****ROLL CALL**** msWesterdam OCT 29-NOV 6-BEAR CRUISE!!!

[davebear]

Hey Guys,

I've looked through several pages and didn't find a roll call for this sailing so I thought I'd put one out there.

My partner (Ferenc) and I are sailing with Chumley's Bear Cruises on this one and it looks like a lot of fun. I have read a lot from people who've done these and they really like them.

I'm David and we both live in Austin, Texas. We've been on 4 cruises so far and have never done any kind of gay organized group so this should be fun.

Say hello!

David

[LoveTheDeepBlue]

Is this a chartered cruise with only bears? Or will it be a bear group going on a regularly scheduled sailing?

[davebear]

This is a large group that is sailing on a regularly scheduled trip. We have always been a little leary about taking an all gay cruise for fear that it was going to be nothing but a circuit party for 7 days and we've also had reservations about going with a gay group on a regular sailing for fear of the "clash" potential. But, that being said, we've talked to so many people who have done this cruise and have nothing but the highest regards for Chumley so we decided to go with that and check it out!

Just a little about us.

My compadre and I live in Austin, Texas. We're both in our 40's. I'm a big hairy bear and he's a muscular hairy bear. It works for us. LOL! We both work in the two big industries here, He for Freescale and I'm in the Higher Education field. We've been together 9 years and both have a passion for travel! We've been fortunate enough to hop all over the globe about 4 times and then discovered cruising! This will be our 5th.

[LoveTheDeepBlue]

Cool. I have no interest in booking a gay cruise because I dont want to be taken advantage of price wise. I still dont know why gay cruises cost more. Somebody is making a huge profit on that gig.

 

A bear cruise has my interest though, just not sure how a large group of bears would fit into a mainstream cruise. Can you take pictures? That ought to be a riot. Let me know how it works out, I might look into it sometime.

[davebear]

Yeah, it sounds like we've got some of the same concerns. This price was actually not expensive at all. You should Google Chumley's Bear Cruises and you'll find some pictures from other people's websites that they took from previous trips. These guys look a lot like us. LOL!!

[crystal808]

I've got a deposit down on the Westerdam too, but through a CC group. Ought to be "very interesting"!!! :D

 

Paul ;)

[davebear]

Hey Paul,

This should be a very interesting cruise no matter how anyone gets booked! I'm pretty anxious about it. I've never booked through CC, only travel agents before.

[crystal808]

Yep, Dave...the ports are great, and the ship should be, too! Sounds like all-around fun to me! :D

 

Paul

[davebear]

I am excited about the ports, we've only been to one of these so we're excited about the others, and the ship looks beautiful! I know it will be a fun crowd going. I've even posted some pics on the boards of us. It will great to get to know people before we actually sail. We've always done that before and have had the best of luck with meeting a bunch of sailers from the other boards.

[davebear]

That's funny, I just re-read my last post and it appeared as if to say a bunch of "sailers", like the men, but I meant people who sail with us.....darn it! LOL

[JonV]

DaveBear,

 

At first I thought you were were talking about the Lazy Bear group joining RSVP for Out To Sea. I'm booked on that and it is Oct 28th - Nov 4 on the Diamond Princess out of LA.

http://hometown.aol.com/lazybearweekend/LBOTS.html

It is my first gay cruise and I'm going with hordes of bears from the SF Bay Area. Yours sounds good too and you will probably have a great time. This is my first gay cruise but 12th cruise.

[davebear]

Hey JonV,

Sounds like we've got this whole "East coast vs. West coast" thing going on here. LOL!! I'm in Texas so I'm neutral. :) This will be our 5th cruise, but 1st with a gay group. Like I've said before, it just looks like a lots of fun, people who've been on this cruise before have said good things about it. Check out http://www.bear411.com and do a search for Chumley's Bear Cruise under the events and it will bring up a couple of pages of who's booked on this one. Too bad it's the same time as the Lazy Bear cruise. That one sounds like fun too.

