Roll Call: Aquafest Halloween Cruise October 2010 NCL Dawn

[Tim-n-Rick]

My partner and I are booking our first cruise with Aquafest for the 2010 Halloween cruise to the Southern Caribbean. Anyone joining us? We have sailed in the past with RSVP and found Cruise Critic to be a great way to get to know other passengers before we sail. Plus we get to share our excitement. Looking forward to meeting you all...

[Darrell6t]

My partner & I have booked this also. It should be the first Aquafest group cruise that we experience. Out last attempt didn't happen because of lack of interest. But I know their Halloween group is uaully a big party. We have down a lot of RSVP and a couple of Atlantis. Love the all-gay cruises.

[Tim-n-Rick]

Hi Darrell, I'm glad we're not the only ones booking! Welcome aboard. We love the all gay charters as well. I'm told by several friends that Aquafest does a great job and we will enjoy this cruise just as much. As one of my previous cruise buddies said "Any day onboard a ship is a good day." Hope to chat more before we sail. Have a great evening, Tim

[Tim-n-Rick]

Do you have any thoughts on costumes yet? I wonder if people decorate their doors like the do on gay charters...

[Tim-n-Rick]

I was amazed to see the Port of Miami charges $20 per day to park during a cruise. No big suprise I guess but that would add about $180 to our trip (we are driving down from North Carolina). A quick Google search lead me to Airport Park Fly . Com (all one word) where you can park for $10.88 per day with a 24 hour free shuttle to the port. You can reserve your parking spot online and get a further discount. Not much but it's $100 more we can spend on cocktails!

[Darrell6t]

Since this is an ordinary cruise, I doubt door decorations are usual. But some people do it on every cruise. Nothing too risque with children onboard.

 

We do not generally bother with costumes. I know this will be Halloween, but I doubt we will do anything beyond a mask.

[Tim-n-Rick]

Since this is an ordinary cruise, I doubt door decorations are usual. But some people do it on every cruise. Nothing too risque with children onboard.

 

We do not generally bother with costumes. I know this will be Halloween, but I doubt we will do anything beyond a mask.

 

We wont go all out like we did on RSVP but we will most likely decorate our door for Halloween and get costumes for the ball and theme parties.

[Tim-n-Rick]

Come on guys and gals, Darrell and I can't be the only ones onboard. Come on in and chat with us. We'd love to hear from some of the Aquafest veterans.

[Lordobe]

Hi Tim and Rick,

 

I would like to know if you booked your cruise with NCL or with another Party. I have a friend who is interested in booking a Gay cruise, and just by chance I found this Aquafest for him. I told him(my friend) how GREAT NCL is, and how I love it. So I call my NCL rep., and he said that most of the Gay group cruises, you have to go through another source. If you can give me any info it would be GREAT.

Thank you,

Lori

P. S. Im goin on the Dawn Feb 7th, can't wait !!!! And booked The EPIC for Nov. 6th....

[Darrell6t]

Aquafest does gay groups on an ordinary cruise. If you want to participate in the special events put on by Aquafest, you must book through Aquafest.

 

RSVP and Atlantis charter the entire ship, so they offer a very different experience. All the entertainment is geared to the gay audience, sometimes the iterary is modified, and the cruise is amazing.

[Tim-n-Rick]

I would like to know if you booked your cruise with NCL or with another Party.

Hi Lori!

 

Your friend will need to book with Aquafest. They are a great gay owned company that books gay groups on regular cruise ships. You can get more information at their website aquafestcruises.com . My experience with them so far has been great and we are very excited about our cruise. If I can help with any more information please let me know. We have taken larger completely gay / lesbian cruises with RSVP as well. We'd love to have your friend and you join us!

 

Pricing on the Aquafest cruises is very attractive because they do not charter the entire ship. The Aquafest trip is going to cost us about $2200 for both of us. The RSVP trip cost us about $4500 (plus a $400 bar tab!)

 

I expect the experiences to be somewhat different just because of the group size. The Aquafest group will be between 300 to 400 where the RSVP group was around 2100. I can tell you we had the time of our lives on the RSVP cruise. I cried for two days after we got home because I didn't want it to end. I expect to have just as much fun on the Aquafest. Please tell your friend he must experience a gay cruise at least once no matter which company he chooses. Also tell him how lucky he is to have a friend like you looking out for him!

 

Enjoy your cruises and please come back to let us know how the Dawn and Epic are.

[Lordobe]

Hi Tim-n-Rick,

 

Thank you so.. much for the information, I will give this info to Michael. Yes, I would love to take an Aquafest Cruise, I know it would be something to remember. It would be a Key West Fantasy Fest one on water.

Take care........Lori

[Tim-n-Rick]

Tom has posted a flyer for our cruise on Facebook. Looks like we are going to have a Colt model as a "social host". Little things like this are going to keep me going for the next 8 months!

