Yeah Don and Diana - come on, do the whole thing so that a year from today you will be partying with us for Kathy's birthday!!!CONGA :3smile: :3smile: :3smile:

Well in any case, we will still have the "welcome aboard" cocktail party in our room for you guys and Mark and Karen on the 11th. :bv:

Boy we can't wait, as it is at this point our only cruise next year - it seems so far off, but guess the time will pass before we know it! We can start thinking about doing own air in about three weeks - don't know for sure yet what we will do, but am working everything I can so we can make the right decision when Dec 1 comes around.

Happy Veterans Day! Just think, one year from today we will ALL be in Funchal.

JoAnn and Kathy, we are still holding out hope that somehow we may be able to swing doing the full B2B. It only comes down to time and money! LOL Unfortunately, we will have to see what next year is like before we can decide.

Well Don, can relate to the "time and money" thing, been there done that - still there, still doing that!!

We will keep our fingers and toes crossed that it works out for you!

I'm going to hijack your CROSS thread...we TAP folks will be having a great time 6 months earlier than you folks!

Hi Don,

Sending positive vibes that you and Diana will be on the entire CROSSing with us!

Andi,

When you return from TAP, we'll be inching closer and closer, with great excitement and anticipation, to CROSS! Good things are well worth waiting for!

Don now that the wedding is out of the way you should be "rolling in the dough" to do the B2B with us! :p :banana:

Yes, a year from now we will be sailing along with new friends! Andi, I'm envious that you have half as long to wait.

By the way, Kathy, since you are the "keeper of the suite list," we've changed cabins -- to 726. Not that it matters to anyone else, but just because I'm dreaming ....

Yep a year from today we will be somewhere at sea between Funchal and Ft. Lauderdale - wonder what we will be doing.

Denise - all those who will have done TAP can give us all the inside scoop.

Almost time to call AA about possible air using our miles. Think we are going to do two nights in Provence before, I'll know more when I get the air resolved. What is everyone else thinking of doing?

Sue, "Rolling in the Bills" you mean? LOL

JoAnn, the plans are that if we just do the Funchal to FLL crossing, we will spend 3-4 days in Paris, before heading to Funchal. I wonder if Regent will do the free hotel thing in Funchal like they are doing this year.

If we go for the full crossing, we probably will just do one night in Nice before boarding. We liked staying at the Beau Rivage (right across from the Promenade des Anglais) when we were there a couple of years ago, and would probably stay there again.

Less than a year away and the planning underway!

I've yet to run vacation plans by my new boss. But, I'm hopeful that he won't have a problem with me taking 3 weeks off. If I'm able to take 3 weeks, we are planning to spend two full days in Nice.

In a few weeks, I'll need to begin calling about air and the possibility of using FF miles to upgrade. I've all ready gotten RSSC's air info, which we are also considering.

Denise: The planning is such a great part of the trip and I know you excel in that area!! I think 3 weeks is perfect - very happy you, Alan, Priscilla and John will be together! What a great time you'll have... Joanna

Thanks, Joanna. Priscilla and I have been discussing taking a trip together for a very long time now. So looking forward to this one with her and John!

Priscilla is a fantastic trip planner/researcher! It's going to be great fun working on this one together!

Wish you and Tony could join us, Joanna! All indications are that we will have a great group on CROSS. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone who has signed on so far.

Denise, I love to research travel but give the edge to you in that regard. You are spectacular at finding just the right information, quickly. Soon, soon, it will be time to begin the process in earnest.

Yes Andi, but that gives us six more months than you TAP folks of anticipation, planning, and chatting! LOL

Yea, guys, but I have to allow enough time to plan for ROAR2. THis year, with only a few months between the two trips, I really let Cathy and Masaki do all the work

Andi - you mean for the trip that didn't happen?

Priscilla,

You are too kind, my friend! :nw:

I think both groups, TAP, and CROSS are great! I would have happily settled into either, and if the choice were the crossing before or after land trip, would have chosen CROSS, and crammed in exhaustive touring beforehand! And like Kathy has said, you all are going to enjoy picking up an extra 5 hours or so during the cruise, and we on TAP will be setting our clocks back. Not a problem for me, since I have nothing better to do than sleep an extra hour at sea! For me, it was a scheduling thing, trying to pace my cruises and not bunching them! CROSS was too close to PANDA for me! And....how could I miss another group cruise with Ngaire and Ken?

Now Andi, just how much planning did we have to do for ROAR I? What shade of beige? What style safari hat? I thought it was effortless!

Priscilla - we too look forward to meeting you and John and cruising together!

Denise - we are very excited to cruise with you and Alan, after having met you at the DC get together, and have a chance to spend some time and get better acquainted. And of course, we are really looking forward to meeting all those we don't know and to spend some time with Kathy, Frank, Mark and Karen again, as well.

Its going to be a great cruise!!!

Olivia/Andi - sure wish you had ended up on CROSS - loved meeting you on MUSH and would love some more relaxed time to get to know you better! But those on TAP will be very lucky to have Olivia and Andi onboard - not to mention Ngaire & Ken.

