Roll Call - Crown Princess July 28 Norwegian Interlude

[sabahan]

Anyone else coming on this cruise?

 

My partner and I are taking both our mothers - sort of celebration for both mothers.

[pjs1974]

We have just booked this cruise and are looking forward to seeing what Princess is like. We are Martin and Paul from Nottingham.

 

Can't wait!!!

[sabahan]

Hi Martin and Paul,

 

Welcome! Really glad there will be other family members on the cruise. We are Paul and Len. As I mentioned in my first post, we will be taking our respective mums on this cruise. Len's mum is in a wheelchair, so we won't be as mobile as we would like to be. Another gay friend will also be travelling with us. We are all from Canada.

 

We will be flying into London the Saturday before the cruise. I studied in England and so am quite familiar with London. We also visit quite often. I also have a brother and a sister in London. Len, my mum and I have seen most of the sights. However, Len's mum has never been, so we will be showing her the sights.

 

Looks like we have done similar number of cruises. Our first cruise was on the Grand Princess 10 years ago with 2 other gay couples and one of their mums. Since then we have stayed with Royal Caribbean. Our favourite was the Mediterranean cruise. The Brazillian cruise was a little disappointing, because it was mostly catering to the Brazillians and the service was a little below par. Our most recent cruise was on the Allure earlier this year with Atlantis. That was a completely different experience. We are sure we will be doing another gay cruise in the near future. We did it primarily to see the ship and we had friends going along. You guys have quite a number of cruises booked for this year! Sailing down the St. Lawrence from Quebec City would be very nice in October with the autumn colours.

 

I noticed that you guys have sailed mostly with Celebrity. I understand it is a cut above Princess, so you may find it a little below what you are used to. I've heard that the service has been going down in recent years. We found the same on Royal Caribbean. However, the reviews I have read on the Crown Princess have been quite complimentary.

 

We plan to drive down to Southampton on the morning of the cruise. I presume you guys will as well.

 

We have a guaranteed mini-suite on the cruise, so we do not know our cabin number yet. We are also on Anytime Dining. What about you guys?

 

I expect they would not have set up the Friends of Dorothy get-together on the first evening yet. We plan to go for pre-dinner cocktails at the Skywalker Lounge around 6. It should offer a good view from there. Would you like to join us? We should be easy to spot - three gay men with their mothers, one in a wheelchair. I am Chinese as you can see on our profile picture. Len is the other person in the picture.

 

Just over a month before we leave!

 

Paul

[pjs1974]

Hi Guys,

 

Not long now!! This was a last minute decision for us and I think we both just plan on relaxing for most of the cruise. Our main holiday will be the NY/Quebec cruise but as we both had a week to take over the summer we though we'd make the most of it too. We are also Anytime Dining but tend to eat late after a cocktail or two!

 

Have your Mum's both cruised before? We took my parents on their first this May and they've now got the bug!! We look forward to meeting you all.

 

Are you planning any excursions?

 

Paul

[sabahan]

Hi Paul,

 

We have booked two excursions - Briksdal Glacier & Jostedalsbreen National Park and Scenic Drive of Nordfjord. The former just for Len and me. The latter for both mothers as well. This latter one is the only one offered by Princess which is wheelchair accessible. For Bergen, I had looked into organising a local tour, but it is very expensive. So, we will just see how far we can go by ourselves, especially with a wheelchair.

 

Len and I are normally late diners as well, but with our mothers with us, we may have to eat a little earlier. Neither mothers have cruised before.

 

Under four weeks to go before we leave for London! See you on board.

 

Cheers,

Paul

[pjs1974]

Hi

 

We'll see you in the Skywalker lounge then.

 

Less than 4 weeks now!

 

Martin

[pjs1974]

Hi

 

Just seen you're from Ottawa. Hope you turned out for William and Catherine today!

 

Love the maple leaf hat.

 

Martin

[sabahan]

Hi Martin,

 

Yes, we are from Ottawa. No, we didn't go down to Parliament Hill to catch William and Kate. Had planned to cycle up to the Governor General's residence where they were staying to catch them on their way back from Parliament Hill, but changed my mind at the last minute because of the heat. Our house is about 20 minutes bike ride from the Governor General's. I tried the same thing last year when the Queen was here, but got there too late. Anyway, it was a good thing I didn't bother this year because William and Kate were taken back to the Governor General's by limousine, instead of horse carriage, which was the way they arrived at Parliament Hill.

 

Going to Parliament Hill itself would have been an effort of frustration. My cousin was there and only managed to catch a brief glimpse. It was also a very hot day. One of the girls from work passed out from heat stroke. There was apparently over 300 thousand people in an area not much bigger than open space at the roundabout in front of Buckingham Palace.

 

Watching on tele in HD was much more pleasant and felt much more front-row. We have a 50-inch TV.

 

See you guys in just over two weeks.

 

Paul

[pjs1974]

Hi chaps,

 

We started packing this evening! It's been a tough couple of weeks for me and Martin has also been working very hard so we are both very ready for a break!! Just three more days at work...

 

See you on Thursday!

 

Paul