Live from the Prinsendam as the wizard & witches cruise May 17 - June 17, 2013

Well, not quite live - DH and I have arrived in Fort Lauderdale and are enjoying some relaxing time before we head on the Elegant Explorer on Friday.

We have had an exciting roll call and been planning for many months. We've had some fun along the way and our roll call has nearly taken on a Wizard of Oz theme.

Wizard and witches is the name of our spreadsheet. Rich (0bnxshs) created our marvelous spreadsheet, so he is, of course the wizard. The witches are the evil planners and tour operators - ncgolferette (Ruth Ann), sturnus (Carol), Mickie (Mickie) and kazu (Jacqui).

Gigianne (Georgina) has made us poppies for our Normandy excursion as well as our fantastic name tags for our meet and greet (I've had a sneak peak) so she has been named Dorothy.

JG321 (JG) has done a fabulous blog and actually done up mug shots for those wiling to provide them so we know who we will be seeing. So, he has become the Tin Man:D

It's beautiful here in Fort Lauderdale as I type this in the beautiful atrium of the Embassy Suites. A number of our roll call are staying here and we will be meeting them tomorrow night at the Manager's Reception.

We're looking forward to an exciting time on the Elegant Explorer

Hope you enjoy following us down the yellow brick road:o

It's on the Elegant Explorer. I find it hard to imagine it being anything other than fantastic.

I'll be at sea myself during the TA portion of your cruise, so I'm setting up an email subscription to this thread. What a great group you have.

Do you know yet who the Captain is?

Roy

Ah...the day is finally here for all of you! What a wonderful itinerary...if I'd paid attention earlier, I may well have joined you!

Have a fabulous time, Jacqui!

I'll be watching for you on the cam on Friday as you sail away. When do you arrive in Bermuda? So we can all watch that as well.

I saw that spread sheet, Jacqui. It's nothing short of amazing.

Have a wonderful cruise.

We will be looking forward to your live reports.

Will be posting the Sail-Away reminder early tomorrow-so all can make plans to watch the start of your of your adventure and I believe the last Dam sail-away from Port Everglades this season.

May all of you have a great and safe adventure. Bon Voyage!

I have seen the spread sheet earlier but will take another peek. I just looked at all the mug shots of all the cruisers...amazing!

Bon Voyage Jacqui and the Wizards and Witches. I will be following your waves all the way. Barbara

I'm also looking forward to sailing away with you on Friday, even if only vicariously! Bon Voyage to all! :) Ann

This has been a long time in the planning, and I am looking forward to following you on your journey. Say Hi to Bobbie and Ken for me:)

Just checking in here. Spent most of the night and until noon today dealing with a migraine from all the travel yesterday, but by noon I decided I would live and we went over to do our supply shopping. We then spent most of the afternoon by the pool.

Most likely by tomorrow we will both feel more rested and ready to go shopping----or at least one of us will. ;)

It will be so nice to finally meet some of our CC group at the Manager's Reception tomorrow night.

We are so ready for this cruise.

Bon voyage Jacki and take care of the beautifull Prinsendam. We will jump aboard on june 17 for 28 days.

DH and I are going to have the pleasure of sailing with this wonderful group of people. Really looking forward to boarding the elegant explorer in just two days. Our roll call has been remarkable with almost 4800 posts - who would have thought that for the Prinsendam.

Bobbie, hope your feeling better by tomorrow.

Will be meeting a lot of new friends tomorrow after emailing back and forth for almost a year and a half. Where did the time go?

Welcome to paradise! I do believe that Rich and I are packed except for the last minute items.

See you on Friday!

Lynne

Correction #14, someone posted while I was typing :-(

Good job I am not superstitious.

Tin man reporting in.

Hope you recover after a good nights sleep Bobbie.

Jacqui, I posted a link to here in the Roll call thread, glad to see you are safely here too.

I have to go to a committee meeting on Friday and have to prepare for it tomorrow, but I hope to see the rest of the contingent arriving ready for the off on Friday.

Hope you all have a fabulous cruise. Can't wait for the sailaway on Friday.

Welcomr to all of you who have already arrived in Florida, our trans-planted home.

Neil and I look forward to meeting all our new friends on Friday afternoon. The flag for the sail away is ready in my carry on!!!!!

We packed today and are OVERWEIGHT for the return airline flight..... oh well.

