**Golden Princess May 14, 2011 - Vancouver To Seattle**

[LEtue]

Yes, that should be interesting, but Notre Dame didn't look that good...

 

Mary

 

If the game were in Ann Arbor I would be more confident. Since we have to go to South Bend where strange things are known to happen....who knows what will :confused:

 

At least it should be a good game!

[bellebaby]

Linda or anyone....

 

Don't know if you'd be interested or not, but Hyatt has a new credit card offering. Has an annual fee of $75, but they give 2 free nights at any Hyatt in the world for signing up.... Could be used at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle or Hyatt at Olive 8... At today's room rates that would be worth $360 - $450 plus tax. There are negatives for signing up for credit cards just for freebies and then canceling after a year. Not for everyone. One good perk the card has it that it doesn't charge a foreign currency conversion fee.

 

Just passing along info...

 

Mary

[bellebaby]

Yes a win is a win....no matter how ugly :D And everyone's team won this week!

 

DJ, I was surprised when FL was ranked so high this year and assumed someone knew something I didn't. Was it just a bad performance? I didn't see much of it.

 

Baylor won this week, has a soft opponent (Buffalo.. my husband's alma mater) next week, but plays TCU in two weeks...::eek:

[deej696]

Yes a win is a win....no matter how ugly :D And everyone's team won this week!

 

DJ, I was surprised when FL was ranked so high this year and assumed someone knew something I didn't. Was it just a bad performance? I didn't see much of it.

 

I was surprised to see we were that high also, given how much of the offense we lost. But yes, it was a poor performance. We could not do the most fundamental thing in the game...snap the ball to the quarterback. Fumbled like 8 times. I'm concerned because Brantley is a great passing quarterback..broke Tebows passing record in high school here in FL..but Meyer is an option coach, and I'm not too sure how they will mesh. Hopefully they'll work out the kinks...

 

On another note, I'm happy to report I emailed the folks at Harv and Marv to make our reservation:D Hope you don't mind a couple tag alongs Linda and Margie...

[LEtue]

I emailed the folks at Harv and Marv to make our reservation:D Hope you don't mind a couple tag alongs Linda and Margie...

 

Great news! We will enjoy having you both along with us :)

[deej696]

Should I request a specific guide or boat?

[bellebaby]

Little known fact of the day: The coach of Jacksonville is Kerwin Bell, a former UF quarterback, and was the head coach of John Brantley's high school team here in town.

 

On another note, boy I sure hope the Gators improve this week. That was a mediocre performance at best.

 

Edited to say: Who would have thought there are two Jacksonvilles. Apparently the school I was speaking of is Jacksonville University, not Jacksonville State:)

 

deej - I went to high school in Jacksonville and even I was confused at first.... Never heard of Jacksonvill State before. In my day Jacksonville University was known for having Artis Gilmore on the basketball team... doesn't that go back before your time!

 

Mary

[LEtue]

Should I request a specific guide or boat?

 

I didn't. But I'm guessing you could. Once you hear from Eileen you can ask or now that the season is slowing down up there you can call. I understand they have 3 boats now. Two - 6 passenger and One -12 passenger. They do some custom trips so it is probably too early to know where we will end up.

[bellebaby]

I don't recall seeing a dining time discussion. What time has everyone chosen? Any plans for Sabatini's or Crown Grill? I wonder if they will have a Crown Grill Pub Lunch on the Golden?

 

On the Caribbean Princess, I ate in the dining room for lunch on embarkation day. It was great and not as hectic as the buffet. I'm sure we'll try that again.

 

We're not bringing formal wear. Don't know what we'll do on formal evenings. More than likely we'll have a late lunch and snack for dinner or have room service.

 

Mary

[LEtue]

I don't recall seeing a dining time discussion. What time has everyone chosen? Any plans for Sabatini's or Crown Grill? I wonder if they will have a Crown Grill Pub Lunch on the Golden?

 

On the Caribbean Princess, I ate in the dining room for lunch on embarkation day. It was great and not as hectic as the buffet. I'm sure we'll try that again.

 

We're not bringing formal wear. Don't know what we'll do on formal evenings. More than likely we'll have a late lunch and snack for dinner or have room service.

