Mike & Tracy’s Excellent Adventure: B2B2B2B on Destiny, Imagination, Valor, Freedom

[CapsR1]

Your reviews were the best I have ever read. I sent a card to your wife several months ago, I hope she is doing well.

 

Great story about how you met, it was fate that brought you together.

 

Wishing you all the best.

[MikeyA53]

Your reviews were the best I have ever read. I sent a card to your wife several months ago, I hope she is doing well.

 

Great story about how you met, it was fate that brought you together.

 

Wishing you all the best.

 

 

Hi this is Tracy,

I'm glad to be home. Training was very hard, but it's over....Phew!! Thank you for the card it made me feel very supported and helped me to keep going when the going got tough. I hope you and your family had a great time on your cruise in May. Your son is a real cutey. :)

 

I would also like to thank the other cruisers for their cards and well wishes. They were greatly appreciated, unfortunately Depot (training academy) was too busy for me to respond while I was there, and the internet was not readily available.

I can't wait to go on another cruise. Hope our paths cross.

Tracy :)

[ThinkingWoman]

Tracy,

It might be best for you and Mike NOT to announce your cruises, that is if you would like some alone time, as the ship would sell out in a heart beat!

[MikeyA53]

Tracy,

It might be best for you and Mike NOT to announce your cruises, that is if you would like some alone time, as the ship would sell out in a heart beat!

 

That's what cabin's are for! :D

[lulu13]

As someone who has been reading your reviews bit by bit over the last many months, I wanted to express my congratulations to both of you and your family for what must have been a difficult number of months. I find your family and your life stories to be a shining example for others. I also greatly enjoyed your reviews and photos. You make me wish I was a Canadian to share in your wonderful service to your Country. Keep up the good work, and enjoy many more cruises because life is definitely too short not to enjoy. :)

[MikeyA53]

As someone who has been reading your reviews bit by bit over the last many months, I wanted to express my congratulations to both of you and your family for what must have been a difficult number of months. I find your family and your life stories to be a shining example for others. I also greatly enjoyed your reviews and photos. You make me wish I was a Canadian to share in your wonderful service to your Country. Keep up the good work, and enjoy many more cruises because life is definitely too short not to enjoy. :)

 

 

Thank you lulu13, very kind of you. Mike & Tracy :):)

[Buffettfan 225]

Congratulations to Tracey and your family! I'm sure you are all proud of her. It's quite an inspiration to see someone embark on such a presitgious new career path and its also a pleasure to read along with the adventures of your family! Are your kids inspired to be mounties too?

I was wondering the same thing.

I wonder next cruise formal night--two R.C.M.P in formals or back to formal dress shopping again for Tracy? Still like that white dress she wore unknowingly for your proposal on the B2B cruise. A lot of heads will turn for two dressed in red -MDR show stopper for sure.

[Captain Canuck]

..you get the best of Wales coming to you

 

I go to Wales and am not so lucky. Went when I was in University a long time ago. 6 weeks on a Britrail pass. Did a horse back ride up the hills..they call them mountains..in Alberta they are hills...anyhow half way up a hill my horse got a bee in its butt...he started acting up and I started to neck rein...had never ridden English before..swear to god the horse quit doing his thing and just kind of turned his head and looked at me as if to say "what the Hell are you doing???"

 

hope you and Tracy are doing well. Our next cruise is under 100 days from now on the Allure. Makes the coming fall cold weather easier to take.

[MikeyA53]

..you get the best of Wales coming to you

 

I go to Wales and am not so lucky. Went when I was in University a long time ago. 6 weeks on a Britrail pass. Did a horse back ride up the hills..they call them mountains..in Alberta they are hills...anyhow half way up a hill my horse got a bee in its butt...he started acting up and I started to neck rein...had never ridden English before..swear to god the horse quit doing his thing and just kind of turned his head and looked at me as if to say "what the Hell are you doing???"

 

hope you and Tracy are doing well. Our next cruise is under 100 days from now on the Allure. Makes the coming fall cold weather easier to take.

 

 

Thanks Captain, we're doing quite well. I certaintly would like to meet you some day, I bet you must have quite a few more good stories up your sleeves. The Allure. I'm jealous. :)

[Cruise_Q]

Mike and Tracy

What a wonderful love story...many years of blessings to you both!!!

Q

[MikeyA53]

Mike and Tracy

What a wonderful love story...many years of blessings to you both!!!

Q

 

Thank you Cruise_Q. :):)

[VibraTech]

Mike and Tracy,

 

Seems like you're over due for another cruise :p

 

Has Tracy finished her Mountie training?

Julie

[MikeyA53]

Mike and Tracy,

 

Seems like you're over due for another cruise :p

 

Has Tracy finished her Mountie training?

Julie

 

Yes we are due but unfortunately we can't plan anything yet. Tracy graduated 4 weeks ago (photos on previous pages, page 88) and is now on the job. :)

Edited September 13, 2011 by MikeyA53

[finzup-kt]

I know I'm a bit late for the party but can I say, what a fantastic review! I only recently joined CC (have never cruised (yet!)) and have been devouring the reviews but yours is the best review I've ever read!

