DDinMS

10 hours ago, calicakes said:

My wife and I are cruising X on Sept 13th from Ft. Lauderdale( my hometown, although we're now in SoCal) to the ABC;s.  I am part of the roll call and I feel like we're the only lesbian couple who will be on that ship.  We rarely meet any, sometimes we meet gay men, but for the most part, we keep to ourselves.  I love X, the staff is amazing and we've never been treated disrespectfully, but sometimes I feel like we're a freak show.  We get lots of stares from the the older heterosexual folks.  Especially if we hold hands, which we usually do while walking around.  

Hate to hear this.  I was afraid it would be the same for us on our first trip with X.  And we actually got married on the ship in Ft. Lauderdale before the ship left port.  But then the photographer had us going all over the ship for photos, and doing all sorts of shots.  We have never been big PDA people.  But we were put to ease real fast by so many wishing us congratulations (mostly older heterosexual folks, lol).  Throughout the 12 days of the cruise we would encounter folks who would exclaim, "oh you guys are the ones that got married", and they would wish us well.     I did notice before the cruise we were the only gay ones on the roll call, but that was definitely not the case once on the ship.  Hopefully your September cruise will prove to better. 

Great tips and advice. I have enjoyed reading the posts in this thread. My husband and I live in the deep South (Mississippi) and have been lucky enough to never have never had to face bigotry or hate except from some extended family. After 15 years together, last year we got married on the Celebrity Eclipse, while in port in Fort Lauderdale before she sailed on a 12 day cruise. We have never really hidden the fact we were a couple in the course of the 7 years we have cruised, but we are also not really pda people. We have never had any issues, other than the "are you brother's?" question. If someone is listening when we talk, you can easily see that we are a couple, from the things we say such as talking about work and life at home...just from active participation in conversation such as talking about our niece and nephew, our home or our pups. We do the pics in the evening with the backdrops, and usually the photographers think we are just best friends until we say otherwise. Every cruise they want us to do the back to back pose (which we hate), must be a classic best friends pose, lol. But I was feeling a little anxious on our wedding day, as once we were married, the photographer took us to various spots on the ship for photos, and had us take more intimate shots such as kissing. But, it was my wedding day and I did not give a damn what anyone else thought. In the end, the anxiety was just a waste of my nerves, as people, young and old, stopped to tell us congratulations. Throughout the cruise, people we would meet and find out we were 'the ones that got married on embarkation day" and congratulate us. It seems I am more appalled at how many people (US citizens), while being friendly and sounding supportive, ask, "so is it legal to marry where you are from?" I have to wonder what rock they live under to not recall the massive news (and dissent) of the Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage in every state 2 years ago.

I imagine it is harder for the solo cruiser, as when you are in social conversation, you discuss things more singular than when travelling with someone. I am a people watcher by nature, so I try to pick up on visual clues, things said in conversation, etc when meeting new people. But I am also horrible about inserting my foot in my mouth EVERY DAY, lol.

Just checking to see who else may be on this cruise. First time on Harmony, we sailed her sister ship, The Oasis, about 6 yrs ago.

Glad to hear from you guys! Thank you for the well wishes and Hope to meet you guys on board!

Hi all! Anyone else going on the 11-night Ultimate Caribbean out of Ft Lauderdale on the Equinox. We are getting married onboard the ship before it leaves port and using the cruise as our honeymoon. If anyone is going to be onboard, hope to hear from you!

Thank you, sir! Been waiting for 15 years for this, so I'm excited.

We always try to attend, at least the first few evenings. To date, we have only cruised via RCCL. Our last cruise, it was a bit awkward. One gentleman was travelling with his daughter and her family, and he must have thought the FOD was just a way to hook up. After meeting him, he immediately started inquiring how it worked and and if people used the bulletin board just to post cabin numbers... Even after trying to explain to him it was just a meet and greet, he did not understand. The next day, was the Cruise Critic Roll Call in the Viking Lounge. He showed up for that, too. Sat next to us, and then seemed a little irked once he realized it was not just a LGBT event, even though he had signed up for the event here on the regular Roll Call forums and it was quite easy to see all the people commenting before and after him were obviously straight couples. As I said, just made for a bit of awkwardness.

We have never seen the biggest turnouts. Our next cruise is a 12 day in April on Celebrity Equinox, our first aboard Celebrity. We are getting maried onboard the ship before it leaves port. Hope to meet some new folks. Let me know if anyone else will be on the Equinox on it's 4/3/17 sailing!

We are getting onboard on 4/3/17. Tieing the knot (finally, after 15 yrs!) on the ship before it leaves port.

My partner and I have always done RC. But, in April, we are doing the Ultimate Caribbean on Celebrity Equinox. Will be our first Celebrity experience, and we are getting married onboard the ship before it leaves Ft. Lauderdale on 4/3/2017.

Yes, it is the 28th! Small world! We are looking now into a restaurant to have a dinner the evening before with all my guests in the Newark area. Any suggestions? I saw this famous bbq place that has party rates but idk if FH would go for that. I also got a great group rate at the Courtyard in Elizabeth if you have any out of town guests, I can get you the sales managers name. :)

Stevesing, did you get married onboard? If so, could you please email me at doster.doug@gmail.com I just have some questions.

My partner and I are headed out on the 23 on the Liberty out of Galveston. Anyone else?:)

Any other Friends of Dorothy going on this cruise out of NOLA?