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

[smoosh21]

OK we are now 18 signed up for connections, just need 7 more.

[etoile]

What happens when 25 people sign up? Sign up for what? What party?

For a Cruise Critic Connections party - to meet the people you have talked with on these boards. :)

[flag fan]

Thanks for explaining.

[Jim_Iain]

It is a fun gathering. Usually on the first sea day. Unfortunately it is usually around 10:00 AM. Iain is not fond of getting up early.

 

The good news is that Pied Piper will also have a couple parties arranged to meet our group.

[etoile]

Although our first sea day isn't until the end of the trip! I suppose it could be the day we arrive in Bonaire, we don't get there until 1pm. I notice we have no tendering scheduled, yay!

 

Jim, does Iain know we get into most ports at 7am?! :)

[Jim_Iain]

Meredith - He knows we get in early - needless to say we probably won't be taking many excursions. When on vacation he refuses to get out of bed until 9:00 unless forced to.

 

I on the other hand usually get up at 6-6:30.

 

Have you made your air arrangements yet? I noticed recently that the AA flight we are on from Dallas is now fully sold out.

 

Jim

[etoile]

Yikes, I haven't even been checking lately! I will be tagging along to Los Angeles with my wife in January so I've been focusing on that. I've only been to California twice - a weekend in SF and a weekend in Sacramento - so I am absolutely thrilled. She will be in training much of the time, but we will have plenty of time for Disneyland! (I've never been to Disneyland or Disney World, so I am suitably excited.)

 

But you're right, San Juan is still out there, and I better remember to check those fares too! I think we might go with Priceline on that, put up a reasonable bid and see what we get.

[Jim_Iain]

I hope you have a fun time in LA. Disneyland can really be a lot of fun. Brings out they child in all of us.

 

Priceline can really be great. My mother is quite ill with cancer. I am flying to Huntsville on Saturday to visit with her for the week. I have been playing on price line for about a month now and finally last night got a $95/Night hotel for $27...

 

Jim

[etoile]

Reportedly Grenada is unfriendly to gays - do we expect any problems for our Pied Piper group? Since we're not on an ALL gay cruise maybe it won't be a big deal?

 

Also, I wonder how many people have signed up! Surely there are PP people who are not on CC, so who knows how many we have now! The PP trips are usually at least 100 right?

[Jim_Iain]

I have heard that there have been small issues with all gay cruises. I have never been on one that has had a problem. If so - screw them- we will keep our pink dollars and spend them where we are welcome.

 

I'll check in and find out how many are signed up for the cruise.

 

Jim

[Jim_Iain]

I heard from PP this morning and they now have over 50 signed up for our Cruise. That is really a nice size group and will probably grow by the time we cruise.

 

Jim

[smoosh21]

I heard from PP this morning and they now have over 50 signed up for our Cruise. That is really a nice size group and will probably grow by the time we cruise.

 

Jim

 

I am glad to hear it has grown this large, that is a nice sized group.

I think I am going to book my airfare now. It has been hovering between 420 and 480 for 3 months now. The flights look like they are starting to fill up, so I don't see the fare coming down that much, at least not enough savings to offset worry.

Right now I am more concerned with the flights I take than saving $40. Flying AA I can go through Miami. USAir makes me go through Philly, and I am not willing to risk flying there in February, plus it adds more than 3 hours to the flying time as it is in the wrong direction.

[Jim_Iain]

I noticed that our flight on AA though Dallas is now sold out.

[ChesaPBay]

Hi all. Our cruise is getting closer and hopefully more folks will join this discussion.

 

Jim -- I wanted to wish you and Iain a wonderful trip on your transatlantic. Can you believe it's here? In fact, you may have left already.

 

I haven't been looking at this board much. It's been crazy busy here, both at work and at home. Things are just starting to quiet down now. We are getting excited about the Feb. cruise.

 

Give our best to Iain and have a great time.

 

Jackie

[Jim_Iain]

Jackie - Thanks for the bon-voyage. We are all packed. We dropped off Luke (our golden) about 2 hours ago at his vacation place. We found someone who has a company for home style boarding. You dog moves into a home with a family that has a dog and lives just like at home.

 

We fly out tomorrow (Friday) at noon and will get to Barcelona on Saturday.

 

What have you guys been up to?

 

Jim

[kcruising]

Hi Everyone -

 

My partner Pete and I will be on the Summit 2/16 cruise along with 5 other couples. Can't wait.

