Lesbian Couples who love cruising

[xProfessor MA]

we are talking and researching another repositining cruse...possibly panama canal with and alaskan tagged on to the end. we did alaska September 14th fo 2001....took two days to get from the east coast to seattle, flying over the smoking pit of the twin towers was awe inspiring...the cruise was amazing, and we are looking forard to going back.our hope is our two kids (not really children daughter 30 and son 28) may be able to join us for the Alaskan portion...both currently live on the West coast....we've looked at the olivia cruises as well, but they are so expensive, and honestly, I'm not sure I want to be trapped on a ship with 2000 lesbians...personally, I'm big on diversity. On all of our crusies and other travels we mannage to meet, and have made long term friendships with gay folks.

 

we (our traveling companions) and my partner and I won a trip two years ago...12 days all expense paid including limo's to the airport plus $3000 in spending money to Ireland...was a terrific trip, and we know we travel well together...this will be their first cruise...perhaps we will meet in the real world on some future adventure.

[Texas_Diver]

Texas_Divers: Annette 43 Phys. Ed. Teacher, Donna 38 Registered nurse live in Austin

 

funlady: Carra 61 retired teacher,Vicki post office 54 live in San Antonio

 

shan9700: Shannon 37 airline customer service supervisor, Missy 40 blood moblie supervisor live in Indiana

 

Sunnyshine: 27 & 22, Sarah and Savanna

 

mithryl: 54 & 55

 

cruisinJ&C: both 45

 

BlondyX: Juli (paralegal) and Marianne(paramedic) both 43, Phoenix and Toronto

 

etoile: Meredith (26, sign language interpreter) and Anne (38, IT specialist)

 

Pussycat: Phyl & Julie 64 & 68 yrs young, Retired servants to pussy Chloe.

Living in Ontario, Canada 40 yrs together!!!!!

 

Bubski: Bub 54, wife 59 live in British Columbia, Canada

 

RVMamas: Winnie, 57, retired Army Supply Sergeant (92Y E7), and Connie, 57, retired civil service, based out of Broken Arrow (Tulsa), OK, but living where ever the motor home is parked (at a lovely Parish Lake in Ruston, LA this week).

 

paddy Anne: Paddy Anne & Mary 43 & 48, Toronto Ontario

 

mlleach: ML 57 and Andrea 54, Gainesville Fl. One Gator and one Hurricane.

 

derlas: 48 and partner 39

 

KL&KR: Kathy, 62, retired, "disabled"; Kristen, 57, librarian. 4 cats and 25 yrs together in Northern California.

 

postalgrrl: Stacie (43), Jennifer (38). We have been together 11 years and we both work for the post office. Jennifer is a mail carrier and I am a clerk.

 

Jen & Kim: Jen 33 and Kim 39 live in Austin

 

jroth31: Jennifer 35, Marketing for Credit Union and Melinda, 44, Project manager/Certified Fabricator for remodeling company. Roseburg, Oregon

 

Professor MA: professor 57, lawyer 55 live in western mass, grown children 28 and 31, together 25+ years, married yea MA

 

waunabcruizin: Carol 65 Retired IT and Linda 59 Nurse from Gig Harbor, WA. We have been together for 20 years so far with many more to come, we hope.

[OCLadies]

Hi Ladies ! I've been lurking on this thread for several months and not sure why I haven't said "hi" before now (never been the shy type), but here I am.....Hi all. I'm Diane (57 & Insurance Agency owner/agent) and my DW Lori (47 & Recovery Rm. RN). We've been together 5 short years and LOVE to Cruise!! We both have that dreaded disease FEAR OF FLYING which hampers us somewhat, but this year we're throwing caution to the wind and jetting off to Texas where we'll motor down to Galveston for a 7 day Western Carribean cruise leaving August 19. Our usual MO is to cruise closer to home and living in So. Cal. (Orange County) we've seen a lot of Mexico. lol Not that we love Mexico, but we can take 3 or 4 or 8 day cruise's and for us it's not about the destination but the trip there and back. We prefer NCL as we LOVE their Freestyle Dining and they are very G/L friendly, but we've also cruised Royal Carribean, Princess & Carnival. I spoiled my DW on our last NCL cruise and booked us into a Penthouse Suite w/Butler. If you ever have the opportunity to do this...DO IT!! OMG!! The "perks" are so worth it!! However, my DW has now become a "cruise snob", lol, and her first words when I mention a cruise is...."butler??" lol Happy Sailing to all.....

