cruisin'since'75

Hello Ms. TMurphy167. Send along the picture. We all have a variety of info regarding the days of Home Lines Cruises and and all the men; officers, waiters, busboys, stewards, etc., etc. You name them, someone knows who they are and where they are now. They might even be lurking around Cruise Critic. Is this one supposed to be your Daddy? You got the idea from this other desperate woman looking for her Daddy Dino? Giving info gets info. Sorry to be so crude, but this site has turned into a virtual Maury Povich with Seas Legs site. Enough men impregnated enough women during the Home Lines cruising history you could keep the boards hot for years and years to come! I was there. I saw. I watched. I learned. Oh what a life was had by all...

My mom was on the Doric Feb 1979 and she met Dino and i was born Dec 1979 i would like to let my dad no that he has a 30 year old daughter that would love to meet him.

As I understand it, Dino was quite a friendly and charming young Italian male working on the best ship in the world at that time. He took full advantage of that fact, and many of us knew him. Some knew him better than others, but frankly, he was a likeable guy.

His name has been mentioned on this site several times in the past, so you might want to spend some time looking back the past couple of years for various posts regarding your dad. I'm not sure what all the information contained, but it could be helpful in seeking him out.:)

Also, Try Facebook, as noted. Try his name with different spellings, if your Mom remembers any of his friends you might want to look them up and then ask if they've been in touch with Dino more recently.

You may have to work a little more diligently than posting on Cruise Critic or Facebook, however. If you are truly looking to meet your father, you may have to invest quite a bit of time and even more money. I have an American friend with an American mother and father who has been looking for her parents for close to 10 years now with only little success.

Good Luck in your quest.

Hello, I hope all is well with everyone:) but it seems like I am the only one posting, so I think I will put the ball in someone else's court if there is still an interest in this site.

Once again good health to all:)

God Bless

Nonnie58

Hi Nonnie 58, glad to hear from you each time you post. I've posted once or twice, but it seems as thought everyone must be really busy. I'm certainly interested in keeping this site active, but I'm back to working full-time, working my 2nd job, and then doing all the other things one needs to do to keep moving forward.

I'm still interested in sailing away in October on a Home Lines Girls cruise, but I'm guessing mostly everyone has found an alternative site to post on and a different vacation/cruise to go on. I'm not ready to travel yet, but I might be ready to go in October!

I'll post somewhere, maybe here, when and once that happens.

Ciao, bella. Stay well. Janet D.

Ya gotta know that my first cruise made such an impact on my life. It was the fall of 1975, I had just turned 23 in July, and somehow or another I ended up in Cabin o-78 on Home Lines Oceanic. My girlfriends parents were travel agents, we paid $350 for the week, including all taxes and port charges. I had done some traveling already, Puerto Rico, Virginia Beach, South Florida (very different in the 70s from now) and some time on Florida's West Coast. All had been great fun, with great people, great memories, great times.

But I knew as soon as I walked onto that ship from the creeking gangway, it just felt like I'd been hit by a bolt of hot lightening. Chills up my spine, goosebumps on my arms, and I was smiling so much my mouth hurt, literally, from being stretched so tightly agains my teeth & jaw. I knew it was going to be a helluva ride.

It was that, oh for sure, and much, much more. I'll never forget one moment of that first cruise. Some of the others have dimmed a bit, but not the October 25th, 1975 sailing of Home Lines Oceanic from NYC to Nassau and Bermuda.

I grew up that very moment. The moment I stepped onto the ship with the ocean swaying and ebbing. I could hear the gentle beating of the ships heart under my toes, and the essence of the salty wind flowing through my veins. Me and the ship, we were as one. And no matter what has followed, I still feel the beat and flow and am ever drawn to the oceanside to feel complete.

And don't worry Jacksmyname, I remember the names of hardly a few; but remember instead their warm smiles and my joyl

Get yourself on a ship, man!

JD

I know we'll have a chance to sail together soon. I'm still thinking October 2010 is a good crusin' date to plan towards - more than ever - I want to meet you all' date=' talk with you all, laugh with you all, write with you, stand at the rail with you, and most of all, SAIL the SEA with you. Just like I'm sure we must have sailed together at some time in the past. I'm sure we did.[/i']

Gimme a little more time to pull it all together; all the obligations which kinda slid off the radar screen since early November which I'm just beginning to deal with now that the frantic holiday planning has passed. We'll do some serious planning - only 10 months away - and before you know it, we'll be boarding a ship to sail down the Hudson. The Home Lines Girls will have come home at last, together.

