Emerald Princess-Nov 28

[robgvic]

I know it a long way off but was wondering if any other family is booked on this cruise. We are an older younger couple. We are booked but I just hope partner has no problem getting time off work.

Got our guarantee cabin assignment-a Caribe balcony but who knows we may even get upgraded.

[paul1268]

Hi,

We are Paul and Mark from the San Francisco bay area and have this one on hold. Currently have the Solstice booked for the same time but really interested in this for the itinerary. Just may have to change and join you. Will keep you posted.

[robgvic]

Hi

Sounds good. Let us knwo when you decide and I will let you now what is happening here

Gary

[paul1268]

Hi Gary,

We are confirmed. Now have to figure out all of the ports, excursions, details, details, details. Look forward to a great time.

Paul

[paul1268]

Hi Again Gary,

Just checking in. We also got our gty assignment and also a Caribe balcony :D. Thank you upgrade fairy. Off to check on ports. Have a great weekend.

Paul

[robgvic]

That is great, Paul. We are in C405. What cabin are you in? Still not 100% sure as Craig may have problems getting the two weeks off. He got a promotion and needs to be in contact most of the time. Being retired leaves me totally free.

How long have you and Mark been together? We will celebrate 6 years the end of the month. I hope you won't be shocked with our age difference-I'm 68 and he is 32.

NOvember seems so far off. We are dong a mini cruise on Princess in September from Seattle to Vancouver. I did two of these in May to get to my Elite. We may have Craig in a single and I share with a friend so that he can get his Platinum card and the extra benefits-250 minutes of computer time.

Obviously teh friend would be in the single once we board. It just makes it a nice "evening out"

[paul1268]

That is great, Paul. We are in C405. What cabin are you in? Still not 100% sure as Craig may have problems getting the two weeks off. He got a promotion and needs to be in contact most of the time. Being retired leaves me totally free.

How long have you and Mark been together? We will celebrate 6 years the end of the month. I hope you won't be shocked with our age difference-I'm 68 and he is 32.

NOvember seems so far off. We are dong a mini cruise on Princess in September from Seattle to Vancouver. I did two of these in May to get to my Elite. We may have Craig in a single and I share with a friend so that he can get his Platinum card and the extra benefits-250 minutes of computer time.

Obviously teh friend would be in the single once we board. It just makes it a nice "evening out"

Sorry for the delay but have been very busy. We managed to get C239. Hope that is OK. Were thinking the other day that retirement is less than 10 years away. OMG. We have been together for 23 years:D. This will be only our second Princess cruise so have a way to make any real status. We are mixing it up exploring with several of the lines so it will be a while before we get any perks.

Hope that not only you 2 are able to join us but that a few other "family" members discover this thread as well.

Paul

[paul1268]

Almost 4 months to go, excursions are available for booking, life is great, can't wait :D.

Giving this a bump to see who else is out there. Gary, hope you guys are still joining us.

Paul

[robgvic]

Hi Paul

Still looking good but I dont think we will know for sure until the final payment date. Craig still has to speak to his boss and wants to leave it a while as he has only just started the new job.

I am thinking positively so we will be on teh ship but probably will not have as much time in Fll

Hope your Golden criuse planning is going well. You have a suite there?

Cheers

Gary

[paul1268]

Will keep the fingers crossed for Craig. While we wanted a few extra days pre cruise in FLL, due to surprising lack of availability for Southwest award seats, we are only able to arrive late on friday and have to leave the morning the ship docks. Oh well.

 

After the Emerald we have to wait nearly a year for our next one which is a Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas transatlantic from Barcelona back to FLL. You may have noticed the roll call thread as consistently being at the top of the gay boards. Somehow, that trip has attracted a bunch of great, chatty folks.

[robgvic]

Hi Paul

Unfortunately had to change the cruise. Craig couldn't leave work for that long so we are now booked on the Crown, December 4. I know you will have a great time. Sorry we wont get to meet

GAry

[paul1268]

Gary,

Sorry for your change in plans but the Crown is great. We were on her last year and had a wonderful time and made some good friends through the LGBT meetings. Let me know if you have any questions about the ports.

 

 

Anyone else joining us?

-Paul

[robgvic]

Hi Paul

I was looking forward to days on the Emerald but have to admit the problems of having to work.

What did you do on each of the islands that was really worthwhile. I think we may take the boat from Cozumel to the mainland and see some of the ruins. What do you think?

Enjoy your Labour Day weekend. Craig is coming over tomorrow so it will be good

Cheers

Gary

[paul1268]

We had been to the ruins a few years before on a land tour from Cancun. Absolutely beautiful and worth it. I have heard horror stories of folks who tried to do it on their own from Cozumel and missed the ship. I believe that the ship delayed sailaway 15 or 30 minutes for the ships sponsored tour. If you do it, pay the extra for the ships tour unless you are very experienced.

In Cozumel we just did lunch, a few drinks and window shopping with a few folks we met on board.

