MattNYC

My husband and I are booking this.  First cruise since COVID began, first time on Royal (previously sailed Celebrity, NCL, Princess), definitely first time on a megaship.  A bit nervous to be back on a ship, but at least for this one we don't have to fly.  Hope to meet other aboard ship.

Is the water park open on Oasis during Port days?  We're looking at an itinerary where the ports are not interesting and are hoping to take advantage of the ship and its features. 

My husband (Wayne) and I will be on this sailing. I couldn't find another G&L Roll Call, so I am starting one. I know that there's always a decent FOD presence on this type of itinerary. We have no idea what to do in Grand Cayman. We will either not get off the ship or will be sure not to spend one gay cent on this island...

Matt

Brian and Ron--

 

Sounds like a great idea. Count us in!

 

Frank in cloudy and cool SBA

Count us in as well. We like the FOD gatherings but I agree that the MB on Solstice class ships is an awful venue. On the Century, it was in a much more intimate and quiet location. The atrium venues all give me a headache and/or dizziness due to the volume. God I sound old... Get off my lawn!!!!

Also, we mostly enjoy the shows and have late dinner seating, so it's often hard to spend more than 30 minutes unless we think the show seems lame.

Matt

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I grew up in Brooklyn, live in NJ and soon moving to New Hope PA. I am traveling with my friend Curt who lives in Cleveland.

Wayne works in Philly, so we have a house in Riverton. I work remotely and mostly stay in NJ. I'll stay at our place in Brooklyn for a week here and there and we're often there together on weekends.

We haven't been to New Hope in a while but I have a few friends who own homes there.

Matt

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Matt--

 

Thanks for starting this and for putting the link on the regular Roll Call. We really enjoy any Westbound cruise for the extra hours. We are doing Millennium from Vancouver to Yokohama before we join you all on this one.

All of our prior crossings were Eastbound, so we're excited about this one. Two near B2B crossings sound pretty cool.

I can't recall if the last time we sailed together was our Reflection TA or the Century Hawaii trip.

Matt

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John, sorry for the delayed response. Looking forward to meeting you and others at the daily gatherings, although we often skip on busy port days.

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We are just booking this itinerary. We are Matt and Wayne and are coming back to Celebrity after a few years' break. We look forward to enjoying a nice FOD gathering, especially on the nice week at sea. This is our first Westbound crossing, so we are eagerly anticipating ever-longer days and the sea days coming AFTER all of the ports.

Matt

We've sailed before from San Diego, but that was in the Spring. Since we're coming from Philly, we'll have plenty of layers.

We're traveling with Wayne's parents and renting a car in each port besides Honolulu. We're trying to find new things to do vs. last time in Hilo and Maui.

Matt

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Welcome, Jerry. Are you also on the Roll Call? This is only our second time on Princess, but there was a regularly scheduled LGBT gathering every night on our first one. Unfortunately, it was a port-intensive Alaska cruise, so I think we only went the first and last nights. We like the longer cruises with fewer ports and have met some really nice people at these.

Looking forward to meeting you aboard!

Matt

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Any other LGBT CCers on this sailing?

There has got to be at least one other LGBT person/couple on this sailing...

No one has started a G&L RC, yet, so I guess I will.

We will be sailing on Princess for the first time and are looking forward to new experiences and locales. Wayne has never been to Alaska, and I have never cruised Alaska before, so this will be great, no matter what.

Please introduce yourselves and please offer any interesting tidbits about the line's handling of LGBT Gatherings, ship quirks, "must do" (ship or non-ship) excursions, etc.

As is our norm, we will be traveling with Wayne's parents, Peter & Joy and will be heading over six days early to explore Washington State and Oregon before boarding the ship.

Looking forward to meeting other "family" on this cruise.

Matt

So, from what I have read, there will be plenty of FOD on Oceania. Anyone here have this one booked?

This is our first on Oceania. We're really looking forward to the food and the small ship size to get up close in Alaska. We've sailed mostly (lately) on Celebrity, so this will be a chance to see if it's worth the premium to sail on Oceania. But this was a deal we couldn't pass up.

As usual, we will be traveling with Wayne's parents--I believe this will be their 50th year of marriage. Maybe we'll join that category by the time we sail. :) (Have to get all the legal crap out of the way first. :rolleyes:)

Matt

Matt. Hope you enjoyed the trip. My partner and I just booked the same voyage for 2015, main concern is the weather. Was it warm enough to be deck/balconies?? Did you get bored with the week at sea??? Thanks

Unless it's a free upgrade, I really wouldn't bother paying for a balcony. We had an OV. Most of the people who had balconies were complaining. They got to use them the first few days and then the last day and a half. Too cool otherwise.

We love sea days--there was always so much to do. It was especially enjoyable since Celebrity featured their "Cruising with the Classics" program on this specific voyage (they don't seem to announce them in advance) and we had the pleasure of hearing an amazing young violinist who will probably be in all the headlines in a few years. Some of the scheduled lectures were good, but we didn't enjoy these as much as we have in the past.

I will be honest though, we disliked Millennium itself. She's taken quite a beating over the years. We'd go back to Asia--especially China--on Celebrity again, but not until they have another ship on the schedule.

Matt

Wayne & Matt was yours a yes also or still considering?

Rod and BArry

Rod,

Yes, definitely count us in.