Janet D. ;)

I'm very much looking forward to "planning on planning" this October extravaganza, Nonnie. Give me just a bit more time and Ms. Marge & I will begin the phone calls and postings to get this adventure "carved in stone"! Can't wait to hear all about their week on the Emerald Princess, and then we'll be on this board asking for opinions and suggestions for our "editor's cruise" on the open sea! So Ciao for Now, and we'll be back in touch before you know it.

Janet D.

SueSeaQ, Hope you are recovering and feeling "Hale & Hearty"! Getting past a hospitalization is definitely not the most fun. I'm pulling for you all the way. Least I can do since you sere so supportive during my illness. Ugh, hate that word.

Thinking of you and know you are healing well.

JD

A Happy and Healthy New Year to all my Home Lines Sisters!

First, let me thank you all for your good wishes, kind messages, healthy vibes, and most of all your prayers. That praying on the way to work idea is a good one which I'm gonna start doing from now on. On the way TO work and on the way FROM work. That oughta cover most of what I'm praying about thesese days...

And let me tell you, lots to pray about! I'm back at work, started part time, taking on more and more hours each week since my return on 12/14. My long-time friends who were so supportive and encouraging and helpful are such a bunch of people to be thankful for...I sure would have been in a big mess, literally & figuratively, if it hadn't been for their continued and caring efforts on my behalf when I found myself out of control and sick with something that couldn't be diagnosed.

Home Lines Girls? You all, each and everyone of you, although I'd heard through Ms. Marge how you were all mustering your efforts, thoughts, prayers to make me better, to get me back onto this Board, which I love and need so much, well, to hear about it was amazing. To read and see it absolutely leaves me speechless...well not really speechless, (no, not ever THAT), but good heavens, I'm loving each and every one of you so much. You all made a huge difference in what happened to me. No doubt about it. And since I'm so damned emotional in the last coupla months, I'm sitting here all tearing up at work. Can't help it. All those tears I never cried in all the years most folks have known me are fighting to get out lately. I go with it. The new me.

At any rate, I'm back. I'm ready for everything. I'm not sailing in a coupla days, and I sure am going to miss being with my friend Judy when she turns 60 and I'm going to wish I was with Margie and her husband on the back deck of the ship laughing and enjoying the ocean breeze, I know we'll have a chance to sail together soon. I'm still thinking October 2010 is a good crusin' date to plan towards - more than ever - I want to meet you all, talk with you all, laugh with you all, write with you, stand at the rail with you, and most of all, SAIL the SEA with you. Just like I'm sure we must have sailed together at some time in the past. I'm sure we did.

Gimme a little more time to pull it all together; all the obligations which kinda slid off the radar screen since early November which I'm just beginning to deal with now that the frantic holiday planning has passed. We'll do some serious planning - only 10 months away - and before you know it, we'll be boarding a ship to sail down the Hudson. The Home Lines Girls will have come home at last, together.

Janet D. ;)

And Mark as far as your comment " they were not the doctors, lawyer, professors and financiers of Italian society" ... I see from your profile that you are single. I hope that you never meet someone who is interested in you simply because of letters (MD, PHD, esq) that you put after your name. Some of us actually have some letters after our own names :). There is nothing wrong with being blue collar and that comment of yours sort of shows exactly how shallow you are

Ta ta for now all of my wonderful, bright, exciting Home Lines girlies :)

Thanks, "girlies", for your support and for adding more info to clarify for Mr. Mark. Imagine, thinking that any of us would yell at him for asking a perfectly legit question about us and how our minds worked and work! He has much to learn, I would say. We'll share our knowledge and experiences with him on this site and he'll be amazed (and well-taught!) when we've accomplished this task.

More than anything I get such a kick out of the reactions received when one of us tells a story at this site, or at home, either one of our own or someone elses's (those are some of the best, heh Marge?), and Mark can participate whenever he chooses. I'd love to hear from him again real soon. I signed on just now to find a response from him...I was hoping.

Instead I heard from two of the girlies and I couldn't be more pleased, truly. Certainly made my rather tedious, hectic, Friday afternoon at the VA much brighter and so much more fun.

I'm looking forward to visiting with the tricker-treaters tomorrow evening so much more now, and maybe I'll even get dressed as a "Home Lines Sister". Hmmm, wadyathink?