 

I have one question, I noticed a necklace Tracy was wearing in post # 205

Any idea where it came from? It's really interesting and pretty!

 

Thanks again for such a great review.. !

[MikeyA53]

I know I'm a bit late for the party but can I say, what a fantastic review! I only recently joined CC (have never cruised (yet!)) and have been devouring the reviews but yours is the best review I've ever read!

 

I have one question, I noticed a necklace Tracy was wearing in post # 205

Any idea where it came from? It's really interesting and pretty!

 

Thanks again for such a great review.. !

 

 

Thank you finzup-kt. I got it while on our very first cruise in 2009 on Carnival Sensation in Nassau. In one of the little shops when you first get of the ship. Tracy

[finzup-kt]

Thank you finzup-kt. I got it while on our very first cruise in 2009 on Carnival Sensation in Nassau. In one of the little shops when you first get of the ship. Tracy

 

Nice! The itinerary we are planning on booking has Nassau in it, so hopefully I can find something similar

 

:D Thanks!

[sarahmkruse]

Awesome review! I loved seeing your photos of the Freedom as it was the first cruise Hubby and I took together! :) Makes me want to plan a B2B in the near future! :)

[Winterstale]

Late for the party here too! And seriously? I'm still only back on page 19 of the review so I've got pages and pages still to enjoy! But I just HAD to tell you I don't think I have EVER 'teared up' on cruise critic (unless I was falling down laughing at the trolls who post sometimes :D) -- your proposal made me all misty and then when I scrolled here to post, I saw your "how I met my sweetheart" story - thanks, I needed more mascara down my face here at the office! You should sell your story to Lifetime Television! Fantastic reviews, pics - thanks so much for sharing your lives with us here!

 

You guys don't by any chance actually sail, do you? We have a whole flotilla that sails the BVI every summer and your family would be a GREAT addition to our group! :D

[MikeyA53]

Awesome review! I loved seeing your photos of the Freedom as it was the first cruise Hubby and I took together! :) Makes me want to plan a B2B in the near future! :)

 

 

Thank you sarahmkruse, glad you liked it. :)

[MikeyA53]

Late for the party here too! And seriously? I'm still only back on page 19 of the review so I've got pages and pages still to enjoy! But I just HAD to tell you I don't think I have EVER 'teared up' on cruise critic (unless I was falling down laughing at the trolls who post sometimes :D) -- your proposal made me all misty and then when I scrolled here to post, I saw your "how I met my sweetheart" story - thanks, I needed more mascara down my face here at the office! You should sell your story to Lifetime Television! Fantastic reviews, pics - thanks so much for sharing your lives with us here!

 

You guys don't by any chance actually sail, do you? We have a whole flotilla that sails the BVI every summer and your family would be a GREAT addition to our group! :D

 

 

Hi Winterstale, thanks for reading our review. We have never sailed, maybe some day. (BVI ?? )

[Buffettfan 225]

WOW!!!! Just spent the past 12 HOURS :eek: reading your beautiful review. (BTW :rolleyes: for the peanut gallery, I do have a life. I work 12-hour shift on nights and I had last night off. LOL!) It was almost like a mini novel and I loved it! You sound like a real "Sweetheart" Mike and I'm sure Tracy is blessed to have you in her life. I would like to THANK YOU for sharing that portion of your life and your beautiful family with us.

 

One question for this dreamy novel...How/where did you guys meet?

 

Now that's quite a story, I actually entered a Valentine contest a few years ago titled " How you met your sweetheart" and won first prize (tickets to a theatre performance). When I get back home I'll post it.

 

 

You know I think what kept me intrigued with your review was that fact that you didn't dwell on the small stuff. Some people write their reviews dictating thier dislikes, criticisms, mishaps, and anything negative that goes on. Instead of focusing in the positive memories that they encountered, they prefer to discuss the dirty roomservice trays left in the halls and how long they remaind there, or if the ocean view window remained dirty the entire cruise, or if they chose to wait 15 minutes for the elevator instead of taking the stairs. Silly stuff. I commend you for focusing on the positive. It tells a lot about your character and how you realize there are more important things to focus on than the negative. Kudos to you!

 

Blessings to Tracy as she completes her training and to you and your family as you guys continue to have "happy" travels.

 

Looking forward to your future cruise reviews.

 

 

A couple of weeks ago Klcruiser asked how and where did we meet. Well it’s a true love story of a lonely Canadian boy and a beautiful Welsh girl and since I love telling the story, here it is.

 

In December,1992 I was at the RCMP Training Academy in Regina, Saskatchewan. One of my troop mates, Jason was flying home to New Brunswick to attend court when a snowstorm forced an extended stopover in Toronto. While there, Jason met Doris, Tracy’s grandmother who was flying from Wales, UK with Tracy to visit her son in Winnipeg. Playing the matchmaker, Doris introduced Tracy to Jason. Though there was no interest from Tracy, Doris invited Jason to visit them in Winnipeg over the Christmas Holidays.

 

After the holidays Jason and I were on the same plane going back to Regina when he stopped in Winnipeg to visit my future wife.

