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Catnip
Charter Member
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Posted: Thu Oct 11th, 2007 11:17 pm | 26th Post |
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BeckyThane wrote: Don't stop now! I'm waiting to hear about how your evening went!!!
tap, tap, tap.................we're all waiting!!!!!!!
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33 previous cruises..
Next up: Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3-09/ QM 2 11-09/ Queen Victoria 1/10
**Triangles Are For Losers!**
When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state"
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Luvs Free Style Croozn
Cruiser
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Posted: Fri Oct 12th, 2007 12:11 am | 27th Post |
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I am waiting, too. This is such a good diary. I love it. It certainly is entertaining and fun to read. I want another cruise......I'm waiting LOL.
:popcorn:It is like watching a movie. :popcorn:
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NCL Cruises
Southward 8/89 5 days
Spirit 4/06 7 Days
Spirit 4/07-5/07 b2b
Spirit 10/07 ctn
Crown Last Voyage 10/07-11/07 7 Days
Majesty 2/08 7 Days
Spirit 3/08-4/08 Repo 14 Days
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Lotteryfan
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Posted: Fri Oct 12th, 2007 02:02 am | 28th Post |
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Since we were pretty full from all the food that we had eaten earlier, we decided to eat dinner very late. This allowed us time to catch the 7:15 showing of a comedienne known as John Knight. He was introduced by Ray-Ray as having been on HBO and Comedy Central. It seems like all comediennes are introduced like that nowadays.
It usually takes a lot for me to laugh but I’m generally happy with a comedienne if I crack a smile. This guy had me laughing a lot. And I seemed to be laughing at all his dirty material. Now, he wasn’t cursing or anything like that but he was telling stories that just had me dying.
He said that he just couldn’t stand it when he hears a woman complain to another woman when she doesn’t know what to get her husband for his birthday. He said he has the perfect gift. It doesn’t cost anything. It doesn’t take much work. Every man wants one and if he has it he wants another one. Then he asked the crowd if we knew what it was. We were all puzzled at first until he referred to it as a “BJ”. One woman laughed so hard that she had us all laughing. Then the comedienne asked that woman if she had just given her man one. She laughed even harder which had us all laughing. John said something like, “You see. It didn’t cost you anything....... But it cost him a lot…this freaking cruise.” The comedienne then told her which cabin number he was staying in.
Continuing along those lines he told us that when he watches porn with his lady, the lady questions why he likes to watch others having sex. He said he would like to watch himself having sex but that she wouldn’t let him tape them. He said that this might be a good thing because who wants to watch fifteen minutes of complaining. (Ouch. Get off my hair! I have a leg cramp! Get that thing away from my face! Did you just pass gas?)
Then he started with all of us in the audience. He wanted to know who goes on an ocean cruise for one night? “Did your friends ask you to go on a cruise with them and you said, sure, but I have to be back in the morning”?
I can’t remember too much else but I did enjoy his act.
He was finished about 8pm so we made our way to the Stardust theatre to see the NCL Production Company put on the show, “On The Radio”.
While waiting for the show to start, the cruise ship hosts were pushing their lottery games. Now, there is a reason why I am called the Lotteryfan. I collect lottery memorabilia and I have played in just about every legal lottery game across this country. Two things bothered me about these sales. First they were pushing “Instant Win Pull-Tabs” as they call them. Earlier this year they were calling them “Krack-its”. Some cruisers call them “rip-offs”. They always say that normally you would get four strips of tickets for $20.00 but on this occasion you can get five strips of tickets for $20.00. Yet, on every cruise I have been on they always start you off with five strips and eventually work their way up to six or even seven strips for the $20.00. They made it sound like we were getting a bargain when they weren’t really giving one.
Then they had a new game in which they were selling tickets with quick-pick numbers on them for a chance to win over $121,000. They were promoting them as “winning” tickets yet there was no guarantee they were winners. I’ll discuss this more in detail later on.
We were there to see the show anyway although we had seen this show three times already. I found myself comparing the people in this cast with the people that I remembered from the cast that was on the ship last April and May when we were on the Norwegian Spirit. Both casts were very good and the show was about an hour of non-stop hits. I plan on seeing it again when we're on the Spirt next March.
Next up; Windows for dinner.
