Celebrity Summit - Caribbean - 2/16/08 - Roll Call!

[ChesaPBay]

Welcome. I think we'll all have a fantastic time and I'm glad you will be among the Pied Pipers. When was the Pied Piper trip you mentioned? And how did you like it?

 

My partner and I (we are female by the way) have traveled twice with PP and had a wonderful time on each trip. The last two years, this trip has had 70-80 in the PP group, so you're bound to meet someone you like. We have enjoyed the Celebrity experience but don't have much to compare it with (except one NCL trip that doesn't count because it was chartered by a local travel group).

 

Eventually, we may cruise more once a year, so maybe we'll try a couple other lines. But, we also like land vacations and, in fact, we're leaving tomorrow for Hawaii.

 

I looked at your pix of Antarctica. What an experience that must have been. How did you like that trip? Someday I might want to go there, but my partner won't go to Alaska so there's no chance she'd go to Antarctica. She's definitely a warm weather gal.

 

Yes, we have 8 months to go before this cruise, but as they say the fun is in the anticipation and planning. Check out Jim_Iain's Roll Call website. You can get to it in Jim's signature. Those guys are the best. Jim's a font of cruising knowledge. We met him on our Pied cruise this past February. He and Iain are wonderful guys.

[smoosh21]

Welcome aboard! I love Celebrity, I think they are really great and I hope you will too.

 

Has anybody been looking at airfare? It is still really high, in the $400-500 range, so I am going to wait SEVERAL months for it to drop...should be able to get it for $150-250. (That's from Washington DC, where I live, by the way.)

 

It is running $426 right now from Atlanta, but that is either through Miami on AA or IAD on United. Since I hate flying through Dulles, I am most likely going to be choosing AA. Non stop from Atlanta on Delta is almost $600 right now.

 

I am not sure how much it is going to drop since the cruise starts during Presidents day weekend. I think that is why the cruise price is higher than the weeks before or after.

[Jim_Iain]

Welcome Smoosh21 - Yikes.. I just checked an the rate from San Francisco to San Juan is $436. I would have expected your rates from the East Coast to be much cheaper.

 

ChesaPBayHave a wonderful time in Hawaii. I wish we were coming along. At least wave when you fly over.:p Iain's Aunt is arriving on Thursday from Scotland for a 2 months visit. Can't wait she is a blast and is one of the best low maintenance visitor one could ever have.

 

Meridith - You will have to keep us updated on the best air fare alternatives.

 

Jim

[smoosh21]

Welcome. I think we'll all have a fantastic time and I'm glad you will be among the Pied Pipers. When was the Pied Piper trip you mentioned? And how did you like it?

 

 

 

I looked at your pix of Antarctica. What an experience that must have been. How did you like that trip? Someday I might want to go there, but my partner won't go to Alaska so there's no chance she'd go to Antarctica. She's definitely a warm weather gal.

 

.

 

The Pied Piper was the 9 night out of Bayonne on the Explorer. I had a great time, especially with the group. I would have to say, overall, I like HAL better than RCI, but I will admit that RCI has a lot more going on, on the ship.

 

As for Antarctica, it was wonderful. We went mostly to say we were there. My parther has now been on all seven continents, I only have five. It is so worth putting up with the cold weather for 10 days.

 

It is also nothing like Alaska. The most stark difference is the lack of vegetation. Cruising through Alaska you have so much more green because of the forests that come right down to the water. In Antarctica there is only rock, ice, water and Penguin. Ok, there are lots of different birds you see, but the penguins are the stars.

 

The weather wasn't too cold. I don't think it ever went much lower than the 20s and one day it was warm enough to sit out in the sun with just a sweater. The only thing that got you was the wind chill. There were a few days the relative wind across the ship was in the 50 knot range. Other days, it was perfectly calm.

 

Make her watch Happy Feet and maybe she will want to go see the penguins.:D

[Jim_Iain]

Sounds like a wonderful trip to the Arctic. We were considering a cruise there last year. I went as far as to find the cruise and book it. My partner then nixed the idea... he didn't want to cruise on RCCL. Oh well maybe I will shift him from Celebrity one day.

 

Jim

[ChesaPBay]

Thought it might be a good idea to check in and thereby bump up the thread.

