Westerdam - April 6, 2008

[wisebear]

Two Ft Lauderdale guys booked on this cruise - anyone else?

 

David & Tim

[wisebear]

8 weeks away - are we going to be the only gays on this ship?

[MarylandBob]

Hi guys,

 

My partner, Jerry and I will be joining you. I had booked the 2/24 sailing of this cruise as a Christmas gift for Jerry and then I found out that a large contingent of Christian singers (about 400 or so) were also booked on that voyage. I didn't think that would go over too well with Jerry (I wasn't looking forward to it either) so I had the travel agent rebook us on this sailing.

 

Looking forward to April!

 

Best regards,

Bob and Jerry

[wisebear]

Hi Bob & Jerry - Looking forward to meeting you guys on board. Wow, how lucky that you found out in advance about the group on the February sailing! Glad you've re-booked.

 

David & Tim

[wisebear]

Hi Bob & Jerry - Looking forward to meeting you guys on board. Wow, how lucky that you found out in advance about the group on the February sailing! Glad you've re-booked.

 

David & Tim

[MarylandBob]

Hi David and Tim,

 

Looking forward to meeting you two as well.

 

Have you ever sailed on Holland America before? It is our favorite line. The service is the best and the food is also pretty good.

 

We're looking forward to a week of relaxation and a week away from the office!

 

Cheers,

bob and Jerry

[goldsmip115]

Olivia has chartered the ship the week before. So, 1,800 lesbians will take good care of her for you. Happy sailing!:)

[wisebear]

Bob & Jerry, it will be our first time on HAL. We've only done Royal Caribbean before, so this will be a big step up for us. Were there FOD gatherings on your previous cruises? It looks like our sailing is sold out in most categories, so I'm sure there will be other couples on the ship.

 

Goldsmip, good to know the crew will be well-conditioned to same-sex couples the day we embark!

[MarylandBob]

David and Tim,

 

FOD gatherings have been held on every HAL cruise we've taken. The female Cruise Director we had on the Westerdam several years ago on our transatlantic 15 day voyage held one every two or three days and they were well-attended.

 

The ship's registry and officers are Dutch and we know how liberal things are in the Netherlands. I've even seen some of the male crew members dancing with other guys in the club. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

HAL does tend to have an older clientele but that's been changing on the newer Vista class ships of which the Westerdam is a part. But, sailing on a 7-day out of Florida will yield a good number of older folks but sometimes they're more lively than the younger set.

 

Goldsmipp115, thanks for your caretaking of the ship!

 

Regards,

Bob and Jerry

[goldsmip115]

This will be my fifth Olivia charter with HAL. The crew is wonderful with gays and will always tell you that we are far better tippers and much bigger drinkers and users of the spa than those on a traditional cruise. I think you will enjoy the ship and the cruise. I had to chuckle because one Olivia charter was the HAL Veendam out of Tampa for 7 nights. The previous cruise was a 14 day Panama Canal. The cruise director told me that on day 2 of the Olivia charter they has done more bar sales and spa sales than they had done on the entire 14 day prior cruise. Too funny!:)

[wisebear]

Yes, we're prepared to be among the youngsters on this cruise, but that's okay. I'll be turning 50 on board (the reason we chose this sailing), and my partner is only 35, but he knows what to expect. Anyway, he just got back from a heavy metal music theme cruise (The Motley Cruise!) that he took with his brother, so this will be much more about relaxation.

[MarylandBob]

David and Tim,

 

Pretty ironic but your age differences closely parallel Jerry and me. I am turning 50 in September and Jerry will be 64 in April. David, I'm not sure who is what age in your pair but if you're the birthday boy, Tim and I will have to throw you guys a little celebration on board.

 

Although I'm turning 50 later this year, I still think I'm 25. Too bad the body doesn't match the brain! And, to add insult to injury, I just received an AARP membership application in the mail today.

 

Cheers,

Bob and Jerry

[wisebear]

Bob, I received my AARP "invitation" last month! They're really ready to pounce on us soon-to-be-50-year olds!

 

That is interesting about the similarity in our age differences - we'll definitely talk more about that. And I'm all for multiple birthday celebrations at sea!

