ebayj

FlyerTalk Admins – I’m putting this under Gay And Lesbian interest as it really focuses on the Atlantis charter – but if should be in Trip Reports feel free to move.

I wanted to share a trip review of my recent gay charter cruise to the Baltic Sea with FlyerTalkers – I don’t recall seeing a trip report of any gay cruises here at FlyerTalk, so thought this would be a new and interesting topic for people.

Wed. July 11, 2007
Air France 83 SFO-AMS Boeing 747-400
I had the good fortune a year ago of redeeming 80,000 Northwest miles for biz class to Europe, and the even greater fortune of scoring Air France for the trip over. I got to SFO about 1:30pm. L’Espace Affaires check in was uncrowded and was dispatched quickly. I did a little shopping, and then spent some time in the Air France lounge above the new international concourse at SFO. It was small, but pleasant.

Boarding started about 45 minutes before expected take off at 3:55pm – it was a total mob scene. If they had called business class it was not audible, so I just got into the shorter of the two lines and headed on to the plane. Air France business class utilizes the front of the main cabin in this 747 configuration. I was in 2A. Unlike KLM, there are no storage cubbies next to the seats in this config, but that was no big deal. Overall the flight was excellent. I found the food to be outstanding, the service to be highly attentive and the seat and entertainment to be disappointing compared to Lufthansa or Northwest. The seatback is very concave. In seat video entertainment is nowhere near as varied as other Skyteam carriers (NW/KL/etc.) but was adequate. I got sleep between dinner and breakfast which was nice. We departed on time and flight time was about 10.5 hours.

My Dinner:
Hors d’Oeuvre
Shrimp marinated in olive oil with spicy North African style sauce with soybean salad topped with pecorino cheese

Main Course
Pan-seared tournedos of beef served with wild mushroom sauce, risotto and sugar snap peas

Selection of cheeses

Dessert
Orange chocolate cake

Probably the best meal I have ever had on any airplane - really outstanding. I accompanied my dinner with a Tawny Port – I find port helps me to sleep better on planes. (Hmm – maybe because it is 20% alcohol? Ha.)

I had a nice visit after my nap with one of the AF flight attendants. She had just made her first trip ever to San Francisco and really enjoyed it. I found all the AF folks in the air to be unfailingly attentive and service focused. FlyerTalkers have often commented that AF is great in the air and often a mess on the ground, but we’re getting to that part.

We landed on time at CDG, but we of course didn’t have a gate ready, so that led to 20 minutes of aimless rolling around. People with tight connections got more stressed with each passing minute – I fortunately had 90 minutes to get to my connecting flight to Copenhagen, and, as I am very tall, I can cover a lot of ground very quickly when necessary. I’ve also been to CDG numerous times – but – also remember – “friends never let friends transfer at CDG or at London Heathrow” – for so very many reasons. We finally parked at 2B and I only had to get over to 2D, so it could have been worse. Still a serious schlep if you are not in good shape or god forbid you are elderly or are mobility impaired. 2D was the usual summer midday mob scene with thousands of people connecting to various parts of Europe.

We got on the bus at the gate which took us to our Airbus waiting on the infield. We took off pretty close to on time as I recall.

Thu. July 12, 2007
Air France 2350 CDG-CPH Airbus 319

Intra-Europe business class was fine – and uneventful. We landed in wonderful Copenhagen after our brief two hour flight. This was my first time at Kastrup Airport, and it really is excellent. FlyerTalkers have raved about it for some time, and now I know why. It is very logical, well signed, and easy to navigate. Copenhagen will open a subway line out to Kastrup later this year, but in the interim, Danish Rail is an easy trip from Kastrup to the main rail station behind Tivoli Gardens.

I am a total zombie when I go to Europe for the first three days, so my Thursday and Friday were not too eventful. I stayed at the Avenue Hotel which is just outside the main downtown area at Åboulevard 29 and it was very comfortable. It has gotten middling reviews on www.tripadvisor.com but I found it to be fine. The only down side to this whole trip was the incredibly weak state of the dollar – and it lost value through my whole trip. I found Copenhagen and Stockholm both to be stratospherically expensive, and given I live near San Francisco that is really saying something.

