Halloween-dam cruise! Let the good times roll!!

[BearCruise]

Hi All-

 

First of all I want to just say what a wonderful sailing, it was a pleasure meeting so many of you on board, and I appreciate your kind words about 'my boys'!

 

Chumley here, of Chumley's BearCruises (I'm not a travel agent, I am an event planner for the Philadelphia Eagles and a performer/fundraiser, but I do work with an agent from Ft Lauderdale) - and yes we were a group of 200 from all over the country (and 4 other countries) who sail annually at this time of year. We realize that we are just a large group on the ship along with hundreds of others who are all there to have a good time, and we remind our group that we receive the same respect we give to our fellow passengers.

 

We are NOT in any way connected to the 'other' Bears group who were aboard the RCL ship a couple of weeks ago... they are one of the copycat Bear groups who unfortunately market in a very different way than we do, and I'm not surprised to see so many problems arise. Sadly, it does affect us as there seems to be much confusion about which Bear group is which - and 'Bears' in general! Hopefully by now you have learned that 'bear' is just a term of fraternity that includes all types of men, but predominately fuzzy, beefy, cuddly types - and those who love them!

 

Each year we make hundreds of new friends, and by mid-week our group expands considerably - gay, straight and even a few with undeclared majors end up joining us and we think that's half of the fun!

 

As for the Pinnacle Grill, I must say that we are not entirely to blame - although I do try to procure space for our guys in some respect - the reservations situation there was a bit of a mess - possibly the fault of the gestapo-like Beverage Manager Herr Walter Schmucksucker, who is either totally homophobic or simply the rudest and most inept officer since Colonel Klink!

 

Otherwise, we had a wonderful time once again and I'm glad to see you all felt the same way!

 

Sorry we missed HMC, but maybe soon - we are sailing NCL next year but perhaps will return to HAL someday.

 

Welcome home all (oh, and by the way, AWESOME costumes... for straight people!!!)

 

;-)

 

Chumley, Chumley's BearCruises [bearcruises.com]

[HeatherInFlorida]

Chumley, hi there!!!!:) Thank you so much for straightening that all out about your group vs the group aboard RCI a few weeks ago.

 

You probably read that I was under the impression that Chumley Bears was a company that manufactured the little stuffed cutesy variety so I was more than a little confused!!!:D :D :D !!! LOL!!!

 

Now I "get" what everyone meant when they said you were the "cuddly" variety!!! You can't imagine how I'm laughing here at my stupidity of assuming that meant a little stuffed teddy bear.

 

I'm just so happy it turned out to be a great time for everyone!!!!

[Ziggy7]

I'm feeling way too crummy to post : (

 

Ok a few pics!

 

Me with Hotel Manager (he's 6'9") on left and Captain on right.

 

Me with Beverage Manager

 

Me with the Cruise Director (Note he's in our group t-shirt and CC lanyard hehehe)

 

Asst. Cruise Director Frankie (wonderful person for sure!)

My wonderful family! Karen (BabyZig), Me, Jim (mrZig), & Kathleen (Papa's Punky)

 

[Ziggy7]

Halloween Night!

 

Maggie (Mechcc) & Hermon (schertzcruiser)

 

Rita (Renorita) & Dru (DH) ( He can sing to me anytime!!!)

Janice (Stanford's Girl - also known as Hot Tub Mama) as Judge Judy , Slinkiecat & Grumpy1 as pirates on far left sitting.

 

 

Stanford's Girl (DH) Willie (also known as Hot Hottie)

 

 

[Ziggy7]

Ginny & Ed (Sinbad37)

 

Lisa & Brooke (lisabrooke1130) Ship contest winners!

 

Jim & Ruth (JimVrhovac) also known as fuzzy slipper guy!

 

Paul (Crystal808) as James Pond for nautical theme portion of contest hehehe

 

 

Ok more tomorrow I hope!!!!

[Copper10-8]

Very cool pics Zig, thanks for posting and get better soon! Looks like everyone had a great time! Great costumes!

I just have one question: what's Willie doing to that poor lady in front of him:rolleyes: :eek:

[hammybee]

Whose Willy?

 

I mean, who is Willy.

