txflyer

Married couple here that will be traveling on the Breeze to the Southern Caribbean on 8/30. Anyone else going?

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The Blue Horizon Hotel on Robson Street is convenient to the cruise terminal. The rate should be less than the major chains previously mentioned. Its a 30 story hotel and every room is on a corner, so it has views in two directions with city views, the cruise ships, mountains, the bay and float planes.

Its best to book the "Deluxe" rooms...they are on the higher floors and have been upgraded. The rooms are small but nicely done. The staff is friendly. I cant remember for sure, but I think that most, if not all, have balconies.

Alot of shopping, entertainment, restaurants and Stanley park are all within walking distance. (or short cab ride if you dont want to walk).

This area of town offers alot more than staying near the airport. ..jack

I have been through this numerous times on numerous lines. Go to the Purser's desk and inquire about when the FOD meetings are scheduled. If they are not scheduled, or they cannot give you the exact day and time, request that they contact the Cruise Director to get them scheduled and insist they follow up with a call to your room to confirm the scheduling. Use the employee's name when addressing them. If you remember their name, they know you will use it on the comment card if they do not follow through (as is sadly the case with too many employees at the purser's desk). I'm always polite, but insistent. MOST of the time, you will hear from either the purser's desk or the cruise director him/her self before the evening is over with a scheduled time. If you have the misfortune of a homophobic staff or CD (I have encountered both), it will take more legwork if you truly want it organized.

 

They can be a lot of fun, and as the poster above noted, profitable for the cruise line. I cannot understand why they make such an issue about it other than outright homophobia.

 

I would still like to see some more boys care enough to write some letters to Royal Caribbean to encourage a change in their policy since they are the only major cruise line that outright forbids a published FOD meeting.

 

TBC

Hey TBC, thank you for the tip on how to get the process going. Will definitely do it on our cruise in two weeks.

Its sad about Royal Caribbean's policy. After reading these posts my husband said, "well its a good thing we dont plan to go on Royal Caribbean". Hes very loyal to companies that respect us.

Ive read some postings from people saying, "we dont choose a cruise line just because of something like a FOD meeting." Certainly there are many things to consider when choosing, but I think its also important to stay away from those that dont openly strive to recognize our uniqueness. Its only by sticking together that we can move forward and too many of us are not loyal to ourselves. Although I am far from being an expert on the cruise industry, I can say that it seems that there are enough options out there that in most cases we do have choices on which cruise line to use on a given itinerary.

Royal Caribbean's position is interesting given all the gay charters they get. Its unfortunate the gay charter companies dont boycott the cruise lines that arent proactive in their everyday policy.

On a more positive note, on our recent Carnival cruise, one of the str8 crewmembers told us that Carnival tries to keep their same-sex partner employees working the same ships so they dont have to be separated. >>jack

I just returned from 7 night sailings on both Carnival Glory and Carnival Triumph. Both cruises required some effort for FOD meetings. On the Glory, I was told to just keep watching the Caper, it would be in there. They scheduled it for the next to the last night of the cruise. Not very helpful for meeting others to socialize with during the cruise. On the Triumph, with some prodding they did schedule on for the third day at 3pm in a bar that was closed. We did have a group show up, but we had to walk half the length of the ship for a cocktail.

 

Royal Caribbean still refuses to schedule and FOD at all in the daily paper, so Carnival still gets my vote for the more gay friendly between the two.

I just realized a point maybe Im missing with the FOD meetings. I dont think anyone has mentioned if they have been 'hosted' by the ship. When we were on the Dawn Princess in May, the meeting was attended by one of the ship staff..she served a round of champagne to everyone and then left once things got started. They also had a sign posted outside the bar. It was nice to have the recognition from the staff.

On the other hand, our recent Carnival Destiny cruise, although they scheduled 3 FOD meetings, no signage and there was no host from the ship staff. Im not complaining, because it was good to know they were offering the meetings.

I think it definitely benefit$ the $hip to offer the meeting$. $$$$$ At our FOD meeting on the Dawn Princess, some of us were there for 4 hours and continually ordered drinks.

We have a cruise coming up on Carnival Elation. We were on that ship last December but no FOD meetings. Who did you talk to about getting an FOD meeting on the schedule?

..>>jack

We just returned from 7-day Carnival Destiny cruise..Southern Caribbean. There were 3 Friends of Dorothy meetings. Although they were not well attended, it was good to know they were on the schedule.

We met a few gay crew members and never got a negative vibe from any of the other crew... >>jack