Brown Cafe Cruise Thread

Tony and Cheryl both pretty well summed up my thinking...well said.

We are open to another cruise, any Caribbean, East or West, Mex Riv, anywhere with white sand and beaches. I don't know that we will be financially prepared for next year, we'll just have to wait and see what happens from here forward.
I'm not sure anything less than a 7 day would be as much fun. One of my previous cruises was a 4 day cruise and 3 day @ Disney World combo, not something I would do again. As much as I would like to cruise out of Galveston, the prices are too high for my liking, but for us that can be offset by not having to fly.
As far as Ft. Lauderdale vs. Miami, I can't imagine embarkation/debarkation being much better than what we had in Miami. The price of the Sofitel was very reasonable.
Jones likes the idea of Alaska an OI had said he wants to go there also, myself, I have no interest in Alaska but I can't say that I wouldn't go there. Let's not get into too big of a rush to lock in the details, we have time to explore options.

I would have to do a lot of research on the all inclusive land resort before I would consider that idea.
 

Old International

Now driving a Sterling
I'm in. Just so it's more than a year (18 months would be better), and we don't go anytime near the 1st 2 weeks of April. We have a little golf thing here called the Masters, and even with 28 years of service, I can't get the 1st two weeks of April off.
 

helenofcalifornia

Well-Known Member
Tony, nice CARTOON shark avatar. :peaceful: I took $2000 cash and brought back $1200. (kids didn't know I was carrying that much. HA! Fooled them!) I had $1000 put on the credit card (which is already paid off with the money I returned with) for the excursions (good, but pricey if you went with Carnival) and drinks and, dare I say, bingo. Well worth it. I am a cruise person too (now, though never knew I was until after my first cruise) though have never thought of spending a week in one place for a vacation except at home. How many of you will ever get the opportunity to see Honduras or Belize? I know that I never would have gone to those two countries if not on this cruise. And fascinating countries too. Dirt poor for the most part, but great people. Manatees, monkey's, crocodiles (they have the two bottom teeth hanging out as opposed to alligators whose teeth are inside their mouth), iguana's of all shapes, sizes and colors, and birds. I could so go back to the Western Caribbean again and buy all the stuff I didn't think I wanted then. They really pushed diamonds and tanzanite on the ship and had a lunch of stores at each port that sold that kind of stuff. Cozumel had incredible buys too if you wandered far enuf from the ships. But that really was just an island dedicated to drinking and tourists. Klein, great ideas.
 

tieguy

Banned
I am out as I have 1/2 of a wedding to pay for in 2011.

I do like Klein's idea but would like to tweak it just a bit. I suggest we play Brown Cafe Survivor. We airlift 20-25 of the more active BC members on to an island for a week where they participate in challenges, form tribes, and one by one get voted off the island. Tony and Cheryl would share the duties of Jeff Probst.

We could also scale it down and send Tieguy and his ever-expanding ignore list to an island for a week in which Tie would have to form an alliance with at least one member in order to "survive".

was that an invite to wreck this thread?
 

tonyexpress

Whac-A-Troll Patrol
Staff member
Your Miller House recommendation was good and worked out well for us, thank you for that..

You don't have to be sorry we really liked the Miller Ale house suggestion!:peaceful:

The problem was with this:

The big difference is the price $2000 per couple versus $5000.

But, if you do the cruise, do it out of Ft lauderdale next time. Much easier port and airport.

But, I know if you make something more affordable, the more bc'lers will jump onboard.
Not every couple has $4000 - $5000 to spend on a 1 week vacation.

Been out of both ports and both are easy. Miami airport is 15 minutes from the Miami port with plenty of great affordable places to stay, like the Sofitel Hotel. Also, there are more direct flights to Miami (larger airport) which helps in the flight arrangements...

A cruise is affordable if you manage your expenses. You could go all out and spend $4k - $5k a couple for a 7 day cruise, heck you could spend $10k if you wanted to. You could also spend under $1k with an inside cabin and limiting your expenditures.

BTW, as a couple we didn't come close to spending 4 - 5k for a week... There were 3 of us in 1 cabin and we spent about $3000 on the cruise, that was for 3 people. That doesn't include the extra days at a hotel in Miami, car rental or airfare (ours was free via AA miles earned from our credit card) but does include the 7 day cruise in a premium aft cabin with a slightly bigger balcony, a generous eating and drinking allowance for 3 people in all ports, a couple of fairly expensive excursions for 3, bingo, $ for the casino, extra tips to our servers and everything else I am forgetting to mention here. You could do it for a lot less if you got a less expensive cabin, do your excursions through independent operators, eat all of your meals on the ship and avoid the gambling activities.

If you can manage to keep down your expenses, like we try to, then cruises are a really good value.

C'mon people, Klein made a great suggestion based on his experience. How 'bout we just thank him?

I did thank him for the Miller Ale house suggestion!! Some of the other things Klein said could be a little misleading. While I appreciate any input and other ideas I wanted to clarify that a cruise doesn't have to cost 5k a week. On a cruise you really are in control of your own expenses, you can spend as much or as little as you want to.

Tony, nice CARTOON shark avatar. :peaceful:

You can thank Dizzz for the shark!
 

klein

Für Meno :)
I'm glad you guys loved the Alehouse. So, did I. Miss the place actually. Great food, service, and VERY resonable priced !
But, Tony. By all means. Most people do need to add airfare and hotel to the cruise costs. Which runs average $1000 per couple alone (with taxes).

Anyways, just recently I seen you get free hotel accomadation in Vancouver with booking an Alaska Cruise.
Thats ofcourse a scenic cruise. No white sandy beaches there, or anywhere near.
My personal opinion, the carribean is the best. Lots of Islands there, different litunaries, different countries.
Next cruise, you might see the Bahamas, Jamica, Haiti or Domican Republic, maybe St Maarten or Peurto Rico ?

If you ever think of an all inclusive, think Cancun. You can ferry it over to Cozumel, go to the pyramids, take the jungle tour with zip-lining and dip into cenotes, take evening cruises from romatic nights, to pirate ship, to party boat.
Or take in the all inclusive pubcrawl for $35.00 all night. Chose from nudy bars to disco bars. Your choice.
7 days ain't enough to see it all.
Just google Cancun and excursions. Way too many to chose from.

My other suggestion is, for you guys to do the cruise earlier in the year. So, people from the northern states could escape winter for a week.
 

tonyexpress

Whac-A-Troll Patrol
Staff member
Okay folks, here we go again. We need input from the BC crowd. Should we do the same itenerary so that those that didn't go can have a similar experience? I'm sure that some of the crowd that already went (OI) would go again.:wink2: Maybe we can do a cruise from the west coast? We set up a 7 day cruise this time, which everyone seemed to enjoy, so I think we'll keep that length. We also need to vote on what time of year would be best. I've already spoken to Amy, who said she would come up with some good choices. So let's see a show of hands for who is interested in BC Cruise II!!!

Steve,

I think a Caribbean or Mexico cruise destination would work well for our 2nd B.C. cruise. While I love Alaska (been twice on a cruise of course) it is more expensive and probably better suited for a later cruise once we get more B.C.er's cruising..:happy-very:

Also 7 days is probably a good length but anyone can extend their vaca by doing a hotel stay before of after the cruise. Another idea for those that want to cruise longer is to do a back to back 7 day cruise allowing those who want to extend their cruise to stay on and those who can't to leave...

I'm open to all ideas and look forward to another cruise where you and others can join in on the fun!!:peaceful:

Oh yeah, we cannot book the first two weeks in April because OI is a must go!!
 

fethrs

Well-Known Member
I don't really plan on going, but here's my 2 cents.....Stay the hell away from Mexico !!!!!
I was just in Mexico over Easter weekend. No problems at all, it was fun and inexpensive too.:happy2:But back to the point of this thread, how about starting from the west coast this time?
 

klein

Für Meno :)
I was just in Mexico over Easter weekend. No problems at all, it was fun and inexpensive too.:happy2:But back to the point of this thread, how about starting from the west coast this time?

The Cruise people were in Mexico last week, so was I.
It's not like Mexico City everywhere !
Most friendliest people I actually ever met !

Good point feth.... you wanna save the airfare..LOL
Only bad thing is, the trips aren't as great from the west, unless you do the 10/14 day panama canal cruise, which actually ends in Maimi or Ft Lauderdale.
But, worth taking another look into (whats available for 7 days from SD or LA).
You can start on that, and "sell" it ;)
 

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
I think the same sort of cruise is a good idea because now that we've "broken the ice", everyone will feel a wee bit safer. Klein has good idea's, but I think we should do a cruise because of how you first time BC cruiser's felt about this one. Let's start this one the same as the last, by dropping feelers and seeing who is interested and what time of year would suit most.

BTW Klein, we lifted our glasses to you at Miller's Ale House, for making such a great suggestion. Javier, at MY Miller's asked how everything went and I told him we were all very satified with the Miller's in North Miami Beach.

Tony, thanks again for your generosity. And as for all of you Bon Voyager's, I had a great time and am bummed that I didn't go on this cruise with such a nice bunch of people.
 

Jones

fILE A GRIEVE!
Staff member
Just to be clear I wasn't suggesting an Alaska cruise, I was just musing about what jones would like to do at some point (of course Tony "yeah, we've done that twice already" Express had to bigfoot me..).
I agree that for a group cruise the two main things are affordability and accessibility, and something similar to the last cruise would best fit the bill.
 

MonavieLeaker

Bringin Teh_Lulz
I am out as I have 1/2 of a wedding to pay for in 2011.

I do like Klein's idea but would like to tweak it just a bit. I suggest we play Brown Cafe Survivor. We airlift 20-25 of the more active BC members on to an island for a week where they participate in challenges, form tribes, and one by one get voted off the island. Tony and Cheryl would share the duties of Jeff Probst.

We could also scale it down and send Tieguy and his ever-expanding ignore list to an island for a week in which Tie would have to form an alliance with at least one member in order to "survive".

I guess I've had a little too much coffee this morning.:wink2:

Lulz
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
I am out as I have 1/2 of a wedding to pay for in 2011.

I do like Klein's idea but would like to tweak it just a bit. I suggest we play Brown Cafe Survivor. We airlift 20-25 of the more active BC members on to an island for a week where they participate in challenges, form tribes, and one by one get voted off the island. Tony and Cheryl would share the duties of Jeff Probst.

We could also scale it down and send Tieguy and his ever-expanding ignore list to an island for a week in which Tie would have to form an alliance with at least one member in order to "survive".

I guess I've had a little too much coffee this morning.:wink2:
I don't know how I missed your post but that is hilarious. 1/2caf or decaf would help that.:wink2:
 

klein

Für Meno :)
I think the same sort of cruise is a good idea because now that we've "broken the ice", everyone will feel a wee bit safer. Klein has good idea's, but I think we should do a cruise because of how you first time BC cruiser's felt about this one. Let's start this one the same as the last, by dropping feelers and seeing who is interested and what time of year would suit most.

BTW Klein, we lifted our glasses to you at Miller's Ale House, for making such a great suggestion. Javier, at MY Miller's asked how everything went and I told him we were all very satified with the Miller's in North Miami Beach.

Tony, thanks again for your generosity. And as for all of you Bon Voyager's, I had a great time and am bummed that I didn't go on this cruise with such a nice bunch of people.

Oh, trust me. You guys almost got a few jugs of beer from me !
But, your Millerhouse selection was last minute, and couldn't order a giftcard on time (over the net).
Couldn't pay by phone directly to the place, either.
But, my thoughts were with you.

Well, I got a timeshare for week 5 in Pompono Beach. If you guys decide to go on a cruise in week 4 or 6, I'm more then willing to give up my week just for the maintance fee of $636. It's located just outside of Ft Lauderdale, about 30 miles to North Maimi.

Heck, I might even join the cruise if it was either week 4 or 6, myself, and if someone needed a "roommate" to fullfill double occupancy on the cruiseship.

I still think you guys should be looking at Ft Lauderdale departures. Costa Cruises are really affordable.
And it's an INternational Airport. Carnival cruises out of it, too.
Oasis of the Seas (the worlds largest Cruiseship is embarked there) !! I seen it in person. Got pics, too.
 

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
Oh, trust me. You guys almost got a few jugs of beer from me !
But, your Millerhouse selection was last minute, and couldn't order a giftcard on time (over the net).
Couldn't pay by phone directly to the place, either.
But, my thoughts were with you.

Well, I got a timeshare for week 5 in Pompono Beach. If you guys decide to go on a cruise in week 4 or 6, I'm more then willing to give up my week just for the maintance fee of $636. It's located just outside of Ft Lauderdale, about 30 miles to North Maimi.

Heck, I might even join the cruise if it was either week 4 or 6, myself, and if someone needed a "roommate" to fullfill double occupancy on the cruiseship.

I still think you guys should be looking at Ft Lauderdale departures. Costa Cruises are really affordable.
And it's an INternational Airport. Carnival cruises out of it, too.
Oasis of the Seas (the worlds largest Cruiseship is embarked there) !! I seen it in person. Got pics, too.
Any takers?:happy2:
 
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