I did run into friends from New York City on Friday morning, including the charming gay comic Eddie Sarfaty (www.keeplaughing.com) – I also met up with a good friend from Toronto who flew in Friday for all the fun rides at Tivoli on Friday night. We had a blast.

Sat. July 14, 2007
Embarkation on Celebrity Constellation – Atlantis Events Charter
The most anticipated point of any cruise is when you finally, after waiting for a year, get on the ship itself. The Atlantis Events (www.thewayweplay.com) charter of Celebrity Constellation was the fastest selling gay cruise in history – it was sold out in less than three weeks in 2006 right after it was offered to their alumni. I had planned to go with one of my many worldly travel friends, but it didn’t work out for him, so I ended up on deck six with my own verandah cabin. No complaints from me. The Constellation, in a word, is spectacular. It regularly tops consumer surveys for ships in its class and size.

For the uninitiated a few pointers –

1. What is a cruise with 2000 gay men (and 20 hardy lesbians) really like? Well, it is easier to tell you what it is not. It is not a floating bathhouse, it is not a floating circuit party, and it is not entirely comprised of self-important queens from San Francisco and LA and New York running around acting superior. It is a wonderful cross section of American gay culture, and often cruisers from other countries too. I find them very empowering on many levels. I have met so many wonderful people on my cruises (I've done seven) that I have lost count. This cruise had a very high number of couples who had been together 20, 30 and 40 years which was truly inspiring.
2. Why pay the “gay premium” to take a charter? That’s easy. Atlantis knocks themselves out for every guest, charters top rated ships, offers a fantastic range of entertainment especially for our cruises, and their dance parties are off the chart excellent.
3. What’s the demographic on a cruise like this? This one was unusual, in that most of us had cruised with Atlantis before. I would estimate we were 80% couples/20% singles, overwhelmingly white, and average age between 40 and 50. The Caribbean and Mexico charters skew much younger, less coupled (more like 50/50) and are more diverse. For the record, everyone is welcome, straight or gay, and we sometimes find moms and family members coming along for the fun. I can assure you the music is better than a straight cruise, at the very least.
4. What good are gay cruises? When I’m feeling particularly exhausted with the state of gay rights in America, I imagine throwing a few hundred homophobes on to our cruises and envision them going from terrified to enlightened about our humanity, our courage in the face of a continuously oppressive society, our enduring relationships, our compassion for each other and our ability to have a really great time. Ignorance has always been blissful for the fear filled.

In short, if you’re curious about a gay charter, just try one and find out for yourself. For first timers, I recommend Mexico or Caribbean, as they are easier to get to and less expensive. You can find many, many informational threads on the topic at http://groups.msn.com/atlantisevents and at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=162 – both are great resources.

Baltic 2007 was very port intensive, so I will give a brief highlight summary of each day. Following sail away, we had lifeboat drill (fondly known as “boa drill” on gay cruises – and yes there are people who wear boas to it), and then a sail away cocktail party dance. Atlantis offers several tea dances in the late afternoon in each week and a late night (11pm) dance party almost every night.

Saturday evening usually consists of people figuring out the ship and getting settled in. The evening entertainment was Bjorn Again, - they were referred to as an ABBA tribute band, and this was their gay cruise debut. I did not attend, but my neighbors (from California, who were on the cruise with me) said they were excellent.

Sun. July 15, 2007
Warnemunde, Germany

Warnemunde has grown as a port since the fall of communism, and about half the ship went to Berlin for the day. Others took excursions to Rostock, Schwerin and Hamburg. I had not been to Berlin since 1994, and my neighbors had never been, so I had the pleasure of being their tour guide – it was a very long hot day but we had a delightful time.

