Celebrity Constellation 4/09/2015 TransAtlantic

[Second Hand Lion]

We just booked the Eastbound Transatlantic crossing for April 9th, 2015 from Fort Lauderdale to Rome on the Celebrity Constellation. Give a shout if you're gonna be sailing that route / ship as well. :cool:

[voyager90265]

Greetings! My husband Edward and I will be sailing aboard "Connie" for the April 09 TA from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome. We are from San Diego and look forward to meeting everyone on board.

 

This will be Edward's first time aboard "Connie" whilst I have done two TA's and a Caribbean cruise with her. We cannot wait to be aboard one of one of my favorite ships in the Celebrity fleet and to experience all the new features since her facelift.

 

All the best. Mike

[Second Hand Lion]

Greetings! My husband Edward and I will be sailing aboard "Connie" for the April 09 TA from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome. We are from San Diego and look forward to meeting everyone on board.

 

This will be Edward's first time aboard "Connie" whilst I have done two TA's and a Caribbean cruise with her. We cannot wait to be aboard one of one of my favorite ships in the Celebrity fleet and to experience all the new features since her facelift.

 

All the best. Mike

 

See you then!:)

 

p.s. the anniversary is that of the RMS Titanic, a British passenger liner started her journey on 10 April 1912 and ended her journey in the early morning hours of 15 April 1912. I wonder if our crossing should have a theme? :rolleyes:

[voyager90265]

See you then!:)

 

p.s. the anniversary is that of the RMS Titanic, a British passenger liner started her journey on 10 April 1912 and ended her journey in the early morning hours of 15 April 1912. I wonder if our crossing should have a theme? :rolleyes:

 

Well I could go as the Unsinkable Molly Brown but that might cause a bit of a stir at the Martini Bar. Not to mention that the fussy neo-Victorian look does not really suit me. I am much more of an Edwardian. :D

[Second Hand Lion]

Well I could go as the Unsinkable Molly Brown but that might cause a bit of a stir at the Martini Bar. Not to mention that the fussy neo-Victorian look does not really suit me. I am much more of an Edwardian. :D

 

Thanks for seeing my suggestion of a theme as it was intended. I've been crucified on the regular roll call page as a boorish Neanderthal with very poor taste. :eek:

[voyager90265]

Thanks for seeing my suggestion of a theme as it was intended. I've been crucified on the regular roll call page as a boorish Neanderthal with very poor taste. :eek:

 

Oh good grief…are you kidding me? Does that person know that Fred Olsen has done Titanic themed voyages to the site of the sinking for Pete's sake?? Passengers literally dressed in period garb for the entire bloody cruise!!! I shall check out the post and see if the flame thrower needs to be brought out. :p

 

I did see your post about being along the intracoastal in Florida. A dear friend of mind from Wilton Manors will be also sailing with us and I am hoping some friends from Sarasota area are going to be going as well. We'll just get a good gaggle of gays to liven up the ship, not to worry!

[Second Hand Lion]

Sorry we will not be joining you all on the Connie. Have a great trip! :cool:

[voyager90265]

Sorry we will not be joining you all on the Connie. Have a great trip! :cool:

 

Sorry to hear that you won't be joining. All the best…M

[howndder]

Good morning everyone, even though I think it might just be Edward and Mike and me, of course. I have been booked for a couple of months now but have decided to venture in to this thread and what do I find, local folks jumping ship because it is when the Titanic sank. lol Too funny. But, we're still here, in this thread, I hope.

 

Howard in beautiful and sunny Fort Lauderdale.

[ConradMZ]

Assuming Celebrity properly applies the voucher credits we got while on board the Equinox a couple years ago, my partner and I will be joining you. The reservation is currently on hold, as the travel agency must send the vouchers to the Frankfurt RCCL office for the credits to be applied.

 

We are from Mainz, Germany (on the Rhine just west of Frankfurt), and will be taking the cruise as part of our homeward journey, continuing by rail from Civitavecchia to cross the Alps.

[voyager90265]

Good evening all... Well, final payment has been made so I guess we are going! It has been a few months since I last visited the thread so it's nice to see we have some more people joining. Hopefully we will get a good group on board. We will have 8 total in ours. My husband and I live in San Diego, friends from Boston, Sarasota, and Wilton Manners. We are trying to get a few more between now and April.

 

Only 75 more days!

