FRIENDLY GAYS ON CRUISES🤗

[zitsky]

13 hours ago, rbtan said:

Could be worse. They have virtually nothing on Oceania. Last cruise they had the LGBT meeting right at dinner. I snuck out quick to see if anyone was there. No one showed. Thee were a fair amount of gay pax, but they seemed to just keep to themselves. Princess on our Hawaii trip was little better. A couple of stuck up queens & that was about it. Cunard has always had a great attendance. Or 2016 cruise on the Regal Princess was well attended as well. Celebrity is a mix. They host it at the martini bar. Not a good spot. The Commodore room was always excellent. The reason we don't do Cunard anymore is the fact I'm fairly relegated to vacation after the holidays. Catering slows after the holidays & it's when we cruise.

 

Why is Martini Bar not a good spot?

[rbtan]

10 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

Why is Martini Bar not a good spot?

Because of the large crowd. It's hard to tell who might be gay & who isn't. Could be quite embarrassing if one gets it wrong.

[zitsky]

17 minutes ago, rbtan said:

Because of the large crowd. It's hard to tell who might be gay & who isn't. Could be quite embarrassing if one gets it wrong.

 

You might get to kiss a stranger.  lol

[Rotterdam]

15 hours ago, rbtan said:

Because of the large crowd. It's hard to tell who might be gay & who isn't. Could be quite embarrassing if one gets it wrong.

Or you could kiss someone thats wants to be...

🤗🤪🍹🍹🍹🍹🥂

[zitsky]

2 hours ago, Rotterdam said:

Or you could kiss someone thats wants to be...

🤗🤪🍹🍹🍹🍹🥂

 

Ewww.  Are you kissing me with your tongue?

 

lol

[DenGNNJ]

On 6/16/2021 at 6:20 PM, rbtan said:

Because of the large crowd. It's hard to tell who might be gay & who isn't. Could be quite embarrassing if one gets it wrong.

TBH, I think it's kinda easy to spot "family" at Celebrity's Martini Bar.  The problem with that spot for a focused LGBTQ+ meet-up is that it's a place that's really popular and well attended.  It's so easy to belly up to the bar and start a conversation with someone or another couple, straight or gay, that it makes it hard to use it only for one specific group to get together. 

 

We went to one that was scheduled at Cellar Masters once... but we stayed for about 5 minutes and went to the Martini Bar because we enjoy the energy there more.

Edited July 29, 2021 by DenGNNJ

[rbtan]

8 hours ago, DenGNNJ said:

TBH, I think it's kinda easy to spot "family" at Celebrity's Martini Bar.  The problem with that spot for a focused LGBTQ+ meet-up is that it's a place that's really popular and well attended.  It's so easy to belly up to the bar and start a conversation with someone or another couple, straight or gay, that it makes it hard to use it only for one specific group to get together. 

 

We went to one that was scheduled at Cellar Masters once... but we stayed for about 5 minutes and went to the Martini Bar because we enjoy the energy there more.

Ran into a few gay acting Brits some years back who were straight(or at least told us they were)

[zitsky]

2 hours ago, rbtan said:

Ran into a few gay acting Brits some years back who were straight(or at least told us they were)

 

They were testing you to see if you were serious.  You should have jumped at the opportunity. 

[TheGinBoy]

I love meeting fellow LGBTQ folk on our cruises. Had really good experiences on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and NCL - who put together really well managed meet-ups.

 

On Norwegian Epic in 2018 we made a huge friends group of gay guys, many of which are good friends today.

 

 

On Celebrity Summit in 2019 we met loads of cool LGBTQ folk and their families - some of which are coming to our wedding next year.

 

 

Only negative experience has been on a small cruise line here in the UK. I do some TV work for my day job and this one guy knew that. He followed us around the ship like a lost dog the entire cruise, and kept telling people "have you met Tom, he's on TV". It was so inappropriate. 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by TheGinBoy

[zitsky]

I found the woman/women!  Otherwise not diverse.  Why is that?

Edited July 30, 2021 by zitsky

[TheGinBoy]

Cruises don't tend to be the most diverse holiday locations. Probably due to where they're marketed, historical perception of cruise holidays, pricing etc. We're only just starting to see the average age of cruisers come down.

