RSVP Feb 2016 on Nieuw Amsterdam

[Cruiser Bruiser]

snagged a bungalow in Half Moon Cay, and a leeward sailing trip in St Barts. Glad to see that HAL still allows us to have a bottle of gin and some tonic delivered to the room too.

 

I will walk by your bungalow and give you a nice, envious leer. :p As I'm sailing solo, I will settle for a clam shell instead, I think. I booked the two-dive snorkeling excursion in St. Thomas on the Castaway Girl. In 2012 the all-male crew stripped down to tuxedo Speedos and danced for tips--most fun excursion ever! And in St. Barts I hope to split a taxi over to St. Jean beach for lunch at La Plage and a bit of beach time afterwards. From what I read, St. Barts isn't very welcoming to large ships like NA. Musses the aura of the mega-yacht crowd, I guess.

[Boytjie]

I have organized a Cruise Critic meet-and-greet on the cruises I have been on but the number of people that participate here have been dwindling the last couple of years.

 

I am thinking of not having RSVP arrange with HAL for a meeting place and time for us. Since our first day is spent at Half Moon Cay that also means we could not arrange a meeting until the second day of the cruise.

 

Perhaps an informal get together will be OK - we set a date, time and place to have a drink and that's that. It could be either the day we board though that is hectic with muster drill, the sail-away party and off to dinner we go; or it could be at a bar on Half Moon Cay though people could be doing excursions or stay on the ship; or we can meet in the Silk Den on the first sea day, sometime before dinner.

 

What do you all think?

[Darrell6t]

I think your idea of no formal CC Meet & Greet is fine. It has been a very small number of people on this topic. And the cruises are always very busy anyway.

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Perhaps an informal get together will be OK - we set a date, time and place to have a drink and that's that. It could be either the day we board though that is hectic with muster drill, the sail-away party and off to dinner we go; or it could be at a bar on Half Moon Cay though people could be doing excursions or stay on the ship; or we can meet in the Silk Den on the first sea day, sometime before dinner.

 

What do you all think?

 

I'm up for either or both of the above. An HMC get-together sounds especially appealing.

[woodsman]

I am thinking of not having RSVP arrange with HAL for a meeting place and time for us. Since our first day is spent at Half Moon Cay that also means we could not arrange a meeting until the second day of the cruise.

 

What do you all think?

 

I think I'm also in favor of a not having an arranged either. Timing and activities this time around just don't lend itself to the meet and greet.

[Boytjie]

I think I'm also in favor of a not having an arranged either. Timing and activities this time around just don't lend itself to the meet and greet.

 

It never does! :) There is always something going on. Or people forget, or get distracted by bright shiny objects (or bulging speedos). :D

[Darrell6t]

Merry Christmas to everyone.

It isn't long until we meet in Ft. Lauderdale and beyond.

[Boytjie]

Merry Christmas to all!

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Merry Christmas to everyone.

It isn't long until we meet in Ft. Lauderdale and beyond.

 

Merry Christmas to all!

[ATTACH]371899[/ATTACH]

 

Christmas was lovely. Now it's a month of pre-cruise power dieting. :rolleyes:

 

Flying to FLL in 34 days! :D I'm meeting a new friend from my Iberian Peninsula cruise last October for drinks in Wilton Manors. After breakfast on Las Olas Boulevard the next morning, my travel buddy and I will be heading to Port Everglades to board Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

I'm super happy that the two weeks I'll be aboard NA have completely different itineraries. My first week visits Key West, Turks & Caicos, and the new Amber Cove port complex in Dominican Republic. (And HMC, of course.) And then St. Thomas and St. Barts on our RSVP cruise. It's an excellent mix.

 

I've never done a B2B, so I'm super excited. My cabins on both cruises are on the same deck. I'm assuming the cabin stewards shift the luggage? And I'm guessing I will have to get of the ship and get right back on? I've seen the folks with the "IN TRANSIT" stickers on previous cruises.

 

Where is everybody? The roll calls aren't what they used to be, I guess.

[Boytjie]

You should maybe have booked the regular cruise after the RSVP cruise to recuperate! :D

 

The stewards will help you move; stuff in drawers can stay - they will just switch drawers. They will bring a luggage cart to move cases and hanging clothes.

 

They will give you instructions on what to do on transit day; it used to be that you have to get off the ship but I think they can now zero the ship down with all transit passengers assembled in one location.

[Cruiser Bruiser]

You should maybe have booked the regular cruise after the RSVP cruise to recuperate! :D

 

The stewards will help you move; stuff in drawers can stay - they will just switch drawers. They will bring a luggage cart to move cases and hanging clothes.

 

They will give you instructions on what to do on transit day; it used to be that you have to get off the ship but I think they can now zero the ship down with all transit passengers assembled in one location.

 

Nice! Thanks for the information; it all sounds very Downton Abbey. I hope you're right and that I won't have to disembark. :)

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Thirty days to the Westin in FLL and a night in Wilton Manors. Gird your loins. Or not. :cool:

[Boytjie]

And the People's Choice for party theme is.... Purgatory!

[Darrell6t]

And the People's Choice for party theme is.... Purgatory!

 

What is that supposed to be about?

[Cruiser Bruiser]

What is that supposed to be about?

 

Here's the definition from Merriam Webster:

 

"Purgatory : a state after death according to Roman Catholic belief in which the souls of people who die are made pure through suffering before going to heaven

 

: a place or state of suffering"

[Boytjie]

What is that supposed to be about?

