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No docs for us yet! Should I start to panic? Also, I got an email from x confirming my signup for a x party on board and that the info would be delivered to my stateroom or something like that. Are you all still going to do that one? Hope all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a blast in Toronto. Eat and drink for 3 days. Good cruise prep (hah hah). Saw Dreamgirls. Was very good!

No docs yet for me, must hit the E. Coast first. Welcome back, Deb. We are with Joey. I would love zip line, but my husband won't do it. We're contemplating the Manuel Antonio Park for Costa Rica, but have not booked yet. I've been quiet lately, but I'm still here!

Avie - are you talking about that novo or noro virus or whatever it is called?? On our ship?? That would be the pitts. Ole got that kind of sickness on our trip to Australia. It hit him hard after we went on a Great Barrier Reef snorkel trip. We blamed the equipment, but who knows. I, however, did not catch it from him, so it wasn't that contagious. We doubted it was food because we ate the same thing. Anyway, good way to put a damper on a trip! Avie - are you talking about that novo or noro virus or whatever it is called?? On our ship?? That would be the pitts. Ole got that kind of sickness on our trip to Australia. It hit him hard after we went on a Great Barrier Reef snorkel trip. We blamed the equipment, but who knows. I, however, did not catch it from him, so it wasn't that contagious. We doubted it was food because we ate the same thing. Anyway, good way to put a damper on a trip! OK, what is with this crazy thing, I can't even figure out how to respond now to your posts!!

Wow, Avie. Raised one group and went back for 2nds. Keeps you busy, I"m sure. Joey-never heard of that wine, but now I might have to check it out. Have you tried it? Is it good? Yay-docs arriving is exciting. Thanks for update.

Great, dance partners! OK, got it Avie. Do you also have older kids from prior marriage? Am I being too nosy? Off to a Christmas party tonight. These people make yummy food. Another night of feeling yuck!

Avie - OK, so I'm not naive, grew up in a 'blended family', but what exactly is "2nd set" referring to kids? Yours, Betty's, yours together??? Anyone for disco???????? OK, so Ole and I went out for dinner tonght at our fave seafood place here in Walnut Creek. I had the dungeness crab (t'is the season in San Francisco). But along with that was the bacon/brussel sprouts, garlic fries, clam chowder, bread pudding (with dessert wine), martini & nuts beforehand, bottle of wine with dinner..........you get the picture. Sounding like a cruise ship???????????? So, it got me to remembering how SICK and STUFFED and NAUSEATED I feel every night. So, I think the best remedy (aside from sweating it out at the blackjack table) is going to the disco. Cosmos it was on Mille - maybe same on Summit. BUT, Ole won't dance. So, there I am, stuffed and motionless. Anyone else interested in meeting me on the dance floor? Last time my friend Lisa promised, but she pooped out every night. It's like post-dinner-Aerobics. OK, enough about that. As I mentioned, had a few drinky poos again. Just thought I'd pose the question.

Off to Hawaii? I thought it just did back & forth PC. Wish I were on it to Hawaii No, just napping is right. Guess I don't have anything super important to contribute! Do you guys know if there are 3 formal nights on this cruise? I think I'll hit the after Christmas sales to see if there is anything new that I want. One of my formal dresses from last time made me feel like a 'wardrobe malfunction' waiting to happen, so may need to update the cruise wardrobe. What's everyone got going on for Christmas & NY? Or whatever else you might celebrate. Ole and I are going to Toronto for Christmas. Brrrrrrr. His sister lives there. For new years, we have no plans. Our usual friends will be out of town! We're being abandoned.

