thought better - good for you!!! Joanna

deleted because I should read through the threads before posting :rolleyes:

JoAnna,

You are so right. It's hard to pass up those great group cruises. We'd love to go to Norway and do the British Isles with the whole group.

But sometimes, we just have to march to the beat of a different drummer as they say...and since we've been on LCT, we've NEVER done a cruise all by ourselves. We always seem to have some friends on board!

And I've got the exact opposite going on -- I'm dying to do an LCT cruise!

Joanna I'd say I did get caught up in the excitement...glad I gave it further thought. I think it'll be a huge hit with hubby when I surprise him with it!