I'll probably be napping right there along with him!

You know I'll start to read and then the book starts getting heavy, the head starts bobbing, and the next thing you know I'm just snoozing away!

Gee, we can all sleep together <img border="0" alt="[c]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" />

Yes, but do you snore? LOL

Don,

Are you looking for a choir for poolside entertainment?

Oh, maybe I ought to NOT nap and have my camera handy?

Somehow, this doesn't sound right! ;)

Wow, this thread is cracking me up...glad we are on the cruise! :eek: :D ;) :cool:

Sue,

CROSS may give TUSH a run for the money! Glad you are sailing with us, too!

Denise I think you are right! I am quite excited about this cruise - only wish it wasn't over a year away! <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" />

Sue, were glad you coming too. Can't think of a more fun group to laugh with and to nap with! :ohmy:

You might have to pick the name out of the hat.

So Don - how many do we have for the Mystery Dinner now? This should be lots of fun and very interesting - we've never done it with more than 8. Sounds like a lot of fun brewing for CROSS - hope we actually have some time for naps!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: (we don't have a napping graemlin)

Like several others, I wish it wasn't so far off, as that is our only cruise next year!! Hope I can make it till then!!!! :ohmy:

JoAnn that is our only cruise for 2007, too! We take quite a few air/land trips and are happy when we can fit in one cruise (sure wish there could be more).

We take one big vacation a year. CROSS is it for 2007. A little over a year from now - way too long to wait. But, "good things are worth waiting for," or so "they" say!

We try to plan a few long weekend land trips during the course of a year. This years D.C. trip was wonderful!

I've been on a mission to miss out on increasing savings before Frank retires. I've been investing in Travel instead. We had a finance discussion the other day and <img border="0" alt="[c]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" />

We have Cross and a 3 day HAL cruise planned next year. I am working on some small photo/land treks and I have a lot of miles to burn so maybe we'll do DC using miles for a flight and hotel.

We usually do two cruises per year. One in the April/May time frame and another in the October-December time frame.

However, this year may be different. So far, we can't find a cruise for April/May 2007.

Silversea has itineraries we are interested in, but nothing we can afford. We can afford the RSSC Caribbean itineraries, but it is what we are already doing on SAND. Good deals on Seabourn and RSSC on their TA cruises, but we are doing CROSS already in November. Would love to do the PG, but then you have the cost of the airfare and the long flight. So believe it or not, we may drive to Galveston and take the Grand Princess (Yuck, can we actually do a mega ship?) doing the Western Caribbean, where I can do some diving.

Somebody help me, please!!!

We're definitely in the SKI mode these days (spending kid's inheritance), so we travel whenever something piques our interest. That's usually three or four cruises a year with a couple land trips thrown in -- plus visits to the kids to show them the pictures :D .
Don, don't despair about the Grand Princess--it's not that bad (if you don't count embarking and disembarking). The ship is laid out so you never feel crowded anywhere. Book some sort of suite and you get special priviledges like priority tender tickets (you can go on the tender whenever you're ready). We're thinking about doing the Grand one more time before she leaves Galveston--they have some great fares for February!!!
Oh, and yes, for the murder at sea--try not to kill off one of us old folks--that might be a little too realistic...

Peggy, thanks for the information on the Grand Princess. We may give it a go. We are looking at something in April and saw some pretty good fares then as well. Especially for club members.

Two years ago we did the Caribbean Princess out of FLL and had one of the worst experiences of our lives. It is the same ship as the Grand, but they added one extra deck of cabins. There were people everywhere. We could not get a place at the pool. Once I was asked how the shows were on the CP and I stated, they were "outstanding". That is because with all the people we could never get in and were always OUT, STANDING! LOL
Also we had a Mini-Suite. Nice size, large balcony, but we were aft (which generally we don't mind), but we had a terrible vibration. So much so, that I thought Diana had put some quarters in the magic fingers bed! :eek:

As for who we were going to kill off, y'all must have thought we were talking about the murder mystery! :ohmy: LOL

Don,

This princess survived the Monster of the Seas (RCCL) and came to find out that it wasn't all that bad when I put it into perspective. No one else has 3-4 days cruises and that was all the time and money I could muster for that week since I had MUSH and SAND already booked and wanted to take the kids somewhere for a few days. We survived those crowds and nickle and diming.

Well as a TA, my advice would be take it for what it is, and don't compare with RSSC, thats what we do when we go on these more mass market cruises, and remember this, enjoy each cruise for what it is because if you spend the whole time comparing, then you will be miserable.
Agree also, get the highest category you can afford or want, mini suites on Princess would be my lowest level and just take it for what it is worth - its not all that bad, and remember at some point thats all there was!! And of course every situation is different.

