Constellation transatlantic April 28th

[freshjive1479]

Hello guys. I've been absent for the last week or so as I've been flying my little tail off before we leave on the Connie. In the interim, I've managed to come down with a nasty cold that I am fighting voraciously. I am determined not to have to convalesce in my cabin for any significant portion of this cruise and take the chance of missing out on the fun.

 

Rob finished his last trip yesterday and is now officially on vacation while I'm in the hinterlands of Vermont awaiting my Barbie-jet that will take me back to the cornfields of Hoosierville, USA. Of course tomorrow will be spent completing last-minute errands and doing the requisite final load of laundry. I have to keep remembering in the back of my mind that all of this will pay off in a little more than 48 hours. I think we are all ready to be "treated famously aboard a Celebrity Cruise."

[BEAV]

Well, this is it folks. I've printed my boarding passes (Jet Blue, Beav) and am going over to the other thread to say "until Friday..." to everyone else, so see ya' then. Safe travel everyone...

 

Andrew

 

We're leaving from Oakland, too, but on United at 12:30pm. Maybe we'll see you there ... same terminal, I think! Should I have them page "Blazerboy" over the airport intercom? :)

 

John (freshjive) I empathize with you. I was in your shoes last week, so here's wishing you a speedy recovery.

 

See the rest of you on Friday! :D

[wingsrcl]

O.K. boys. Tomorrow will be a busy day so we will sign off today. Looking forward to our get together and wishing all Bon Voyage.

 

John: Hope you are feeling better.

 

Ruy and Dennis

[rienreiter]

Signing off here too. May check in again tomorrow just in case there's some last minute posting that needs reading. Tomorrow will be my last minute errands and packing day. See all of you at 7:00 at Michaels (if not before).

 

Regards, Juan

[Blue Peter]

Gentlemen, it has been nice talking and especially reading you on this site. Now, we will do it live on board.

 

As everyone agrees, tomorrow (thursday) will be a busy day. So I will signoff as well. You all have a safe journey to Cape Liberty.

 

Michael's Club, friday, Promenade Deck at 19h00, it is.

 

Francois,

[Bryan&Roger]

Guys was so great to meet y'all. We're home, unpacked and ready to get on with married life. ha!

We had a ball. Made the trip the best ever for us. Looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Bryan and Roger:D

[Bryan&Roger]

And hope we can share pics we've taken. Not that we do much more than video.

Bryan

[rienreiter]

Hello Bryan & Roger and All:

 

I had a fantastic time thanks to all of you. It was a great pleasure having met each and everyone one of you and hope to have the opportunity to sail with you again in the future.

 

Regards,

Juan

[Karynanne]

Hi everyone....I wanted to post on this thread and let you all know how lovely it was to meet you all. Our "Stelleto Gang" had so much fun, and all of you only enhanced the fun!

 

Karyn

[joelmarj]

Ditto Karyn's comments. It was such a pleasure meeting each of you. We had a great time, and was only enhanced by meeting great folks like yourselves! Look forward to future sailings with the Stiletto Gang and Stiletto Stealers!

[wingsrcl]

We had a fantastic time with you guys! We are finallly home and unpacked. Back to work on Monday. I can't wait for the next transatlantic. Hugs. Ruy and Dennis

[BEAV]

Hi guys,

 

We made it back home late Friday night. Tons o' laundry and mail Saturday, then back to work early Sunday morning. I'm ready for another cruise!!!

 

The Transatlantic sailing was GREAT. I loved the laid back feel aboard a ship that doesn't see land for 7 straight days! Not the busyness of those damn 7 day cruises from Florida!

 

Now a favor, please: Rui, Francois and Juan...each of you gave me your email addresses, but do you think I can find them now that I'm home? Drop me a line when you get the chance so that I can harrass you occasionally with emails! thebeav@astound.net

 

Juan, are you all packed and ready to go again! ?? !! :D :mad: :D Need someone to carry your suitcases? ;) Hope you have another phabulous cruise on Connie!

[Blazerboy]

Hey kids, finally back in the saddle, so to speak, and, like everyone else, had a great time meeting all of you. Hope we get to do it again!

 

Andrew

[rienreiter]

Hi Beav:

 

Looks like you're hooked on transatlantics. I don't blame you. I think I am also.

 

I just sent you an email providing you with my email address.

