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Yet another possible itinerary change - PLEASE HELP


cruising mickey
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Hello,

 

Since I am STILL having a problem with finding someone to go with me on the Carnival cruise I've already booked to Grand Turk, St. Thomas and San Juan, I'm beginning to think that the itinerary may be to blame. So, my question to the LGBT CC community is as follows:

 

Should I keep this itinerary OR

 

Switch it to another Caribbean (or possibly even the Bahamas) itinerary, and if so which one?

 

Please advise and, as always, any and all assistance is GREATLY appreciated.

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If you're not going until October 2014...I think you have ample time to find a roomie. I assume you have until the time when final payment is due to canx without penalty? And if you find someone who is interested in going on a cruise, but not all that keen on the line and/or itinerary.....again, if it's before final payment is due, cancel................. and book on "whatever"

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Hello,

 

Since I am STILL having a problem with finding someone to go with me on the Carnival cruise I've already booked to Grand Turk, St. Thomas and San Juan, I'm beginning to think that the itinerary may be to blame. So, my question to the LGBT CC community is as follows:

 

Should I keep this itinerary OR

 

Switch it to another Caribbean (or possibly even the Bahamas) itinerary, and if so which one?

 

Please advise and, as always, any and all assistance is GREATLY appreciated.

Well, they don't call Carnival a trailer park at sea for nothing. I'd try something else, like Princess/Celebrity/HAL/Cunard or if you're a real "foodie" Oceania. Prices can go up quite quickly on Oceania/Cunard. If you're in danger of losing your deposit, then I'd say just go on the trip. When in the ship dining room, ask the Maitre D to seat you with a group of same sex singles(it can be done)Either way do have fun..a cruise is what YOU choose to make of it.

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I'm not sure why most gay men hate Carnival so much? We've personally never had a problem with them. Yes, I've read the horrible stories about how some gay men were discriminated against. We have not witnessed any of that. Perhaps, those stories have been over dramatized? We've been together 17 years and have done everything as a couple on Carnival. Of course, we don't show PDA. We have plenty of time for fondling back at our cabin. Maybe that could be where others are running into problems? Maybe we are just white trash gays that enjoy cruising on the "trailer park at sea". At any rate, we're very excited about our Southern Caribbean cruise on Carnival Valor next month!

Edited by shawne71
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I'm not sure why most gay men hate Carnival so much? We've personally never had a problem with them. Yes, I've read the horrible stories about how some gay men were discriminated against. We have not witnessed any of that. Perhaps, those stories have been over dramatized? We've been together 17 years and have done everything as a couple on Carnival. Of course, we don't show PDA. We have plenty of time for fondling back at our cabin. Maybe that could be where others are running into problems? Maybe we are just white trash gays that enjoy cruising on the "trailer park at sea". At any rate, we're very excited about our Southern Caribbean cruise on Carnival Valor next month!

 

I don't think it's discrimination that puts gay men off Carnival. For me it's the repugnant thought of sailing on a classless, tasteless floating apartment block.

 

It's D grade cruising at best.

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I don't think it's discrimination that puts gay men off Carnival. For me it's the repugnant thought of sailing on a classless, tasteless floating apartment block.

 

It's D grade cruising at best.

 

I'm sorry, but that is rude. I will stick to Carnival where the people are friendly. Have a good day.

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Not treated in a discriminatory way on Carnival, just did not care for their product, and the changes I have read about since our last cruise with them do not encourage me to go back. My opinions are only my opinions, but at least I have sailed Carnival (three times actually) so my thoughts are not purely anecdotal or based on what a friend of a friend said. Plus we have sailed several other lines as well so do have a basis for comparison. We much prefer the higher quality of service, food and ambiance on Celebrity and even Royal.

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We've never had a problem on "C" with the gay issue, but it's just not one of our favorite lines. I kind of put it this way, comparing it to having a wedding reception...... Do you want the $75 per guest package or the $100 per guest package? "C" is the $75 per guest package, while HAL, Princess, Celebrity (our favorites) are the $100 per guest package. The $75 package is nice, but the $100 package is nicer. And we think the overall fit and finish of the ships itself are less appealing (to us) on "C". But on all the lines, the base price of the cruise is pretty much the same, so why not go for the $100 package?

