Does anyone do the FOD/LGBT gatherings?

Just got off the RCCL Grandeur of the Seas cruise from Baltimore to . . . New Jersey. We were supposed to go to Bermuda, but that is a story for another thread.

 

The first newsletter did not mention a LGBT meeting, so I went to guest services and asked about one. The staff person pretended like he had no idea what I was talking about, as if he did not understand what the words "gay" and "lesbian" meant. I did not use the acronym.

 

After repeating my request and asking to speak to someone else, he finally told me to check the bulletin board, which was small and nearly hidden in a location where few passengers would notice it. I asked that any meetings be listed in the newsletter.

 

The newsletter for the next day had a note that Friends of Bill W. meetings, LGBT meetings, and other (unspecified) meetings could be found on the bulletin board. It did not list the location of the bulletin board. I don't know how far in advance the newsletters are printed, so I don't know if the inclusion of LGBT was in response to my request.

 

Oddly, the LGBT reference was only in the newsletter that one day. For the rest of the cruise, the newsletter referred passengers to the bulletin board for Friends of Bill W. meetings and other (again, unspecified) passenger meetings.

 

I don't know if it was a passenger or the cruise director who put the notice on the bulletin board, but it said that we were to meet at 10pm in the Viking Lounge (on the uppermost deck at the back of the ship) every night. The notice remained on the board throughout the cruise.

 

I went the first night and the bar was nearly empty. I met one lesbian and her brother. The brother was probably gay, but it was never stated and I did not ask. There was another man at the bar who did not talk to anyone and did not seem to want to be approached.

 

I went two or three other nights and there was no one there. Not a surprise, since I can't imagine very many passengers noticed the bulletin board.

 

I don't understand why they could not have simply listed the meeting time and place in the newsletter as Holland America did on a cruise I took in July.

 

There were about 2000 passengers on this ship. I was traveling with my father. On my own, I met one other gay man and a gay couple. There was one additional gay couple who were identified when a comedian asked if anyone was engaged and they raised their hands.

 

Through Grindr/Scruff/Growlr, I met another gay couple - the friendliest of all the folks I met on board. They invited me to join them on their exploration of Manhattan. I had to decline, but we had a few very nice visits on the ship.

 

Through this couple, I met one other gay man, 29 years old, who was traveling with his family. A very cheerful and friendly fellow, but I don't know that I would have met him without being introduced by the couple.

 

One additional person kept contacting me through the above social media and asking me to meet him in the steam room. He was traveling with his wife and other family members. Grandeur had the largest steam room I have seen on a ship, and a big sauna. (Holland America had neither, and no locker room at all.)

I declined to meet this man.

 

There was one additional person on the above social media who identified himself as being on the Grandeur in his profile, but I did not communicate with him or recognize him on the ship.

 

Anyway, I was disappointed that RCCL was so shy about publicizing a meeting of gay passengers.

Meeting someone in the steam room doesn't exactly come off as too classy. Perhaps on a RSVP/Atlantis, but not on a mainstream ship. Things could go terribly wrong.

Reminds me of an episode of Friends, when Chandler accidentally sat on his best mate (Ross) fathers lap in the steam room lol

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Meeting someone in the steam room doesn't exactly come off as too classy. Perhaps on a RSVP/Atlantis, but not on a mainstream ship. Things could go terribly wrong.

Classy was the least of my concerns. The man was married. To a woman. And not out to her. And the previous day a man had brought his son (8 years old or thereabouts) into the steam room. No way was I going to meet anyone there.

We are set to go on the Crown Princess' "Western European Passage", a 14-day transatlantic from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Southampton, UK.

http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?voyageCode=3710N

According to the Roll Call it seems there might be another gay couple or two (officially). I'm sure there will be more, but it would be nice to know ahead of time that we aren't going about it alone. Hope to see more people at the LGBT meet than in the past.

We are sailing on March 19th on the Celebrity Eclipse. We find the FOD meeting is posted each day and look forward to catching up with others for drinks and conversation. For us, these meetings have been noticeably available each time we cruise.

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We were on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston back in November (Thanksgiving week. UGH! So, so many children. :eek:) and they listed the LGBT meetings in the daily Compass, but it was at our dining time...and we did NOT want to go to the Windjammer with all the kids on board during this cruise.

We are back on Liberty next week, and if the meetings are held, we'll check them out.

There was a large FOD contingent on my TA on QM2 in Jan. Mostly in their late 30s to 50s. Most were friendly, some were cliquey (there was a gay couple who refused to attend FOD. Thought they were so superior - older man and his young travelling 'companion')..

