Roll Call!!! Oosterdam RSVP Alaska - Sept 3-10, 2005

[Brooklyn Pistol]

Whew! Lots to catch up in this thread! We couldn't make this cruise, but had a lots of friends on the ship. Did last Feb's Sun Cruise and will be on Panama Leg in March '06.

 

Glad to hear you guys (and ladies) had a fun time. Our friends had a blast also. They said it was a little different fell from all the warm weather cruises we'd done in the last few years, but great nonetheless. Amy's cabin happened to be next door to people we know on the Upper Verrandah Deck (room #6XXX). They ran into her constantly, and since we'd enjoyed her shows previously, they connected a bit.

 

A short comment on all the chatter about "newbies" and what to expect. There is no way to prepare someone for their first RSVP cruise. Anyone who has done one before can say all they want, show all the pictures, etc. but it will never be understood until you are there. We have all done our first cruise and felt "unprepared", but the second one -- AH, you're in the middle of everything. Each cruise we get deeper and deeper in preparation. We are part of a group of 28 on the next cruise, 20 of whom will be "newbies". Re the dress-up aspect; we are comfortably dressed for dinner -- that's fine. I don't want to bring a sport jacket -- tux is enough. Our luggage is more room decorations, costume accessories, blinkies, and party wear. And besides, in a suite you get free laundry and dry cleaning -- all that you want!!! Wheeeeeeee! Ahem, which brings me to my next subject:

 

<<We're sailing in 4180 next month on Westerdam.>>

 

Beav,we did this cabin on the Zuiderdam. It's a great space. Nestled in the rear, you will have plenty of deck space, in fact the deck is bigger than the cabin. It's a little breezy, you can interact with ALL your neighbors around and above. But plenty of space for entertaining. Nude sunbathing will be a little awkward. The deck sticks out quite a bit and everyone can see from above. You are above a corner of the dining room, so the drop from your deck is straight down... After this cruise, we opted for a suite in the main suite area (Rotterdam Deck). The Neptune Lounge is a big plus, and we were soooo far from it that we never used it even though it was reserved for suite users only. If you have any other q's on the cabin, feel free to post.

 

Joe

[dog_lover]

Hello all,

I've been reading over the posts. Was on the Alaska cruise, and had so much fun. Amy and Freddy? Great! Loved Leslie Jordan's show. Did any of you get a chance to sing with Korey Simon in the Piano Bar? Amazing! Spent just about every night singing in the piano bar until 2am. If you missed Korey, you missed one of the most charismatic, funny, and entertaining guys on the cruise!!! Oh, and the crew? Fell in love with Petar, the photographer. Those on the cruise will know Petar...he was the Tom Cruise look-a-like from Croatia? Loved flirting with him. If ANYONE has pictures or video of Petar doing a strip at the Leather party PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share! And if you got a chance to get to the Greenhouse Spa, hopefully you got a massage from Dutch God, Michel...wow. I enjoyed it so much I got three more during the cruise. I miss those guys. While I didn't meet any of you, I'm sure we passed in the halls. It was an amazing cruise. Kudos to HAL and to RSVP for making this a fantastic voyage!

[BEAV]

Brian & Joe.....

 

Thanks so much for the great aft S info! Brian, I surfed on over to the HAL board and read you review. Glad it was a great trip!

[etoile]

Just filled out the survey. There were lots of questions about the ship - the food, the service, the shore excursions, etc. If a lot of people complained, would they actually not use HAL anymore? I know they are using the Diamond Princess next year. Do they ever use Celebrity?

 

Also, the RSVP website has been completely redesigned! Looks much better now.

[bepsf]

Wow - it's a new site again!

I believe RSVP have almost always used Carnival Corp. ships. It's only been the past few years that they've been using HAL. I understand that Princess lobbied RSVP pretty hard to charter Diamond.

(HAL and now Princess are owned by Carnival Corp, of course)

Atlantis uses primarily RCCL & Celebrity and have used NCL in the past.

R Family uses NCL - One of the founders was w/ Atlantis...

[etoile]

Ah, well, don't think I'll be going on anything for Atlantis! I do hope to travel with RSVP again though - I had a very good time! :)

[thulewx]

In the past, before Princess was gobbled up by Carnivore, RSVP's requests to charter were consistently turned down by Princess - I was told that Princess always gave the excuse that chartering to an all-gay cruise didn't fit with Princess' clientele's expectations - whatever that meant:rolleyes: . And it always seemed so strange because I found Princess to be very gay-friendly on board most of the time (save for one extra-homophobic CD on Ocean Princess). They also told me that Crystal refused to charter to RSVP.

Wonder if anyone's ever thought of chartering the QM2 for RSVP or Atlantis - now THAT would be a cruise to remember, except - try to picture 2600 guests all trying to squeeze into the Commodorothy Lounge before dinner :eek: .

[bepsf]

Hmmm - a QM2 RSVP cruise?

 

Not a bad idea - and Deck 13 would be the perfect venue for the outdoor disco...

...but they might have trouble selling that cruise based on pricing.

A week in a QM2 A1 Deluxe Balcony (Hull Balcony, Britannia Grill - No Special Perks) runs about the same as a week on HAL in a Deluxe Verandah Suite which is nearly twice the size. Princess Grill accommodations and above are priced at HAL Penthouse levels and more.