 

LGBT venues often aren't the most diverse - often due to stigma attached to being LGBT in certain communities, perceived (and often actual) racism within the community, where venues are placed, pricing, marketing etc. 

 

Add the two together and you've automatically got a self selecting group of people. Hopefully it'll improve with time.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by TheGinBoy

[zitsky]

Thanks.  Didn't mean to be rude.  I don't want cruising to be only for rich white people.

[TheGinBoy]

1 minute ago, zitsky said:

Thanks.  Didn't mean to be rude.  I don't want cruising to be only for rich white people.

 

Neither do I 🙂

[SireDoime]

Yeah, the diversity is always been my issue, on both Celebrity cruises I was on. Being the only Black dude I felt it. 😕

[zitsky]

8 hours ago, SireDoime said:

Yeah, the diversity is always been my issue, on both Celebrity cruises I was on. Being the only Black dude I felt it. 😕

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.  I'm not sure what will change this?  Maybe X will spend more money on marketing to a more diverse client base?

[birdyrobin]

My spouse is trans female.  We normally just mingle with everyone on our cruises.  For the first time we decided to go to the meet up for LGBTQ on our Azamara cruise.  The group was sponsored by 2 of the entertainment dancers.  We met probably 10 people at that meet and greet.  We enjoyed meeting them and actually running into them during the cruise.  As for actually going on an LGBTQ cruise, I have no interest in doing that.  You get younger people flocking to them and some acting like teenagers with their antics.  We just want to be around people who are fun but not crazy and being LGBTQ does not mean you have to stick together!  We have on past cruises been ignored by some passengers who get that "deer in the headlights" look when they realize my spouse is trans (her voice usually).  You will not like everyone on a trip but we have found quite often an accepting attitude by many.  Maybe the not so surprising aspect of meeting others is that it usually the FEMALE passengers who are the most accepting. 

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, birdyrobin said:

My spouse is trans female.  We normally just mingle with everyone on our cruises.  For the first time we decided to go to the meet up for LGBTQ on our Azamara cruise.  The group was sponsored by 2 of the entertainment dancers.  We met probably 10 people at that meet and greet.  We enjoyed meeting them and actually running into them during the cruise.  As for actually going on an LGBTQ cruise, I have no interest in doing that.  You get younger people flocking to them and some acting like teenagers with their antics.  We just want to be around people who are fun but not crazy and being LGBTQ does not mean you have to stick together!  We have on past cruises been ignored by some passengers who get that "deer in the headlights" look when they realize my spouse is trans (her voice usually).  You will not like everyone on a trip but we have found quite often an accepting attitude by many.  Maybe the not so surprising aspect of meeting others is that it usually the FEMALE passengers who are the most accepting. 

 

Why is it, do you think, that men are not accepting of her?  Do you think it is a common problem for trans people?

[birdyrobin]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

 

Why is it, do you think, that men are not accepting of her?  Do you think it is a common problem for trans people?

That women seem to be more accepting than men?  I found this to be the case in my own family.  When we told family about my spouses transition,  the women were talking to us and being accepting while we later found out the majority of the men seem to take it personally as an affront to their manhood or something.  Perhaps because women are the children raisers so are more nurturing and understanding about others feelings. I am not sure.  I can only speak for my own personal experience.  Myself as a straight woman, I have had quite the journey seeing my husband disappear and a woman emerge.  A depressed and suicidal man now is a happier woman.  

[zitsky]

1 minute ago, birdyrobin said:

That women seem to be more accepting than men?  I found this to be the case in my own family.  When we told family about my spouses transition,  the women were talking to us and being accepting while we later found out the majority of the men seem to take it personally as an affront to their manhood or something.  Perhaps because women are the children raisers so are more nurturing and understanding about others feelings. I am not sure.  I can only speak for my own personal experience.  Myself as a straight woman, I have had quite the journey seeing my husband disappear and a woman emerge.  A depressed and suicidal man now is a happier woman.  

Ok thanks for sharing.  Best wishes.

