Roll Call - Freedom 1/28/07

[gfromftlaud]

Give Me FREEDOM!

 

Hey all, just back from The Atlantis 15th Anniversary Cruise aboard Infinity. Can't wait to start packing for FREEDOM 2007. This will be our second cruise with Atlantis.

 

Who else is ready to Party????

 

318 DAYS to go.....

 

Best Regards,

Gary

[emjsea]

Myself, Michael, and my partner, Carlos, will be there.

 

We are probably going to Paris with some friends in October, but we're actually more excited about this cruise next January!

[gfromftlaud]

My partner Mark and I are booked and we also have 1 other couple booked and another couple planning to book as soon as it is open to the public. I have a feeling this cruise will sell out fast.

 

I was surprised how many staterooms had already been booked. We were struggling to find staterooms near each other.

 

Anyway, 317 days and counting....

[gfromftlaud]

Happy Monday Michael and Carlos!

 

Have 3 more friends from Ft. Lauderdale ready to book once it opens to the public....

[gigand]

Hey guys,

 

This is Jim & Terry from Miami. We were on the Navigator in January and booked for Freedom 07 too. Had an excellent time on the Navigator and looking forward to Freedom. Can't wait !!!:D

[gfromftlaud]

Welcome to the thread...who was your special guest entertainment on Navigator?

[gigand]

Thanks for the welcome Gary. We had Charo, Christine W, Margaret Cho, Pamela Stanley, and a couple of gay comedians. It was our first Atlantis as we always gone on RSVP. Enjoyed the variety of entertainment. There was a wonderful ice show on their ice rink which had a gay theme to it. Even without the gay theme it was very nice. :D

[gigand]

What entertainment was on the 15th anniversary cruise?

[emjsea]

Good afternoon

 

Please feel free to enjoy my photos from the January 28th Navigator cruise. Most of the photos are of the entertainment mentioned above (Charo, Margaret Cho, Hypnotist, Kristine W., etc.)

 

www.photos.yahoo.com/emjsea

 

So where does one get one of those nifty cruise countdown graphics? I think it's like 314 days until Freedom.

[gigand]

Nice photos Michael. I think my partner is in the background in one of them on the deck. Don't know where to get the countdown (torture when is it going to get here) clock. :)

[gfromftlaud]

Charo, who was amazing, and the Special Guest Star was Joan Rivers....irreverently hysterical! I was in serious pain from laughing so hard.

 

Also aboard were Miss Richfield 1981, Dixie Longate, Matt Yee, Jackie Beat...all great performers and a few gay comedians.

 

I would have loved to see Margaret Cho.

 

I wonder who will be aboard Freedom....

 

313 days 19 hours, 2 minutes, and 10 seconds....

 

Best Regards,

 

Gary

[gigand]

Gary, Joan Rivers must have been wonderful. Saw her years ago.

[gfromftlaud]

2 more of our friends who sailed Infinity with us 2 weeks ago just booked Freedom.

 

Have you guys checked out Freedom's website?

 

http://www.freedomoftheseas.com/

 

Going to be an amazing ship!

 

Gary

[gfromftlaud]

I saw on another thread here that you have some straight friends joining you on Freedom. We will too, one of our best friends in the world and his fiance. I actually think they are more excited about the cruise than I am....

 

Have a great day,

 

Gary

[gigand]

The guy who books our cruises emailed me last night and indicated that the Freedom is 2/3 sold out already. This is even before it shows on the Atlantis web site for the rest of the public. :eek:

 

Jim

[emjsea]

The guy who books our cruises emailed me last night and indicated that the Freedom is 2/3 sold out already. This is even before it shows on the Atlantis web site for the rest of the public. :eek:

 

Jim

 

In that case I should say my friends will be joining me if there is still room for them.

 

Does anyone know if the general public (not just alums) can book on the Freedom yet? I thought that when the bookings became open, they'd post it to the website, and unfortunately that's what I told everyone I've been trying to recruit. Honestly, I can't imagine anyone I know just booking a cruise without some more information besides me saying "Call this number and pay a lot of money. It'll be cool, I promise."

