I'm new to this site and wanted to say hi. I will be going on the cruise in October and look forward to meeting Catherine. Is anyone else out there going? It would be nice to know a few other readaholics before hand.

Barbara

I know I am really looking forward to this cruise and to meeting Catherine in person...along with other authors that I have been reading so long!!

And the ones that I have not read before also. I have been trying to read some of there books before going and have found several that I really enjoy.

If you would like, we can set up a 'pre-cruise' chat over in the chat room and maybe even get Catherine to come in. Maybe in another month or so

Yes, I will be on the cruise, too. I can't wait! My whole family is so excited about this. Even last night, Bill was saying how he can't wait to get a massage on the cruise! A real vacation! And I get to meet Catherine and lynda, too! Yippee!

I have read books by all the authors and I'm in the process of setting up an Excell spreadsheet so I can remember who wrote what and if I liked it.

I'm going with my sister-in-law, Joy. She doesn't read as much as me (I read about 1 book a day), but she's lots of fun. I went to an author's event in Chicago in March and had a ball. Most authors really appreciate us readers and it's so interesting to get the background info.

Just a little about me. I'm divorced and have 2 sons. Keith, 32 is married to Jennifer and they live in Dittmer, MO (about 45 minutes south of St. Louis) with my 2 beautiful grandchildren, Alex 3 1/2 and Lydia 15 months. My other son, Andrew, 22, just graduated from college and is job hunting. He is an illustrator and does portraits (in case you know anyone who needs his expertise).

I look forward to talking to you both soon.

Barbara

I am from Connecticut, and I will be bringing the whole family. We all need a vacation!

We are all going to try to meet in the chat room this Monday night, Aug. 30th at 8-9pm ET. It is real simple and we will all be there to help you.

Go to the site: www.veard.com/chat/asp and register. If you have any problems email me at lynda@veard.com. My hubby wrote the chat room and we host it on our own servers so you don't have to worry about any virus or worms there. We'd love to chat with you so come if you can.

I live in South Milwaukee, WI.

Lynda, I was unable to get to the chat site. I got the message that the page was unavailable. I do have a Macintosh computer. I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

Barbara

Katy

This one should work: http://www.veard.com/main.asp .

You should be able to get on with a MAC, if you have problems there are instructions on the front page as what you can do. I know we have had MAC people on before.

We will be taking lots of pictures too on the cruise and my DH will be putting up a 'site' for us to post the pictures on with text to tell what is going on and who is in it. To get an idea of what we will be doing you can check out this site: www.ssbn601.com/mardigras.asp. We did a big Mardi Gras party for our community back in Feb. and we posted this site. I just checked the site and I noticed there is a pic of Tim and I on the front page so you can see what we look like!

I do hope you will try the chat room again...Monday night, 8/30 at 8 - 9pm ET we will be having a chat...but we'll mostlikely stay on later so if you can make it, please join us!

I got a message that I needed up download Internet Explorer, which I did, but still no luck. I'll call my son and ask him to come over and look at it for me. Hopefully I'll be up and running by Monday.

Barbara

I hope that your son can help you out...I do know other Mac users have gotten on and not had any problems

Looking forward to meeting you both in chat and on the cruise

Glad you enjoyed seeing it all! And yea, my daughter Cherie is kind of pretty....and I'm her MOM so I can say that !

I was able to check out your web pictures also and they were wonderful. My son came over and got me hooked up to your chatroom. Hope to see you there tomorrow.

Barbara

ARE WE THERE YET???

We haven't received any packages from the cruise yet, but I will call them tomorrow. I will also be calling about the land excursions. Some are sold out already. I don't think I'll be taking the jeep one, sounds a little rough for me and I really don't want to drive. We have already signed up for all the shipboard stuff. It's getting close, I've already started packing.

Do you know if we can bring books to be signed or will they have a bunch on board that we can buy?

Barbara

They will have books to buy at 25% off. But I am bringing some special ones with me.

Katy

sorry we missed you. We will have to set another time to "meet" before the cruise.

I just got an e-mail from Carly Phillips. She said she's looking forward to the cruise. I've also heard from Tim Dorsey, Lisa Jackson, Christine Feehan and Debbie Macombe. They all sound great and now we can finally say we leave for our cruise NEXT MONTH!! I can't wait.

Barbara

I live in South Milwaukee and am going with my sister-in-law, Joy. They didn't announce the cruise party until after we bought our plane tickets, so we won't be getting in until the day we sail. I am looking forward to this cruise because I read nearly a book a day and can't wait to meet all the authors.

Look forward to meeting you in a couple of weeks.

Barbara

Now this all depends on what IVAN does...I made it through an almost direct hit of Frances and now they are showing IVAN coming in over south FL and leaving over Melbourne (my home) !!

I will be the one with two kids in tow! We are making it our family vacation, too!