Live onboard Zuiderdam -- "Friends of Dorothy" party request DENIED!!

[Mary Ellen]

DH & I second Oceanwench.

[RichGuy]

Perhaps the Cruise Lines should consider installing a "Public Announcement" posting board somewhere on the ship, maybe near the Lido or Buffet. People could post notices for these types of meetings or get togethers. I would love to meet with other Texas Hold-Em players for a game or tournament, but good luck getting the CD to post something about that. I'm sure the casino wants every gaming dollar on the ship.

[bas7]

Hi,

 

I sailed on the Christmas 2004 Westfarer on the Volendam. There was one meeting that I know of that Friends of Dorothy had although it wasn't published in the Daily Program. This was told to me by someone also sailing. Straight by BTW. Didn't have a clue of what FOD meant. Friends of Bill W. was listed in the Daily Program at 4:00pm daily in the King's Room, Deck 5, Starboard. I would have attended the FOD meeting as this was my first cruise, on a ship that is, and it would have been nice to have someone to take all those shore excursions with. Of course I met great people regardless, but it's nice to travel with family.

 

As always,

 

Best regards,

 

Bruce

[AmyinVail]

I don't think there should be ANY special groups announced, unless it's a group sponsered event and their using the cruise facilities while onboard. When does it stop? White supremacy, Athiests, etc.? Some groups are insulting to others - it's best to not have any. Many people would find gay ("fod") groups as insulting as Race Power groups.....jmo.

[dakrewser]

I don't think there should be ANY special groups announced,

Well, I do believe it's good to have the Friends of Bill W meetings held, and announced, daily. This is a support group whose members are under much more pressure while cruising than in their non-cruising lives. But others? If Lions club, rotary, FOD, VFW, Red Hat Society, and other fraternal/social groups want to meet then, at best, I'd think a bulletin board (with standardized announcement messages) near the purser's desk might be OK. If you start listing everyone who wants to meet someone else in the daily bulletin - and using ship's personnel and facilities to provide the meetings - then the ship might have to start raising prices to cover additional pages - or cut back on the information that's useful to ALL passengers.

[HeatherInFlorida]

The Friends of BillW Meetings have been going on forever on cruise ships, one a day around the cocktail hour. They serve a vital need as Dave says since cruises are particularly difficult for alcoholics. This cannot be said for FOD, VFW, Lyons Club or any of the others mentioned.

 

It's not like they make an "announcement". It's just a blurb on the Daily Program and most people don't even notice it unless they're interesting in attending.

I don't see why it's a problem for any of these meetings to have the same type of alert on the Daily Program and that's that. Certainly we don't need any more chatter on the public address system.

[iluvcruzin]

Jeff - I can understand your disappointment as you'd hope to meet others on your sailing with similar interests. HAL has been changing all sorts of things lately from what is discussed on the boards. Maybe if you change your mind on a future HAL cruise, you could contact Shipboard Services and see if they could add a FOD listing to the bulletin. I would guess the CD is not in charge of changing the agenda - however, he did say he would try and put something together. I don't know how large the ship is you went on, but the one I did wasn't that big and I'm sure word would have spread quickly.

 

I'm sad to see some of the responses on this thread. "Many people" finding a FOD gathering insulting and comapring it to race groups had my eyes rolling and my head shaking. Although I'm not gay, I am in what others may think is a contraversial relationship. Those that are open to diversity and tollerance are going to be the survivors in this world. The rest will be pitied.

[hdawson]

dakrewser. It's been in the daily activity sheet in the past and does not increase costs for anyone. Every other line that I've been on has listed those meetings too.

 

Amy. Judge not that ye be judged. Live by example, not with your declarations.

[DCT61]

Here we go again....

[watchdiva]

Re the comments about Friends of Bill W meetings. Why would anyone think it's "particularly difficult" or that we are "under much pressure than in our non-cruising lives" is we are recovering alcoholics on a cruise ship?

 

Speaking from my own personal exeprience - I have lived alcohol-free for 17 years now - my DH and I have cruised at least 10+ times and maybe I'm lucky but have NEVER felt more pressure to drink on a cruise ship versus being on land. Virgin Coladas, Virgin Daiquiries are available from every bar on any ship that I have ever sailed on.

 

I believe the comments from the two posters that have prompted this reply(dawkrewser and Heather in Florida) regarding alcoholics and cruising are well-meant but please do not generalize about how "hard" (or not) something is. Life in itself is often hard - no more or less whether on land or on sea.

 

JMHO - sorry to go off topic here but felt compelled to add my own personal experience.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Re the comments about Friends of Bill W meetings. Why would anyone think it's "particularly difficult" or that we are "under much pressure than in our non-cruising lives" is we are recovering alcoholics on a cruise ship?