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All NCL:
1989, Aug, Southward, 5 days
2006, April, Spirit, 7 days
2007, March, April, Spirit, 14 days back to back
2007, Oct, Spirit,1 night ctn
2007, Oct, Crown 7 days, on its last voyage
2008, Feb, Majesty
2008, March, April 14 day Spirit repo
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Lotteryfan
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Posted: Sat Oct 13th, 2007 02:16 pm | 29th Post |
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After the Stardust show we went to Windows for dinner. It was open until 10:30, which I believe is later than it usually stays open until during regular cruises. We got there at about 9:45 and there wasn’t any line. I did notice a table setup just outside the entrance which contained those electronic gizmos that restaurants give out to waiting patrons when it gets too busy. They are the handheld things that either light up or vibrate when it is your turn to be seated. By the time we got to Windows there was no need for their use.
We looked at the menu but were unimpressed with what they were offering on this night. I am a very fussy eater who does not like to try new things. I like my food bland and I like to eat the same things all the time. However, I knew that although it doesn’t say it on the menu, we are able to order grilled chicken with some vegetables in place of the entrees being offered. Now, I don’t remember exactly what was being offered but the entrees did not appeal to me and I didn't want to eat in the Raffles buffet on this trip.
As we entered the restaurant I attempted to give the hostess my key card to have it swiped. I don’t know why they do this as there is no charge but on this evening I was told they didn’t need the card. Maybe it’s done differently on the one nighters. As they tried to figure out where to seat us from a diagram, I joked that I wanted a table on the outside, which, of course, is impossible as there are no tables outside. The look I got was priceless.
My wife does not like to sit by any of the windows as it makes her nervous so we usually sit somewhere in the middle of the room. As we were seated, the waitress put my napkin on my lap and my wife’s napkin on her lap. I then asked if we were too early for the Chocoholics buffet as it was held in Windows when we were last on the ship. The waitress joked that we would have to wait for Boston as apparently that is when they have it on the Canada/New England run.
Since none of the items throughout the menu appealed to us, we started with a plate of plain, sliced fruit consisting of watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, and pineapple. From there we had a lettuce and tomato salad and then the main course of grilled chicken and steamed vegetables. Dessert for me was vanilla ice cream. Despite our lack of creativity for the food we were full.
After dinner the wife wanted to check out some of the shops. I had known earlier that the shops were closing at 11pm but by the time we got to the main souvenir shop on the eighth floor, near the photography station, at 10:45, they were already closing their doors. This didn’t allow us much time for souvenir shopping. It didn’t matter to me because we had been on the ship twice before and had gotten all the Norwegian Spirit souvenirs we had wanted previously. My wife, on the other hand, was disappointed that the shops closed so early.
The photo area was very busy as many people were looking for the pictures that had been taken earlier. We only had one picture snapped of us and that was just before we boarded the ship. When we located our picture we noticed that our picture had been superimposed on three different scenes. You might remember that when we had the picture taken we were standing in front of a green screen.
The first picture was of us standing in front of the ship. We usually buy that one since it has the ship’s name, and date of the cruise stamped on the picture’s border, along with some caricatures of New York’s icons. However, this time we didn’t like the picture and chose not to purchase it. The second picture was of us standing in Times Square. However, the way the picture was situated, we looked larger than the buildings. The third picture was kind of a generic picture with something that looked like flames in the background. On this trip we did not purchase any of the pictures.
By now it was 11:00 and the shops on the seventh floor, that were selling liquor, jewelry, perfume and cigarettes, were all closed. I had no intention of buying any of these things but it just seemed that they all closed so early.
From here we went up to the Galaxy of the Stars to catch the final minutes of “The Quest” game. We had seen this on an earlier cruise and really didn’t like the game. Upon our entrance to the showroom, we saw five men standing in front of the band area, with their shirts off, in their underwear, and wearing a bra flipped over their heads. A few minutes later the game was over and most of the people had left the showroom.
We knew that “Fusion Wave” were about to take the stage and wanted to do a little dancing with the band. However, there were maybe a dozen people who stayed around to listen to the music and only my wife and I were on the dance floor. This was a little embarrassing for me so after a couple of songs I sat down.
I had heard that the crowd on these one nighters tend to get drunk and rowdy but I didn’t see any of this on this cruise, except for maybe that woman that attacked me earlier just before the sailaway. In fact, I wondered where all the people had gone.
A short time later we decided to go to the casino. I had forgotten my slot card at home so I decided that I wasn’t going to do any gambling on this trip. The first thing that I noticed was that the casino was just about empty also. Wherever the people went, they certainly weren’t in the casino.
