SSQQ has now taken 14 cruises with two more scheduled for 2009.  
We have a quick review of each Adventure at the bottom of this page:
SSQQ Cruise Recap 

 Barcelona September 2009  

 Caribbean Dance Cruise in 2009  

For any questions, please contact Marla Archer at:
Marla@ssqq.com	713 862 4428

  01 - Conquest 2008

  06 - Vera Cruz 2001

Passengers per year 

The overall Passenger Total for 16 Trips - 1,424

THE INSIDE SCOOP ON SSQQ CRUISE TRIPS: A RECAP OF OUR PREVIOUS ADVENTURES  

Written by Rick Archer
Last update: June 2009

FORWARD

It is now 2009.  We have taken 14 trips and have two more scheduled for 2009.  As you can gather, a lengthy story accompanies every trip so far. 

This is the place where you can get the abbreviated version of each trip.  Let's have fun and take a quick look back .

1. JAMAICA 1998

Our first cruise trip was a quiet little jaunt to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Our trip sailed out of New Orleans back in 1998 on a ship from the Commodore Cruise Line.

That trip took 30 guests. I don't remember much about the trip other than it was a century ago.  Oops, make that a decade ago.

Actually I take that back. One very bizarre thing did happen on that trip. I have hinted about it, but I have never gotten up the nerve to tell the whole incredible story. Maybe on my next cruise trip someone will get me drunk and talk me into revealing the whole truth.
Jamaica 1998

2. VERA CRUZ 2001

SSQQ hit it big in 2001 aboard Carnival's Celebration. We took over 100 people on what was supposed to be an exciting excursion to Cozumel and Cancun. However when Tropical Storm Chantal was upgraded to a hurricane, this distant storm appeared to be ready to vacation in Cozumel and Cancun about the same time as we were!  So they diverted us to Vera Cruz for safety. Sad to say, Vera Cruise didn't turn out to be the most scintillating destination we have been to. In fact, it was pretty rundown to say the least. Oh well.

However, personally speaking, I could have cared less since this was the trip I met the love of my life, a woman whom I would marry three years later.  

I wasn't in the best of moods back in those days.  I had been divorced for four months after a ten year marriage.  I was convinced I would never love again.  Funny how the right person changes our mind.

Marla was part of our cruise group, but I didn't know her very well.  Marla had taken a couple classes at the studio.  I had been nursing a crush on her from afar for some time now.  Several months earlier when I made my first gentle move I discovered she had a steady boyfriend.  So I backed off.  Nevertheless I took careful note when she signed up for the cruise all by herself.  Hmm.

On the first night of the trip, Marla and I met by accident at a Midnight dance sponsored by the cruise ship.  I wasted little time asking her to dance.  Resting between dances, Marla and I sat in the lounge and talked a while.  I realized right then and there how much I liked her.  I sensed something serious was happening between us.  So I invited her to go up on to the top deck.  Here we were met by the strong breeze created by a distant hurricane.  The ocean breeze, the magic moon, and the crash of the waves against the ship created a  marvelous backdrop to the start of our romance.  We had such a wonderful time we stayed up there straight through till the sun rose in the morning! 

We fell in love that night and have never been apart since.  Our own story is strong testimony to the power of a cruise trip to create romance atop the high seas! 

Vera Cruz 2001

3. RHAPSODY 2002

When it came time to plan next year's cruise, I had a decision to make. Although I had been completely distracted by the smile of my future bride, the rest of our group wasn't very happy about being stuck with Vera Cruz the previous year and being limited to one port of call instead of the two they had paid for.  So I politely asked Carnival if they would extend returning members a discount in 2002. Carnival completely brushed me off.  Bad move. In 2002 I switched our trip over to Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas sailing out of Galveston.

Although the Rhapsody trip was longer and more expensive, we almost equaled our number from the previous year. We took an impressive group of 90 people on the 2002 trip.

This was the first trip Gary Richardson - Da Jammer - and his wife Betty came on. Gary's incredible gift for photography resulted in many great pictures from the trip. I used those pictures to document our trip. It was as they say the start of a beautiful friendship.

