ROLL CALL R Family July 2005

I went on the cruise with R Family this past July, had such a great time booked for 2005. We are on the NCL Dawn again this year. Anyone cruising with my gf and me??

How do I find out more about R Family cruises? I would be interested in that. Maybe more mellow than an Atlantis or Rsvp cruise, but still cruising with "family". That could work.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Sorry it took me awhile to respond. You can go to http://www.rfamilyvacations.com.

That is how I booked I called and booked with Kelli, the number is 1-866-732-6822. It can't be booked with any travel agent. So call and get info.

It was my first gay cruise but 8 cruise. I enjoyed it was concerned over the number of children on cruise since it is family oriented but wasn't a problem at all.

Hope this helps.

Beverly

Hi Bev-

My patner and 2 kids were on the first R family cruise and we will be back for the July 2005 sailing. What a wonderful, wonderful experience!! That was our first cruise - what a way to get started! We are booked on another NCL cruise out of LA in February. We found cruising the way to go with little kids!

See you on board!!

Kai

Our family of 5 just booked the "R Family" cruise too! I'd love to hear some details of last year's cruise from those of you that went, so we have some idea of what to expect. Is all of the entertainment brought in for this cruise, or is some of it the regular Dawn entertainment? How did your kids like it? Anything we need to know about this cruise compared to a "regular" cruise?

Hi all

My partner and our son will also be on this cruise. Booked it after we ran into Rosie at the mall and she said come. So how could we resist. Look forwarding to meeting you all and hearing about last years cruise.

JM

Hi JM and everyone else on this cruise! How old are all your kids (those of you with kids)? Ours our 10, 7, and 2. This will be the older kids 5th cruise, and the little ones 3rd...but we were not able to get our schedules allow for the R Family cruise last year, so we're very happy that things worked out this year!

Hi soprano - My little one will be 16 months old at the time of the cruise. How did your little one do on your past cruises. We have only had our son since the middle of December 04. We are looking forward to many vacations with him but would love to hear experiences and tips from those who have cruised with such young ones before.

nyloya,

We've found that our cruise experience with little ones totally depends on the temperament of the child. Our youngest is a bit more challenging than the older two were, but still not as wild as some kids we've seen. I think the key is to pace your day around the baby...adapt to his schedule instead of making him adapt to yours. NCL is a great cruise line to be very flexible, since there are no assigned dinner times. Also, there will be mostly families with kids on this cruise, so there will be lots of others in the same boat - so to speak!

My brother, his husband (love Massachusetts!) and their son are signed up for this cruise. I'll e-mail him the link! Have a great cruise everyone- someday, maybe my partner and I will join my brother to cruise with you all!

I am the brother mentioned above. My partner, our 2 year old son and I will be taking this cruise. We are really looking forward to it even though to someone from the Massachusetts the itinerary isn't very exciting. We figure that we will schedule a spa day when the ship is in Boston - that or nip home to water the plants!!

Welcome JamesMcD! We'll have to pick your brain about the best things to do in Boston. We're from California, so don't know too much about all those cold states! Have you guys been on a cruise before?

Hi Soprano. I haven't been on a cruise since my mother stopped paying for my travel. Will I sound very old if I say those were all trans-Atlantic crossings on ships which don't exist anymore except for perhaps the France (Norway). So, yes, we are new to both crusiing and gay travel if you don't count P-town and Key West. We are certainly new to traveling with a child.

Boston's a great city with lots to do - wonderful for walking tours. I suppose the ship will arrange trips to the historic sites but there are lots of places to take children. More later.

Hi everyone and welcome to a wonderful cruise experience.

Sorry I missed out on all responses but had little response so I haven't been back to check site for awhile. Was pleasantly surprised with responses.

I am really getting excited about the cruise. I was happy to see that the Dawn's mishap isn't affecting any bookings.

My partner (Robin) and I (Bev) can hardly wait. Last year was our first gay cruise but we have cruised for past 8 years and love it. I must say that the Dawn isn't my favorite ship or cruise line but for the company we keep we will put up with it.

Entertainment was very good last year compared to what you get on a regular cruise but not up to what Olivia has to offer. I heard Sharon Gliss is part of the entertainment, Kelly and Greg told me this when they were in Chicago.

So lets hear a little about everyone. I'll start, my partner and I have been together for a lucky 13 years. We have no children together but I have two grown sons. We live in a town just outside of Chicago.

