MishelleMcc

I Really enjoyed your report! LOVED the pictures! Thank you for taking the time to post all of this!

I love ice cream. On one cruise my indulgence caught the attention Windjammer waiters and they ratted me out to the manager over all food service. Heck of a nice guy. He found me the next day and wanted to see me eat another one.

 

There are a few tips if you make one.

 

You gotta know how to hold em. You gotta know how to stack em.

 

People will stare and point at you and make comments. Stand tough - the ice cream and the bragging rights are worth it.

 

Wind is not your friend. It melts the ice cream too fast. Find a sheltered location.

 

You have to eat it fast enough to keep it from melting but slow enough not to get a brain freeze. That's a delicate balance. Put a plate under it to catch any drips you don't lick away fast enough. You can always lick the plate later - hey it's your vacation.

 

I've always managed to eat it all the way to the bottom. Occasionally you will find an RCL ship that won't let you make your own. Bummer, the kids on the previous cruise probably ruined it for you by making messes and wasting it.

That is AWESOME!!!!!

Gotta love the towel folding in the evenings on these cruises. We returned to our room the first night to a little dog which I promptly put at the keyboard of my laptop and left for the room attendant to find in the morning. That started the competition. First came the towel man sitting on the sofa to which I added the towel woman with the dog between. We had an anaconda that stretched from the top of the bed to the door of the room, a turtle with a tip box on its back, the dog in the doghouse (because my wife had to put up with a snake in the room), towel hearts and notes etc. Our room attendant was from Jamaica so on the last morning I took the blue bed scarf turned it the length of the bed and put it up over the pillows with the original little dog crying a river (Duns River Falls) of tearful goodbyes. I think we had over 30 towels in our room by the end of the cruise - way more than we were supposed to have but what fun it was! Our waiter in the MDR even got into the theme of our cruise making napkin swans in the glasses for us at the table when he found out what we were doing.

I LOVE this story and the Pictures are awesome!!! Thank you for sharing!!!:hearteyes:

Definitely doing the White party!

Hi not sure if I am doing this correct or not but here you go.

I am traveling with my girlfriend on Norwegian cruise april23-30 and wanted to know if any other gay couples will be on that cruise. I heard about meet and greets that happen for the LGBT community on some ships but wasnt sure if that was a real thing? Any help would be great :)

Welcome to the CC boards! Sometimes the daily bulletin will have a listing for "FOD" meetings or "Friends of Dorthy" meetings. It's usually done by request (you can request it if you want!) and may only be done the first couple of days of the cruise to see if there is any interest. I've read that sometimes it could be listed as a "LGBT" meetings. We went to one on our last Cruise and it was later in the evening and was all guys. :D You will Have a blast!!!! Be sure to come back to the boards and let us know how it was!!

We will be on Costa Deliziosa January 2018 and are very excited! Do you have any favorite things that are uniquely Costa? What should we know as first time Costa Cruisers? (booked Premium Balcony for the set dinner times and room service) Thank YOU in advance!!

The RSVP cruise this year brought 2600 gay guys to both Cozumel and Cayman with no issues. I wouldn't rush to get off the ship in Jamaica, though.

Thank you! Good to know!! We will be traveling in January!

Hi everybody! DW and I are sailing Costa Deliziosa January 2018 for 10 days! Can't wait! We sailed Olivia in 2006 for our honeymoon and it was an amazing trip! Would do it again but for the expense! Would definitely recommend to anyone to try a gay cruise at least once though! Comradery and "like minded" thinkers make for a great community feeling! I don't think Costa does FOD meetings so we will just wing it! So excited to hear everyone's plans! Don't forget to come back to us and let us know how your trip was!!!

Thank you for Posting! Great information!! Were there any activities that you especially enjoyed?

:DThank you! Excellent tip!!!!! EXTRA HOT COFFEE PLEASE!!!!! Ha!!!!

Update! We Booked our Cruise! I am sure I will learn more as I go but thought I would share what I learned during the booking today!

Cruise: 10 day Caribbean Jan 13 2017 from Ft Lauderdale

Only looked to book "Premium" over "classic" because we wanted Breakfast in our cabin, 24 hr room service and fixed dinner in the MDR.

Prices quoted Mar 29 2017:

Premium Balcony $1299 pp,

Mini Suite (premium included) $1449 pp,

Suite $2389

We went with the Premium balcony AND secured an aft facing Cabin! $250 pp deposit, Final payment due Oct 29 2017

Quoted drink packages:

Brindiamo $349.95 for 10 days (covers what we mostly drink: Wine, Rum & coke, Vodka & Cranberry)

Piu Gusto $384.91 (would encompass other cocktails like Piña Colada, etc.)

Theme and Formal nights: 2 formal nights and 3 themed nights: Italian night, Tropical night and White night which is also the night of the Talent show. I have no talents so no worries there! Ha!