This trip really rocked!!

Rhapsody 2002

4. JUBILEE 2003

In 2003, we decided to give Carnival another chance. After all, they were less expensive and we wanted to schedule a trip over July 4th, which as most of you know is the most expensive time of the year for cruising. This was the first trip that Marla organized herself. She did a great job!

The time was right, the price was right, and the economy was good… we got a group of 144!!   In fact we could have taken well over 150, but a dozen last-minute shoppers had to be turned away because the ship sold out.

The trip should have been sensational, but it turned out the ship we went on - Carnival's Jubilee - was just one trip from being put out to sea. In other words, Carnival was preparing to send the ship to the poorest country it could find because the ship was complete junk.

The whining and complaints from that trip - all legitimate concerns I might add - would cause a prospector to go deaf if they rattled off the walls of the Grand Canyon. The condition of the Jubilee was so bad it was nearly impossible to have fun (especially for those who had been on Rhapsody the year before and knew what a cruise ship was supposed to look like!!)

Our dance classes were held in a room where the air conditioning was broken, the ship itself vibrated and rocked constantly, and our dance floor was so sticky it felt like we danced in rubber boots. Yuck.

Jubilee 2003

5. MARDI GRAS 2004 ABOARD THE RHAPSODY

In 2004 we learned our lesson and switched back to Royal Caribbean. But first we had to learn a lesson the hard way - our group would rather pay more money and get a quality ship like the Rhapsody than take the chance to get stuck again on a floating barge disguised as a cruise ship.  The anti-Carnival sentiment in our group was pretty high and I could certainly understand why they felt that way.

Marla booked an interesting trip on the Rhapsody to go to Mardi Gras. She had a very convincing sales pitch - using the Rhapsody as a floating hotel wasn't much more expensive than paying for a quality hotel in New Orleans with the jacked up prices.

But then a tragedy hit - a tugboat had capsized in the Mississippi River. Several men had likely lost their lives when they were washed overboard. Consequently the river was closed so a search could be made to recover their bodies. As a result our ship was not allowed to dock in New Orleans!!

I have to hand to Royal Caribbean. They did everything in their power to save the trip from being a disaster.  We docked at Gulfport, Mississippi, and took a free bus courtesy of Royal Caribbean to attend Mardi Gras.  At the end of our bus ride, they had a buffet breakfast waiting for us in New Orleans! 

Despite all of our initial frustration, to our total surprise, we had just as much fun as anyone could possibly have!  In fact, although I have to say I had a lot of fun on the Alaska trip in 2005, the Mardi Gras Trip remains my personal favorite.

This was the trip where George Sargent, the infamous Mr. Handsome, first made his mark as the Leader of the Pack. Everywhere you looked, there was Mr. Handsome not only making the scene, but also making sure a camera was nearby to chronicle his mischief. As if that wasn't enough, Handsome would then turn to me and practically demand that I write a story about each of his adventures. Or he would lobby my significant other in search of more publicity. For example, after he beat my team at volleyball in Cozumel, he made sure to tell Marla that he figured I would NEVER write that story.

Thus began the Legend of Mr. Handsome.

Mardi Gras 2004

6. RHAPSODY WEDDING CRUISE 2004

Our 2004 September Rhapsody Trip was a wonderful trip. This was the trip where Marla and I decided to get married aboard the Rhapsody. Marla and I had originally thought of having our wedding in Colorado where I had proposed to her, perhaps at the eerie Stanley Hotel in Estes Park where the thought to ask her to marry me had first seriously crossed my mind. But an early spring trip to the Stanley changed our minds about that.  In case you are not in on the inside story, this creepy old hotel was built in the early 1900s by the same man who invented the Stanley Steamer. Stephen King of horror fiction fame had actually drawn his inspiration for "The Shining" by a stay at the supposedly haunted Stanley Hotel. However when Marla and I spent one night there, we realized this place was more dreary than eerie.  Back to the planning board.  That's when it occurred to us to take our relationship full circle by getting married on our next cruise!  This turned out to be a great idea!

