Crown Princess - October 27th. 2007 - Anyone else going?

[oceanvoyager]

Here is a little more info for you about us. I am 41 years old (going to be 42 by the time we cruise) and my parter (of 6 years) is 34.

 

You guys are similar to us - I'm mid 40's he's mid 30's. Unfortunately Scott is disembarking after the repositioning cruise. I'll be solo for the 10/27 sailing.

 

Warren

[PhilipHF]

Add 2 more to the Roll Call for the 10/28 sailing. My partner and I will be travelling with 2 straight women (sister & friend). It was a pleasant surprise to find out that so many gay people actually go on non-gay cruises. (haven't been on a cruise since I was 14, but my travelling companions are all experienced)

 

Info: Me - Philip,46; Partner - Mark,49. We live in the New Jersey suburbs of NYC. Looking for change from the popular gay destinations, i.e., P'Town, Fire Island

 

We booked relatively late - mid-May, so we could only get an outside cabin but waitlisted for a balcony. What are the chances for an opening?

 

Looking forward to meeting some nice fellow travellers.

[theamericantraveler]

Howdy Philip. I booked a few weeks ago, and was put on the upgrade list. My spot is #17. Someone at Princess could tell you where you are on the list. The person that helped me said that final payment is August something, and the staterooms that are blocked off will open up and there is a good chance of upgrades becoming available. Good luck :)

[PhilipHF]

Thanks for your reply Jayson. We're #12 on the waitlist and a balcony room became available a few weeks ago, however, it was offered at about $1600. (current outside stateroom is $840) My travel agent said this is because we got an "early booking" price, but if an balcony room becomes available you pay the full price. I refused it. Can't justify double the price.

 

Does this sound right to you? My friends and I aren't savvy enough to figure this out.

[skf]

Find another travel agent for next time.

Steve

[theamericantraveler]

That sounds crazy, but possible. Especially if you are dealing with a travel agent. I went through Princess directly and spoke with one of their representatives. She was great. She told me that alot of times the because of promo pricing or other factors, that the upgrade might not cost me anything at all or as much as it normally would. Emphasize the word "MIGHT NOT". :D I don't know if you could contact Princess about upgrading, considering you have a travel agent, but I would try. I have always done my own travel bookings, so I don't have any experience dealing with travel agents. I only contacted Princess because I had a question, and she just did the work for me as we spoke. I wish I could give you better advice. Honestly, if it were me, I would try to contact Princess directly and see what you can find out. The worse that could happen would be nothing :p Good luck!

[PhilipHF]

Thanks again Jayson, I'm buying you a drink on the cruise. I took your advice and called Princess directly. Long story but we got a "BC guarantee" for only about a $100 more than our original stateroom. Had to go through our travel agent but it worked out OK. It's a crazy business.

 

:) Philip

[oceandrive]

Fire off the fireworks!!!!!The Governor today signed the New Hampshire Civil Union bill into law. Pete & I will get re-unioned after Jan 1 2008. We're the first state to do this just because it's the right thing to do. So now we have an official reason to celebrate on our b2b cruises.

 

Congratulations SKF...But this is what I would call ''Half a victory''. Like us in Canada, you should get full mariage rights. In a civil union I would still feel like a second class citizen...Come to Toronto ! We'll marry you !

[theamericantraveler]

Congrats Philip! I'm glad it worked out in your favor. We just got assigned our cabin, but hopefully after August, we will be able to upgrade to a suite. As much as I love my mom, it will be nice to have more room to move around. No drink required, just trying to be helpful :p Have a great summer! See you on the boat! :cool:

[skf]

We call it a "civil union" but it is in fact an amendment to the Revised Statutes wedding section. Just don't tell the red-necks; they'd have strokes & we wouldn't want that, would we?

Pete & I haven't been to Toronto in about 20 years. Used to stay @ Hotel Brampton near Woodbine Racecourse.

[Cruise Gopher]

How's everyones summer going? It sure has been hot and humid here in the Twin Cities.

 

Three months to go!

[theamericantraveler]

Hope everyone is having a great summer. :) I am headed to the Gran Bahia resort in the Riviera Maya with 20 other friends to celebrate my 35th. I check everyday to see if they have opened up the shore excursions. Hopefully they will be available when I return!

[joejoe4fun]

Hey everyone, hope that your all enjoying your summer? Been getting a little warm here in Atlanta the past few days, but then again its that time of year. Anyways, has anyone heard anything about shore excursions? As of today they are still not available, but I did print up general info on shore excursions, and noticed that most of them (and all of them for St. Thomas) are only good till October 21, 2007? Has anyone heard anything on when they will be available, or what will be available?

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Joe and Jeff

[Aldo Ray]

Hi Guys. I too will be going on the Oct 27th Crown Princess. I am doing a back to back so that I will finally be able to see San Juan. Every other time that I have cruised to San Juan the ship has arrived at around 5 pm, too late to see anything so it will be nice to have a whole day in between the cruises to explore. Has anybody calculated how many have entered on this thread? It is always nice to have a large group of family on board. A couple of years ago on a transatlantic on the Brilliance we had a gathering at an outside bar for sail away. It started with a handful of guys and kept growing until there must have been 40 of us. What a great way to start off a cruise. Two people actually came up to me and ask what kind of a group we were. I thought it was obvious.....I guess no one had their tutu on so the ladies couldn't tell.

