mithryl

Hi mithryl:

 

I believe you're signed up for the connections get together on the same cruise we're on. DH and I are on Celebrity for the first time but have enjoyed our straight cruises on Princess. Looking forward to meeting you and other family. Only three more days!!

 

Bill

Hi Bill...it's good to know there will be family onboard. My wife Bonnie and I are looking forward to meeting you and your DH too! We're very excited. This is our 2nd celebrity cruise, we've done Princess a lot as well. I think you'll love the quality of the food and the great service on Celebrity. See you in a few days!

Vicki:)

Hi All,

 

My partner and I are going on the RCL Allure of the Sea on May 8. We are taking our 23 year old son.

We have taken 5 Oliva Cruises, 1 NCL with Rosie and 2 HAL. We love this for vacation, but the cost of Oliva is causing us to relook at the "straight" cruises to save money. We love the Family with Oliva, but just can't manage the costs.

 

We live in Asheville, NC and would love to connect with others in the area.

 

Liz and Annette and Alex

Welcome to this thread! I found the same thing regarding the Olivia prices...love the experience, but I can get two regular cruises for the price of one Olivia cruise...so that's what we've been doing for several years now. We have always been treated with respect and have met lots of great people on our "straight" cruises. We still keep in touch with some of them.

Glad you joined us!

Sorry...I meant my last post for Bodhi, not Chrissy.

Wow Chrissy...we're going to miss you by one week. That's really a shame. We're hoping to find some "family" too. Have a great cruise...you will love Celebrity...they're fabulous!

Welcome...thanks for introducing yourselves! Hope your cruise is terrific!

Vicki

Bonnie and I just booked this cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale :)!

Any sisters going on this cruise? We'd love to meet you.

Vicki

Hi Imaginecruising,

How was your July 17th cruise? I'd love to hear what your experience was like!

We're booking a 7 day on the Solstice on Dec. 12th out of Ft. Lauderdale. Has anyone sailed on her before? Your opinions?

Anyone else booked or considering this cruise?

Would love to hear from you.

Thanks,

Mithryl

I haven't been on the boards since June. So glad to see this thread is still so active! Anyone going on a Chrsitmas cruise this year? We've moved from Idaho to Florida (Holiday..near Clearwater) and are considering RCCL's Granduer of the Sea out of Tampa on 12/21/09. Anxious to see if any "family" are planning on this sailing.

Hi everyone!

Big news for us...we just moved from Idaho to Florida! We're in Holiday, north of Clearwater. We're now less than an hour from the Tampa cruise terminal and only about a 4 hour drive over to Ft. Lauderdale, so we can now do alot of cruising without the hassle and additional expense of flying. I'm very excited. We're considering a 10 day RCL cruise out of Tampa on 12/7/09 (cheaper than the 9 day that goes out over Christmas).

Anyone else considering that cruise?

It's been fun to read about everyones adventures and to see that this thread is still alive and well. I haven't been on CC since late February, so it was nice to find all of you still out there communicating through this thread and others.

Happy sailing to all!

Vicki

:)Hi All,Well im going on my 5th cruise again!! I can't wait!!! Anyone going on the "Freedom of the Seas" May 24th,2009?? Im going with my girl and some friends also.Our friends that are all going with us have never been on a cruise before.This should be so very interesting and lots of fun!!!!

Has anyone ever done the western caribbean before?? We want to go on some of the excursions but not sure to which ones,- maybe go swim with the dolphins,parasailing,etc.Any suggestions??

If you'll be in Grand Cayman, I'd say swimming with the Sting Rays. Dolphin swims are available in lots of ports (Hawaii, Mexico, Caribbean, etc.), but there are limited ports with Sting Ray swims.

Hope you have a great time. I'm interested in your experience on a large ship like the "Freedom". She sounds wonderful and I'm anxious to try her (or a similiar ship) in the future.

Vicki

For anyone who did the latest Olivia cruise...how was it?

Our next cruise is 2/7/09 - Sapphire Princess- Mexican Riviera.

We're also looking at a Panama Canal repositioning cruise in late April 2010. It goes from Ft. Lauderdale all the way to Vancouver, BC (20 or 21 days).

We've mostly done mid to large ship sailing (1800 to 2600 passengers). Has anyone sailed on Princess (or other lines) small ships that only have 760 passengers? I think I'd like to try it, but don't know if it would feel too confining after being on larger ships.

Happy sailing for everyone's upcoming cruises!

...and thanks for keeping this thread alive. I think we've probably set some kind of record by now!

