MichaelInATL

Great! Thanks Ken for the info!

Can anyone confirm the larger balconies are on Allure as well? Another thread says they are only on Symphony and Harmony due to the interior stateroom next door (replacing the storage area shown above I guess).

We booked 12229 on the Allure by chance and it would be a pleasant bonus to get the larger balcony!

Hello everyone. I am the "best friend" SAEMike is cruising with on this TA adventure.

We've been on several cruises, but this will be our first Trans Atlantic. 7 sea days in a row seems like A LOT so we will be taking full advantage of the Open Bar package to pass the time.

The last time we were on the Epic (Oct. 2011) they always had a "Friends of Dorothy" meet and greet on the daily schedule which was really cool. They moved it around to a couple of different bars for variety I suppose, but we usually ended up at Shakers Lounge because that's where our favorite bartender was.

Has anyone ever been on a Trans Atlantic before? Any tips on things to do?

Looking forward to meeting everyone!

Hey guys! Almost all my ATL friends are getting ready to go on the Atlantis Silhouette cruise next week. But since I'd been on that one 6-7 times I decided to do the Summit Cruise out of San Juan this year (with my best friend who's never been on an Atlantis cruise before). So we get to wait 5 more weeks before we get our groove on. :(

For those of you looking for ideas about the theme parties/dances, go to the official Atlantis website and look at the info posted for the Silhouette cruise. Although it's not guaranteed to be identical, my belief is that they will most likely carry over pretty heavily to the Summit. The Atlantis Cruise Guide posted also gives tips on what to expect, bring, and not bring.

For those new to Atlantis, my suggestion about packing (in addition to the obvious shorts, tanks, and swimwear) is to bring 2-3 nice shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, and possibly 1 pair of slacks if you have any desire to go to any of the nice restaurants onboard. I know you don't have to dress up on an Atlantis cruise, but sometimes a gurl just likes to feel pretty. :)

As for costumes: don't let this scare you. You can be as elaborate or simple as you want. Or you can just go without a costume and enjoy the sights and creativity of others. If you decide to do costumes, just remember that you will want to do something you can still dance in and have fun (without knocking out the people dancing around you!).

And finally: enjoy the ship; enjoy the shows, and enjoy the opportunity to be around 1900 of your new best friends from all over the world. Leave your pre-conceptions and attitude at the dock and just have a great time. A simple "hello" goes a long way!

MichaelinATL

You guys have been very helpful. Thanks. Personally I'm 100% committed to putting all my eggs in the Plaid Matrix Theory Basket!

(Seriously, though, I work for a certain ATL based air travel company so I'm all set. But my buddy isn't so lucky and wanted me to try and get some feedback before he plopped down his shekels. As for flying in the same day as the cruise: he wants to. I do not. I've just heard too many horror stories. I'd much rather pay for a hotel than miss the entire cruise!)

I haven't read this entire thread so my apologies if this was already covered.

We are booked on a cruise out of San Juan March 8-15. Airfare has been coming down pretty steadily and now is at $347/RT on Delta. Is that as low as it's gonna get? It should we hold out a little longer?

Also, I know it's a BIG no no flying in on the same day the ship leaves. But the ship doesn't leave until 8 pm that night. Would anyone recommend getting the first flight out that morning which would still leave 8+ hours if anything goes wrong?

Any advice or tips are greatly appreciated!

(This is in reference to the original post re: being recruited for the Dating Game despite being gay)

This same thing happened to me and my friend when we were on the Epic Barcelona itinerary.

We were walking back upstairs after seeing Blue Man Group and they grabbed us and begged us to be in the Dating Game. We told them we were gay and the girl said that was fine...just have fun be as funny as possible.

Well, we were going to give a lot of adult but since there were kids in the audience, Richard (The Cruise Director) told us not to. This made the game very un-fun for us and the audience, I'm afraid.

Overall, we had an amazing time. Did you ever go to Shakers? That is where the FOD group gathered every night on our cruise because the bartender there (Armando) was AWESOME!!