The second thing I noticed was that my favorite two slot machines were gone. As soon as you walked into the casino there used to be a Star Wars video slot machine and an Apprentice video slot machine. Both games had been gone from their usual spot and I could not find them in the casino. I know that casinos usually replace their slot machines based of how much action is played on a machine. On my recent back to back cruise I had a tough time getting to play on these games since they were always occupied. I wondered why the games had been removed.
The third thing that I had noticed was the ship's new lottery game. You might remember that earlier in the evening I was a little upset that the people working on the ship were selling quick pick "winning" lottery tickets when in fact there was no guarantee that the tickets were "winning" tickets.
You had to pick five numbers from a field of 60 numbers and the ship's people picked five numbers, or rather a large clear, bubble machine picked five numbers in the same manner that either the bingo numbers on the ship are picked or the way your local lottery numbers are picked.. If the five numbers picked matched your five numbers you would win the jackpot of over $121,000. If four of your numbers matched their five numbers you would win $2,000 and if three of your numbers matched their five numbers you would win $100. each line of five numbers cost $2.00.
I thought about playing a particular set of numbers but there was no action around the lottery table so I figured the game wasn't popular. Had I been on a longer journey I probably would have played the same set of five numbers for each night. On this one nighter I didn't feel the need to play.
The drawing would take place at 1am and here was my concern. If you weren't there to collect at 1am, where would the numbers be shown and how would you collect? At some point during the middle of the night, the casino would have to close down. It wasn't like you could go check the numbers and collect in the morning since the casino would be closed as the ship would be too close to land.
Next a little walk into the nightclub area behind the casino and I discovered that this was where everyone went. The room was crowded and the music was loud. After a few minutes the wife wanted to leave.
Next up: The rest of the evening.
____________________
All NCL:
1989, Aug, Southward, 5 days
2006, April, Spirit, 7 days
2007, March, April, Spirit, 14 days back to back
2007, Oct, Spirit,1 night ctn
2007, Oct, Crown 7 days, on its last voyage
2008, Feb, Majesty
2008, March, April 14 day Spirit repo
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goldmom
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Posted: Sat Oct 13th, 2007 02:48 pm | 30th Post |
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Loving the report. We'll be on the CTN on the 27th. Sorry to hear that the Star Wars and Apprentice slots are gone, they were my favorites too.
Do you remember what machines they replaced them with? Looking forward to your next update.
Thanks!
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Lotteryfan
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Posted: Sun Oct 14th, 2007 10:36 am | 31st Post |
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goldmom wrote: Loving the report. We'll be on the CTN on the 27th. Sorry to hear that the Star Wars and Apprentice slots are gone, they were my favorites too.
Do you remember what machines they replaced them with? Looking forward to your next update.
Thanks!
Sorry but I don't remember which machines replaced them.
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c6e1d7"One of my biggest fears of having this thread moved to this side of the web site was the lack of people reading it and responding to it. I wonder if more people would have read it and responded to it if it had been left on the NCL page.
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c6e1d7"Thank you to all who had read it and responded. I'll have the end of my report later today.
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All NCL:
1989, Aug, Southward, 5 days
2006, April, Spirit, 7 days
2007, March, April, Spirit, 14 days back to back
2007, Oct, Spirit,1 night ctn
2007, Oct, Crown 7 days, on its last voyage
2008, Feb, Majesty
2008, March, April 14 day Spirit repo
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jimswims
Frequent Cruiser
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Posted: Sun Oct 14th, 2007 01:48 pm | 32nd Post |
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| Thank you for the posts. I will check back to read the rest.
____________________
Jim
8/7/09 NCL Spirit, Boston to Bermuda
Previous cruises NCL: 6; RCCL: 4; Carnival: 2; Cunard:1.
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goldmom
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Posted: Sun Oct 14th, 2007 06:14 pm | 33rd Post |
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Lotteryfan, thanks anyway and looking forward to the rest of the story. I always enjoy your "diaries".
As far as the post being moved. I've never had to search for it. The original post is still on the main page and even though ot says moved, when I click on it it brings me right to it. The only problem is that it is drifting down on the page and you can't tell if anything new has been posted until you go through the actual thread.
Never fear, those of us who have enjoyed your previous threads will find a way to get to this one to enjoy your wonderful posts!
