Roll Call: MERCURY 10/24/04

[ddgroves]

Anyone else on our Halloween/Election cruise?

Drew and Travis

[JeffCoud]

Hey guys....wish I were. Just back from Mercury this weekend. Had a great time, even sailing with my mom lol.

 

Insider tips -- MEET the Social Hostess Winnie Hong. She's fab. The male dancers and some of the singers are gay (big surprise) and seemed like nice guys. Sports coordinator Adam is not gay, but very hot imho! :) Ditto for the personal trainer who works in the gym. I don't believe Julian Bertsch will be the Cruise Director at that point as he's getting married (to a woman) in September, but ask Winnie about hosting a Friends of Dorothy party. She said over coffee they were doing that all the time now. DJ in disco not good....although all cruise discos (except on an all gay ship I reckon) are about as exciting as wedding reception dancing. The piano bar guy (can't remember name off hand) in Cova Cafe quite good and gay as well. Married men in the sauna, the usual cruise stuff....lol.

 

Jeff

[ddgroves]

Thanks for the tips, Jeff. We were on the Millennium in January, and had a great time but were kinda surprised to meet no other gay men on board. The "Celebrity Connections" rollcall for this sailing is very very quiet as well...

Maybe we'll have the ship to ourselves!

Glad you had a good time. Alaska, right? Did you post a review anywhere?

Drew

[garykool81]

My partner and I are actually on the cruise RIGHT before you guys. We're on Mercury October 13-24...hope you guys have a blast onboard!

[ddgroves]

Garykool, you guys have a great time as well! I'm familiar with your website and I greatly appreciate it. Wish you boys were on our cruise! I've decided that it'll be perfect to vote absentee and then be in international waters on Election Day. I will not WILL NOT sit in the sports bar watching election results...

[garykool81]

ddgroves --

 

Thanks very much for the kudos on the site. We do try :-)

 

Though, we were all a bit disappointed to see Bush getting an 11 point jump in some polls after the convention. Hopefully, that will fizzle out and get back to a close race (which most are predicting will happen) during the debates.

 

Time will tell. Enjoy your cruise!

[JeffCoud]

Haven't posted a review yet.....need to get going on that!

[ddgroves]

Just bumping it up... 2 weeks to go and I'm obsessing over my packing list (obsessing in a good way, I guess). Compulsively shopping then having to revise my wardrobe schematic over each new purchase.

Any recent Mercury cruisers, I'd love to hear your reviews.

Anyone on our sailing, you can find us in the Martini bar...

Cheers, Drew

[xander]

Hi guys

 

My boyfriend Gus and I just got back from a 9 day Mexican Riviera out of San Francisco on Mercury. We had a great time. There were 2 FOD meetings scheduled, with about a dozen guys turning up. Winnie - the social hostess - is fab, very friendly. There is a new cruise director - Dru Pavlov - who is a chilled sociable guy - cute too. They make great martinis onboard - especially the Flirtini (champagne and framboise and vodka) and the food was excellent. The atmosphere on the ship is very relaxed - the crew seem very happy, and it comes across in the service the passengers receive. We visited Catalina, Los Angeles (!), Puerto Vallarta and Cabo. Any questions - ask away.

 

ian

[ddgroves]

Hey Ian! Glad you had a great time --

Dru Pavlov was the cd on our Millennium Caribbean cruise -- maybe we'll get to socialize this time around.

Coupla questions: I'm trying to remember the shoe-shine situation. Can't find info on the Celebrity site, and last time my shoes were brand spankin' new. I can't imagine there isn't a service, but I'd like confirmation to be sure.

Also: do you know the weekly rate for the spa? I'm told $20/day, but that weekly passes are available.

Maybe we'll talk to Winnie about arranging an FOD party.

[xander]

Hi.

 

Don't know about the shoe shine service; but we did use the thalassotherapy pool. There is a weekly pass which cost us $70 each for the 9 night cruise. Also highly recommended is the Rasul mud treatment; which was about $80 per couple. This lasted 90 mins and by the time we had washed, scrubbed, masked, steamed, washed again and lotioned we had used 15 different Elemis products. And no hard sell afterwards!!!!

 

ian

[travlerjoe]

Hey Drew and Travis,

 

Sorry about the late responce, but I just remembered about this website. We (my significant other and I) will be on 10/24 cruise. It should be a great time, good ports, etc. It is one of our friends birthday so there will be at least 10 of US (including you two). Sorry to hear that you were very ALONE on the millenium, Actually that is where we met some of our good friends some time ago (it was the 9-11 mediteranian cruise). That cruise was a blast.. well until the towers fell, - we were in Greece at the time and were very worried about the airports closing and not allowing us to return.

 

Do you travel much, this is our 3rd trip with Celebrity, we actually like it the best so far (Carnival, and Royal Caribian were the others).

 

Happy cruising,

 

J & T

[ddgroves]

J & T -

Great, Sounds like a party! We do travel quite a bit -- mostly shorter trips, long weekends here and there... But since this is our 2nd cruise in 2004 it's seeming like a lifestyle. Loved the Millennium and can't wait to experience Mercury.

Y'know, it wasn't, like, lonely or anything not meeting any other gay guys on the Millennium -- just surprising. We like to dance, and the dance floor at Cosmos was really missing something in its almost-total heterosexuality. No one else really seemed to appreciate the ABBA medley.

Our group includes Travis's brother (make that 11 of us) and his Mom and step-Dad.

Have you planned any excursions? We're gonna wing it at most ports, but did book horseback riding with Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan.

Where are you guys from?

Drew

[travlerjoe]

Hi Drew,

 

We live in Phoenix, (wow, just next door). I was actually in ABQ a couple of months ago for work. I seem to get over that way 2-3 times a year. Maybe someday I will look you guys up.

As far as shore excursions, we have done the Mexican Riviera before and are just going along to celebrate our East Coast friend’s birthday. I haven’t reserved any shore excursions yet, but we will probably go a one with the group in Mazatlan and Cabo. We spent a few weeks in Puerto Vallarte a few years ago and know the gay part of town, so I think that we are just going to catch a cab and do the beach thing for the day (weather permitting). We did the horseback riding last time to Mazatlan, you should have a lots of fun.

 

Joe

[ddgroves]

See you on the dance floor, Joe and Co.

I'd suggest meeting for a cocktail, but I'm not sure I'm into coordinating group get-togethers... I figure your gang will be pretty easy to pick out of a crowd, and when our paths cross we should definitely have a drink! Our favorite hangout on the Millennium was the Martini Bar, so that may be where we'll be.

Mom and Step-Dad are PV regulars, so they're excited about taking us to the "gay beach" there.

Best wishes making it through these final days of work before travel! (I'm finding it exceedingly difficult -- wanna pack and go RIGHT NOW).

Drew