 

Jim_Iain, we had a truly wonderful time in Hawaii. We both enjoyed it more than our first trip there. We loved Wakiki!! In fact, we stayed there longer than originally planned. P. loved it so much she insisted on returning next summer -- that is, until yesterday, when she had difficulty recovering from the long trip home. It's not so bad for you guys, but for us East Coast folks it's a bear. I've decided I probably won't ever see Austraila for that reason.

 

Hope you're having fun with Iain's aunt. Be sure to give him our best.

 

Smoosh21, good idea about "Happy Feet," but, unfortunately, I don't think it will help. I'm envious that your partner has visited each of the continents! Now that there are cruises to some of the farther ones, I may have a shot. But my partner thinks it's cold when it's in the 70s; I can just imagine telling her Antarctica isn't that cold because it rarely drops below 20!!! And I've noticed, as the years have been ticking by, that the threshold is getting higher and higher.

[Jim_Iain]

Glad you had such a wonderful time in Hawaii. We use to go over often as it is a relatively quick jump from California. Next time you can break your journey up and spend a couple days with us in each direction. It is hard to believe by East coast to Hawaii is like West coast to Europe.

 

We are having a great time with Isa's visit. The two of them surprised me and they both gave up smoking. I hope it works for them. It has been a week so far and they have not eaten my head off yet.

 

 

Jim

[ChesaPBay]

Glad you had such a wonderful time in Hawaii. We use to go over often as it is a relatively quick jump from California. Next time you can break your journey up and spend a couple days with us in each direction. It is hard to believe by East coast to Hawaii is like West coast to Europe.

 

We are having a great time with Isa's visit. The two of them surprised me and they both gave up smoking. I hope it works for them. It has been a week so far and they have not eaten my head off yet.

 

 

Jim: thanks so much for your offer. We may take you up on it one of these days. And, of course, we'd love for you guys to take a break and stay with us when you're traveling to Europe. We live only 20 minutes from the BWI airport!

 

Thanks, too, for the information about the credit monitoring service. I'm getting a bit too cynical in my old age.

 

Please tell Iain congratulations on not smoking! I can attest to how difficult it is to quit. Just yesterday, I was telling someone that I'd smoked for 30 years, which seems unbelievable. You have no idea how many times I re-added the years to be sure I was correct. And during that time, I tried to quit many, many times. The fact that I don't smoke now is only because of the serious health issue I had last fall. I believe something in the anesthesia damaged my brain in a way that made me forget I ever smoked.

 

Have fun with Iain's aunt. Hope they don't get cranky at the same time.

[Jim_Iain]

So far so good. Isa is sneaking a smoke but Iain has really done well and I have faith that he can do it. I might have told you I am also an Ex smoker. I quite 20 years ago.

 

I am happy that you were successful in quitting. Sometimes things happen for a reason.

 

What you guys up to for the 4th?

[ChesaPBay]

Hey Jim: Please congratulate Iain for me and tell him to keep up the good work. I do recall you telling me you also were a long-term smoker who had quit successfully. I remember being sort of shocked to see Iain smoke; he didn't look like a smoker to me.

 

We're probably going to have a low-key 4th since it's Wednesday. We have a niece with us and our friends' twin boys -- three 14-year-olds -- so we'll probably wander down to DC for some festivities if the weather cooperates. Is the 4th also Canada Day? And what have you planned for that?

[etoile]

Wow, ChesaPBay, you are BRAVE! I have lived in DC my whole life and I have never been downtown for the fireworks. It's just way too hectic and crowded for my taste! We live in Vienna so sometimes we go to the fireworks here, it's a smaller show but it's still cute.

[Jim_Iain]

Hi - Yea... I smoked for a long time and gave it up 20 years ago. Iain has always been a very polite smoker - I am happy that he has finally made up his mind to stop smoking.

 

We aren't doing much for the holiday. We had a dinner party Saturday for some friends. Sunday I had my Son, his wife and my new Grandson over. As well as my father and oldest daughter. Was a fun weekend.

 

We are heading up to the Russian River on July 5th for 5 days - mini vacation.

 

Meridith - Welcome home. Iain and i have even been to the fireworks in DC. We were back there for a week with my 3 kids. The fireworks were probably our highlight of the trip - but then again we could walk to and from the hotel.

 

Jim

[ChesaPBay]

Etoile: We've been to the DC fireworks and festivities several times, but whether we go tomorrow depends on the weather and how tired I am, considering I'm still at work. Sometimes we go to the Columbia fireworks, so that's also an option. With houseguests, I feel compelled to do something a little special.