Morning Ejincali !! Welcome home from your Cruise!! Thank you for sharing your experience with the Piu Gusto package and rear facing staterooms!!! The Alcohol brands you enjoyed would be fine with us! I am realizing that to effect the positive change that we are looking for, that I need to step out of the comfort zone and change everything, including stateroom location! I think I am sold on rear facing stateroom!!! Ha! My DW will love the class you mentioned! I will definitely keep everyone posted at so what we get after we book!!!!!!

Thank you Michael! Love your comment "...the parties are one of the best at sea!" I remember how much fun I used to have on a cruise back in the day! it's the part of cruising that I miss the most! You know you are creating memories that will stay with you for a lifetime! Sharing those experiences with folks who were strangers just hours or days before! Re-defining 'Fun' !!! I was reading that the premium liquor wasn't always available and we don't really need top shelf so maybe the Più gusto better suits us. I also thought the beverage packages were better priced than HAL. I would love the adventure of a trans Atlantic!!! I love adventure period! Ha! Thank you again Michael! Have a blast on your March Cruise!!!!!

Dancer Bob, Thank you for your response! HAL is a little too subdued for us and our last cruise was somewhat of a let down. That said, we are looking forward to a different experience. We are in our 50's and love music. I am hoping that we will be more active on this cruise. I love the regional themed dinners and am looking forward to learning true Italian cuisine. Just as "Chinese" food in America is nothing like Chinese food in China. Thank you for the lead on the Brindiamo package. I will check into that. I noticed the change in the itinerary so now I know why! I imagine there will be more kids (I love kids - just not herds of them!) on Costa than on HAL but being off season, should be tempered. Also, the tip on the mini suite is appreciated. We don't need the extra floor space if the amenities are the same. I plan on booking with the Cruise line directly and probably by phone as I want to make sure I put the package together the best way for us. I used to speak German and French fairly well but haven't used them in decades! My ear still picks up on German when I hear it but don't know about the French. I plan to brush up a bit on those and take a stab at Italian too! Have a wonderful Cruise Bob! You said the Jan 13th so we may meet you on board if we pick that date too! Hope to finalize our plans this coming week! Thank you again!!!!

Good evening fellow Cruise Enthusiasts!! I have been Lurking (…yes, I know… one of “them”… Ha! :cool:) about the Costa Cruise line forum off and on for a few weeks now… I have gleaned a ton of information! Thank you all kindly!! So I have a few observations and a few questions.

Preface: We have a variety of travel experiences and loves. We’ve been to China and Mexico! We do a LOT of research! Our Cruise experience is all with Holland America. 2003, 2006, 2014 (although I cruised RCCL and NCL in the 80’s and early 90’s). We understand that the Cruise experience is not what it used to be but we still enjoy it. In fact, as another cruiser put it best: Our cruises are great because we MAKE them great!

We are looking at one of the two first Caribbean 10-day cruises in January 2018 on the Deliziosa! (we can only travel in winter due to work and want to go where it is warm!) We like the idea of a longer than 7 day cruise with a variety of ports. So a 10 day cruise sounds exciting for us! Costa also appeals because it’s a different “vibe” and the passenger demographics are diverse.

We first started considering Costa Cruise Line after Holland America banned smoking on stateroom balconies. Costa still allows that. (please, no haters. smoking comments belong on different thread. Thanks!) We are considerate smokers (pick up others cigarette butts, etc) so we would generally pick side of the ship whose outside smoking areas were on the same side (Port or Starboard?) Also, there are multiple aft Mini suite options. We’ve never had an aft stateroom before but wonder if one feels “blind” to the scenery one sees vs the scenery of port or starboard side view? Is there less wind? Do we need to bring our own toiletries?

Originally, we were going to do a balcony then learned that there are service levels to consider. We are currently considering balcony premium or mini suite. I am not clear as to what benefits come with a mini suite over balcony premium. Does anyone have advice/antidotes they could share regarding these stateroom types? (premium balcony for room service picking early dinner, and?)

Does Costa offer Deals like other cruise lines do? Like added gratuities or drink packages? The only thing I found was the ‘More or Less’ sale but no mention of what time of year they usually make the offer or even if they still do.

We also will add some sort of beverage package but unclear which one is the best fit for us. We love Cappuccino in the morning and cocktails in the afternoon and evening. Doesn’t have to be premium labels. I mostly drink blush or white wine and my wife likes Vodka & Cranberry or Rum & coke. I occasionally will drink a Piña Colada or some other foo foo drink :rolleyes:… (Più gusto ?)

What can we expect as far as activities go? We’ve seen some “daily actively sheets” But Don’t really understand it all. There are themed nights? Any advice on this is hugely appreciated!! We want to try more things out on board than we usually do! Is there one designated "adults" pool?