I have added this link"live from the Prinsendam" to my "favorites" already, but not sure if there is a more efficient way of doing this.

Neil reminded me this morning to turn OFF the wifi in my new toy, Kindle Fire, or I might not have any battery left by the time we drive from the West Coast of Florida to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday morning. ETD: 5:30am....

I think all the camera and other electronic equipment is going to fill up our carry ns -- not to mention the liquid refreshment!!

Hi Jacqui,

So glad you and your DH made it safe and sound! I can't wait for the sail away I will be waving to you lol!

And your live blog will be terrific.

Have a great trip to all!

Janet

Very happy to read you are all trickling into Fort Lauderdale safe and sound. I am happy to report the sun is (finally) shining back up in the frozen north!

I will now miss sail away and I am very sorry but Ian has an appointment for his lungs at the local hospital right at 5:00...can you believe that....can you believe I tried to switch it:eek:. Good job I love him!!!!

I look forward to following your adventures.

Happy times ahead:)

Ah...the day is finally here for all of you! What a wonderful itinerary...if I'd paid attention earlier, I may well have joined you!

Have a fabulous time, Jacqui!

I'll be watching for you on the cam on Friday as you sail away. When do you arrive in Bermuda? So we can all watch that as well.

Thanks so much. We are in Bermuda after two days at sea - so we will be there on May 20th :D

We will be looking forward to your live reports.

 

Will be posting the Sail-Away reminder early tomorrow-so all can make plans to watch the start of your of your adventure and I believe the last Dam sail-away from Port Everglades this season.

 

May all of you have a great and safe adventure. Bon Voyage!

Thanks for the kind wishes Chief and all. You will see our roll call at the sea view pool (aft). There will be at LEAST a Canadian flag, U.S. flag & New Zealand (aka kiwi) flag.

We'll all be waving to you :o

This has been a long time in the planning, and I am looking forward to following you on your journey. Say Hi to Bobbie and Ken for me:)

We enjoyed Bobbie & Ken's company (sapper1) along with gigianne and onthegogirl at the manager's reception tonight at the Embassy Suites.

This is gigianne's first stay here and she is delighted!

Since we had had nothing to eat other than air plane food, we went for an early dinner (before drinks - LOL) with gigianne - Georgina and Gerry to Kelly's Landing. Wonderful meal - everyone left happy :D

looking forward to reading your posts. What a great roll call. Have fun everybody.

I just looked at the spreadsheet - what a work of art. Very impressive, very informative. And, it has given me lots of ideas for the next time I am part of a roll call. Job well done all.

I saw that spread sheet, Jacqui. It's nothing short of amazing.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

Yes, Rich (0bnxshs) created it - he truly is a wizard and JG incorporated our mug shots into his blog. I was an editor too, but all I did was add people and tours. The wizard created and constantly modified it.

Everyone is anxious to meet Rich & Deb (the wizard and the witch) in Fort Lauderdale and JG & Carl (the Tin Man & the witch) on the Baltic portion.

That spreadsheet (named the wizard and witches planner by the roll call - ergo my theme) has been such a huge help with the fairly complex and intriguing itinerary. It sure has made everyone's lie easier:o

Just checking in here. Spent most of the night and until noon today dealing with a migraine from all the travel yesterday, but by noon I decided I would live and we went over to do our supply shopping. We then spent most of the afternoon by the pool.

 

Most likely by tomorrow we will both feel more rested and ready to go shopping----or at least one of us will. ;)

 

It will be so nice to finally meet some of our CC group at the Manager's Reception tomorrow night.

 

We are so ready for this cruise.

I also get a migraine from travel. Glad it's not just me. Do us proud in the shopping dept or is it Ken that you can't keep out of the store:D:p:?

It's on the Elegant Explorer. I find it hard to imagine it being anything other than fantastic.

 

I'll be at sea myself during the TA portion of your cruise, so I'm setting up an email subscription to this thread. What a great group you have.

 

Do you know yet who the Captain is?

 

Roy

Thanks Roy - as I understand it our captain is Captain Andre Van Schoonhoven (hoping I didn't make a typo - new ipad user here)

I also get a migraine from travel. Glad it's not just me. Do us proud in the shopping dept or is it Ken that you can't keep out of the store:D:p:?[/

 

I shop, he sits and reads his book. The Galleria has a comfortable area for husbands to sit. I will do my best to help the local economy. :)