Just Two More Days of Waiting….

As I do a final site update on Sunday, October 2, one member of our Cruise Critic group who boarded ten days ago for an Alaska cruise and the journey south to Los Angeles, is enjoying a few days there while the Pearl is on a Monsters of Rock charter (ugh!). Almost all of rest of us will be leaving home tomorrow or Tuesday, as we head for Los Angeles.

If you’re following the Cruise Critic Roll Call you know that all but just a handful of our fellow cruisers have sent me photos for that page of the blog.  Take a look so you’ll be that much more ready to “Meet and Greet” them by name.  (See the “Events” page of this blog for the schedule if you’ve forgotten it.) I won’t be doing updates to this page until we return from the cruise but I’d still love to get photos from the few folks who haven’t provided them so I can complete that page when we return home.

Our numbers have grown just slightly since my last posting to just short of 60 folks on the Roll Call.  That’s so exciting after such a slow start.

Again, do check out the “Fellow Travelers” page by clicking the link on the left to see the full list and the photos of those of you who have created a profile page on the Cruise Critic site. See you on board!

Oops, I deleted the last update in December!

Finally, Another Cruiser!

Finally, after over a month of waiting, we’ve reached a “baker’s dozen” of Cruise Critic members on our Roll Call.  Right after my last blog posting we were joined by “Hammerman417” ( Lisa and Paul from St. Louis MO).  Now we’ve been joined by “Dukey1” (Jon and Donn from Ft. Lauderdale FL).  Special thanks to Jon for being the first among you to add a comment on the site beyond simply announcing his presence.  He’s a Panama Canal cruise veteran on a return trip.

I might also note that I’m just getting started reading David McCullough’s “The Path between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914” so I’ll know a little more about the Canal when I see it for the first time.

Other than that, there wasn’t a great need for this posting except for the length of time since the last posting.  The countdown calendar has rolled to 15 months.  Too long!  But not as long as the 45-person family gathering I’m planning at the YMCA or the Rockies in Estes Park Colorado in July 2017.  I’m even more excited about that vacation than I am about this cruise…and I have 25 months to wait!

New Cruisers From Coast to Coast …and Then Some!

After over a two week lull with no new cruisers, stuck on just nine of us, “dttampa” (Denise and Tom from Tampa, Florida) opened the flood gates on April 29, followed almost immediately in the first week of May by six more Cruise Critic members including “Ozzie’s Mom” (Diana, Charles and Joan from Texas), “jyinni” (Bill and Joan from New York), “delaware32” (George and Judy from Delaware), “lauriekivitbay” (Laurie and Terry from Thunder Bay, Ontario) (our second cruisers from north of the border), “Grampy” (Mike and Pat from San Clemente California). and “jjandwk” (Wayne and Jill from Milford, New Hampshire).  We now total 11 Cruise Critic members, 24 “named” travelers, and promises of more.  What an exciting way to start the month of May! Looking forward to more “flowers” in the weeks ahead.

Two Brits Join the Cruise, and Countdown Rolls to 17 Months!

The countdown clock at the bottom of the page had just rolled over to “only” 17 more months of anticipation as, simultaneously, or so it appeared, we’ve been joined by two more travelers, “Crusin’cockney” (Neil and his “DW”) from London, celebrating both birthday and anniversary milestones on our voyage. As the months fly by there are sure to be more of us, but after almost two months since the arrival of “Bearwholovestotravel”  it was nice to see a real “bump” on the roll call.  Welcome!

Countdown Clock Rolls Over to 18!

On March 15, the countdown clock at the bottom of the page rolled over from 19 to 18 months remaining before the cruise.  I’m not sure of the significance of the timing, but at least it means the countdown is working…kind of! ‘Still waiting for another fellow cruiser to join the Roll Call. It’s been a while. We are the last of 42 active Roll Calls for upcoming Pearl Cruises.

Three Cruise Critic Members on Roll Call at 19 Month Mark

Within two days of starting the Cruise Critic Roll Call in late January, “Braddock620” (Ralph and Nancy from Fairfax VA) was joined on the Roll Call by “Hºoºwie” (Howie and Susan from Long Island, NY).

Just short of a month later, they were joined by “bearwholovestotravel” (Carla, from Edmonton, Alberta, usually a solo traveler but joined for this cruise by her brother and sister-in-law from Singapore). At more than 19 months before departure in October 2016 it’s not surprising that the ship is probably still fairly empty. It’s actually a pretty good start for the Roll Call!