Where is everyone cruising to in 2013?

[Ithocles]

Now that I've read where everyone else is cruising I'm green with envy. Maybe one day when I grow up... <grin>

My partner has given me a cruise to Alaska as a present for finishing my Ph.D. (I defend next Tuesday and he said if I don't pass, we're cancelling! Hah.) I've dreamed of going to Alaska for year and am really, really excited to go. I plan far ahead, but this is the furthest ahead yet.

-Danny

[TwoChicagoGuys]

Originally Posted by pxn748

Just today I booked the Caribbean Princess 3-30 from Miami to Aruba and Curacao. Have never been on Princess before. Five times on HAL though.

I think you'll love it! Caribbean Princess was our first cruise (out of San Juan, PR) and we really enjoyed it. Met two other gay couples, one younger and one older, and alternated spending time/dining with each of them for the rest of the cruise.

A word to the wise -- we had to inquire about FOD Meet&Greet at the purser's desk, as there was nothing in the Princess Patter the 1st day. Magically, there was one listed for the 2nd day, and it was hosted by a gay Asst. Cruise Director.

Have a great cruise!

-Chad (and Ryan)

[TwoChicagoGuys]

My partner and I will be making our Celebrity debut on the Equinox for the 10-day Southern Caribbean sailing from Ft. Lauderdale on February 22nd, 2013. We've cruised twice before on Princess, also in the Caribbean.

We're both excited to try out an Aqua Class cabin and are looking forward to eating at Blu!

So far I don't see a gay roll call for our ship, and the main ship roll call looks to be the same 5 people making all of the posts. Hopefully there are some other fun gays out there who will be on our sailing! Otherwise we'll just have to be content talking with each other and soaking up the sun and fun.

Happy cruising everyone!

-Chad & Ryan

[Apple5]

We're also taking our first Celebrity cruise next year on the Eclipse to the Canaries & Azores after several cruises on Princess and NCL.

We too are in an Aqua Class cabin and hope that it's as good as the reviews I've read on the Celebrity forum. It will also be interesting to have a speciality restaurant (Blu) as our MDR.

[TwoChicagoGuys]

Originally Posted by Apple5

We're also taking our first Celebrity cruise next year on the Eclipse to the Canaries & Azores after several cruises on Princess and NCL.

We too are in an Aqua Class cabin and hope that it's as good as the reviews I've read on the Celebrity forum. It will also be interesting to have a speciality restaurant (Blu) as our MDR.

Good stuff! I hope we all have as much fun in Aqua Class as the reviews say. And just in case you didn't know, you are allowed to eat in the MDR or Blu. Don't let anyone tell you differently!

In fact, there was a forum recently on Cruise Critic (first part of October 2012) where they had a daily Q&A with the CEO of Celebrity. Someone asked this very question, and he wrote back that Aqua Class passengers are free to dine in either room. They just have exclusive rights to Blu (except suite passengers who have the option but must make reservations and pay a cover charge). I'm printing off his post to take with us in case we try the MDR and get grief from the Maitre'D.

Here's the link to the CEO's post: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1714320 (scroll down about 4 posts)

-Chad

[Apple5]

Originally Posted by TwoChicagoGuys

Good stuff! I hope we all have as much fun in Aqua Class as the reviews say. And just in case you didn't know, you are allowed to eat in the MDR or Blu. Don't let anyone tell you differently!

...
-Chad

Thanks for the info! Only 11 months left for us to wait until our turn on Celebrity, so please post a review when you're back from yours and let us know what you think.

[shepp]

Originally Posted by TwoChicagoGuys

A word to the wise -- we had to inquire about FOD Meet&Greet at the purser's desk, as there was nothing in the Princess Patter the 1st day. Magically, there was one listed for the 2nd day, and it was hosted by a gay Asst. Cruise Director.

Was that sailaway day or the first full day at sea? The Patter has always listed LGBT meeting on the first full day, without, as far as I'm aware, much prompting. Unfortunately, the initial meetings aren't always hosted.

[duck addict]

Hope your PHD thesis defense went well!

Originally Posted by Ithocles

Now that I've read where everyone else is cruising I'm green with envy. Maybe one day when I grow up... <grin>

My partner has given me a cruise to Alaska as a present for finishing my Ph.D. (I defend next Tuesday and he said if I don't pass, we're cancelling! Hah.) I've dreamed of going to Alaska for year and am really, really excited to go. I plan far ahead, but this is the furthest ahead yet.

-Danny

[donnatello]

We are going on NCL Jewel out of NYC Jan 20. We will be in New England/NY for the holidays this year and will stay and take this cruise with friends and family who will NOT fly to Fla anymore to take a cruise. Have not been on NCL since before "Freestyle"...don't know what to expect! On another note....anyone do "Travelzoo"? We have taken some amazingly inexpensive trips with them (mostly not cruises, though) Just booked a Prauge/Vienna/Budapest trip for $1200 incl the airfare!

[MiamiSpartan]

We will probably book another weekend on the NCL Sky in January with some neighbors...It'll be a nice chill weekend after a hectic Holiday Season....
Looking at booking a week-long cruise in June sometime...My partner would like to do the Oasis/Allure, but I am still have trouble spending that kind of money....
We will probably end up doing the Breeze or Liberty, or perhaps driving up to Canaveral to do one of the ships out of there...

