JO MARY & MICHAEL - Cruise Connection

Aloha Everyone,
We are the Murphy’s, Mike and Jo Mary!    

We love to travel and have been fortunate to be able to visit countries all over the world including our own. Since Mike is still working and travels in our country for conferences, I have been able to go with him. This will be our 7th cruise and our 4th with Diana and Roger. We have been unable to attend any of their renewals so this will be our first.

As some of you may know, I am retired from the City of Irvine and used to work with Diana even though she was at the parks and I was at City Hall. Roger also worked at City Hall but on the third floor with all the important people. I was on the second floor with Community Services so never met Roger until their Mediterranean Cruise in 2008.

We have been to Hawaii many times, but this will be the first time we will have cruised there. Our favorite Island is Maui. We spent 8 days there on our last visit. A must see if you haven’t been up there, is Haleakala Crater. We are also looking forward to Honolulu since we haven’t been there in years. I would like to go to Pearl Harbor since I haven’t been there since I was 15 and Mike has never been. Our favorite cruise so far was the Med Cruise. What a great adventure that was.

What’s fun about traveling with Diana and Roger is their attention to detail. Whether it’s making reservations for the specialty restaurants or the Chefs Table, decorations for your stateroom door, or giving out prizes for winning or losing at cards. They want everyone to have fun. You can participate or not. It’s up to you and no one cares if you don’t. It’s your vacation to spend as you like. 

Speaking of the Chefs Table...if Diana offers to get a group together please put your name on the list. We did it on the Mexico Cruise and it’s an event not to be missed. It’s worth every extra penny. Since I missed the dinner at the specialty restaurant Sabatini’s on the last cruise, Mike has promised he will take me there on this cruise.

This cruise will be a little different for us as we are not “cruisers” meaning we don’t especially like being on the ship for long periods of time. So I look forward to seeing what will be offered by the ship to keep us busy. More of a challenge for Mike than me. I do want to make a Lei, but no hula dancing.

Looking forward to seeing everyone and meeting some new faces. Mahalo,
Mike and Jo Mary 

Diana’s Top Ten Tips to Think About for the Cruise!

Well our story begins in just over 200 days, when we will embark on the Ruby Princess. So to take our journey without a hiccup, planning and preparation will be key to a smooth

sailing cruise. This is especially so for those still having to juggle life with working. Okay, also for those busy retirees who have packed schedules and not sure what happen to all the hours in a day, let alone a week! So here are Diana’s 10 tips, if you are so incline to read on...

No. 1 - Identification 

I have asked Alex to share some insight in an upcoming article about what type of identifications we will need for this trip since we will be stopping in Ensenada Mexico on the way back from the Hawaiian Islands. I recommend this might be a good time to double check on the expiration date on your US Passport, Driver’s License or any other ID you might have. Including an original birth certificate which is always a good ID, so check your files for that option if needed. By the way, Roger did check on our passport and we were expired, where did ten years go?

No. 2 - Insurance/Vacation Protection

Emergency and other unexpected circumstances do happen. Roger and I always like to have a back up and we ask Alex to assist us in covering our cruise investment. Dollars well worth the cost for insurance. I recommend you contact Alex and talk to her about your needs. She can assist with this, whether to cover for you and your trip expense or perhaps to cover an unexpected family member’s emergency that might interrupt your plans. You’ll be glad you called Alex!

No. 3 - Getting There

Not everyone going on this trip will be from Los Angeles so now is a good time to begin to think about your transportation to the Port of Los Angeles. If traveling from afar, flights will be to either Los Angeles (LAX) or Long Beach (LGB) airports which are your closest options. You will also need to get a Shuttle Transportation arrangements from the airport to the port and back. How about coordinating with other cruisers who may be going out of the same airport? It makes it fun, folks!

No. 4 - Pre-Cruise Stay & Park    

The ship will depart on Saturday, October 3rd. But for the Davis’, our trip begins on Friday, October 2nd when we will be checking into the San Pedro Double Tree Hotel for a overnight stay and park your car program. Great option for those who want to drive and our car will be residing under the care of Double Tree Hotel for the next 15 days. There will also be an overnight stay option with no parking as well for those flying in. If you are interested in joining Roger and Diana and starting the cruise early....contact Alex as I have asked her to work with Double Tree to come up with a group rate for us.  