 

Mary

 

Mary, weren't not packing formal wear either but on Princess you can get the same dining options in the bistro for dinner. Formal dress isn't required. A friend of ours actually fixed a plate and brought it back to cabin and dined on the balcony when we sailed together on the Island Princess. We selected anytime dining based on the first 2 port times and not wanting to rush back to the ship and dress for dinner. We've never chosen anytime dining before so I hope we like it. We want to stay very flexible and casual on this cruise which helps in our quest to pack light :)

 

Love the pub lunch so I hope they have that again on one of the later port days where we will be aboard at the right time! Then there is always the International Cafe for a nice lunch too ;)

 

I like the idea of lunch in the dining room when we board. Maybe we'll see you there or plan a small meet & greet for lunch if everyone is interested. Then before we know it we'll be sailing away :D

[deej696]

deej - I went to high school in Jacksonville and even I was confused at first.... Never heard of Jacksonvill State before. In my day Jacksonville University was known for having Artis Gilmore on the basketball team... doesn't that go back before your time!

 

Mary

 

Sorry Mary, but yes its before my time, but I did know that bit of history. They went to a Final Four...little ole Jacksonville University:)

[deej696]

I didn't. But I'm guessing you could. Once you hear from Eileen you can ask or now that the season is slowing down up there you can call. I understand they have 3 boats now. Two - 6 passenger and One -12 passenger. They do some custom trips so it is probably too early to know where we will end up.

 

Should I have emailed Eileen? The website had an address for Kerry listed first, so thats just where I sent it. Does it matter?

 

As far as boat I'd definitely prefer one of the 6 passenger ones, although its not like 12 is a whole lot of people either. We are really looking forward to this...

[deej696]

I don't recall seeing a dining time discussion. What time has everyone chosen? Any plans for Sabatini's or Crown Grill? I wonder if they will have a Crown Grill Pub Lunch on the Golden?

 

On the Caribbean Princess, I ate in the dining room for lunch on embarkation day. It was great and not as hectic as the buffet. I'm sure we'll try that again.

 

We're not bringing formal wear. Don't know what we'll do on formal evenings. More than likely we'll have a late lunch and snack for dinner or have room service.

 

Mary

 

We are also doing Anytime, and it will be our first time doing so on any cruise. I chose it because I figured between the two specialty restaurants and balcony dining, we would only be in the dining room 4 of the 7 nights. That being the case, I figured it would be nice to do our own thing, and not have a set schedule on dinner. We've always had good luck on dinner mates, but on our last one we lucked out and got an awesome table for 2, and so we kinda got spoiled by that a bit.

 

I've read so much about the pub lunch, I really hope they have it. I'm a big fan of fish and chips. Can't wait to head to Epcot for Food and Wine festival in a few weeks, and get my annual dose of fish and chips with a Bass beer:)

[bellebaby]

Sorry Mary, but yes its before my time, but I did know that bit of history. They went to a Final Four...little ole Jacksonville University:)

 

I was a teenager, so I'm sure it was before your time!

 

Mary

[bellebaby]

We, too, chose Anytime Dining... don't want to be rushed. We love staying outside as long as possible in Alaska.

 

Lunch in the dining room on embarkation day is great. Limited menu, but beats fighting the masses! When our cruise gets closer, maybe we can plan to meet for a short lunch.

 

Mary

[LEtue]

Should I have emailed Eileen? The website had an address for Kerry listed first, so thats just where I sent it. Does it matter?

 

As far as boat I'd definitely prefer one of the 6 passenger ones, although its not like 12 is a whole lot of people either. We are really looking forward to this...

 

I believe Eileen will answer. I doubt it matters who you hear from since we will probably be grouped by ship. Let me know who you hear from.

[LEtue]

Can't wait to head to Epcot for Food and Wine festival in a few weeks, and get my annual dose of fish and chips with a Bass beer:)

 

Hey, I'm headed there too! October 15 and 16 :D

[LEtue]

Just noticed that our countdown clocks are under 250 days :D

 

Just think we'll be packing soon!!!

[jbeb]

Linda or anyone....

 

Don't know if you'd be interested or not, but Hyatt has a new credit card offering. Has an annual fee of $75, but they give 2 free nights at any Hyatt in the world for signing up.... Could be used at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle or Hyatt at Olive 8... At today's room rates that would be worth $360 - $450 plus tax. There are negatives for signing up for credit cards just for freebies and then canceling after a year. Not for everyone. One good perk the card has it that it doesn't charge a foreign currency conversion fee.