[stanford's girl]

Willie is my HH (Hottie Husband) and he's just a big baby catching a ride on that poor old womans back.:D hehe

 

I think half of the ship came up to him and asked if they could take a picture of him in that costume.

 

There were so many great costumes at the party. I got a lot of good ideas for my costume for next year.:cool:

 

 

[bepsf]

Oh My!

What great costumes!

:D

[trubey]

I just made it through 140-odd posts, hoping to see those photos!

 

Can we see more, Ziggy? or anyone else have any to upload?

 

Glad you all had a great time. Will you plan to do it again?

 

susana.

[jhannah]

Good to see you again, Susana! Where have you been? How's Lane?

[Grumpy1]

Susana, your name came up a few times in conversations about the ones that had planned to be on the cruise with us but had to cancel. You were missed... Another time, we hope.

[Renorita]

Okay, my turn to post!

 

This was the biggest and best group of folks we have every Cruised with! There was something going on all the time, starting in Fort Lauderdale!

That first dinner at the Ale House was fantastic in spite of the fact that when we got there, they had no reservations made for our large group even though we had made reservations weeks and weeks in advance! And this was on a Saturday night! Fortunately they came through and found 4 tables together that held all of us! A lot of hugging and toasting and picture taking happened that night! It was great that Heather and Ray left there sweet little dog long enough to stop by a see us!

 

I was very impressed with most of the Crew on the ship! There are always a few bad apples like the Pinnacle guy, but it is the first time that I have been to a meet and greet on any previous ship that the Captain, Hotel Manager, Bar Manager, and Cruise Director all came to meet us! And the Captain and the Cruise Director, Billy both wore their fuzzy slippers that were given them by Jim V.! The latter even wore them for the Karaoke finals in the huge Vista Lounge! And when we all threw our slippers at Dru (my DH, who tied for the best singing) Billy, who was one of the Judges (not the Simon guy), threw his slipper at Dru too! Too funny! Billy also came to our 45 minute free cocktail and appetizer party that they gave us CC'ers, wearing his Halloween Dam Cruise Critic T-Shirt! He also extended the party cause they were late getting started, so it ended up being about an hour that we got free drinks and snacks!

 

The 4 of us (Janice, Willie, Dru and I, after getting our time at the Pinnacle changed like everyone else, actually had a very good dinner, and a fantastic waiter, in fact we gave him special recognition in our comment card! Would I pay $30 to eat there, no! But it was much better then our experience at the Pinnacle on the Oosterdam!

 

More later, better quit in case this doesn't print!

 

Oh, more on the Chumley bears later too! Thank you Chumley for posting! I was apprehensive at first, but you and your guys were just great and a lots of fun! You sure helped make the Halloween party a big success, and also the last day on the ship at the Aft Pool! Nuff said!

[Copper10-8]

Hey Rita formerly from Reno;), thanks for taking the time and effort to write! Sounds like you guys had an awesome time on Westerdam! Great group to be with; would have been a fun and crazy time, no doubt!:D

[trubey]

~~Hey, Jim!

~~Hey, Grump!

~~Hey, all others who knew we had planned to be on this cruise with you.

 

We had decided to skip some cruises and spend more time (and money) on land vacations. But don't feel sorry for us; we just got back last night from a week in Paris. We alternate going to Paris and the US for doctor visits.

 

So, as we are going to sit out the next year or so on cruising, now, I just pop back in here occasionally to see what's happening in cruise-land.

 

Happy trails . . . Happy sails.

 

susana.

[sail7seas]

Good to hear from you Susana. Hope Lane is doing well. Welcome back aboard. We've missed you.

 

[Southbound]

That first dinner at the Ale House was fantastic in spite of the fact that when we got there, they had no reservations made for our large group even though we had made reservations weeks and weeks in advance! And this was on a Saturday night! Fortunately they came through and found 4 tables together that held all of us!

 

This is the first I am hearing this and, as I volunteered to be responsible for this particular aspect, must say I am very surprised, indeed.

Initially, our pre-cruise get-acquainted get-together was to be held at Dave & Buster's, which is located in the mall adjacent to our hotel. Upon being told they do not take reservations, I spoke with the manager of the Hollywood LaQuinta who informed me that most restaurants were no longer taking ressies. He recommended calling the Ale House, as they might make an exception because we were staying at that LQ and there was a business relationship between the two (i.e., 10% discount off food with an LQ room key card).