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Lotteryfan
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Posted: Sun Oct 14th, 2007 11:52 pm | 34th Post |
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Since the wife wanted to leave the loud and crowded nightclub in back of the casino we decided to go to the cabin for a few minutes. Big mistake. I had wanted to stay awake all night but my body was getting tired. On a normal evening I probably would have been in bed by 9pm as I usually awake for work at 4:30 and my body was telling me to get some sleep.
As we got back to the cabin the first thing I did was turn on the television. It was almost 11:30, which meant another “Report From The Bridge” feature coming up. This was the report which told us how far we have gone and how far we needed to go. At this time we had gone 83 nautical miles with 77 more to go and we were traveling at the warped speed of 1.7 nautical miles per hour. That’s one point seven nautical miles or about two miles per hour. I think I can walk faster than the ship was going. This was a good thing however, as you barely felt the ship move.
The wife was starting to complain about how tired she was and since the only thing left on “The Freestyle Daily” was the lottery drawing at 1am and the dancing in the casino nightclub we decided to call it a night.
This had been the first time we had ever stayed in an inside cabin and while my wife wasn’t as nervous as she thought she might be, I had a strange feeling because I felt I couldn’t see what was going on outside. I felt like I was in a closet. At least with a window cabin or balcony cabin you could look outside. You probably couldn’t see much but at least you could see darkness. Here, I starred at a picture of someone water surfing near the shoreline on a picture painted on the wall.
I had read that if you keep the television on and tuned to the web cam at the front of the ship, you would be able to wake up to sunlight. As it became brighter outside, the room would get brighter inside. We tried this but the room remained very bright with the television on and after a while the wife wanted the television turned off.
We didn’t get much sleep that night anyway as the sounds of people, possibly kids, running up and down the hallway kept jumping us up. That and the slamming of doors all night made for a restless sleep.
The next morning we awoke at about 6:30 and the first thing we did was put the television on to the web camera in front of the ship. We could see that we were already pulling into New York harbor. This caused us to get up, washed and dressed in a hurry as we wanted to see the ship pull into the dock.
I noticed our bill on the door to our cabin. I guess we got away cheap as the only things on the bill were the $20.00 service charge and the cost of three sodas. This was a lot cheaper than the almost $2,000 we had on our on board account on our back to back fourteen day cruise.
As we went to the top deck in front of the ship we could see the Norwegian Crown pulling into the dock just ahead of us. This was exciting for us because we would be on that ship in three weeks. The ship was much smaller than the Norwegian Spirit but we knew we would have just as much fun on that ship as we have done on all the other cruises we had taken with NCL.
After docking and taking a bunch of pictures of that ship it was about 8am so we decided to have breakfast in Windows. It was our last meal on the ship and as I had wanted to do, I ate a lot of food here. Afterwards we went upstairs to the Raffles buffet and ate some more.
When the announcement came that we were now allowed to get off the ship a sick feeling came over me. No it wasn’t all the food that I had eaten but that depressing feeling when you realize the trip is over. Its just as painful on a one nighter as it is on a seven nighter or even a fourteen nighter. It hurts to get off the ship.
We had our key chain swiped and made our way down the gangplank. We said goodbye to our favorite ship knowing that we would be back in just three weeks time to the dock area.
We walked to our car and were home in about a half hour to our New York City suburb. It was great to be back sailing although the trip was way too short.
I would definitely do another one nighter next year.
COMING SOON: MY DIARY OF THE NORWEGIAN CROWN'S LAST CRUISE FOR NCL
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All NCL:
1989, Aug, Southward, 5 days
2006, April, Spirit, 7 days
2007, March, April, Spirit, 14 days back to back
2007, Oct, Spirit,1 night ctn
2007, Oct, Crown 7 days, on its last voyage
2008, Feb, Majesty
2008, March, April 14 day Spirit repo
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sauvichick
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Posted: Tue Oct 16th, 2007 02:27 am | 35th Post |
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Thank you for the most detailed "diary" of a one nighter. People do not pay so much attention to detail ( I do too) & it's greatly appreciated. I really enjoyed it!!!Less than 2 weeks 'til my weekend to nowhere ! Now I'm starting to look forward to it!!!
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http://www.iberostar.info/ticker/image.php?code=0XT13268bdXk7Xs23XEurodam cruise to nowhere
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jimswims
Frequent Cruiser
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Posted: Wed Oct 17th, 2007 01:39 am | 36th Post |
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Thank you for a great review.
I am looking forward to my weekend away on the Dawn and will get to see the Spirit when we leave!
