On Thu, 19 Jun 2003 14:10:08 -0400, Ray Cardinale <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>SNIP of many interesting things by the Fish of the Reef : ).
>
>Enjoyable read. Thanks.

Thanks, RayC.  Since that was written right after an red-eye flight,
while at teh LAX airport, and with no notes to refer to , I made several
FACTUAL errors though no major blunders.  :-)

For example, the SUBJECT itself.  Both Apia and Pago Pago are known
as Western Samoa -- and Apia is EAST of Pago Pago, so I mistakenly
called it Eastern Samoa since it's East of the two Samoa island the
cruiseshi visited.

To me, one of the most memorable episodes about Samoa was:

> a dive shop could be out of business for TWO YEARS and neither the
> travel books nor the cruiseship-info person knew about it!

Actually TWO of the THREE dive shops there disappeared without
the cruiseship or travel book knowing about it made it all the
more remarkable.

"Remote and obscure" comes to mind to describe diving in Samoa.  :-)

Marquesas next (Oct 20, 2003), that even the cruise-booking agency
screwed up the itinerary and dates COMPLETELY!   :-)  To wit:

Day 8   At Sea
Day 8   Rangiroa, Polynesia         8:00 AM        4:00 PM
Day 8   Tahaa Scenic Cruising       8:00 AM       11:00 pm
Day 9   Raiatea, Polynesia         12:00 PM   --
Day 10  Raiatea, Polynesia                    --   4:00 PM
Day 10  Bora Bora, Polynesia        8:00 PM        5:00 PM
Day 11  Papeete, Tahiti, Polynesia  6:00 AM

appeared on the Travel Agency's webpage.

and the TAMs (Travel Agent Morons) wasted an hour of my time
arguing that was correct because they got it from the Princess
Tahiti cruise people.

After 3 booking-agents and 1 supervisor, I finally convinced
them that there were numerous errors, and they finally posted
the correct itinerary in:

http://www.ovc.cc/special_deal.cfm?specialsID=294&trackingSourceID=1


Booking travel in that part of the world is an adventure in itself!

-- Bob.