 

Speaking from my own personal exeprience - I have lived alcohol-free for 17 years now - my DH and I have cruised at least 10+ times and maybe I'm lucky but have NEVER felt more pressure to drink on a cruise ship versus being on land. Virgin Coladas, Virgin Daiquiries are available from every bar on any ship that I have ever sailed on.

 

I believe the comments from the two posters that have prompted this reply(dawkrewser and Heather in Florida) regarding alcoholics and cruising are well-meant but please do not generalize about how "hard" (or not) something is. Life in itself is often hard - no more or less whether on land or on sea.

 

JMHO - sorry to go off topic here but felt compelled to add my own personal experience.

Because it is more difficult for many of us. Watchdiva, I am an alcoholic and spoke as an alcoholic with considerable experience remaining sober. So I was not generalizing. I was speaking from my own (and many friend's) experience. I gave up drinking on September 14, 1987 at midnight. Three months later we went on a cruise. While I did very well up until that point I had considerable difficulty on the cruise not to drink.

 

I certainly wasn't speaking of any pressure to drink! It isn't that it was encouraged; it was because one of my favorites parts of the cruise had been drinking. Not to do so was difficult. Sorry, but a Virgin Colada just doesn't cut it. And when a real one was served to me in error, it was all I could do not to drink it.

 

For many of us, any social party situation is a more difficult time not to drink. I am fortunate that over the course of time it is no longer a problem for me in any situation. But that's not so for everyone. So while you may not agree with me, I want you to know that I wasn't talking about something that I do not understand.

[JohnR49er]

Are there regularly scheduled FOD meetings on land? I see the need for AA support meetings onboard and was wondering if its the same for FOD.

I've always found it easy to find the meeting for my group. Its up in the Crows Nest around midnight. Its never announced though.

Feel free to join in...........................

Big White Men with no rhythm:D

[Pudgesmom]

In many hotels and on some cruise ships, an interactive directory is available in your room. How hard would it be to come up with software that could list all these activities for cruisers to access in their rooms? I know I have ordered shore excursions and viewed my bill in my room, why not the daily program? Certainly no printing costs there.

 

I also want to chime in on the Friends of Bill W. Alcholics Anonymous is a self help recovery group for people who want to stop drinking. It is an important part of many recovering alcoholics' days, and thus cannot be lumped in with FOD parties, cruise critics get-togethers, cat lovers, Rotary, etc.

 

Beth

[iluvcruzin]

Big White Men with no rhythm:D

 

John!! :p

[Philip217]

Pudgesmom,

The software and hardware for displaying all the information on your television has been around for a long time. My company (Not HAL) is looking at it right now. Cost is about $150,000 per ship to install. Thats the easy part. The hard part is allocating yet another crewmember to service and maintain the programs and equipment. Providing another crew cabin, another crew bed, salary, benefits, etc (plus a replacement for vacations) will run another $100,000 per year per ship. Now we are talking a quarter million dollars per ship for the first year. I believe HAL has 12 ships now??

Is it worth $3 Million Dollars to provide this service? (Plus $1.2 Million per year to keep it going)

Would you be willing to pay a higher ticket price on HAL to pay for it?

[Pudgesmom]

Philip-

 

 

Thank you for your response. My answer is yes, I would pay more for enhanced services. My guess is the cost, divided by the number of fleet staterooms, divided by the number of cruisers or cruise days, would not be all that great. Imagine what overall improvements could be gained by increasing fares only $50.00 per passenger.

 

I see this topic has over 1,000 views, by far the most of any recent thread. Perhaps HAL could consider technological upgrades as part of their SOE enhancements throughout the fleet.

 

Beth

[Momohns]

Philllip, I will be happy to handle the interactive announcement software entries on your ship--I will do it for a lot less than $100,000 if an inside cabin is provided--heck, I'll do it for FREE if I can have a balcony!

 

I don't see how it could hurt to have FOD parties publicized, but isn't there always an official singles get-together on almost ALL ships at the beginning of a cruise? If you're not sure if there is going to be a FOD meeting later in the cruise, could you meet people--straight or gay--at the official singles get-togethers to find people to share excursions with, etc.?

 

Also, people who have not been privileged to know recovering alcoholics may not realize how crucial AA meetings are--they are key to "working the program" as my DH says. They are NOT social get-togethers, or a way to meet people, they are essential support groups. And I believe some ship staff members also attend these meetings--no doubt their continuing sobriety is important to us all :) while we're at sea. So no doubt those meetings would be taking place anyway, but are opened up to all.

 

Heather, I am so proud of you. You sound like as much fun as DH is! He is such an AA cheerleader--he loves to go to meetings while on vacay so he can report back to his buddies about the differences among them. "Hola, me llamo Juan y soy un...."