Out in front of the ghostly & ghoulish decorated house with the firepit roaring, as much as a firepit can roar, I suppose, walks the much anticipated "Home Lines Sister", arms full of chocolate Kisses and Bliss Meltaway bite-size treats. Trolling, up and down the busy thoroughfare, she spots nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unique or foreign, nothing that looks charming or promising enough to be memorable. But maybe, over there at the Supermercato, there's that group out front, smoking like crazy, blazing even more than that ridiculous firepit... I wonder if they'd be interested in a treat or two?

You gals can take it from there, or give it a shot, Mark. We've got faith.

Ciao for now, enjoy the weekend. Love to all.

Janet D. ;)

I am confused with the posting on this boad and have to ask this question...I hope I don't get "yelled at" for asking this...but here goes...why would American women (citizens) want to look for a husband who is an Italian citizen working on a cruise ship as a waiter, cabin steward or bus boy? What am I missing here?

 

Okay Mark, I'll take this on. And why should any of us "yell". You don't even know the first thing about any of us American women (citizens). I answered the same or similar question for years and years. But please understand, this is sort of MY frame of reference, no one elses. So others of you with opinions to share, please do so, as well. Please.

I'm not sure I said I was EVER looking for a husband. It was my intention, when I was in my early 20s to have as many experiences as I could, with as many people as I was able to meet, in as many exotic places as possible, and learn as much as I could about the world while having myself a grand old time. And I did. I don't regret one single moment of any of my adventures, experiences or memories. I'm often called upon to "tell the story about that time on the ship when you went out on that yacht", and so on!

I didn't EVER set out to meet someone who could be my potential husband. I believed that if I got out in the world, gathered up as many people as I could and chalked up as many experiences as possible, and learned even just one little thing from every moment, I'd be a very happy and content person. It worked for me, and still does. I knew early on I had to depend on ME, and only Me, to support Me, not some weirdo attorney or doc!

The sun, the sea, and the boys of Italy all fit so nicely into my plan. An accent is always charming (which most American men don't quite understand how a woman can "fall" for a guy with an accent), most European men really know how to treat a woman in a special and adoring way, saying all the "right" words and phrases, demonstrating their affection, unlike most American born and bred guys who'd toss a lovely woman to the side if a sport's star or can of beer crosses their path!

And it isn't just the Italian boys! French, Spanish, English (oh those English men!) Dutch, you name it, lovely. And who cared then, or now, for that matter, if they are grooming themselves to be lawyers, doctors, accountants? Its for fun and so many of us broads arn't as materialistic as you thinK, Mr. Mark.

Life is too short, we grow too old too quick, and time has a way of chipping at your opportunities. So, enjoyed it while I could, still do what I can when I am able, and a bunch of us broads, "The Home Lines Sisters" are getting together within the next few months to write all the fun, life, love, into a bestseller. We'll send you a signed copy! :D

thank gosh.:rolleyes:

Oh my you are from Woodlands, Texas, arn't you honey?! Welcome aboard the best cruise line in the world, ever, or at least the best website in the world that deals with the best cruise line - Home Lines! How did you ever find a Home Lines Cruise in NYC when you were out there in Iowa? And how did you find this site. You had to really be looking for this kind of thing, I'm sure. Well, you found some of the nices, funniest, most sincere, sophisticated and well-traveled folks you'll hope to meet. The Home Lines Sisters.

So really, welcome, we love having you with us, take some time and read some old postings and get to know the crowd. Post to the site frequently, share your good and not so good stories, and just plain enjoy yourself.

JD :D

Oh Geeze, I just got the feeling that we are gonna hafta meet way before fall 2010! And yes Marge, it is Debbie. She's okay. And I do't think she' ever been on Facebook.

Ms. SueseaQ, you are delightful to want to go away so desperately with your Home Lines "Sorelle" you gave me the chills when you signed off. How MUCH our lives have all changed.

Glad to hear your Dad is doing better AND also that your computer seems to be working again, for now.

Very little time at the moment, I'm off and running, but I'll be in touch over the weekend. Ciao for now!

Janet D.

Cruizin, remember Vito, from the Carla, what a hoot n holler that was. Can't believe he kept my number all these years. Something else for our book...I think the crew men must have a box that they move from ship to ship with all of their "private" stash that they can't take home LOL. Vito, Michael and I had a little confrontation on one of my Costa cruises, OMG another story for a very funny memory.....