No. 5 - My Booking & Cruise Personalizer

If you haven’t already checked this out, you should! Alex has emailed your cruise booking confirmation if you made your deposit. On that document is your booking number which will allow you to access your Princess Cruise “ Cruise Personalizer ”. This is a great time to explore this valuable tool and an invite to your first peek into your upcoming cruise. It will get you excited about your cruise.. Have questions or need help, give Alex a call. Yes, she has your booking number if you can’t find your invoice.

No. 6  - Roger and Diana 25th Anniversary Renewal Cruise Blog

I know many of you have visited this cruise blog. But I also know first hand that many have not (As I have had to resend the blog address and yes will do it again). Don’t fret...you don’t have to sign up or pay for this service. It’s free, but it will not visit you unless you visit us at our group cruise blog. This will be where I will be in touch with our group, unless you email or call me directly. I highly recommend that you check here as our blog will be our central communication tool where both Alex and I will be relaying our information first hand. So bookmark this in your computer favorites!

No. 7 - Special Needs Request

If you have a special request, whether its to celebrate a birthday or anniversary. Or you need to have some medical needs such as distilled water for a CPAP machine or a sodium free diet. The cruise line can assist and so can Alex. Think about what you might need to make your cruise as comfortable and efficient as being at home. The cruise line will do all they can within their limits. As you go on-line and begin to explore and complete your My Princess/Cruise Personalizer note that you can request certain medical/health accommodation as well as to note that you are going on this cruise for a celebration such as your birthday, retirement or anniversary?

No. 8 - Cruise Dress & Attire

Well you certainly would not want to forget your swimsuit and cover-up as you walk on the Lido deck. But also remember we have 3 Formal Nights and 12 Smart casual Nights. I wrote an article back in December on this blog titled “Helpful Tip - Preparing Now For Formal Night” . Now, would be a good time to revisit this as you can begin to get your cruise wardrobe together as Spring and Summer season approach. Heading to Hawaii will be be warm and humid. But don’t forget, the ship and your cabin is air-conditioned as well as on deck it can be quite chilly from the winds. So you will need a wrap or light jacket to protect you from these conditions. I know many of the gals in our group would often wear long sleeve tops or bring a sweatshirt/windbreaker as we sit and play cards or have a drink.  

No. 9 - Shore Excursions

Cruising can best be described as visiting a buffet table. Lots of options to pick, but you can’t have it all. With limited hours in our port of call, varying between 9-16 hours. And of course don’t forget you generally won’t be able to get off till an hour after the ship docks plus be back on the ship an hour before departure (Don’t miss the boat otherwise it will be your responsibility to catch the boat at the next port). This will be a good time to explore your options of what is it you truly would like to do on each of the island. Start making your list and talking to your travel partner or friends, so that you can be ready once the shore excursions are posted for sign-ups. 

No. 10 - Pre-Cruise Meet & Greet Social

Hopefully with advance notice many can join us for the upcoming No-Host Pre-Cruise Meet & Greet Social that will be held in Orange County this Summer. Currently, Karen Vaughn and Diana are exploring options for a location site. This is a great chance to meet some of our other fellow cruisers. As well as have an opportunity to talk to Alex & Diana for some “Frequently Asked Questions”. Okay and of course there will be “Eats & Drinks”...how else did you think Roger would be there? Please keep checking with our cruise blog for important dates and information. A handy Master Calendar Timeline is forthcoming with important details in a future “what else”... BLOG ARTICLE...stay tuned!

WENDY & NORM - Cruise Connection

Norm & Wendy

We are Norm and Wendy Kilgore. I went to Glendale High with Roger in the dark ages. I didn't know him that well. We got together when planing our 45th high school reunion, with much help from Diana and Norm. Our class of '57 adopted them both. 

