olivia cruises on Holland Westerdam

[campngrl]

Is anyone going on the Caribbean Escape offered by Olivia? Its suposed to be chartered by them and all 1800 guests will be women according to them. It sails 3/25/07 to 4/1/07. I am curious if anyone has been on an Olivia cruise and how it was. We are thinking of booking but wanted to hear from someone who has been on one.

[drmusic]

My partner and I are going on the Caribbean Escape cruise. We went on the Olivia Grand Caribbean cruise last April and had such a wonderful time, we signed up for the Caribbean Escape while on the other cruise. It is difficult to explain the feeling of an Olivia cruise - you just have to experience it. We've done an Celebrity cruise before and we enjoyed ourselves, but felt constrained and restrained. The Olivia motto is "Feel Free" and with a ship of 1800 lesbians, you certainly do. Nobody takes a second look if you are holding your partner's hand, or steal a kiss while walking on deck, or dancing together.

They just announced the special entertainer this week....Melissa Etheridge! If you plan on taking this cruise, you might want to make your reservations right away, because it might sell out!

I suggest you go to the Olivia website and join the message board. We are already discussing the Caribbean Escape cruise!

[campngrl]

Thanks for replying. We read Melissa will be on board yesterday so we will have to book now. Did you go to Half Moon Cay on your last trip with them? Was the island chartered only by Olivia for the day or were other ships ported there as well. My partner and I went to Alaska in June with Roayal Caribbean to celebrate our 15 year anniversary and we had a great time but I am sure being amongst 1800 women and being able to be who we are will be a great adventure. Was the staff on board the ship they chartered gay friendly? Thanks for your advice. Also did you do any excursions while on board?

[drmusic]

Olivia brings their own entertainment, and cruise staff. The Cruise Director works for Olivia. The cruise line staff, waiters and room stewards and all, work for Holland America but they go through a training, and are friendly. They are given a choice to work on that particular cruise, or take a week off. I've heard it said that the HAL staff loves it when Olivia passengers come onboard because we are so much friendlier and easier to work for.

Half Moon Cay is HALs private island. Usually only one ship docks there for a day, but I have read on the HAL cruise critic board that now they are having two or more ships for a day. I think (and hope) that when Olivia is there, we are the only ship there. We rented a clam shell and snorkeled from the beach, and in the afternoon, took an excursion in the lagoon which was very interesting.

The Grand Caribbean cruise went to Grand Turk, where we did a snorkeling excursion, then on to San Juan where we went on the excursion to the rain forest. We got to see a lot of Puerto Rico on that one and enjoyed it very much. On St Maarten, we took an excursion to the French side of the island, and went on a boat that had a glassed in area beneath the surface, so we could get a good view of the reef.

We booked our excursions through the HAL website about 30 days out, when Olivia tells us it is open to book the excursions. We do our research and decide what we want to do before hand.

Hope that helps.

[etoile]

Full-ship charters are indeed a dream come true.

[cruising-PA]

Me too I would love to know.

I have been on 3 cruises and loved them all but never been on a Queer cruise. Olivia is somewhat more expensive and I too would like to know if people think it's worth it.

PA

[drmusic]

Yes, it's worth it. My partner and I enjoyed our cruise so much, we signed up for another while on the cruise. There are many who have been on numerous Olivia cruises and land vacations. As I suggested before, go over to the Olivia website, go to the community forum and ask your questions there. You'll get a lot more answers.

[cruising-PA]

do you have to book before you have access to community forums. I have tried and can't find them...

PA

[drmusic]

No, you don't have to book. When you go to the website, look for "connect" at the top where the menu goes across the page - it is at the far right, click on that, then you will see listed under "fun links" community forum. then you have to click on "enter the forum". You can read all you want, but to post, you wil have to join.

You might also want to check out the link for "host a house party" where you can download and watch one of the Olivia videos to see some of the things that go on during the cruise.