[shan9700]

OCLadies,

 

Well welcome to the thread. Good luck on your W. Carribean cruise I know you'll be fine flying. We have never cruised to outta the west coast and have been wanting to some day. I do love the W. and Eastern Carribean the water is so clear and beautiful.

 

I bet the penthouse suite has great perks. Lord keep your Dw away from mine or the next time we cruise I'll be in the poor house;) . You'll have to lets us all know how your flights and cruise were.

 

shan9700:)

[Texas_Diver]

Welcome to the thread. Glad you stopped lurking. LOL :D I will get you added to the roll call. What ship will you be sailing out of Galveston?

 

We leave on the Rhapsody of the Seas in 4 days!!!!!:D :D :D :D

 

Annette

[Texas_Diver]

Texas_Divers: Annette 43 Phys. Ed. Teacher, Donna 38 Registered nurse live in Austin

 

funlady: Carra 61 retired teacher,Vicki post office 54 live in San Antonio

 

shan9700: Shannon 37 airline customer service supervisor, Missy 40 blood moblie supervisor live in Indiana

 

Sunnyshine: 27 & 22, Sarah and Savanna

 

mithryl: 54 & 55

 

cruisinJ&C: both 45

 

BlondyX: Juli (paralegal) and Marianne(paramedic) both 43, Phoenix and Toronto

 

etoile: Meredith (26, sign language interpreter) and Anne (38, IT specialist)

 

Pussycat: Phyl & Julie 64 & 68 yrs young, Retired servants to pussy Chloe.

Living in Ontario, Canada 40 yrs together!!!!!

 

Bubski: Bub 54, wife 59 live in British Columbia, Canada

 

RVMamas: Winnie, 57, retired Army Supply Sergeant (92Y E7), and Connie, 57, retired civil service, based out of Broken Arrow (Tulsa), OK, but living where ever the motor home is parked (at a lovely Parish Lake in Ruston, LA this week).

 

paddy Anne: Paddy Anne & Mary 43 & 48, Toronto Ontario

 

mlleach: ML 57 and Andrea 54, Gainesville Fl. One Gator and one Hurricane.

 

derlas: 48 and partner 39

 

KL&KR: Kathy, 62, retired, "disabled"; Kristen, 57, librarian. 4 cats and 25 yrs together in Northern California.

 

postalgrrl: Stacie (43), Jennifer (38). We have been together 11 years and we both work for the post office. Jennifer is a mail carrier and I am a clerk.

 

Jen & Kim: Jen 33 and Kim 39 live in Austin

 

jroth31: Jennifer 35, Marketing for Credit Union and Melinda, 44, Project manager/Certified Fabricator for remodeling company. Roseburg, Oregon

 

Professor MA: professor 57, lawyer 55 live in western mass, grown children 28 and 31, together 25+ years, married yea MA

 

waunabcruizin: Carol 65 Retired IT and Linda 59 Nurse from Gig Harbor, WA. We have been together for 20 years so far with many more to come, we hope.

 

OCLadies: I'm Diane (57 & Insurance Agency owner/agent) and my DW Lori (47 & Recovery Rm. RN). We've been together 5 short years and LOVE to Cruise!!

[OCLadies]

Thanks for the warm welcome! We'll be on the Carnival Conquest. Let us hear all about your trip on the Rhapsody and which excursions you're doing.

[OCLadies]

Does anyone know of any Hotel in Galveston which would provide pick-up at the Airport in Houson??? I'm not finding any such animal which means we'll need a limo to/from. Also, any suggestions on which Hotel by the Port?? We'll come in a day or two prior to leaving. Thanks!

[BrickCityMedic]

Hello Ladies!! I've posted here a few times but it was quite a while ago...it's great to see this thread still going! My name is Jay (35, Paramedic) and my partner is T (32, Respiratory Therapist) and we've become totally addicted to cruising! We cruised out of Galveston in 10/05...I remember having a hard time finding a place to stay the night before down there...so we ended up staying at the Marriott at Houston Hobby and renting a car from Enterprise to drive to Galveston. What was great about that was that we got to explore a little of Houston...and then we were able to drop the car off at the port where Enterprise picked it up...we didn't have to return it to the airport. It worked out pretty well. We will be on our honeymoon 8/25/07 on Adventure of the Seas....will anyone from here be on that cruise? Have a great day!!

