My BVE Experience with Tim (aka Terrific_Surprise)

[san diego sue]

Don't think I could ever do a BVE.

I would find it too hard to leave the ship when everyone else is cruising.

We also met Terri and Tim in January on the freebe cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

Don't think I could ever do a BVE.

I would find it too hard to leave the ship when everyone else is cruising.

 

I know right!

[skiladyldp]

Tim nice to hear from you. I have been checking your posts to see if you have been around.

 

 

Vlirginia

[terrific_surprise]

This is the end of my review. Thank you for staying with me as I wrote in segments. It is amazing how retirement has interfered with my free time! Loving every minute of it!

 

Thanks so much, Renee, for sharing your review of our first hours onboard together... and for coaxing me out of CC retirement. Now of course I will feel compelled to share more of my perspectives on the experience and perhaps some of our subsequent experiences. Months ago, I had been intending to share some photos and videos I recorded that day, but being shocked by the discovery that my review thread was shut down (without warning or explanation) I gave up the thought of finishing the review and turned my thoughts toward other urgencies.

 

My mind is often harder to turn around than a huge cruise ship, so my photos and videos are still not quite ready. Hopefully in a week or so they will be (at this point the letters IRS trump the letters CC in my list of priorities). When they are ready I will post a link to them here (along with thoughts corresponding to the pictures).

 

For those who followed the golden envelopes I gave Terri during the cruise, I'm also posting a little story (at the end of my main pre-cruise thread, post #424) about how we celebrated the significance of today (April 9) in relation to the cruise.

 

Tim

Edited April 10, 2014 by terrific_surprise

[skiladyldp]

Tim, I recall seeing a post on your thread before it was shut down from one of the moderators, asking you if you wanted you own forum. They indicated that your thread was very large and had a lot of followers. That was there was a week and then it was closed. Too bad your own forum would have been nice. Perhaps you can still do that if you contact a moderator.

 

 

Virginia

[terrific_surprise]

I finally finished preparing some photos and videos to share what happened on the day we met Renee on the Star Princess. An introduction to my perpective on what happened that day is included in the description of the photo album.

 

As you will see if you look at the photos, for us a Bon Voyage Experience involves much more than just the time on the ship: we made a full day of it, from before dawn to after dusk.

 

We watched the Star Princess sail in before sunrise, with a full moon enhancing the romance of the experience (although the romantic full moon experience I had planned for our Hawaii cruise hadn't turned out the way I had hoped, and our most romantic cruise-related full moon experience hadn't happened to us yet).

 

Even though we had seen it before, we were fascinated to watch the

before docking.

 

 

After the ship finished docking, it caught the attention of some birds,

for a while at the nearby fountains (as we killed some time while waiting to board the ship).

 

 

As Renee has already described, meeting her was the easiest part of the day, and we immediately felt like old friends (although I think all of us became impatient while waiting over an hour to board the ship).

 

The above photo shows Renee, her traveling companion Beverly, Terri, and myself, moments before we boarded the Star Princess.

 

My embarkation lunch was particularly special (and filling): Renee and Terri both shared their lunches with me!

 

 

Although Renee had convinced us to order delicious "volcanoes" for dessert, after leaving the dining room, I convinced Terri that we needed to get more desserts from the International Cafe.

 

 

Most of our remaining BVE time was occupied with waiting for our photos. While we waited, I took the below photo of the storm clouds which were ominously increasing, while at that very moment the song "Stormy Weather" played on the Star Princess sound system.

 

 

Terri had prepared some signs for us to wave as the ship sailed away, but sailaway was delayed until it was dark, making our signs virtually useless. As

shows, however, Terri's voice made up for what the signs lacked, and I'm sure that Renee wasn't the only one who appreciated her enthusiastic message.

 

I provide more detailed descriptions of my perspective on these experiences in the photo album captions, along with photos of other activities that day (plus the informative displays at the Cruise Ship Promenade).

 

Our next BVE will happen very soon: next Saturday, May 3 on the Crown Princess!

Edited April 27, 2014 by terrific_surprise

[Colo Cruiser]

Great photos. :)

[janetz]

I have not read this whole thread but can you tell me for the BVE do you do the ships tour or go off on your own? We are going to sign our DD up for it when she brings us to NY in October.

[RetiredNTraveling]

We watched the Star Princess sail in before sunrise, with a full moon enhancing the romance of the experience (although the romantic full moon experience I had planned for our Hawaii cruise hadn't turned out the way I had hoped, and our most romantic cruise-related full moon experience hadn't happened to us yet).

 

Hello Tim and Terri. It is good to see that you are still haunting CC. We were with you guys on the Hawaii 2013 cruise. Even though we don't have anything booked right now, we are looking at 28 DAY HAWAII, TAHITI & SAMOA CRUISE in Oct. of 2015. Like you, we fell in love with Hawaii and can't wait to get back. Glad to hear that you are both doing ok!

As Always,

Edited April 27, 2014 by RetiredNTraveling

[Colo Cruiser]

I have not read this whole thread but can you tell me for the BVE do you do the ships tour or go off on your own? We are going to sign our DD up for it when she brings us to NY in October.

 

Its your choice.

[cr8tiv1]

Aloha Tim, glad to see you posting again.

[likeadisguise]

The second Princess agent to whom I spoke last week told me that they don't offer BVEs on long sailings (the Sapphire's cruise to Asia which begins Thursday is 25 days). In my opinion, that may or may not be the case (and your speculation that all slots are booked is just as likely).

 

BVEs aren't offered on cruises that end in an international port (US to Canada sailings are an exception). It's the itinerary, not the length.