Celebrity Infinity - Oct 24 2013 - T/A Harwich to Miami - Pied Piper sailing

[Petert102]

I leave tomorrow for Seattle where I will board Rhapsody of the Seas for 7 nights cruising Alaska.

 

I'll be gone for a week but will check in when I return.

 

Take care, Glenn

Enjoy all that nature, wildlife, whales and Olympic size Bugs !!!!

 

Actually I am Green with Envy

 

Peter

[Turtles06]

The PP invoices are comming out via e-mail. Howards arrived yesterday, ours did not, but Bruce assures me that ours will be on its way momentarily. The Credit Card charge date will be AUGUST 12

 

Peter

 

Thanks Peter. We have nothing yet either.

[Turtles06]

I leave tomorrow for Seattle where I will board Rhapsody of the Seas for 7 nights cruising Alaska.

 

I'll be gone for a week but will check in when I return.

 

Take care, Glenn

 

Have a great time, Glenn!

 

Judith

[Turtles06]

We finally got our invoice for final payment! That certainly makes the trip seem pretty close...

 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Judith

[Petert102]

PIED PIPER FINAL PAYMENT INVOICE

 

The invoice for the final payment arrived via e-mail yesterday. It was totally screwed up and I nearly went into cardiac arrest !!!!! Returned it to them for changes.

 

By the way, any of you who took advantages of X's various booking specials, should also check that these are itemized on your final bill. Remember to pack a copy in case there are any on board billing problems, X does not employ the smartest brains in their on board accounting offices.

 

Anyway, with the final invoice arriving, I feel that a major milestone has been reached and I feels as if we are within touching distance of our trip, not that I want to wish the summer away.

 

It has turned cool at Fire Island, the temps during the day are around 80F and in the low 70F at night, fabulous sleeping weather, good sleep ensured with the sound of the Ocean waves crashing onto the beach

 

Mega Hugz to All

 

Peter

Edited July 27, 2013 by Petert102

[Petert102]

PIED PIPER FINAL PAYMENT INVOICE

 

The invoice for the final payment arrived via e-mail yesterday. It was totally screwed up and I nearly went into cardiac arrest !!!!! Returned it to them for changes.

 

By the way, any of you who took advantages of X's various booking specials, should also check that these are itemized on your final bill. Remember to pack a copy in case there are any on board billing problems, X does not employ the smartest brains in their on board accounting offices.

 

Anyway, with the final invoice arriving, I feel that a major milestone has been reached and I feels as if we are within touching distance of our trip, not that I want to wish the summer away.

 

It has turned cool at Fire Island, the temps during the day are around 80F and in the low 70F at night, fabulous sleeping weather, good sleep ensured with the sound of the Ocean waves crashing onto the beach

 

Mega Hugz to All

 

Peter

Silly me, IGNORE THE PRIOR POST. I must be getting senile, loosing y marbles and confused the Cabin price that Howard is paying to what we had actually reserved for ourselves

 

PROFOUND APOLOGIES to Bruce, Derek and all the wonderful Guys at Pied Piper

 

Peter

Edited July 27, 2013 by Petert102

[studhilo]

Silly me, IGNORE THE PRIOR POST. I must be getting senile, loosing y marbles and confused the Cabin price that Howard is paying to what we had actually reserved for ourselves

 

PROFOUND APOLOGIES to Bruce, Derek and all the wonderful Guys at Pied Piper

 

Peter

 

Haven't seen mine yet - but went through Out & About Travel, so perhaps needs to get forwarded by them.

[Petert102]

Haven't seen mine yet - but went through Out & About Travel, so perhaps needs to get forwarded by them.

I am sure you will get it early next week, I think they might we working alphabetically as Howards last name is a B which ours is a T which may explain why our invoice arrived a few days later.

 

Any way, we can almost smell the sea air and are starting to salivate at the thought of that British Pre-Cruise Gourmet cuisine with all those stroke and heart attack inducing dishes....Oh My !!!!!