 

I start packing for our Baltic cruise tomorrow. My partner already started picking out his wardrobe this weekend and has pretty much finished except just putting everything in the suitcase.

 

Do we need help with our suitcases? Sure!!! Would welcome your help. How about an encore get together at Ocean Liners for dinner?

 

Less than 48 hours before we leave!

 

Regards,

[jbear$]

Mikey is now hooked on the concept of T/A. It's my 4th in this lifetime. I hope that some of us have the chance to meet again. We are are rather low key personanalities. (Except for rare lapses) Maybe next time a wild streak wll emerge. We hope to book on the Westbound 2007 Connie. All Sea Days. It is a relaxing departure from the every day pressures of life. Anyway regards and all the best to a wonderful group of fellow travelers. J and Mikey

[Blazerboy]

Hey j and mikey- great meeting you both. Sorry we didn't get to spend more time together, but I just ran into Gary and Michael (Beav) in the local Safeway. We joked on the cruise that we live half a mile from eachother, and have to go on a cruise to see eachother, and even then, we didn't see much of eachother...

 

So maybe next time...but glad to hear you're both now among the TA fans- and congrats on the booking. We're doing a Med cruise then, but there's always 2008!

 

Juan, hope you and your partner are having a great time in the Baltics!

 

Andrew

[BEAV]

Hey j and mikey- great meeting you both. Sorry we didn't get to spend more time together, but I just ran into Gary and Michael (Beav) in the local Safeway. We joked on the cruise that we live half a mile from eachother, and have to go on a cruise to see eachother, and even then, we didn't see much of eachother...

 

So maybe next time...but glad to hear you're both now among the TA fans- and congrats on the booking. We're doing a Med cruise then, but there's always 2008!

 

Juan, hope you and your partner are having a great time in the Baltics!

 

Andrew

 

Since you're such a good sport, Blazerboy, I'm gonna have a little fun here at your expense! Although I've been called many names, Michael just isn't one of them! :D You can find my true identity on post #50 of this thread!

 

But seriously, don't feel bad. Gary often "slips up" and calls me "Steve", which was his former partner of 17 years! :eek:

[Blazerboy]

Brian, I don't have to go to no stinkin' post to 'know' your name! :D

 

Dyslexia is a terrible thing, and for you to make fun of me is unforgivable!;)

 

No, I think I must be short on my synapse-firing lately- I e-mailed Ali and Ian, and called her Julie once, and Ali once, and Ian had to point it out.:rolleyes:

 

My profound apologies- must have come from the J and Mikey part of the post.

 

Oh, and I haven't called Ed "Peter" (partner of 11 years) in a while, as that usually causes a bumpy night, and not in a good way...:eek:

 

But now with my focus on not calling you Michael ever again, guess what I'll call you...oy, having the brain of a flea isn't easy....

 

Andrew

[wingsrcl]

Hello "you all"!

 

Reality has settled in and we glad to be home. We had to deal with the rain and floods but now everything is back to normal.

 

We have wonderful memories of our cruise and 800 pictures to prove it.

 

We hope to see you on another transatlantic. Constellation east bound next year looks very appealing.

 

R&D

[BEAV]

Blazerboy, all is forgiven! I wrote it off by the fact you have to oversee so many roll call lists! :eek: I suppose it wouldn't be a good idea for you, me, Ed, Gary, Patrick and Steve to get together for cocktails and dinner sometime. Could get ugly!

 

Ruy,

 

Any damage from the flood? Hope not too bad. How were your post-cruise days in Prague?

 

Are your 800 pictures posted on the web anywhere?

 

I checked Connie's ship cam a few hours ago and she's in Stockholm today. Lucky, lucky Juan!

[rienreiter]

Hi Guys!

 

I cannot believe that this thread is still alive and kicking. Must be an indication of the good times that we had on board the Connie and how fond we are of the memories of all of you wonderful folks that we met on board.

 

Just got back from our Northern Europe cruise this past Saturday night. Our cruise was beyond fantastic. Weather was great everywhere except in Oslo (Norway) where it poured for most of our 3-hour walking tour. I guess we now have an incentive for trying to return there and hope for sunshine.