Hi Joey - we booked a snorkel/sail for Aruba. Want to see reef & fisheys. Plus we love catamarans. Avie - your old camera sounds like Ole and I sound like Betty! By the time he's ready to shoot the picture, I'm yelling and I come out with a horrible facial expression. I don't know how those models do it! The trip in '08 was selected by a friend for her group birthday cruise. It's Carnival Victory - 1 week E. Carib - San Juan, St. Marteen, St. Thomas. This is the one we will take mom on, not PC. We're also trying to figure out what else to do in '07. I really wanted to do Alaska cruise in June - but Ole doesn't seem ready. WHAT-ever!! We're bouncing around a land vac - maybe coast of Maine. I would also love to do a wine tour in France - stay in the castles, go to dinners & wineries with a group. And, there's always our old standby fave - Hawaii!! Our Franciscan dinner was magnifique!! Multiple couses, reduction sauces, the whole 9 yards. We stayed at a B&B and hit a few wineries yesterday & today.

I gotta laugh. Haven't been on a horse in over 30 years when I was a teenager! Unless you count the occasional carousel. And Ole woud not like it, would remind him too much of his first wife who was a horsey gal. Hey Joey - Thanks for that webcam link, Ole is loving that, checks it daily. Still haven't booked any other excursions yet except Aruba. Can't wait, it's like 50 days now or something. I had a dream last night about you guys! I guess the crazy board is getting to me. Oh, and I did go ahead and book that cruise in Jan. '08 for my friend's birthday party. Eastern Carib. Also booked a room for mom. We're off to wine country again today! Holiday dinner at one of our membership wineries, Franciscan, in Rutherford. We're staying over the night, even though it's only 1 hour away from where we live. Will probably hit a few more wineries in the process. Have a great weekend!

Avie, how did you get lifetime? Is that from flying 1 million miles? Ole is at 900,000-something. We were confused if the arrival at 1 mill = lifetime Premier or Premier Exec. Let me know. Thanks! I'm sure he'll hit it one of these days.

Hi Y'all, Just back from visiting mom in Southern Arizona. Had a good turkey day! We visited Tombstone and manged to find wine country down there! Shocking, but true. Did some wine tasting. Glad you all are still at it. Thanks for all of the web links for tourism & packing. Just trying to wrap up my classes, then I can go on full Christmas & vacation mode. Started packing in my head! You now, things like...'this would be good for the cruise', then shove it somewhere in the closet never to be seen again! Haa haaa. I would have a lot more to choose from if I could just get rid of 10 lbs. Fat chance with holidays. (Pun intended)! Avie: I think you asked about upgrades. It's a 767 and we want to use miles for the upgrade. They can't confirm it yet. I guess they are waiting to see who paid more for their ticket before granting it. Ole is a Premier Exec (2nd highest level on United), but that doesn't hold as much clout as it once did because it seems like everyone has status and with fewer a/c flying and all. I can't believe it's coming up so fast! I love having something in Jan. to look forward to after all of the hub-bub of holidays and during the dog days of winter. Joey- we havent firmed up CR yet. Ole and I are leaning toward Manuel Antonio Park. John & Lisa are contemplating that or the bus/train/boat combo thing. We may revisit that one also. Avie-that was very touching about your parents! Thanks for sharing. E-y'all later.

Hi Avie, Well, I don't know if I'm happy about the flight because I was looking forward to getting into FLL earlier in the evening. Now, it'll be much later. We originally chose the Denver layover because my husband, the expert flyer, believes we'd have less chance of having delayed flights thru Denver. One thing for sure, we are avoiding Chicago at all costs! That's a delay just waiting to happen in our experience. Those are the 3 choices with UA. We are waitlisted for our upgrade, but you are right about Ted. Before it would have been Denver to FLL on Ted. IF we get our upgrade, then flying to IAD is much better. If we don't, it's worse!! Talk to you soon! -Cheryl