I called the Ale House on 7/17/06 and spoke with Amy, who agreed to accept our group ressie for 10/28/06 at 6 p.m. She asked that I call her again two weeks prior to arrival to provide her with a head count.

On 10/17, I again spoke with Amy, gave her the head count and re-confirmed the time we'd be arriving. The reservation was put in the book under "Lee - Westerdam cruise group". She told me our group would be set up at the four "high-tops" in the rear lounge and assured me all was in proper order. I then posted this info on our group forum.

When my DH and I arrived at the Ale House at approx. 6:30, we told the hostess of our ressie, she immediately found it on her list (I saw the "Lee-Westerdam group cruise" plain and clear) and escorted us to the area where most of the group had already assembled. Yep. Four high-tops in the rear lounge, just as promised.

I am therefore puzzled why anyone in our group would have experienced a problem, unless the employee who greeted you failed to check the ressie list more closely or wasn't given the name under which to look.

In any event, considering the situation in FLL that particular weekend (Int'l Boat Show, Streisand concert, etc.), I'm just thankful we were able to get the ressie and everything turned out ok. :)

[Renorita]

Not too worry Lee, one of those things must have happened. We may have told the hostess, that we were the Halloween Dam Group, I am not sure, but we kept telling her that we had Reservations weeks in advance, and Willie even went behind the Hostess desk pretending to be the host, while she went and checked to see what she could do about our situation. He was such a nut, greeting people when they came in, the staff was great about it, and let him get away with it! ;) Everybody was looking for you, but we knew you were with your friends. Anyway, as I said, it worked out fine, just some mishap on their part. We still appreciated all you did for us! :)

[HeatherInFlorida]

That is too funny!!!:D When I read Rita's post about the reservation problem I wondered how they ever came up with all those high tops with the crowds in the place that night!!! Knew there must be some explanation.

 

Rita, it was so great to meet you and Dru, too, along with everyone else. I do want to mention, though, that we leave Molly for long periods of time ... yikes, do you picture us sitting home patting our dog all day long?:o Quite a picture. On the contrary, we were in FLL from early that morning for an event so by 7:00 that night it was time to head home:).

 

Still, we were glad we could make time to swing by even for just a minute and see all of you off. I can't tell you how much we enjoyed meeting everyone.

 

And now it great reading about the good times had by all.

[Sunshine91]

The guy who won the costume contest - the plug - how did he pack that thing?

Loved the pix of all the costumes. Thanks for sharing. Looks like pirates were a popular choice.

[Ziggy7]

 

In any event, considering the situation in FLL that particular weekend (Int'l Boat Show, Streisand concert, etc.), I'm just thankful we were able to get the ressie and everything turned out ok. :)

You did great Lee! It was a name game that made it seem like a mix up, but they figured it out and put them where they were suppose to be, they just forgot to tell them that :) Sometimes it pays to be the last to arrive LOL

 

[Copper10-8]

The guy who won the costume contest - the plug - how did he pack that thing?

Loved the pix of all the costumes. Thanks for sharing. Looks like pirates were a popular choice.

 

In addition, would like to know how Willie and Janice packed that lady that's got Willie on her back in the pic? Does she fit in a suitcase and, if so, isn't that a case of elder abuse?

[Dog Mommie]

In addition, would like to know how Willie and Janice packed that lady that's got Willie on her back in the pic? Does she fit in a suitcase and, if so, isn't that a case of elder abuse?

John, if you're very lucky (or maybe it's unlucky:confused:!) Willie will post the pics of what his cabin steward did to his costume parts!!!!:eek: :D

[stanford's girl]

John, if you're very lucky (or maybe it's unlucky:confused:!) Willie will post the pics of what his cabin steward did to his costume parts!!!!:eek: :D

ROTFLMAO Maranza!!!! :D

[Copper10-8]

John, if you're very lucky (or maybe it's unlucky:confused:!) Willie will post the pics of what his cabin steward did to his costume parts!!!!:eek: :D

 

Can you give us a hint or better yet, tell us the whole story since Willie doesn't post here;)