Roatan was amazing. Did a catamaran and snorkel. Best time on the whole trip. Friends did some sort of monkey/ jungle tour and regretted it. We did the dolphin and stingray combo in Grand Cayman. Fun but very pricey.

 

Have a great time!

[KansasCityGuys]

Wow, we are so excited about leaving in less than three months on the Emerald Princess. I'm Scott and my partner Cory of 5 years are confirmed on this sailing. This will be our 2nd Princess Cruise as last January we were on the Sapphire Princess to the Mexican Riviera.

[paul1268]

Hi Scott and Cory,

Welcome :D! Also, welcome to Cruise Critic. If you read the posts above, this is our second Princess as well. We did the Mexican Riviera this spring but on Royal Caribbean Mariner. Great time in Cabo and PV. We are in the SF bay area. Where are you guys from?

 

Last year we did the western on the Crown and wanted to do eastern this fall and fell in love the this itinerary. Have some of the excursions figured out but still planning. Anything special you guys have planned? This is going to be lots of fun :D.

-Paul

[KansasCityGuys]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the intro! We are in Kansas City, Missouri. We have been to your neck of the woods a few times. We went to gay pride there last year. What a mess, but we still had fun.

 

This will be our fifth cruise - the other 3 being on NCL. We will be flying into Ft. Lauderdale on Thanksgiving day. We have reservations at the Coral Reef Guesthouse. We have stayed there several times

 

As for shore excursions, I have been doing my homework and I think I am driving Cory crazy. In the past we really have not done that many excursions, but we decided for this cruise we would and I have currently reserved us a shore excursion for every port.

 

St. Kitts - Clay Villa and Plantation House

Barbados - Barbados Beach Getaway

St. Lucia - St. Lucia By Land and Sea With Lunch

Antigua - Scenic Antigua and Beach

St. Thomas - Blackbeards Castle and Magens Bay

 

This is what we currently have reserved and I periodically still take a look at the shore excursions that are available. What are you and Mark currently looking at?

 

It was the itinerary that sold us on this particular cruise. We are looking forward to meeting you and Mark as well as other couples who may be on this sailing.

 

Scott

[KansasCityGuys]

I have uploaded our picture to my profile, I don't know why it is not coming through? After I got it figured out what I had done wrong I tried to delete this post but I don't think I can.

[paul1268]

Got a great priceline deal for Friday and Saturday at the W. We have done a couple of the guest houses in the past and decided to try something different. Haven't nailed down our schedule but will be getting together with a friend from FLL for dinner/ drinks one of the nights. Will let you know as we should say hi for something pre-cruise.

 

So far with Princess we have:

ST. LUCIA BY LAND & SEA WITH LUNCH

ST. JOHN TRUNK BAY BEACH & SNORKEL

 

The rest we are probably doing on our own to find some local flavor and a beach. Still in flux and will keep you posted.

[paul1268]

Woo-Hoo :D. Did final payment last night and now really can't wait.

[KansasCityGuys]

We're excited too and can't wait. The cruise is starting to feel more like a reality now. Also made final payment and I just printed out our boarding passes and luggage tags.

[KansasCityGuys]

We are getting excited! We leave for Ft. Lauderdale in 3 weeks and the cruise in 3 and a half weeks.

 

We have decided against doing the St. Lucia by Land and Sea with Lunch Shore Excursion and instead doing the Cosol Tours. I have read a lot about them on Cruise Critic and it appears to be a very good tour.

 

Scott

[paul1268]

We are getting excited! We leave for Ft. Lauderdale in 3 weeks and the cruise in 3 and a half weeks.

 

We have decided against doing the St. Lucia by Land and Sea with Lunch Shore Excursion and instead doing the Cosol Tours. I have read a lot about them on Cruise Critic and it appears to be a very good tour.

 

Scott

 

Hi Scott,

It is creeping up way too fast :D. We now behind a bit in the planning so it is time to kick it into high gear. We flipped a coin on Cosol vs. the ship's tour for St. Lucia. I guess we will have a great comparison to talk about.

 

Paul

[KansasCityGuys]

Hi Paul,

 

We are getting real excited as each day counts down and gets closer. In one of your earlier posts you had mentioned the possibility of possibly getting together pre-cruise for a cocktail or two. It looks like you may have a tighter schedule than us in Ft. Lauderdale since you had mentioned you already had plans one night with a friend. I am not totally sure of out schedule at this time either but I am pretty sure we have plans Sat. afternoon.

 

I figured, I would give you some contact information, in case you guys are wanting to try to get together pre-cruise. You can send me an e-mail to kufanscott@gmail.com and then I could provide you with my cell phone number. Or the other option is we are staying at the Coral Reef Guesthouse, the phone number is 954-568-0292, room 101.

 

Scott

[paul1268]

Hi Scott,

We will get together but still not sure of the schedule. We get in friday about 8pm. Haven't gotten a confirmation on schedule from our friend in FLL. We can be reached at max41819@me.com but get email alerts for posts here as well so either works.

Will keep you posted.

 

Paul