Although both Marla and I went practically nuts with our "Oops Wedding", I have to say the Rhapsody Staff treated us like we were Royalty. Neither of us have ever been so pampered in our entire lives! 

For starters, the Rhapsody Staff remembered us from the Mardi Gras trip earlier in the year.  They made exceptions for us at every turn (for example, they let us sit in the main lounge undisturbed during the Life Boat Drill!!)   Every time we came back to our cabin there was a present here and a bottle of champagne there. The Captain invited us to have dinner with him and even invited us to a private meeting aboard the bridge the next day.  He was so gracious to us!  In return we scheduled a Tango lesson for him and his fiancée who by coincidence was also aboard the ship.

Although it may not sound like it, Marla and I were not the ones aboard this trip. In fact, we took 125 guests along for this wonderful trip. Mr. Handsome misbehaved constantly and inspired others to take up the mantle of mischief as well. The was the trip that saw the birth of the Usual Suspect Mischief Team, a Merrye Olde Band of revelers that not only constantly tried to stir up trouble wherever they went, but also took a camera along to chronicle their misdeeds!  Far from fearing the power of the lens, they welcomed its constant presence!

Mr. Handsome developed a protégé on this trip - Phyllis Porter. For the first part of the trip, Phyllis spent most of her energy trying to get Mr. Handsome in trouble.  First she would dare him to do something, then she would take pictures of his many misdeeds.  But Phyllis was paranoid about her camera being sabotaged. So every time she got another reputation-altering picture of George, she would run to Gary Richardson and have him download her pictures before George could carry out his threat to throw that camera AND Phyllis overboard. For her efforts, Phyllis earned the nickname "Paparazzi".

Then something very exciting happened to Phyllis. She and several of her partners in crime attended a "Beatles" concert one night aboard the Rhapsody. Phyllis was so overcome her excitement that she decided to recreate Beatlemania for all to see. She rushed up on stage and gave "John Lennon" a huge smooch right in front of everyone. She assumed there was a good chance ship security would soon escort her off the stage and maybe even the ship - Everyone was out to get her!! - but to her delight "John Lennon" was very enthusiastic about her antics. Emboldened by Phyllis' chutzpah, several other ladies in our group got their courage up and rushed the stage as well. The next thing you knew, half a dozen SSQQ women were up there putting on an impromptu dance performance to "Twist and Shout". As you might imagine, the crowd loved it!

That is when a light bulb inside Phyllis' head. She realized it was more fun to get in trouble and cause trouble herself than it was to take pictures of other people getting in trouble. She decided to become a celebrity in her own right. Sure enough, following in the footsteps of the infamous Mr. Handsome, she began to get in trouble right and left. And of course she carried her own camera with her and handed it to someone to take her picture every time she was about to misbehave. Thus began the Legend of the Center of Attention, her new moniker.

As you can imagine, the entire trip was an incredible event for the entire group. Gosh we had fun!!

Rhapsody 2004

7. ALASKA 2005

Our July 2005 trip to Alaska was another slam-dunk success.

We took over 70 people to view the stunning Alaska vistas. Every day we gazed in awe at the huge skyscraper mountains, pristine untouched forests everywhere the eye could gaze, magnificent glaciers just 800 yards away from the bow of our ship, and at rivers, waterfalls, and islands so beautiful they looked like they belonged in a travel magazine!

We also found time to dance constantly: four workshops and dancing after dinner every night. If only a couple animals had bothered to show up and the Calgary luggage fiasco could have been avoided, we would have had a perfect trip!

If there has to be a downside to the remarkable Alaska Trip, I have to be honest and say no one misbehaved. I had nothing to write about!!  Fortunately I found an easy solution to the problem - I made stuff up.  (But don't tell anyone!)

On the positive side, this was the trip were I first began to realize there really is something to this 'Love Boat' stuff.

Kevin Lee and Michelle Spiris announced their engagement at the start the Alaska Cruise. Little did they know at the time, but they started a romantic avalanche.  Immediately after the trip ended, one couple after another made trips down the wedding aisle.

