Pam, Hoping this is a temporary setback and your Dad will have a full recovey.

Best Wishes, Jackie

Pam, sorry about your dad. Hope we get to meet you in better circumstances on some other cruise.

Pam, just saw this. We are sorry that you and your mom won't be joining us. Hope your dad will be OK and have a full recovery!

Thank you all so much for the kind words. It has been a h*ll of a month for me. :( My precious little pup, Muffin died , my Dad had the horrible fall, and my daughter just had a breakup.....makes it hard living so far away. Luckily I have been busy with business travel (Monza Italian Grand Prix over the weekend :D ) but between trips, I find it harder and harder to be living "across the pond". Elderly parents and our only child being in the US makes it a daily challenge.
Thanks for the support from my LCT friends!
Cheers, Pam

Pam:

Very sorry to hear about all this. Sending good thoughts your way and looking forward to seeing you in just a few weeks.

Tina

Pam, I know how hard this must be for you coming all at once. Yet from the short time we spent together with Red October last June I know you will get thru this difficult time with determination & grace.

Blessings, Jackie

I booked the Trader a few weeks ago. Coming in on Saturday AM. I got $122/night through AAA. Jumped on it as a good rate. Last year I cruised out of Miami and waited until about 6 weeks before and EVERYTHING was so pricey at that point :(

Pam, you are certainly being tested with your share of challenges. Sorry to hear about all of this happening at once and I'm especially sad to hear about sweet Muffin. Thinking good thoughts for you.

Dena

Tina, Expedia just changed our flight going to FLL. Is this your flight?

Toronto (YYZ) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
==>Flight: Air Canada 908
==>Depart: Sun, 10/12/2006 at 9:40 AM (YYZ)
==>Arrive: Sun, 10/12/2006 at 12:52 PM (FLL)

Hi Wendy:

Yes, we are on this one.

Tina

Great! So we can wear funny hats or something and try to meet up in the departure lounge!

Pam, so sorry to hear about your Dad, your daughter and your pet. Tough times. They say things happen in threes - so you are done now -- only good things from here on.

Time passes so quickly and you will be back living in the States again close to your family before you know it.

I know you must have been really looking forward to spending that time with your Mom.

Wendy and Tina, you can wear your SSS pins! Or you can do like I do and snoop people's luggage tags to see if they have their deck tags on yet, lol.

Thanks all for the kind messages. Each day brings a new challenge to all of us and I hope like Ngaire mentioned that the trio theory works. Only 29 days until we leave for our Nice to Athens cruise. I am REALLY looking forward to the doc dance that I hope to be doing next week! :app:

Cheers, Pam

Hi Pam:

Just booked restaurants at Signatures and Latitudes for our upcoming trip. Very, very exciting.....its starting to become real.

Tina

Pam,

So sorry to hear of all that has gone on in your life recently. Sending caring thoughts your way for brighter days ahead!

Pam: Yes I think the trio theory is real - so you should be good for awhile - sorry to hear about your dog and Dad - and break ups are tough on the Moms too - Joanna

Yes, the luggage tags will the kicker, they are usually unique when we leave Toronto. Of course, there's my avatar as well. Even David (dmh), if he's wearing his baseball cap, is pretty recognizable.

Pam,
So sorry to hear about your "troubles" (as the Irish say.) This too shall pass - Ngaire's right-happens in threes - now for the road to recovery.

Wendy,
What does dmh stand for? I think it's "dats my husband!" but am sure to be wrong - please correct me.

Karen,
My darling, in you the Sheik is well pleased - you need no identification at all - just wait for one very loud yell "KAAAARRRRRRREEEEENNNNN" - you'll be known from that point by everyone on the cruise! (Joanna sent me the picture of you, Joanna, Marcie and Olivia - wicked, wicked women!
All of whom look absolutely delicious! pant, pant
See you and Mark in Dec. rethink about wearing that iron girdle, because, it's gonna happen,!!!!

