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Pied Piper Cruises


Luke916
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@Petert102:

 

I'm also booked on the Oct. Transatlantic cruise with Pied Piper. I'm looking forward to the cruise and looking forward to meeting you onboard the Infinity.

This is the Roll Call

 

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

 

Mega Hugz

 

Peter

Edited by Petert102
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Anyone else doing this cruise - Nov 30, Southern Carib , Celebrity Refection. :D:D

It's going to be a GREAT time.

FYI- Book by 2/18 and you'll get free bev package incl beer/wine/drinks included at no charge.

 

I and my BF are going.

Btw did you receive a confirmation of the beverage package yet?

I haven't and neither have I received a booking confirmation from PP.

 

:confused:

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My partner and I are going on this cruise as well. We have never done

a PP Cruise and are looking forward to it.

 

We have done 4 RSVP Cruises and decided we wanted something difference and the prices are alot less on PP as well.

 

Ron and Jamie

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Having done both, I have to agree with most of the posts although PP experience is only based on the 2012 Post Thanksgiving cruise. Communication was not what we're used to with RSVP. We tried to talk to Derek several times before booking, only to be told he prefers email. Since we were newbies to Pied Piper, and skeptical about what the cruise would be like, would a brief chat on the phone have killed anyone's day? That said, PP staff redeemed themselves on board.

 

I would also question whether the PP rates are all that much better than the cruise line's published rates. After a little research, we found our fare to be about the same as Celebrity's. The difference? Celebrity rates included tax and port fees. PP did not.

 

Only sharing OUR experience. Different companies provide different experiences. We're booked for RSVP Alaska in July, primarily because we have frequent cruise points that dropped the price considerably.

 

Bottom line: would we book PP again? You betcha!

Edited by jimnbillnpa
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I and my BF are going.

Btw did you receive a confirmation of the beverage package yet?

I haven't and neither have I received a booking confirmation from PP.

 

:confused:

 

we've only received the booking confirm so far as well. I'll be following up with pp before the 18, when the promo ends.

We have a group of 10 so far- I think it will go up with some on the fence right now. We are all on deck 7. Really looking forward to it. :D

Tommy

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We've been on the post-Thanksgiving cruise and it was a lot of fun. Almost felt like an all Gay charter, with over 900 members in our group. We took over the nightclub at night and the pooldeck during the day. :D

 

The majority of the group were slightly older than us (35-65 yrs) with a few exceptions but that was no problem...we enjoyed the attention from our fellow gentlemen.:p

 

In fact we had so much fun, that we decided to book the same cruise and another one with Pied Piper for 2013.

 

The best thing about booking with a gay group agency is that you can join in all the group events and excursions if you like and if not you can just step aside and chill out on your own or with that special someone.

 

I've heard that the post-Thanksgiving cruise is the big event for Pied Piper and the other groups are much smaller in size and less party-going, but I will know more about that after our Greek Isles and Turkey cruise in july.

 

Anyway, I highly recommend booking through Pied Piper. my experience is that fares are much lower than other TA's and the service has been spot on.

Derek has always been very quick with replying to all my questions, and god forbid there has been many.

 

Kudos for him.

 

 

Hi! Tommy and Ray here- Glad to hear about your cruise experience on PP for this cruise! Sounds like a Blast and we are really looking forward to it so much. :) I had friends that did this cruise a few years back and also had a great time too. We had started talking about it last November, however, when Celebrity did the promo for the free beverage package, thats when we booked- currently have 10 in our group. We are all from the Orlando area.

Our group has been dealing with Bruce @ PP- always quick to reply. I'm sure as the time gets closer, we'll start talking about going down to Miami area a night before for pre-cruise! Let the party begin! ha! :D:D

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I'll get there on the first day of the cruise but am excited just the same. I'm a little anxious to get my boarding information and an idea of what Pied Piper has planned for us to do. I went ahead and booked some of the ship excursions; however, I might cancel some depending on when and what Pied Piper has for the group to do off ship. Have your received any boarding information, luggage tags etc. from them yet?

Keith

 

Although my partner and I are not with the PP group, we are traveling on this cruise and we have organized several private tours, with room still available. You know there are several other threads on this forum for this cruise, including one in the lgbt roll call section. There you will find the private tours i have setup.