Vicki

Hi All,

How has Ike affect NCL and Carnival out of Galveston? I've never sailed either one, but I think they've both been sailing from there. Looks like it's been a mess down there. We're sailing with friends on 2/7/09 to the Mexican Riviera out of LA on the Sapphire Princess. Anyone esle sailing with us?

Hi All,

 

Has anyone checked out "Sweet" yet? It should be interesting to have two all Lesbian cruise/travel companies out there. I'm curious whether it will improve the pricing. I think Olivia is great, but competition is always good in business...keeps everyone on their toes.

I went to their website and it got me thinking. The three women who started this company look very familiar...are they the ones who sued Olivia not too long ago? I don't remember the names specifically, but it would make sense for them to start their own company as a result of their fall-out with Judy. Although they are saying their pricing includes port taxes, fuel charges, tips, etc., they still seems very high for a 7 day NCL cruise to the Caribbean.

Just curious if anyone know if these are the same women involved in that lawsuit.

Vicki

Hi All,

Has anyone checked out "Sweet" yet? It should be interesting to have two all Lesbian cruise/travel companies out there. I'm curious whether it will improve the pricing. I think Olivia is great, but competition is always good in business...keeps everyone on their toes.

Hi all,

We got back from our cruise to Alaska a few weeks ago. We now have company (my Niece and Grand-Nieces from the Chicago area) and are enjoying their company.

The next cruise we are planning is 2/7/09 aboard the Sapphire Princess to the Mexican Riviera. It's another Abraham-Hicks Seminar cruise. After experiencing this for the first time on our recent cruise to Alaska, we can hardly wait for February to get here! We do not plan to even get off the ship on this cruise, as we've done this same itenary a few times before. The Mexican Riveria is not my dream cruise, but we are looking forward to the seminars during the sea days and we know we'll have an absolutely wonderful time on this cruise!

Vicki

Have fun in Alaska. We would like to take an Alaskan cruise in the next couple of years (or sooner depending on the ecomony). Where did you live in Tigard? We are actually in King City.

 

Kim (of Kim and Linda)

Hi Kim,

We were on 82nd in Tigard...near the corner of Hall and Durham (close to the High School). We could see the sky light up on nights when there were football games!

We'll try to take some pictures we can share with everyone, especially of Glaciers, etc.

Vicki

Hi everyone. My partner, Kim and I (Linda) are new to this site. We are from Tigard, Oregon (close to Portland) and have been on one cruise in the past (Mexican Riviera in 2001).

 

Is anyone going on this cruise? It would be great to hook up with another couple or single. We met two gay men (by chance) on our first cruise and they were so much fun. Would like to meet other gay/lesbians on board.:D

Hi Linda and Kim,

We won't be on your cruise, but we used to live in Tigard! Moved back to Northern Idaho 4 years ago. Welcome to this thread and hope you have a great trip!

We sail for Alaska in one week (July 20th to be exact) on the Westerdam. It is amazing that there are so many of us communicating here, yet so far, only a few of us have actually been on the same cruise at the same time. With people all over the country (and world) with different interests and cruise preferences I guess it's not all that unusual. It would be really fun to get to meet everyone though. Who know, one of these days there will be a cruise that none of us can resist! See you all then!!

Vicki

Just stopped in to say congratulations to all of our California Cruisers who are now planning their weddings! Since the current law does not limit the marriages to just California State residences, those that haven't already gone to Canada may be headed west as well.

Hopefully everyone will be planning cruise honeymoons soon!

Vicki

Hi all!,

Has anyone done the Panama Canal RT from Ft. Lauderdale? I've always thought about cruising through the canal, like Ft. Lauderdale to LA, but I'm not sure what this RT is like...do you actually go through the canal and then back again?

Also considering a repositioning cruise for 2010, flying over to Athens or Rome, doing the Greek Isles, Italy, Spain, Portugal and then transatlantic to Ft. Lauderdale.

Anyone have experience doing that one?

We'll most likely do Princess as our next cruise will move us up a notch from Gold status.

Any feedback or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Vicki

Hi I hope you come back to this thread because we were interested in taking the Olivia trip in Nov. on the Westerdam and wanted to know how your trip is. We've taken Olivia trips before and know how much fun they can be and it's been years since we've taken a cruise with them. Wanted to know how the ship is and if you enjoyed it.

Hi T's water baby,

We'll be sailing the Westerdam in July. I haven't done an Olivia since 2001, but if you have any specific questions about the Westerdam, I'll be glad to get the answers for you while we're aboard.

We just booked the 7/20/08 Alaska Inside passage R/T from Seattle. Anyone else on this sailing?

