Summer cruise report
Jan. 1st, 2004 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drscottFor those of you who didn't see it in September, my quick review of the Atlantis Mediterranean cruise we took in late August.
We got back a week ago from Atlantis' annual Mediterranean cruise, starting at Barcelona (where we spent three days), then to Cannes, Rome, and Naples before heading back via Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza.
I put together an album of the photos for your enjoyment (?), which you can see at: http://www.parlemont.com/med2003.
For those of you considering such an excursion, I should note that Atlantis Events is run mostly by and for circuit party types. That is, great effort is put into T-Dances and all-night parties, with other activities an afterthought. Having never been around circuit boys, I found their ability to enjoy dancing all afternoon and nights until 5 AM hard to fathom. Much alcohol, Red Bull, and other substances was consumed to make this possible. :-)
We did enjoy the opportunity to have dinner with the likes of Bruce Steele (Editor-in-Chief of the Advocate) and his partner, an animator at Disney, Pixar, and now Electronic Arts. Probably 1/3 of the cruisers were non-circuit types, but there were few bears or "persons of color" to be found.
Mike's brush with fame was sharing a ladies room with Patti Lupone, who performed for us and also came on the tour of Rome. When the men swamped both restrooms at the pit stop, she entered the ladies room and asked Mike if there were latches on the stalls -- when Mike replied yes, she said "well, that's all right, then."
We spent a lot of time in the ship's gym, which was adequate, and really a better place to meet people than the dance floor.
One problem with Atlantis' emphasis on partying: little attention paid to getting shore excursions that matched the audience. Atlantis contracts with mass tour operators for exactly the same tours that middle-aged straight cruisers are offered, so as much as half the tour would be spent in favored gift shops and typically free time was allowed in locations not well suited to further exploration. Even the Rome tour specifically set up for those interested in ancient Rome spent less than two hours in the ancient monuments areas, and more time at the Vatican, which is more convenient for tour bus parking. At one point our bus rebelled and forced the tour guide to skip a gift shop visit in favor of more time in Naples.
We returned, exhausted and overly tanned, last Sunday. No more travel for awhile!
Addendum: Scuttlebutt onboard was that other Atlantis cruises and events are more diverse, possibly because of lower prices. But the party ideal remains: the Mexican cruise has almost two parties a day scheduled as well.
We got back a week ago from Atlantis' annual Mediterranean cruise, starting at Barcelona (where we spent three days), then to Cannes, Rome, and Naples before heading back via Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza.
I put together an album of the photos for your enjoyment (?), which you can see at: http://www.parlemont.com/med2003.
For those of you considering such an excursion, I should note that Atlantis Events is run mostly by and for circuit party types. That is, great effort is put into T-Dances and all-night parties, with other activities an afterthought. Having never been around circuit boys, I found their ability to enjoy dancing all afternoon and nights until 5 AM hard to fathom. Much alcohol, Red Bull, and other substances was consumed to make this possible. :-)
We did enjoy the opportunity to have dinner with the likes of Bruce Steele (Editor-in-Chief of the Advocate) and his partner, an animator at Disney, Pixar, and now Electronic Arts. Probably 1/3 of the cruisers were non-circuit types, but there were few bears or "persons of color" to be found.
Mike's brush with fame was sharing a ladies room with Patti Lupone, who performed for us and also came on the tour of Rome. When the men swamped both restrooms at the pit stop, she entered the ladies room and asked Mike if there were latches on the stalls -- when Mike replied yes, she said "well, that's all right, then."
We spent a lot of time in the ship's gym, which was adequate, and really a better place to meet people than the dance floor.
One problem with Atlantis' emphasis on partying: little attention paid to getting shore excursions that matched the audience. Atlantis contracts with mass tour operators for exactly the same tours that middle-aged straight cruisers are offered, so as much as half the tour would be spent in favored gift shops and typically free time was allowed in locations not well suited to further exploration. Even the Rome tour specifically set up for those interested in ancient Rome spent less than two hours in the ancient monuments areas, and more time at the Vatican, which is more convenient for tour bus parking. At one point our bus rebelled and forced the tour guide to skip a gift shop visit in favor of more time in Naples.
We returned, exhausted and overly tanned, last Sunday. No more travel for awhile!
Addendum: Scuttlebutt onboard was that other Atlantis cruises and events are more diverse, possibly because of lower prices. But the party ideal remains: the Mexican cruise has almost two parties a day scheduled as well.
