ROLL CALL: Voyager of the Sea - March 22, 2009

[jmrpaint]

This weekend is our friends birthday party, so we have that, and other than that no big plans.

The wedding plans are coming together, only 4 weeks until the big day.

[Bill-Squared]

Just had a little time after lunch and thought I'd check in. Jason, I'm sure you're busy with wedding plans. :D So, so exciting!

 

I've been doing some early/basic research on our ports, since I don't know much about them. Looking at websites for possible excursions, activities, etc. Looks like some interesting options. Have you been to any of the ports/places before? I have not...so all of them will be new for me!! :o

 

Okay back to work! I have a dentist appointment late this afternoon. I have an old filling that's cracked my tooth, so it has to be removed and they are fitting me for a crown today. WHOOPEE!!! :eek: Can you say you'll have as much fun this evening??? :confused:

[jmrpaint]

Just had a little time after lunch and thought I'd check in. Jason, I'm sure you're busy with wedding plans. :D So, so exciting!

 

I've been doing some early/basic research on our ports, since I don't know much about them. Looking at websites for possible excursions, activities, etc. Looks like some interesting options. Have you been to any of the ports/places before? I have not...so all of them will be new for me!! :o

 

Okay back to work! I have a dentist appointment late this afternoon. I have an old filling that's cracked my tooth, so it has to be removed and they are fitting me for a crown today. WHOOPEE!!! :eek: Can you say you'll have as much fun this evening??? :confused:

 

The only port we have been to is Couzmel, we went Scuba Diving there, and it was one of the best dives to date. After that we went and hung out with some other people from the ship at Carlos and Charlies....

 

Our best friend goes to Yucatan every year, so he has given us many tid bits of information on that port, but the others are new to us. I havnt done alot of research on them yet, probably have to wait until we get back from our Alaskan Cruise.

[RlrCstr]

wondered if any other "friends of Dorothy" will be onboard as well. Should be a fun cruise!

Let us know....

 

A company called Gayribbean Cruises is doing bookings for a group on this cruise. I found it by doing a Google search to see if any other large groups

were going to be on that cruise, as my partner and I are considering this

one.

 

We normally do HAL or Princess and it will be our first time on RCI.

 

Details being worked out in the next few days and will let you all

know if we will be joining you guys.

[Bill-Squared]

A company called Gayribbean Cruises is doing bookings for a group on this cruise. I found it by doing a Google search to see if any other large groups

were going to be on that cruise, as my partner and I are considering this

one.

 

We normally do HAL or Princess and it will be our first time on RCI.

 

Details being worked out in the next few days and will let you all

know if we will be joining you guys.

 

Hmmmm. I went to their website and they have a cruise on the VOS for February 22...but not for March 22. That would be great if they do and we have lots of "family." The more, the merrier. (or is that "Mary-ier?" :p )

 

Thanks for posting. Will you be joining us?

[jmrpaint]

Well the wedding is over, and I thought I would swing by to read up on everything I missed... and what, no new posts? Wow! That was easy reading.

 

How have you been Bill?

[Bill-Squared]

<background music: "Here Comes the Bride..."> ;)

 

Welcome back, Sadie! (Obscure reference from "Funny Girl." Too stereotypical?)

 

Yes, it's been very quiet on both boards. I almost checked in this weekend, but we got busy and I just forgot! We had tickets to a local musical production and lots of TO DOs...so the weekend got away from me.

 

So glad you checked back in, Jason! How was the wedding? We're gonna want to see pictures during the cruise!!! :D

[jmrpaint]

The wedding was great! It was a lot of work, but it was a very nice ceremony, and everyone had a great time.

I will let you know as soon as we get the photos posted.

 

How is everything in Dallas?

[Bill-Squared]

Good morning, Jason!

 

Things in Dallas are good. Hot...but that's "normal" this time of year. :cool: And work is so, so busy right now as we prepare for our biggest fundraising event of the year. (Goal is to raise $1.9 million)

 

Can't wait to see the photos!