Hi Austrcruiser - I find your comment interesting. Did they "refuse" to attend the meetings? or did they just choose not to? I ask because I don't think just because they are gay that they have to attend the meetings , maybe they had their own reasons for not attending or are perhaps were shy, or just not in the mood to socialise with people just because we share the same sexuality.

I rarely attend the FOD meetings - and I dont think its because I think I am superior, I'd hate to think that those attending think that was the reason I don't go!

Just curious as to why you think they didn't attend.

Hi Austrcruiser - I find your comment interesting. Did they "refuse" to attend the meetings? or did they just choose not to? I ask because I don't think just because they are gay that they have to attend the meetings , maybe they had their own reasons for not attending...

My boyfriend refuses to even entertain the idea of going, but I like to go. I like to have familiar faces to see when on the ship or out at port. People to wave to, share information about food, places, etc. Nothing says we have to hang out with them all the time.

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We were quite pleased on our recent 11-night cruise on Serenade of the Seas (RCI) that, in addition to the card posted at guest services advertising a nightly LGBT meeting there were also numerous "meet & greet" or mixer types of event held in nightclubs, and these events were listed in the cruise compass (something we'd not previously seen on Royal).

It was nice to meet some of the guys, and a few gals, who came from the US, Canada, and UK, and have some friendly faces to wave to and folks to say hi to around the ship. One couple tried out for the Love & Marriage game show but didn't make it on stage (not for lack of trying). We recognized them and cheered them on.

So to date we've only sailed on RCI, and have found the FOD meetings scheduled at strange times or not in the best venues. On the Allure it was 11pm in the nightclub, Explorer 2pm in the Champagne Bar and Anthem 9pm in the Bionic bar. I suspect like us people wandered in briefly and then left.

So we were wondering, not having had a successful experience to date, how do you break the ice? is there a host or are you left to your own devices?

We always try to attend, at least the first few evenings. To date, we have only cruised via RCCL. Our last cruise, it was a bit awkward. One gentleman was travelling with his daughter and her family, and he must have thought the FOD was just a way to hook up. After meeting him, he immediately started inquiring how it worked and and if people used the bulletin board just to post cabin numbers... Even after trying to explain to him it was just a meet and greet, he did not understand. The next day, was the Cruise Critic Roll Call in the Viking Lounge. He showed up for that, too. Sat next to us, and then seemed a little irked once he realized it was not just a LGBT event, even though he had signed up for the event here on the regular Roll Call forums and it was quite easy to see all the people commenting before and after him were obviously straight couples. As I said, just made for a bit of awkwardness.

We have never seen the biggest turnouts. Our next cruise is a 12 day in April on Celebrity Equinox, our first aboard Celebrity. We are getting maried onboard the ship before it leaves port. Hope to meet some new folks. Let me know if anyone else will be on the Equinox on it's 4/3/17 sailing!

So to date we've only sailed on RCI, and have found the FOD meetings scheduled at strange times or not in the best venues. On the Allure it was 11pm in the nightclub, Explorer 2pm in the Champagne Bar and Anthem 9pm in the Bionic bar. I suspect like us people wandered in briefly and then left.

 

So we were wondering, not having had a successful experience to date, how do you break the ice? is there a host or are you left to your own devices?

We've also only sailed on RCI, and agree that the suggested times are not always the best. The card posted at guest services had the daily LGBT meet at 5 p.m. in one of the lounges. But that is just a suggestion, and you can post your own card with a time you like. As for the ones listed in the Cruise Compass, uncharacteristically (since I'm not usually a night owl), I went to the first night's 11 p.m. meetup in the Vortex club on Serenade and it was generally younger guys, late 20s to 30s (I'm in my 40s), but they were quite welcoming and chatted. A few danced to the DJ's tunes.

They do not seem to be hosted events, but since it was just a small group of people there, it seemed clear who was there for the LGBT mingle (bunch of male couples), and I just walked up and introduced myself.

We always try to attend, at least the first few evenings. To date, we have only cruised via RCCL. Our last cruise, it was a bit awkward. One gentleman was travelling with his daughter and her family, and he must have thought the FOD was just a way to hook up. After meeting him, he immediately started inquiring how it worked and and if people used the bulletin board just to post cabin numbers... Even after trying to explain to him it was just a meet and greet, he did not understand. The next day, was the Cruise Critic Roll Call in the Viking Lounge. He showed up for that, too. Sat next to us, and then seemed a little irked once he realized it was not just a LGBT event, even though he had signed up for the event here on the regular Roll Call forums and it was quite easy to see all the people commenting before and after him were obviously straight couples. As I said, just made for a bit of awkwardness.

We have never seen the biggest turnouts. Our next cruise is a 12 day in April on Celebrity Equinox, our first aboard Celebrity. We are getting maried onboard the ship before it leaves port. Hope to meet some new folks. Let me know if anyone else will be on the Equinox on it's 4/3/17 sailing!