 

[Tim-n-Rick]

I don't want to bump to keep this thread active so I'll just mention that we are in cabin 5056 so far... I have contacted Kathy at Aquafest to see if all the 6 upgrades were applied to our reservation. I'm hoping this cruise sells out for Aquafest. The more the merrier! :D

[Tim-n-Rick]

A friend of mine on Facebook tells me he's heard that tickets are selling very well for this cruise so maybe I won't have to listen to my voice echo off the walls in here for much longer. ;)

 

I strayed onto shoretrips.com and noticed that there are 4 excursions with Aquafest listed as the group for our cruise.

[Darrell6t]

Special shore excursions should be fun. I am really looking forward to seeing what a real Aquafest group is like. But first, I have to get Solstice cruise with Atlantis done. That is where my excitement is focused right now.

[Tim-n-Rick]

Darrell, Have fun on your Atlantis Solstice trip! I know it will be a blast! We looked at that one before booking the Aquafest trip but March was just too soon.

[GuysInCT]

We're thinking about the Halloween Aquafest cruise. Have done 4 Atlantis plus 1 RSVP (plus various 'straight' cruises), but never an Aquafest. Does look like it will be a nice trip ... We'll see!

[Tim-n-Rick]

Hi GuysInCT! Come on and join us. As you may have read we have done RSVP before and honestly were a bit nervous about booking with a group rather than a charter. Then I started talking to previous passengers and checking out photos and now am very happy we decided to go with Aquafest. All the alumni I talk with cannot say enough about how fun and professional this company is and many come back year after year.

 

I've been told that this cruise is selling very well so that puts to rest my worry that the group will be small. Weather you decide to join us or not I'm glad you stopped by. Let us know if you do decide to book.

[Tim-n-Rick]

I've been visiting the "regular" roll call board for our cruise and you may be happy to know we are sailing with some very nice folks. They've all been very welcoming and have asked us to their meet and greet. Of course we will be with the Aquafest group at the time but it's nice that they offered.

 

On another note we are looking into upgrading to a balcony room. We're trying to stay on a budget but we loved our balcony last time so we'll see.

[Tim-n-Rick]

Bumpity, bump, bump

[Tim-n-Rick]

I've started checking out some costumes online to pass the time. I'd love to hear from some past Aquafest cruisers to know if the Halloween party usually has a theme or not.

 

I became friends on Facebook with DJ Michael Kessler and he has great taste in music! He sends out "blogettes" everyday with a music video and a blurb about the artist. He's had some really good remixes of some 80's era music I'm especially fond of since I'm a child of the 80's.

 

I'm met some more straight folks taking the cruise using Facebook and was relieved to find out they are as excited as I am.

 

Feeling sorry for some of our old friends from our RSVP cruise. Lots of folks having trouble with flights to Ft. Lauderdale being delayed or canceled. Plus I understand it's a little cold there today. Oh well, they will be in the tropics soon enough and maybe it will warm up for sail away on Saturday.

[BrianTom]

I've started checking out some costumes online to pass the time. I'd love to hear from some past Aquafest cruisers to know if the Halloween party usually has a theme or not.

 

I became friends on Facebook with DJ Michael Kessler and he has great taste in music! He sends out "blogettes" everyday with a music video and a blurb about the artist. He's had some really good remixes of some 80's era music I'm especially fond of since I'm a child of the 80's.

 

I'm met some more straight folks taking the cruise using Facebook and was relieved to find out they are as excited as I am.

 

Feeling sorry for some of our old friends from our RSVP cruise. Lots of folks having trouble with flights to Ft. Lauderdale being delayed or canceled. Plus I understand it's a little cold there today. Oh well, they will be in the tropics soon enough and maybe it will warm up for sail away on Saturday.

 

Did Aquafest for 2007 and 2008 and there was not a theme, just a costume party.

[Tim-n-Rick]

Did Aquafest for 2007 and 2008 and there was not a theme, just a costume party.

 

Thanks! Now at least I can work on that for a few months to pass the time. Are you booked on this year's cruise? How did you like 2007 and 08?

[BrianTom]

Hi GuysInCT! Come on and join us. As you may have read we have done RSVP before and honestly were a bit nervous about booking with a group rather than a charter. Then I started talking to previous passengers and checking out photos and now am very happy we decided to go with Aquafest. All the alumni I talk with cannot say enough about how fun and professional this company is and many come back year after year.

 

I've been told that this cruise is selling very well so that puts to rest my worry that the group will be small. Weather you decide to join us or not I'm glad you stopped by. Let us know if you do decide to book.

 

I have done 5 Atlantis and 1 RSVP and 2 Aquafest. By far, the Aquafest, IMHO is the best way to go. Aquafest does an amazing job. Also, at this time of year there are few children on cruises. Most are running through their neighborhoods looking for candy and doing halloween parties. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how nice of a job Aquafest does.

 

Tom