 

Jim: Enjoy your mini vacation. P. and I visited the Russian River area several years ago. It seemed kind of rustic, but relaxing and quiet.

 

And to all, a happy 4th!

[Jim_Iain]

Happy 4th to you also. I don't think we will be going out. Luke (our dog) gets really freaked by fireworks. We have some drugs the doctor gave us to sedate him. I hope it works.

 

We do have 4-5 fireworks displays within a couple miles from our home. Maybe I will go up on the 4th floor room and see what I can see.

[ChesaPBay]

We ended up not doing much either. The weather was threatening most of the day, but he kids did play miniature golf and see a movie. We didn't want them to walk to the local fireworks at night because we had one heckuva storm around 8:30. A couple years ago at our city's fireworks, they set off the finale 5 minutes into the show. And that was it, so everyone left. Quite amusing.

 

By chance did you -- or anyone reading this -- book the maiden voyage of the Solstice? We talked about it, but mid-December is not a good time for us. I'd love to see that ship.

 

Re: airfare -- a colleague of mine has a fare watcher set up with Travelocity (I think) to check airfare to San Juan from DC. Tuesday, there was a roundtrip for $163 from and $200 from BWI. I doubt it gets much better than that!

[etoile]

Re: airfare -- a colleague of mine has a fare watcher set up with Travelocity (I think) to check airfare to San Juan from DC. Tuesday, there was a roundtrip for $163 from and $200 from BWI. I doubt it gets much better than that!

$163?!?! I gotta get my hands on that fare! I am not sure what our exact dates for travel will be, we want to spend some time in San Juan either pre or post cruise but since we don't know what my school schedule will be like in spring, we can't get airfare yet...argh.

[smoosh21]

 

Re: airfare -- a colleague of mine has a fare watcher set up with Travelocity (I think) to check airfare to San Juan from DC. Tuesday, there was a roundtrip for $163 from and $200 from BWI. I doubt it gets much better than that!

 

Are you sure this is for February? I know that ATL-SJU is running at $426 in February, but I can get it for about $150 less for dates before October.

I just checked Kayak and it is showing $396 from all the DC airports.

 

I am still waiting for a sale. It seems that they will probably not have a February flight go onsale until early Fall.

[ChesaPBay]

Smoosh21: Sorry, I should have read the Travelocity airfare deal more closely. I no longer have the email so I can't check the details, but I'll more carefully read the next ad.

[Jim_Iain]

Hi all...I would agree that we may not see any good sales until the end of summer. San Juan is really a tough connection off the west coast. I think we could fly to Europe faster than to San Juan.

 

Jim

[smoosh21]

3 weeks and no activity. I have to change that

 

Well I can tell you that no prices have changed out of Atlanta yet. I am hoping that some competition comes in soon to drop the price.

 

I was recently able to book a flight to Rapid City for an Autumn vacation as Delta is getting some competition starting in October. When the new airline starts service the price is dropping from over $600 to under $300.

 

Now if we can only get San Juan to fall under $300.

 

So do we know if anyone else has joined?

[Jim_Iain]

I am sure more will join in as we get closer to cruise date. I have not yet begun looking for air fares. We have a cruise planned for December and all my energy has been going into planning for that cruise.

 

What price range are fares currently at?

[etoile]

It was about $450 from the Washington DC area when I originally booked the cruise, looks like it's now down to about $275-300. I am crossing my fingers that it will keep dropping! I am also looking to use Farecast.com when the date gets closer - it's a flight search engine that predicts when airfares will drop but you can't use it too far in advance.

[etoile]

It was about $450 from the Washington DC area when I originally booked the cruise, looks like it's now down to about $275-300. I am crossing my fingers that it will keep dropping! I am also looking to use Farecast.com when the date gets closer - it's a flight search engine that predicts when airfares will drop but you can't use it too far in advance.

[Jim_Iain]

Great advise Meredith - I will have to start checking that once we get closer. Good seeing you around. Hope all is going well with you.

 

Jim

[NYCruisers2]

Hi all,

 

My partner Jack and I will be on this cruise as well! We are looking forward to it...it will be our fourth time with Pied Piper and our sixth cruise.

 

We are also part of the group Kevin and Peter mentioned in an earlier post. We met them on a PP Mediterranean cruise a few years ago...and they have become great friends!

 

We just booked our airfare. The prices are crazy out of NY area because it is a school holiday week.

 

Anthony