Hello fellow travelers,

 
 I am excited to be coming aboard and cannot wait! More-so b/c this is a 30th bday gift for my wife/5th year anniversary together/1 year wedding anniversary gift not to mention our first ever Olivia cruise. Shhhh!

Hope to start chatting with people now and rally up some ladies for group events.

 Look forward to hearing from people :)
 

Hello to all!  This will be my third Olivia cruise.  Went on the March cruise, the 100th anniversay cruise to Mexican Riviera and am now looking forward to the 35th Birthday bash!  The October Mexican Riviera Cruise was special as it was my honeymoon!  What a perfect way to celebrate!  Patty and I had the most fabulous time or our lives and look forward to repeating the magic.  To all of those who are going to be newbies on this cruise-WELCOME!  You will have the time of your life and meet many fabulous women from all over the globe.  I strongly suggest attending the pre-cruise party the night before.  It is an opportuniyt to meet and bond with couples and/or singles before sailing.

As to bringing booze onboard, I did see women with wine so Inde probably is giving you a good idea of what to expect.  Neither Patty nor I drink, so I can't really be sure what the HAL policy is.  Anyway, I hope the next months go quickly as I am ready to share Thanksgiving 2008 with all of the fabulous women that I know will be on the ship.  Bon Voyage!!!

LOL, yes the cruises are GREAT.  Yes, you will have a bar tab, as M. Jean and Michelle say, the resorts are all inclusive and are a BLAST!   

Ok, this is the scoop, your luggage will be scanned, if there are items that look like they contain lushious spirits, they will send you a notice that your bags are being held captive and you are to report to blah, blah deck to go thru the bag, if there is livacious liquids, they will be taken from you and return to you at the end of the trip.   Last I knew, you could bring wine aboard, believe you have to give Olivia or HAL the list of wine you will be traveling with.   I can check on the specifics of how this works, if HAL keeps it until you call for it, or if they let you keep it in your cabin.  There is a corking fee of $15.00 a bottle, but think that may be if you want to have the wine served at diner.  Will see what I can find out and get back to ya.  Also know that when coming back onto the ship from a port that bags are not checked, so in theory, one could being back the drink of there choice then. 

This will be a great trip, in the Caribbean during Thanksgiving, with great womyn and wonderful weather.  Before we know it we will be sailing away to see many wonders of the world, meeting new people and having an experience of a lifetime.  I look forward to sharing it all with all of you. 

Keep posting, and keep asking those questions, and don't forget to smell the flowers!

Inde

Hello Alanispaige,

Welcome aboard!  You will have a great time...  It is really not weird to have to pay for your drinks,  that happens on all cruises...  If you had done one of Olivia resort trips everything (including all your drinks) would have been covered.  This will be Michelle & my first cruise also, we normally do the resorts so we are kinda in the same boat (no pun intended) as far as paying for our drinks..  I hear that eventhough you are paying for your drinks that an Olivia cruise is the BEST!  We have friends that are on an Olivia cruise (that normally do the resorts we us) as we speak and I cannot wait till they get home so that we can hear all about it.  Counting down the days also...

M. Jean and Michelle

Hey all!  Not sure if I am posting right but... here goes...

My gf and I have never been on a trip and are super excited to make Olivia our first!  I have never been on a cruise because of my fear about dying in water.. lol.. but, I figured, oh heck.... this is worth dying for!

 I was super dissapointed because I wanted to go on a all inclusive trip and realized, you have to pay for drinks on Olivia?  Weird!!  The agent that booked me said that they "let bottles pass" on occasion when discovered..... any prior experiences here?

 This trip has already wiped out our bank accounts and can't imagine paying bar prices on top of everything...... Any suggestions?

 Can't wait to meet you all!  It's so early to get excited but, we are counting down the days!

Hugs,

-A

Hi there from sunny Arizona,

I went solo on my first Olivia cruise in October '07 to the Mexican Riviera. I now have freinds in Canada down to Key West. We are all planning to meet in Palm Springs in April and then in November for the 35th Birthday Bash Caribbean for another reunion. It was one of the best vacations in my life so far. It was worth every penny. It has totally changed my life. I have not stopped smiling everytime I think about that fantastic week. 

I also met a wonderful woman on the ship. So far so good!!!

Jackieoh

Hey there, Tiffany and Ginger, and of course to all the other gals here.  How is it going?  Is everyone making it thru the winter?  Gads, it has been cold up here, burrr.  Ready for the vacation to start now!!

Ok, the excursions will open up two weeks before we go on our cruise.  Olivia sends us our information packets with all the info. about the trip and our registration number that we will use to sign up thru HAL, aka, Holland America, for our excursions.  The excursion list comes in the packet, so as soon as you get it decide and sign up the first day that registration opens up, for they sell out asap.  We will be able to preview the excursion list, on HAL, but not sign up until reg. date two weeks b/4 trip.

One can get an idea of the excursions by looking at the HAL cruises and what they are offering, ours will be similiar, and the prices will be more. 

You can go to www.hollandamerica.com then type in the info. that will lead you to excursions at our ports. 

Hope this helps, let me know if not and will dig out all my research notes for ya!

Ok gals, hope to hear from some of you other gals too!

Take care,

Inde

Ok, welcome to the new folks!! 

Just wanted to stop in and say hi and to root the Packers on tomorrow!!!

Chanda the Port is Port Everglades go to this site to read up on it www.broward.org  this will give you info on the port, cruise info and terminals.  Believe Terminal 26 could be the one we depart out of.  Also can read up on the cruise ship and also the Port on HALS site, www.hollandamerica.com, and if that is not enough info, go to www.porteverglades.org  here is a list of hotels near the port that may help ya out.

If need more info, let me know, have other hotel/b&b places around area that are good.

Later,

Inde

Hi, Inde

Will, I dive in the army years ago its seems will like about 3yrs.  My freinds have tryed to get me to go on dive trip for the handicap but haven't got in to the whole movment that you can do the same thing after you  are in a chair that you can do before just with differnt equipment.  This is my first trip out on my own, scared but at the same cant wait to start living again. 

I sure like to know where to stay in fort landerdale and if anyone know where port of calls so i can set up transportation.

Hope to fly in friday midday so that i have time to check out things.  wait to hear, before making air/hotel/transportion plans.

chanda

I just wanted to thank you for all the great information.  It really is helping me feel more comfortable each day about going by myself.  I will check out all your suggestions for hotels.  Can't wait to meet everyone and enjoy  a fun and exciting week.

Thanks..Judy

Ok, many have asked for my highly sought after travel tips, so created a new topic, which I hate to do, for to many creates a nightmare of too many topics to get lost in,  when most could be posted here.  

Yet I did it so that it would be easy to access later on, or you could make a copy of it an put it in your suitcase now.  So if any of you have any tips to add, please feel free to do so, many of the travel tips are mine, some are from other seasoned travelers, here, there, and everywhere, so I share with all of you.

Enjoy and hope you like Inde's travel tips!  Time is ticking!!

Inde

Hello all,

  My fiancee and I have reserved an inside stateroom for this cruise. We are getting married in May and this is going to be our much needed honeymoon (will also be our 7th year anniversary).  Someone had mentioned to me before that if you watch your mail, you may receive a promo price to upgrade. For anyone who has experience on Olivia cruises prior, can you confirm this? Thanks and hope to see everyone on the trip.