TopDawg Travel

Archive for the ‘My Travels’ Category

Read about disapppointment and a broken heart on Valentine’s Day 2010 

Princess Cruises Celebrates Announcement of Newest Members of Its “Department of Romance” With Theme Cruise Featuring Lectures, Vow Renewal and Romance Gala:

In celebration of the most romantic holiday of the year, and to usher in the newest members of its Department of Romance, Princess Cruises is hosting the first-ever Romance Summit cruise.

The Summit, which will be held on board Crown Princess during Valentine’s week, February 13-20, will feature a host of themed activities and presentations by the line’s Department of Romance members. Designed to celebrate the many aspects of cruising with Princess that can help couples reconnect, these special events will give passengers insight and inspiration on infusing romance into their everyday lives.

The entire Department of Romance will be aboard the special sailing. In addition to current members “Love Boat” captain Gavin MacLeod, “The Bachelorette’s” Trista and Ryan Sutter, and destination wedding expert Lisa Light, three new members will join the department. The new love experts are Anna Post, the great-great-granddaughter of Emily Post who will be discussing romance etiquette; “The Dating Diva” Dee Frazier of The University of Dating, an authority on finding love at any age; and Princess Cruises comedian Kevin Hughes, who keeps audiences laughing with his comedic and insightful take on relationships.

“Hosting the first-ever Romance Summit seems like the perfect way to celebrate Princess’ legacy of romance in a fun, unique way with something for everyone onboard,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises’ executive vice president. “It’s also the perfect way to introduce the newest members of our Department of Romance. We look forward to starting some lively conversations, as well as provide our passengers with great relationship tips, and a lot of fun.”

During the Romance Summit passengers will be treated to an abundance of romantic events, including an opportunity to meet all the Department of Romance members at a group panel discussion, plus attend individual presentations where each member will offer expertise on a particular aspect of love and relationships. Additionally, passengers will enjoy a variety of romance-themed activities, including a group renewal of vows for all couples on the ship and a Valentine’s Gala where passengers are invited to dress up in their best red attire for an evening of romantic dining and entertainment.

Throughout the sailing, passengers will enjoy themed food and beverage, entertainment, movies, and daytime activities.

Crown Princess is sailing on a western Caribbean itinerary during the Romance Summit, with calls at Grand Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel and Princess Cays.

And best of all……I will be there, reporting live from the Crown Princess!  We fly tonight, on my husband’s birthday.  What a lovely way to celebrate a new year for him and a romantic valentine’s week as well!

Read about the Romance Summit I’ll be attending

Wednesday night at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer, VANOC, Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia, and Houourable Mary McNeil, Minister of State for the Olympics and ActNow BC held a ceremony to light the 2010 Olympic Rings at Coal Harbour.  The rings now sit on a barge in the water.   Read more, see a video and a slideshow -

Vancouver celebrated the 100 day countdown by lighting the new Olympic Rings

Posted using ShareThis

November 1st , Sunday morning:  We had to have our bags at the Best Western Dorchester by 7AM.  Since the time changed at 2AM to fall back 1 hour, we would supposedly still get a little extra sleep.  Unfortunately, in the room next door to me there were torch relay volunteers who were throwing their successful completion of the run party until 1 AM so sleep was not an option for me.  So instead I wrote the Victoria flame arrival piece and published it at 1AM, before the fall back time.

I was staying in the Coast Bastion Hotel on the 15th (top) floor facing east.  The festivities at the park in Nanaimo (on the west side of the building) also had amazing fireworks that went on for a really long time. Between the torch relay and the Halloween festivites, Nanaimo was amazing in the evening with people out walking and the street parties.  Peple are so relaxed, open and friendly in the up-island

The Coast was an interesting hotel for me.  There were many pros and cons as I looked at it from the travel agent point of view and a journalist point of view.  I tend to judge a hotel room from several points:  bathroom lighting, shower power, firmness (or lack thereof) of the mattress, the thread count of the linens, the amenities offered, the view and the ease of keeping the room temperature comfortable.  The view I had was awesome, clearly a 10; the bath lighting was outstanding, another 10; the linens were surprisingly comfortable and hypo-allergenic, as opposed to down feather (a positive for me) – about an 8 on the 10 scale.  The amenities were sparse with large pump bottles of shampoo, bath gel and lotion.  Unusual.-  about a 4 on the 10 scale.   Keeping the room temperature moderate and steady was next to impossible.  I would cool it off and then have to warm it up.  It was very challenging. (3 on a 10 scale).  This is always a real disappointment to me as a comfortable temperature in the room is critical.   Sunrise this morning was really awesome, which made up for a lot, so Mother Nature got a resounding 10.

We headed out for the ferry and upon arrival at the Quay, there was a Starbucks which even had  Top Pot Donuts Apple Fritters.  I had my first Americano in 4 days.  And I just had to have an apple fritter.  Once we drove on to the ferry, we had breakfast on the ferry compliments of  Tourism BC.  Then we arrived into the Vancouver port and headed off for Whistler.  I am writing this as we weave along the new Sea to Sky highway.  Stay tuned and I will be telling you lots more about the Whistler venues for the Olympics. 

I am so excited to be celebrating my birthday in Whistler.  What a great way to start a new decade!