[mithryl]

Carol & Linda,

 

I've been checking into the 10/15/07 Celebrity cruise out of Seattle om the Mercury. It looks really fun. I think we will most likely be booking it within the next week. This will be our first experience on Celebrity. Would you mind sharing your thoughts about experiences with them? We'll be booking a CC Class (same as you), but we have some friends who may come along if they book insides.

The information I've found indicates 1 formal night, 1 dressy (that's not the word they use) and 2 casual nights on a 4 night cruise. We don't mind dressing up (we kinda enjoy it at times), but what is your experience of their formal nights (I usually like to wear dressy pants and a jacket, but I can do a dress if required).

Looking forward to hearing from you.

[waunabcruizin]

Mithryl - Terrific!! That will be most enjoyable! Celebrity considers itself somewhat upscale :rolleyes: and we did find that formal night was rather dressy. Most men wore tuxes while the ladies wore everything from dressy pants and tops to gowns, with more dressy pants/tops than gowns. Other than formal night the attire seemed to be what you would wear to a nice restaurant.

 

We found the service on Celebrity to be absolutely impeccable. The food is/was Continental and I personally found Princess' menus more to my taste. The Mercury has/had a bartender named Brani who manned the martini bar. All I can say is I've been dreaming about his martinis since last year and hope he is still aboard the Mercury. Wow.

 

Just fyi, you can book yourself on Mercury's website....Celebrity does not discount for travel agent bookings. What you find on their website is what the travel agents also charge. If you look at the deck plans and find a cabin you want, it's possible to plug that cabin number into the screen and the system will tell you if it's available or not.

 

We are booked for late dining. We found early dining just too darned early for us. We ended up missing sailaway every time because we had to bail and go get ready for dinner. We enjoy late dining better....it gives us time to enjoy sailaway, get dressed and have a before dinner drink without rushing.

 

We're thrilled you guys are considering this cruise. Would you and your friends be interested in sharing a dinner table?

 

Oh, btw, X doesn't do anytime dining. They have traditional dining only - or informal buffet dining if you don't want to go to the dining room.

 

Let us know when you book. And if you're interested in being seated at a table all together we can link reservation numbers for dining room assignment. This is cool.

 

Anybody else out there want to join us and make this a mini (cheap) Olivia cruise :D :D ??

 

Carol and Linda.

[waunabcruizin]

Mithryl -

Oh, yeah, I forgot....the Mercury has a sushi bar in the evenings and they have a waffle bar in the morning with waffles to absolutely die for. Best I've ever had anywhere. Hmmmm, now that I'm remembering, I'm really looking forward to this cruise.

 

There is a roll call started with only a few posters so far. The fellow who started it is PaintedDuck who sailed with us on the Mercury last year. He's an Oregon Duck and a very nice guy with a lovely wife. Don't know if there will be a roll call gtg or not.

 

Carol.

[mithryl]

Hi Carol,

 

I've put a 48 hour hold on a CC Class cabin and I have some friends that are very interested as well. We prefer early dining (we're used to eating pretty early), but right now that is wait list only, so we'll have to see if we're able to get it or not. If not, we'd love to figure out how to join your table. Do you know, with the only sea day being the last day, which night would be formal? Most lines don't have the 1st or last nights as formals, but I'm not seeing much of a choice for this cruise.

I'll let you know once we've confirmed our booking. Tenatively I've booked 1027 on penthouse deck, port side by the forward elevators.

If we finalize the reservation, it will be our first time doing more than one cruise in the same year! Yeah!

I think we're moving in the right direction! We've always said we'd like to do at least two a year and it's never happened before.

Thanks for the nudge!

Vicki & Bonnie

[xProfessor MA]

If anyone else is looking for a "nudge", there are four of us traveling to Barcelona to board the October 20th TransAtlantic on the NCL Jewel. We're hooked on the Freestyle casual dining, there are ten resturants on board, you can eat where you want, when you want and with whom you whant...this is be our fourth of fifth cruise with NCL. This is a fifteen day cruise final destination Miami....we are flying out of Boston and the entire trip with a minisuite, including airfare is about 6k for both of us....if you can find the time, these repositioning cruises cost often a bit less than a standard 7 day....there are always "friends of dorothy" meetings onboard, and we've met many gay crew members....worth looking into.

