Sitting here I just realized that we are leaving in LESS THAN 2 weeks, and since things didn't seem to work out with the diet anyway I decided to just grab a couple of Oreos and bring you all up to speed.
I started pulling out some of my summer clothes to pick some outfits and get them ready for packing. Of course all my skorts and shorts are wrinkled because they've been folded up sitting on wire shelves in the closet since September. Logically, I decide to throw them in the dryer with a damp bath towel to "steam" the wrinkles out. Mike asks why I bother, his "solution" is to just wear wrinkled clothes and if anyone doesn't like it well that is just their problem. I try to explain that, NO it is MY problem because people will think that his wife is too damned lazy to iron his clothes. Which of course isn't true; the truth is his wife is too damned lazy to throw them back in the dryer! Anyway so that leads to a discussion of just what exactly he wants to pack because he refuses to pack any long sleeved button-down shirts but all of his short sleeve button-downs are either batik (oh, I LOVE my monkey shirt, he says. I don't bother telling him that those are LIZARDS not Monkeys!) or retro vintage style bowling shirts. Neither of which really go with the dress slacks I have selected for him. Unless he suddenly morphs into Cosmo Kramer which might not have been a bad thing during Kramer's halcyon days of Seinfeld but not such a good thing now post the stand-up rant...
Crap, I've eaten like 5 Oreos already
Finally I just agreed to let him wear what he wants even if that includes a pull-over windbreaker if it's chilly in the dining room and he only has short sleeved shirts, and he agrees not to throw me overboard once we're out at sea.
================
The upsell fairy came to visit and it was soooooooo painful to have to tell my TA to turn down the offer. It was a really good offer, too, but we just couldn't justify the extra expense for features that we don't even have any need of. (i.e. butler service). But I appreciate my agent getting right on this and attempting to hook me up! I'm sure I've said this before, but I'll say it again, if you are looking for a good luxury travel agent (and looking for a good price as well), I highly recommend Joe and JP from CHIC LUXURY CRUISES click here! Seriously I wonder if we'll be chilling out in our cabin or on our balcony and look at each other and say, "we shoulda....."
================
Speaking of my TA, he finally got confirmation from Kristin at Regent that my group meeting space had been arranged. Not at Horizon Lounge (which I had requested specifically for its outdoor seating area) but they have given me Observation Lounge for the date and time I wanted. Further investigation, however, leads me to be happy about the change of venue because the Observation Lounge bar generally opens at 11am which is one of the earliest to open! So we can get this party started right away :-) Another interesting side note about this whole meet & greet affair is that I did finally get a response from someone in corporate addressing my dissatisfaction with the lack of ....hmmm, I can't think of the word..... shown by Regent compared to other cruise lines. I also expressed my surprise at the Regent staff acting as if they had never heard of Cruise Critic when at least three of the mucky-mucks at Regent do in fact post on CC (Frank Del Rio, Mark Conroy, Tim Rubacky)
So, I did finally get a response and I'm pasting it here without the to/from info:
Neither Regent nor Oceania do the CC parties as we limit these types of functions strictly to those group functions arranged through our agent partners.
One of the most valuable resources we give our agent partners is the ability to host cocktail parties or private functions for their clients and to do so for CC, or any other internet forum, would dilute that substantially.
The beauty of the Oceania and Regent vessels is that they are human sized and thus, guests find each other quiet easily, unlike say on the 3000 passenger Celebrity ships.
I certainly hope you understand.
Well, sorry, I don't understand and I think that is the lamest excuse/rationale I could ever envision. But I got my way so it's all good!!
===================
10 Oreos down.... time to stop writing before I can't zip the wrinkled shorts!
