anyone been on the dawn?

i'll be on my first cruise, the NCL dawn, in may with my boyfriend (both of us are in our early 20s), and i was wondering how it is for gay couples. any info would be greatly appreciated! happy sailing :)

Had a wonderful time. We are a couple in our early 40's.

There was a FOD social scheduled EVERY night at 7pm. While it was lightly attended, we did meet about 6 or 8 others because of the social. I give the Dawn credit for scheduling them each day. Gaydar works, and I estimate there were about 25 or so gay men (that I could identify). It was nice to go to dinner with these new friends.

We never had a problem sitting just the two of us for dinner. No one bothered or hassled us. I believe a cruise is what you make of it. Were there obnoxious passengers... of course. But that happens at any hotel, resort, etc. The ship is large and there are many places to escape and find quiet.

The night life is low key at best. So if you are looking for fun, late night activities, you will have to settle for the casino. I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the cruise. The staff could not have been nicer. I am sure there are higher end cruise lines, but this was just fine. Go and have a good time. Being that you are younger, I would suggest you really look into the shore excursions and activities. They may appeal to you guys. Have fun. Feel free to email me if you would like more details on anything.

Bruce

bmccandless@comcast.net

thanks for the reply. :) I was thinking that we would not run into many problems especially since it is out of NY and we are more liberal minded up here ;). but that does not mean there's the people who are close minded. but like you said it's what you make of it and i just can't wait to go. my favorite thing you said was about gaydar..haha. it's going to be fun to meet other gay couples on there. thank you again for your help. are you planning to sail with NCL again?

Tim

My partner and I are in our 30's and have always found family on every cruise we have taken. If you are lazy like I am...just wait a day and then check the boarding photos. If you had any doubt, you won't after that...

haha we sound like twins..sounds right up my alley. :)

My partner and I sailed on Dawn in July 2003 and loved it so much we are going on Dawn again on February 10, this time to Carribean. You will have a fabulous time. Can't give specifics really on what it was like being a gay couple but this seems to me it was the same as anyone else. Met some very nice people. Though I should say we are in our late thirties!!! Arggghhh. Enjoy!

i'll be on my first cruise, the NCL dawn, in may with my boyfriend (both of us are in our early 20s), and i was wondering how it is for gay couples. any info would be greatly appreciated! happy sailing :)

my bf and i are going on the dawn on Jan 20th, Ill let you know when we get back we have cruised NCL before and never had any problems. No one has ever bothered us, We are in our 20's as well. In fact a nice older lady in the hot tub asked us if we were brothers lol.

We just returned from the 10 day new years cruise on the dawn. We are a couple in our mid 40's...we are pretty mainstream & blended in fine.

The nite club was geared towards your age group - lots of rap. The other passengers were mostly middle aged. New years eve we danced or more likely boogied & had fun watching the crown down near the pool. The servers were quite nice & accomodating in regard to us being a male couple. You'll find the Europeans very blase about gay people.

We did go to a VIP party & were treated well & it was obvious we were together. The officers were a lot of fun & very interesting to speak with.

We did see other gay couples onboard & each evening @7pm they had a FOD gathering - we never attended. We stayed to ourselves & enjoyed eating by ourselves.

Have a great time -

it sounds like the dawn is a lot of fun. i'm so excited about it. does anyone know what goes on with the FOD gatherings? Thank you everyone for your help and advice. :) my boyfriend and I can have a good time with anything and I think the most important thing is not worrying about what others think and just enjoying yourselves like everyone here has.

Tim

We have attended FOD parties on Princess & HAL...basically just a chance for everyone to get together and let loose. On Princess, we had a strong turnout from the entertainment staff (dancers, cruise staff, etc.) and on HAL we even had a few officers show up for the party along with the usual ship guests. Of course there is always one or two clueless passengers who wonder by trying to figure out who Dorothy is...of course that can be made into entertainment also ;) Have a great time...

As mentioned, there was an FOD gathering each day at 7pm on the Dawn.

Check the daily your first day. If it is not listed, contact the cruise director and ask that it be scheduled. These were really very informal gatherings. They are just an easy effort by the CD to let gay people find each other and socialize. The bar is still open for anyone else to walk in. I attended 3 in our 10 days. There were 6 - 10 family there each time. Use it as a good way to meet other gay folks on board. We met some nice people and had dinner with them a couple of times. I ended up meeting up with them again in the Casino or at Spinnaker at night. Trust your gaydar as well. Over the course of the 10 days, it was not difficult to spot the other guys. We actually met some wonderful straight couples with whom we went to the beach and parties in the Villa, etc. You will have a great time.