Matt

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Ellen & MaryLynn, I recognize your ScreenName and names and see we were all on the 2010 Century Spring TA. I believe that was also where we first met Jay and Al.

Funny how this all works out--I guess "Trans" :D (-Atlantic, -Pacific) cruisers tend to gravitate to the same itineraries (and have a mutual love of sea days).

Looking forward to getting re-acquainted with past and acquainted with present cruisers.

This will be our fourth 14+ days cruise--all on Celebrity and all accompanied by Wayne's parents. We've sailed twice on the oldest & smallest ship--Century (TA, San Diego-Hawaii RT)--and once on the newest & biggest ship--Reflection (TA). Reflection was beautiful but was missing the warmth of Century. We have been told by many that we will really love the Mid-point Millennium class ships and we're looking forward to trying it on for "size".

Our plans for Hokadate are to explore the city on our own. We're a little unispired by Muraran, but we really don't feel like schlepping to Sapporo. So if anyone gets some good local info, we'd love to know.

In Petropavlovsk, we've decided not to patronize a place that doesn't want us, and I would rather not risk getting arrested for saying something against Putin or accidentally showing affection to Wayne. BTW, from everything I can find, you won't even be allowed on a tender without either a tour ticket or evidence of a visa and "invitation" from shore. Again, a place makes it so difficult to visit/enjoy does not deserve my hard-earned rubles and kopeks. Some day, if Russia is ever a (semi)free land, we'll go see St. Petersburg.

We'll enjoy an extra "sea day" aboard ship. Maybe put up a rainbow flag in our window. ;)

Matt

And here I was wondering why the G&L Roll Call I stared back in August wasn't getting any traffic... DOH! Well, I am happy there's a Family discussion somewhere! :D

Will catch up ASAP.

We are Wayne and Matt, travelling with Wayne's parents. I think we've now sailed twice with Jay and Al (unplanned). Will look and see if any other familiar names are on this list.

Have to go finish packing (we leave on Tuesday for Seattle and then fly on Wednesday to Narita via DFW) before Wayne hits me again with the "look of death." :p

Matt

The music and loudness on Century has always been fine.

I will say that on Reflection, our cabin was only a few doors in from the atrium and the music and activities there were quite loud. However, I forget the cut-off time (I think it was 11PM), but the second the clock struck, all of the amps were turned off. If you are an early-to-bed person, I'd recommend being farther from the atrium.

I do not recall loud music in the MDR. We were at a table for 10 or 12 and were able to carry on a conversation across the table.

The only time on Century that was a "problem" was when we were seated directly behind the performers. But unless a string quartet playing classical (they're not the Kronos Quartet) music bothers you, that should not be an issue. We talked less then, but that was more to enjoy the music and not because it was too loud.

Matt

Dang. We've been talking about tying the knot, but this is just too short-notice for us. :(

Matt

I can't say that I am unhappy overall to see Steiner go. On our last cruise (Reflection 2013 Eastbound TA), the gym facilities were not adequately maintained and there was never a trainer available for advice. They did explain that they lost a trainer who got sick in Miami as the ship was boarding and who couldn't be replaced in that short a time. But even so, it just felt like they could not care less about anyone who wasn't paying for extra services.

Our previous long cruises on Century all had much more engaged staff who led many free sessions. There was less than one free class a day on our Reflection TA, and it was either at 6AM at sea or else at 5:30pm on a port day.

To be fair, the Steiner gym staff on our NCL cruises have mostly been fantastic.

Knowing that CR is higher end, I hope this will not be reflected in the treatment of those passengers who just want to work out during the cruise and maybe take a complimentary ab or stretching class.

Matt

Posting this in the CORRECT place :p

Curious as to everyone's thoughts on the stop in Petropavlovsk.

Assuming the Russians even let the ship in (depending on what happens with Syria), we aren't thrilled about helping their economy and may just stay on the ship or just get off to stretch our legs and come back aboard.

Maybe I will put up a rainbow flag in the cabin window as an act of defiance. Or ask the pool deck DJ to play non-stop gay anthems...

Aside from that stop, we're really looking forward to this itinerary. It will be the first time any of us are in Japan (my partner and I are traveling--as usual--with his parents).

This may end up being our honeymoon cruise :D if we can get everything figured out by Spring.

Matt

Jacksan1,

Also, I have looked at both the Minato Mirai Line website and the Tokyu site and am unable to figure out the total fare from Nihon Odori to Shibuya. I can only find the first leg (200 yen to Yokohama). Tokyu just says that teh fares are based on distance, but there are no station-to-station distances on their site. If you can point me to the right place or give me a ballpark figure, that would be great.

Thanks,

Matt

Jacksan1,

Good to see that you're still around :)

We're looking at Tokyo->Vancouver on the Celebrity Millenium in May 2014 with a few days beforehand in Tokyo.

I want to confirm that the cheapest, most efficient way for four people (two are 65+) with luggage to get from Narita to a hotel in Tokyo (still not sure where, yet--recommendations for "reasonably-priced" rooms are welcome) is on the Narita Express (N'Ex) and then use a taxi/subway if needed to get to the hotel.

I think we'll probably do your "reverse" train trip to get to Yokohama for the cruise.

We were looking at a package deal, but it seems we could do MUCH better going a la carte--even if it means us having to negotiate transfers ourselves in a land with (primarily) foreign signage.

TIA for any advice/recommendations.

Matt