letsgogogo

Yikes. I'm one of them. I state all of this warmly. Something got lost here. My apologies.

Why do you want concierge? I get an aqua class upgrade for Blu, but all you get for concierge is a MDR lunch on day 1.

The gays generally like to eat later. You'll find lots of them at martini bar nightly from anywhere between 6 and 8. Don't worry about the official scheduled meet up times. People just come to martini bar when ready and then swing to dinner later. If you find yon are enjoying the camaraderie of the martini bar, ask about switching your dinner time to later so you can connect with more new friends on the ship.

But that’s what I’m explaining… The majority of the people on a cruise out of Galveston are not redneck religious fanatics who are opposed to your rights. Most of those people live in rural areas and do not go on cruises, especially a cruise line that celebrates pride month all June. Sadly we are all surrounded by some conservative people who get their hair cut by gays, homes redecorated by gays, are entertained by the talent of gay people, are cared for by gay health care providers and on and on…yet these same people will discreetly cast a vote against you in a poll booth. This will never end. It’s rooted in religious fundamentalism that has existed for thousands of years. Research has shown repeatedly that attitudes toward LGBT people has shifted the last 20 years primarily due to more people coming out of the closet, resulting in more conservative people finding out someone they care about personally is gay, leading gradually to more acceptance. if you don’t want to be around some people who may think differently than you, you are missing an opportunity to influence how they think, by just being yourself. But honestly, you are over worrying this. Your Galveston cruise is not drawing droves of bigots. The people you are worried about being on your cruise lead insular lives in rural or far suburban areas and don’t travel much unless to RV or camp. if after reading all these posts you’re still concerned about this, why must you cruise out of Texas? Make another plan.

Gay couple in Houston here, home to the country’s first openly LGBT mayor of a major US city. Elected 3 times. The cities in Texas are all fairly liberal. Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso…. Our reputation as a red state comes from the highly conservative rural areas whose population once combined with the conservative minority in the cities, keeps the state red. Beto O’Rourke lost the US Senate seat to Ted Cruz by only 2% of the vote. State politics that you hear about are commandeered by conservative republicans due to gerrymandering and elections bought by west Texas oil billionaires who fund campaigns for fundamentalist Christians all over the state. They do not reflect the overall mindset of most Texans. These people are not on your cruise, and if they were, bad behavior wouldn’t be tolerated by any of the other straight people on the ship. Your cruise will be filled with kind and accepting people ready to have a good time. Note, Royal Caribbean and sister line Celebrity are staunchly lgbt advocates that celebrate pride very visibly on their ships in all locations every June. All that said. A Galveston cruise in the summer will be packed with families with kids. Not my thing, but that’s me.

European destinations are all lgbt friendly with some countries like Italy being slightly more conservative and Netherlands and Denmark being very liberal. Spain and Portugal are both exceedingly gay friendly. Challenges are more so for Caribbean travel. The islands vary greatly based on their colonial history. Puerto Rico is very safe for gays. US Virgin Islands as well. Barbados is very safe with extremely low violent crime, but it is highly conservative with no visible gay culture. You’d want to be very discrete there. Cayman and British Virgin Islands are also very conservative. Probably not unsafe, but these islands still have laws that target us. Jamaica can be downright dangerous. Personally, I don’t care to visit or spend money in countries with this type of discrimination so Caribbean travel is not for me. I did one sailing picked for its more gay friendly ports. PR, St. Thomas USVI, Punta Cana, DR, and Nassau where we only went to Atlantis. Alaska is safe and lovely. We are doing a New England and Quebec City Sailing this fall. Extremely lgbt friendly.

Looks plenty lovely to me

It is for sure reasonable. Excellent fare and wayyyyyy cheaper than a similar meal in a major city. It’s the best place for lunch on embarkation day. Quiet. Skip the madhouse buffet.

Solstice is lovely. Our very first cruise was solstice to Alaska. One of my most memorable trips. Don’t think twice about doing this.

Priority disembarkation at ports. Microscopically larger room on M class ships. MDR lunch on embarkation day. If you got upgraded they don’t give you the captains club points for it. You’ll get points for whatever you originally booked.

Worth every cent to send a bag or 2 of clothes to laundry on your cruise. Don’t bother packing toiletries. That’s Europe. You can find shampoo toothpaste and anything else other corner pharmacy. When you’re done with your trip, if you have no room for these items just leave them behind. If you have the resources for European travel, not a big deal to buy some toiletries there that you won’t finish. Plus it’s kind of fun to try products that aren’t available here.

Not only are you not crazy, but you are brilliant. Europe is no place for larger checked luggage. That’s coming from someone who packs heavily for a cruise. European travel requires being nimble and on the move. Big bulky bags on old cobblestones are a huge pain in the ass. Most Europeans have smaller wardrobes of higher quality versatile pieces. Pack solids that do triple duty. Seek out a laundromat in an interesting part of town near a café. Be like a local. I have traveled Europe four or five times and will never take anything but carry-on luggage. If you are flying to Europe to go on a cruise and you were not traveling anywhere else other than the cruise, then perhaps you may want more options and a checked bag. Otherwise, don’t do it. Nobody arrives in Europe with Carryon on luggage and thinks, “oh if only I had lugged more crap with me.” Nobody. Bon voyage.

Even without a decent table, nothing beats room service breakfast, ordered the night before. You can wake up leisurely, get ready for your adventure, and not waste time making a stop at a breakfast venue.

I love that you said this!

That makes sense. These were the videos on YouTube by Harr travel agency. They do an end of the tour of each class of cabin.

That made me snort. Didn’t notice my typo. “Oven” was “cabin”.

Yes and no. You can bid on whatever categories are presented to you in your individual move up offer. For example, if you are in a inside or ocean view, you may (or may not) be presented with the option to bid on a suite.

It is my understanding that the aqua and concierge state rims are very slightly larger than regular veranda. I have watched videos on YouTube from celebrity summit posted by Harr travel. They have videos of each of these categories. I even counted the squares in the carpet pattern in various parts of the oven in order to try and figure out where the extra space is. I am not seeing it. The cabins look precisely the same size. What am I missing?

This has been changed to two bottles of wine per person in the cabin. (It used to be 2 per cabin.) So for a double occupancy stateroom, you can bring four bottles. Suitcase is fine or hand luggage, it doesn’t matter, they are going to screen all bags anyway.

Do they have the same menu each night such that it doesn’t matter which evening you book on your cruise you will be choosing from the same menu? If not, and the menu changes nightly, how can I figure out an advance what the menus going to be for each of the nights on our cruise? I ask because I want to book this on an evening with the most appealing options. I have the Celebrity app and looked up the menu for this restaurant on Summit, but it’s just one menu and it does not seem to change from day today presumably because I’m not actually on a cruise in real time at the moment.

So quiet this roll call. No peeps?

I was hoping someone would point this out! All this hysteria about touching things while lack of distancing and being mask free are the real Covid risks.

Tons of videos on YouTube. Harr Travel makes good ones.

Family members and travel companions of those who test positive.