[Bostonjetset]

Carnival Liberty on March 17, 2013 (Mexico, Honduras, Belize and Grand Cayman) with fiancé and my mom. Should be interesting...at least they get along well! HAHA

[HappyHappy1]

Mona and I, along with our two DS (18 & 16) will be sailing the southern caribbean on the RCCL Jewel of the Seas on June 29, 2013. This will be a graduation cruise for our oldest DS. Each son is also bringing a friend.

Anyone else out there cruising this sailing? We would love to meet up with some people.

[colocop004]

We will be booking the New Celebrity Reflection for the 2013 Post Thanksgiving cruise with Pied Piper. Although this is the newest of the Solstice Class of ship, she looks amazing! The Suites are like no other!

[ONT-CA]

We finally had to abandon our attempts at the three-part cruise aboard the Grand from FLL to SFX via the Horn, as it was an all or nothing venture and so nothing it is. But we are now booked on the Pacific for the cruise up the Amazon to Manaus from and to FLL and while a repeat itinerary gives us 28 fewer days of winter than had we not.

[JonAlone]

If you are on Celebrity and travelling Aqua Class you will love Blu, but dont let that stop you from making up a table with friends you meet on board in the main dining room. You go to the top floor at the "Select" entrance and book a table for whatever time you want. Ask for a table upstairs.. the service and food is better and the view near the gallery over the lower restaurant give a great atmosphere too.

The main dining room is one of the most beautifully designed grand dining rooms afloat! Stunning art deco glass staircase and cream leather chairs pipes in burgundy. Blu, on the otherhand is quiet, well mannered and a little up itself, and can be a bit hot or miss until the table staff get to know you. Tables of 6 - 10 have the most fun, and if you want a quiet table for a romantic 2, Blu can not be beaten.

As my name suggests, since a break up, I travel solo. On the TA aboard Solstice this year (FL - Rome) I travelled Aqua. I only had to go in to the restaurant on my own one night, as I met so many wonderful people from Germany, Scotland Chicago and Florida. Even on that night, as I was asking the Maitre d' for a table for one, two other passengers were already asking their water if they could pull up another table so I could join them.

I am not sure if I want to pay all that again for Blu, as travelling solo it can make it more difficult to join a table, but the year previous I had a table from hell (racist and homophobic born again twosome after a day visiting thr holocaust museum in Jerusalem) in MDR and got upgraded to Aqua so I wouldnt have to sit with them again.

I am now looking at Silhouette for the T/A from Fort Lauderdale to Rome. It looks like a wamr route south to Puerto Rico and Cocoa Bay... on to Madeira and then Rome.. Loads of days at sea which I prefer having done all these ports before anyway.

For gay travellers, I can not recommend Celebrity enough.. On a T/A one can expect 40 - 60 gay guys and a few girls... who generally get on well together with Martini Bar being the place to meet before dinner to make up a table.
This will be my 4th on Celebrity in 2 years.

Happy sailing everyone, and wear your Speedos!!!

[BenjiRodney]

Alaska again for 2013 and Hawaii for 2014 (shh Hawaii is a surprise he doesnt know about it yet)

[EWayne]

My partner and our best friends are on Celebrity Millennium in June.
Any suggestions? It's our first cruise. We are CC1 aft of ship.
Wayne

[sdbart]

My partner and I will be sailing on the Fall 2013 Celebrity Reflection TA from Civitavecchia to Miami. The cruise is stopping in Tenerife and then St. Kitts and St. Maartin, so the weather should be good (and warm) most of the cruise. We were on the Solstice westbound TA last December and had really good weather. We are once again sailing in Aqua, just for Blu, which we loved. We celebrated our anniversary on that cruise, and a friend with pull had a huge chocolate cake delivered to our table in Blu that evening. The entire Blu staff, including the assistant maitre'd sang Happy Anniversary before we shared the cake with half the restaurant. All the next day, other passengers who were in Blu at the time, congratulated us.

There were between 100–200 gay men and lesbians on that cruise and the Martini Bar became the before-dinner meeting place. There was even an item each day in the ship's bulletin, mentioning that. The staff couldn't have been more welcoming.

[tiggerman101]

We are doing our first Celebrity cruise as well. We are doing the Singapore to Hong Kong route on the Millennium in March. I am very excited about it. We booked it awhile ago and the planning has been kind of crazy. It is a lot different then a Caribbean or a Med cruise.

We got an amazing deal on a Norwegian Fjord cruise on RCCL in June. we also have a group cruise with a bunch of people from an old roll call in October on the Breeze. This will be the fourth time we have all cruised together.

I will also do a solo trip or two. Right now I am booked on the Epic for a Western Med cruise in September. Hopefully, it will pan out. I get a lot more time off then my partner so I do solo trips here and there.

[tiggerman101]

Originally Posted by Bostonjetset

Carnival Liberty on March 17, 2013 (Mexico, Honduras, Belize and Grand Cayman) with fiancé and my mom. Should be interesting...at least they get along well! HAHA

This was our last cruise. We had a lot of fun. The ship was very active and energetic. There were people everywhere having a good time. I also like the new "2.0" enhancements they did to the ship.

I cruise with my mom a lot as my partner doesn't get as much time off as I do. My mom and I are doing a Disney cruise in a couple weeks. Something different for sure. Last April, we did a 15 day Hawaii cruise. My parents were supposed to go with us, but my Dad had a family emergency at the last minute. It ended up being my partner and I with my mother. I thought 2+ weeks was going to be way too much, but we had a great time. Have fun!