Roll Call Jan 29, 2005

[FROZEN CANNUK]

Just got booked for this Caribbean cruise, and since my previous cruises were with RCL, and found the Meet and Mingles to be such an asset, decided to see if there are any cruisers out there who'd like to introduce themselves. Not sure if this is the right place to do so, but I'm sure someone will redirect me if not.

Going to try and book on price line soon for a hotel in the Ft lauderdale area, and since this is my first time in this area, any help will be appreciated. We are also staying in the area for a few days after the cruise, so again any great ideas for things to do in the area, I would love to hear them.

Hope to hear from some of you cruisers soon

[imacruizer]

Thanks for starting this roll call. There are a couple of us who posted on another thread who will be on this cruise, but it was not a roll call. My husband and I will be joining you on this cruise. We are from Tennessee and this will be our second cruise on the QM2. We thoroughly enjoyed the first one and can't wait to go again. Our names are Beth and Jerry. If you go to the "Hotels-Pre and Post Cruise" on Cruise Critic you can find lots of information about various hotels in Fort Lauderdale.

[DAVE & MARY PASCHEN]

My wife and I our booked for the January 29,2005 cruise. It will be our first time on Cunard and the QM II. If you haven't guessed we are, Dave and Mary Paschen from Indiana. How do we change or can we change our log in to something cool like WannabeFTcruisers?

[Fang]

My wife and I will also be on this cruise.

 

First on Cunard and QM2.

 

Staying in Fort Lauderdale on Friday night.

 

Really looking forward to it.

[atticus]

I will also be on this cruise and coming into Ft Lauderdale the night before from the Philadelphia area. Fifth time with Cunard and second on the QM2 - guess I'm hooked.

 

Hope to get together with you all on board!

 

Revell

 

Frozen Cannuk

I've stayed at the Riverside Hotel on Las Olas for the past three years during a week long conference. Not on the beach but a great location for restaurants and shopping - close to the water taxis too.

[FROZEN CANNUK]

I thought I had emailed a reply to this thread this AM, but can't find it now.So here we go again, and if I'm redundent, my apologies. Just wanted to give a little background info on us, as this is for my friend Dianne, her first cruise and my fourth. We both live in Alberta Canada, hence the name frozen cannuk. I've been on the RCL Brilliance and Radiance, as well as the Tahitian Princess, so this is a big step up for me, but we are in steerage.(makes me think of the Titanic) Dianne is celebrating starting off a new life as a single gal, and I always try to celebrate my birthday on those warm caribbean waters. Of course I'm always celebrating my 39th birthday coincidentally.

We are looking forward to some great snorkling and great shopping but not necessarily in that order, and some big time pampering on the ship, which means using the spa, afternoon teas, and as many desserts as I want!!!

We are staying a night before the cruise and if any others out there want to meet for supper on the 28th we are game. Don't know where we are staying yet, as I'm going to attemp priceline tonight. Actually got a 4star in Miami last year of $39 but don't think I'll pull that off this year. Any ideas gratefully accepted. We are also staying for 3 days after the cruise since we haven't ever done much in Florida before, so again any suggestions as to whether to stay in Fort lauderdale or travel onwards will be appreciated.

on Meet and Mingle on RCL last year, we got a great group together and bought a horse for the pony races, and actually won $1600 which was fun. It was quite nice always running into someone you know and could dine with etc. So not sure what this group would like to accomplish from the roll call, but we are game. So who is next to introduce themselves??

Jennifer

[gentlemancruiser]

Hi Frozen Canuck,

We are booked on the Feb 5th sailing so we'll get on as you are leaving. I booked thru priceline and got the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 for $135.00 (us) per night, on Feb 4th & Feb 12th. It's a 4 star and has great location near the port. Since you are a canadian like me, I would reccomend that you use a MasterCard to book on priceline. For some reason our Visa cards are never accepted on priceline. It much easier to do the pre/post cruise stay then risk being snowed in.

Enjoy the cruise.

[FROZEN CANNUK]

to Gentlemancruiser,

 

You don't know snowed in until you have lived here. I lived to TO for 6 years and it was a piece of cake!!! :)

Thanks for the info and now I'm asking for more. What street or area do I look for to be close to the ports. How far apart is the airport to the ports. If I look for airport hotels will I be close to the port? For the night before I don't really care how close to water I am, but definitely looking for nice water area for our 3 day after, cruise. Any ideas for me. Thanks so much, and I promise to leave the ship in good shape for you!!

[gentlemancruiser]

The airport and port everglades are 5 minutes away from eachother. The closest place to the port is the 17th Street Causeway. The causeway is a bridge which seperates the port from the intracostal waterway. There are several good hotels in the immediate area. It's about a $10 cab ride. On Priceline you want the beach area. I would suggest you try for a 4 star in the beach area. I know from past cruise critic posting that this hotel the best in the area.

 

to Gentlemancruiser,

 

You don't know snowed in until you have lived here. I lived to TO for 6 years and it was a piece of cake!!! :)

Thanks for the info and now I'm asking for more. What street or area do I look for to be close to the ports. How far apart is the airport to the ports. If I look for airport hotels will I be close to the port? For the night before I don't really care how close to water I am, but definitely looking for nice water area for our 3 day after, cruise. Any ideas for me. Thanks so much, and I promise to leave the ship in good shape for you!!

[FROZEN CANNUK]

thanks so much for that extra info, I've been trying to get time to do some research and it looks like it's going to be around $150 us most likely no matter what I do. With our dollar tanking in the last few days, I'm getting nervous since I put the cruise on the US visa card!!!. Do you know if this is a good idea to have the extra play time in once we return, or do you have some better ideas.

thanks again

[FROZEN CANNUK]

Imacruizer - youmentioned to look in pre and post cruise under cruisecritic for info on Fort lauderdale and I can't seem to find that area. Can you direct me a little bit more. Thanks

[imacruizer]

To find the hotel information.