Not worth it IMHO...

[thulewx]

Brian, I agree about the pricing, but I think, if they advertised it far enough in advance, that enough would save up for that special cruise. And I think there are plenty of pompous queens who'd shell out $25,000 for one of the big suites. Imagine the door decorations!:p And some thought my inflatable pink flamingo in the window of my atrium cabin was too much!

[etoile]

Did you say 25 thousand? :eek:

 

Personally I would rather have a tiny inside cabin and use the rest for...oh, a new car! :D

[Gary Omaha]

Let me get this (pardon the term) straight.

 

I was thoroughly taken to task prior to the Alaska cruise for the amount of time we intended to spend in our cabin. (During the cruise we marvelled at how wonderful the cabin was, and we were in just a mid-category cabin, though with a verandah.)

 

Now, there's discussion of spending (gasp :eek: ) $25,000 on a cabin on another cruise?!? For cruisers who will, ostensibly, not spend much time in said cabin??

 

Boy, I have a lot to learn about this cruising thing! :rolleyes:

[etoile]

Yeah, it's confusing to me too. I think people cruise for different reasons though. For example I care about the ports a lot. I know they say "the ship is the destination" but I want to go somewhere cool too! For me, the ship is really cool transportation.

 

Likewise, I think some people prefer to stay in their suites the whole time and have room service all the time except when they're in the spa or something. I don't understand why, necessarily, but if that's what they want I'm not going to deny them that.

 

I just looked at the Cunard website. You can sail the QE2 for 3 nights for $568. For a six-day transatlantic on the QM2, it starts at $1,422.70 for a standard inside and goes up to $24,926.63 grand duplex. (Hey Phil, you must not have checked the current exchange! ;) )

 

I wonder who stays in the grand duplex, though? :confused: Maybe it's like the garden villa on NCL ships - nobody is there most of the time? Who knows...

 

I don't think being queeny has anything to do with what category of room you get...unless you are Chi Chi and need the extra space for all your clothes! (god she was fabulous)

[thulewx]

The prices I used on my poll are those listed in the cunard 2006 book, early booking discount.

 

I got to check out one of the Q1 Queen's suites on the Maiden Voyage - they truly are incredible - 2 stories, 2 bedroom, 3 bath, dining room seats 12 easily, super views of the aft ship, gigantic balconies (although they're not the least bit private), hot and cold running butlers ;) , But not worth it at all, IMHO. I had one of the atrium cabins which was interesting - I got to gawk at the people using the glass elevators (and they got some interesting views into my cabin :eek: ).

As far as reasons for cruising - I used to go for the ports, but after so many trips to the Carib, I go for the ship and the relaxation. On port days, the service is great (lots fewer people around), and often the spa services are cheaper. If I find a cruise with intersting or new ports, I'll definitely go off the ship, though.

[bepsf]

A pal in LA traveled w/ friends on QM2 who occupied one of the Duplex Suites for a week in the Caribbean - the Balmoral, I think?

There are folks (including gay folks) who think nothing of dropping 25 Large/per person for a week at sea...

...and good for them, but they're typically not the type to disco with their shirts off 'til 2am.

[etoile]

There are folks (including gay folks) who think nothing of dropping 25 Large/per person for a week at sea...

This is like what I want to ask from Bill Gates. Years ago (as a kid) I realized that Bill Gates was fabulously wealthy, and if he would just give me $10k I could do so much. (Of course now, I'd rather have $100k!) I figured it would be just a drop in the bucket to him. He'd never miss it. But it would mean so much to me.

 

(Yeah, I was a weird kid...like to think I still am!)

 

Oh by the way, I know it won't make sense to most of you, but...I passed my certification exam! This is for interpreting - you can interpret without a certification, of course, but if you have one you are considered truly qualified and you get more money and so forth. It takes years of study and practice to be ready for the test. I took it last December but they are so backlogged that I didn't get the results until today. And I passed! Wheeeee! (good thing too - it was $350 the first time, $200 if you have to retake because you failed)

 

Please excuse me, by the way - I have had a couple of celebratory drinks. ;)

[thulewx]

You're talking about translating Ameslan, right?

I have trouble just making the "OK" sign so I can't imagine all you had to learn...:p

[etoile]

You're talking about translating Ameslan, right?

I have trouble just making the "OK" sign so I can't imagine all you had to learn...:p

Doh! Yeah, I forgot to mention what language I'm interpreting! Yes, it is American Sign Language. (Ameslan is not a common term but it is used.)

[Gary Omaha]

I passed my certification exam!

YAYYYYY! W00T! PROPS! KUDOS!!

 

Plus, now you have all those additional special skills from signing those special words during Amy & Freddy's show, too!

[etoile]

Hey everybody! I know it's been a while since we've had posts in this thread, but I just wanted to mention I got my DVD today. Has anybody else gotten theirs? I didn't spot any major changes from what they showed on board, but it was great to show it to my wife and provide running commentary for her!

 

Hope everybody is doing well. :)

[Darrell6t]

We got our DVD a couple of days ago. It was such fun to relive our excellent cruise. And it made me excited to see the ad for the Diamond Princess cruise a year from now. RSVP cruises are just the best.