[Ziggy7]

Hi davebear,

 

I'm the group leader for the other group that will be onboard the Westerdam :)

 

Is your group a group cruise booked thru one TA or is everyone just booking on their own ??? Are you getting group rates ??? I thought maybe we could share information and get the best prices :)

 

If you prefer, you can email me thru the link below :)

 

Thanks!

[davebear]

Hey Ziggy,

Nice to meet you. I'm not the leader, Chumley is. He's planned a few cruises before and this will be our first with him. We've sailed 4 times before and we always get to talking with everyone from Cruise Critic and before we know it, we've got a big group of fun twisted people who love to have a good time and have made some of the most memorial trips of our lives.

Chumley's bear cruises is the site to get in touch with him. He siad he didn't even know about this site so I guess I can be the very-un-official Cruise Critic leader here. LOL!!!! Either way, we're excited and looking forward to meeting everyone and having a great time!

hugs,

Davebear

p.s. as far as the ta we booked through, I believe it's they're own ta. Prices were good.

[Mr. Boston]

My friend Rob from Irvine, CA and I are also booked on this cruise through the Cruise Critic Hal-O-Ween Dam group cruise. I have only been on one cruise before (RSVP on the Westerdam last February). She is a beautiful ship and the crew couldn't have been nicer to us.

 

Rob is a dear friend of mine who used to live here in Boston. We don't get to see each other very often so we decided on this cruise. When I told him about your group being on this cruise he became very excited as he is the bear type.

 

It will be nice to meet up with you fellows in October. I believe that we may even be staying at the same pre-cruise establishment which was a total coincidence!

 

Happy Sailing.

[crystal808]

Glad you & your friend Rob will be on the Westerdam. This seems like it's gonna be fun!

 

Here's the link to the CC Roll Call in case you want to check it out (if you haven't already):

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=240

 

Looking forward to meeting the CC'ers and the Chumley's guys, too!

 

Paul

 

There's something about guys in uniforms, and furry guys "not"! :D

[melaniepeg]

Our Dignity Cruise group will be on the Westerdam 10/29/06 cruise for our 30th group cruise. We are calling this cruise the Halloween Fantasy cruise. We expect to have around 18 transgendered persons and 12+ wives/partners. Most of the transgendered persons in the group will be crossdressed most of the cruise. Hope to meet many of you.

 

Mel aka Melanie

[Mr. Boston]

Thanks Paul. I think we have booked the cabin next to yours if I read through the threads correctly on the CC Hal-O-Ween site!

[crystal808]

Then it's Phil & Rob! ;) Great! Gonna be hard not to bump into each other!

 

And, welcome, Mel/Melanie! I hope your group has a wonderful time!

 

Hallowe'en should be real interesting this year! :D

 

Paul

[davebear]

From reading all the posts and talking to other people, this looks as if it's going to turn into a very interesting (and I'm sure-fun) cruise! Anyone bringing special Halloween costumes? It's never to early to start I guess. :)

[thulewx]

Those of us on the other group page are planning a wide variety of costumes, supposedly in a nautical theme. Did Carmen Miranda ever do a nautical movie?:p

This is really going to be a cruise to remember!!! :D

[bepsf]

WOW!

 

A Bear/Transgender/CruiseCritic/Halloween Cruise!

 

This is gonna be one INTERESTING week!

;)

 

Anyone want to share an SS on Navigation Deck with me?

:D

[crystal808]

I was wondering when you'd check into this thread!! :D

 

Interesting, indeed! ;)

 

Paul

has his own Navigation aft VA

[thulewx]

Is it just me and the long distances to connect, or is the HollandAmerica.com website really screwing up lately?:confused:

[marzke]

In what can only be described as a miracle, my partner and I have actually booked a cruise in advance! We're bringing some families and friends: so you can add our group to the mix of groups.

 

Our last Halloween group costume was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves - this year's will fit in with the CruiseCritic's Naughti-cal theme (although I'm not really sure we all want to see my father in a skimpy costume.)