Marty, wear an iron girdle, no way! I will be wearing velcro so I will stick to you when I get my hug!

Marty (is it?), "dmh" is my husband's login name on LCT. He doesn't post that often, but he does from time to time. (It's his initials.)

Wendy,
How plebian!!! I had really hoped dmh would have
stood for something vastly elegant. Initials will have to do, but this was your chance to nail
a grand nickname on the old boy - disappointed
but accepting...
Marty

Karen, my pearl !
Sorry it took so long for me to reply, but Erika aka "the Saint" had to call 911 for me after I read your note !! Not to worry though - a quick trip to the hospital, a little oxygen and some sort of stimulative pills, and I feel as good as new - ready and waiting for you !!!
(I told Joanna she really should take this trip as it's going to be total barn burner, but alas, she has other plans)
Marty

LOL Marty, I am glad you are well again! Too bad you couldn't talk Joanna into coming, that would of been quite the coop!

Wendy, I never knew that dmh was your hubby!!

You're right, I should have said it stood for "Dear to My Heart". Which is true enough!

Karen, yeh you did! You help me get his avatar installed. I bet you just forgot! In any case, you will be meeting him in the flesh in less than 3 months.

Meeting him in the flesh is MUCH better than just seeing his avatar!

Yes, {{{David and Wendy}}} are great travel companions and lots of fun to be with. Karen, I promise you will enjoy their company.

Kathy, you are sweet. You know we're looking forward to seeing you and Frank.

We are finally all booked! We are staying at the Pelican Beach Resort for 1 night precruise. Our flight from Spokane gets in after midnight.

The first time I ever went to Ft. Lauderdale was like 25 1/2 years ago; Mark and I were newly married and on our way to St. Maarten. We had an office in FLL, so stopped off to check in with the manager and his wife.

Yankee Clipper and Yankee Trader weren't new, even then.

And an Amex Platinum card grants you immediate SPG Gold status. I've never noticed that the upgrades amount to much, at Gold level. We used points in January to stay at the Atlantic. We weren't overly impressed, but had to use the points or lose them (no stays planned at that time, and they were about to expire).

Oh, and I think the people on PARTY were happy with the Holiday Inn they stayed at, precruise.

Jen, I looked at the Pelican Beach and thought it looked nice, you will have to tell me your opinion after your stay.

I am still deciding between the Pier 66 and the Grande. I might be brave and go for a change of pace and try the Grande.

Well I updated our online forms. Will have to double check tonight though to make sure that I got our Passport numbers right.

Also, I need to call Marriott tomorrow to make sure about our hotel reservations. They charged our card, but we have no confirmation number yet.

Air is done and all taken care of. We fly in on Thursday and get into Palm Beach at 5:45pm.

What can you tell us about Portofino's? Looks like La Terraza on SS. Can we reserve ahead of time and is there a limit to the number of times that you can dine there? Also, what night(s) does everybody else have planned for Portofino's?

I will probably wait til I am onboard til I book Portofinos. I like to go to the alternate restaurants when the main dining room doesn't have anything on the menu that interests me :)

Like Karen, we will probably book Portofino after we board, but IMHO, and generally speaking, the food is better in the Compass Rose. Portofino is fun though!

The one advantage of the lack of specialty restaurants on Navigator is that we can be spontaneous in our dinner plans! Unless we want to do a big hoop-di-doo in Portofino's some night, we can play it by ear this time.

When we were on Navigator last, Portofino's was full on more than one night. Because there is only the one alternative restaurant on Navigator, don't wait to book or your might not get to eat there. I usually dine at an alternative the first night when it's feasible. People are still unpacking and tired from travel and then you can often go a 2nd time within the week.

So Kathy, they don't have the policy where every passenger is guaranteed dining there once? Do I remember you saying you can't book online for the first night?

Kathy, was your sailing full? I am not worried about it, if I don't eat there, I won't be upset. I really do prefer the main dining room. Unless the SANDies would like to make a night of it at Portofinos?