Hope everyone is enjoying this lovely rainy weather

Marge

First things first, can't stand the rain, the cold, the wind. I feel like I'm living "upstate" w/my little brother in Syracuse - a fate worse than hell itself. Always dreary, ugly, damp, gross. I need the sun, the sea and the boys of Italy. One of those very funny stories about those cruisin' days would do me a world of good right about now, kiddo.

I'm always just checking the site right around the time you decide to post. Don't tell me we arn't still "connected" in this freaky way, Ms. Marge. We know better than that, don't we?

I wonder if Vito got any taller? Or maybe w/age he got even shorter! That would make him about the size of a one of those race horses's on the ships, wouldn't it? Cute as a button, however, with a great sense of fun and humor. Talk about a hoot!

Ya know, I'm thinking I was actually on that Costa ship when you had your "threesome" confrontational! Who knows? So many cruises, so many moments, so many confrontations!! And frankly, Ms. Margie, I'm remembering pretty clearly how you were the instigator of most of those situations, and they were always so worth it, my dear friend. You helped to provide more precious moments -of all kinds- than I imagine anyone could ever hope to experience in one lifetime.

Yea, we gotta get this book written, right, Home Lines Sisters? Ya know, my travelling buddy, the broad wthe shortest legs in the world and the bluest eyes, she & I were out at the diner the other evening which I felt was a good time to reveal the plans for our "Sister's @ Sea" adventure next fall.

Ms. Blue Eyes looked at me incredulously and said "You so know you've gotten old when you find yourself planning a cruise w/your former Home Lines "enemies" you used to purposely not tell things to, plan little nasty tricks on, outright lie to and now you're planning on cruising together to share that very same information. You must all be nuts".

I responded that "Oh hell! We probably pretty much all shared the same guys and so it was time for us to share the stories, as well. We're all practically related"! We're finally calling ourselves what we truly are, Home Lines Sisters.

Please come on this cruise, Marge106. You must be there. Get those knees fixed, get up and running (well, neither of us ever ran much anyway!), and get on board the Sister's @ Sea cruise, please?

Ciao for now bella friends! :p

JD

 

Talking about knees.....hmmmmmm....just thought of a new reason as to why I had to have that hip replaced 11 yrs ago.....:eek::cool::p:D:o!!!!!!

OH MY! You have got to find a way to do this cruise, Ms. SueseaQ! You don't let a thing get past you, kiddo, and that's just what we'll need when we're all brainstorming at sea! Quick! Bright! Witty! Sarcasm! We've got you AND Marge106, as well as all the other "sisters". We've already got the makings of a great read.

If we don't follow thru on this, we're damned fools! And our mama's didn't raise no fools, that's for sure. You've all waited this long to get replacement parts - me too - double knee replacement down the road, but not until we get this book written, ladies. We can sit around and edit the damned thing while we all recuperate, but what a great way to recover.

I've got some serious research to do regarding this adventure. Now is as good a time as any! ;)

JD

Ah my good friend...I could go for a little dancing in 40 Thieves right about now...my knees are probably shot from abusing them for so long, running up & down gangways and chasing scooters into the water in Bermuda....Ah what a great memory

LOL, LOL, LOL, I can't stop!! So that's how our knees ended up in the shape they're in! And I thought it was from... well, I can't really write I what I thought it was from! I'm pretty straight forward and honest, but some things I just can't say on a public forum, kiddo, and this is one of them. But you so know, don't you girl? and ya know, I was wondering if you'd picked up on that reference to the scooter at the pier awhile ago? Of COURSE you did. You've never let me down, not once.

We GOTTA go on this little working/writing/memory cruise next fall, Marge. I'll pull it all together. I'll get the limo to come from CT, pick you up in LI, and anyone else along the way, my Home Lines Sisters (I love it!) and we've GOT to do this. I have a feeling it will be one of our best cruises ever, for any and all of us, and that will have to go some to compete with all the past sailings!

Maybe we'll settle for it being our best cruise ever as grown women? Oh no, that sounds way too tame for my liking, girls. Lets shoot for the BEST EVER!

Ciao for now, girlies. Janet D.

We had a wedding this weekend here in New Haven - my Goddaughter! All good, took her on her first cruise for her 16th BD...I'll be back in touch once I get the computer @home fixed, find a moment of free time, and I WISH I'd gotten to go on this cruise w/Chris and Keith!