[mlleach]

If anyone else is looking for a "nudge", there are four of us traveling to Barcelona to board the October 20th TransAtlantic on the NCL Jewel. We're hooked on the Freestyle casual dining, there are ten resturants on board, you can eat where you want, when you want and with whom you whant...this is be our fourth of fifth cruise with NCL. This is a fifteen day cruise final destination Miami....we are flying out of Boston and the entire trip with a minisuite, including airfare is about 6k for both of us....if you can find the time, these repositioning cruises cost often a bit less than a standard 7 day....there are always "friends of dorothy" meetings onboard, and we've met many gay crew members....worth looking into.

 

In case you can't go in October, join us on RCCL Navigator of the Seas for 13 nights 11/5/07 from Southampton to Ft Lauderdale.. Balcony aft with air from Florida under $4K for 2. Crown and Anchor members get 2 cruise credits for 12+ nights. Worth considering.

ML

[waunabcruizin]

Gee, these transatlantic cruises sound wonderful. Unfortunately Linda and I can't do a long cruise this year. We have committed to too many other events, including getting married this fall, to fit in a cruise longer than 4 or 5 days - hence the 4-niter here in the PNW in October.

 

We don't know what we will do in 2008, but it will probably be a short something as we want to do the transpacific 31-niter on Dawn Princess in April 2009. Sydney Australia; Fjordland National Park, NZ; Dunedin NZ; Christchurch NZ; Wellington NZ; Auckland NZ; Suva Fiji; Pago Pago American Samoa; Rarotonga Cook Islands; Moorea French Polynesia; Papeete Tahiti; Bora Bora French Polynesia; Christmas Island Kiribati, Maui, Hawaii; Honolulu, Hawaii; San Francisco, CA. This cruise is supposed to be available for booking sometime after 6/7 and we have our TA poised to transfer our April 2008 booking on Sun Princess that got cancelled by Princess (same itinerary) to April 2009 on Dawn Princess.

 

Since Linda is still working, coming up with that many vacation days is a real challenge. So 2008 may be skimpy for time off.

 

Anybody else interested in joining us on Dawn Princess April 2009 for a once-in-a-lifetime South Pacific cruise? Can't book it yet, but look for it after June 7. Something really exotic to look forward to.

 

Hope you who have upcoming cruises have a fabulous time. And have a great summer to boot. Fair winds and smooth seas to all.

 

Carol and Linda.

[waunabcruizin]

Mithryl - Good for you - we hope you go ahead and confirm. Our cabin is CC 1000 all the way forward on starboard side on same deck - Penthouse. We try to book forwardmost balcony so we don't have to deal with cigarette smoke as Linda is very allergic to it.

 

Formal night will be on Tuesday, semi-formal (whatever that means) on Wednesday and casual on Monday and Thursday.

 

If you can't get your preferred early seating, we'll try to fortify you with hors d'oeuvres and drinks (not necessarily alcoholic, unless you do indulge ;) ) to keep starvation at bay until dinnertime.:D We normally eat early as well but we find aboard ship that we would rather eat later so we don't miss sailaway and we have an excuse for drinks before dinner (which we normally don't do at home) :D .

 

We're looking forward to meeting you guys and hope you are able to confirm your booking and sail on this fun little cruise. It's a nice ship with a nice crew and pretty scenery (if the weather's decent, of course).

 

Talk later -

Carol and Linda

[mlleach]

31 nights sounds wonderful. Unfortunately we are not retired, yet.

ML

[xProfessor MA]

the 31 night sounds great....perhaps we can make it happen, have to get an advance look at my teaching schedule....I generally teach all three semesters, but have the month of May and August off....my partner loves to plan ahead as it allows her to block off time, she's already scheduleing court appearances for the middle of 2008....nothing like the guarntee of a speedy trial.....what are the actual datea?

 

any estimates on cost yet?

[waunabcruizin]

Professor MA - We have no official information on the SYD-SFO in April '09 yet. Our TA says Princess will release the '09 cruise information in mid-June, but I'm not holding my breath. As soon as I know anything official (or even semi-official) I'll post here. This should be a fabulous cruise. We cruised on Dawn Princess to Mexico for 11 days in January and thought the food good, the service good and the itinerary good. In fact we had a great time. And the South Pacific.....well, for me, that's the stuff of dreams.

 

mlleach - Yeah, work gets in the way, doesn't it? Linda's not retired yet either, but she can 'bank' vacation days which roll over to the following year. So in order to take this cruise she'll bank all of her vacation days for '08 and combine them with her '09 vacation --- and anything short of what she needs she'll take without pay. We want to do this particular cruise very badly.....and do it before I'm too old (I'm 65!!, who can believe it?) to go snorkeling, hiking, exploring through the South Pacific. So, life is getting shorter for me and we're going to do it sooner rather than later, regardless.