In August, CA Riser and Kathy Bryant got married.
In October,  Linda Malin and Bill Holden got married.
In December, Sally David and Jeff Gray got married.
On New Year's Eve, Sherilyn Berthet and John Edwards, got married.

Kevin Lee and Michelle Spiris - announced their engagement on the Alaska Cruise.

Four other couples on the trip previously met at SSQQ.  And two other couples "connected" on this trip. Eleven Slow Dance and Romance couples on one trip.

Do you think there something to this SSQQ "Love Boat" stuff or am I just making it up? You decide.

Alaska 2005

8. RITA RHAPSODY 2005

Our Rita Rhapsody Trip this past September 2005 was a classic example of people making lemonade out of lemons.

As you remember back to Hurricane Rita, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  Already shaken by the events in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina a month earlier, we were scared out of our wits when Rita appeared to be headed for a direct hit on Houston.  This led to an incredible panic-fed mass exodus from Houston that resulted in history's biggest traffic jam ever. 

The fact that Rita turned east at the last minute helped some, but most of us were exhausted from the constant worry of the previous 72 hours. 

Although Galveston was spared a direct hit, the Rhapsody couldn't land yet because all the terminal staff had been evacuated.  This meant our trip was delayed by three days. 

Our trip was cut in half and ten percent of our group canceled.  What a nightmare for Marla trying to hold this trip together. The morale of the 80 people that did go was defeated, depressed, and half-hearted at best.

And yet we had a great trip!  

We spent the first day just decompressing from all our negative emotions.  The trip did seem to be putting everyone in a better mood.

By the second day of the cruise, our group was laughing again, getting into trouble, stuffing hot tubs, and getting drunk on margarita escapades in Cozumel. We had our Cocktail Party, we had our Formal Night, we showed off our dancing at the Captain's Reception, we had two great dance workshops, and we had the dance floor to ourselves every night of the trip. In other words, practically every activity we normally spread over 7 days got compressed into 3 days. No wonder we were worn out when we got home!

Special kudos should be extended to Phyllis Porter.  Building on her performance of a year earlier, the Center of Attention put this downtrodden group on her back and single-handedly caused more trouble than anyone could ever have imagined.

For three days, Phyllis went non-stop. If it wasn't corrupting innocent young men from our group like Robert Frisky Business at Senor Frogs in Cozumel, it was encouraging men like Mr. Hat and the Hurdy-Gurdy man to chase wild women in bars or it was organizing amazing hot tub stuffing orgies. Phyllis even found time to have an amazing public display of affection with a certain statue in Mexico.  You will just have the read the story and see the pictures to comprehend the "great lengths" Phyllis would go to in order to get more negative publicity.

Along with her partners in crime Gary "Mr. Hat" Schweinle and Leslie "Alpha Hussy" Goldsmith, the Center of Attention generated plenty of tabloid copy. These three were our Misbehavior Superstars, but Phyllis was definitely the motor that made the machine run.

No more days for Phyllis as the "Paparazzi"!  Her antics made us laugh, frown, and crack up. Phyllis became the Discord Diva of the highest degree. Speaking for everyone in the group, I was very grateful to have someone of Phyllis' ability around to roil the waters.

And let me add one thing: I have to say "hats off" to the magical restorative powers of a cruise trip even if it was too short!  We all returned a lot happier than when we left, that's for sure. That said, no one was ready to come home. They practically had to throw us off the ship!!

Rita Rhapsody 2005

9. RHAPSODY RELOADED 2006

Our Rita Rhapsody Trip in September 2005 was cut so short by the hurricane that we were determined in 2006 to get it right.

We succeeded in grand style.

For starters, we took our second largest group ever.  Our total of 136 passengers was phenomenal. 

Of course there was a hurricane.  Hurricane Ernesto was pounding away in Florida, so our ship skipped good old Key West and stuck to cruising up and down the Mayan Coast of Mexico and Belize. 