Don - sorry that you had such an awful experience on Princess a couple of years ago -- we have really never had a bad experience, but I realize that a given week on a given ship can change the whole picture. Hopefully that would not happen again.

JoAnn, you are absolutely right. I'm laughing at my over-exaggeration, "worst experiences of my life". Hey, our first cruise was on the old Mardi Gras, where you had to do down the hall to blow dry your hair, the toilet was inside of the shower, and we had and inside cabin (a coffin would have been larger) with a folding upper berth. Shoot we thought we were in heaven. It was what got us hooked on cruising.

Well, the good news is SS released some silver sailing discounts yesterday and we did find a 55% off (with our Venetian Club discount) cruise for next May on the Silver Wind going Barcelona to Rome, so we have emailed Linda to book it.

See----- there you go!!!

Our first cruise was on the NCL Starward, I was 6-1/2 months pregnant with our oldest, we walked into our "stateroom", which was the lowest outside cabin, and there were two twin beds, (no conversion in those days) with a tiny table in between, and a minescule vanity table and a bathroom that there was barely room enough to turn around in!! You know what, I looked at those twin beds and thought I had died and gone to heaven, here I was pregnant, and for 7 whole days I was going to have my own bed (we were sleeping in a double in those days)it was such a fun cruise and hooked us forever.!!!!!

Now of course I am totally spoiled - but "what the hey".

Ahhhh! The good ol' days! LOL

Now we are really going to turn back the hands of time and do a real transatlantic crossing. What better place to do a 1930's Murder Mystery!

Anybody ever hear of Condor Air? They fly charter flights to/from Las Vegas or Orlando to/from Frankfurt. I plugged in dates for this year during the same period as CROSS and they had flights from Orlando from $199 plus tax ($278) one way. They also found they have the same baggage restrictions as US airlines. Then from there we figured that we could always hop on one of the budget Euro airlines down to Funchal.

Isn't that the airline that Fred Flintstone used? I thought they only flew around Bedrock, USA! :banana: <img border="0" alt="[c]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" /> :p

Yes... They are fine. Ihave flown them. I think one of the biggies owns them...Maybe Luftansa?

...and when they take off the pilot yells out yabba, dabba, doo! Funny Sue!!!

Thanks Andi! Looks like they were pretty good sized. I looked at their flight routes and they cover Africa, North America including the Caribbean, and obviously all over Europe.

LOL........good one Sue!!

Only 371 more days for CROSSer's on the Grand Crossing and 379 for the rest of us poor folks, who can only afford the TA part in steerage! LOL

Looks like we can start getting our air all set in a little over a month. What is it, 330 days out on most airline bookings?

yes, not long now and we'll all be competing for the FF seats in first class to Europe!

Sorry Kathy, but some of us have to go coach. Here's how we're flying.

Don, you are a stitch! When I don't use points, I'm at the back of the plane, but not THAT far back! Lordy, hope the exhaust doesn't get to you!

Gosh "O" you fly coach to Europe????? My kind of admission :3smile: :3smile:

Too funny Don!!! Well, I have no idea what we are doing yet - I'm not too excited about AA possibilities, but you never know, we will see what develops.

Olivia, how do you think I got this way! LOL

We've flown coach to Europe twice this year - no FF seats available and we had RSSC free air. It's a bear doing coach from LA to Europe - 14 hours plus with the change of planes at JFK or ATL. I hope we're going to be able to use miles this time. AMEX points to Delta Skylmiles is running a transfer special with a bonus and I think it's within the 330 days.

We fly coach when our two banks are low - FF bank and our local bank $$$$ :D :D

When I was younger I flew round trip from LA to Tokyo in Coach, both ways in a middle seat (that's when I could fly on a AA pass through my Dad, the pilot). I was young and OK with it. Now I'm spoiled and save our f.f. miles for Europe, Asia type flights. Used the last remaining AmEx Membership Rewards points on Delta flight for FJORDS. Don't like MR anymore...way too limited with the airlines they reciprocate with.

I have been on flyertalk figuring out the best way to squeeze the most out of the paltry ff miles that we have left. Right now, we have enough miles for one rt coach ticket to Europe. However, we can purchase coach and use the 50K miles (still need 7K more somewhere) to upgrade one way to business class.

Marcie, I know what you mean about the AMEX rewards. Can't be used on AA, which is the primary carrier for us here in Dallas.

Just think. Less than a year from now, those doing the Grand CROSS, will be onboard. A little over a year for those of us doing the non-stop CROSS.

A year from today, Don, you and Diana are invited to my birthday party as we leave Barcelona!