FOD Carnival Glory October 3 2009

[Boca del Verita]

Hey all!

First time cruisers here...we took the plunge with a shorter cruise on the Carnival Glory (I was seriously planning for the Princess Royal for Rome-Africa-Transatlantic-Amazon for 21 days, but my friend refused. <sigh> where's the adventure gone?)

Looking forward to making folks acquaintance. We're from South Carolina and will be staying a couple of days afterwards in Orlando. Please say hello, especially if you have advice for first timers like ourselves. I'm a little bit worried about the sign and sail cards...any ideas for make one's dollars stretch on board??

Also, how do we get the ball rolling with Carnival Glory personnel to schedule a get together for GLBT folks on board?

thanks!
Fred and Keith

[Triton]

Hi Fred and Keith:

I hope you enjoy your first cruise, although your prior one sounded amazing, I'm sure this will be a great time as well! You'll get your feet wet and be back for more, hopefully!

Making your dollars stretch with the Sail and Sign, Sea Pass or whatever cruise line card is not too difficult. The first thing to avoid (on Carnival) is the beautiful drink they will thrust into your hand the moment you walk on board...or maybe after you offload your carry-ons in your stateroom, and you come down / up to the lido deck for the grand, Sail Away. The bar staff is good about putting a beautiful glass with a pretty drink in your hand. That will be $15. lol...or there abouts.

Many, if not most cruise lines tell you not to bring your own alchohol on board. The exception to this is that you're allowed two bottles of wine upon boarding. Additionally, you can bring back on to the ship another 2 bottles in every port you are in.

I am not condoning this mind you ( ) but I know of many, many passengers who smuggle alchohol on board, by means of water bottles, etc. Of course this saves on your ship charges, if you enjoy a libation or two...or three.

Bring your own insulated water bottle or thermos (if your bringing booze, bring another one). The ships like to sell bottled water and will greet you as you exit the gangway, at each port. The water is astronomically high, and it's plain bottled water. My partner and I each bring our insulated Starbucks mug...we use for coffee, iced tea or whatever. It easily fits on our side pouch of the backpack and it saves $6 each at every port. Besides, we like iced tea so I just make some at breakfast before we disembark the ship. It works. Alternatively, you can visit a store while you are in a port and bring back onto the ship your own bottled water, for a fraction of the price.

Like most good gay boys, you'll love to shop. We love to shop. We've learned to do more window shopping at first - on the cruise ship. Do NOT (I repeat, "Do NOT") impulse buy. Ask the shop steward when they will have their sale. Every cruise line does, all the shops have a special sale. It's tempting to buy fun novelties, t-shirts, sarongs, etc, but wait until the sale hits. You'll likely save 40-50%.

If you like to gamble a little, stick with the quarter slots, lol. They usually don't fail me, and I just budget a little extra for this entertainment and when it's done, it's done.

Most everything should be covered in the cost of your cruise, with the exception of alchohol, Spa services and things you purchase from the gift shops.

As for getting the GLBT ball rolling, put a call into the "Cruise Director" as soon as you board the ship. See the pursor (lobby assistant) or ask your stateroom attendant who he / she is, and their number. It's gladly given out. You may want to first check the Carnival daily news, which will be laying on your dresser or bed when you board. Look at the day's activities and see if there is a "Friends of Dorothy" meeting scheduled.

HTH!

[Boca del Verita]

Hail Triton, O ye Fount of Knowledge!!!

That is absolutely spectacular advice and I DEEPLY appreciate your taking the time to write it all down for me! When you bring your bottles back through at each portcall, can you only bring back wine or can it be rum, tequila, etc?

Do guys actually wear sarongs on ship/ in port? As it happens, I've already got a South Indian Dhoti/Lungi (same idea) stuck in top of the closet (along with the Chinese fans, the Victorian straw boater and all the other things you use maybe 1% of the time)--mm could save a lot of luggage room and laundry trouble, cause it's comfortable to wear and a snap to wash/dry!

Looks like this:


And those plans for the up the Amazon aren't dead in the water yet! If I could find a cabinmate, I'd leave Keith to fend for himself in a heartbeat <G>!

grace and peace,
Fred

[Triton]

Ah shucks, man...just doing my job. I'm really glad to help you Fred. So glad we have cruisers like you on the board. I'm looking forward to reading the review of your cruise.

Your picture did not come through for some reason, I would like to see what you're talking about.

I have seen men with sarongs on Mexico, Hawaiian and Caribbean cruises. I would strongly suspect to see guys on Tahiti cruises too...but haven't been fortunate to take a cruise there yet. Oh, Puerto Rico too! As a matter of fact we bought two new Sarongs in Puerto Rico in February 2008 when we did a Caribbean cruise. Hot little numbers, lol. I used to live in Maui, and it was not uncommon to see men wear sarongs about town, in the grocery store, etc...there were no hang ups there. I guess that experience loosened me up a bit.

You will love the Amazon. We had a spectacular time sailing down the Amazon River and over to the French West Indies and the Caribbean, truly an unforgettable cruise. My choice in the future would be to try a different line, but to each their own.

[Boca del Verita]

hmmm don't know why it didn't upload, but here is the link

Here's a guy in Kerala, India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kerala-mundu.JPG

There there's the hunky college kid modeling one...
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3D21%26um%3D1

[Triton]

I saw them both, they look cool...literally, cool. lol. I would wear it. The fair Irish lad's Dhoti / Lungi looks fun too. I would wear it for comfort as well as a beach / pool cover up.

I didn't answer your other question, Fred - sorry.

When you bring back your bottles from other ports, they can only be "wine"...or water bottles, juice bottles, etc.

Once in an Acapulco port we bought some tequila at a liquor store across the street (which was an experience all to itself). When we walked through security, they mentioned the bottle in my backpack, they didn't open the backpack. I told them the name of the Tequila label, and he said, "Oh, wine is fine". So we marched right through.

As far as I know, they do not do any sort of "sniff test" with your containers.

If you would like to know more, PM me and we can chat offline.

Take care guys!