Hi everyone. I was able to get on line for a few minutes and wanted to say hello. We're sailing on the Voyager today off the northern coast of Spain. It's a day at sea for all but ther 110 passengers who took the all-day trip to Santiago de Compostella.

We're all having a great time and the weather has been fantastic. I have met almost everyone from LCT. We're having dinner tonight with JoAnn and her husband.

Just a couple of bumps along the way. A computer part broke and we didn't have Internet access for the first four days of the cruise. That made a lot of people mad, but I really didn't care. After all, vacation is vacation. But they got it fixed so now we have free Internet access for the rest of the cruise.

We have to change the clocks back an hour tomorrow en route to Lisbon. But someone screwed up and set the ship's clock back this morning by mistake. So we slept late and thinking it was 9:30am we went up for breakfast at the Veranada. Only to discover when we got there that it really was 10:30am and breakfast was over. There's always a late breakfast crowd so there were a lot of people expecting breakfast this morning who were disappointed. Otherwise, the food and service on the whole have been great.

I had dinner last night with Captain Dag and wanted to tell you a few things he said, some of which you may already know.

The name of the cruise line will change to reflect an association with Regent rather than Radisson.

They are thinking about doing the 2007 World Cruise on the Voyager out of Ft. Lauderdale and going in an easterly direction instead of westerly.

Captain Dag is thinking about experimenting with changing the ship's time at 2pm instead of 2am so people won't get less sleep at night.

The ship's crew really is becoming more Asian and less European. The reason, he feels, is that the Euro is strong against the dollar and there are a lot of jobs in Europe so jobs on board ship are not as attractive as they once were. Asians still want the work and have very stable employment histories. So Radisson sees the Asians as being more stable than the Europeans.

He's a very charming man and we had a great time at dinner

I will just add that it's a bit hard being on vacation in the lap of luxury and watching reports of what's happening along the Gulf Coast. Our thoughts are with everyone there. Tom.

Good to hear from you Tom and glad you're having a good time! Capt. Dag is great isn't he? Maybe you'll meet the food and beverage manager (Steph) too....nice nice guy!
Continue having fun and thanks for updating us wannabe's left behind! Hi to Joanne (and other wino's) too!!

Tom if you can you should get Dag to check out the movie trailer where he is featured. I bet he would get a kick out of it. You might have to write that link out for him of course. I will send it to your email as well so it is easier to print.

http://www.weddingcrashersmovie.com/crashthistrailer/index.htm?id=175023

He had a great sense of humor and I bet he would like this. It wasnt me that did this is was one of the ladies he had his photograph taken with at my cocktail party.

Tom:

Let us know if you find out more about the 2007 World Cruise. If it leaves out of FLL, they may leave Voyager in Caribbean for Christmas and New Years instead of going through Canal. Only other option would be to go through Canal, pick up west coast pax, and go through Canal again. If the former, there could be a good deal coming. :D

Ngaire, I gave the captain the link but he was not able to view the trailer. He said he just got some home page talking about cruises. I can't access it either from the computers on the ship so I don't know what the problem is. Perhaps you could doublecheck the link and email it to someone at Radisson who could forward it to him so he could click on it directly.

Marc, here's more information on the Voyager 2007 world cruise. Remember, this is still in the plannings stages so it could change. The cruise would leave from Ft Lauderdale and sail south towards Rio with a few stops along the way. Then it would cross the Atlantic and sail around cape of Africa, up to the Indian Ocean and continue around the world.

Anyone taking the world cruise from LA would take the Mariner through the canal and then link up with the Voyager in Ft. Lauderdale. Hope this was helpful. Tom.

Is anybody in the group doing the Cordon Bleu cooking course, if there is one? If so, how is it?

Eric and Hiro are in the cooking class and I think Dennis and Jayne are too. I'll ask them to post. I'm in the eating class and so far I've done very well.

It was a beautiful day at sea today. I sepnt a lot of time in the pool. We had a Spanish BBQ on the pool deck with three types of paella (sp), sausages, cold cuts and cheeses. Tom.

Tom:

Thanks!

Looks like Voyager will be in Caribbean for Christmas/New Years if Mariner is going to act as transport for west coast sailors.

Yippee!!!!

Tom there is a lot of things blocked on the ship perhaps this is one of them. I took that link and clicked and it worked. Probably no way for it to be shown.

It sounds like the WC for 2007 would actually leave from FLL instead of LA! (pre-cruise would be LA to FLL, exactly opposite of what it was this year). Thanks Tom! Continue having a great time!

Tom,I hope that the 2007 WC is still in the planning stage because if the powers to be plan to do the WC the way you mentioned, I believe it leaves a LOT to be desired. If the ship goes eastbound to Africa from South America and then to Asia,you would constanly be losing time for the crew and passengers. That is the wrong way to go.

I called Radisson to find out about Christmas cruise on Voyager. Of course, nothing in system. Rep said it was probably do to the World Cruise going east out of FLL. If they know in Omaha, it must be true.

Can't wait to see Voyager's itinerary!!!!

I'm not sure what the final itinerary will be for 2007 WC but I know that the past 2 years the questionaires sent out were pretty unanimous to include South Africa (not just Egypt) so I guess they'll figure out the logistics to make it happen. We'll all just have to wait it out.

I would love to go back to South Africa, but I wish they would do it like they did on the 2003 WC on the Mariner. West to east is so much better then the other way.

I would like to see a South Africa/Seychelles itinerary! I think Silversea does one.