The changes in Berlin in the last 20 years can only be described as staggering. I am a huge student of WWII (my father served in the US Army in the Pacific and my uncle was in the Norwegian Resistance) and Berlin is really an epicenter of WWII history. We basically did an eight mile walk focusing on the following:

1. Potsdamer Platz
2. Remnants of the Wall
3. Sony Center
4. The new Holocaust Memorial (brilliant and haunting)
5. Brandenburg Gate
6. Unter den Linden (we stopped for lunch at Café Einstein)
7. The new Reichstag
8. The exquisite Gendarmenmarkt
9. Continuing down Unter den Linden to the Museuminsel and its treasure troves of art
10. Berliner Dom
11. Remnants of the Palast der Republik (good riddance!)
12. Rotes Rathaus
13. The still hideous Alexanderplatz
14. Scheunenviertel
15. The enchanting Hackesche Höfe
16. And we concluded at the stunning new Hauptbahnhof train station

Again, a very long day, but it was fun. We leveraged the Deutsche Bahn weekend ticket, which enables up to five people to take the train to Berlin, and use Berlin transit all day on the weekend for a grand total of 33 Euros. Do not be naïve – the ship’s transfer/transit to Berlin is a real rip-off. Anyone with average or better intelligence can negotiate the train to and from Berlin. Cruise Critic has scads of very helpful threads on this topic also.

Evening on the ship was pretty quiet as most shorex did not get back until 8pm or later. The first late night party was on Sunday evening – theme was Kit Kat Klub Party (think like Cabaret the movie).

Mon. July 16, 2007
Day At Sea

Days at sea are in many ways my favorite part of my cruises, and this one was glorious. Weather was sunny, and Atlantis packed the day with all kinds of offerings. Understand that on a gay charter there is literally stuff to do 20 hours a day, but you will leave the ship completely exhausted if you try to do everything. Experienced cruisers know to plan their time out and pick and choose highlights that are of greatest interest to them. Some of Monday’s highlights included:
) Impromptu Project Runway show at poolside at 1pm (Host Malcolm from Atlantis did his best Heidi Klum drag – it was hysterical and terrifying)
) Dixie Longate’s Bingo Extravaganza – there is no describing Dixie – you simply must experience her - http://www.dixielongate.com/home.html - she is one mad drag queen
) Dog Tag Tea Dance – an Atlantis institution and great fun
) Singles parties and dinners
) Meet your neighbor party
) Atlantis Dating Game
The list does on and on.

Evening highlights included a Gay Comedy Showcase with Shann Carr, Jim David and Alec Mapa. Late evening had cabaret with Matt Yee and Edie In Concert. Edie arguably has the longest legs of any drag queen working today. http://www.simplyedie.com/photos.htm
Finally, the late night party was the Nordic Conquest Party. As you can gather, any theme will do. If you have music and booze, a ship full of gay men will turn out and have a good time. That is just the way it works.

Tue. July 17, 2007
Tallinn, Estonia

Tuesday brought us to Estonia. The upside is that Tallinn is absolutely charming. It is considered one of the world’s best preserved medieval city centers and is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. The downside is it was completely overrun with cruise ship passengers. We made do. Apparently on weekends it is overrun with Finns from Helsinki (just 50 miles away across the Gulf Of Finland). To say that Tallinn has thrown off all vestiges of the Soviet era would be an understatement. Estonia is moving forward rapidly. Tallinn was stunning and I enjoyed several hours walking through the old town. I did not take any Celebrity shore excursions for this trip except for a half day at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. I’m comfortable traveling independently in most places, and I really find the ship excursions to be exceedingly expensive for what they actually offer. Different strokes for different folks. Everyone can work with a travel style that is comfortable for them.

Back on ship on Tuesday, we had Classic Disco Tea Dance in the late afternoon (always a highlight) and the evening brought us Christine Pedi in Concert, Dixie’s Tupperware Party (truly side splitting – again – it just has to be experienced) and the late night dance party was That 80s Party.

