Tom.Kitten

On 7/7/2021 at 9:27 PM, MishelleMcc said:

My wife & I sailed Grand Princess Dec 3 2019 out of SF and had a BLAST!!! The last healthy Grand Princess cruises before COVID!  Yikes!

 

There were only a few lesbians and the rest were guys but we are mostly all couples and met every night!!  We even had a dinner together one of the formal nights!  Because we don't get to experience "family" often, we decided to book 2 more cruises out of San Fransisco!  Ruby Princess RT Hawaii Jan 16, 2022 and Ruby Princess Panama Canal SF to FLL February 10, 2023!  We will definitely be attending the LGBTQ (FOD) meet ups on both of those cruises!  Hope to make new friends and maybe meet up with old ones!!

My best LGBT gatherings experience was on the Grand Princess as well, in 2018. The gatherings were well attended every evening, and made some great friends. One of the crew's staff acted as un-official hostess every evening, and showed up with a little rainbow flag for the table so that it was easy to find the right crowd without that awkward eavesdropping on conversations hoping to recognize "family." Attendance grew every evening instead of dwindling like most cruises.

I'm two weeks away from my triumphant return to the ocean - sailing August 8th on Majestic Princess from Seattle to Alaska. 

They've shuffled the ships - this cruise is now on Caribbean Princess... 

After involuntarily taking a year off from cruising, I'm really longing to get back on the water. How about you?

paul:

the direct answer to your question is yes, royal has them.  they'll be listed in the daily Cruise Compass on the ship, in the things to do section.  usually 7pm in Vintages on the Anthem. if you just do a walk-by to see if anyone is there, no one will be, because that's what everyone does.  somebody has to have the chutzpah to actually be visible for these things to work

1 minute ago, 138east said:

I’m glad you’ve had a good experience with this parking.  Having said that I have to say that our out of town cruisers should understand that is not recommended.  Bayonne is a highly urban area and cruisers should be selective about where they ditch their car for a cruise.  This parking is a lot next to a storage facility that is open to the public during the day.  There are concerns about its licensing and insurance status, particularly for the shuttle operation.  Our posters who live in Bayonne do not recommend parking there.

I'm surprised to hear that people are reporting bad experiences with this operation. Yes, the lot is next to a storage facility, but the lot itself appears to be gated and locked, as their website claims. My own experiences (I've used them for seven cruises in the past) have been good. I am a tiny bit skeptical of "Our posters who live in Bayonne do not recommend parking there." If they live in Bayonne, why would they be paying $14 a day to park anywhere? But in any case, I will take your information under advisement. At the very least, if I were to use them again, I'll probably spend the cruise worried about my car.

I love parking at Bayonne Cruise Parking.  It's about a mile from the terminal, with a free shuttle (about a five minute ride) and luggage assistance. Best of all, it's only $14 a day (parking at the cruise terminal garage is $22 a day).  

I'm not a paid spokesperson, just a happy repeat customer.  https://www.bayonnecruiseparking.com/

I had The Key for Anthem of the Seas, March 23rd sailing.

There was a priority Key check-in line, it went very quickly.  There was no priority boarding.  Once on the ship, The Key had a little check-in table, easily located.  There, I was given a folder containing the details of Key perks for that voyage and Voom log-on instructions, and directed to the Theater if I wanted to drop off my carryon, and then to go to my choice of Chops or Jamie's Italian for The Key lunch. 

I went to Chops, waited almost no time at all on a fast-moving line, and was seated. Wait staff was quick and efficient. and my lunch (I had the filet) was excellent. 

Rooms were ready at 1:30, there was no priority treatment there.

There were sections of the theater roped off for Key guest access for all shows I attended. Port debark was quick at the ports. 

Final debark was blindingly fast - escorted past the very long line (I almost felt guilty), whisked to the Key luggage pickup section, and was through and out waiting for my ride in a total of seven minutes from the time I had finished breakfast.

I did not take advantage of any of the special times for onboard activites.

Was the program worth it to me? Yes, I think so.  I don't feel ripped off, in any case.

Will I get it on my next cruise? No.  Now that I've had that experience, I don't need to have it again. 

On 2/14/2019 at 1:17 PM, DocRonPS said:

Just got to put yourself out there and see.  I realized that I just needed to introduce myself and see what happens.  Hit or miss.   I would see the usual people at 530 each night...but most had speciality dinner reservations which is difficult to include other.  Have fun on Viking.  Very upscale.