 

Hugz

 

Peter

Edited July 27, 2013 by Petert102

[Khepre]

@Peter,

 

Ramadan... well, it is what it is... let me just say that am very much looking forward to the start of Eid al Fitr on 8 or 9 August :-)

[Khepre]

@Peter... well, the "double wide" budget motel will still be a step up from the tent in the desert that I will have just left to take this trip... :-)

 

@Russ... thanks for the dinner offer for the 23rd in Harwich. Unfortunately, I will not even arrive in Harwich from Heathrow until around midnight or so. At which point, I will have traveled for about 22 awake hours... so am planning to just crash. (@Peter, so the "double wide" will be tolerable...). Might walk around Harwich a bit the next morning before making my way to the pier... maybe can meet those of you at the Pier for coffee before going to the ship?

Chris

[Khepre]

Hi everyone,

 

As this is my first PP trip (invoice arrived and authorized payment)... I have no idea how the first day works....

 

Does PP organize a Sailaway meeting place on board? Will we receive info in advance about where to meet?

 

Thanks,

Chris

[Petert102]

Hi everyone,

 

As this is my first PP trip (invoice arrived and authorized payment)... I have no idea how the first day works....

 

Does PP organize a Sailaway meeting place on board? Will we receive info in advance about where to meet?

 

Thanks,

Chris

Chris

 

You will receive an activity package where the PP schedules are laid out. This will either be in your cabin or mailed to you in advance, as you are not US from the mailing point of view, you will probably get it in your cabin. The package generally includes a Rainbow flag pin with Pied Piper which you wear and which will identify you to other PPers. Your dining table assignment given to you at check in, or on a card in your cabin will have been previously determined by Pied Piper and you will be at one of their private tables for the late sitting.

 

I any event, regardless of PP, on Celebrity, all the "Family" Members tend to gather at the Martini Bar around 7pm every evening to offer novenas to the alcohol Godess. Rememer to switch on your Gaydar.The other straight folks tend to be "fruit flies" of a "certain age" who tend to be allot of fun.

 

PP Generally has a desk manned, in this case by Bruce, that will be open at at a specific location for questions, issues and for booking PP's own organized shore excursions .

 

PP will host a couple of cocktail parties for which you will be given some drink tickets, there will be a group photo and also, sometimes, but not guaranteed they will host a dinner in one of the smaller restaurants which is fun.

 

Also they can have evening events in the theater, on our last one there was a Sound of Music Sing Along, Folks showed up in Drag dressed as the Baroness, in Nuns outfits as Maria etc...... Eileeen and Judith mentioned a Broadway Show Tunes Quiz evening on their last PP cruise. In any event, it tends to be a great evening.

 

Anyway,I am sure you will have tons of fun, especially after we clear Lisboa and have those long sea days and evenings. Being with PP sure beats watching those Celebrity shows with Dorota and Lazlo twirling from the ceiling on ropes. On our last T/A all the Gay Dancers ( ?????? oxymoron...are they not ALL Gay ) joined the "Family" Group a the Martini Bar if they were not working that evening, much to the delight of some of the Folks !!!!

 

Hugz and hope this helps

 

Peter

 

Peter

[Turtles06]

PP Generally has a desk manned, in this case by Bruce, that will be open at at a specific location for questions, issues and for booking PP's own organized shore excursions .

 

 

Peter

 

Peter -- lots of great info about PP activities on board in your post. I would just note that on our TA last year with PP, there was no PP-staffed desk, and no shore excursions organized by PP. I suspect this is because it was a TA...

 

We did have plenty of other activities along the lines you mentioned. Also, Bruce put together a group to eat at Qsine, and he arranged for a "behind the scenes" backstage tour of the theatre, and of the bridge (love that stuff!). I suspect he will again be amenable to making such requests of the staff on the Infinity if folks are interested.