We didn't care.  We danced, we hot-tubbed, and we had fun on the most perfect trip our group has ever taken.  Phyllis the Center of Attention was voted the MVP of the trip and Gary Richardson took hundreds of pictures. 

It was a great trip. Now go see the pictures. They are wonderful.

Rhapsody Reloaded 2006

10. NEW ENGLAND 2006

This was a strange trip.  For the first time ever, I saw a Royal Caribbean staff that was not prepared.  I encountered several situations that showed the crew clearly did not know how to do its job. 

I was so angry at the constants mistakes made by the ship's crew that I wrote a highly critical story titled the Curse of the Jewel.  It was a very complicated story too long for this 'short version'.  Suffice to say I was very disappointed in the crew's performance.

On the other hand, I had no complaints about the places we visited.  New England is a beautiful area of our country.  If you want to see some beautiful pictures of rugged coastlines and trees changing color, be sure to visit the story of this trip.  There are stories about Salem Village, Acadia National Park, Martha's Vineyard, New Hampshire, and even a story about the Titanic.  It is good reading, I assure you, and the pictures are great.

New England 2006

11. HAWAII 2007

Our New England cruise the previous year had all sorts of problems.  In stark contrast, our 2007 trip to Hawaii was a start-to-finish slam dunk success. 

Everything they say about Hawaii is true.  It is pure Paradise.  The temperature is perfect.  There are no bugs. 

If you like water, there's water everywhere.  For starters, we hit rain showers nearly every day.  As a result, there were rivers and incredible waterfalls everywhere we looked.  Oddly enough, there aren't any lakes in Hawaii.  The reason is simple - the islands are so small that all the rivers have developed direct paths to the ocean.  I have never seen so many waterfalls in all my life.

If you like Beaches, there are beaches galore... one after the other.  Many of them are uncrowded. 

If you like Mountains, there's mountains. 

If you like Canyons, there's canyons. 

If you like Cliffs, there's cliffs.

If you like Volcanoes, there's volcanoes. 

If you like Jungles, there's rainforests everywhere. 

If you like areas unspoiled by civilization, you can find all kinds of amazing places on every island.

If you prefer civilization, there's even plenty of traffic jams in Honolulu to make you feel right at home.

Best of all, nothing went wrong.  This trip came off like clockwork.

This was truly our best trip ever (so far)... and that's saying something because we have had a lot of great trips.

Hawaii 2007

12. CONQUEST 2007

Our Rhapsody 2006 dance cruise was nostalgic because we knew it would be our last cruise aboard a ship that had come to feel like home.  We took five successful dance cruises in all aboard our favorite ship, the RCCL Rhapsody. 

Then came the bad news.  In the Fall of 2006, we discovered the Rhapsody was being sent to someplace in Asia the following year.  Although the Rhapsody was available for one last trip in 2007, for reasons we never understood, RCCL inflated the prices on the 2007 Rhapsody so high that we had little choice but to defect to Carnival.

So it was with great sadness that we said goodbye to this friendly ship with its marvelous circular dance floor.   After all the good times we had spend on this ship, none of us were at all happy to see it go.

Fortunately, the Conquest trip succeeded in spite of a ham-handed effort on the part of the Carnival crew.  I gave the crew a grade of "C" for a lukewarm effort at best to accommodate our needs. 

Here is a simple example. We were told we could not switch seats among our group even though the gratuities were prepaid.  For five straight trips aboard the Rhapsody and other RCCL, we had always been given permission to switch tables within the group.  But the Maitre D' said no.  He would not permit it.  How smart was that decision?  Automatic tips and we still couldn't switch?  Guess what?  We did it anyway.  We switched tables anytime we wanted to and they never said another word.  What were they going to do to us, throw us overboard? 

The hot tub as always was a marvelous center of fun and silliness.  But the crew refused to lower the temperature of the water to something more comfortable, so there was a lot of sitting above water.  In addition a few party poopers came by and made a fuss about not drinking in the hot tub... only to have the waiters come back and sell the moment the cops were gone.

