Luke916 Posted January 18, 2013 #1 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Has anyone ever traveled with Pied Piper cruises before? We just came across them and they seem to have some interesting cruises we would be interested in taking. Would love to get some feedback about their org. We are specifically looking at the Iceland/Norway Fjords one in June and the Northern Europe on on Celebrity also in June. So if any of you are going on either of these cruises or have traveled with them before we WOULD LOVE any or all info you have on them!! Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmonkey Posted January 18, 2013 #2 Share Posted January 18, 2013 My very first cruise was through Pied Piper. We were on the Celebrity Summit in Alaska and it was a lot of fun. They did several group type activities including a photo scavenger hunt at one of the stops. There were 75+ in the group and we met lots of great people. Everything was really well organized too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Timber Posted January 19, 2013 #3 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Has anyone ever traveled with Pied Piper cruises before? We just came across them and they seem to have some interesting cruises we would be interested in taking. Would love to get some feedback about their org. We are specifically looking at the Iceland/Norway Fjords one in June and the Northern Europe on on Celebrity also in June. So if any of you are going on either of these cruises or have traveled with them before we WOULD LOVE any or all info you have on them!! Thanks!! I had my first cruise with Pied Piper last year---Valparaiso to Buenos Aires. It was a wonderful cruise with some great people. I will be joining 2 of the people I met on that cruise for another one to Southeast Asia in March. In addition to Pied Piper hosting cocktail parties, recommending tours, arranging dinner tables etc. their rates are more reasonable than those you can get directly with Celebrity. I highly recommend them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gw2fll Posted January 19, 2013 #4 Share Posted January 19, 2013 We sailed with Pied Piper for a Southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan on Serenade of the Seas. We had a great time. If I recall correctly, there were ~700 onboard ship. They had scheduled several events during the cruise and also arranged their own shore excursions in each port that you could consider. Some of the parties are theme, so pay attention to their communications so you know what to pack. Enjoy - you will have a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johhnnyt Posted January 19, 2013 #5 Share Posted January 19, 2013 (edited) Have done about 10 Pied Piper Cruises, Usually can expect a froup of 30-70 (mostly men in Celebrity demographics age group), They do have 500+ on the post Thanksgiving cruise but never been on one myself. Overall best benefit is their pricing as you can usually save $500-1000 per person off Celebrity rates by booking through Pied Piper as their gay group rates are generally excellent. In regard to onboard events etc, usually two or themed onboard cocktail parties with some free drinks, a daily get together pre-dinner, and some exclusive Pied Piper excursions. I remember on the transatlantic on Constellation they did a superb one to Blue Lagoon on our trip to Iceland. They also do a group picture which is nice. Most excursions are a pretty competitive price and solely for Pied Piper group members. They also have on onboard host to help iron out any problems onboard and coordinate the social events, some are really terrific, most are mediocre , so the onboard host can be hit or miss whether he'll be any benefit to you onboard. The one thing they really lack is communication. Its in your best interest to keep an eye on rates, because if they go down, odds are they will not inform you. If you have questions they are super slow to get back to you and most time better off finding the answer on your own. For example when we did the Pied Piper Australia rep in January 2012, two of my friends were have problems getting their Australian VISA's and Pied Piper offered no help or suggestions. This will give you an idea on communication, we traveled to Australia/New Zealand in January, finally received the group picture sometime during the summer Their intentions are good, but they are really stuck on only doing things the way they did them in the 80's Hope that helps. Edited January 19, 2013 by johhnnyt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcello77 Posted January 22, 2013 #6 Share Posted January 22, 2013 My very first cruise was through Pied Piper. We were on the Celebrity Summit in Alaska and it was a lot of fun. They did several group type activities including a photo scavenger hunt at one of the stops. There were 75+ in the group and we met lots of great people. Everything was really well organized too. Hey there Beach Monkey...You forgot to tell the about the not so newlywed game that was fun too remember! :eek::D:) I agree with beach monkey as this was also my first