Hello Again, It Has Been A While!

It has been a while since I have found time to post. Life has been hectic for me. I have found a new job and have been preparing to start that. Of course my current job has been keeping me very busy too I have also been looking for a new cruise to go on. and I found one. I just booked Carnival Pride 14 days from Los Angeles to Miami. The bad part is that it is not until March 2009. To help pass the time until then I am thinking of booking a short cruise from Tampa. I have not researched any cruises as yet but I will soon.
Monday night I went to dinner with friends. All of us are members of several websites that promote cruising. we all met through the websites. http://www.themarinerscabin.com/ and http://www.cruisemates.com/ Over the years we have started meeting on cruises or at dinners around Florida. Many friendships have blossomed. The power of the internet never ceases to amaze me. At one of the dinners in Clermont FL we had a couple come all the way from Tacoma Wa. I am not recommending that everyone go and find a website and recklessly go meet new people. We all came together because of our addiction to cruise vacations. We got to know each other through daily postings on the message boards. Eventually we attend a dinner or book a group with these people. I have attended four dinners since moving to Florida and met many wonderful folks . I have also done two group cruises with the members of the websites. What wonderful friends I have made. In an earlier blog I wrote how cruising had changed my life. that is still true today 25 years after my first cruise. It just gets better and better.
In September I went on a cruise with a group sponsored by http://www.themarinerscabin.com/ Most of the people on the cruise I had met before. Some of the people on this cruise I met for the first time. What a wonderful fun filled cruise that was. I am finding that I am more adventurous than I thought I was. I went white water rafting and had a grand time. I would definitely consider that again. I have been researching tours for my Carnival Pride cruise. I find myself leaning toward the adventurous tours. I used to be happy sitting in a bus and listening to a description of the area we are driving through. Not so anymore!! I want some adventure and excitement. It was this cruise that prompted me to book the upcoming Carnival Pride cruise.
One of the stops we made on the Carnival Liberty was Panama. I toured the canal locks. I decided it was time to start looking for a Panama Canal cruise. I also heard that the moon over Panama is beautiful. It did not take a lot of time to locate a cruise once I started searching. I checked out several cruises then I heard about the Carnival Pride cruise. I have sailed on this ship previously and loved it. That decided it for me. A ship I love and an itinerary I have wanted to do for a while. The price was right and my friend wanted to go too so we are booked.
Recently I heard that some of my friends are planning to sail from Tampa over Halloween 2008. this sounds like such a fun cruise I am really considering it. It has also come to my attention that a couple I know from Texas are going too. Good ship, Carnival Legend, good folks equal a good time. I guess it is time to start searching for the right price!.