Vicki & Bonnie

Hi Vicki,

 

When you did the Blue Hawaiian Helicopter tour did you go in the eco-star (larger) or the A-star (smaller) one? Was motion sickness a problem on the flight? We don't get seasick but I'm not sure about the helicopter ride for me. We're booked with Blue Hawaiian also. But ours is out of Hilo on the Big Island. The Volcano & Waterfalls tour on the smaller A-star.

 

We were also looking at the Greek Isles! But like you said the airfare is pretty high. And we promised my brother we would do a cruise with him in 2010 or 2011 so we are looking at doing a less expensive trip like the Mexican Riveria (7 day cruise), and also a couple of days at Disneyland after the cruise. (Maybe we can plan it so we'll be there on Gay Days weekend!)

We rode in the eco-star...great copter! We also did the eco-star out of Kona last year and toured the volcano. The A-star is a good helicopter too and Blue Hawaiian has the best reputation on the islands. Motion sickness should not be a problem. Both our flights were extremely smooth. Tobias was our pilot (both years, differrent islands). He flies on different islands at different times for them and he's an outstanding pilot.

Gay Pride in LA is really fun (used to live there several years ago). I don't know when Disney does Gay Days, but I know I've been there on all gay days before and it was reaaly a blast! The park takes on a completely different feel when it's all "family"!

Have fun.

Vicki

Hello and welcome home,

Our Hawaii cruise is just 6 weeks away!!! So we're dying to hear all about it. What kinds of things did you do while you were there? Did you do any shopping in Lahaina? We are thinking about checking it out. What would you guys consider some of the must see places?

When is your next cruise? We're already thinking about another one. But we'll have to wait a while.

Talk to you later,

Kay & Cherie

Hi Kay and Cherie,

Out of Hilo we went to Kilauea Volcano aand the Thursten Lava Tube. It was a great day and Kiauea has been pretty active lately and is spilling back inot the ses (it haf stopped for awhile a few months ago).

Out of Kona, we went to the Sea Horse farm. It was fun, intereting and educational. It's one of only three sea horse farms in the world.

We did mosst of our shopping in Honolulu, but Lahaina has great shopping as well.

While in Kauai we did the Blue Haeaiian Helicopter tour...fabulous!!

and in Maui we did a whle watching excursions. Our second time doing that there, and we weren'y disappointed at all...whales all around us!

I'm not sure how that will be in six more weeks. I think the whales start heading back to Alaska in May.

No matter what you do, you'll have a great time. It's all different and all beautiful.

I'm not sure about our next cruise yet. We talked about doibng Alaska again this summer, but we're not sure yet if we will or not. My top two choices for our next cruise are the Greek Isles and the Panama Canal.

The airfare alone to Europe right now is about the same as the cost of the Greek Isles cruise, so I don't think that one will happen for a few years, but you never know.

Hope you both have an excellent cruise!

Vicki

Hi All,

Bonnie and I just returned from our Diamond Princess R/T Hawaii cruise and it was fantastic. We didn't like the ship as well as the Island, but the crew was great and we met lots of nice people. Went to the LGBT meet and greet...not a surprize that it was all men, but they were very friendly and easy to talk to. Saw a few Lesbian couples aboard, but they didn't seem interested in meeting anyone else. It's a great itenerary. I'd recommend it to anyone, but be prepared for the "much older" crowd. Lots of walkers, wheelchairs and scooters. Time moves a bit more slowly and night life is our passion, this is not the cruise for you. The sea days are wonderful with lots to keep you busy. Ebven tought we just wnet last year, it was still hard to decide which activities to participate in that hapened at the same time. We experienced anytime dining for the first time and would do it again. We loved the option and found it fairly easy to get any table size we wanted without much wait. We spent several evenings with a table to two and many other times with larger groups. There were about 40 Cruise Critics aboard that I was aware of (no others that were LGBT), and we had a few get togethers. The second one included the Cruise Director Dan, who is a CC member and the Assistant Cruise Director Andre, also a member. They shared a ton of interesting information and everyone had a great time interacting with them.

Welcome to all the newer poster on this thread!

Can't wait to hear about all of your upcoming adventures!

BrendiniOne,

Where are you at in TX?? We are live in Irving....suburb of Dallas.

Hi Postalgrrl,

We lived in North Richland Hills and we worked in Irving for GTE (now Verizon) about 10 years ago. We met in Irving before moving to Idaho). Have you ever eaten at the Italian Garden? It's my all time favorite Italain resturant. Best Chicken Picatta I've ever had!

Take care.

Vicki