 

For those of you who have not done this itinerary, I greatly recommend it. The scandinavian countries are simply beautiful (had been to Stockholm and Helsinki twice before) but it is always nice to go back with friends who have not been there. As I am sure that Ruy and Dennis will testify, there are no words to describe St. Petersburg. For me, this was the highlight of the whole cruise.

 

To my amazement, there was no roll call for our cruise on this board. However, by the time that the cruise was over, I must have met between 30 and 40 family members. I also met one guy who had posted on the hetero board but said that he was not aware of "our" board. The cruise director was not the same one as when we sailed and there was no FOD meetings during the first few days. However, after one couple brought it up to his attention, it was placed on the activities calendar and we must have had about 4 or 5. He even showed up for the first one. I remember when I met Andrew at the M&M that he indicated that our ship was FOF. Well, this cruise was no exception.

 

We tremendously enjoyed our Celebrity Suite on deck 8. The floor-to-ceiling windows provided the perfect way to sit in our living room and watch the world go by. Having a butler handle all of our needs most definitely enhanced our cruise.

 

I often remembered all of you during our 14 days on the Connie and all of the good times that we had. We were seated between the table where Andrew, Ed, Marge, and Karyn were seated and the table that we occupied during the TA (I reserved that table when we were on the TA).

 

It was funny bumping into crew that I had seen and they would walk up to me and say "Weren't you here 2 weeks ago?" or "I've seen you before."

 

And last, but not least, I took advantage of the opportunity of being on board to book another cruise and get a $200 on-board credit. I will be doing the westbound TA on the Brilliance OTS in November from Barcelona. I did this same TA last year and had a great time. The price was not bad for a 13-day TA specially considering that I will be going solo again. Anyone want to join me?

 

Regards to all of you and take care,

Juan

[wingsrcl]

We are so happy to hear you had a wonderful cruise to the Baltic countries. It's a great destination. We haven't booked anything else yet, but we are looking around. It would be difficult to get more time off this year. Constellation next year has a nice itinerary and it leaves from your neighborhood. hugs. R&D

[Blazerboy]

Juan, what a great report...glad you had a good time! Susan and Ed were on the cruise before yours, and also had a good time, but said that Goran seemed quite relieved that our table was gone...he even said the tables around us were getting high from all the wine fumes...:D

 

We too managed to book a few things- we're up to three booked, and one in the planning stages...1. Hawaii in 4 months, 2. Florida(a quickie 5 day from Miami to Key West, some Caribbean island where we won't get off, and back to Miami on the Century! Join us April 2, 2007!) and 3. the Med cruise we booked on board for Fall '07. For # 4, We're looking at the Mercury for the NZ to Hawaii trip in March of '08...how scarry is it that we're planning trip two years out.:eek:

 

Hope everyone's well- remember to let us know if you're heading to S.F.

 

Andrew

[rienreiter]

Hi Andrew, Ruy, and all: Forgot to include on my previous post that when we awoke at our hotel in Dover on the Saturday morning of departure, a note had been slipped under the door that the Constellation would not be docking in Dover due to the very high winds and rough seas. Instead, it docked in Harwich which is about 2 & 1/2 hours north. So, we arrived at the Dover dock around noon, labeled our bags, got on the bus, and rode until 3 PM when we arrived in Harwich. At 5 PM there were still buses arriving from Dover. We finally departed at 7 PM. Other than that, it was nothing short of a great cruise. This will be one that will be remembered for a very long time.

 

Ruy: Haven't checked into any itineraries for next year. I think I have to start looking for a job first. Plan to start doing so in January after 14 months of staying at home and frequent cruising (the sea kind, you pervert). Please tell Dennis that I said hello. Francois is trying to convince me to change my westbound trans-atlantic cruise to the Century as he said that he will be on board and possibly John and Rob. I have not yet decided as the Century will not be stopping in Lisbon while the Brilliance is and I really would like to return to Lisbon.

 

Andrew: You never know if I may be coming your way. I'm taking a look at the Dawn Princess to the Mexican Riviera in October which departs from San Francisco. Have always wanted to visit Acapulco and this will be the perfect way to do it. If you see Brian (Beav) and Gary, please tell them that I said hello. By the way, you two guys sure are busy booking up future cruises. Live it up! You only live once.

 

Regards,

Juan

[tanqueray tango]

i'm on second seating for dinner too, thought these might be the more interesting of the group, not one to run from show to show, gin man