We got back home Thurs. PM and were greeted by a snowfall after leaving 80+ degrees in Florida.My plans for a guitar hunt were scuttled by a severe flu virus that we came down with just 5 days into our stay and the combined medical expenses of Dr. visits and meds thwarted any plans of buying a guitar.Even if we didn't have to pay out so much money we were far too ill to leave the ship's cabin or hotel for any length of time.Although we had plenty of travel insurance we had to pay for everything up front and submit the bills(which were quite large)to the insurance company.We did however manage to buy a lot of mementos to bring back to friends and I bought a pile of Baseball caps and Hawaiian shirts(I've been collecting both for years)and some cool T-shirts that I also collect.To cap off a disasterous holiday Continental Airlines-after charging us $120 for baggage-(the 1st time we were ever charged)lost 2 of our suitcases-one containing my clothes and the other containing everything we bought.I was appalled by the ground staff at the Continental Terminal in Newark, in all my travels I have never seen such apathy and downright rudeness exhibited by employees of one company.The lady who checked us in at Ft. Lauderdale was a sweetheart and the flight crews were very friendly but without exception the staff at Newark were miserable.We haven't had any luck with our local Continental agents and when the baggage loss people in the US tried to reach them they wouldn't even answer their calls. Needless to say we'll be lodging a formal complaint with the powers that be at Continental.If they can fly a plane 2,000 miles in the dark,fog and rain and find St. John's,they should be able to find our luggage.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

That's quite the disaster story. On a positive note, you can be sure your next vacation will be a greater success

Sorry to hear about the trips hiccups but the guitar your after will be found. Hope your over the flu and feeling better. Florida must have been nice............. Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Sorry about your vacation. I'm glad people were nice to you here. Too bad about the ones in Newark but ,not making excuses ,they must be pretty miserable people if it's still snowing out there.

I'm sure everything will work out and hope you come back soon. Maybe skip the cruise. (They are natorious for outbreaks) Maybe too many people in one ship or poor sanitation. There are so many wonderful places to go on land that are probably more hygienic than being in a rusty old ship. I've heard that the rates have gone down on ships so much that you get a lot of undesirables on anything that is not a premium cruise. I won't mention any names.

Take care, feel better and back to playing guitar!

Thanks Nevin,I hadn't seen that video before.John Lennon and George Harrison were huge influences on my guitar playing style and some day,please God,I'll have the Ric models they played.I hadn't made it clear but the weather in Newark wasn't too bad,we got the snow when we arrived home.The ship we were on was the Carnival Liberty and it was spotlessly clean and the crew were absolutely first rate.I must say that while we were in Florida we were treated like royality and I'd go back in a heartbeat(with anti-biotics just in case)and I must say again that the Latina and African American women were absolutely astoundingly beautiful certainly a joy to behold as we don't have a large ethnic population here. The Salsa music that was played live daily at the seaside area by our hotel was just incredible-I forget the name of the area but there's a huge banyan tree at the entrance,a Hard Rock Cafe,a market,restuarants and boat tours-a wonderful area.I got my picture taken at Hard Rock next to a picture drawn by my hero John Lennon,that was one of the most moving moments in my life,to be by something created by the man who inspired me to become a musician.As General MacArthur said,"I shall return."

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Guit really bummed out to here that a trip that started so good ended up becoming a bummer, but atleast you had a good first half. As for Newark, one state over you would have been in NY which makes Jersey seem like Disney Land.lol You just stopped over I live it everyday.

guitslinger,

Welcome back, sorry you had such issues while on vaccation.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Welcome back guitslinger, feel better Bro, hope they find your lost luggage.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Thats a bummer Guitslinger after the countdown and everything, you were really lookin forward to your trip, know what you mean about Newark fargin bastigees

At least you got away and got back, Europe on brink of another shutdown

That sucks dude. Hopefully everything eventually works out for you in getting your lugage back and your dream Ric.

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CREDO ELVEM IPSUM ETAIM VIVERE

How horrible!

United Airlines lost my bags coming out of New York. It was the one time the owner of the corporation I worked for ever bought me a gift; a small (and very expensive) Persian rug. United treated me like crap. I made countless calls and finally figured out that another airline had my bags. When United got there hands on them, they offered to drive them out to my home. I told them NO WAY. I told them to leave them right where they were and drove to Baltimore to pick them up myself.

GS, sorry I didn't get back to you...Michael was leaving for Boston, and I was in the middle of packing for my trip also....MAE will still be there. Feel better...sorry the Jersey folks sucked big time at Newark...Serge

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

Hi Serge,I figured that you were pretty busy when I called you last,as you said MAE will still be there on my next trip.In retrospect it's probably for the best that I didn't get a guitar as Continental probably would have saw fit to loose that too,it's been almost 5 days now and no sign of baggage and no answer to the 3 E-mails I have sent Continental.I'd ride home in back of a 5hit wagon before I'd fly Continental again.That's my 1st and last time using them as they had the gall to charge $120 extra for the baggage and had the nerve to loose it,they even charge $6 to watch T.V. on a 2 1/2 hr. flight-ridiculous.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Derek,
I would send 2 letters, one to Jeffery Smisek, chairman, president, and CEO of Continental, with 2 CCs, one to Jim Compton, Chief Marketing Officer, and one to Chris Elliot, the travel trouble guru...he's known to help people who have gone through crap with travel organizations. Then I would send one directly to Elliot or even call him...here is his website
http://www.elliott.org/category/the-troubleshooter/

Continental's corporate page http://www.continental.com/web/en-us/co ... spx#smisek

Their addresses
Corporate Headquarters

Physical Address:
1600 Smith Street
Houston, TX 77002

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 4607
Houston, TX 77210

Telephone:
713.324.5000 (Main Switchboard)
713.324.5152 (Investor Relations)

Email:
InvestorRelationsdept@coair.com (Investor Relations*)
custo@coair.com (All other matters) Don't bother

Years ago, I had some problems with Delta. I sent a letter directly to the top and got satisfaction not long afterwards. They do read their mail.

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica