calicakes

I do NOT pack lightly.  I must have my creature comforts, my pillow and my blanket.  I know, I know.  I just need it. 

However, I probably don't need my bottle of Torani sugar free caramel/vanilla or mocha syrup for my iced coffee.  I probably don't need a bag of pretzels for sea days at the pool.  I probably don't need real maple syrup for my pancakes, but I do bring those with me.    

What do you bring? 

3 minutes ago, cruising46 said:

 

You're also Canadian : ).  Canada was the first country to legalize same sex marriage back in 2003.  I should know, I was married to a Canadian woman back in 2003.   We divorced and I moved back to my home country( USA).    Believe me, there are a lot of Americans who do not approve of my " lifestyle".  

My wife and I are cruising X on Sept 13th from Ft. Lauderdale( my hometown, although we're now in SoCal) to the ABC;s.  I am part of the roll call and I feel like we're the only lesbian couple who will be on that ship.  We rarely meet any, sometimes we meet gay men, but for the most part, we keep to ourselves.  I love X, the staff is amazing and we've never been treated disrespectfully, but sometimes I feel like we're a freak show.  We get lots of stares from the the older heterosexual folks.  Especially if we hold hands, which we usually do while walking around.  

We're trying to figure out the same.  We love to snorkel and the Aruba port day on our upcoming cruise( Celebrity Sept 13th from Ft. Lauderdale) is long. 11am until midnight.    We don't know if we should rent a car/jeep or do the bus thing.  I'm pretty sure we can snorkel from a beach.   

10 hours ago, late2cruisin said:

 

Yes, I thought that was it. But cheer up- you'll be Select after this next cruise!

Ok, so as a *select* member, I'll get a bag of laundry for $20.00??  What else will I get? 

3 hours ago, late2cruisin said:

You would need a LONG cruise or a high-level suite to get there in just one cruise...

I know.  I have a cruise in September for 10 days( ABC"s) so I said I would need 1 more after this upcoming cruise.  This cruise should get me 50 points. 10 nights x 5 per AQ night. 

Ok, never mind.  I just saw that I need 300 to become elite.  I was thinking it was *only* 200 points. 

11 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

20 nights in AQ would get you to 300, so you could easily do it in 2 cruises - although in the past you have apparently been averaging only 8 nights per cruise.

I just checked our account.  We have 120 points.  We've had 3 cruises on X so far.  2( 7 nights) and 1 (5 night).  Our first cruise was in 2012, I believe the points were different back then.  The next cruise is Sept 2019( 10 nights).   So we'll need 1 more cruise after this to become Elite. 

18 minutes ago, TrulyBlonde said:

My issues were with service, food etc. Pushka had serious issues as she flew all the way from Australia for an Alaska cruise.  Mine was just aggravation but hers were more costly due to distance etc. What a waste of time and money. Enjoy your Edge cruise. You never know who is reading your posts xo

I thought Viking was very high end. I’m surprised 

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

I see we’ve both moved on from Viking a little....

What am I missing? 

Wow, we need a lot more cruises before we're elite.  We'll only have 200 points after this cruise. 

I wonder how many cruises we need to take to become Elite???  

This will be our 5th cruise on X and we've taken all of them in AQ. 

If we were Elite, of course I'd send out my laundry.  

I'm in California, we pretty much recycle everything, but I've never seen " clothes" being recycled.  Of course we can donate to Good Will, or another charity.  I won't throw out a t-shirt, but I hate traveling with dirty unmentionables.  That is why I toss them out. 

re: The Edge.  For those prices, I'd hope you would receive a cloth laundry bag. 

50 bucks for a paper bag?  Yeah, I'll use the sink to wash out my bathing suits on our upcoming 10 day cruise.  Here is a trick that we do for long trips.  We save up our old underwear that we would get rid of at home in drawer clean outs/declutters.   We take it with us and toss it in the trash so we don't have to bring home dirty unmentionables. LOL

I've seen "washing bags" sold on Amazon.  Basically, its a big waterproof bag that you add your clothes/detergent/water to.  Slosh it around, shake it up, rinse and ring out. 

AQ also gets afternoon Canapes.  You also can order room service 24hrs.  Not sure if thats an AQ perk or if everyone gets that.  Honestly, we've taken 3 X cruises all in Aqua Class.  We took a cruise on Norwegian last summer( with friends) and the service/food was simply awful.  We had a large balcony room next door to our friends suite.  Their experience was very different from ours.  They also paid 5x the price we paid.  We're back on X in September to the ABC's.  We're back in AQ.  Once you try AQ, its hard to go back to a regular balcony. 

11 hours ago, 39august said:

There is no "special lounge" for any class of cabin except for suites. So that is no factor. When we were in Aqua we got priority boarding just after suites and before concierge class. Blu is a nice benefit of Aqua class, but for your first cruise, I suggest you just take a veranda cabin which costs less and all balcony cabins are the same size, so there is no larger cabin when you pay more. Aqua usually costs quite a bit more then a regular veranda cabin and for us, the cost is not worth the difference just to dine in Blu

Don't forget, you also get the persian garden.  You also get more "celebrity loyalty points" per cruise when booking an AQ cabin vs. veranda.  

On 6/20/2019 at 12:32 PM, zitsky said:

 

I assume you avoid crowds of heterosexuals, especially when they have been drinking?  

Personally, my wife and I( same sex couple) avoid any large, loud, drunk ass group( gay or straight).  This is one of the reasons we like X.  Its more low key. 

On 6/20/2019 at 8:28 AM, Mynki said:

I'd like to think that in 2019 all pax and staff onboard were friendly towards LGBT people. There's no room for Troglodytes in this day and age. 

My wife and I( same sex couple) have taken 4 X cruises and we've always been treated amazingly well.  We're always in AQ, the two twins are always pushed together with out us having to ask.  Maybe that has to do with our names, Randi and Julie.  Everyone always assumes Randi( me) is male.  We also have the same last name.  We hold hands when we walk, we've lightly kissed( we're not making out or anything), we don't hide our relationship at all.  We usually celebrate our anniversary on board.  We're always given a special card, dessert etc.    

1 hour ago, Trainer said:

I was just on the Equinox to the ABC islands.  Although I have been to them before, I think this is a very good itinerary.  Although we did have a rainy day (most of the day) in Aruba and some rain in Curacao, Bonaire was beautiful.

These islands have wonderful beaches and pretty friendly citizens.  It is not common for these bigger ships to go to the ABCs,so  I would take that itinerary anytime. 

   BTW, Captain Kate is a real charmer.  She looks about 12 years old, tiny woman who probably doesn't weigh more than 100 pounds.  She is everywhere on the ship ("Don't call it a boat").

  Yes Equinox is going for a big Revolution Dry dock and should be more gorgeous than ever.  Pick this one!

We did. September 13th sailing.

I brought sugar free lemonade and some water. They allow it with a special request to access@ncl.com. They ad a little water symbol to your boarding pass. The security people didn't give a crap about what I carried on.

Did you have a molded bathroom on NCL Getaway too?

 

 

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No.

My wife and I don't drink alcohol, however she is addicted to coca cola. I drink iced coffee( not hot). We booked for next year Sept 2019 and the Classic package and prepaid grats were included in the price. However, for 300 more, we could have the premium package, 300 OBC, unlimited internet and prepaid grats. We upgraded. I asked what was included in the Premium package that didn't involve alcohol and was told " fresh juices", canned sodas( only fountain on the classic), premium sparkling waters and bottled water. Not sure what those are. We've always had a beverage package included as a perk in our last 3 cruises on X. We also had it on NCL this summer. I was spoiled for sure by taking my first 3 cruises with X. On NCL, you don't even get bottled water, or sparkling water( other than club soda) with the classic package. NO specialty coffees either. I was very disappointed in their package. They only serve Pepsi products as well.

Yep. Today’s fare, when I called crucon to book was 500.00 more than yesterday’s

We’ve only sailed AQ. We just booked again for next September. In our previous cruises, we always received priority embarkation. Is that still a perk?

Been using stAinless for years. I order made in the USA version on Etsy

By coincidence, I just came from a luncheon where these were used, and we were all told to keep ours and re-use them at home. Something like this would be easy enough to pack.

 

Thanks, here and on my own FB, mostly everyone said ABC because of the hurricane. However, if a hurricane is heading into FL, then I guess we're screwed too because we live in Socal. I also worry about hurricanes before and after the cruise. With all that being said, we do love snorkeling so I'm sold on ABC's.

We've taken 3 X cruises. We've been on the Solstice, Constellation and Silhouette. Each time in Aqua Class. Our last cruise in June, we decided to take NCL because we wanted to travel with our friends who had already booked their cruise. Let's just say that we won't be going on NCL again. I'm back to X, looking at a cruise for next year.

I'm having a hard time deciding on which itinerary. Sept 13th is Ft. Lauderdale, Cayman, A, B and C and key west. Its a 10 day cruise.

Sept 23rd is 11 days, its 200.00 cheaper than Sept 13th. Itinerary is Ft. Lauderdale, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Marteen.

We love to snorkel/water sports. Our excursions that we pick always involve the water.

I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and have been to Key West numerous times. We've also been to St. Thomas and St. Marteen before. I did enjoy both of those ports on a previous cruise. We did a snorkel trip at each one.

Our wedding anniversary is September 28th. Tell me pro's and cons and which one you'd chose and why?