We first traveled with Diana and Roger to Hawaii with about 100 plus of their friends and family. We were known as the "Many Dwarfs". From that trip we went to Vegas on a smaller trip and then a big trip to China. What a trip that was from eating things from the river to Norm and Roger drinking “3 Snake Wine”. Ugh!

We have met up many times for mini reunions from our high school and other birthday and anniversary and St. Patrick parties. We can't wait for this cruise. Diana always has so much fun things to do and many surprises. Yes, Roger, I give her the credit.  You did good just finding this girl.
We have been to Hawaii a few times and love it. We were there for a week on Kauai last September with Scott & Liddy Paulsen (Scott also a fellow classmate) that some of you frequent travelers have met.

Norm and I have done a bit of travel over the years. Ireland and England but two of our favorite trips was to Scotland where we went to support our eldest son in bagpipe competition with bands from all over the world. They were the Misty Isle Pipe Band and placed very well. Other adventures were the Caribbean, three times to Jamaica, Germany, Tahiti, cruises to Alaska and Nova Scotia to see the Fall colors and also cruised through the Panama Canal, Australia and the Coast of Mexican Riviera.

We're both retired, me for 20 years and Norm for 18. I had my own clothing store for 16 years and Norm worked  40 years for Bendix which eventually became Honeywell.

We have 4 grown sons whom are all married and a total of 9 grandchildren. They all live in California and we get to spend time with them all. We are really looking forward to this cruise with many familiar friends and looking forward to meeting new ones. We know there will be much to do and lots of joking and laughing. I just hope we don't see snake wine again, that was really gross Roger. What a prankster you are!  

See you all soon, Aloha from us. Mahalo

And the winners are....

CRUISE UPDATE...After this last promotional sign-up, we have a current list of 41 individuals and 23 cabins for our group. All the cruisers in our group are listed on lower left hand side of this blog.So check out who’s currently on board....

Raffle Prizes

Roger and I decided it was time to have a little fun..so we took everyone who made a deposit on our cruise and we had a raffle drawing. So below are the list of winners. Thank you everyone for coming aboard and Congratulations to the winners....

"Ladies’ SIlver Evening Handbag & Men’s Silver Tie Set" - PAM MEEHAN

"Princess Cruise Photo Frame" - LIEN BURGH

"Two Boxes of Island Princess Chocolate Macadamia Nuts" - ANDRE MATHIEU

"Two Boxes of Island Princess Chocolate Macadamia Nuts" - CAROLE GHERTNER

"Princess Cruises Culinary Cookbook" - LEE SPAR

"Princess Cruises Culinary Cookbook"  - PATRICIA FIERRO

"To Do & BTW Pads" - SEAN HAGERTY

"Over Hawaii DVD Video" - JIM BERKSON

"Gold & Black Plumeria Flower Earrings" - MAUREEN MOUDAKIS 

"Tropical Calendar Set" - LINDA KADIS 

Bob & Lee (Congrats Lee)

Jim & Jan (Way to Go Jim) 

MO & PAT - Cruise Connection

Pat & Mo

We are Maureen (Mo) and Pat Moudakis.We currently reside in Pismo Beach, (yeah! ) in a little casita in the Pismo Dunes Senior Park. If you visit you will be greeted by Flip and Flap-the pink flamingoes the Davis’ gave us when we moved into our first mobile home park in Lodi after 30 years in Burbank. 

Diana and Roger came into our lives via our lifelong Burbank friends Karen and Jim Allison, Duane Davis and Russell Cobb. We think the first meeting came at one of the Allison’s amazing Halloween parties, where we would have been introduced to the creative charm of Diana and the creative-risqué side of Roger. But wherever, it occurred they have added so much fun to our lives.  

This cruise will be our third renewal celebration. The October 2000 Hawaii trip coincided with our son Nick’s honeymoon on Maui so he and Andrea got to spend an evening with their extended family or why they have pictures of Mom, Dad, and their friends in their honeymoon album.   