A third headache was the mysterious inability to help us find a place to dance.  The Conquest is a monster ship, a real behemoth.  And it is fairly new.  So imagine our disappointment when we discovered there was no dance floor on the Conquest even remotely the equal of the "Shall We Dance Lounge" we had enjoyed aboard the Rhapsody.  

I suggested we use the Auditorium Dance Floor where the performances were held.  That stage would be ideal for social dancing when it wasn't in use after the shows.  But we were told we could not use the Auditorium Dance Floor unless we wanted to hire someone to supervise us at a ridiculous fee.  No thanks. 

The problem was solved when we found a very odd spot near the Casino that turned out to be just fine for our dance needs - we danced in the walkways on tile floors!  Since Gary Richardson brought his portable music system, we set up right in the middle of nowhere.  This location was not meant to be a dance floor, but it had everything we needed - lots of space to dance, an adjacent bar to sit at and order drinks, plus plenty of comfy chairs to rest and watch.  Best of all, we had a built-in audience.  All night long the other cruisers would walk by and see us in action.  They loved watching us so they would line the floor and watch for a while.  Our dancers clearly enjoyed the attention. 

Consequently we actually had the best dancing of any cruise yet even though the Conquest crew didn't deserve a ounce of credit for trying to help.  Who cares?   We created our own excitement.

Another major development happened when someone found an abandoned second level eating area.  Downstairs it was crowed with countless passengers. But one flight up was an area that was deserted.  We turned this area into an impromptu clubhouse. 

Having a convenient area all to ourselves was a true blessing.  It allowed the entire group - 10, 20, 30, 40, even 50 people at a time - to spend countless morning hours laughing and talking and making plans for the day.  We were never interrupted by outsiders. This private area meant there were at least some people from our group hanging out practically all day long. 

Best of all, this private spot allowed people who were new to our group to get acquainted with the other people very quickly.

On previous trips our beloved Rhapsody had a lovely eating area known as the Windjammer, but the drawback was that our group was scattered all over the room.  This meant people who were new to our group would often walk right past group members sitting in the Windjammer and have no idea who to sit and talk with.  This abandoned area on the Conquest was much better. No matter what time of day they showed up, newcomers would always find a friendly face who could pass on the current events and the latest gossip. As a result, our group became more tight-knit than ever before.  Anyone who wanted to be included in the day's activities could join the group at practically any time of day.

As far as our destinations were concerned, Jamaica got mixed reviews.  But Grand Cayman was a smash hit.  We finally made it back to Grand Cayman after a five-year break.  We discovered this island is perfect for taking the most wonderful hike along the beach!   And Cozumel was Cozumel - the perfect place to get absolutely drunk on our butts, a yearly ritual dating back several trips.

So the trip was a marvelous success in spite of a less than cooperative crew aboard the Conquest.  Considering they advertise themselves as "The Fun Ship", they were actually a pretty tense group.  For example, the Maitre D was petrified to make a decision to allow us to sit wherever we wanted.  He kept saying, "I better call Miami, let me call Miami and see if it is okay." 

Obviously the entire crew was intimidated against making on-the-spot common sense decisions.  My impression was a fear-based management style had everyone cowed.  Better to automatically say 'no' than risk getting chewed out by someone above.

Maybe on our next trip we can get them to loosen up a little.

Conquest 2007

13. GREECE 2008

Greece 2008 took 49 passengers Rome, Athens, Sicily, Turkey, and Crete

Greece 2008

14. CONQUEST 2008

Conquest 2008 was both our most successful trip and our biggest headache trip.  At 144 passengers, we tied our all-time mark for the biggest trip.  However, some of the people on the trip were terribly out of control.  Plus one woman in particular - someone who was not part of the group - decided to barge into our activities any time she wanted to, ignoring our requests that she leave us alone.  When we wrote a story about the problems she caused for us, the same woman sued us.

Conquest 2008

15. CONQUEST 2009

Conquest 2009

Conquest 2009

16. BARCELONA 2009

Barcelona 2009

Barcelona 2009