Ports. We’ve been to a couple of them but not all. I will research these in depth but if you have any recommendations or standouts, I sure would like to know! Also, any tours we should stay away from?

I thank you in advance for any advice you can pass along to us!!! Happy Cruising! Oh, and if you see us on board? Remember that We are a nice Canadian family - not American... Ha!! Don’t we all wish we were going tomorrow???:hearteyes:;p:D

Bon Voyage! Have a great cruise!

If you think this is a bashing thread then you should have seen all the other individual smoking threads.:eek: This one is very civil in comparison. And it certainly isn't hard for the OP to find the thread and the responses - no map needed.

I think I started following the forum again about 9 months ago so you are right and I missed most of that. :o The questionnaire had just come out about then...

I agree that there is plenty of information regarding smoking policy on all the cruise lines in these forums or even though a google search...

I think I just felt bad for the OP today. They tried to preface their question with a disclaimer that they didn't want to cause a ruckus... they just wanted a quick answer... hopefully they got the information they were seeking. :)

Of course it is Harv and Marvs I was looking up another company earlier that day called Hal and Als and for some reason that name got stuck in my head. I guess I should not drink and post.

Oh I never drink and Post.... Ha!!!!! :eek::p:eek:

Just completed our first cruise on Princess...........10 day round trip from SF to Mexico......We have cruised strictly on HAL for quite a while so we were looking forward to something new......It is a beautiful ship, many dining venues, great food and entertainment, very diverse crew. We really had a great time. But being a frequent HAL cruiser, we found the Veranda cabins to be very small, especially the bathrooms (tiny). To equal a veranda cabin on HAL you have to upgrade to a mini-suite. Also, when disembarking, you have to be out of your cabin by 8 am and wait in a public area for your number to be called. But I have to say, the ship had 2600 passengers and everything went very smoothly. The age range was 40 - 80, very few kids. All in all, very enjoyable, but when you're use to traveling in a certain way, its fun to try new things, but you always go back to what you're use to, which we like.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Thank you for the insight as well! I've learned A LOT from these forums and am glad to hear that Princess is a respectable alternative! :p

The questions is above, along with several replies. What do you think was lost?:confused:

Well they haven't responded... so I don't know if they saw the replies before the post was moved.

Redundant questions are asked frequently in the forum. My only concern was that their question was moved to the bashing thread... when other topics would not have been. :rolleyes:

I think that the OP from today (Avril) was asking a specific question about a specific ship at a specific time. Although I understand the need for a single thread on the subject and HAL's policy in general, I think that we lost this Posters' question. :rolleyes:

I know this is a sensitive topic so I'm sorry in advance, Let's not turn this into an argument/debate/flame fest ok? Thanks!! :D Here's my question.

 

I was just looking at my express docs online for my upcoming cruise on the Eurodam. Under Smoking Policy is says "For the comfort of all of our guests, all staterooms (cabins), showrooms and all other indoor areas are designated non-smoking." I'm just wondering, does that include stateroom balconies or not? I really hope not as I love to sit on my balcony and have my coffee and a smoke in the morning. Carnival has taken this away from me, I really hope HAL hasn't!!!! And while we're on the subject, where are the public smoking areas on Eurodam? Sorry, it's been awhile since I've been on that ship. Thanks so much!!!! :D

Hi Avril! No condemnation here! I am also a smoker! I don't have all the answers but I will share what I know.

Smoking is still allowed on all HAL ship balconies. In fact, they are the only cruise line left that still allows it.

Smoking is also allowed in "designated" out door smoking areas. The only one that I know of for sure is aft Lido deck... BUT we are sailing Eurodam this Sunday and I will report back! I promise!

Smoking is allowed in a certain area of the casino for active players only.

HOWEVER - there is not outdoor smoking while the ship is "bunkering" (loading fuel) in Fort Lauderdale. This INCLUDES balconies. :eek: I am not sure how smokers are accommodated - if at all during that time. I will report back on this also!

Hope this helps! :D

Thankyou all! I wish all of you could go! Fellow cruisers, travel safe and we will see you on board!!!:D

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Have you scheduled a wave with Lou and Dave so they will get a closeup of you? We love waving..... :D

We did! Thank you for letting us know about this (in case I hadn't);) We will be 2 verandas, deck 7, aft of midship elevators. Our dear friends are bringing wind socks but don't know what they will look like yet.... 7086 & 7088. So next Sunday will be our turn!!!!! :D

Although this is my 6th cruise, it is DW's 2nd cruise and our Dear Friends FIRST!!!! We are so very excited!!!!! :p

Fellow addict checking in!!!!! I am so excited!!!! Next Sunday will finally be our turn on the Eurodam! :D So this week, Bon Voyage fellow cruise addicts!!! Have a wonderful week and return safely!:p