 

Have a good week, everyone.

 

Carol (and Linda).

[paddy Anne]

Professor MA - We have no official information on the SYD-SFO in April '09 yet. Our TA says Princess will release the '09 cruise information in mid-June, but I'm not holding my breath. As soon as I know anything official (or even semi-official) I'll post here.

 

PLease do. I want to book the Emerald Princess for Jan. 09. I called Princess last month and they said the brochure would be out by June. I called again last week and was told December. The Princess agent thought I was crazy and acted like I was annoying her. I really want the back of the boat so if you hear anything please post, as will I.

cheers,

Paddy Anne

[mlleach]

 

mlleach - Yeah, work gets in the way, doesn't it? Linda's not retired yet either, but she can 'bank' vacation days which roll over to the following year. So in order to take this cruise she'll bank all of her vacation days for '08 and combine them with her '09 vacation --- and anything short of what she needs she'll take without pay. We want to do this particular cruise very badly.....and do it before I'm too old (I'm 65!!, who can believe it?) to go snorkeling, hiking, exploring through the South Pacific. So, life is getting shorter for me and we're going to do it sooner rather than later, regardless.

 

Have a good week, everyone.

 

Carol (and Linda).

 

We could do the same but like the periodic breaks. Maybe we will catch you on another cruise.

ML

[waunabcruizin]

Mithryl - So, did you confirm??

 

Carol (and Linda).

[waunabcruizin]

Professor MA - It looks like the Dawn Princess will sail from Sydney to San Francisco on 18 April 2009. The itinerary should be what I posted before. I don't know yet what the prices will be....we will just have our booking transferred from the aborted Sun Princess cruise to the Dawn Princess cruise exactly. Same price, same cabin, same everything.

 

Our cost was about $9400 for both of us for a balcony (cheapest) and no air. I don't know what it will be for the Dawn Princess 2009 for new bookings. The cruise is supposed to be available for booking on June 7.

 

I found air from Honolulu to Sydney via Jetstar for $385 apiece one way and we can use our American Express points for the flight from Seattle to Honolulu and then Southwest Airlines from SFO to Seattle for around $80 apiece....so it turns out air isn't/wasn't that bad for us in April 2008. No doubt it will be more in 2009. And, of course, you're having to fly from Boston. Princess air was $915 apiece for all legs.

 

This is a terrific, romantic, adventurous, once-in-a-lifetime itinerary. Sure hope you guys can manipulate your work schedule to accommodate 31 nights on the Dawn Princess - plus, of course, a little time before the cruise to explore DownUnder. The roll call will be almost as much fun as the cruise, too. Lots of private excursions, tours, adventures with like-minded adventurers. It'll be a ball.

 

Carol and Linda.

[mithryl]

Hi Carol & Linda,

 

YES...it's a go! We confirmed CC 1027 for us and CC 1025 for our friends (great straight couple, more like family than friends).

We're all very excited, and we may have others still joining us!

None of us smoke. Bonnie & I like to have a few drinks (before, during, after dinner, whatever), but our friends don't drink at all.

This will be their first cruise! It's a great one for them to try out. Donna is from the Vancouver, BC area (dual citizen) and Russ is originally from Montana. Both have lived in Seattle. Donna is an ex-professional dancer, so it will be fun to watch them "cutting the rug". Bonnie and I don't dance, but we love to watch good dancing.

Since we opted for the CC Class, we will be able to get the early seating for dinner we were hoping for (since dining preference is one of the perks). Sorry we won't be joining you for dinner, but let's plan to get together anyway for drinks, conversation, etc. We haven't decided what to do yet while in port. Do you have any plans? Maybe we can hook up on some excursions too! I really appreciate the info you've provided already.

We'll be driving over on the 15th and want to board as early as possible, then relax, have some lunch and explore the ship before sailing.

We won't be able to join you for the 31 day in 2009. Two weeks is about all we can get away at one time right now. We run a few businesses and need to tend to them. Also, my Mom lives with us, so I try not be be gone too long at any one time. Our upcoming 16 day RT to Hawaii (3/2/08)is about as long as we can manage. We may consider doing the Panama Canal in 2009.

Can't wait to meet you! We need at least 25 to have a Cruise Critic Meet and Greet party, so maybe others will join us!