movie buff

Hello Chris, we would love to get together with you guys for a drink. You have picked a nice ship for your first and I am sure you will love it. My partner brian and myself live near San Francisco and we cruise often and love to make new friends. The ship has a great martini bar and that tends to be the place we see many of our crowd hang out so you will probably see our group there most evenings. I will have internet on the ship so I can always be reached at my email address garysund12@yahoo.com. Looking forward to meeting up with you and your partner. GARY

Hi Anton, there are five of us friends going together on this cruise. Two of us being couples and one single. Hope we can meet up. Gary(that's me) and my partner Brian. Tim and Dale, and William. Hope we can connect once we are on board. I am sure you will find us most evenings at the martini bar!! :)

I sailed on the Century in 2012 round trip Hawaii from San Deigo. Love the layout of the century. It is a nice size ship and I love her top deck sky suites that have that huge balcony. The ship needs a major makeover. I am not sure celebrity would spend what that might cost. It is quite possible in a few short years they will move it out of the current Celebrity fleet and use it in a different market just like they did with the Mercury. That being said I would sail on her again to Hawaii and back in one of those upper deck sky suites anytime. Nothing quite like them with the huge balcony to hang out on in great weather.

I have seen many people carry on a case of bottled water shrink wrapped. No questions asked. But guess what? Some of those bottles were filled with vodka and gin. But which ones? True story.

Things have sure changed since I took my first cruise 31 years ago. You never had to worry about all this stuff. I will say this. Years and years ago a average 7 night cruise could cost you $1000 for a inside cabin. Today I see deals for as low as $299 for a 7 night. So with inflation a cruise today should be $3000 for a 7 night. The high end lines charge this much. Thus they could care less how much wine or booze you bring on. Why would they care, you won't be drinking their stock that is included in the price. So I just don't fight the system. I get a good price for a cabin on the main stream lines and just buy what I want. I just factor in about $100 per day for myself and my spouse and that usually covers our needs and I still feel like I am getting a deal. This is just the real world today.:eek:

For all we know the crew might keep several bottles of what is suppose to be destroyed and have one hell of a party!!:)

On the Oasis right now, week of january 12, 2013. I have talked with many crew members and they were told Oasis going into dry dock in august 2014. It is going to retrofit some venues into the same as the newer sister ship. Rumor is it will have to do this work in europe which would mean a round trip transatlantic. No word as to if they would go with paying passengers or just a quick deadhead with crew. Stay tuned.

My partner and I have been on close to 50 cruises but never tried a gay cruise. We have friends who have gone and told us many interesting stories about their experiences. It sounds to me like it just depends on your own personality. It is much more of a drinking, smoking, anything goes experience for the majority of the crowd. There are exceptions I am sure. If your into that then I am sure its fantastic. My partner and I are more on the reserved side and like the social mix of a gay/straight crowd. Also we enjoy longer cruises and most of the gay cruises are 7 night and we usually never do less than 10 nights. Its great that they are available and I am sure the younger set has a ball (if they can afford it).

Anyone on the Serenade, out of SF, in May?

We were on Serenade, however just switched to Mercury April 20 sailing since it's round trip from SF. Love not having to fly to get to/from a ship when possible. We also love the Mercury and could not beat the price for a sky suite. Wish I could sail on both ships!!!

Gary