Hi, last year I mentioned that our national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, had said they were offering a special charter cruise on Voyager. That never happened. But they have chartered Navigator, Jan.25-Feb.4. They have various journalist-type celebs on board, and some people from our Food Network doing special gourmet events. They've also managed to snag some special events on shore, and be the only ship at all ports.

You can see the itinerary here:

http://www.globeandmailcruise.com/itenerary/index.cfm

Just thought you might be interested to know.

Oh, and they are running a contest giving away 2 suites. I'm entering the contest daily, duh, even though it's not the time of year we'd normally cruise. They make it really tough to cheat--there is a question every day in the paper, referring to an article from one or more days previous. And it's restricted to residents of Canada. Sorry, non-Canucks. Today's answer is "chivalry".

Good luck, Wendy! Finally a contest that you get to enter!

Good luck Wendy! Hope you are the big winner!

The advertising for the cruise makes a big deal out of the fact that the food will be prepared by celebrity chefs from The Food Network. If Wendy wins and we get to go, it will be interesting to see how these people cope with cooking in a ship's galley. I have a vision of the Regent Executive Chef and Number One standing around in the galley with fire extinguishers in their hands.

-- David

David - don't laugh.

During on Panama Canal Cruise on Mariner, we were on our local food show hostess was on with a few hundred of her followers. We weren't part of the group, but, it was a food and wine themed cruise. We were in the Cordon Bleu Class and at the time they used the French Trolley's for cooking.

Joann (Cruisinfanatic) was my cooking partner. The little trolley was giving the chef a hard time. But while I was making Saboyan Sauce on the induction stove in Latitudes she was cooking the fruit for our crepes. There was a small explosion on the cart and it caught fire - the little door blowing off. Joann RAN with the pan of fruit. Before we knew it the kitchen staff had the fire extinguishers there, all the senior officers were in Latitudes and we had a fire drill. The fire was out even before everyone could respond. We sure had a lot of fun that cruise.

Aaaahhha! You had to bring that up again Kathy didn't you??? Will I ever live that down????
It wasn't my fault that the stupid thing exploded, nor the other girl using the same cart!!! But yes, I did save the crepes, that I did and they were wondderful, wonderful!!!

Actually it was a little scary, as the whole ship heard the fire alarm, as well they should have, but we knew what was going on, those not in Lattitudes at the time did not. When the Staff Captain and his crew came bursting into Lattitudes, they couldn't believe we were there!! By that time of course, it was under control and were all were getting ready to eat those lucious crepes.

I love that story - do you know that I have brought it up to some of the staff - last year at the Cordon Bleu class - and some of them were there and THEY remembered the incident. Yes, that explosion was scary but no one was hurt and the kitchen staff was FAST. It's just one of those things that "tells" well...

Oh Wendy, I do wish you the best in winning this contest!

Yeh, well, I never win anything. It's just a fantasy. It's also a pain, so I'm hoping they don't get lots of entries! I have to hunt for the contest ad every day, then hunt back in a previous newspaper, sometimes a couple of days ago, for a fact in an article. Today's answer is "1 in 20".

It's a pretty good deal, and a nice itinerary. I doubt you have to be Canadian to book it! ;)

Although with our currency now in the ascendancy, booking in $CDN for you guys would give you a taste of what we've been coping with for years. For my first trip on the PG in 2000, our dollar stood around $.68 US. If our currency holds up for another year, I could be paying lots less for my next PG trip!

Oh Wendy I sure hope they pick your name! :banana:

Good luck Wendy! And you don't have any competition from your fellow Torontonian..I'm not entering!! But I'll certainly keep my fingers and toes crossed for you.

Charlene

Good luck, Wendy!

Hey guys, not entering? I guess if you don't actually subscribe to the Globe or have it available at work or something, doing this would be pain.

Unfortunately, I'm teaching at that time.

Good luck!!

Good Luck Wendy! We won't enter the contest either....have to be in Vegas for a trade show on that date. I love Lynn Crawford (head chef of Toronto's Four Seasons and also guest chef on Restaurant Makeover) so it would have been an interesting cruise to take.
Pat

Well luckily David's not teaching next term, but I would have gone without him. I asked him if he could get away, and he said, "absolutely"!

You're right Wendy, I don't subscribe to the Globe, but normally I would definitely have bought it, devoured it, and entered the contest! However, in this case, I'm on the Navigator February 4th for 11 nights....and that would be a long, long back-to-back, hard to get the time off work if I did manage to win!! And because we were terrified the Canadian dollar wouldn't stay as strong (you've been there - you've suffered along with me), we decided to pay for the February 4th one already, last week, while we were above par!

So, I expect you to win, and I'll have a drink with you in Ft. Lauderdale after you get off the ship, and before I get on, how's that??

Charlene

Sounds great, Charlene.