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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 06:35 am |
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The Cruise was WONDERFUL. I'm sure that comes as no surprise!! 
I truly don't even know where to start… well.. I guess the beginning would be the best place!!
So… I met David in Rome the night before the cruise, and we stayed at the Holiday Inn West, along with almost 200 other Abers! The wonderful Ron Oyer and his staff transported us all efficiently and pleasantly to the pier in Civitavechia, which is about an hour west of Rome, the next afternoon, for the cruise. Meanwhile, I'm sure the vibration at that Holiday Inn has NEVER been higher! All of the joyful Abers almost made it feel as if the roof was having a hard time staying on the hotel! We met so many wonderful people in those first hours, and it was so great getting to talk to, among the many others, Elisabetta, and her daughter Andrea (the wonderful Elisabetta and Marbella here on the forum!) as well as Kendall and her Mom, Ro. What joyful Mom/Daughter twosomes on adventures together!
It was pouring rain as we ran to the gangway from the terminal at the pier, but we wouldn't have cared if it was hale and brimstone. We were getting on the Noordam to meet 550 other Abers for 10 days of JOY! YAY!
After getting settled in our stateroom, we went up to the Crow's Nest for the wonderful Forum meet and greet. Thanks again to Kendall for planning and executing this little event which started us all out on a GREAT footing for the cruise. It was wonderful seeing all the forum members "in the flesh" and to hear their voices!! Cyberspace is wonderful, but there is nothing like an actual physical HUG! David and I were just so thrilled to meet everyone and our discussions during that first hour of the cruise really set the tone for what was to come!
At that meeting, David said a few words of appreciation of the forum members and other members also spoke about their intentions for the cruise, and I noted that we would all notice a special coming together of these particular people during the cruise – that we'd "bump into" one another frequently.. AND that the members of our meet-up would have "luck" getting into the hotseat. Well.. David and I DID see the forum members around the ship quite a lot, and Simon (Yeslist) and I were on the hotseat. More on THAT later!!
I appreciate having met every one of you wonderful Forum members who attended that meeting. Sharyn, Garnet, Kevin, oh my, so many of you I could go on but this will get too long - thank you for your big smiles, and your contributions to the meeting, to the forum, and to the CRUISE!!!
So here is a picture (taken by David, and he hasn't had time to photoshop himself in yet!) of that first meeting on May 29.
Hope you enjoy my trip report: Here is part one.
 Love,
Jody
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BrightLight
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 26th, 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 824 |
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Offline
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 06:46 am |
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 THANK YOU!! JODY!!!
MORE, MORE,
MORE, MORE!!!
 BRIGHTLIGHT
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 08:23 am |
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Brightlight, you asked and of course it is given!
Elisabetta, Andrea (Marbella) and me before the cruise:
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 08:36 am |
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Forum members Simon (Yeslist) and Kevin (Kcrackel) and their wonderful wives at the meet and greet on embarkation day:
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 08:56 am |
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Forum members Garnet, Sheldon, and Sharyn, and Sharyn's terrific DH.
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 09:08 am |
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Forum members Andy (MultiverseMan), Ginat, and Garnet (MIsrealtor) at the meet and greet:
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 09:23 am |
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Jody, I thought you were NOT on the forum on this trip! 
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 11:31 am |
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Our beautiful home for 10 days and nights! MS Noordam.
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 11:55 am |
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Let's go see Monte Carlo - !
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 12:13 pm |
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Monte Carlo
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Kendall
Member
| Joined: | Wed May 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | Indiana USA |
| Posts: | 142 |
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 12:24 pm |
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Thanks Jody for the Pics! I'm loving it.
Just in case anyone was interested, here's a rundown of who's who in the forum meetup picture:
Front row: Kalena (SeekerofJoy), Jody, Ginat and Sheldon (Shelgin)
Second row (sitting): Elisabeth (Elisabetta), Lee (Dolphinlover), Dawn (Kevin's wife), Kevin
Back Row (standing): Nancy (friend of Carolyn and party crasher - Yay!!), Andrea (Marbella), Ro (my mom), me (Kendall), Dinny, Simon (Yeslist), Carolyn (friend of Nancy and party crasher -- Yay!! Hopefully on the forum soon), Garnet (Mlsrealtor), Andy (MultiverseMan), and Valerie (friend of Lee aka Dolphinlover)
Others in attendance but not in the picture (hope I don't miss anyone!):
Vickie (Cybervix) who was also in the hotseat
Mathew and Gabriel
Sharyn and her husband Vince
Merril and his wife
I think I got everyone. I know Elisabetta, Marbella, my mom and I all talked up the forum a lot and hopefully we'll have an influx of new members.
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 12:37 pm |
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Oh Kendall - thank you so much for that!! And I think you did get everyone, except for DAVID, our intrepid leader! I'll try to find some pics of him... he's always the one TAKING the photos!
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 12:41 pm |
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We've always got something to laugh about! So meet us at the Ocean Bar - deck 3 midship!
Here we are with our friends Lynne and Greg, Jack and Christine. (David is behind the camera as usual)
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Jody1
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 12:58 pm |
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Cruising Corsica - David took about 100 photos. I think one will suffice here. But it really was gorgeous.
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Lucy
Member
| Joined: | Thu Oct 18th, 2007 |
| Location: | Paris, France |
| Posts: | 739 |
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Offline
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Posted: Tue Jun 10th, 2008 01:06 pm |
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Ahhh I just love these georgeous pictures of all my fabulous friends on the leading edge!
I am so excited to see you all together, especially Simon all the way from Australia, my country of origin!
I send each of you all my love from Paris
Thank you for the photos!
In light and love to all
Lucy
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