[ConradMZ]

So what is our current LGBT census? The 8 mentioned in voyager's post plus howndder plus the two of us makes 11. Presumably there are more, though.

 

Interesting that some have made final payment. Booking in Germany, they tell me final payment is not due until one month before sailing, which is good, since it seems to take 3-4 weeks to process the Future Cruise Certificates we intend to apply. If the call center really does use the recordings of my calls for training purposes like they say on the pre-recorded announcement, the trainees are in for a course in surreal bureaucratic processes and examples of how NOT to run internal communications between departments and between RCCL and the travel agencies. My travel agent spoke to someone who said the certificates only applied to US-booked cruises (nothing like that sort of restriction is printed on the certificates, and it would be nice to know that in advance if it were true), and then I call in and get someone who says he can't understand why anyone would make such an absurd assertion and that of course the certificates are valid worldwide -- but getting my travel agent in touch with that person was not a logistically simple process, to say the least.

[ConradMZ]

Where are people staying before departure in FLL? We will be at the Alcazar the two nights immediately prior to boarding. Before that, in St. Petersburg and points further north. Perhaps some might want to meet for dinner or something while still on land?

[voyager90265]

So what is our current LGBT census? The 8 mentioned in voyager's post plus howndder plus the two of us makes 11. Presumably there are more, though.

 

Interesting that some have made final payment. Booking in Germany, they tell me final payment is not due until one month before sailing, which is good, since it seems to take 3-4 weeks to process the Future Cruise Certificates we intend to apply. If the call center really does use the recordings of my calls for training purposes like they say on the pre-recorded announcement, the trainees are in for a course in surreal bureaucratic processes and examples of how NOT to run internal communications between departments and between RCCL and the travel agencies. My travel agent spoke to someone who said the certificates only applied to US-booked cruises (nothing like that sort of restriction is printed on the certificates, and it would be nice to know that in advance if it were true), and then I call in and get someone who says he can't understand why anyone would make such an absurd assertion and that of course the certificates are valid worldwide -- but getting my travel agent in touch with that person was not a logistically simple process, to say the least.

 

Yeah...Not surprising. Payment dates are a floating target depending upon the region in which they are booked. As for the certificate, I truly believe they just make up the rules as they go along. Celebrity's shoreside service is, in a word, horrible. When dealing with them directly, one can pose the same question to a couple of the customer service reps and get completely different answers.

 

I made our reservation via my travel agent back in September. We wanted to get a particular cabin in which we had sailed in before. Just before our final payment was due, in January, Celebrity cancelled the reservation without notice as well as the entire booking group which my travel agent had created. When we tried to reconstruct the reservation they would not honor the original cabin selection and tried to bump us one category down stating that the cabin had been given away. They then demanded a new payment and said the credit back from the previous reservation may take up three weeks to post to my charge card. It took a week but we were able to secure our original cabin after some rather terse e-mails back and forth. It was blamed on a new employee who apparently has the authority to delete and entire group without approval from her superiors. I am going to be writing a very strong letter to the CEO's office.

 

In any event, we are paid up and looking forward to our journey. I do hope we have a nice big group onboard for this one. Our group met back in 2010 aboard Constellation, so it is a reunion of sorts for us.

 

My husband and I are flying in on an overnight flight from California arriving early in the morning on the 9th of April. We will probably just book a room at the airport for a few hours before heading to the ship.

 

Looking forward to meeting you in 66 days!!

[howndder]

Good morning Voyager90265 and ConradMZ, nice to see some more guys on this thread. Since I live in Fort Lauderdale I am amiable to meet ahead. Since Voyager is not going to be here early, it would be just about anyone else that cares. Keep me posted. However Voyager, I am interested in one other thing. Did we meet on the 2010 Connie?

 

Howard in sunny and just beautiful Fort Lauderdale

[voyager90265]

Good morning Voyager90265 and ConradMZ, nice to see some more guys on this thread. Since I live in Fort Lauderdale I am amiable to meet ahead. Since Voyager is not going to be here early, it would be just about anyone else that cares. Keep me posted. However Voyager, I am interested in one other thing. Did we meet on the 2010 Connie?

 

Howard in sunny and just beautiful Fort Lauderdale

 

Howard...Hmm...maybe. It was the eastbound crossing where we took Connie to Hamburg for her first round of Solsticizing. We had the issues with the Icelandic volcano and flight cancellations. There was a particularly big Friends of Dorothy contingent on that voyage and many of us have stayed in contact over the years.