They are in Bermuda right this minute and I'm sure they are most certainly ensconced at 9 Beaches as I'm writing this; beach chair, little cup holder with tropical, frothy, icey beverage, sound of the waves lapping up against the sand, a steel drum beat in the distance, plane in the sky dipping in over the beach, the sound of a ship's whitle signaling its journey home.

Okay then, back to the task at hand, no ships in sight, no forthy drink, just the good ol' VA Hospital reality of it all.

Ciao, bella. Knees? No? I'm sorry. You'll feel better, ultimately, but a tough rough ahead, my friend. Maybe me and Chris and Tatooskullhead (Keith) will make a "sick friend visit"? Again, we'll talk.

JD :cool:

Nonnie58 and Marge106 you have much in common, it seems. We'll have to talk when we're together about what its like to spend 16 years in a relationship with an alcoholic who had the entire world fooled that he was just fine---except for me, that is. How did we find ourselves with these men after having had the experiences most women couldn't even dream about? I've always wondered about that, and maybe we can come up with a few thoughts when our powers are combined on this 2010 Fall cruise.

Glad to hear you think the date is a good pick, Nonnie58, any thoughts SueseaQ or Marge? I'll spend some time this weekend doing research and have all kinds of info available for a Sunday evening post!

Yes, Ms. SueseaQ, how have you been faring at the new job? It's good?

Ciao for now,

Janet D.

Catch y'all soon (I'm practicing my southern for when I move down south !!! )

Movin', my dear friend? Where to? When? My plan, as its always been, is to retire in 5 years, move down to FLL, somewhere near Ms. Judy and since she's on the intercoastal, I plan to be pretty close to the water myself. Will we be neighbors?

I knew you'd show up here soon, and here you are...coming along, it appears, on this "Home Lines Girl Cruise". I'm thinking a simple, wonderful, beautiful cruise to BDA might be the perfect destination to begin the book planning and to conjure up some wonderful memories for the stories in this prize-winning novel! Mid-to late October, 2010, sail out of NYC on Celebrity? I hear they're sailing back to Hamilton, or at least Bermuda, but I haven't even started researching any of this yet. What's the consensus, Nonnie58 and SueseaQ? So far so good, or did y'all (consession to Marge106's move south!) have something else in mind?

And really Ms. Marge, the shower story? With all the stories available between that group of us, you pick the shower story? Yea, well, ya know, it IS a funny one, to say the least, but it in fact is a Janet/Debbie story, and works best when told in tandem.

I have several favorite Marge and Marge & Michael tales, but the one that keeps popping into my head at this moment has to do with a motorbike, a pier, and thankfully no one getting hurt! As you said, in person is better, and YOU tell that one like no one has ever told a story before, no matter how many times you recite the scenario.

Marge, I didn't know that little story about the date you met Husband #2. Your mother is a powerful force, as we discussed during the time your nephew kept running into her all the time, well after she had passed on. Oh yea, definitely sent by your Momma.

Okay then, Ciao, amico mio. A dopo... J ;)

To both Nonnie58 and SueseaQ, its so cool to have some of the girls from the pier actually being friendly and looking forward to talking on this site and getting together to have a book published! Who ever guessed we'd get to this point? Certainly not me! I used to spend all my time waiting for my crew member-of-the-day dodging the "other" girls just because I didn't want to have to talk to or get to know any of them! I'd be "fake-nice", but nobody really knew my business, or so I thought. HaHa, ya all probably knew what was going on w/me and I was such a jerk thinking differently.

Hey SueSeaQ, congrats on that new job! I hope its exactly what you were hoping for and that you are well-rewaraded in all areas. I was out of work about 3-1/2 years ago for 6 months and it was the hardest I EVER worked finding a job. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, and it wasn't nearly as bad out there then as it is now trying to find something decent! Really best of luck.

And Nonnie58, don't apologize for being happy in your marriage. I'm pleased for you, and your man, and that you and he have found your way in this quagmire called real life. Good for you both and I look forward to all of us getting together on whatever ship we decide to sail.

I'm thinking sailing out of New York, for this group, would be best, don't ya think? I've never had a bad time on Carnival, but I have had a less than stellar experience on NCL. I was on a cruise, yes, and so it was wonderful, but there's something about NCL that doesn't quite feel good to me. Hard to pinpoint, but something I'm not comfortable with. More on that in person when we have the chance.