 

So, do you think we'll see some more "family" on our posts here? I know it's still a bit far away...but I do hope we get some more cruisers. Wish we could "advertise" that we're here! :confused:

 

Partner is getting ready for a 5-day cruise in a few weeks. He and his Mom are leaving out of Tampa. Going to some of the same areas that our March cruise will hit. They won't be able to do many of the excursions since she can't get around very well. We've booked a couple of bus tours for them. (She lives with his sister near Tampa and they are paying for the cruise because they needed a break from taking care of Mom. :o So, I'll be a bachelor for a week! :eek: )

 

Okay, time to work. (I'm already at the office, but having my morning orange-water and muffins)

 

Have a great day!!!

[jmrpaint]

Well I hope we find some more people for this cruise... Over 200 days to go, im sure there will be atleast 1 more.. =)

 

Im sad that we lost of the the ports in Mexico, we were looking forward to seeing the Ruins, but oh well... guess we just get another sea day.

 

We are actually getting ready for our "honeymoon/vacation" cruise to Alaska and we leave in 12 days... Sooooo excited.

 

Have a great weekend!

[Bill-Squared]

WOW...I didn't know we'd lost one of our ports. :confused: Do we know why? Does mean more sea-days...which can be fun, too!

[Bill-Squared]

Pretty sure you're on your honeymoon, Jason...but just wanted to check in. Shout out when you get back. Want to hear all about it. (Well, not ALL about it. That would be...tacky!)

 

Bill

[Bill-Squared]

Went to RCCL yesterday and they have posted all the excursions for our cruise. I downloaded the new brochure...minus the port they dropped. Will begin making our plans.

 

I also called RCCL and asked them about dropping the port and why I wasn't notified. Not great answers. ("We are not required to notify passengers of any changes in the schedule." HUH? Right, I'm only the customer. Why keep me informed? :confused: )

 

I asked about any kind of reduction in the cost or refund and was told NO. "The cost of the cruise is not based on the ports, but on taking the cruise itself." :confused: I don't think so!)

 

Not impressed! But it's another sea day...and I'll be on a cruise...so how bad can it be? :p

 

Okay, back to work for me. It's FRIDAY and so looking forward to the weekend.

[jmrpaint]

2 more days until we leave for the honeymoon. Just finished packing for it this weekend. Phew!

[Bill-Squared]

Have a great trip, Jason. Check back in when you get home.

[Bill-Squared]

Hey, Jason! How was the honeymoon? :o

Hope you're doing well!!!

[jmrpaint]

Bill,

 

The honeymoon was GREAT! It was one of the best cruises we have been on, and would do it again in a heart beat. We ended up meeting so many new friends.

 

Having to get back in the swing of things for work has been difficult, hard to play catchup after 3 weeks. Hopefully I will be able to catch up on the other Roll Call in the next week or so. It looks like there has been some new people.

 

How are you going? How did you fare out with the hurricanes?

 

Jason

[Bill-Squared]

(Obscure "Funny Girl" reference. How stereotypically gay am I? :o )

 

Glad to have you back. Hope you got lots of pictures.

 

Things here are hectic too. We did really well with the remanants of Ike. Most of it vered off and missed us. Got some rain...but not as much as they predicted. <whew!>

 

Have you booked your excursions for this trip yet? We can't decide what to do. We want to do some snorkleing...and thought about snuba or power snorkle. I want lots and lots of beach time, since I will be coming off one of our major fundraiser for the year and I will be ready for some rest!! :cool:

 

Are you guys close to the fires? :(

[Mikew0805]

Hi Everyone,

 

My partner Josh, and myself will be on this cruise as well. The last RCCL cruise I was on, had an active FOD group.. although we only attended twice.

 

This will be a anniversary/birthday cruise for us. Our 13th Anniversary is on 01/29/2009, and Josh's 31st bday is on 03/23/2009. Should be a good time.

 

I am looking forward to chatting with you all up until the cruise!

 

Mike

[Bill-Squared]

Glad you got the message on the other thread.

 

Jason (jmrpaint) and I have been keeping this thread alive, hoping for others to join. :) Glad you guys will be joining us on the cruise.

