Do you ever arrive for a cruise the day before just to meet fellow Cruise Critics?

[gkm]

We have been so lucky. We've met and chatted with so many great people that a bunch of us are going to meet for dinner the night before we cruise. Some of the people who are coming are not cruising with us, but because we have become friends over the past year or two are anxious to meet. Our schedules never seem to jive to cruise together and this is a good way to meet face to face. So east coast will be coming to west coast to sail to Hawaii and some of our cyber friends are even taking flights to be there for dinner. I imagine the conversation will be TOTALLY about cruising and our experiences but what fun we'll have!!

 

Do any of you do this?? Do you arrange to meet cyber friends when you're in their city?

 

Garry

[cruising with marti]

Garry, what is a cyber friend???:D :D :D

 

 

 

Phil

[gkm]

Not you Phil. We've met in person. I'm talking about friends you only know from what their fingers type.:D :D :D BUT, we were once there.;)

 

Garry

[cruising with marti]

Ok, I got it!!!!:D :D :D

 

 

Phil

[Char]

Hey Garry :D

 

Yep, we've done this. A bunch of us were going out of Jacksonville on the Zenith and were stying at the same hotel (that provided free parking and shuttle :) ). Since I was the "local" one I arranged for about 36 of us to have dinner at a restaurant in walking distance of the hotel the night before the cruise. Great fun!! We had never met before, so it was all cyber friendly :p In fact, good old Lois was the one who recommended the hotel since she is the true local person there and knows the properties. Still haven't met her face to face. :(

 

I know you guys are going to enjoy your get together and cruise! Hope you see lots of whales!

[Karynanne]

Well, I'm one of those "Cyber" friends! We are flying to Long Beach JUST to meet our cyber-friends before their cruise...I can't think of a more perfect way to spend a weekend. Yes, the conversation will be about cruising...but I gather also about friendships and family.

 

Karyn (Karynanne)

[cruising with marti]

Char

 

If I get a good photo of a whale, I just hope Garry doesn't try and take credit for it, like she did last Sept on our Alaska cruise:D :D :D

 

 

Phil

[gkm]

O.K. Phil. I'll give you credit for telling me to look! "GARRY! WOW!! WHALE GOING UNDER THE BOAT!!! WHEE!!!! Thanks Phil.:D

 

Garry

[cruising with marti]

O.K. Phil. I'll give you credit for telling me to look! "GARRY! WOW!! WHALE GOING UNDER THE BOAT!!! WHEE!!!! Thanks Phil.:D

 

Garry

 

 

LOL, ok you got me, but this cruise I will have a new camera:)

 

Phil

[nu2sea]

Does it count if we meet them in a third city? Since there are not a lot of ports in the Mohave, we don't often get a chance to meet cruisers here, although we are planning on meeting up with you all in Long Beach ("you all", that's Southern for "all of you", right Garry?)

 

We have met with folks we will be cruising with this May in Palm Springs this past January for lunch. We had a great time and have spoken with them on line and on the telephone since. Our friendship started on a roll call. It is nice to put a face to a name and to get to meet virtual friends for the first time.

 

Susan

[Char]

OH, I forgot to mention that we have gone to Orlando several times for lunch with 2 couples we met on our Hawaii cruise--how could I forget that!! :confused: Atlanta is just too far to drive for a lunch/dinner meeting--too bad 'cause we'd love to see Garry & Bob again :D California is out of the question :( -- we'd love to see Phil and the lovely Marti again, too. :)

[pamkev]

Not the night before maybe like 5 months before. A group of us got together in April before our TA cruise in Sept and then most of us stayed at the same hotel in London and also had a get together there! It was a blast. Some of us are doing the same thing for our upcoming Oct Zenith cruise we are meeting in June.

 

Pam

[gkm]

We also have cruising buddies that we met a few years ago that live a long way from us. Here we are in Georgia and they live in California. We solved our meeting problem by going to Las Vegas for a weekend every year. It's worked great and we sure do have fun. They'll be cruising with us to Hawaii too.:D

 

Garry

[fllady]

Living in Florida, we usually cruise from one of the ports, we have driven down to have dinner with cruise friends we have met and stayed in touch with from other cruises. Our next cruise in May, we fly to San Francisco and will meet up with some of our roll call buddies, before the cruise. Really looking forward to it!:)

[RickandAnne]

Hi, Garry and fellow cruisers et. al.!! Another good thread (probably worth som fru's later). We going down to San Juan Friday morning to catch up with about 15 couples at the Embassy Suites for a St Patty's day party the night before we sail on Connie. This cruise has had a great roll call with about 60 - 70 couples signing up for the CC party on board. They've done a decent job of getting us all together and publishing who we are to everyone (although not nearly the job you and Bob have done for the Owls Cruise.)

 

Many of us are also planning to meet at the Martini Bar right after the safety drill at 5 and I have no idea how that's going to go.....too many people and not enough of Sudi. He's already written us that he's getting extra help to handle the crush from behind the bar. I've got to say the roll calls are a real benefit of CC, despite some of the other complaints.

Rick

[wv4891]

We were part of this very happy group in London. The best group so far. We had a very large turnout for our C.C. get together onboard. I, along with my fellow C.C. partner in crime Jack, put together an onboard luncheon for about 120 C.C. members and had a blast. Celebrity was very accommodating in basically letting us take over the main dining room for lunch. The thread is still going and we are planning a 2007 cruise to Tahiti. Drinks at our house precruise.;)

 

Not the night before maybe like 5 months before. A group of us got together in April before our TA cruise in Sept and then most of us stayed at the same hotel in London and also had a get together there! It was a blast. Some of us are doing the same thing for our upcoming Oct Zenith cruise we are meeting in June.

 

Pam

[Ma Bell]

Hi Bill,

 

Why don't you and your wife come on down to Long Beach and meet lots of the folks who will be on the Connie next year. It's going to be a good time I'm sure. We're going to dinner on the 25th.:D

 

Joan

[wv4891]

Hi Joan,

 

Email me privately, please.

[wvufan]

Good morning,

 

Great topic!

 

We always prefer to get to the departure city a day ahead. Last year, there were a bunch of us sailing from Baltimore. We had a very active roll call, and before it was all over, there were something like 35 of us who met for dinner the night before, including one cyber friend couple who came just to meet the gang. I also happened to get a great rate through Priceline at a good hotel, and many other couples jumped on that bandwagon too. One of our cruisers was from Baltimore, and he is the one who arranged our dinner gathering. To top it off, he chartered a bus and for something like $15 a person, it picked us up at the hotel, toured us to major sites, etc., and dropped us off right at the pier. We didn't even have to fool with luggage:)

 

Char, we have driven to Florida several times for cruises, and once stopped in Jacksonville specifically to visit Lois. We had a great day going to St. Augustine, eating out, etc. She's even nicer in person!

 

We are on the cruise with Garry in a couple weeks and although we likely won't make the big dinner the night before as we are staying in Long Beach instead of San Pedro, we hope to meet up with others who are also staying in Long Beach.

 

We have also visited other cyber friends who happen to live near our grandkids in New Jersey, and have visited folks who we earlier met on a cruise.

 

It is amazing the depth of friendship that can be cultivated through these boards and on board.

 

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl

[Sky Sweet]

Would you make plans to meet people from another type of message board, such as financial planning, football, etc, or just cruise oriented ones?

[Karynanne]

Years ago we had a very large group of friends that all attended CAL football games together...As we all moved to various parts of the country, we would meet once a year for our "Football Reunion". Now it's only once every 3-4 years.

 

Karyn (Karynanne)

[RickandAnne]

Would you make plans to meet people from another type of message board, such as financial planning, football, etc, or just cruise oriented ones?

I'd guess (bet) that, while I wouldn't, because I wouldn't be sharing a passion with others on those types of board, that we would find that those that do share a passion probably would take advantage of opportunities to meet.

[Sky Sweet]

Has anyone ever remet a childhood friend that they lost touch with through a message board?

[safein]

Can't say that I've run into anyone I've known as a kid on any message boards, Sky Sweet.

 

But getting back to the OP's original question....... The Infinity cruise we were on last year, several of us did decide to get together before we sailed. As all of us had to fly to Hawaii at least a day or two to get used to the time change, some of us decided to get together to finally put a face to a name. We're very glad we did!

 

Anita

[tuggers]

I'm flying from S Georgia to LA to have dinner with this bunch and I had to cancel the cruise!! Do I get something for the longest flight to get there and no Hawaii?

Char and I have met for lunch in Gainseville, remember, Char?

But, gee, when I say, 'I'm coming your way' most people stop posting and I can never find them. I wonder why...