Let's be the "core group" in this planning phase and make it happen. Whadyathink, wanna give it a try?

JD

The way I feel about it, one of the greatest charms of a cruise is that you can get a whole bunch of friends, family, kids, husbands, wives, whatever, all together in the same place and at the same time, and STILL do all the things you want to do individually, as part of a group, with just a few friends, or be alone. It is the best way to travel with "mixed groups", and if anybody's travel companions wanna sit around and listen to our tales, well, then, as long as you don't mind, then who am I to even care? The more the merrier. We could probably use a few good critics; to kinda filter out a lot of the stuff that we're just dying to talk about because its special to us, but that other, "non-Home Lines people" would consider just plain boring or ridiculous to mention!

I'm betting most guys might want to hear what all the "talk, talk, talk" is about, but then I'm guessing they'll get really "bored, bored, bored" and find something else to amuse themselves during the times we Home Lines girls are strolling down the Oceanic Memory Lane, so to speak. They may have a few questions later on, but mostly I'm guessing they'll wait for the best seller to get published and get themselves a signed copy of the book!

I'm hoping to make some new friends from within the crowd that my Home Lines ladies tote along with them on this "brainstorming" adventure at sea!

I'm sailing on the Emerald Princess January 10, 2010, for my friend's 60th Birthday. She's a Home Lines alumni, and we're traveling with 12 other people, I believe most of whom are former Home Liners, ladies and gents both, and having them along could be a good thing. Might any of you be available that winter week after the Holiday rush? Out of FLL, 7-days, last day of the cruise at sea, balcony cabin $849 plus tax, port taxes, etc. I've never sailed Princess but I'm looking very forward to the adventure! C'mon along...

3am? You called it an early night! LOL!

 

Traveling with the Aunt & Uncle of one of my friends who was also my roommate, I ran into the relatives coming back from their lucky night in the casino and one of my lucky nights on crew deck! They were asking all kinds of questions about where did that door I came through lead to? Did I notice it said "Crew Only"? Is there a bar or "a disco" they had missed all week? I mumbled something brilliant about it "just being downstairs, below sea level, and I guess I fell asleep " and they thought that was hysterically funny. Then they asked if they took the ship tour tomorrow (you know, that one the last day at sea where some newbie sailor brings you through the kitchen and up to the bridge to gawk at the officers and crew), if they'd get to go "downstairs" as well. I said something about that being the "Unauthorized" ship tour, and then we parted ways.

 

Good thing it was the last day of the cruise, 'cause everytime I left the group, even just to go to the bathroom, for heaven's sake, all my cruise mates would ask if I was going on an "Unauthorized" tour of the ship, or pehaps going to take a nap? All day. It was so sad. Nothing else to talk about besides my middle-of-the night antics! Oh well, my goal in life has always been "let's giv'em something to talk about", and I guess I always have. Too bad I didn't have you nice ladies way back then to back me up. We really would have given them something to talk about, heh?

 

Ya know, perhaps we could really collaborate on a book about all of this. I've already had one book published, back in 2000, so I kind of have the idea of what all this publishing stuff might be about, vaguely. All of us sailing together out of NYC to anywhere for a week could be a good way to pull it together so that it might become a reality.

 

I hope this plan works better than the reunion idea, which kind of fizzled after a bit. Somebody has to be made the "in-charge" person, otherwise we just keep tossing the thought around and around and nothing happens. Any volunteers to head up the project to produce the next Pulitzer Prize in Literature?

Ha! We'd make millions! I honestly believe that we would have a best seller on our hands. Think of it! Sneaking on and off "crew deck" in every way imaginable; up on the bridge, down in the engine room, everywhere we got to visit and "do things" that other passengers didn't have a clue about. It was so very cool to be us, wasn't it? I just LOVED being on the ship w/my crew guy after all the passengers had disembarked and before the hoards of the new week's passengers would board around 1 pm. It was quite delicious to live for a little bit each week like such a diva!

We were the originals, Ms. Nonnie58, and frankly its not anything I ever want to forget or deny. I'm going to use my own great name in this book we write, ladies, and be damned proud of it and all that it ever stood for, and which so many remember quite fondly, I would imagine. How about you all?

I'm reading a book (not a new one) by an Geraldine Saunders, called THE LOVE BOATS, i kind of just started it, but, it does take me back to home lines days,:cool: it's about her adventures on a cruise ship when she worked as a cruise director, it's a true story.