[gigand]

Michael,

 

First I want to tell you that I've read some of your postings on other threads and agree with many of your comments. They are refreshingly sensible. My partner and I can totally relate. In addition, we also had no problem in Grand Cayman and found the Jamaicans to be the only ones gaulking. :D

 

Atlantis has only been taking reservations from people on the Navigator and Celebrity cruises until now. My travel consultant indicated to me in an email last night that he can book anyone at this point. The Freedom cruise is supposed to show up on the Atlantis site on 3/27.

 

Jim

[emjsea]

I thought I'd share some. We're Michael (me) and Carlos (mi amor). We live in Baltimore, MD and have been together for 2 years. The cruise is around our anniversary (close enough) so we'll be celebrating 3 years during Freedom.

 

Michael is 37, and an Executive Assistant at a state university (though I have a BA in English Lit and an MA in graphic design). Carlos is 35, a Medical Assistant and he's in school studying to be a nurse. He's a native Colombian and muy, muy guapo:cool:

 

This will be my 5th cruise and Carlos's 2nd. It will be our 2nd gay cruise. He's the one that talked me into the first Atlantis cruise as I had all the strongly-held preconceptions that I've chided others for in other threads :rolleyes:

 

I'm from the Baltimore area, but I've lived in downtown Baltimore city for nearly 15 years now. Some day we hope to move to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale.

[gfromftlaud]

Mark(50yrs), and I (Gary - 35yrs) have lived in Fort Lauderdale for the past 11 years. We are both originally from Iowa, and just celebrated our 15th anniversary together and Mark's 50th birthday, on the Atlantis "15th Anniversary Cruise".

 

I'm the Director of Marketing for a company that manufactures residential lighting and ceiling fans, and Mark is in Funeral Home managment.

 

FREEDOM will be our 5th cruise (2nd with Atlantis). As I have mentioned on other threads, we have always loved traditional "straight" cruises and I had always been a little apprehensive about going on a "gay" cruise, however, within the first 12 hours aboard Infinity with Atlantis we had each decided that we would only book Atlantis cruises in the future.

 

Amazing that Freedom is already 2/3 sold out!

 

Best Regards,

Gary

[gigand]

Terry(51) and I(Jim-46) have been together for 28 years this July (and we still love each other dearly). :D I was born and raised in Miami and Terry arrived when he was just a baby. We've been on about 15-16 RSVP cruises and 1 Atlantis (The Freedom will make our second). We very much enjoy the gay cruises for various reasons as they all result in meaningful times and great memories. We continue to be in touch with people we have met throughout the years on these cruises and see many on the ships each year. It's like a reunion !!!

 

Terry is a retired Crime Scene Investigator from a municipality here in Dade County and currently owns a boat repair business.

I work in a business capacity and I'm also a professor for for a local college.

 

Jim

[gigand]

We've also been on many straight cruises and met wonderful people but there is nothing like a gay cruise for us.

[gfromftlaud]

311 days..and counting. Thanks for the 411 guys. Jim and Terry - 28 years together, that is awesome.

 

Anyway bois, as you may have already noticed I am way addicted to Cruise Critic.... and cruising. I look forward to our thread growing in the coming months.

 

I am off to Asia on business later this week and will be gone about a month, but I will pop on and check in when possible.

 

Hope you are all having a great Wednesday!

 

Gary

[gigand]

Being addicted to cruises is a good addiction :D . It will be fun to see how this thread grows over the months. Hope you guys are all having a nice week. Enjoy Asia Gary and we'll be looking for you on the thread.

 

Jim

[emjsea]

I've definitely become a cruise addict and a cruisecritics addict. I think the latter because I'm so looking forward to my next cruise (my mind is just cruise, cruise, cruise, all darn day!) And it's a great place to procrastinate at work.

 

Have fun in Asia!

[gigand]

Michael & Carlos,

 

I was looking through more of your Navigator photos and remember seeing you guys on the cruise. There is a picture taken in Labadee of the Labadee sign on the pavillion as you arrive. We were right in front of it. You can see the back of mine and Terry's head in your photo. Mine is the one without the cap and Terry is wearing a cap. photo dscf0234/69 of 96 photos. Did you take a tour in Cozumel?

 

Looking at the Freedoms layout, the hot tubs that extend over the ocean look awesome. We really like the layout of Royal Caribbeans newer ships. There are so many places to go and the inside promenade is tremendous.:eek:

 

Jim