Hi all, Well, the airline woes just hit us also. United changed our flight times as such that we likely wouldn't have made our Denver connection. So, now we are flying to Dulles and then connecting to FLL. The overall of this means that we will not arrive in FLL until 7:40 p.m. the night prior to the cruise. On the good news side, I now can get up in the morning at 4:00 instead of 3:00 in leaving San Francisco. Yipppeeee. We'll be sharing a limo with John & Lisa. Hope they can fit all of our bags. Great news on the excursion decision making. I booked Aruba (snorkel) and I'm contemplating the Costa Rica that goes to Manuel Antonio Park. As for Mexico, I've decided to hold off until we are on the ship. Reason is that if I hate, hate, hate the Celebrity sanctioned tours, I don't want to be over committed to them. I realize I run the risk of nothing, but not that stressed about that. Glad you all are excited about the specialty restaurant. I think I ranted on here previously that we were not that wowed by it to do it again. Good ol' dining room for me! That was my firm conviction before. But, gee, now I'm feeling peer pressure, or like I might be missing out on something. OK, that's all from here for now. Ciao,

Scary news since my next trip is on a sister ship, I assume identical functioning!

Thanks, everyone! I feel relieved and happy to have such glowing reviews for Carnival. I think I'll join my friend's birthday party!

Hi all, My only cruise experience thus far has been on Celebrity, which I thought was outstanding, and will be doing again this Jan. 07. Meanwhile, I have a friend who is planning a birthday cruise to Caribbean in Jan. 08, on Carnival. I'm trying to decide if I'll book a cabin. I have to admit that I am a little concerned about Carnival, i.e. the service, ambience and so forth. Is it good or bad in general? The ship is the Victory, I think. I'm afraid that it will turn me off to cruising if it's too cheesy or cheap. I do hope that I'm not insulting anyone, just inquiring! Thanks for any input, would love to hear from y'all.

Oh! Do I have a drinky-poo reputation already? Normally, I'm a wine & martini person, with occasional other things now and again. I do recall on the Mille how horrible the tropical type drinks were. I'd go by the pool and order whatever the drink-of-the-day was (i.e. mai tai, margarita etc.), and they all seemed to be the same drink! I think they use one mix and switch out the liquor that goes into it. See ya at the bars!!

I suppose it depends on where to. I'm a little nervous about arranging local stuff even though I know it can be very successful. I'd sure hate to get stuck and miss the boat!

Sounds perfect! Thanks, Cheryl! I like the idea of a shower/clean up before shopping sine we'll be snorkeling and all.

Looks interesting, Joey. You guys seem to be into planning your own thing. I must admit, the cruise ship buses can be a cheesey experience. Are you trying to organize a group?

Can anyone tell me how close the ships dock to the town area in Aruba (Oranjestad) or however you spell it. I'll be on Summit, Panama Canal trip in Jan. Thanks.

Do any of you have Aruba port experience from before? Does anyone know how close the ship is to the main little town area? We signed up for a 5 hour snorkel/sail/beach trip. The ship is only there for 9 hours. With shuffling about and so forth, I want to ensure I have enough time for some shopping & stuff. I'm a little concerned now. Plus, we are nervous nellies and always plan our tether to get back to the mother ship at least an hour prior to sail to avoid any mishaps! Thanks for any info.

Hey Joey - Loved your video show of the Med. AHHH-some! thanks for sharing. Of course, I recognize much of it, but a few questions. At Villefranche-Sur-Mer, were you in Monaco only? It looks like you also had time to hit a hill town, like Eze or something. What was the Livorna place you went, Sienna? I notice that Mykonos and Naples stops were missing :) Didn't you just LOVE the pulling into Venice part? Towering 10 floors above Venice is one of the most profound visuals I've experience traveling. Thanks for pointing out the bus/bathroom response. I totally forgot that I posted that question! Must have been one evening while I was enjoying some wine. Speaking of which - Can't wait to hit the martini bar on the ship! bye for now.

Awesome, thanks everyone!!! Thanks Joey for pointing this out to me. To clarify the one question, I am talking about bus tours to destinations in Costa Rica. Thanks a mill!!!!

Thanks, guys, for aiding in possible tours! Our friends J&L haven't committed to any specific excursions yet, but we don't worry about them. If we all happen to agree, then great! But if not, we go our own way. I would love to do something more daredevil, such as the suspension bridges, aerial tram and so forth, but Ole doesn't do heights (other than airplanes). Go figure. So, the park seemed like a nice place to see some beach, critters, etc.