sej67

Yes, it is NCL Jewel 12/3.  It just seems odd that the ship would just sit there for 14 or so hours.

In Dec. I will be on an NCL PanCan cruise.  Normally it departs at midnight but this one departs at 5 PM.  For both this one and the other cruise they say it transits the Canal during daylight hours.  So I guess that means they just loop around in the Pacific for several hours until 7 or 8 the next morning?

And is there any advantage to a nighttime transit?  I'm sure both the ship and the Canal itself is heavily lit up.

thanks, frquarterguy.

Thanks.  What are the itineraries for these 2 cruises?

The Jan. cruise just got back, and I'm sure they announced at least one, maybe 2, cruises for next year.

Is it common to find them marked down in price?  I'm sure there are people who don't mind going over Christmas and other religious / family holidays, but most people want to spend time at home with family.

I see some cruises to the Caribbean for under $100/night. I'm looking at an Asia cruise that is north of $200/night. This is excluding port charges, etc., and they're on comparable ships. Why is that?

This documentary came out earlier this year. Which gay cruise company was the ship on? And which cruiseline was it on? Seemed like it could be Celebrity or Carnival. And maybe some European gay cruise company. Online comments seem to be mostly negative, but I thought it was pretty accurate but not meant to reflect the gay male community as a whole.

Is it likely to be repealed? Apparently Sen. McCain has been trying for quite some time to have it repealed, and it made headlines with Maria and Puerto Rico. So maybe the public will put pressure on Congress to repeal it. I know the main focus isn't on cruises, but we would definitely see a wider variety and more interesting itineraries.

Someone on the Atlantis Alumni board said the food and entertainment were not good on this cruise. That site doesn't get much traffic these days, so just seeing if anyone here was on that cruise. Maybe Rich Campbell is 'sunsetting' Atlantis until he retires and sells it? Kinda looks that way.

The ordering for a friend thing I'm sure is a big factor, but there's no denying that men on average drink more than women, and most charters are roughly 50/50, not 95/5.

So the official reason why no drink package is offered is that a). the Atlantis cruises are 95+% male, who drink more than women, and b). gay men maybe drink more than str8 men, and c). the average age is more like 40 than, say, 60 on str8 cruises. So how to explain that the Atlantis resorts in Cancun and PV have been offering drinks included ("free") for many years? The resorts meet all 3 of those criteria above. Does Atlantis charge more for a week in Cancun and PV than what is offered other weeks of the year at those resorts?

I see Pied Piper is doing a cruise from Buenos Aires to Antarctica in Feb. 2015. Has anyone ever done an Antarctica cruise, either with PP or not? I know there are some Antarctica cruises that spend more time there but are much more expensive.

I went to Celebrity's website to find out about optional excursions, but they only had info about the South American ports of call - Falkland Islands, Cape Horn, Ushuiaia, etc. The Antarctic ports are Schollart Channel, Gerlache Strait, Paradise Bay, and Elephant Island. They spend 2 hours at each of these ports. I've heard they don't actually let you on shore, and that if you want to do that you have to do a much more expensive cruise with another cruiseline on a smaller ship. Is that true?

You almost had me until the 'Republican' part.

as long as you don't rub it in my face.

Wow - I would have thought we'd be beyond that by now in 2016. That "not in my face" stuff has been used to justify everything under the sun, from anti-gay laws to gaybashing.

** SMH **

How many weeks or months in advance did you book? I wonder if there is any law saying they can't change it to a charter less than x-number of days before the sale date? If the person has made arrangements like airfare, hotel before or after the cruise, etc., that could really be more than an inconvenience.

Sounds fun. I'm guessing the average age was quite a bit lower than the typical cruise (aside from the all-gay cruises)? That alone would be a big draw for many of us.

I know of pied piper tours but seem very pricey

Actually, I think that you'll find that PP is cheaper than all-gay cruises, comparable to other gay-group cruises like Aquafest, and at or a bit below the price of cruises booked directly through the cruiselines.

There are direct flights from the East coast? Oh my - that sounds like a long-ass flight!

http://www.alandchuck.travel/trip/?triID=164

Wow - not just one cruise there, but 3!

Jan. 15, Feb. 26, and April 8

The itinerary looks great, with an overnight in Havana and several smaller towns.

I think that's true about people wanting warm, sunny days on their cruises. But both Atlantis and RSVP have had many cruises to Alaska, which generally doesn't fit that bill. I've always wondered why the Alaska cruises are so popular with Atlantis and RSVP.

I like the FreeStyle Dining concept (NCL) and it was an epic flop on RCCL :)

You're talking about with str8 cruises, right? Atlantis has always had freestyle dining, and so I imagine that would always apply even if RCCL removes it from str8 cruises.

Looks like a fun cruise!

I wonder if it will sell out? 4100 is a huge number to sell out, and there are 3 cruises a few months prior. But it departs from NYC, goes to a warm place, and it's an itinerary that Atlantis hasn't done in a long time, if ever.

That's interesting, nanobot. I wonder if other cruise lines have the same policy of giving credit if you don't get off the ship at a port.

When did cruise lines end the confetti and streamer bon voyage parties seen in a lot of movies and tv shows? IIRC they were still showing them on The Love Boat in the late 70s, so it must have been sometime after that.

And what was the reason for ending them? Was it seen as too expensive or not environmentally friendly for the stuff to end up in the water?