 

Smoosh - we were on the 5/25 RCCL Carribean cruise with the PP group as well.

 

Etoile - Pete and I are also celebrating our 10th anniversary.

 

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

[smoosh21]

Hi Everyone -

 

My partner Pete and I will be on the Summit 2/16 cruise along with 5 other couples. Can't wait.

 

Smoosh - we were on the 5/25 RCCL Carribean cruise with the PP group as well.

 

Etoile - Pete and I are also celebrating our 10th anniversary.

 

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

 

Hey, Kevin, I am glad to see you got your own CC account now. This is Jack. Looking forward to seeing you guys again.

[etoile]

Finally booked the airfare. Unfortunately I was a little careless and didn't check for RT airfare. Instead, I knew Spirit had a good deal for OW, and I was just looking for the other way. If I had looked for RT, I would have gotten something like $253pp. Instead I ended up with $247pp but we'll be on two airlines, which means the miles won't be very useful, etc. Oh well, at least it is booked! We will arrive at SJU about 3pm on 2/12 and leave around 3pm on 2/23. No hotel booked yet though!

[Jim_Iain]

Meredith - Congratulations on getting your air booked. We have had ours booked for a couple months but today AA changed it's schedule and we have a 3 hour lay over in LA on the way home..

 

We will have to start working on a hotel now. Anyone have suggestions??

 

Jim

[ChesaPBay]

Hope everyone's Christmas was merry!

 

Jim-- how was your transatlantic? Hope you and Iain are well and had a wonderful holiday. It must have been fun with a new grandchild. Have you booked a hotel in P.R. yet? We are so behind -- haven't arranged air fare or hotel. P. was working on it before the holiday and the hotels were quite expensive, so we may not be staying as long after the cruise as we originally planned. She is still up north on vacation; I'm back at work (where there's lots less drama). Please let us know if you found any good hotel deals.

 

So now, with the big holiday over, the time will fly and our cruise will soon be upon us.

 

Jackie

[Jim_Iain]

Jackie - the TA was wonderful. We had temperatures in the Mid-70's to 80's for the complete crossing. The seas were so smooth at times I had to look out to make sure we were still moving.

 

We put together an all gay table from cruise critic members. We had a wonderful time and had Friends of D' meetings every night. We specifically had it posted as LBGT meetings but we never had any L B's or T's join us.

 

I have been working on hotels but have not been successful so far. I bid $120 for a 3* in San Juan and got rejected. I will keep playing on priceline and see what happens. You should get your air bookings in place...I know the flights we are on are now sold out.

 

We don't celebrate Christmas in the normal fashion so do not suffer from the holiday dramas. We are having a Holiday Dinner this Saturday for all my kids, Grandson and Father.

 

Can't wait to see you guys. I hear from Derek that the group is about 50.

 

Jim

[etoile]

I can't believe there's only 50, I thought there would be more like 200! This is my first PP so I guess I just didn't know what to expect.

[kcruising]

50 is not a bad size. The last one went on in May was a little smaller than that.

 

For everyone looking for hotels. They are kind of expensive due to the president's weekend. Our group is staying at the Radisson Ambassador Hotel and Casino. We are flying in on Thursday 2/14 so we have a couple of days before we sail. We were supposed to fly on the redeye Wednesday night from Los Angeles but American Airlines just cancelled the flight and put us on a 6:35 AM flight 2/14- looks like we will be spending most of valentines day in the air.

[Jim_Iain]

I rather like a group in the range of 50. It is a small enough group that you get to know everyone. We have been on PP groups from 50 to 600.

 

The problem we are having getting a hotel is that we are only arriving 2/15 for an overnighter. Many of the hotels have a two day minimum. I have a confirmed booking at the Airport Hotel and casino for $200/night but will be continuing to look.

 

I am also having problems with AA. We are on the non-stop from SJU to LAX at the end of the cruise. They have canceled our LAX to SJC flight and we now have a 3 hour lay over in LAX... maybe they will put on a new flight as we get closer.

 

Jim

[kcruising]

We have a direct flight from San Juan to LAX after the cruise. We couldn't get a direct flight there so we have a 2 hour layover in Ft.Lauderdale on the way out. Hopefully there won't be any delays. AA seems to be having a lot of them lately.

 

Have you tried sidestep.com for your hotel. You can sometimes find pretty good deals through this travel website.