____________________
Jim
8/7/09 NCL Spirit, Boston to Bermuda
Previous cruises NCL: 6; RCCL: 4; Carnival: 2; Cunard:1.
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Coka
Casual Cruiser
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Posted: Thu Oct 18th, 2007 12:32 am | 37th Post |
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Lotteryfan, thanks for the detailed review! It makes me feel like I was right there with you and your wife! I will be on the Dawn's CTN 10/26 and your review helped me plan ahead. I would have thought the stores/shops stayed open later but it sounds like they run the same way as regular sailings. I remember enjoying Texas Tea's 5 cent slots...sure saved me from losing at the craps table! The Spirit sure is special.
Coka
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whatawonderfulworld
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Posted: Sat Oct 20th, 2007 05:03 am | 38th Post |
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Thanks Lotteryfan...loved reading your diary. Have a wonderful cruise on the Crown too. We just got off the Pearl on Sunday after 15 glorious days...I know all too well that sick feeling at the end of one's voyage...the only sure "cure" is to start planning your next cruise...but you've already done that!
Thanks again, very enjoyable read.
Ciao,
WaWW
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Mark Twain
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mcpepe
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Posted: Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 07:44 am | 39th Post |
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| Excellent report LotteryFan! I felt like I was there. Can't wait for the Crown report. Also, where are your other reports posted about the other Spirit cruises you've taken? I'd love to read those too!
____________________
Maria
mpepe84@aoldotcom
Upcoming cruises:
Norwegian Gem 3/22/08 Florida/Bahamas
Yes, that's me in my avatar!
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hstrybuf
Founders
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Posted: Fri Oct 26th, 2007 12:16 am | 40th Post |
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| I'm enjoying all the details! It's amazing what all you notice in such a short time and it makes us feel like we're there too!
____________________
Deb
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/hstrycrsr
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Lotteryfan
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Posted: Sun Oct 28th, 2007 02:11 am | 41st Post |
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mcpepe wrote: Excellent report LotteryFan! I felt like I was there. Can't wait for the Crown report. Also, where are your other reports posted about the other Spirit cruises you've taken? I'd love to read those too!
Thank you. I've only had one other report of a back to back cruise and it appeared on the darkside. Not sure if I can post it here but I will try.
However...first a little disclaimer...I am not using the following link to promote that website. In fact, it pains me to send people to that website and I beg all women and children to proceed with caution. However, I am proud of this diary, my first.
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=553665
As far as hstrybuf's comment...I trained to be a journalist in college and did a little work for the New York Daily News so I've been trained to observe many things. I see things that the average person might not notice. Now, as a supermarket manager, I am trained to find dirt, unsafe conditions, shrink, and the like.
____________________
All NCL:
1989, Aug, Southward, 5 days
2006, April, Spirit, 7 days
2007, March, April, Spirit, 14 days back to back
2007, Oct, Spirit,1 night ctn
2007, Oct, Crown 7 days, on its last voyage
2008, Feb, Majesty
2008, March, April 14 day Spirit repo
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hstrybuf
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Posted: Sun Oct 28th, 2007 08:50 pm | 42nd Post |
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| If you can locate the back to back report, feel free to post it!
____________________
Deb
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/hstrycrsr
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MonaCK
Cruiser
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 10:25 pm | 43rd Post |
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Lotteryfan: This is my first time coming across one of your posts, and I can't wait to read your others. Like others have said, I felt like I was on the cruise with you. :)
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Lotteryfan
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Posted: Sun Nov 18th, 2007 09:55 pm | 44th Post |
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MonaCK wrote: Lotteryfan: This is my first time coming across one of your posts, and I can't wait to read your others. Like others have said, I felt like I was on the cruise with you. :)
Thank you for your kind words. When I do these diaries I want it to seem like everyone is along with me. Keep reading and I will continue to do these whenever I cruise. Did you see my diary of the last voyage of the Norwegian Crown? Its on the NCL page.
____________________
All NCL:
1989, Aug, Southward, 5 days
2006, April, Spirit, 7 days
2007, March, April, Spirit, 14 days back to back
2007, Oct, Spirit,1 night ctn
2007, Oct, Crown 7 days, on its last voyage
2008, Feb, Majesty
2008, March, April 14 day Spirit repo
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MonaCK
Cruiser
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Posted: Sun Nov 18th, 2007 10:04 pm | 45th Post |
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I actually don't believe that I did - but I will search it out when I have a few moments and read it :)
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