It's the "just put yourself out there..." that terrifies me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Especially as a solo cruiser, each cruise I start with the best intentions, I'll just "put myself out there..." but each time I get to the bar and all the cliques have already formed, and the circles have already closed. I don't really expect other people's crusie experiences to be about my insecurities, but certainly there must be a better way to stage a meet up.

11 hours ago, tompeter said:

Thanks again, we'll see how long our "budget" lasts....LOL

Good luck, and, most of all, have fun!

On 2/3/2019 at 8:03 PM, tompeter said:

Opinions of the casino?    Thx!

The casino has a decent selection of slots, of course all very new and shiny. There was no smoking allowed anywhere in the casino (in fact, only two smoking areas on the whole ship, both on deck 15), so it didn't have that terrible stale-smoke-in-dusty-carpeting smell that most ship casinos have. I lost my budget extremely quickly, with almost no turnover, so I spent much less time in the casino that I normally would have. From my experience the slots seemed extremely tight, and there were not a lot of jackpots going on around me. I know most ship casinos feel tighter than land-based casinos, but this one was ridiculous.

My first solo cruise was in 2015, six weeks after the death of my husband. It was on the Celebrity Constellation, and I did not enjoy it very much. I attended the first LGBT Meet of the cruise, but it was held in what felt like the loudest place on the ship at the busiest time - I tried to say "hi" to a few people, but I could not make myself heard, so I bolted. On the last evening of the cruise I was catching a smoke on the exterior deck by the theater, and a very sweet (male) couple started chatting with me, and, while I don't remember much else about that cruise, I do remember how greatful I felt to actually be in a conversation with real people after what felt like a week of isolation.

I have cruised solo several times since, and have had a good time on most of them. I have also remarried, and the new husband is not much of a cruise fan (we did do one together), so I still cruise solo if I want a cruise.

I attend the LGBT meets, but I do not have the required chutzpah to walk up cold to strangers and say hello unless they are very obviously there for the meet. I find the meets to be much more sucessful when they are "hosted" by a crew member, but that seems to be a rarity. Tess on the Grand Princess does it right!

For the first two evenings, there was an event listed in the iPhone version of the app for the LGBT meet&greet that did not appear in the Android version. These events were held in the Martini bar, and were sparsely attended. As far as I know, those two were the only LGBT meets of the cruise.

I was aboard the Celebrity Edge for the Maiden Voyage, 12/9/2018. When I first boarded, I was completely lost - I felt that the ship was inadequately marked with signs and directional information. When I mentioned this to a crew member, they did their best to make me feel stupid and insignificant. In speaking with other cruisers during the trip, I found that I was not alone in my opinion.

I had an Infinite Veranda cabin, midship, port side, deck eight. The cabin itself was lovely, with a lot of storage space, and obviously immaculate due to its newness. The Infinite Veranda was a waste of time and space. The interior folding door for the veranda felt cheap and ready to break, and to operate it, one has to move the veranda chairs out of the way by pushing them forward about 18 inches, then give a very firm pull on the cheap aluminum handle to close the door, then move the chairs back to sit. There is a wall button to raise and lower the exterior half-window, but the veranda never feels like a real balcony. I grew tired of having to move the furniture around to use it, so it was basically an oceanview cabin for me.

The onboard experience relies very heavily on an app that you use on your cell phone. There is an iLounge on the ship where you can buy a wide variety of Apple products, so it all ties in very nicely -- unless, like me, you have an Android phone. For the Android, there was a vast difference in the app's shipboard schedule content. I spent a lot of time waiting in long lines at the Guest Sevices desk.

I truly hated the cruise until about four days into it, when I just let it all go and stopped caring. The buffet food was standard current cruiseline fare - repetitive selections of curries, stews, minute steaks, and really bad unidentifiable meat-like and vegetable-like substances. The buffet layout was confusing, and non-intuitive. The steak sauce was eight stations away from the meat station, for example. The desserts, though, were consistantly excellent.

The least expensive adult-sized t-shirt in the signature shop was $55. 

The entertainment on the ship was OK. I saw all three production shows, which were earnestly performed, but unimaginitive and somewhat lackluster. Too much about the shows was showing off the theater's "technology" (multiple video walls and lasers).

In the interest of full disclosure, I did not pay for the cruise, but rather was a guest of the ship's Casino. I would have hated the cruise a lot more had I had to pay for it. In retrospect, after having a month and a half to reflect and process, I would not volunteer to return to the Edge, even if it were for another complimentary voyage. The things that are designed to make the ship special are the things that I liked the least.