 

Randle described it like this: "On Friday, February 12, angels and demons meet face-to-face in the ultimate heaven vs. hell showdown on the dance floor!"

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Randle described it like this: "On Friday, February 12, angels and demons meet face-to-face in the ultimate heaven vs. hell showdown on the dance floor!"

 

That sounds more appealing. I wonder what the ratio of angels to devils will be?

[Darrell6t]

I'm not Catholic, and while I have heard of Purgatory before, it is not something I know about. And now I think this dance is something to avoid. Punishment just isn't my kink. But I do remember from a number of years ago the group on RSVP that dressed as angels and devils and had someone tied up to be punished during one of the t-dances. It was a great show. Or were they white angels and black angels?

[Cruiser Bruiser]

I'm not Catholic, and while I have heard of Purgatory before, it is not something I know about. And now I think this dance is something to avoid. Punishment just isn't my kink. But I do remember from a number of years ago the group on RSVP that dressed as angels and devils and had someone tied up to be punished during one of the t-dances. It was a great show. Or were they white angels and black angels?

 

Some of the dances push my boundaries a bit, too. (Like guys having sex in front of HAL bar servers at a leather dance). But that's the great thing about an RSVP cruise: you can participate as much or as little as you like. If something isn't my thing, I just head to the hot tubs and assume I'm going to meet a bunch of guys who aren't into the theme either. It's a win-win.

 

I hope my post with the dictionary definition wasn't annoying. I'm a librarian, so I always run to a reference book to answer a question. :o

 

Cheers.

[Boytjie]

I can't say I have ever seen people having sex at the parties though there has been some flashing and groping. Not saying it doesn't happen, but just that I haven't seen it.

 

But I have seen things happen in hot tubs - only on the MSC Divina on the nude deck during the day. I wasn't going to get into those tubs... except for the morning I woke up early enough to be the first one in (they drained them overnight) and watched the sun rise.

[Boytjie]

Oh, and while in the hot tub, watching the sun rise and drinking my coffee I was propositioned by two guys that obviously had not gotten any sleep. And one of them tried again as we were sailing into Miami at the end of the cruise. Yup, I was up early again. And he was still up.

 

Different strokes...

[Cruiser Bruiser]

I can't say I have ever seen people having sex at the parties though there has been some flashing and groping. Not saying it doesn't happen, but just that I haven't seen it.

 

But I have seen things happen in hot tubs - only on the MSC Divina on the nude deck during the day. I wasn't going to get into those tubs... except for the morning I woke up early enough to be the first one in (they drained them overnight) and watched the sun rise.

 

To be fair, I've only seen it once: on Nieuw Amsterdam and it involved one guy with his face planted close to where another guy might keep his wallet. I'm not normally a prude, and if we had been in a bar on land I wouldn't have cared in the least. But I just kept thinking about the bar servers and the stories they would be telling after work. ;)

 

At least hot tubs offer a little discretion. I take it that was on the RSVP charter? Otherwise I might be tempted to book MSC sometime soon.

[rojjodc]

To be fair, I've only seen it once: on Nieuw Amsterdam and it involved one guy with his face planted close to where another guy might keep his wallet. I'm not normally a prude, and if we had been in a bar on land I wouldn't have cared in the least. But I just kept thinking about the bar servers and the stories they would be telling after work. ;)

 

At least hot tubs offer a little discretion. I take it that was on the RSVP charter? Otherwise I might be tempted to book MSC sometime soon.

 

Well, I've heard of people getting kicked off of a regular cruise because they were having sex in the hot tub at night. So be careful about that. And since you are obviously an RSVP regular, you have seen the occassional notices and statements by RSVP to refrrain from having sex in public.

[Boytjie]

To be fair, I've only seen it once: on Nieuw Amsterdam and it involved one guy with his face planted close to where another guy might keep his wallet. I'm not normally a prude, and if we had been in a bar on land I wouldn't have cared in the least. But I just kept thinking about the bar servers and the stories they would be telling after work. ;)

 

At least hot tubs offer a little discretion. I take it that was on the RSVP charter? Otherwise I might be tempted to book MSC sometime soon.

 

It was on a RSVP cruise on the MSC Divina. I would not recommend MSC, even if that was a perk.

 

The crew see a lot of things during the week we are on board and they cope with it OK, I believe. It's one week of crazy during months of the same boring thing over and over again and it gives them something to talk about. Sometimes some of them get in on the act flirting and maybe even more; that seems to have been the case with Boozie Boozie, a very popular beverage waiter, on the Alaska cruise as he was put off the ship mid cruise.

[Ugly Bear]

I am here to address the burning issues plaguing this thread.

 

"At the Purgatory party, how many angels to how many devils?"

 

With theological numeric mysticism as a guide, there will be 700 angels to 666 devils.

 

Don't worry about punishment and suffering; those are for the Bound party earlier that week.

 

"Public sex in public places?? Surely not!"

 

It happens. I did see some on each of my two previous RSVP's, in the clothing-optional areas. Those incidents did not immediately descend into an all-out conflagration of lust; they just got eye-rolls from other guys present. My advice: don't do it -- party because you might get nabbed, confined to quarters and banned from RSVP, but mainly because it's tacky. Don't be That Guy. The phrase is "get a room," and, by definition, everyone has one.

 

"Guys are up early, up for it, and never go to bed."

 

Yes, Heisenberg is an honorary guest on each cruise. There's a useful quote from the gay cruise episode of Rick & Steve: "There'll be time for sleep in rehab!"