Our idea of cruising is more kayaking than by ship. Food, means more to one of us than the other. Drinking? Two glasses of wine for Pat, none for me. We do love the dancing part of cruising tho' ! But that we could have done on one of the two other cruises that we were invited to go on in October (three this October, none last October, what's up with that?) So why did we choose this one? 

                                                  Because it’s Diana and Roger!

We have all experienced their warmth, the attention to every detail, the kindness and the caring, the laughter and silliness.  When people asked us about our itinerary for the Caribbean cruise we really didn’t have much of an answer for them because it doesn’t matter to us where we are going or what we are doing. We are going with Diana and Roger and the dear friends we share. 

Congratulations on your 25th and thank you for putting together such a fun way for all of us to be a part of the celebration of a marriage.

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Heart Day !! Happy Valentine Day !! Happy Happy Love Day !! 

Sending lots of happy thoughts and warm hugs from our hearts to yours on this day.

231 days till we see you on deck!

Happy Valentine Day,

Diana & Roger 

ANGIE & LIEN - Cruise Connection

Greetings Fellow Cruisers!     

Lien & Angie

 My name is Angie and my mom's name is Lien.  We are excited about joining Diana and Roger on the Hawaii Cruise to celebrate their 25th Anniversary!  We met Diana and Roger a few years ago and learned that Diana organizes these wonderful group cruises, so we asked Diana to include us on the next cruise that she's planning.  Little did we know what a phenomenal experience it would be.  What cruise was it, you ask?  The 2013 Asia Cruise, of course.

You see, this was my and my mom's first cruise, so you could say we were newbies when it came to cruising.  But we had no worries because Diana is a meticulous planner and an experienced world traveler.  Diana's blog about the cruise gave us great tips about cruising and helped us to properly prepare for the cruise.  Plus Diana has a wonderful travel agent - Alex!  Alex impressed us with her attention to detail and she took such good care of us - from making sure we got all of our visas to organizing our flight and keeping us informed of important deadlines.

It was because of Diana and Alex that my mom and I had a trip of a lifetime.  We visited nine cities in six countries and had an absolute blast!  We have almost 1,000 photos and over three hours of video to prove it too!  We could never thank Diana and Alex enough - we are truly grateful. 

Pho 2000 - Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City

So when Diana invited us to join her and Roger on their 25th Anniversary cruise last fall, we were thrilled because we'd be traveling with friends again and visit a place that we've always talked about visiting - Hawaii.  The added bonus with this cruise is that we're going to celebrate Diana's and Roger's 25th Anniversary, so we know it will be another memorable cruise.  We just can't wait!  In fact, we've already accessed our Cruise Personalizer on Princess.com and it shows a countdown of the number of days left until the cruise.  I just checked it today (January 16, 2015) and it shows there's 260 days left until the cruise.

We look forward to meeting old friends and making new friends on the Hawaii Cruise.  We also hope to learn how to hula dance too.  :)   

Sincerely,

Angie

P.S.  The photo of my mom and me sitting was when we were in Nha Trang, Vietnam for the 2013 Asia Cruise.  The other photo is of Diana, Roger, Wendy, Pat, me, Kelly, my mom, and Marsha having pho (a delicious Vietnamese soup) at Pho 2000 in Saigon. The restaurant is famous because it was visited by former President Clinton in 2000 - hence the name of the restaurant: Pho 2000.  There's even a framed photo of him at the restaurant. 

K-Fong Design ... Does it Again!

Well, she does it again... our friend Karen Fong known to us warmly as K-Fong, does it again! She has graciously shared her creative talents in creating our 25th Anniversary logo. How does she do it?!!! 

Karen asked us to provide her with side by side photos and so from this simplistic request merged with her incredible skills, talent and creativity. K-Fong does it again and comes up with our 25th Anniversary Logo. We love it and so appreciate you. We know you can’t be with us on our cruise K-Fong. But we know, you will be there in spirit and logo!

Oh and for inquiry minds who need to know....how are we connected with Karen?  Roger and Diana met Karen at the City of Irvine when both were working stiffs! Karen worked in Community Service with Diana and she was the Department Graphic Artist. Some may have remembered that Karen had also designed their original Maui’d logo when they got married as well as our 10th Anniversary Re-Maui’d logo.

