Eric Lucas, ooogly and keal, this is great, hope your MINIs arrive safe and sound.

 

Yep. Mine had that 21 day cruise. When I saw that Baltimore was a 6 day trip, I was almost tempted to set delivery for there and take a work trip to get it and drive it home.

-Colin

 

Yea! Congrats, instamini! You and KL's MINIs delivered. That's 2 of the 5 from Topeka. Have fun, stay safe and motor on!

 

Just checked my VIN on WW's site... I'm on the Asian King too!

 

[quote=klsmith5;3627807]Right on! I bet by now you have it and are pinching yourself to make sure it's real. Pictures! I wanna see the real thing!

btw, just so you know, COKESTR will probably be the last MINI of the 11/15 "Topeka Crew" picked up by its owner. Reason: we're waiting until Saturday, December 1. That way, this time next year we've given ourselves another month on the tabs. Besides, December 1 just felt right for me and the co-pilot (husband). What's 12 more days when I've been waiting 10 years, eh?

 

OK, here's the deal about the voyage from Southampton to Port Hueneme, CA (my MINI and 4 other MINIs were on the WW Topeka). You can get some info about the Asian King's port itinerary from WW, but you'll definitely get better info via Marine Traffic. Once the ship clears the English Channel, you won't get any info (think offline due to pirates, aye?) from any ship tracking website until the ship gets closer to the Caribbean. Ships are tracked via an AIS system. You can, however, sign up for automatic emails with Marine Traffic. You might need the call numbers of the ship, which you can get from the WW site.

Yes, the waiting sucks, but it's made a bit more bearable by "lo-jack tracking" the ship and finding out who else (owners on this thread) have their MINIs on the same ship. In the meantime, hang out here, compare builds, learn MINI abbreviation codes (in a different thread), update your signature block and avatar, whine at the OL, ask MINI, other owners, and definitely your MA But don't take your frustration on loved ones...they might be helping to purchase your new ride, right? Also, put the wait time to good use: go to work, go holiday shopping, enjoy Thanksgiving, watch out for the MINI Field Guide in the mail (very funny pamphet), count MINIs (not sheep) in your sleep, oh yeah sleep, check out MINI accessories, and above all, make sure you have the financing in order the way you want it and that there are no adverse surprises awaiting you at the dealership.

Have Fun!

 

Forty-six and two, I'm grabbing your hands and dancing around! YAY! We're shipmates!

 

Tpthrshr, thank you for the info! Hubby had already tried tracking the shop and found that the position was lagging by a few days. So we will sign up for the emails. Thanks so much!

For hubby and I, we already have one MINI, so the waiting isn't that bad. We can always take Winnie out for a drive. But for new owners waiting for their first MINI, well, there's nothing but anticipation!

 

FINALLY! Whew! Good to know. Post pics when you get it, OK? You aren't graduated out of here until you do.

 

You can purchase BIG RED BOW from Amazon online (search "car bow"). I just looked it up...there's a wide variety of bows with a wide variety of prices.

 

love it

can't wait to see pics of the others on Topeka

 

VERY NICE, instamini! You have now officially graduated from the support group. Have fun, stay safe and motor on! It's been a pleasure to hang out with you.

 

You bet I will! Here's a snapshot of the tracking. Porgy is about 80km south of Weymouth.

Looks great instamini!

 

Instamini: That's beautiful! Glad you finally got it! Really nice color combo with the stripes.

Please tell me you're not going to "black out" anything that shines on it and make it look like a teenager's Honda Accord or something.

 

Thanks! Lol, nope leaving all of the shiny parts (I love them )

 

My wife getting the tutorial on our MCSC!

 

Sweet!

 

That look great! Very similar to the one I'm waiting on. Should be around a week out.

 

Some of the best advise I've read on here or any other forums

 

my mcs was in body shop yesterday, today is in paint. est completion is 11/21/2012. Do you think its possible to make the 11/21 sailing to port hueneme?

 

Robert, There's a slim chance. My car was completed and recieved at the port on 11/16 but the voyage was booked on 11/14. It takes a little time to get from the Plant to the Port. You can try searching your VIN to see if it's booked or not, although I wasn't able to get any info until noon EST the day the ship was departing.

 

Very kewl! I like those wheels with the Chili Red. Looks like you went after the same seats I did: championship lounge leather w/red piping. You will have a blast motoring around with the top down.

Congrats! You are now officially graduated from the support group!

It's been a pleasure hangin' out with you - one of the "Topeka crew"

 

You're welcome. It's only because of the info posted by more veteran owners that I've passed along to you. Kind of like a pay it forward.

 

amancuso's correct...slim chance your MINI will be on the ship on 11/21. Here is the WW schedule around that date:

WW Ships Departing Southampton for Port Hueneme, CA:
November 21 - BESS
December 4 - GLORIOUS LEADER
December 17 - TIGER
December 30 - FIDELIO

I would think the safer bet would see your MINI on Glorious Leader for December 4 departure. The train trip from Oxford to Southampton alone is typically a day (or more if the train schedules aren't jiving well). Having said that, I've read other owners' experiences with their MINIs being Priority 3 status, thereby sitting on the dock at Southampton for up to a couple weeks or better. So you'll want to keep that in mind. Once you have your VIN #, then go to WW's track and trace site and check it out daily (once a day, not every hour, OK? Or you'll drive yourself nuts).

Once you know it's on a ship and which ship, then the real fun begins: lo-jack tracking the ship. Make sure to read the "How to track your MINI" thread about that.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks....have a great time with your mini.