 

Following that visit, Doris made further arrangements for Tracy to attend a party with Jason on Jan 16th , 1993, in Morris, Manitoba, a small village near the North Dakota border. She even extended their stay in Canada because she wanted to keep Tracy away from Great Britain and her ex-boyfriend as long as possible.

The event was an engagement party for one of my troop mates. I attended with several others from my troop. When we arrived, we booked into our hotel and was met by this older gentlemen who invited us over to his house for dinner. We later found out that he was the father of one of our instructors and that he was waiting at the hotel for everyone to arrive.

 

At the house I was sitting in the living room when Jason came in with this gorgeous girl. She sat across from me on the sofa, we started chatting about where she was from and why she was in Canada. I remember loving her accent and thinking why can’t I find a girl like her. Jason doesn’t deserve her, he has a girlfriend at the academy and one back home. I also noticed that she was sitting on the edge of the sofa and that Jason was trying to put his arm around her but it looked like she wasn’t interested.

 

Once at the party, I danced with Tracy, but noticed Jason giving me dirty looks. Rather than making a troop mate angry, I decided to stay away from her. At least that was the plan. A few minutes later, Terrie, one of my female troop mates who was seated next to Tracy called me over to their table. She told me to ask Tracy to dance. During that slow waltz I asked Tracy what was that all about and she told me that she had confessed to Terrie that she ‘fancied me’, I responded " the feeling is mutual, what are we going to do about Jason". Tracy responded " don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it".

 

We spent the evening together and the next day I dropped her off in Winnipeg. The following weekend I visited her and her family in Winnipeg and she came to visit me a couple of times in Regina.

Five weeks before my graduation Tracy had to return home to Wales.

 

We had fallen in love. We continued our relationship by exchanging letters and the occasional very expensive telephone call. (For the younger readers, this was before E-mails and when the telephone companies had a monopoly on rates).

 

After I graduated , I spent 12 days in Wales with Tracy’s family. Then she flew back to Canada with me and on Oct 2nd, 1993 we were married.

 

To this day, Jan 16th is more important to us than our anniversary date. Was it love at first sight, it was for me. For Tracy that’s not quite true, she would argue that she fell in love with me even before she met me. On that fateful day almost 19 years ago she told me that she had a photograph of me and to my surprise she produced a torn photo of me sitting on my dorm bed. Jason had sent her a photo of himself and she had noticed me in the background. She had cut Jason out of the photo and kept the one of me.

 

Initially she was very angry that her grandmother had set her up with Jason again but when she received a letter and that photo of me in the background, she admitted looking at my photo in the evenings and thinking how handsome, fit and muscular I was and thinking "Why can I not meet someone like this." After finding out from Jason that some of his troop mates would be attending the party, Tracy agreed to go in the hopes she would meet me.

 

Was it fate that brought us together, I would like to think so. A couple of years before Tracy first came to Canada, she visited a very religious fortune teller ( her fee was a donation to her church) who predicted much of our future. Even though Tracy doesn’t really believe in fortune tellers, she agreed to accompany a friend to this one. This old lady told her she would move to another country, that she would marry a French guy (I’m French Canadian) who wore two uniforms, one of them red. We would have two children and would be together for 37 years. I hope she’s wrong about the years together because they only way I’ll leave Tracy is ‘Till death do us part’. She also described in detail where we would live and so on. Creepy!:eek:

 

 

 

 

This photo was taken on the night we met, Jan 16th, 1993. Neither one of us had a camera but Tracy, knowing the significance of that night, found someone to take our picture.

 

 

 

 

 

In Feb 2008 I entered our story without Tracy’s knowledge, in a newspaper contest titled "How you met your sweetheart". Our story along with one other couple’s story was awarded the first prize (tickets to a theater performance). Our stories came out on Valentine day.

 

 

 

 

Ok half of CC members get teary eyed when reading the CC renewal of vows cruise thread, and now a publsihed love story? What's next up his sleeve... we all love you Mike and so Happy for Tracy to be done with training, best wishes to the family reunited.

[MikeyA53]

Ok half of CC members get teary eyed when reading the CC renewal of vows cruise thread, and now a publsihed love story? What's next up his sleeve... we all love you Mike and so Happy for Tracy to be done with training, best wishes to the family reunited.

 

 

Thank you Buffettfan 225 for your best wishes and all the best to both of you. Happy cruising. :)

[ddcile5]

At this time I do not have time to read Mike"s whole review.:( But can anyone tell me what page the vow renewal starts?? I would love to read it !! I will eventually read the whole review just not now. Thanks!

 

P.S. Congratulations on Traceys graduation etc from the academy. :D

 

Diana

[MikeyA53]

At this time I do not have time to read Mike"s whole review.:( But can anyone tell me what page the vow renewal starts?? I would love to read it !! I will eventually read the whole review just not now. Thanks!

 

P.S. Congratulations on Traceys graduation etc from the academy. :D

 

Diana

 

Thank you Diana, the proposal is on page 19 and the renewal is on page 32. :)

Edited September 24, 2011 by MikeyA53

[GInMom2]

:sniff sniff: I was trying to type that, but couldn't see the keyboard for the tears in my eyes :sniff sniff: