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Does anyone do the FOD/LGBT gatherings?


3DogDay
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This is a interesting thread which I posted on a couple of years ago. Nice to get other gay cruisers take on meeting others on a cruise. My partner and I have been on over 50 cruises over the 24 years we have been together. Out of a few hundred different gay men (a few woman too) we met only a very few we connected with. One male couple we became real friends with long term. Nice guys that live across the country from us yet we have done other cruises with them as well as visited and stayed in their home. The interesting thing is we seem to connect much more with straight couples. Many have become close friends of ours and we cruise together and visit each other in our homes. I can never understsnd exactly why more gay people on cruises we have been on are not interested in becoming friends even on the cruise. Seems like when I was younger in my twenties and thirties I was a magnet for other gay men to have a interest. Of course that mostly was a sexual attraction interest I am assuming.

No matter what my partner and I always make a attempt to meet and socialize with other gay couples and you can always hope to meet others that want to also. I never expect it to happen.

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  • 2 weeks later...
The interesting thing is we seem to connect much more with straight couples.

 

We have recently celebrated our 14th year and totally agree with that.

Over the years we have had gay friends come and go in our lives. MOST have been straight (couples and singles).

One cruise [unfortunately only one] there was 11 of us. That was the first of it's kind and it's last. :(

 

Have tried again but failed to get enough [any] of us together.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Same here. I've gone to the FOD meetings and no one shows. However, on my last cruise Dizzy's Lounge after 11:00pm became somewhat teh floating gay club.

 

I’m putting this out there because on our last several cruises, they have turned out to be a bust. Either no one goes or the few that do seem to want to keep the conversation within their own group. We were on the Brilliance of the Seas several years ago, and the gathering was quite popular. We even had several groups of straight people would join in. But since then, they’ve been pretty dead. Is this just not the thing to do anymore, or am I missing something?
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I have been taking cruises for over 35 years, starting when I was in my mid twenties. Things have changed so much since then. Now that there are several choices of all Gay cruises. the younger of the gay population seem to gravitate to those type venues. And why not? It is a party 24/7. The problem with that type of cruise for me is that they tend to be shorter length and not where I always want to cruise. So it turns out the cruises I pick are 99% straight passengers. That is not a problem for my husband and I since we mix well with the people we meet and most of us have one big thing in common, we are seniors, LOL.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Anything can and does happen!

On QM2 once the LBGT meeting point was SO crowded/packed in we could not penetrate(!) I mean join in! and wandered off.

Crystal on our Christmas/New Year cruise this past season arranged nothing.

Hapag Lloyd on Europa 2 recently referred our meeting request to HQ in Hamburg and they said no, "other passengers could be jealous".

Seems to me if Cruise Lines want to be seen as friendly to LGBT all they need to do would be one well advertised LGBT meeting near the start of a cruise where people can meet then over to us to make any further arrangements, simple?

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  • 3 months later...
We are on the Celebrity Solstice from NZ to Australia. We looked on the first night and we were the only ones there. After that we found other guys on our own accord. The Celebrity people didn't seem that interested in doing anything out of their way. Quite disappointing on this cruise.

 

Hopefully better on the Solstice South Pacific cruise dep 20 October 2018 - first time with celebrity and thought the had a good rep for being “family” friendly

 

Brian & Frank

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Hopefully better on the Solstice South Pacific cruise dep 20 October 2018 - first time with celebrity and thought the had a good rep for being “family” friendly

 

Brian & Frank

 

Hey, we're on that cruise too! See you there.

 

Clark and Scotty

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Hopefully better on the Solstice South Pacific cruise dep 20 October 2018 - first time with celebrity and thought the had a good rep for being “family” friendly

 

Brian & Frank

 

We have heard many many times over on how "Family" friendly they are. We personally have not been on one yet. But have looked several times to go on Celebrity

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  • 2 weeks later...

My first cruise, June of 2010 ... a buddy and I attended the Friends of Dorothy meeting on Carnival Glory. We met about a dozen nice people we ended up hanging out with a lot during that cruise. 4 of the people, I continue to keep in touch with to this day. 1 of those 4, continues to cruise with my friends and I each year. (our next one is in just a few weeks), another one has gone a few times with us, but have not seen him in a few years. One person turned out to work for Carnival, and is now our cruise planner. He joins us for dinner whenever we cruise out of Miami. We go to the gathering on EVERY cruise ... with mixed results. Sometimes you meet some great people, sometimes not ... but always worth the attempt. Hopefully, we will meet a few more interesting people on Carnival Splendor, leaving Oct. 6th, 2018.

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We just got off of the Adventure of the Seas. The staff had a standing LGBT meet-up at 10pm each night in the Champagne lounge on Deck 5. They even posted the meeting as an activity each night in the Cruise Compass. We met a several really nice couples with whom we enjoyed conversing. The bar staff was so excited to see us every night - by the third night, they all knew our names and our favorite drinks and they really took care of us!

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 years later...

My wife & I sailed Grand Princess Dec 3 2019 out of SF and had a BLAST!!! The last healthy Grand Princess cruises before COVID!  Yikes!

 

There were only a few lesbians and the rest were guys but we are mostly all couples and met every night!!  We even had a dinner together one of the formal nights!  Because we don't get to experience "family" often, we decided to book 2 more cruises out of San Fransisco!  Ruby Princess RT Hawaii Jan 16, 2022 and Ruby Princess Panama Canal SF to FLL February 10, 2023!  We will definitely be attending the LGBTQ (FOD) meet ups on both of those cruises!  Hope to make new friends and maybe meet up with old ones!!

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Oh the days of Yore.

 

Have a cruise in Nov out of Baltimore [Enchantment of the Seas], May cruise out of Jersey[ Adventure of the Seas], & Aug cruise out of Canaveral [Mariner of the Seas].

Would be good to meet some "good" people. FOD would even be better but it is always nice to meet people whom have a good heart.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/7/2021 at 9:27 PM, MishelleMcc said:

My wife & I sailed Grand Princess Dec 3 2019 out of SF and had a BLAST!!! The last healthy Grand Princess cruises before COVID!  Yikes!

 

There were only a few lesbians and the rest were guys but we are mostly all couples and met every night!!  We even had a dinner together one of the formal nights!  Because we don't get to experience "family" often, we decided to book 2 more cruises out of San Fransisco!  Ruby Princess RT Hawaii Jan 16, 2022 and Ruby Princess Panama Canal SF to FLL February 10, 2023!  We will definitely be attending the LGBTQ (FOD) meet ups on both of those cruises!  Hope to make new friends and maybe meet up with old ones!!

 

My best LGBT gatherings experience was on the Grand Princess as well, in 2018. The gatherings were well attended every evening, and made some great friends. One of the crew's staff acted as un-official hostess every evening, and showed up with a little rainbow flag for the table so that it was easy to find the right crowd without that awkward eavesdropping on conversations hoping to recognize "family." Attendance grew every evening instead of dwindling like most cruises.

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