I’ll break my review here and I’ll continue the next installment within a few days with St. Petersburg, which really deserves a chapter unto itself. I found it to be an astonishing and beautiful city in a state of magnificent decay.

GuysInCT

Great post - thanks! Looking forward to reading the rest.

We're booked on the same cruise for next summer, also on a deck 6 verhanda cabin (one of the first eight, with the extra deep balcony, thanks to cruisecritic). This will be our fourth AE cruise, 6th overall gay cruise.

Alawyer

Fantastic post.. thanks for sharing! Love the details... wish you could also post photos!!

Buster CT1K

Oh gosh. What an event-packed itinerary. I'd be exhausted.

ebayj

Part II

Wed. July 18, 2007
St. Petersburg, Russia

Peter is arguably the centerpiece of any Baltic cruise experience, and it did not fail to live up to its reputation as one of the most unique and interesting places in the world. For those unfamiliar with Peter and its history, a wiki reference is useful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Petersburg

It gives a good overview. Peter has careened between unimaginable human suffering and staggering imperial glory through its entire 300 year history.

I had studied a good amount about Russian history and specifically the development of Peter The Great's northern capital, but you really have to experience it to begin to understand it. Modern Russia is changing so quickly, and has come a long way since the end of the Soviet era (post-1991) - I really came away with two clear realizations - 1) Russians are more similar to us in Europe and America than I had thought - especially Russian young people - but - 2) Russia has a very distinct national character and outlook that will always be rather impenetrable to a non-Slav. I felt somewhat like Margaret Mead the entire time I was in Russia.

I knew that I wanted as authentic an experience in Russia as possible for my first day, so I used a Russian based tour company. The three leading companies are DenRus, Red October, and Alla Tours. After much research, I chose Alla Tours, and I did not regret it. Many others on our cruise did also, and were thrilled with their touring experience. She is the new gal on the industry block, is wildly customer focused, and has my highest recommendation.

Daria, my guide, and Irina, my driver, met me right off the ship, and we had a delightful day together. I had loosely strung together my ideas for a touring day, and since it was just the three of us, we had a ton of flexibility. I never waited to see anything. My day included:
) Piskariovskoye Cemetery - millions who died in the Nazi blockade of St. Petersburg were laid to rest here - I was the only visitor the morning I was there - I found it profoundly moving and an important pilgrimage place for anyone who wants to understand the impact of WWII
) The Blue Bridge - one of the widest bridges in the world
) Peter And Paul Fortress
) Cabin of Peter The Great
) The old Stock Exchange and the Rostral Columns
) Palace Square
) The Admiralty
) The Bronze Horseman - Catherine's equestrian monument to Peter The Great
) St. Isaac's
) Nevsky Propekt
) Kazan Cathedral
) Church on Spilled Blood - one of the most stunning churches in the world
) The cruiser Aurora - the ship whose single blank shot (at the start of the 1917 Russian Revolution) changed the history of the world

We also did a shopping stop where I found exceptional amber pieces for my mother and sister.

Simply put, you get your time and money's worth with Alla. We broke mid-day for a very nice lunch - but it was definitely a sight-intensive day. Daria and I talked about most every conceivable topic - I am by nature curious, and she is pursuing graduate work in linguistics, so I filled her in on all the gay slang and urban slang I knew, and I learned what life is like for a young Russian woman in the post-Soviet era. It was completely fascinating.

The ship activities were fairly minimal on Wed. night as there was also an evening gay bar excursion, which I was told was great fun. On ship Alec Mapa had a late show, and the late dance had a 90s theme.

Thu., July 19
St. Petersburg

For my second day, I knew I wanted to focus on the Hermitage (arguably the world's greatest art barn and I wanted the afternoon off to enjoy the ship's spa. On a trip this port and activity intensive, it was important to me to have planned down time, and it worked out well.

I used a Celebrity Shorex for the Hermitage, and our guide did a great job of maximizing the sights in the available time. The Hermitage was overrun with tour groups, but if you go to Peter in the summer, that is part of the deal.

