Happy Birthday to John Denton, Hotel Director of Royal Caribbean's, Radiance of the Seas

A very special thing is happening today!  Royal Caribbean's beautiful ship, the
Radiance of the Seas arrives in San Francisco and will be here overnight.  I love the
Radiance and have had the great pleasure of sailing on her six times.  She is such
a beautiful ship, with a ten story glass constructed centrum and glass elevators facing
the ocean.  The Champagne Bar, where I spent a good deal of time, also faces the
sea.  Next to my most beloved ship, the Monarch of the Seas, my first Royal Caribbean
ship, I would have to say the Radiance is my favorite.

I am especially thrilled that the hotel director on board the Radiance for this San
Francisco visit is one of my favorite officers in the entire Royal Caribbean fleet. 
John Denton is a true delight of a man and he makes passengers feel so welcome
on his ships, with his British accent and marvelous smile.  I had the great privilege
of sailing with John many times on the Monarch of the Seas before Royal Caribbean
made the mistake of taking it away from us in California.  All the Monarch's loyal
California cruisers ( and there are hundreds of us ) begged the gods in Miami to
reconsider but, alas, not only did they remove the Monarch, California is soon to be
with no ship in this market - unless we are to cruise with another cruise line ( heaven
forbid! ).

Much to my delight, when I went to Europe to sail on the Legend of the Seas for my
64th birthday, who did I find there but the charming John Denton again.  Of course,
I think he had hoped to stay with the Monarch in much closer proximity to his family
in Florida.  However, working for a cruise line is much like being in the military.  One
must go where they send you!

At least, for the last couple of weeks, the lovely Mrs. Denton has been "first mate" as
the Radiance has finished her Alaska season and is making her way south and through
the Canal to Florida.  San Francisco welcomes the Radiance of the Seas and I,
especially, welcome John and Marisa Denton. 

A very special happy birthday to you, John.  I am so delighted that we share the same
planet and that I have been fortunate to cruise with you.  You are a terrific hotel director.

Hotel Director, John Denton

Dinner at John Denton's table, Monarch of the Seas

To all my blogging buddies, please forgive me if I'm a little remiss for a couple of

days in reading blogs and responding to comments.  My dear friend, Sherry Arndt, a

fellow "queen" has been here for a day and night so we've been having fun and

catching up, wining and dining, sightseeing, and hanging out and then the Dentons

arrive in San Francisco.  Things will be back to normal in a day or so and I'll catch

up. 

"Q" Is For Queens - Alphabe Thursday, May 13, 2010

"Q" Is For Queens - Alphabe Thursday, May 13, 2010

Well, I'm not talking about the crowned heads of Europe or anything like that.  Elizabeth needn't feel intimidated.  When I talk about queens, I am referring to what began as a group of four nurses, of the forensic genre, all good friends, over fifty ( I won't say how far above that milestone we all are - our ages vary ).  We started out declaring ourselves "queens" when we cruised on the Monach of the Seas, out of San Pedro, California - perhaps over cocktails ( or several cocktails ).  We held our own coronation and the crew of the Monarch soon declared us the Queens of that ship, as well.  We began taking our responsiblities seriously, acquiring queenly paraphanalia, pins, pendants, crowns, t-shirts, even wine glasses, earrings, rings.  On future voyages, other passengers began asking, "Who are those ladies"?  We have inducted new ladies into the queendom but we original four will always be the queen mothers and the supreme rulers.  We've talked about allowing males into our court, if they show the proper respect and are willing to be our lackeys but, thus far, a final decision has not been reached.

It has gotten almost to the point of an obsession and has spread to other ships with the transfer of our crew friends about the world.  Land venues are now beginning to experience our royal presence whenever we gather together.  If there is room in our suitcases, we faithfully take our "queen" wine glasses to use at every opportunity and we wear our queenly garb in order to garner the proper respect.  If only there weren't such severe baggage limitations these days, we would have purchased the matching queen martini glasses!  If we sense that anyone is thinking, "What a wierd bunch of old whackos", it's off with their heads!

 Here we are on the Monarch, complete with our wine glasses.  We're wearing our matching cocktail aloha shirts, purchased on a cruise to Hawaii.

Here's just a part of my crown pin collection:

I'm participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday