ordnael

Hi JerseyGuys!

Nice to hear from you and it will be great meeting you all on board also.

Getting married on board is an awesome idea... congrats to your friends!

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Hi Bob & Terry!

Andrew & Alex here from Boynton Beach and we’ve booked the same (Feb 18) cruise! Four other friends will be with us in cabins next door.

Counting the days, and looking forward to meeting you on board :)

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@scott85255

Hi there! Got off the Epic about 3 weeks ago, and to answer your question, there is a small steam room and a dry sauna in the men's locker room, but access is controlled by the spa's front desk staff. To gain entry, you will need to purchase a spa pass on board or before your cruise starts.

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Hi all!

Andrew here with Alex, my husband. We booked this cruise over a year ago and finally it's a little over 3 weeks away... can't wait!

The Epic was our first cruise, did a TA April 2012 from Miami to Barcelona.

Kevin, I think I remember you from that trip!

We're in a mini suite, but were offered an opportunity to bid on a Haven suite and we did. I've been monitoring the cabin availability, (to determine our chances of getting the upgrade) and also noted strange variations on a day to day basis, today the us site showed nothing at all available!

Anyway, looking forward to the trip and hopefully meeting everyone on board!

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Hi there!

Husband and I just booked cabin 12257. Love the Epic, our first cruise was on it back in 2012, lots to see and do onboard. Post cruise we will spend a couple of days in Barcelona, then a week in Rome before returning home to South Florida.

503 days to go... [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

Emerald Princess January 18 for a short 5 day trip to Princess Cays & Grand Turk, to celebrate husband's 45th... Never been on Princess before. Loved all our past cruises on Celebrity & NCL.

Oh I am so sorry to hear about that... [emoji17]

We were looking forward to meeting you. Hope you're ok...

Catching up somewhere will be great... Stay in touch!

Hope I'm wrong, but judging by the lack of activity on this thread, it seems like we'll be the only two gay guys on the ship!

Cheers and all the best to you...

Hey Phil!

8 months, 19 days to go!! Woohoo!!

Lots to see and do in Honolulu, but if you just hang out at Waikiki and chill it's all good too! Diamond Head is worth visiting - you can drive inside the crater and hike up to the top. Awesome views from there. Waikiki is a cool beach to people watch and enjoy the sun too. A little further away is Hanauma Bay - great snorkeling, and Waimea Bay. Even after Bora Bora they will still be worth the trip. Manoa Falls is pretty, located in an amazing rainforest. The USS Arizona Memorial is interesting if you're into history. And Ala Moana shopping mall is nearby if you want to buy stuff!

Thanks for the words of support regarding our wedding!! We are both very excited and looking forward to finally getting hitched! We've been together for 9 years and feel it's the right time to take things one step further. And you're right that we cannot get married on out home state... Yet! But someday I'm sure this will change, and in Australia too!

We will be getting married in New York in December. Several friends will be flying up to meet us and other friends from NYC will be there as well, so it's going to be fun!

And enjoying an amazing honeymoon on the ship with great people will be the cherry on top 😄

We have just paid off the cruise and cabin 9192 is ours!! We're also doing the select dining so we're not tied down to a specific time.

So now it's just counting the days... That's the toughest part, LOL!!

Cheers and happy week to you!

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Perfect timing, arriving at lunchtime!

We've researched things to do in Aukland and decided to walk around town. Like you said, it's walkable and interesting too. Bay of Islands we'll probably get a ferry to some nearby island and sightsee. I've been to Maui several times, so I'll rent a car and show my soon to be husband (We will marry in December - the cruise will be our honeymoon) around, up Haleakala, Waileia, Makena. We have just the rest of the day we arrive in Honolulu to sightsee, and again I'll rent and drive Alex to one of my favourite spots, Hanauma Bay, and other places before we leave. I read that Moorea is good for landside sightseeing and Bora Bora & Tahiti for the lagoon/ocean, so we'll look into doing that when we're there... 274 days to go and I'm already thinking of starting to pack!!

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Hey, that's a pretty good start! The great thing about the Sydney CBD is that everything is reasonably compact for such a major city (in comparison to the expanse of the metropolitan area), so there are numerous things worth seeing that aren't too far away.

 

 

 

I might also suggest investigating The Rocks (right next to Circular Quay, where the Solstice will be docked), and maybe even Luna Park for an old-style fairground experience (across the Harbour Bridge). Head around under the bridge and past Millers Point and Barangaroo, and you'll find yourselves in Darling Harbour - this is a plaza-style harbourside development with cafes, the Sydney Aquarium, the Australian National Maritime Museum, and Star City Casino just across the waterway (this can be reached via footbridge). Further afield, there's the famous Taronga Zoo (reachable by ferry), and the iconic Bondi Beach (only a couple of miles to the east of the CBD).

 

 

 

You can also try taking the Harbour Bridge Walk (across the top of the bridge) or ascending Sydney Tower for stunning views of Greater Sydney and beyond. If nothing else, do make sure that you catch at least one harbour ferry ride (it's public transport, but gives you AMAZING multidimensional views of the city from the water, thus you'll get a better sense of the interesting layout of the harbour). I've ridden on the Manly ferry a few times, but there are numerous others that'll take you up and down the harbour from point to point!

 

 

 

This is only a taste of the sorts of things I've done during my brief stints on Sydney, but I emphasise that I'm no local there, so others may have better or more specific suggestions. But I think that you'll find it easy to see plenty within a couple of days, without having to venture far from your hotel digs! :)

Hi Phil!

Thanks for the great tips! I appreciate them all. We were thinking of doing the zoo too, that way we can also get the ferry done and see a Koala! 😉

I checked out the walk along the top of the bridge and it sounds awesome! I want to check it out! So much to see and do, so little time...

Any excursions planned for the stopovers? We looked at a few from Celebrity's site, but would like to use more of the time on land to sightsee, especially in the South Pacific.

Cheers!

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Hey, I think this will be an UNREAL cruise! We're really looking forward to seeing what Celebrity have to offer, but we have very high expectations of the Solstice based on the amazing photos that we've seen. Glad to hear that your experience on the Equinox was so positive... sounds like a great benchmark. Looking forward to catching up with you on the ship... FOD works out nicely!

 

 

 

On another note, I'm sure you'll have a great time in Sydney prior to embarkation. At least you'll have a couple of days to unwind, to see some of the many sights on offer, and to board the cruise without the worry of arriving late from your flights! We did the same thing in Miami, and everything worked out perfectly. I'm happy to offer some tips on what to see/do in Sydney, too!

Hey there! Less than 300 days to go!

We'll be at the Sydney Harbour Marriott prior to the ship leaving. From the looks of it, the Opera House, Botanical Gardens and other interesting places are within walking distance. Any other suggestions?

Cheers and have a great week!

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You're in luck... we're two guys from Bendigo (Victoria, Australia) who'll be joining you on this awesome itinerary (I still can't believe that we're REALLY going to Bora Bora)! We had great FOD meetings on our recent NCL Sun cruise from Miami, and we hope that there'll be similar opportunities to mingle on this gorgeous-looking ship. Roll on, April 2015!!! :)

Hey there! Thank goodness I had a response!! There's a very active straight thread for our cruise and I was beginning to think my partner & I would be the only gay men onboard!!

Like you can't believe we will actually visit the South Pacific! And Australia is the first for us too... We'll be in Sydney a couple of days before we leave.

We cruised on the Equinox last year and the Solstice is similar, and it is indeed a lovely ship...

Get together on board? We always check the FOD and have made great friends that way.

Cheers!

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Anyone else out there booked this cruise? Still months away, but already counting the days!

My soon to be husband and I will be on the Celebrity Solstice April 3 2015 cruise from Sydney to Honolulu. Long way to go, but already counting the days!