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Hi all! My partner and I are looking forward to our cruise next week. Any others on the Carnival Conquest departing Fort Lauderdale on September 3?

Oh! And I think I know the answer but what is the best way to get to the boat in San Juan from the airport? Just take a taxi? I think I read it is only like 10-15 minutes away.

So excited!

Has anyone looked at excursions lately? Trying to decide what to do and just how many zip lines to do. :D We also saw something about an ice bar in St. Thomas. Any suggestions? I don't actually know how to swim :eek: so a lot of the water activities are out - at least for me. Though I am happy to lounge on a boat and watch everyone else. :cool:

Is it time for vacay yet?????

Brooklyn?!? Awesome!! What flights are you taking back to the city? We went ahead and booked JetBlue for 11am.

Yes, I am very serious about this. :)

Though I find that it is most fun at 3am when no one is around but you're sort of tipsy and stumbling your way through the course. But I have no problems gloating in my victory over a 9 year old child during the day too.

Is anyone else excited for mini golf?

Bf just reminded me that I totally spaced out on what floor we're on. We aim for 7, but we kept hemming and hawing about the price of this cruise and ended up on 8 when all was said and done.

Oh great! Which one?

Yay! More people for the FOD meetings!! :D

Welcome to you both!

LOL - maybe this would be easier to do off these boards. Send me an email at grasshopper81 on yahoo. Let me know once you've seen this message and I'll delete this post.

We didn't even know about the Chef's Table until just now! LOL That sounds like a great experience, what was it like? Our last cruise was on the Dream too!

My partner likes to stay on the 7th floor, I think just to minimize foot traffic going by the room. Some people on the 8th floor have reported that they could hear sounds from the Lido deck above them so we just went to 7. I've never been in a lower deck room, I think I just like the idea of a higher floor, lol.

We're in the back of the ship, what about all of you?

Sorry for the delay! Looking forward to meeting everyone and having a great time! We went to one or two FOD meetings as well but there was never anyone there and Carnival didn't have a staff person manning it, just left up to the passengers to go up to each other and ask, "Are you here for the meeting?"

We will only be in Cancun for 2.5 days, flying in Thursday afternoon and back out extremely early Sunday morning. A little nervous about the flight because it's 6am with a connection in MIA, arriving into SJU around 1:30pm. There are much cheaper flights on the Spirit airlines of Mexico, Volaris, but there are just too many horror stories online for us to take that chance. But it is a direct flight and midmorning which would be a much better schedule. Have you ever flown with them before?

No excursions have been booked yet but we did go through them all by port and selected the ones we're interested in. All through Carnival so far.

St. Thomas - Tree Limin' Experience or BOSS Underwater Adventure

Barbados - Mount Gay Rum & Food Tasting

St. Lucia - Ultimate Rainforest Adventure - Zip, Hike, Skyride

St. Kitts - Sky Safari Zip Lining

St. Maarten - Horseback Riding Scenic Trail & Sea Ride or City Clickers Phillipsburg at a Glance or Sea Trek Helmet Diving & Snorkeling or Scenic Coastal Hike or Scoot Coupe Island Adventure & Beach

We love to do zip lines! We won't do that in every port that offers it though.

My partner has been to some of these places but I can't remember which ones.

Have you booked any excursions yet?

Oh nice!

Technically we live in Weehawken, NJ (across the river from midtown Manhattan). It's a short 10 minute bus ride through the Lincoln Tunnel. After living in San Diego for a few years, we got used to space and that suburban feel. Plus it's super dog friendly!

We are also in our 30's. This is is our fourth cruise together. We will be celebrating our 6 year anniversary in September, so we thought this would be a nice way to celebrate.

We will be arriving from Cancun on the day of embarkation--our friend is turning 40 and she wanted to celebrate there. How nice that you are extending your stay. I'm jealous! Leaving the cruise is always the hardest part. Smart thinking by making your vacation longer!