 

We live in Dallas, so we're going to drive down for the cruise. It's also my birthday cruise, too...on 3/25. I'm 29...again!!!:o

 

My partner and I (the other Bill) did a RCCL cruise a few years ago, with Pied Piper. It was their post Thanksgiving cruise aboard Radiance and we had a great time. But this time, we wanted to save money by going out of Galveston. And since they are now using the larger ships (like Voyager), we booked it.

 

Tell us about yourselves. How long you been together? (We're at 10 years...but we tend to measure in dog years!!!!) :eek:

 

Have a great week!

[Mikew0805]

Glad you got the message on the other thread.

 

Jason (jmrpaint) and I have been keeping this thread alive, hoping for others to join. :) Glad you guys will be joining us on the cruise.

 

We live in Dallas, so we're going to drive down for the cruise. It's also my birthday cruise, too...on 3/25. I'm 29...again!!!:o

 

My partner and I (the other Bill) did a RCCL cruise a few years ago, with Pied Piper. It was their post Thanksgiving cruise aboard Radiance and we had a great time. But this time, we wanted to save money by going out of Galveston. And since they are now using the larger ships (like Voyager), we booked it.

 

Tell us about yourselves. How long you been together? (We're at 10 years...but we tend to measure in dog years!!!!) :eek:

 

Have a great week!

 

LOL, Josh & I have been together 13 years this coming January, so this cruise is also an Anniversary cruise as well as a bday celebration.

 

We like going out of Galveston, as I can drive to the port. I am not a fan of flying and will only do so for a cruise out of the east coast or further. Plus this gives us the option of stopping to stay with my Grandmother for a few days before the cruise, as she lives in Tyler, TX.. and that is only a 4 hour drive to the port.

 

We are excited about seeing a Voyager class vessel, but are again apprehensive about the type of service and experienec we had on board our other two cruises with RCI. We actually prefer Carnival, but like I mentioned we really wanted to see the Voyager class. We will book again with RCI, as I want to see the Oasis as well. I am just hoping that RCI is much better with the food, service, and entertainment this time around.

 

I hope there is a lot more to join this thread as it would be nice to have a good size group for the FOD's

 

Mike

[Bill-Squared]

I've never done Carnival, but (as I mentioned) we did Radiance a few years ago and the service was excellent. (But have nothing to compare it to)

 

One of the reasons we decided on this one was after they started cruising the BIGGER ships out of Galveston. I don't like boats...and won't do the "smaller" ships. But am looking forward to this one. I also want to do Oasis and have been looking at a couple of 2010 dates. I was disappointed that Oasis only goes to the Caribbean. Would like to go someplace...different. Have you guys made your reservations yet?

[Bill-Squared]

Haven't heard from you in a while...so just checking on you. (Not wanting to sound like your mother...:( )

[Mikew0805]

No we have not made reservation for Oasis yet. We are still deciding if we want to do the Dream B2B first, or Oasis first. I am not a big fan of Jamaica, so that leaves just the Eastern on the Oasis. I am thinking one in early 2010, the other in late 2010. We really wanted to be able to do a Europe cruise this year, however with the weak dollar.. killer airfare and uncertainty of everything, we are opting to wait on Europe! ( pricing them out it was like the cost of 4 cruises with air, for 1 normal cruise. :eek: )

 

I am with you.. I like the big ships. The smallest I want to sail is about 70,000 GRT. Like you we have done a Radiance class ship.. the Serenade. She was a really pretty ship, and I loved the layout.

[Bill-Squared]

Horror Story - My first cruise (Hey, it's almost Halloween...so a horror story is appropriate)

 

Many years ago, my ex-wife (Yes, I was married) and I went on a cruise out of Miami on one of the small ships. We got in a storm and I was SICK the entire trip. (Lost almost 10 pounds during the cruise) Even the cruise director for our group got sick...and she'd done many, many cruises. UGH!!! And the room was so small, we could barely turn around. That was my entire perspective. I swore I'd never get on another. Took my partner 9 years to talk me into a cruise...on the Radiance...and I loved it!!! But still won't do small ships. :( (I've never been to the Statue of Liberty because of the boat trip!)

 

We, too, want to go to Europe...but can't swing it right now either. We both work for nonprofits, so we have to plan and save. :rolleyes: Someday... (Gotta hope the economy improves soon. Would also like to retire someday! :mad: )