Edited by kwokpot
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Having done both, I have to agree with most of the posts although PP experience is only based on the 2012 Post Thanksgiving cruise. Communication was not what we're used to with RSVP. We tried to talk to Derek several times before booking, only to be told he prefers email. Since we were newbies to Pied Piper, and skeptical about what the cruise would be like, would a brief chat on the phone have killed anyone's day? That said, PP staff redeemed themselves on board.

 

I would also question whether the PP rates are all that much better than the cruise line's published rates. After a little research, we found our fare to be about the same as Celebrity's. The difference? Celebrity rates included tax and port fees. PP did not.

 

Bottom line: would we book PP again? You betcha!

 

One thing that can make PP rates confusing is they list all the cabin categories on their website, but at least half aren't discounted.

 

For example we're going on the June 24th sailing on Infinity, If I booked a C1 or C2 I would pay same rate as Celebrity charges, I booked a C3 and it's a ~$900 less per person than Celebrity.

 

Because Pied Piper only get group rates on about 5 or 6 cabin categories, don't make the assumption all the categories are discounted. You really need to check them and do a side by side comparison to see which ones are the biggest bang for the buck

 

It would be easier I guess if they just listed the group (discounted) rates, but until they do I make up a quick spreadsheet to compare them apples/apples

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One thing that can make PP rates confusing is they list all the cabin categories on their website, but at least half aren't discounted.

 

For example we're going on the June 24th sailing on Infinity, If I booked a C1 or C2 I would pay same rate as Celebrity charges, I booked a C3 and it's a ~$900 less per person than Celebrity.

 

Because Pied Piper only get group rates on about 5 or 6 cabin categories, don't make the assumption all the categories are discounted. You really need to check them and do a side by side comparison to see which ones are the biggest bang for the buck

 

It would be easier I guess if they just listed the group (discounted) rates, but until they do I make up a quick spreadsheet to compare them apples/apples

 

 

And when comparing, keep in mind that the rates shown on Pied Piper don't include port fees like almost every other site does including the major cruiseline sites. But Pied Piper does show the extra port fees in the words on the left side. Just add them together before comparing as its not always obvious. But I agree that in certain categories they do offer a good discount.

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Hi! Tommy and Ray here- Glad to hear about your cruise experience on PP for this cruise! Sounds like a Blast and we are really looking forward to it so much. :) I had friends that did this cruise a few years back and also had a great time too. We had started talking about it last November, however, when Celebrity did the promo for the free beverage package, thats when we booked- currently have 10 in our group. We are all from the Orlando area.

Our group has been dealing with Bruce @ PP- always quick to reply. I'm sure as the time gets closer, we'll start talking about going down to Miami area a night before for pre-cruise! Let the party begin! ha! :D:D

 

 

hi Tommy and Ray!

I'm sure you guys will have lots of fun and see you onbord.

:) or perhaps pre-cruise party somwhere on South Beach?:cool:

 

D

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  • 2 weeks later...
Has anyone ever traveled with Pied Piper cruises before? We just came across them and they seem to have some interesting cruises we would be interested in taking. Would love to get some feedback about their org.

 

We are specifically looking at the Iceland/Norway Fjords one in June and the Northern Europe on on Celebrity also in June. So if any of you are going on either of these cruises or have traveled with them before we WOULD LOVE any or all info you have on them!! Thanks!!

 

I have now done 6 Pied Piper Cruises. I actually prefer the smaller groups to the Post Thanksgiving. It really is a great opportunity to meet up with other people on the ship

 

When there are just 20-30 or so people they will normally have just 1 host. They will help organize meet ups for drinks and they usually have 1 or 2 happy hours where your drinks are included. Pied Piper also tends to be couples so it is nice to meet up with other couples on the ship.

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And when comparing, keep in mind that the rates shown on Pied Piper don't include port fees like almost every other site does including the major cruiseline sites. But Pied Piper does show the extra port fees in the words on the left side. Just add them together before comparing as its not always obvious. But I agree that in certain categories they do offer a good discount.

 

That's what I was saying in a rather confusing, roundabout way. :)

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I have now done 6 Pied Piper Cruises. I actually prefer the smaller groups to the Post Thanksgiving.