Karen has been influential to Diana with many years of fun and creative times. One that many of you may have benefited with was the initial editions of their annual Davis family newsletter which Karen has assisted with and now Diana has learned to design and format on her own. 

One of our most memorable story about Karen has to be when she went to the 24 hour photo shop (no digital back then) on Maui the same afternoon of Roger and Diana’s marriage ceremony to develop shots of Diana white as a ghost. Everyone, especially Roger was worried sick as Diana looked like Casper the ghost . Will she change her mind to get married? Diana of course was in total denial that she was white and ghostly. Saying she was fine and okay! OMG after the photos, no wonder Roger was worried that Diana might change her mind. Well, she didn’t and the “I Do’s” came through as Diana has been saying “I Do Again and Again...and looks like she’s gonna say it one more final time on their 25th anniversary.   

Mahalo Nui Loa,  K-Fong..Thanks so much! So here is the logo debut .... 

PEGGY & ROCKY - Cruise Connection

Writing our history down for Diana’s blog seems a little silly. We would rather visit with you in person on the planned sensational Hawaiian cruise.

 Rocky and I have been married since 1976. We met in junior high school, and were off and on again high school sweethearts. 
 From grade school through high school we have been very good friends with Diana Miyasaki (Davis). She was our bridesmaid at our wedding. 

After college we moved from Sonoma, California to Boise, Idaho. Leaving there for the lights of Las Vegas, Nevada in 1979. Both of us found better career opportunities in Nevada. Rocky has had a long career in law enforcement, over 30 years, here with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The last 12 years as a sergeant in homicide. Yes, working with the real Cops and CSI officers. Retiring in 2010. I had a wonderful career in respiratory care, being a respiratory care practitioner for over 30 years. The last 18 years being in management. Retiring from the Director of Respiratory and Speech Therapy at University Medical Center (the largest respiratory department in the state) in 2010.

We have been blessed with two wonderful children, and two adorable grandchildren. 
Rocky now plays tennis three or four time a week and I sell antiques from 3 rented booth spaces in an antique mall, on the Las Vegas strip. 
Living in Las Vegas with our two current four legged kids. Sydney Ann (Doberman) and Lilly Ann (dachshund mix) that are just the best dogs ever! Rocky and I just really love retirement, traveling all over the world and enjoying the Las Vegas lifestyle.

From grade school through high school we have been good friends with Diana Miyasaki (Davis).  She was our bridesmaid at our wedding.  After college we moved to Boise Idaho.  Leaving there after two years for the lights of Las Vegas, Nevada in 1979.  Both of us found great career opportunities in Nevada.

Things seemed to change in 1990.  It started with a small wedding in Maui and it hasn’t been the same since.  The parties, eating and drinking, meeting in far-away places.  When Diana and Roger retired, it got worse. They got the cruise bug.  More drinking and eating strange things that I’m not even sure you should eat. And to make it more acceptable to them they drag us all along with them.  I think they must sit at home and say, where can we go that we can make the Alby’s eat something strange. We have accepted the challenge of this LAST (?) trip and have signed up to be there. To finish with a renewal where it all started, Hawaii, seems appropriate. How bad can fifteen days on a cruise ship be! Bombay gin martini for everyone!  Hope to see you all there!

Rocky & Peggy Alby

IMPORTANT: First Day for Promotional Sign-Up

Here it is AGAIN, just for our group...
THIS WEEK ONLY
Monday, February 2 to Friday, February 6, 2015
$100 per person or $200 per stateroom
promotional deposit

Call Alex, she's looking forward to hearing from you!

Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm  

Innovative Travel Planner, Phone 949-756-3223

Wanted to remind you that today is the first day of our Second & "LAST" Promotional Deposit Sign-Up for our 15 day Hawaiian Islands cruise for October 2015. Between 9am to 5pm, Alex will be available to assist you with your stateroom request and sign-up deposit. We are looking forward to adding your name to our roster on our cruise blog.
Stay tuned  for "NEW CRUISERS" on our blog roster.