My impressions: The Hermitage is a must see if you love art, and moreover speaks to the aesthetic achievements of Catherine The Great. Talk about a girl who knew how to shop! Seriously, she was literally hundreds of years ahead of her time in many ways. But her legacy is glorious. There is a wonderful film called Russian Ark that is worth your while if you can't get to Russia soon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark

I highly recommend it.

I spent the afternoon at the spa, and thought about the stunning and extraordinary place I had just visited. St. Petersburg reminded me greatly of Venice, Amsterdam, New Orleans and my beloved San Francisco - all rolled into one. It is one of the world's great cultural centers, always on the leading edge, a major education center, built on and around a great deal of water and rivers, and a rather impractical place to have a great city. It has been starved for resources on and off for more of the 20th century, but still is beautiful, even in its state of magnificent decay. I will go back, and spend more time getting to know her.

Thursday night brought us the sailaway tea dance party as we left Russia, Special Guest Belinda Carlisle (remember the Go Gos?) - she was quite good - and of course the legendary Atlantis White Party - which was a blast.

Next installment - Helsinki, Stockholm, and Amsterdam!

ebayj

Part III
Fri., July 20, 2007
Helsinki, Finland

A few more notes on Thursday evening before I continue with Friday's activities. Atlantis Events contracts a special guest entertainer for every cruise, and past entertainers have included Joan Rivers, Margaret Cho, Debbie Gibson, Deborah Cox, and even Jennifer Hudson before she hit it big. So, not really A list entertainment, but pretty good B or high C level. And generally divas with a big gay following. Belinda was delightful in my book, plus I know all the words to her 80s songs. All the hardcore Go Gos fans were down in front, and she did a lot of material from her 80s catalogue.

Following the special guest (and this is pretty much the format for the second to last day of any Atlantis Cruise) was the White Party. Which is really just hundreds of gay men dancing in their underwear - but it is a really good time. More notorious White Parties have gone until 9am the following morning (cruises where someone brought the really good drugs - yes, Virginia, sometimes people bring drugs) - but I heard ours folded about 5-6am. That had to be sort of surreal given the sun came up before 4am. I folded by 1am, as an hour of White Party was plenty for me.

Friday dawned and with it Helsinki. I had been before, so took my time getting around to leaving the ship. I ran into new friends from Chicago, who had not been before, so volunteered to walk them around the high points. Helsinki is very compact and easily walkable. I gathered that a lot of guys took Helsinki as an on the ship day (like an at sea day), as we didn't see a lot of people in port. That is normal for the day after the White Party. We enjoyed the Rock Church (for my money the most interesting church in the world - http://www.muuka.com/finnishpumpkin/...rch_chteh.html ), the brilliant rail station, the markets on the Esplanade, the churches near the Esplanade, and we had lunch behind the theater on the Esplanade. Helsinki was also wildly expensive (especially after Russia), but I guess I was used to it by this point. Another group of friends did a Finnish sauna experience and raved about it. I got back to the ship and took a nap before afternoon tea dance. Friday tea dance would end up being the only rain of the week, but undaunted, we danced under the eaves until the captain got us out from under the rain, after which we continued dancing our way to Stockholm.

For our final evening I joined my neighbors, an expat friend from Switzerland, and my friend from Toronto for a multi course in amazing gastronomy at the wonderful Ocean Liners specialty restaurant. Well worth the surcharge if you want a truly elegant dining experience. I think we waddled out around 11pm, which left us just enough time to get our bags out in the hall by midnight cutoff. Note - you don't have to put your bags out if you are willing to walk them off the ship yourself.

Sat. July 21, 2007
Stockholm, Sweden

Sadly, wonderful gay cruises really do have to come to an end. We all departed the Constellation the better for the experience and the wonderful new friends we had made from what I could tell. Taxi setup was a little chaotic, but there was not a lot of point in hurrying to a hotel that was just going to hold your bags until the room was ready in the afternoon. My friends and I were at the Nordic Sea (as was half the ship from what I could see) and many others were at the adjacent Nordic Light. Both are steps from the express train to Kastrup Airport, which is very efficient. Both hotels are great for pre or post cruise.

