Friends of Dorothy and Royal caribbean

[Yurita]

We've cruise with Carnival 2 times and they always offered FOD meetings, however, I wonder about Royal caribbean. We booked the Mariner of the seas next May and we are wondering if RCC also offers FOD as well??

[premiumrican]

I been on 6 RCL cruises and never seen a FOD listed. :(

[wrl1970]

our last 2 cruises (the most recent being memorial day) did have fod meetings. they are rather discrete and are only listed on the bulletein board in the library.

[rienreiter]

RCI has now instituted a new policy where meetings or social gatherings such as FOD's are now posted on their Community Bulletin Board. When you board the ship, ask where the board is. If you don't see a listing for an FOD, you can put the request in yourself.

[leoandhugh]

Hey Juan, Nice to see you back on the boards. I gather you had a rough crossing on the Jewel this spring; I had neighbors who were on X Connie 2 days ahead of you and they said they kept getting reports of rough weather behind them and the Captain on Connie kept telling them to be grateful they were not on JOTS. Leo and I are going on Serenade OTS 15days RT San Diego/Hawaii - no hotels, no air! Love those Radiance class ships; we have a good gay group going - check the thread on this board Serenade Hawaii October 5. Hugh:) :)

[Schplinky]

RCL doesn't do meetings for any group except for AA, whether its someone's bible study, the Red Hat Society or FOD. They do have a community bulletin board that you can post your meeting on. It's actually in the Royal Promenade on Mariner and there is a permanently printed card for the more popular groups, including Friends of Dorothy.

 

I know some would feel more affirmed by a meeting being organized for them but I actually like this system better. You get to call it FOD or GLBT or Rainbow (or whatever you like) and you choose the time and place so then you can also mention it to people you see along the way, since you'll know when it is and you won't have to wait until the night before when the Cruise Compass comes out to know. Also, I think that folks who are unlikely to seek out the community board were arguably equally likely to miss the cruise compass notice as well.

[dad son team]

I was on the Explorer earlier this month and the bulletin board is directly across from the Guest Relations desk. FOD, Red Hat, and AA all had lamenated cards posted. FOD was everynight in Dizzy's (Crown Bar) at 8pm. I never made it because of timing of other events, but I did notice that by the 4th or 5th day of the cruise, the card was taken down. Not sure if it was someone against the meeting or by ship staff. My guess would be that it ws taken down by someone since the other lamenated cards were still there.

[Yurita]

THANK you all for your replies. Wow, I didn't it was different with RCC. Like I said before, the previous 2 times we sailed with Carnival, they had the daily Capers (kinda like Compass for RCC) in other words, the daily cruise "newspaper".. they did have Friends of Dorothy meetings every single night at 9:30pm. The Capers read like this:

Friends of Dorothy..........9:30pm at the Jeannie's bar.

[Schplinky]

THANK you all for your replies. Wow, I didn't it was different with RCC. Like I said before, the previous 2 times we sailed with Carnival, they had the daily Capers (kinda like Compass for RCC) in other words, the daily cruise "newspaper".. they did have Friends of Dorothy meetings every single night at 9:30pm. The Capers read like this:

Friends of Dorothy..........9:30pm at the Jeannie's bar.

 

I hope you'll post your observations when you come back. We can't all sail all the lines so it's comparisons on this board that lead us to which line we might like to try next.

[brightonguys]

We enjoyed the FOD meetings on Carnival as well. They were posted in the Capers and, as a result, they were very well attended. As has been mentioned, RCI does not announce FOD meetings in the Cruise Compass (it's "newspaper"), which I think did have the effect of reducing the number of people who attended the FOD gatherings on our Freedom of the Seas cruise. We had to post the meetings on the little bulletin board, and I did not get the impression that many people ever stopped to look at the board.

 

For comparison, I can say that on the Diamond Princess, Princess was great about organzing FOD meetings (although I think they called them Rainbow/GLBT or something like that). They even had someone from the cruise director's staff host one of the events, and some of the dancers and singers made it to a couple as well. On Holland America, by contrast, they did not have an FOD gathering during our 7-day cruise, even after we asked whether they could post one in the paper. That was very disappointing in comparison to all three of the other lines we've been on.

 

So maybe the best thing on RCI is to make a really colorful card for the bulletin board that attracts attention. :) We are going on the Mariner in September, so I'll see if I can't gay up the card enough to get some others to see that there will be FOD-type gatherings on the ship. :D

[SLCBoys]

We have been on 4 RCI cruises, all had FOD parties. Last one on the Explorer they had 2. Didn't have a big turnout at all and were in the same venue as other parties so I think that turned alot away even though I noticed more family on that ship than any other.

[arb711]

Anyone know where the bulletin board is on Radiance?

[Ephraim]

The bulletin board is generally now located near the purser's desk. There are a number of meetings that are always posted and laminated and the FoD meeting is one of these.

 

I have a picture of the bulletin board posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/JustEphraim/BrillianceOfTheSeas/photo#5065638743524343250

 

 

We were on the Brilliance (and the Voyager) and the bulletin board was prominently positioned near the purser's desk.

 

From our experience, the most open and welcoming was Princess. Not only did they not use a euphemism, they always hosted at least the first meeting (usually with chumpagne... yes, I spelled it that way on purpose!)

[Wilde_37]

On my last cruise on Kegend Of the Seas we had an FOD meeting every night. The notice board was next to the Pursers desk. The location of the initial meeting on the second night was in the piano bar and it was too crowded so we just asked for the notice to be changed to a different lounge. We even changed the time to suit those on various sittings and on average there were about 15 people at each get together.

 

It seems to me that as it is your own meeting you can request it in any suitable place (although we didn't try for formal meetings in the sauna!)

[West Coast]

On my last cruise on Kegend Of the Seas we had an FOD meeting every night.

 

Ah, yes... the Kegend ~ I remember her fondly :rolleyes:

[SanDiegoCruisers]

Hey,

 

Some of you might have seen our other posts. But, Curt and I have 8 other friends (ages 25-37 - mixed crowd) that have all booked cabins for the Jan 2nd Radiance of the Seas 9-day Mexican Riviera Cruise.

 

It's a great ship and a killer deal. Most everyone booked inside cabins at $619 per person. I thought I'd post here to let people know - especially those of you that are looking for your next cruise to go on. Can't go wrong here. Great price, good length, beautiful ship, and a mixed crowd of avid to 1st timers that love to have a good time.

 

Book a cabin and join our roll call! :-)

 

Brian

[Timid Tim]

Just wonder if any other gays /gay couples sailing with us?