I am a nurse and Robin is a chef's assistant. On the cruise we have a cabin on 11th deck, last year we were on 10th. Looking forward to New England stops.

Lets hear from everyone. I promise I will check in more often now I see pleople are cruising with us.

Bev

My partner and I, both in our 30's from the SF Bay Area, CA, will be on the cruise. We have cruised before, but never on a gay cruise. We are very much looking forward to it.

Welcome rbidwack,

I think you will love the experience. Never had a problem on any other cruises but this is really different. Entertainment is great lot of gay/lesbian comedians. Last year Rosie brought alot of her Broadway buddies. You can do what you want without getting funny looks.

When you go look at photos you won't be the only same sex couple in photo gallery. Feel free to dance together, hold hands even exchange a kiss by the pool.

Food on NCL not the best but it is okay. Open seating is nice. Last cruise we had no trouble with seating in Main dinning room as a lot of couples with kids eat at buffet.

We had a lot of kids on last years cruise but they were no problem. They had something like 600 kids but we were never bother by them. They have a great kids program. Kids even put on a act for use toward the end of cruise, it was very cute.

Many couples had committment ceremonies on the ship. Rosie performed several nights. I must say we saw her several times a day. She often ate at Bar-b-q by the pool for lunch. They keep saying this year is going to exceede last years cruise.

I have never done the New England/Canada cruise before so I am looking forward to that also.

I guess I have gone on enough for now.

Will check in again later this weekend.

Bev.

As I mentioned above we are traveling with our son who will have just turned two. Does anyone have advice for first-timers especially for parents of kids in that age group? Are there things you wished you had known before the cruise? What kind of schedule did you manage? Thanks.

Hi James,

I think if I was bringing a child this would be a great ship. They have a great kids program and then R Family brings extra staff to work the kids program.

Last year we ran into a lesbian couple who had 2 year old twin boys. The boys were pretty active. I would suggest bringing his favorite toys that are packable. The ports I believe are going to be kid friendly also.

The buffet has a kids area that is really neat. The tables in that area are made for pre-schoolers and they have a buffet right there with kids foods. Really cute and was well used. The kids program is great, all the parents with younger children were very happy with it.

I would say think of the things you do with him at home and plan to be able to do some of those things at sea.

I am sure all three of you are going to enjoy the trip. So many kids on board it well be like a pre-school type experience. It was really neat watching all the little ones making friends.

bump

Thanks, Bev, for the info. I've been having lots of fun navigating this board. For other parents who are new to cruising most questions can be answered by reading the special interest/family section - in-room babysitting, balcony safety, uses for duct tape (who knew?) etc. However, I wonder if with all the children on this particular cruise, there are enough babysitters and cribs to go around. Anybody know?

I wonder if with all the children on this particular cruise, there are enough babysitters

You COULD bring your brother and brother-in-law!:)

Hi James,

Last year the people with kids had no problem with sitters and I didn't hear anything about cribs but they usually plan by reservations so I would think they would have it covered. You could always request one to be put in your cabin now so it is in the cabin when you get there.

One night, some women brought her 4 year old to the comics program which isn't something you want your kids to hear. Both the comic and Rosie told her sitters were available. The women was in front row and never left with the little one. So I don't think it's going to be a problem.

The crew were very good with all the kids also. I think we had close to 600 kids last year. I must say most had exceptional behavior. The pool had to be closed one day due to one of the little one soiling the pool, I was really surprised it only happened once.

I hope this helps.

BEV

Checking in again to say HI! I just got off the phone with Colleen at R Family Vacations, and she said that they are about 85% booked. Does anyone know how full the ship was last year?

I hope you have a "repeat performance" on this cruise. I've already inquired for next year...their response was..."it will be announced soon.....hint.....west coast". I'm not sure if they mean cruising from the west coast or what....but I am ready to book when they announce. I can't go this cruise because I'm already booked for one in September.

Have a happy and safe cruise!!!

travelertwo, sorry to hear you are unable to cruise this year. We had a good time last year and are looking forward to this year. We were able to book this cruise on the 1st cruise giving us choice of cabins. I was hoping for Alaska for next year, will have to wait and see.

soprano last year we were just about half full according to cruise workers. Never had to wait long for dinning and could make reservations the day you wanted to dine without a problem. We were always able to get a table in main dinning room right by the windows, main dinning room was usually pretty empty. If the booking is at 75% that's great for R-Family.