1. Go to the Cruise Critic Message Board Home

2. Go to "Cruise Discussion Topics"

3. Go to "Hotels-pre and post cruise"

 

I hope you can follow that. If I were more computer literate, I could probably give you a direct link! If you don't see the hotel you are searching for, you can use the search feature.

 

As I mentioned before this will be our second cruise on the QM2. We met a nice group of folks on Cruise Critic before our first cruise and look forward to meeting all of you on this cruise. We met on the first "sea day" at 11:00 AM in one of the lounges and then part of the group met a couple of afternoons for tea in the Queens Room. We are open to any suggestions for a meeting time and place.

[FROZEN CANNUK]

Thanks for the help, just after I posted you, I did finally find it. I like you, can just barely use this darn thing, and know just enough to be dangerous. I did bid for our post cruise days in Fort Laud. and got the Sheraton for $75 a nite which I didn't think was to bad. I know it's a little off the beaten path, but thinking it may be a little quieter then. Does anyone know if we'll need a rental car, or will the water taxi work just fine.

Just hope a few more people find us so that we can set a meet and greet time. Your suggestions work find for us. I'm hoping there are some snorklers out there who has some good ideas on what excursions to go on etc.

Leads to my next question, does anyone know where I can info on our excursions with QM2?

[imacruizer]

Jennifer,

 

You should receive your precruise booklet very soon. I would check with your TA or Cunard if you booked directly with them. From reading these boards, I note that some travel agents don't forward this booklet. Our agent brought ours by our home over a week ago.

 

The booklet contains the excursions for each port and also the precruise documents that must be sent to Cunard before you receive your final documents. The precruise documents can be downloaded from the Cunard site and faxed to Cunard.

 

I looked on the Cunard site to see if the port excursions were listed. I did not find them, but that doesn't mean they are not there!

 

Beth

[FROZEN CANNUK]

Beth,

Thanks for that info, I will talk to my TA soon, and she if she has any more info yet for me. Have you booked your precruise hotel, or are you just arriving in time to go on board ship. I have that to book yet, and not looking for anything too extravagent as I just need one pre night. If any one has ideas I'm listening.

Thanks again

Jennifer

[imacruizer]

Hope everyone now has their precruise books with precruise documents and port excursions. Our precruise document has been faxed to Cunard. We hope to receive our actual documents in early January.

 

We are flying to Fort Lauderdale on January 28 arriving late in the evening. We will probably stay at one of the airport hotels. I think there are quite a few ships leaving Fort Lauderdale on January 29. When we went on the QM2 earlier this year, she was the only ship in port that day. That made getting to the ship much easier. Don't know what to expect this time. I know it will be busy.

[FROZEN CANNUK]

Imacruiser, let me know if you find a good deal for Jan 28, as I'm still trying. Haven't had any luck yet on priceline for the precruise night. I have yet to organize my documents or anything yet. Will hopefully get all done next week, when I'm finally off and recouperating from the retail xmas season. Have a very Merry Xmas, and Happy New year to all, Hopefully we will get more people coming to this thread after Xmas as well. Take care

Jennifer

[imacruizer]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all Cunard passengers and especially those on the 1/29/05 QM2 cruise. I'm sure everyone is too busy with holiday celebrations to post much right now. I, too, hope our thread will get more active after the holidays. We have ice and snow today in Tennessee which is rare for us. You Canadians would be amused at how one inch of snow impacts our lives!!! Makes us eager to head to the Caribbean.

 

Beth and Jerry

[FROZEN CANNUK]

I hate to rub it in, but we are about 40 degree F. right now and only 8am here. We have had great weather up to now, but boxing day it's forecast to be the pits, with snow and bitter cold possible the high will only be -25 degree celcius with is damn cold no matter whether celcius or F degrees. What a place, Caribbean looking mighty fine. Closing my store at noon today, and then I have a week off to look at what I'm packing, what still fits!! and what I need to buy still. Wishing you all Happy Holidays, and hope you all have a very Happy New Year!!

Jennifer

[imacruizer]

The South is beginning to warm up after several very cold days. It is great to see the sun. Hope everyone had a good holiday. After the New Year, we will get serious about packing for and planning the details of our cruise. Happy New Year to everyone.

[Smoochiepuddin]

We are also going on the 1/29/05 QM2 cruise. We went on the 10 day Caribbean cruise last March on the QM2. It is a truly beautiful ship. I can't wait. It is less than a month now.

[DAVE & MARY PASCHEN]

Where in Illinois are you from SmoochiePuddin? Only 25 days until a great cruise on a great ship,so I'm told, but who is counting? We can't wait.

[Smoochiepuddin]

We live in the suburbs north of Chicago. We are really looking forward to sailing on the QM2 again.

[bmct]

We are Bob and Frances Walker, from Marin Co, Calif. 9 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

We will be joined by our Aunt, Billye ( really, Bernice ) Thomas, who will be 92.

 

This is our 22nd cruise, first on Cunard. Frances will celebrate her birthday in St. Kitts.

 

We will arrive in FLL the night of Jan 29, not sure where we are staying.

 

Looking forward to meeting all of you.

 

Shipahoy!

[imacruizer]

Welcome, Bob and Frances! 22 cruises! Wow! I hope I can say that at some point in the future. How wonderful that your aunt can cruise at age 92. This will be our 6th cruise and second on the QM2. Smoochiepuddin, what date in March did you cruise on the QM2? We were on the March 16th cruise last year. Now that all the holiday celebrations are over, we can concentrate on the cruise. Has anyone received their final documents?

 

Beth and Jerry