cruise and we had a blast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02143 Posted January 22, 2013 #7 Share Posted January 22, 2013 The one thing they really lack is communication. Its in your best interest to keep an eye on rates, because if they go down, odds are they will not inform you. If you have questions they are super slow to get back to you and most time better off finding the answer on your own. For example when we did the Pied Piper Australia rep in January 2012, two of my friends were have problems getting their Australian VISA's and Pied Piper offered no help or suggestions. This will give you an idea on communication, we traveled to Australia/New Zealand in January, finally received the group picture sometime during the summer That's interesting. It's been a while since I've sailed with them, but in my experience with several of the post-Thanksgiving cruises, the owner (Derek) was always very quick to respond to emails and questions. I'm sorry that wasn't your experience with the visa issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travler3824 Posted January 22, 2013 #8 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I had my first cruise with Pied Piper last year---Valparaiso to Buenos Aires. It was a wonderful cruise with some great people. I will be joining 2 of the people I met on that cruise for another one to Southeast Asia in March. In addition to Pied Piper hosting cocktail parties, recommending tours, arranging dinner tables etc. their rates are more reasonable than those you can get directly with Celebrity. I highly recommend them. Going on my first cruise with Pied Piper this March in SE Asia, departure March 3rd. Celebrity Millennium. It you too will be on that tour it would be nice to connect before. Feel free to drop me a note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johhnnyt Posted January 22, 2013 #9 Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) That's interesting. It's been a while since I've sailed with them, but in my experience with several of the post-Thanksgiving cruises, the owner (Derek) was always very quick to respond to emails and questions. I'm sorry that wasn't your experience with the visa issue. Yeah it's funny. I really want them to succeed, because I think they really fill a true need in the travel community for gay and lesbian community, and they are nice people, but they are frustrating to deal with. Plus they really get some great pricing or I wouldn't keep returning. Just yesterday a friend emailed me said he had emailed Pied Piper and cancelled a booking on Jan 8th and re-booked it to take advantage of the current 1-2-3 offer, as of the 16th, he hasn't received anything via email whether they made the changes or not. I know in my experience with them, I find it necessary to do any/all research myself, and then email the exact details and simply have them make the booking. I know the four guys that I travel with quite a bit share the same frustrations, at this point we've given up on asking questions, ,whether be it details on the cruise, changes in fares, air or ground transportation. I happily recommend them based on their pricing though, I've heard that the post Thanksgiving trip is a great get together also Edited January 22, 2013 by johhnnyt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denpetter Posted January 22, 2013 #10 Share Posted January 22, 2013 We've been on the post-Thanksgiving cruise and it was a lot of fun. Almost felt like an all Gay charter, with over 900 members in our group. We took over the nightclub at night and the pooldeck during the day. :D The majority of the group were slightly older than us (35-65 yrs) with a few exceptions but that was no problem...we enjoyed the attention from our fellow gentlemen.:p In fact we had so much fun, that we decided to book the same cruise and another one with Pied Piper for 2013. The best thing about booking with a gay group agency is that you can join in all the group events and excursions if you like and if not you can just step aside and chill out on your own or with that special someone. I've heard that the post-Thanksgiving cruise is the big event for Pied Piper and the other groups are much smaller in size and less party-going, but I will know more about that after our Greek Isles and Turkey cruise in july. Anyway, I highly recommend booking through Pied Piper. my experience is that fares are much lower than other TA's and the service has been spot on. Derek has always been very quick with replying to all my questions, and god forbid there has been many. Kudos for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Timber Posted January 22, 2013 #11 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Going on my first cruise with Pied Piper this March in SE Asia, departure March 3rd. Celebrity Millennium. It you too will be on that tour it would be nice to connect before. Feel free to drop me a note. Hi! Yes, I will be on that cruise. I am spending a couple of days in Singapore before boarding the ship. Pied Piper will probably have a cocktail party the first night so all of us sailing