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I'm not sure why most gay men hate Carnival so much? We've personally never had a problem with them. Yes, I've read the horrible stories about how some gay men were discriminated against. We have not witnessed any of that. Perhaps, those stories have been over dramatized? We've been together 17 years and have done everything as a couple on Carnival. Of course, we don't show PDA. We have plenty of time for fondling back at our cabin. Maybe that could be where others are running into problems? Maybe we are just white trash gays that enjoy cruising on the "trailer park at sea". At any rate, we're very excited about our Southern Caribbean cruise on Carnival Valor next month!

It's quite simple..A few years back we docked in Costa Maya. Along with us(the QM2) there was a HAL ship, a Carnival ship,& a Celebrity ship. Carnival owns HAL & Cunard by the way. What we saw was the "quality" of the pax coming off each ship..Cunard was an older mix as was HAL. No suits or anything like that, just decently dressed. Celebrity had a somewhat younger crowd, also decently dressed. The Carnival pax all wore cheesey & I mean "cheesey" Hawaiian type shirts & cargo shorts. My god they all looked the same. Wearas some of the pax from the other lines went to the "lounge" & pool area right off the dock, most of us went exploring the nearby village. Most of the Carnival pax settled right at home in the bar/lounge & stayed at the pool the whole day. Some had been drinking before even leaving the ship, but most were pretty plastered when we passed the bar area back to our ship. Sorry, but it didn't paint Carnival in a pretty light.

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<GASP!> CARGO SHORTS! Oh the humanity!!!!

The cargo shorts were fine(I have several)It's the horrid Hawaiin shirts I couldn't stand. if it was Tommy Bahama, that would be fine. these, however looked like the cheesyist shirts one might buy at a K Mart. The pax behavior is what did it for me. I'm thinking this was one of those booze cruises that originate somewhere along the Gulfcoast.They were generally a bunch of "crackers"(yeah, I know it's not a nice sterotype)It was in November, so it wasn't a "Spring break" type crowd. That & they were generally later 40's.

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We've never had a problem on "C" with the gay issue, but it's just not one of our favorite lines. I kind of put it this way, comparing it to having a wedding reception...... Do you want the $75 per guest package or the $100 per guest package? "C" is the $75 per guest package, while HAL, Princess, Celebrity (our favorites) are the $100 per guest package. The $75 package is nice, but the $100 package is nicer. And we think the overall fit and finish of the ships itself are less appealing (to us) on "C". But on all the lines, the base price of the cruise is pretty much the same, so why not go for the $100 package?

 

This was a very nice [and pretty accurate] way of putting it.

My other half and I have only sailed on Carnival and Norwegian so cannot compare to the more upscale lines [although a TA on the QM2 is on our list for 2015!] but we have found the trips to be rather enjoyable. I preferred the decor and atmosphere on NCL but found the MDR food a bit better on Carnival. We enjoy the pax mix on NCL more as well [from our experiences] but the northeast homeports [even on Carnival] tend to have more pax that we can relate to in general. We travel several times a year [mostly land-based trips] so the decent pricing of Carnival allows us to squeeze in a few extra trips that we would likely have to forego if we looked only at more expensive lines. If it comes down to 2 Carnival cruises + a week in Europe versus one Caribbean cruise on a line like Crystal, we are more likely to choose the former at this stage in our lives.

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  • 2 months later...
Hello,

 

Since I am STILL having a problem with finding someone to go with me on the Carnival cruise I've already booked to Grand Turk, St. Thomas and San Juan, I'm beginning to think that the itinerary may be to blame. So, my question to the LGBT CC community is as follows:

 

Should I keep this itinerary OR

 

Switch it to another Caribbean (or possibly even the Bahamas) itinerary, and if so which one?

 

Please advise and, as always, any and all assistance is GREATLY appreciated.