 

Mike in "America's Finest City" San Diego.

[howndder]

Good morning Voyager, alas and alack I was not on that sailing. I was on a different crossing with Celebrity, that was affected by the Volcano. What a mess that was. When we landed at Funchal, there was a huge rush on the airline's offices there. Not nearly as bad as 9/11, but crazy. I will look forward to meeting you on board at the Martini Bar on the first night at say 7-ish? I am traveling with some very fun lady friends. I hope we'll be able to dine together some evening.

 

Howard in sunny, with some clouds, Fort Lauderdale

[voyager90265]

Good morning Voyager, alas and alack I was not on that sailing. I was on a different crossing with Celebrity, that was affected by the Volcano. What a mess that was. When we landed at Funchal, there was a huge rush on the airline's offices there. Not nearly as bad as 9/11, but crazy. I will look forward to meeting you on board at the Martini Bar on the first night at say 7-ish? I am traveling with some very fun lady friends. I hope we'll be able to dine together some evening.

 

Howard in sunny, with some clouds, Fort Lauderdale

 

Yeah sure! We will be there, Howard, for sure. Our friends Kevin and Kent are from Wilton Manners BTW. We have the late seating in the MDR.

 

That 2010 voyage was crazy. I was supposed to disembark early at Dover to get home for a business thing. Well, that went away as soon as the volcano hit. I took a chance and stayed onboard all the way to Hamburg, changed my flight to one going the afternoon we arrived.Luckily flights were returning and I got out.

[ConradMZ]

Being able to dine together some night would mean either choosing Celebrity Select dining, being assigned to the same table at the same seating, or visiting a specialty dining location (or the Lido Deck cafeteria)?

[howndder]

Hello and good morning all,

 

re dining together: I think we should try for a specialty restaurant, my favorite is the "Tuscan Grille". But then again, there is always the Martini Bar, where we can make a dinner on "Olives".

 

Howard in Dark and yet strangely beautiful Ft. Lauderdale

[voyager90265]

Hello and good morning all,

 

re dining together: I think we should try for a specialty restaurant, my favorite is the "Tuscan Grille". But then again, there is always the Martini Bar, where we can make a dinner on "Olives".

 

Howard in Dark and yet strangely beautiful Ft. Lauderdale

 

Indeed! We always make a point of hitting up Tuscan Grille at least once every voyage. Although, I have been known to subsist on the meager offerings at certain cocktail themed bars in my time. LOL!

[ptownandpompano]

hi folks, my partner Kevin and I are about to book this cruise. This will be our 3rd transatlantic . In November 2012 we sailed from Rome to Fort Lauderdale. In April 2014 we sailed from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton. We enjoy Celebrity, days at sea and getting to know other gay men traveling across the Atlantic.

We live just outside of Fort Lauderdale and travel often.

Richard

[voyager90265]

hi folks, my partner Kevin and I are about to book this cruise. This will be our 3rd transatlantic . In November 2012 we sailed from Rome to Fort Lauderdale. In April 2014 we sailed from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton. We enjoy Celebrity, days at sea and getting to know other gay men traveling across the Atlantic.

We live just outside of Fort Lauderdale and travel often.

Richard

 

Hi Richard....Great to know that you and Kevin will be onboard! Looks like we might have a good sized group for the voyage. I couldn't agree more, the transatlantic crossings are great fun. This will my 11th crossing, 8th on Celebrity, and my husband, Edward's, first. He finally gave in....they always do.

 

Constellation was my first ship with Celebrity and also the one where we had the roughest crossing. We had 35ft waves over the first couple of days at sea out of New York in route to La Harve.. I loved it, however that was a distinct and minority opinion amongst those onboard.

 

50 days to go Gents!

 

Michael

San Diego

[travel66]

Hi everyone!

 

Just booked this TA, traveling by myself. Looking forward to meet you all.

 

Rudolf

[howndder]

Good morning all, Welcome aboard Rudolph. Just a short note here. We were both on the Eclipse in November. I was part of a large group of CCers. Now I'm looking forward to another wonderful group of folks. I'm traveling with some friends, but let's meet up at the Martini bar at 7-730PM on the 9th.

 

Not too much longer now. My boyfriend and I will be leaving on a 1 week cruise on Holland America on Sunday for a jaunt around the Western Caribbean. See you soon.

 

Howard in beautiful warm and now just getting sunny, Fort Lauderdale