 

Just passing along info...

 

Mary

Thanks for the heads up Mary! We also enjoy the Capital One card for waiving the conversion fees. Sometimes the come-alongs for charge cards seem welcoming but you are "right" to watch for the hook.

Jan

[jbeb]

I don't recall seeing a dining time discussion. What time has everyone chosen? Any plans for Sabatini's or Crown Grill? I wonder if they will have a Crown Grill Pub Lunch on the Golden?

 

On the Caribbean Princess, I ate in the dining room for lunch on embarkation day. It was great and not as hectic as the buffet. I'm sure we'll try that again.

 

We're not bringing formal wear. Don't know what we'll do on formal evenings. More than likely we'll have a late lunch and snack for dinner or have room service.

 

Mary

We have opted for the traditional early seating. I have heard the specialty dining rooms often offer lunch for special pricing. We think this makes for great value sampling. We have never left the suits and dressy behind before. Doing a 2 week back to back with the Sapphire, I wonder if we would feel we "missed" an option or just "liberated" from the burden of the baggage!!

Something to ponder. I have a feeling Ed would want a tie burning celebration and a bottle of good wine to boot!!

Jan

[LEtue]

We have opted for the traditional early seating. I have heard the specialty dining rooms often offer lunch for special pricing. We think this makes for great value sampling. We have never left the suits and dressy behind before. Doing a 2 week back to back with the Sapphire, I wonder if we would feel we "missed" an option or just "liberated" from the burden of the baggage!!

Something to ponder. I have a feeling Ed would want a tie burning celebration and a bottle of good wine to boot!!

Jan

 

Jan, we usually do early traditional too but thought we would try anytime on this cruise. I hope we like it :)

 

Speacialty dining at lunch would be nice. Do they post that information in the Patter?

[bellebaby]

Jan, we usually do early traditional too but thought we would try anytime on this cruise. I hope we like it :)

 

Speacialty dining at lunch would be nice. Do they post that information in the Patter?

 

We usually opt for early traditional. However, we have determined that it's too early for us in Alaska. We're hungry because of the time change, but too busy to make it that early. As we don't even arrive in Juneau until 1:00 p.m, we'd certainly skip or make alternate plans for dinner that night.

 

We also found that packing formal wear for Alaska was just too much "stuff". With jackets and shoes and sweaters, it got to be overwhelming. Not like the Caribbean where you throw in a few shorts, swimsuits and sandals.

 

Didn't Princess start an earlier "early" seating? I still don't understand the need for that.

 

Mary

[LEtue]

We usually opt for early traditional. However, we have determined that it's too early for us in Alaska. We're hungry because of the time change, but too busy to make it that early. As we don't even arrive in Juneau until 1:00 p.m, we'd certainly skip or make alternate plans for dinner that night.

 

We also found that packing formal wear for Alaska was just too much "stuff". With jackets and shoes and sweaters, it got to be overwhelming. Not like the Caribbean where you throw in a few shorts, swimsuits and sandals.

 

Didn't Princess start an earlier "early" seating? I still don't understand the need for that.

 

Mary

 

I'm with you Mary. Already too much stuff to pack for Alaska without the formal wear!

 

I doubt we will leave for our whale watch trip in Juneau before 2pm so getting back for dinner that night will be impossible. Plus I think we will opt for a stop at Mendenhall on the return. So, more than likely we'll eat in the bistro that night and of course we will have had lunch before we arrive in port.

 

I think this itinerary provides a great chance to try anytime dining :) And I do believe they now have a 5:30pm seating followed by anytime diners afterwards....

[kath00]

Anyone else doing late seating with us? We usually do the 8:30 time even though we eat dinner at home around 5:30 or 6. But we find on the cruises that because of all of the food and snacking all day, we are hardly ever hungry before 8ish. Even the kids, who love to eat early, are so full from all the buffets and ice cream and so on that they have no desire to eat before then.

 

I also like being able to see the shows early (for the kids this is great). I too am leaving any formalwear home. I am packing a black rayon skirt and sparkly top but no gowns or tuxes. DH usually has a button down, tie and coat for formal night and that works just fine.

 

Katherine

[bellebaby]

Unexpected tropical storm coming into Texas south of the Houston area. Very rainy here today and for the next few days..

 

Here's a big welcome to the newest Houstonian... Matt Leinart...:rolleyes:

 

Mary