My neighbors (from San Leandro) and I traipsed about Gamla Stan, saw the highlights of the old city and had a pleasant lunch there. Stockholm was as immaculate as Copenhagen was littered. I picked up Harry Potter 7 in Stockholm and began devouring it in my spare moments. I can't remember what I did for dinner, so it wasn't that exciting, but we all met up again for our Ice Bar appointment at 8:15. Talk about a triumph of marketing:

http://www.nordicseahotel.se/omhotel...Id=41&LangId=2

It was cool, no pun intended, and I'm glad I did it once. I don't need to do it again, but I will say the Anjoupolitan I had in the solid ice glass was very refreshing. My posse went on out to some other Atlantis party that night at the Berns Hotel - I retired to continue on with Harry Potter 7 - those who have read it know it is very difficult to put down.

Sun., July 22, 2007
KLM 1110 ARN-AMS Boeing 737

On to Amsterdam on KLM Europe Select. It was a brief flight with a surprisingly good lunch and very chipper flight crew. Going to Amsterdam for me is like revisiting a dear old friend who is wise and unchanging - it was the first European city I ever visited (when I was 15), I came out there (when I was 24) and I always seem to come to some important realizations about my life after I visit her.

I stayed at the Golden Tulip on Apollolaan - nothing special as hotels go - it's out a ways but easy to get to on the 5 tram - but procuring it for $120 US a night on Hotwire was definitely a good thing.

I didn't really do anything terribly exciting (or naughty) in Amsterdam other than walk around and appreciate it, which was perfect. That really took care of my Sunday evening and Monday day. I called NW on Monday and managed, to my happy astonishment to change over from my AMS-MSP-SFO routing that got me home to SFO about 9pm on Tuesday to the KLM nonstop on Tuesday AMS-SFO, which (in the best of times) lands at SFO around 1pm. Having followed the thread on Flyertalk, I knew not to expect anything on time on Tuesday, but getting the nonstop in WBC made the day a lot easier.

I need to break as my contractors are here, so I'll wrap up tomorrow with my AMS-SFO flight, or Why KLM's long haul fleet is kind of a mess. Point is, you're fine once you get in the air. It's getting in the air that seems to challenge them a lot these days.

ebayj

Tue., July 24, 2007
KLM 605 AMS-SFO Boeing 747-400
Or, the rather long day, courtesy KLM

I got up early to get to Schiphol early, as I had figured there would be complications from changing my award ticket the prior day (and of course I was right.) Amsterdam is beautiful in the early morning - it had just rained, and even with a lot of the grime and litter - the riches of the Dutch empire's heyday still shone through to me, along with the forward mindedness of today's Holland. Many Flyertalkers like to snark about KLM and the Dutch "that is not possible" attitude - which can be rigid - but every time I go to Holland I come away with a great respect for the Dutch people, their incredibly humane society and the country they have literally wrested from the North Sea.

I got to Schiphol before 9am - (along with Munich - the two best airports in Europe in my book for so many reasons) - and checked to see how delayed KL 605 was. It normally leaves at 11am, and was delayed to 1:10pm. Par for the course. Anyone who has followed HB-IWC's exceptionally informative Flyertalk thread on KLM delays knows that KLM is having an awful summer. Their long haul fleet is astonishingly overstretched - such that the second the slightest thing goes wrong, it's a big domino effect. I tried to online check in for World Business Class and it didn't recognize the changed res, so I wisely traipsed over the service area to the left of the thousands of people checking bags. Oddly there was no one waiting there.