 

Judith

 

PS: The Sound of Music sing a long sounds great!

[Petert102]

Peter -- lots of great info about PP activities on board in your post. I would just note that on our TA last year with PP, there was no PP-staffed desk, and no shore excursions organized by PP. I suspect this is because it was a TA...

 

We did have plenty of other activities along the lines you mentioned. Also, Bruce put together a group to eat at Qsine, and he arranged for a "behind the scenes" backstage tour of the theatre, and of the bridge (love that stuff!). I suspect he will again be amenable to making such requests of the staff on the Infinity if folks are interested.

 

Judith

 

PS: The Sound of Music sing a long sounds great!

Judith

 

To be fair, they were the Post Thanksgiving Cruises where PP have about one third of the ship taken over, so have more folks to cater to. In any event, we still love the PP ambiance and having a Host, in our case, Bruce, aboard

 

Hugz

 

Peter

Edited July 30, 2013 by Petert102

[Petert102]

Judith

 

To be fair, they were the Post Thanksgiving Cruises where PP have about one third of the ship taken over, so have more folks to cater to. In any event, we still love the PP ambiance and having a Host, in our case, Bruce, aboard

 

Hugz

 

Peter

FORMAL NITES

 

Chris, we should be having three formal nites on our T/A. I do hope you are going to sport your best Dish-Dash and give us all a thrill !!!!

 

Hugz

 

Peter

[Petert102]

TOUR OF THE BRIDGE AND BACK STAGE TOUR

 

Did that as part of the Elite special events on the Millennium two years ago. There was a #2 Officer who was Greek and totally to die for......My eye balls were cumming !!!! and I was suffering form a serious attack of the vapors at such a vision of loveliness standing there on the Bridge. I DO so hope Bruce manages to do the Bridge Tour again and the Elites also have one, then I will get two Bridge Tours. I do hope central casting in Celebrity HQ does its stuff for us !!!!

 

As to the Theater Back of Stage Tour, well we had all the Male dancers at the Martini Bar most evenings. It was most strange how thay all "claimed" to be totally straight and had "Girlfriends !!!! LOL" for the duration of the actual Back Stage Tour, but were really "Totally Out There" at the Martini Bar

 

Hugz to all

 

Peter

Edited July 31, 2013 by Petert102

[BlazerMB]

Thank you all so much for this great information. This is our first PP adventure so I am thrilled to get all these updates!!! Michael

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Petert102]

UK HOTELS - RESERVATIONS

 

Micheal, we are booking our UK hotels on August 20 ( suits the Credit Card Billing cycle better ) meanwhile the Dollar Sterling exchange rate gets better by the day

 

Hope you are enjoying the summer, we are really loving our extended stays out at Fire Island, pure bliss !!!

 

Hugz

 

Peter

Edited July 31, 2013 by Petert102

[Khepre]

Thanks Peter, Judith, and everyone for all the great information! This is going to be so fantastic!

 

I do not know how I will get through the next few months waiting... anticipation takes one only so far!

 

@Peter -- sorry no dishdash -- can't abide the things, really. Beyond fetishism... there is just no way to make them truly fashionable... :o

vis-a-vis wardrobe, though, will do my best not to disappoint...

 

Not being Elite... I'd love a PP "bridge" tour! and the theatre tour would be cool too.

 

Later,

Chris

[Petert102]

Thanks Peter, Judith, and everyone for all the great information! This is going to be so fantastic!

 

I do not know how I will get through the next few months waiting... anticipation takes one only so far!

 

@Peter -- sorry no dishdash -- can't abide the things, really. Beyond fetishism... there is just no way to make them truly fashionable... :o

vis-a-vis wardrobe, though, will do my best not to disappoint...

 

Not being Elite... I'd love a PP "bridge" tour! and the theatre tour would be cool too.

