Roll Call: Independence of the Seas Transatlantic - April 12, 2009

[defreeze]

Hi there,

 

Tom, Todd, Manny and Maureen will be onboard.

 

Anyone else?

[declanbyrne]

Declan & Chris from the UK here!

[defreeze]

Hi Declan and Chris,

 

We are all coming from NYC and are very much looking forward to this cruise, particularly being on the biggest ship in the world.

 

Tom

[danandmike]

Dan and Mike here from DC. We can't wait till April!

[Wilde_37]

Hi

 

Gary & David here from Ireland. Love Transatlantic cruises. If anyone is interested in putting together a table let me know. We currently have a table for 2 reserved but past cruises with a table of 8 gay guys has proven great fun.

 

 

 

.

[Wilde_37]

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[Poppy2012]

Declan & Chris from the UK here!

 

Hi Declan & Chris,

 

Really good to see you, have some actually good phots of us in the Casino looking rather happy????

We are thinking of taking this cruise 12 April and know want to get some info regarding flights etc, think you have our email, please get in touch

 

Anthony & AnneMarie

[danandmike]

Only 120 days left till our transatlantic cruise. Can't wait to meet you all on Independence of the Seas.

 

Dan and Mike

[Wilde_37]

Two of our friends have decided to join us on this T/A. Fred and Ralph are together about 38 years and are from Mississippi. I met them on a T/A two years ago and we have done 3 cruises together since.

 

We could have a nice group on this cruise so hopefully plenty of get togethers.

 

[danandmike]

This is Dan and Mike from the Washington D.C area. Can't believe we are less then 3 months away. Looking forward to meeting you on the cruise. Where are some of you from?

 

 

Dan and Mike

[defreeze]

Hi Dan and Mike,

 

Tom, Todd, Manny, Maureen (all from NYC) and Jim (from Florida) will be on this voyage with some of our other friends - Joan and Jim from NJ and Laura from NYC.

 

Looks like we have people from DC, Mississippi, Englnd and Ireland as well.

 

I am starting to get REALLY excited now.

[danandmike]

We look forward to meeting you all on the cruise. Only a couple months away.

 

Dan and Mike

[TARMAC]

George and Don from Spain, along with our friends from Denver -- Cary and Michael -- will be there! Looking forward to seeing you all!

[Wilde_37]

George and Don from Spain, along with our friends from Denver -- Cary and Michael -- will be there! Looking forward to seeing you all!

 

 

Looking forward to seeing you onboard George & Don. Travelling with Fred & Ralph.

[turbulence]

Hi All,

 

New to cruise critic.....

 

We are from the UK and will be on board. Have cruised only with princess so looking forward to seeing what this ship and Royal Caribbean have to offer. Hope too meet some of you.

 

Warren & Roy

[Wilde_37]

Welcome onboard Warren & Roy. I think there will be a large gay contingency onboard - only a fraction visit Cruise Critic so we will have to wait until the FOD get together to see who turns up.

 

Starting to get excited about the cruise now. We are heading to the USA 5 days before and spending the pre-cruise at a gay guest house (New Zealand house) in Fort Lauderdale. - Less than 6 weeks to departure!

[turbulence]

Hey Gary & Dave,

 

Yeah am getting excited too have only been on princess but have heard good things about RCI. Do they have regular FOD meetings? Also what is the setup with the dining situation. We have always done anytime dining on princess then when we have met people gone to dinner together.

 

With the fixed dining on RCI can you change if you meet people and want to dine with them? or is that it you are stuck:confused:

 

So many questions just wanna know what to expect:rolleyes:

 

Warren & Roy

[artistic723]

Marcelo from Miami/Fort Lauderdale area and Michele from New Jersey will be there April 12th. We would love to get a table together and meet everyone. If anyone is coming to Fort Lauderdale in advance and needs info feel free to contact me.

Marcelo

[drnc03]

Hi everyone, Nate and David from North Carolina... we will be on board as well... looking forward to meeting everyone... also interested in possibly dining with everyone... anyone know any details on how we can set that up???

[Wilde_37]

Regarding setting up a table - the max size table is 10. In order to set up a table you have to link reservation numbers. If you booked through a travel agent you can request that they link with others, If you booked directly with RCL then you can do it on your online reservation. RCL are very good at putting these things together.

 

I would stress that this would need to be done now - not onboard, as it will be too late to organise a large table at that point.

 

I have set up tables in the past and they usually work well. I think that as long as everyone remembers that we are on holidays and respects the others at the table then it can work. On my last transatlantic I set up a table for 8 of us and it was great fun. It is a good idea to stipulate that nobody else should be allowed to use the table - it has happened that 8 of us were put at a table for 10 - and another couple joined us on the first night even though they were on a different sitting. They couldn't understand why there were no women at the table. The woman finally figured it out and whispered to the guy - he got all quiet and nervous. We didn't see them again!!!

 

Ideally a round table is the best but I don't know if there is a round table for 10 - it might just be for 8 people. At the moment myself and Dave are dining with Ralph & Fred from Mississippi. We are on the late seating at 8:30pm.

 

On my last cruise a few weeks ago on Brilliance they had "anytime dining" also. Not sure if they have that on Independance yet. I'm also not sure if it would work for a large group - just trying to get 8/10 people to agree on a time each night might be a nightmare!

 

I think there is going to be a large gay contingent on this cruise. Hopefully the cruise director will set up a regular Friends Of Dorothy meeting - but if he doesn't then we can just post a notice on the community board and organise our own. In the past we have had drinks daily at 5:00pm in one of the quiet bars - guys came and went as they pleased. It was just a way of getting to say hello to others and it proved good.

[artistic723]

how do we do that? is it ok to post reservatio numbers, emails or phone numbers on here? sorry, I am new to this.

thanks,

Marcelo :o

[RSVE821]

Bob and Don here from the Washington, DC metro area joining the mix aboard the Indy. Kind of a last minute booking but that's the way we tend to book cruises. Can't beat those repo prices for sure. We have a few nautical miles on us with this being our 21st cruise (I think). Did our first transatlantic last April aboard the NCL Jewel and absolutely loved it.

 

We're signed up for the new "My Time" dining (eat anytime between 6:00 - 9:00 I think) as we are big fans of NCL's similar "Free Style" dining. RCCL requires that you prepay the gratuities when you sign up but no biggy for us. We like the flexibility of dining when and with whom we choose. It worked well last year with the FOD as we got to dine with much of the group at various size tables (up to 10) during the course of the 15 nights. If you feel like just dining alone with your honey, no probem. No reservations are necessary but they can be made and you are not forced to share a table with someone not in your party. I understand the my time dining area is the top level of the dining room on the Indy. From the reviews I've been reading on other threads, people are enjoying it. That all having been said, I certainly respect those that enjoy the traditional early/late seating. It's good to see cruise lines starting to offer more choices for guests on how they would like to dine.

 

Here's hoping for blue skies and calm seas!

 

Bob

[defreeze]

Hello to newcomers Nate, David, Bob & Don. Glad you're joining us.

 

A table with a bunch of you sounds fun, but the group we are traveling with totals 9, so we are all set for the late dinner seating. Looking forward to meeting everyone onboard.

[artistic723]

may we request to join your table? I am new to cruising and don't know how this works.

Marcelo

[turbulence]

Hi All,

 

Well we are moving closer towards April! Thanks for the response on dining arrangement. We are currently selected for the late seating 8.30pm if anyone wants to link reservations to get a table together.

 

Here is my email warrengray21@hotmail.com if you wanna contact me so we can exchange details and get the resevation numbers linked together.

 

Looking forward to meeting you all soon.

 

 

Warren & Roy.