YAY! For a while there, I thought we'd be the only ones. HAHA

We are from NYC. How about y'all?

We will be on the ship the week before!

Hi! My partner and I just booked and can't wait to finally check out the Southern Caribbean! Any other gay family members book?

Used Cruise Xpress for a one way back to MCO from the Port and had a great experience with Wanda. Carnival got us off the boat earlier than the rest of her passengers so Wanda picked us up in her personal car and drove us to the airport so we wouldn't have to wait around. $25 per person each way isn't bad for that kind of service either!

Our flight into MCO before the cruise was severely early - 5:30am or so. Decided to rent a car from Budget to just drive to the port and stop for breakfast along the way and Walmart for final supplies. Good idea in theory...

Budget counter took 45 mins for the guy to help 3 of us in line. He then barked at me when I declined the LDW "Who's going to be responsible for MY CAR when you damage it??" Then, was driving down the toll road to the port, threw my coins in the basket and nothing happened. The car in front of me had problems too. A man appeared from one of the booths and I stopped him and told him what happened and he shrugged and asked if I had thrown foreign coins in. W T F?? I'm a white guy from NC originally but now in CA. When I told him it was quarters he shrugged again, said he didn't have a dollar and said "I guess you just run it?" I drove off with the toll booth alarms going off. So far, Budget hasn't charged me anything extra but I made sure to mention it when I dropped off the car.

That brings me to my last problem with Budget. I chose them because they had a shuttle to the port... except they didn't mention that the shuttle won't start taking you until around 10:30am! We dropped the car off around 9 and saw the shuttle drive up and empty out passengers from the ships. The driver then started to pull away with an empty van and I got his attention and that's when he told me they weren't taking anyone over, never do until later. Another customer overheard and offered to share a taxi to the port which we did. We were through security and had our key cards and were waiting to board the ship before Budget was even going to bring us to the port!

Booked Cruise Xpress for a one way return from Port Canaveral to MCO. Wanda was in touch with me as soon as I placed the reservation and answered my questions. Our flight wasn't that early but Carnival got us off the boat before Wanda's other passengers so she actually just drove us to the airport in her personal car so that we didn't have to wait around at the terminal. If you've been to Port Canaveral, you know there really isn't a terminal after you exit the boat.

Wanda was great to deal with and if I cruise from this port again, I will definitely use her service again. $25 each way per person, I think is the standard price.

Hi Cruising,

Yes, we've seen the other thread but this one is specifically for us "family" members. Postings would get lost on the other thread as they tend to go very off topic. I started reading the first few pages and then skipped ahead 20 pages, then 20 more, lol. Just didn't have time for all of that. These roll calls over here are all for the "family". :D

We'll see you at the first FoD meeting!

Hi Cam (and Stephan), I just left you a message on Facebook. Since we are not FB friends yet, it went to your "Other Folder." Just in case, I thought I'd send you a final message here as well to let you know.

We look forward to meeting you guys in a couple of days. I'm sure Carnival will host a "Friends of Dorothy" event the first night. We should plan on meeting then, if not earlier (we have the late dinner seating). What time do you guys arrive in Port? We land in Orlando around 5 AM on Saturday. We are going to rent a car, go to breakfast and then drive to the Port. We hope to be there around 10. I hardly am on Facebook anymore, so feel free to email me directly at the email addresses in my FB message.

So happy to be going on vacation. It's the final countdown (cue music)! - Richard

Yay, we were starting to think we were the only gays in the village. :D We're coming from CA, how about you? I'm 32 and my bf is 31. This is my 3rd cruise and his like 5th one.

We're thinking of doing the race in Cozumel, ziplining and cave tubing maybe at the next one, more ziplining and beach day at the third stop and one of the ruins in Costa Maya. Have you purchased anything yet?

It would be great to meet up and start the trip off knowing 2 of the other 3000 people on the boat!

Hey y'all! My bf and I are traveling to the Western Caribbean next week on the Carnival Dream. Any other family members sailing?