 

We, too, have done at least half-a-dozen PP cruises and absolutely love the people who run it, and the cruises they produce. We have also come to prefer the smaller groups over the massive Post-Tgiving PP cruise. If you want a somewhat RSVP/Atlantis-type semi-charter gay cruise, the Post-Tgiving one is for you and will cost you less than the charter companies, but for us it's "been there, done that". We now prefer the smaller group atmosphere but we DO miss the more active hosting that accompanies that yearly biggie. We also prefer the smaller ships, if you can call a capacity of a 'mere' 2,500 or so "smaller".

 

And speaking of that, we're going to be on the 04/03/2013 PP Celebrity Century cruise r/t out of San Diego to Hawai'i. Are any of you going to be onboard that one?

 

Bottom line, though: Pied Piper has hijacked this couple away from the RSVP/Atlantis charters. Believe it or not, there's a definite satisfaction derived from mingling with 'breeders' on a mixed cruise and showing them that their ancient prejudices against us are merely examples of ignorance!

We're proud to be ambassadors to their often closed society, disproving those inaccurate portrayals of us. And just as satisfying, we're often surprised at how totally accepted we are among them... indeed appreciated! We've made more than one potentially stodgy cruise a lot more fun for (some of) our straight fellow travelers.

 

Do THEM a favor! Show them that we don't have horns!:eek:

 

Wherever you go, and whoever you book with, at least do THIS: make it a point to hold hands walking around the decks, and dance at least one slow romantic number together in the disco before the cruise ends. We have ALWAYS done both of those on every one of our 20+ cruises, most of which were NOT gay chartered or groups.

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Joe and Michael, I'll also be on the Century cruise to Hawaii from San Diego....I look forward to meeting you

 

Hobie - Yes, we'd love to meet you. Will you be in the Pied Piper group? If so, meeting will be easy. If not, maybe we'll meet you at the CruiseCritic reception. If it's much before noon, however, we won't be there: we're late-nighters especially on sea-days.

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Just a quick question for you guys, who booked through Pied Piper during the 1-2-3 promotion.

 

Did you receive a confirmation email about the added benefits already?

We didn't, perhaps I should ask Derek.

 

Thanks, D

Edited by Denpetter
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Hey there! We are Jamey and Marc and this is also our first time with PP. We are also booked on the Iceland fjords cruise on June 24th. We are from NJ and have been on many cruises before but like mentioned earlier this will be first "gay group" cruise with PP. We have always gone on regular str8 cruises before and never had any issues for the most part. Wanted to try these guys out and see how it is to travel with some other "family" members! Look forward to meeting you guys!

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Just a quick question for you guys, who booked through Pied Piper during the 1-2-3 promotion.

 

Did you receive a confirmation email about the added benefits already?

We didn't, perhaps I should ask Derek.

 

Thanks, D

 

Hey Buddy- Yes, we booked the 1-2-3 promo back in Jan (of course the beverage package!). There is a total of about 14 of us from Orlando- We have been working with Bruce at PP. We didn't get any confirm, however, when I log into the Celebrity website, it shows our beverage package promo. We are also going to upgrade it to the premium package (incl martini's and frozen, and energy drinks too!). Set up your login at Celebrity with your confirm number- Where are you traveling from? I am sure, although it's early but we'll be going down to either fort laud or miami on that Friday for pre cruise. Hope that helps! Tommy :D:D

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Hey there! We are Jamey and Marc and this is also our first time with PP. We are also booked on the Iceland fjords cruise on June 24th. We are from NJ and have been on many cruises before but like mentioned earlier this will be first "gay group" cruise with PP. We have always gone on regular str8 cruises before and never had any issues for the most part. Wanted to try these guys out and see how it is to travel with some other "family" members! Look forward to meeting you guys!

 

Hi Jamey and Marc! This is going to be our first PP cruise- We are a group of about 14 from Orlando, Can't wait! It's going to be allot of fun for sure! Your Iceland cruise sounds amazing! We've been on a partial gay cruise before with another company and it was a great time. Look forward to meeting you guys! Are you coming in early for pre cruise in Miami or Fort Laud? Tommy and Ray here. :D:D

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