[Boytjie]

We have mostly done gay charters; the two regular cruises were 1) on a short cruise on QM2 in 2009 and 2) a repo on the Summit in 2018. On QM2 Commodortothy's live up to its reputation and we would move form there to tG32 when the bar closed. On the Summit the Martini Bar was the gay bar on ship and people were there before and after dinner. We are still in contact with guys from that cruise. 

 

We wil be on the Millennium in Alaska in two weeks; it will be interesting to see how that goes.

[SireDoime]

On 7/31/2021 at 10:11 PM, Boytjie said:

tG32

What does this  mean, please?

I've never sailed the Queen Mary II. I've only seen the retired Queen Mary docked at Long Beach harbor in the 70's & 80's as a kid.

I am surprised that such a historically British ship even had a gay themed cruise (I'm American).

[rbtan]

2 hours ago, SireDoime said:

What does this  mean, please?

I've never sailed the Queen Mary II. I've only seen the retired Queen Mary docked at Long Beach harbor in the 70's & 80's as a kid.

I am surprised that such a historically British ship even had a gay themed cruise (I'm American).

G32 is a nightclub on the ship.

[DenGNNJ]

A couple experiences of meeting friendly people come to mind…

 

First, was an all-gay resort charter through a British company called Alternative Holidays about 18 years ago.  The resort was in Sicily and more than half of the people didn’t speak English.  We started talking to one of the few Americans in the pool and we’ve been friends and have been on several other vacations ever since.

 

Second was an Atlantis cruise; one of the few to ever charter Norwegian’s Pride of America ship that circles Hawaii.  Atlantis had a pre-party at a bar in Honolulu and it was PACKED.  The guy next to me who was alone, was trying to get a drink and he just wasn’t aggressive enough to get the bartender’s attention. I’m much better at it so when the bartender asked us what we wanted, we placed our order and then I asked the guy next to us what he wanted and paid for his drink… you know, as if we were all together.  We spent the rest of the cruise hanging out and again, we still talk today.

 

This makes me think… we started out doing all-gay cruises and resort vacations.  We felt more comfortable being ourselves surrounded by our own community.  Then we started doing the gay-charter thing.  Pied Piper, a company based out of NY does group charters, one of the largest is their Post-Thanksgiving cruise.  Over the years, We’ve met a lot of great people, and a lot of clunkers.
 

Now, we don’t even bother with all-gay “thing” anymore… we’re perfectly comfortable being ourselves on “regular” cruises, meet a lot of people, and keep in touch with the folks we like.  The last cruise we were on, we met a sweet gay couple at Celebrity’s Martini Bar who had just been married that we still speak with regularly.  
 

I’m unsure whether we’ll ever get back on an Atlantis or RSVP cruise.  They, Vacaya, et. al., are nice options to consider when planning vacations, but being in that bubble is not as important to us anymore.  Attitudes toward same sex couples have changed, and we’re not as young as we used to be.

[SireDoime]

On 8/2/2021 at 9:47 AM, DenGNNJ said:

The guy next to me who was alone, was trying to get a drink and he just wasn’t aggressive enough to get the bartender’s attention

 

I saw this often in gay bars, and I hated it.

Maybe it was just L.A., but this attitude of ignoring customers was prevalent in gay bars.

Curious enough: I never noticed this behavior from bartenders in straight bars.

 

Now, about a gay themed cruise, I would love to do, but finding one that is predominately Afro can be challenging, not impossible, I just have to do the work.

[Boytjie]

On 8/2/2021 at 3:04 AM, SireDoime said:

What does this  mean, please?

I've never sailed the Queen Mary II. I've only seen the retired Queen Mary docked at Long Beach harbor in the 70's & 80's as a kid.

I am surprised that such a historically British ship even had a gay themed cruise (I'm American).

 

Oh, our QM2 cruise was not a gay cruise, it just had lots of gays on it! 😄

QM2 did do a gay charter transatlantic in 2007; we did our first ever cruise in February 2007 and teh transatlantic departed New York (home to us) on the Memorial Day weekend. My husband was not all that keen on cruising to begin with and a transatlantic was a bit too much (at the time, he has changed his mind though we still need to do one).