On 1/4/2019 at 12:23 AM, Chad_O said:

.... As a bear;  I always travel with a handful of brownie bites to throw at other, overly aggressive, bears to distract them from making unwanted advances...

I'd attack just for the brownie bites.

It seems that a lot of the conversation about The Key program has morphed into a debate about cruise lines having the audacity to collect premium prices from customers by offering premium experiences.

Isn't that the very basis upon which the cruise industry was built? If we all just wanted to float on water for a bit at the lowest possible price, we could bult a raft and drag it to the landing. Personally, I want a better experience than that, and I'm willing to pay more to get more. If your personal level of willingness is not on par with mine, that's fine with me. If you want to pay more than me, and get more than me, you have that right, and I applaud you for it. If you're own personal level of willingness has you at a lower spending and expectation level than me, that's fine too. Just don't b!tch about other people who are willing to pay more, as if you are somehow being denied basic human dignity.

On 12/9/2018 at 7:05 PM, hcat said:

Oh my...along with silk and  wool, I also  react to bamboo!

Cotton is my friend...so maybe just a plain tee for me,

Sadly then you won't find it on the Edge.  The $55 t-shirt is the least expensive one they sell.

19 hours ago, Whitetrike said:

Here is another excursion for you to look over....https://wpyr.com/  White Pass scenic railway is a narrow gauge rail trip that follows some of the "gold rush" era trails up an impressive mountain.  My wife and I will be doing this outing in late May,  I sure hope the weather cooperates as I expect some world class scenery!!

 

Whitetrike

I've been on a bunch of cruises, and done a bunch of excursions, and by far the most wonderful excursion of all was the White Pass scenic railway. Indescribably awesome views.

1 hour ago, richstowe said:

Would you otherwise have spent $25 on a lunch upon embarkation ? I wouldn't .

I would probably have waited until a sea day to have lunch at Chops Grille, but I might as well start off the cruise with it.

The Key is being offered for my cruise on the Anthem in March. The "price including discount" for me is $20.00 a day. The Voom + Stream package alone is $15 a day. So the rest of the benefits offered by The Key (after the included internet) works out to only $5 a day.  Since it includes a $25 Chops Grille lunch, that means I'm getting the rest of the benefits for only $10 for the cruise. I went ahead and purchased The Key. I think I'll get my money's worth...

It seems that on most of my cruises, the LGBT meets were usually in the loudest martini bar at the busiest hour, and even if there was anyone else there to meet and greet I couldn't hear them and they couldn't hear me.  

The only cruise I was on where the meet was really successful was on the Grand Princess, where the meets were held in a quiet lounge, and the ship's wonderful on-board naturalist (Tess) was the unofficial hostess. She set up a little vase containing a rainbow flag on the cocktail table, so it was easy to identify who and where to gather. On that cruise we had a core group of about a dozen people who showed up and socialized every evening, and another 15-20 folks who would drop by for some of them.  

On 12/11/2018 at 11:16 AM, sloopsailor said:

 

The renderings and full scale mock-ups I have seen require no furniture moving at all. The doors fold towards the side walls, and the exterior window lowers at the touch of a button. Not sure where you get your idea that furniture must be moved around multiple times to gain access.

 

While Celebrity touts this design as a "new" innovation, several river cruise lines have used similar designs for years. And people like them. 

I was actually ON the EDGE, in an "inifinite veranda" cabin,  when I wrote about having to move the furniture around to actually use the "infinite veranda".  

The Infinite Veranda is pretty useless.  The furniture is too large for the provided space, so you have to move the furniture, close the inner doors, move the furniture, open the window. move the furniture, then sit down.  And when you're moving the furniture, as the room attendant warns you, you have to be very careful not to catch the chair legs on the flimsy deck plate. It's far better to ignore the Infinite Veranda, pretend you have an outside cabin with a big window, and book your next cruise on a different ship.

On 3/15/2017 at 4:44 PM, RMS Olympic said:

I wonder if the opening of the glass doors will automatically turn off the air conditioning. If not the cooling system is going to be taxed to the max.

It looks like the way these are designed, the inner door and the outer door cannot be open at the same time.  I'll be finding out in person in a couple of weeks!

If you're asking because you need to plug in a CPAP, the stewards will provide an extension cord (and distilled water) upon request.