 

Never had an issue on Carnival. Sailed 10 times on Carnival and have 1 more booked this year. They are our line of choice. Doing our 2nd cruise on RCCL only because Carnival is not going to Bermuda and we have never been their either. We could do 2 cruises on Carnival for what 1 costs on RCCL.

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Someday we'll go on a different line but for now Carnival suits all our needs. Comparing price and product, I'll take the value. We're going to the Eastern Caribbean for the first time this year and are looking forward to the experience.

 

For what it is worth, we've met some really neat people on these trips...and a lot of gay ones too. And I guess we've steered clear of the judgmental self-important gays that I'm glad we've avoided.

 

-Danny

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Someday we'll go on a different line but for now Carnival suits all our needs. Comparing price and product, I'll take the value. We're going to the Eastern Caribbean for the first time this year and are looking forward to the experience.

 

For what it is worth, we've met some really neat people on these trips...and a lot of gay ones too. And I guess we've steered clear of the judgmental self-important gays that I'm glad we've avoided.

 

-Danny

 

Well said. Totally agree. ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...
We've never had a problem on "C" with the gay issue, but it's just not one of our favorite lines. I kind of put it this way, comparing it to having a wedding reception...... Do you want the $75 per guest package or the $100 per guest package? "C" is the $75 per guest package, while HAL, Princess, Celebrity (our favorites) are the $100 per guest package. The $75 package is nice, but the $100 package is nicer. And we think the overall fit and finish of the ships itself are less appealing (to us) on "C". But on all the lines, the base price of the cruise is pretty much the same, so why not go for the $100 package?

 

Off all the responses to the op this is by far the best and most helpful. From personal experience on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Celebrity my partner and I have enjoyed every one of our 20 some cruises. We are in our early 40s and our only negative experience was on RC when we were traveling with 8 friends besidee us who ranged in age from mid 50s to one in his 80s - hardly the group to flaunt our homosexuality or raise eyebrows with PDAs. One night in the Schooner Bar as we were all calling it a night an older southern man called as fags as we walked by. Nothing to do with the cruise line or the passengers in general. Just a bigot. Anyway, every cruiseline does different things well. And different individuals appreciate the different things that the cruiselines do well. Thus we all favor different cruiselines. If you enjoy your cruise experience, that's all that matters. My only advice would be if you've only tried one cruiseline, try a few others. You may not realize there is a line that is a better match for you....that's what happened to us.

 

Sent from my SCH-I915 using Forums mobile app

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Any cruise line is great, based on what your expectations are. My partner and I are in our mid-30s and cruise based strictly on itinerary. We sail everything from lower-end mainstream lines to luxury ships. The only big difference is that we will get a suite (if we sail on something like NCL) or a smaller, basic room on a luxury line. I think it's silly when people say they "hate" this cruise line or that cruise line. We have had an amazing time on all our trips, met fun people and seen great places. Granted I'm not a cheerleader for any specific line, but we feel like a cruise is a cruise. It's what you want out of it =)

 

 

 

 

 

Michael

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Off all the responses to the op this is by far the best and most helpful. From personal experience on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Celebrity my partner and I have enjoyed every one of our 20 some cruises. We are in our early 40s and our only negative experience was on RC when we were traveling with 8 friends besidee us who ranged in age from mid 50s to one in his 80s - hardly the group to flaunt our homosexuality or raise eyebrows with PDAs. One night in the Schooner Bar as we were all calling it a night an older southern man called as fags as we walked by. Nothing to do with the cruise line or the passengers in general. Just a bigot. Anyway, every cruiseline does different things well. And different individuals appreciate the different things that the cruiselines do well. Thus we all favor different cruiselines. If you enjoy your cruise experience, that's all that matters. My only advice would be if you've only tried one cruiseline, try a few others. You may not realize there is a line that is a better match for you....that's what happened to us.

 

Sent from my SCH-I915 using Forums mobile app

Luckily it wasn't us! That pig(I don't care about his age) would be wearing a drink!

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