Olivia and JoAnn,

You can't go wrong TAPing and/or CROSSing!

But you have to plan for all the shades of beige...

;)

I agree with Denise. How can anyone go wrong with either TAP or Cross. Great people on both. It was a hard decision. Joanne, sorry we won't get to cruise together.

Olivia,

Someday soon we're going to coordinate our cruises! Alan and I have had the real pleasure of spending great times with you at several LCT brunches. Cruising together would be fantastic! We've talked about it for such a long time and it's bound to happen!

Count us in for any coordinating, Denise. We'd love to cruise with you and Alan - we have really enjoyed all cruises. Olivia and many others have contributed to some wonderful memories - Joanna

JoAnn, I'm looking forward to meeting you too! We're going to have great fun.

Denise, you are too kind about my research skills -- I laughed out loud at your little bowing graemlin. NOT!

Joanna, one of these days we'll be onboard together again, if I have anything to say about it. I've had the pleasure of meeting so few people on this board that I'm really looking forward to a cruise with a sizable LCT group.

Joanna,

You, my sweet friend, are very high on my cruise together list!

JoAnn,

It will be so nice to see you and Frank again! Our time together in D.C. was very brief.

Priscilla,

I can never be too kind when speaking of you, dear friend!

Planning is almost as much fun as the cruise itself. That is why I love LCT so much. Not only are you a fun loving great group to travel with y'all are such a wealth of information. This is going to be so much fun. If there is anyway for us to do this, we will definately do the full CROSS.

I jsut went to see if they were having some kind of spotlight for CROSS - They have a new one called the Regent Festival:

The Regent Festival

Make your crossing a memorable encounter with The Regent Festival.

In 2007, every crossing brings you spectacular entertainment in the form of the Regent Festival, a celebration of Regent style and The Regent Experience. To celebrate The Regent Experience, we bring in additional fitness and Pilates instructors, dance hosts, bridge instructors, experts on wine and food and to give the entire festival an energetic pulse, a great band for listening and dancing. To add one final bit of European culture to your voyage, we'll feature a great band from Great Britain that celebrates the big band era but also performs late night sets in smaller configurations. Want to celebrate all the best of The Regent Experience? We have it for you here in the Regent Festival as Seven Seas Voyager heads back to the US in a swinging sailing.
T

Sounds like some fun stuff going on. Notice its on the MC-Funchal portion too.

Denise - agree our get together in DC was too brief - we will just have to make up for lost time on CROSS.

Kathy - thanks for the Monte Carlo transfer link, have emailed them for a quote.

Don - we do indeed have a fun group on this one, glad you and Diana are on at least the TA portion and will keep hoping that it will work out for the full cruise.

Priscilla - fun?????? you bet!!! :D

The Regent Festival sounds great! A very nice addition!

Don/Diana,

You know you WANT to do the ENTIRE CROSSing! JUST DO IT!

You know, we have a good 7 days on SAND to talk Don and Diana into it.

Thanks for the heads up, Kathy. Never having done a crossing, we were a little worried whether we would get bored. Doesn't sound as if we will! And of course with this group there's no chance.

Hmmmmm .... I haven't played bridge since college except with the computer (!!!!). Has anyone ever taken bridge lessons onboard? Maybe I'll try that. So many choices!

You do know that I'm in sales and salespeople are the easiest people to sell anything to!!!

Kathy, the Regent Festival looks good. Looks like plenty to keep us occupied on our way across the big pond and the British band that celebrates the big band era will tie in quite nicely to our murder mystery at sea.

If anyone can work on Don and Diana, it's you, Kathy!

Bored? Never! I've never taken bridge lessons. May be something to consider.

We took bridge lessons on Mariner - Panama Canal and then again on one of our Navigator cruises. We missed the initial class once so the rest did not compute.

I will probably do it on CROSS since Frank would love to play regularly and since he acquired me he doesn't play Bridge anymore! But he does take great photos.

I played and took bridge lessons every sea day on the WC and loved it but after coming home, I haven't played since. <img border="0" alt="[c]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" /> I remember loving to play in college, it's great memory exercise. This will be great for those on CROSS and TAPS.

It seems like a lot of people don't play bridge as they did in our parent's generation. Most of us have moved on to Texas Hold'em.

My parents played Poker every week as well as Bridge, Maj Jong and Canasta! My grandparents also played Pinochle! They got together with their friends and the babies tagged along too.

Marcie: I remember you going to bridge classes on WC - played it for years but Tony refused to take it seriously and ticked people off - he knew nothing - 6 hearts and was void of hearts - you get the pix - we played it in married housing at Michigan State when all we had were cards, beer, and babies -

I know that Alan won't have any interest in Bridge.

Frank loves to play bridge. I am mediocre at it, maybe I'll take a lesson too.

Kathy - didn't my Frank give you a lesson one day on the Panama Canal? We were all going to then play and never found the time. I remember the Frank's playing backgammon and cribbage.

Kathy, Denise, Priscilla - if the 4 of us took a lesson or two, then we could have a foursome!

Yes, your Frank gave me a few lessons and we played. We set up some backgammon tournements on the promenade. My Frank and I play frequently.