You are reading the book the television series "The Love Boat" was based on! Have fun with it. It may be and older book, but ya know, the stories are still the same after all these years! :)

Thanks Cooper 10-8 for all that historical info! I love the Oeanic, always will. ya know, there's something about your "first time", and I couldn't have asked for better than Home Lines!

I hear the Oceanic, as the Peace Boat, had some problems when it visited NYC in June this year; had to go to New Jersey for repair of a leak, etc., etc., and she basically got "pulled off the road", so to speak. I believe she was allowed to set sail for her home port (somewhere in Japan these days?), but I honestly don't know what happened to her from that point on. Poor, lovely, old, grand lady...

Thanks Cooper 10-8 for all that historical info! I love the Oeanic, always will. ya know, there's something about your "first time", and I couldn't have asked for better than Home Lines!

I hear the Oceanic, as the Peace Boat, had some problems when it visited NYC in June this year; had to go to New Jersey for repair of a leak, etc., etc., and she basically got "pulled off the road", so to speak. I believe she was allowed to set sail for her home port (somewhere in Japan these days?), but I honestly don't know what happened to her from that point on. Poor, lovely, old, grand lady...

I was the lucky one when at a "Travel Show" held at the Civic Center in hartford, CT, my girlfriends father, who owned Happy Time Travel in Hamden, told the agent standing behind the table at the "Home Lines" bboth that his daughter and I were "brand new agents" and that he wanted to send us on a cruise from NYC to "the islands" so we'd have some idea what the heck we were talking about when trying to sell a trip to potential clients. The Home Lines agent responded that if we could leave on the Saturday coming up (it was a Tuesday evening, about 7 pm), we could sail on Home Lines world-famous Oceanic for $35 per day, 7 days, to Nassau and Bermuda. My girlfriend patti was immediately thrilled. Me? I was a little less so.

I sure did love to travel; I'd been flying all over the world in the five years I'd gotten out of school, and somehow or another, sitting idly on a "boat" for days didn't seem nearly as appealing as flying off into the sunset to exotic locales.

My girlfriend's Dad did a great job of selling me on the cruise, he was sailing as well that same Saturday on the Rotterdam and he promised we'd meet in Nassau and do all kinds of exotic stuff, and I reluctantly agreed to go along with Patti on the Oceanic.

I easily got the time off from my job at a VA Hospital, my boss encouraging me to see as much as I could and experience as much as possible. I kinda hoped he would say I couldn't have the time off, so then there would be a real reason for my not being able to sail on Saturday. The more I thought about it, the more distressed I'd become. I was going to be so bored I'd have to JUMP overboard just for the change of pace, I was sure!

I packed four novels into my tote bag and figured if nothing else, I'd catch up on my reading and just force myself to relax for 7 nights and days. I was sure it was going to be a disaster when sailing day greeted me with dark clouds threatening rain. Sure enough, the 2 pm boarding arrived in a windy storm, lots of rain and hail, and I was pretty much drenched as we boarded the ship.

I was an image of lovliness, frizzy curls and watery make-up, (I can only imagine), growling at the staff and crew all lined up wearing white jackets with little green "stand-up" collars, white gloves and amazing, big, bright smiles. Where in the world was this damned cabin I'd been assigned to? Oceanic Deck? Bottom of the ship? One deck above crew deck? It better have a window, for heaven's sake!

Wasn't I a bit surprised and tantalized when the most gorgeous blue eyes looked down into my blazing-with-anger brown eyes and said "I help you with your bag, miss, please, let me...

And boy did I. From that moment on, I couldn't have dreamt of anything so lovely, so amazing, so wonderful. By Tuesday night I was crying and moaning that I'd have to get off this wonderful Oceanic ship on Saturday morning and how was I going to live my old, staid, boring life on land?

The food, the service, the cabins, the music, the dancing, the sun, the sea, the boys of Italy, it was all too marvelous and fabulous to even imagine that I was part of it all for those 7 days.

Was I hooked? What in the world do you think? I booked another cruise for 6 months later, and then another for six months after that, and then another and another and another. All on Home Lines. They only had 2 ships, so it was like going "home" each and every time I sailed again and again. Wonderful new friends, passengers and crew, wonderful new ports, wonderful memories, wonderful experiences... the most wonderful time of my life. A marvelous addiction.