with them will have a chance to meet. For what it's worth, my communication with Derek has been exceptional as well. He has always gotten back to me promptly and has modified my bookings to take advantage of better deals which I have found by monitoring the prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travler3824 Posted January 22, 2013 #12 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Hi! Yes, I will be on that cruise. I am spending a couple of days in Singapore before boarding the ship. Pied Piper will probably have a cocktail party the first night so all of us sailing with them will have a chance to meet. For what it's worth, my communication with Derek has been exceptional as well. He has always gotten back to me promptly and has modified my bookings to take advantage of better deals which I have found by monitoring the prices. I'll get there on the first day of the cruise but am excited just the same. I'm a little anxious to get my boarding information and an idea of what Pied Piper has planned for us to do. I went ahead and booked some of the ship excursions; however, I might cancel some depending on when and what Pied Piper has for the group to do off ship. Have your received any boarding information, luggage tags etc. from them yet? Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Timber Posted January 23, 2013 #13 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I'll get there on the first day of the cruise but am excited just the same. I'm a little anxious to get my boarding information and an idea of what Pied Piper has planned for us to do. I went ahead and booked some of the ship excursions; however, I might cancel some depending on when and what Pied Piper has for the group to do off ship. Have your received any boarding information, luggage tags etc. from them yet? Keith Hi Keith: Derek (from Pied Piper) indicated that they would be sending out recommendations for excursions soon. Re: luggage tags, you need to go to your reservation on the Celebrity website, complete your booking information (if you haven't done so already) and then order your luggage tags directly from Celebrity. Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmonkey Posted January 23, 2013 #14 Share Posted January 23, 2013 (edited) Hey there Beach Monkey...You forgot to tell the about the not so newlywed game that was fun too remember! :eek::D:) I agree with beach monkey as this was also my first cruise and we had a blast! Mcello! Your post made my day! Traveling with you on the first cruise was so much fun. I hope you are doing well. You must be so excited for the upcoming Epic trip. Oh...Happy belated birthday! Edited January 23, 2013 by beachmonkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSUNole Posted January 23, 2013 #15 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Has anyone ever traveled with Pied Piper cruises before? We just came across them and they seem to have some interesting cruises we would be interested in taking. Would love to get some feedback about their org. We are specifically looking at the Iceland/Norway Fjords one in June and the Northern Europe on on Celebrity also in June. So if any of you are going on either of these cruises or have traveled with them before we WOULD LOVE any or all info you have on them!! Thanks!! My partner and I participated in the post thanksgiving cruise this past year. We very much enjoyed it and like the concept of a large gay group on a non-chartered cruise. Met lots of new friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSUNole Posted January 23, 2013 #16 Share Posted January 23, 2013 (edited) I also agree with Johnnyyt. If you are accustomed to super high level customer service from a travel agency, you likely won't get that same level of hand holding from PP. I found they responded to my email questions within a day or two (at most). I would certainly sail with them again and we will. Edited January 23, 2013 by FSUNole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSUNole Posted January 23, 2013 #17 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Going on my first cruise with Pied Piper this March in SE Asia, departure March 3rd. Celebrity Millennium. It you too will be on that tour it would be nice to connect before. Feel free to drop me a note. For the post Thanksgiving cruise, PP set up a yahoo group for fellow passengers to connect before the cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travler3824 Posted January 24, 2013 #18 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Hi Keith: Derek (from Pied Piper) indicated that they would be sending out recommendations for excursions soon. Re: luggage tags, you need to go to your reservation on the Celebrity website, complete your booking information (if you haven't done so already) and then order your luggage tags directly from Celebrity. Tom. Tom, thanks for the information. I went online today and completed the necessary information and ordered my luggage tags. So excited about this cruise that I booked another for April of 14 (Transpacific.) I'm out of control! Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Timber Posted January 24, 2013 #19 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Tom, thanks for the information. I went online today and completed the necessary information and ordered my luggage tags. So excited about this cruise that I booked another for April of 14 (Transpacific.) I'm out of control! Keith Keith: You are welcome. Glad my comments were helpful. I've looked at the April Transpacific cruise, but I'm doing a New Zealand/Australia one in January 2014 so probably won't do both. Anyway, see you at the Pied Piper cocktail party. Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petert102 Posted January 25, 2013 #20 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Has anyone ever traveled with Pied Piper cruises before? We just came across them and they seem to have some interesting cruises we would be interested in taking. Would love to get some feedback about their org. We are specifically looking at the Iceland/Norway Fjords one in June and the Northern Europe on on Celebrity also in June. So if any of you are going on either of these cruises or have traveled with them before we WOULD LOVE any or all info you have on them!! Thanks!! I have taken Pied Piper many times before, in fact, we are booked on the Oct 24 Celebrity Infinity Trans Atlantic Harwich to Miami. They are an excellent organization and I cannot praise them too much, even without the heavy discounts that they manage to organize through the cruise lines, they are definitely worth going with. They are a small organization are are not equipped for major hand holding, book your cruise through them and then proceed with getting baggage tags, etc through the cruise line web site just as you would normally. Do book with them, you will really like them Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobie Posted January 25, 2013 #21 Share Posted January 25, 2013 @Petert102: I'm also booked on the Oct. Transatlantic cruise with Pied Piper. I'm looking forward to the cruise and looking forward to meeting you onboard the Infinity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muliama Posted January 26, 2013 #22 Share Posted January 26, 2013 My husband and I had the first same sex "wedding" ceremony on Celebrity Century from Auckland to Sydney in January 2012. We were members of the Pied Piper group along with some 30 other guys. Pied Piper coordinated and organized the ceremony and the whole group were invited. It was the first same-sex ceremony ever on Celebrity, and I am sure the charming captain had a lot to tell his wife and kids when he returned home. It was a wonderful time, the officers and crew were fantastic and so supportive, and the group was great. We are booked on another two Pied Piper cruises - Mediterranean on 21 August and Queen Elizabeth Black Sea cruise in September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johhnnyt Posted January 26, 2013 #23 Share Posted January 26, 2013 My husband and I had the first same sex "wedding" ceremony on Celebrity Century from Auckland to Sydney in January 2012. We were members of the Pied Piper group along with some 30 other guys. Pied Piper coordinated and organized the ceremony and the whole group were invited. It was the first same-sex ceremony ever on Celebrity, and I am sure the charming captain had a lot to tell his wife and kids when he returned home. It was a wonderful time, the officers and crew were fantastic and so supportive, and the group was great. We are booked on another two Pied Piper cruises - Mediterranean on 21 August and Queen Elizabeth Black Sea cruise in September. I really thought it was beautiful to watch you and Donald exchange vows onboard. Really thought that both Celebity's event coordinator Matt and Pied Piper did do a great job. Could tell though the Captain was nervous at the start but really got into the feeling/fun of the ceremony the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaze32789 Posted January 26, 2013 #24 Share Posted January 26, 2013 My partner and I are going on our first PP cruise Nov 30 on Celebrity Reflection-Post Thanksgiving cruise. I have close friends that have been on 3 or 4 Pp cruises and have always really had a GREAT time. We are really looking forward to it! So far we have 12 friends that are going on it with us! :D:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petert102 Posted January 26, 2013 #25 Share Posted January 26, 2013 (edited) @Petert102: I'm also booked on the Oct. Transatlantic cruise with Pied Piper. I'm looking forward to the cruise and looking forward to meeting you onboard the Infinity. Great, we should have allot of fun, propping up the Martini Bar. I have opened a separate voyage specific Roll Call that you might like to sign onto. If you want to get to know Paul and I better beforehand, you can e-mail me at petert102@mac.com. We really love T/As We have another buddy who may or may not be joining us, he will commit at the end of April Hugz Peter Edited January 26, 2013 by Petert102 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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