Aldo:D

[theamericantraveler]

The shore excursion are finally available!

 

Just got back from Mexico. It was great. Heard about the MN bridge collapse while we were there.

 

To SkierRobUMN and your family and friends: Hope you and yours are safe, and our prayers are with everyone up there in MN. :)

 

Hot as hell here in Dallas, after 2 months of rain. August will be the longest month :(

 

Anyway, take care everyone and enjoy the rest of your summer. Hope yours will be cooler than mine!

[Aldo Ray]

Jayson

 

The Gran Bahia that you stayed at, was that the Gran Bahia Principe? Last March I stayed at the Akumal with some friends. I thought the resort was beautiful ecpecially the lobbies. What did you think of the food? One of my buddies was very critical but I found it OK.

 

Aldo

[Cruise Gopher]

Just got back from Mexico. It was great. Heard about the MN bridge collapse while we were there.

 

To SkierRobUMN and your family and friends: Hope you and yours are safe, and our prayers are with everyone up there in MN. :)

 

Thanks Jayson, I actually live about 7 blocks from the bridge site. It was horrible, my bf was working at the time in the area (Police Sergeant) and was one of the first people on the scene. I was really worried, all the phone circuits were busy and I didn't know if he was on the bridge or ok.

 

But thankfully he was ok and luckily a lot of people survived, considering that it was bumper to bumper traffic on the bridge when it went down.

[theamericantraveler]

Aldo:

 

We stayed in the Akumal section of the Gran Bahia Principe. My brother is putting together a DVD of all the pictures, since there were about 10 cameras, so that should be fun to see. There were 17 of us. It was a blast. I thought the food was great, especially the fruit waters and coffee. My sister and some of our other friends are pretty picky, but they found things that they liked, especially the Pasta Bar for my sister & BIL. I can always find something I like to eat, so I had no troubles. I have no complaints, except for the humidity. Jeez, that was an @$$ whippin :eek: . It didn't bother me when I was a skinny kid, but now...Anyway, we are all going to go to the Dominican Republic next year, so I'm already starting to research!

 

SkierRobUMN:

 

That's crazy. I watched it from Mexico. I used to work for a company in Mpls, and have some friends up there, so I was a little concerned. Glad your BF is OK :D Take care!

[joejoe4fun]

Hey everyone, looking into the shore excursions, along with reading some post about the ports on CC. Has anyone booked anything, and if so what? At this point we have nothing booked for St Kitts, or Bonaire. Any suggestions, ideas? Would be great to hear from you guys on what your plans are.

Take care and let the count down begin...

[PhilipHF]

My partner and I have booked the mangrove kayaking in Bonaire. Trying to find active excursions to offset the high volumes of food we'll probably be consuming. Haven't booked anything else yet... still negotiating with our (lazier) female traveling companions.

 

Philip

[joejoe4fun]

SkierRobUMN how are you doing? Just a few quick questions, I notice on the other board for this cruse you were trying to get together some sort of gathering on the ship? Did you have any luck? Should we try the same thing? Also, wanted to know if you guys booked any shore excurstions or tours in any of the ports? you can email me at jrgarga623@yahoo.com if you would like.

Looking forward to meeting you on the ship.

Joe and Jeff

[Cruise Gopher]

Yes I am trying to get the Cruise Director to throw all of the Cruise Critic folks a party on board. They did this for us when we were on the Grand Princess last year.

 

I don't think we should press our luck and try to get a separate GLBT one for us. They have FOD parties for that.

 

We have booked a snorkeling excursion in Bonaire, but nothing yet for the other ports. Any suggestions from others?

[Cruise Gopher]

Where is everyone? I thought people would be more chatty?

 

We're getting closer to sailing!

[DryMartini]

Greetings all - We posted to Cruise Mates not knowing this site exists until Rob set us strait, errr, I mean, guided us to CC. Jose, my partner and I are flying to San Juan the day before the cruise and then staying for several days after also. From reading the messages it sounds like a good family group is forming. I'm originally from Iowa and have been in Iowa for 18+ years. My partner Jose is from Cuba and has been in Miami since he was 6. We've been together for over 15 years. We have a balcony on the Caribe deck. Looking forward to meeting all.

Dan and Jose

[joejoe4fun]

My partner and I will also be there 1 day before the cruise (staying at the Caribe Hilton) got a great rate on Priceline. We will also be staying 2 nights after the cruise at the Embassy Suites. On the Saturday night when we return we will be doing the Bio Bay tour. Where will you guys be staying before and after?

 

Has anyone else booked any more shore excursions? If so which ones, or have you booked anything on your own? Would love to know what everyone will be doing?

Hope to hear back from you all soon.

Joe