Posted on 10/21/2001 1:40:32 PM PDT by Bob J
The cruise was a great success and everyone had a wonderful time! I understand attendees are already searching the cruise lines for another in either late spring or early summer next year!
The weather was fantastic the entire trip! The only rain we got was some brief showers on Key West! The seas were calm and the sky was blue with lazy clouds wafting lazily across the sky. Many FRuisers arrived a day early in Ft. Lauderdale at Sheraton Yankee Clipper which is about 1/2 mile from the "strip". Some shopped in the afternoon and we gathered for dinner on Sat night right across from the famous FL beaches! Sunday night we were honored to have RM Dupree, Luiz Gonzales and Donato Dalrymple join us at the Sheraton for drinks and conversation.
Everyone departed late the next morning for the Port of Miami, with LurkerNoMore arranging a very nice limovan for the cruise committee so we could go over last minute details. Getting on the boat was pretty easy and we settled in, exploring the ship and taking in lunch up at the Windjammer cafe on the 11th deck. That evening, we had a private cocktail party in the Blue Skies Lounge. We handed out a "goody bag" for all attendees that included a nice cooler bag, gulpa mugs, sports bottles, lotion, chapstick, can coolers, coasters, etc., plus a VERY nice Network printed folder with note paper and Network business cards donated by the LNM and the Dallas Chapter. Gene MacDonald printed up cool nametags for everyone!
At the cocktail party, the weeks events were reviewed and it was announced that BadJoe and Willa had been married the week before, and, Slip18 and CyberLiberty were married in June! Joe and Willa put on a very funny skit with a noose around Joe's neck...heheh. Willa then put a apron on Joe and when he fliped it up it revealed a very large appendage...HA! CPAC and the ACU generously donated 2 platinum packages for the next CPAC and winners were drawn later in the cruise....LURKERNOMORE And DITTOMOM! Congratulations!
During the cruise, we had several informative and important seminars on Network planning and Reagangirl gave a 2 hour PR and Media primer presentation. All attendees are now very well informed on how to set up media interest and attendance at our events, write Media advisories and press releases, not to mention how to work them to get maximum benefit from our efforts!
Off the ship, we toured downtown Nassau and Key West and had a very nice day snorkeling, waverunning and playing volleyball on CocoCay! I'll let the other FRuisers chime in on all the particulars and our brushes with danger!
I would like to personally thank all the members of the Cruise Committee who worked so hard to make this event a success! Diotima, LurkerNoMore, Ms AntiFeminazi, MinuteGal, Seeking the truth, Ironjack, abner and hubby, Commonsense, BadJoe and Syncro! Thank you for everything! I'm can't wait for the next one!
Words fail to describe the camaraderie, the joy, the sharing, and sorrow at parting that we experienced during that cruise. And by the way, we held a brief ceremony to honor those FREepers who are not among us any longer, and those innocent victims of perfidy who make Sept. 11, 2001 another day to live in infamy.
We were busy, but it was a labor of love. Good night all, and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!
He did nothing wrong.
It was great meeting you both. Hope to make it happen again soon.
Cococay was SO nice. I would love to go back there.
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