Some folks think everybody should go on a cruise at least once. I agree. Some folks think everybody should go on a cruise once a year. I agree to that too, now!

The Carnival ships aren't known as "The Fun Ships" for nothing... It'd be about impossible to not have fun on one of these cruises! I know what fun is, I had a bunch of it this past weekend, and lemme tell ya, fun is my favorite thing to have!

You like to eat? Feel like eating 7 times a day? No problem. Can't decide if you want the cornish gaming hen, the prime rib or the lobster tail (or anything else on the menu) for dinner? No problem. Order them all! All of your food is included in the price of your room. No looking at the prices on menus, they don't exist.

You like to shop? There's plenty of duty free shopping available both on board the ship and in your port of call. Gems, jewelry and watches (bought a very nice watch myself), artwork, liquor (some amazing prices on liquor when you can buy it before our government taxes it), you are alowed $800 in purchases brought into the country per family member before you have to start paying duty. I had to have a Cuban cigar. Bought one in Nassau, a Romeo Y Julieta Churchill for $15. Talk about a great stogey! One thing about them though, while you can bring them onto the ship, you can't take them home with you when you get back to Miami, some problem we have with Castro...

You like to gamble? The Fascination has a casino that is larger than I was expecting. Maybe 8 blackjack tables, Carribean Stud, Let It Ride, Three Card Poker, 2 roulette wheels, a craps table and I probably left out a table game or two. They have blackjack and slot tournaments (I just missed the cut for the finals in the BJ tourney). They have a good assortment of slot machines, and about a dozen video poker machines. The odds aren't good on the VP machines, but the progressive jackpot on the bank of 25 cent Jacks or Better was well over $1700 when we boarded the ship Friday. It was at exactly $1838.72 when I hit the royal Friday night. Not a bad way to start a vacation!!!

You got kids? Bring'em along! The ship has special activities for kids of every age. Camp Carnival keeps the young ones busy all day, leaving mom and dad plenty of free time to spend together. Teens have their own activities so they don't have to spend the days and nights (they even have their own disco!) being embarrassed by their parents!

The Harbers and Quinlivans want to make this an annual event, and I'm all for it. Spouses and other family members who wouldn't find interest in a chip show or convention would (and did) have a great time at an event like this. While there was some chipping and chip chat, it didn't consume very much of the weekend like a show or the convention can. We had three scheduled meetings but none were required attendance. The ship set aside the Passage To India lounge for us to have these meetings, it was a very nice room.

Below is a group photo of the final meeting Sunday night. Almost everyone showed up (it was an open bar for an hour ). Left to right, front row: Iona Kohrt, Mary Ann Massey, Dave Harber, Casey Focazio-Follis, Sunday Silverman, Jim Follis, Diane Hollibaugh and Belinda Hixon. Left to right, back row: Harold Kohrt, Bruce Massey, Mike Custodio, Jackie Custodio, Debby Harber, Mike Quinlivan, Corni Quinlivan, me, Larry Hollibaugh, Pam Focazio, Gene Lonstein and Phil Hixon. Missing for our group in this photo were Sarah and Sean Quinlivan, and Alexi Harber (the kids had better things to do) and Sunday's dad Morris Sussman. If you ever get a chance to meet Morris, do so. He's a fun guy to be around!

I hope to see everyone again, on the ship next year, as well as a whole bunch more of the good folks within this hobby. IT REALLY WAS FUN!

Bob