 

Later,

Chris

Chris

 

I am devastated to hear that we will not be seeing you in a Dash-Dash. I used to love the pink underwear shorts that the Saudi's used to wear and who probably had no idea that you could see them through the white cotton of their Dish-Dashes or maybe they DID KNOW !!!! LOL as afterall they were constantly holding each others hands in the street

 

I wanted to dust off and bring my Formal NYPD Ceremonial Unit Uniform that I used to use when I was a member of the elite NYPD Ceremonial Unit, but as I am now retired, Paul had vetoed that idea, so I guess it is a Tux, anyway that is better than all that dark blue Polyester, Sam Brown Belts, white gloves, tie clips etc...anyway Celebrity does not allow passengers to bring hand-cuffs which are part of the Uniform belt !!!!

 

Pop a Xanax a day and the next two months will just glide by in a tranquil haze. Just fed one to Paul as he is off for a cardiac MRI this afternoon and will, I know, freek out in that tube.

 

Mega Hugz

 

Peter

Edited July 31, 2013 by Petert102

[BlazerMB]

Yikes! Your life is busy!!! Tom and I are waiting until Mid August to book the Marble Arch Thistle also. I am looking at a Deluxe Twin Room. (The double beds appear small in the photos!) Also, do you get the Breakfast included? Not sure how available coffee and early morning food is in the area. We're just back from a week in Ft. Lauderdale.....hot but heavenly!!!

[Turtles06]

We're just back from a week in Ft. Lauderdale.....hot but heavenly!!!

 

Glad you had a great time! It's hard for me to think about being in Florida in the summer, but I have a friend in NY with a house in Ft. Lauderdale who was down there earlier this month and said it was hotter in NY than it was there. :eek:

[studhilo]

@Peter... well, the "double wide" budget motel will still be a step up from the tent in the desert that I will have just left to take this trip... :-)

 

@Russ... thanks for the dinner offer for the 23rd in Harwich. Unfortunately, I will not even arrive in Harwich from Heathrow until around midnight or so. At which point, I will have traveled for about 22 awake hours... so am planning to just crash. (@Peter, so the "double wide" will be tolerable...). Might walk around Harwich a bit the next morning before making my way to the pier... maybe can meet those of you at the Pier for coffee before going to the ship?

Chris

 

Meeting up for coffee the moring of the cruise sounds like a good idea. Any of the other Harwich/Pier folks interested?

[BlazerMB]

Florida was hot. But after two weeks of it here....no big deal. Plus we had an ocean and three pools to cool off in. Not too hard to take. Lol. So excited for October. 70+ cruises and every one is like my first!!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Petert102]

Yikes! Your life is busy!!! Tom and I are waiting until Mid August to book the Marble Arch Thistle also. I am looking at a Deluxe Twin Room. (The double beds appear small in the photos!) Also, do you get the Breakfast included? Not sure how available coffee and early morning food is in the area. We're just back from a week in Ft. Lauderdale.....hot but heavenly!!!

No we do not get breakfast included as it is a total rip off. We just go two blocks down Oxford Street to Selfridges, they have, on the top floor and excellent English Breakfast that is very good and affordable, although I think most of it will be off limits to me with my new Diabetes diet which bans all sugars and carbs.

 

Yes, the beds are shorter than the USA and not as large, but hell, you are in Europe where they just do not understand these things !!!!. If you think that the double beds are microscopic, just wait until you see the twin beds !!! your idea is definitely a bad idea. The rooms at the Thistle do have electric kettles and mini-bar fridges and shortbread cookies so you can make yourself teas and coffee and if you pack instant oatmeal, and buy Marks and Spencer Bananas and fresh Orange Juice which we keep in the fridge then you can have a breakfast in your own room. Marks and Spencer two blocks away and we generally pick up some delicious sandwiches and other eatables which we place in the minibar. As the food in the UK is mind bogglingly expensive and mediocre, we save our money and have wonderful smoked salmon or shrimp salad sandwiches in our room.

 

Hugz

 

Peter

Edited July 31, 2013 by Petert102