 

To clarify: David, about-to-be 50, Realtor with Century 21, NY native, then 25 years in Boston before we moved to Florida

Tim, 35, works for LiveNation Entertainment, Massachusetts born and bred (but he doesn't think he has an accent!).

 

And that's probably all I should say on a public board!

[wisebear]

So many posts for the Westerdam. It looks like she'll be having a very gay Spring!

[MarylandBob]

Hi David and Tim,

 

Jerry and I still are among the working class too. We're both Feds (not a big surprise so close to D.C.). I keep asking Jerry when he's going to retire so he can have my meals ready when I come home, etc. You can guess his reaction to that :confused:

 

I guess watching the superbowl in your household was fun this year. Poor Tim, I hope he's not too heartbroken over the Patriots demise. However, David as a native New Yorker you should be ecstatic. We're both football fans with season's tickets to the Ravens but as you know, our team had a pretty lousy season.

 

Yesterday it was 71 degrees here and tomorrow snow is in the forecast. April 6 cannot come soon enough!

 

Talk soon,

Robert and Jerry

[wisebear]

Woo-hooo! My boyfriend just found out that his fourth week of vacation starts this year, not next year as he thought. Sounds like we need to be planning another cruise!!

[wisebear]

Hell, I'm not proud - I'll bump up my posting! One month till we sail!!

[SC6]

Hi! :)

 

We just signed on to this cruise! We tend to travel last minute as Mike gets good deals working in the travel biz. Plus my big project at work just got delayed so I could take a vacation now too. :D

 

We're both 37 - together 14 years in August...have 4 dogs and live in Ohio - Florida some day, but Ohio for now. :cool:

[MarylandBob]

Hi Nicholas and Mike,

 

We are Robert and Jerry from Maryland, we live between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Glad to hear you'll be joining us. Even though its cherry blossom time here in D.C., it feels more like Washington's birthday! We're ready for some warmer temps.

 

We'll have to connect once on the ship. We are in Stateroom 7086.

 

Best regards,

Robert and Jerry

[wisebear]

Hi Bob, Jerry, Nicholas & Mike,

 

Looking forward to meeting you all on board! We'll be in Stateroom 6062.

 

See you soon,

David & Tim

[SC6]

Hi! We're in a guarantee - no cabin # yet.

 

What are you guys doing for excursions on this cruise? Just curious.

 

We've decided to do the horseback riding and aqua trax on Half Moon Cay...but no other plans yet.

[wisebear]

If I'd let him, Tim would never get off the ship. He loves it when most people are gone, and every cocktail waiter at the pool fawns over him. But he knows I want to snorkel, so he's agreed to get off at Half Moon Cay, where I booked us on the Snorkel By Boat. (I prefer that to snorkeling from shore. Tim is booked and will come for the boat ride, but he won't snorkel any more after an encounter a couple of years ago off Key West where we met the teeniest, tiniest, sweetest little shark.)

 

Willemstad looks charming, so I'm dragging Tim on the trolley tour for an overview. I booked it for early morning, so he can hurry back to the empty pool! I'm thinking about another snorkel excursion that afternoon, but haven't booked it.

 

We have no plans so far for Aruba. There's no way I can subject Tim to a 3 or 4 hour coach tour - I mean, he's stronger than me, so unless we all kidnap him in a burlap sack, it's just not happening. I was thinking of just hiring a taxi to give us a quick one-hour tour, but I'm open to suggestions!

 

I picked up our tuxes from the cleaners this morning - time to start packing! I dragged out the suitcases last night, which made the dogs instantly depressed, but they'll perk up on Friday when they see that Grandma & Grandpa are coming down from Boston to dog-sit.

[MarylandBob]

Jerry has been in charge of excursions... I believe we are waitlisted for a Cabana at Half Moon, trolley tour in Curacao and Atlantis submarine in Aruba. I'm in Tim's court on touring, once you've seen one Caribbean island, you've seen them all although this will be our first time in Aruba.

 

I wish I could convince Jerry to parasail with me at Half Moon. I've always wanted to do it but it's no fun doing it alone!

 

The days are ticking away:)

 

See you soon!

 

Regards,

Robert and Jerry