As it turned out the NW agent I talked to the day before had changed the award res, but not actually reticketed. My agent grumbled through it, and I tried to be pleasant, appreciative and positive - it must have helped a little as I ended up in 77A on the upper deck - The Holy Grail of KLM WBC 747 Seating TM - so I had no complaints at that point. Off to shopping and lounges. The KLM lounge (52, between E and F) was perfectly fine. I picked up some little gifties for friends. There are much worse places to have to hang out than Schiphol.

After the cursory gate check in and x-ray - I realized there was no way they would have all these 450 people loaded by 1:10pm - but we had a plane at least. Apparently there was a mechanical earlier in the day, but a fairly minor one. We loaded on (again, mob scene, although I think they let families with kids on first - beyond that it was everyone for themselves) - and I headed up to the wonderful 747 upper deck. Our crew was the best I've had ever had transatlantic - they were in a great humor despite all the delays, kept the champagne flowing and really made the extra effort the whole trip. We pulled back from the gate about 1:30pm - rolled around for a while, and then it became clear to me we really weren't moving toward takeoff.

Announcement - flap problem. Anyone who knows anything about avionics knows a flap problem is not a good idea - so they did runwayside maintenance - I predicted takeoff between 3pm and 3:30pm - and I was right. No big - I would still get home hours before my prior res via MSP and in the comfort of the 747 upper deck of World Business Class no less. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow - and this was one of those times. I felt sort of bad for everyone waiting in SFO that would be delayed four hours - and the havoc that would wreak with their AMS connections the next day, but not my problem this given day.

Much Flyertalk discussion has transpired about the new KLM WBC seat - so suffice to say I am in the extreme minority - I find it to be perfectly comfortable, and much better than the AF biz seat. I'm 6'4" and 180 pounds - so it may help to be tall and thin. WBC AVOD has been great ever since the WBC refurbishment. I watched The 300 and it was wild. A cross between historical drama and soft core gay porn. But I'll watch anything with Gerard Butler or David Wenham.

My Dinner:
Appetizer
Smoked salmon served with marinated cucumber and an Eigenheimer potato salad with shrimps

Main Course
Lamb in rosemary and thyme gravy - fillet with mustard and herb topping served with a tomato compote, aubergine caviar and pearl barley risotto with Reypenaar cheese shavings - rather busy as entrees go - but tasty

Dessert
Orange chocolate mousse

Pre-nap I had my usual Tawny Port and had a nice rest over Greenland and Hudson Bay.

Light Snack
Appetizer
Fennel and mushroom salad with peppadew, baby asparagus and basil

Main Course
Lasagna with wild mushrooms - sort of looked like mystery pasta, but tasted fine

I watched a number of the AVOD travelogues and found them wildly dated, but sort of amusing.

Given the complications of this trip on this day, KLM did the best they could in the air. The cabin crew cannot do anything about mechanicals, and I do have empathy for service personnel dealing with 450 cranky-ish delayed travelers. Crew was stellar, AVOD was great, seat is great for me, and I got home safely, if four hours late. Could have been a lot worse. I will continue to happily give KL/AF/NW my business (I have also traveled as paid C/Z) as all my miles are earned there. I am encouraged by the newly announced United Biz product, so will want to try that out once they have the rollout shaken out.

As always after every big trip, I came home further enlightened about the world, greatly encouraged by my fellow gay men (and hardy lesbians) and realized some changes I need to make - starting with my job. I hope you enjoyed my trip report, and if you are curious about a gay cruise, just do it. They can really restore you in so many ways.

peteropny

Nice report!!!!

ebayj

Thanks everyone for the interest in my review and the kind comments. For pictures, reference:

http://groups.msn.com/atlantisevents...34729020485421

Note particularly the albums by JPetraNYC - he is a superb photographer. One link is for ports and the other is for on ship activities.

egtravel

Wow, that is an awesome report, ebayj! And gets me really excited as I'm on next years mirror itinerary and ship! Thanks so much for sharing, such detail. I've been on 4 cruises and never thought about posting a report...good for you....and for us! ^

GuysInCT

So are we! See you in Copenhagen!