We had a similar experience. We were travelling on the Allure with family which was great, but we needed some us time. So we headed out to the Solarium to relax. We noticed a guy staring at us in a way which made us feel really uncomfortable..........as though he had a problem with us. He proceeded to follow us into the whirlpool, just staring at us. Not wanting to provoke him, we got out dried off and headed back to our cabin. We saw him a couple of times during the rest of the cruise, again staring in a creepy way whilst wandering round with his wife and kid. It wasn't until the last night that he made a pass at us, in the toilet of all places....that we figured what all the staring was all about......yuk

We've also only sailed on RCI, and agree that the suggested times are not always the best. The card posted at guest services had the daily LGBT meet at 5 p.m. in one of the lounges. But that is just a suggestion, and you can post your own card with a time you like. As for the ones listed in the Cruise Compass, uncharacteristically (since I'm not usually a night owl), I went to the first night's 11 p.m. meetup in the Vortex club on Serenade and it was generally younger guys, late 20s to 30s (I'm in my 40s), but they were quite welcoming and chatted. A few danced to the DJ's tunes.

 

They do not seem to be hosted events, but since it was just a small group of people there, it seemed clear who was there for the LGBT mingle (bunch of male couples), and I just walked up and introduced myself.

Doh, changing the card didn't even occur to us.....thanks :)

RichardE954...Richard....looking for you.....or anyone who can relay my message. I lost your email with a reboot of my laptop. We are coming to Ft Lauderdale the night before our Harmony cruise on 3/11/17. Meg (treelover128) will be with us and some other cruise friends.

We are planning to go to dinner in Ft Lauderdale and would love to meet you somewhere. We are staying at the Embassy Suites on Please email me at tahorgan13@comcast.net.

Tracy

Sorry

RichardE954....Richard...or anyone who can relay my message to him......I lost your email address in a computer reboot.

We are planning dinner in Ft Lauderdale on 3/10/17 before our 3/11/17 Harmony cruise. We would love to meet you somewhere. Treelover128 (Meg) will be with us and a couple cruise friends.

Please email me at tahorgan13@comcast.net.

Tracy

I'm sorry.....did not mean to post so many times, but was having an issue with the website.

Thank you!!

I always try to go, as meeting other gay travelers is frequently a highlight of my trip. The most active and fun groups I've seen were on NCL ships. I was on the Oceania Regatta recently and they didnt even know what "Friends of Dorothy" was. Not our kind of cruise line, I guess! I encourage all gay and lesbian passengers to at least attend an initial FOD event on each cruise, or the events may disappear from the ships. Cruise lines will not set aside space if it won't be used.

Our Holland America cruise earlier this year had a few couples and a few singles show up for the LGBT gathering. Our problem with it was the time interfered with our second seating dinner. We had to leave almost immediately. Nevertheless, it was nice to meet some people. We ended up hanging out with some of them at other times.

Princess seems to have better attendance at its LGBT meetings--at least the cruises we have been on.

Does anyone know if MSC has these events as well and if they are well attended? We'll be on the Divina in a week. There are lots of Europeans so it might make for an interesting gathering if they schedule them. Thanks!

I have attended these gatherings on NCL. We had a lovely group this winter (march). We even did dinner together in the MDR one night. It all depends I guess.

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I'm disappointed to hear that the LGBT gatherings are often poorly attended. We will be doing our first cruise in September, on the Celebrity Constellation, and we were hoping that by meeting other gay couples (and singles too), that we could quickly learn the ropes.

 

Any other advice for gay newbies trying to figure out what will work for us?

 

Thanks

Celebrity Cruises always advertise an LGBT meeting on the first day you join the ship (its in the daily compass) which is normally in your room. After that I think it's up to the group to organise stuff as I have not seen it advertised after the first day. We have just returned from the Panama with Celebrity and it was still advertised.

We just disembarked the Carnival Splendor and had a meet n' greet 6 out of 7 nights at 9pm. It was on the schedule as Your time: LGBT meet n' greet at the Mojito Bar which was well placed on the ship. It was well attended the first night. After that it was hit or miss.

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I sailed with a friend on the MSC Divina from Miami last week. They listed an unheated GLBT gathering for 4:45 pm on the first full day and about 12 Americans attended despite the fact that roughly 80% on board were Europeans. They do not list it after the first day. We requested several times for it to be listed again and they only did so one additional time. They told us they assumed that if it was a success after the first meeting that we would have decided amongst ourselves where to meet and at what time in the future. However, the "Friends of Bill" AA meeting was also unhosted but it was published daily so we weren't sure what to think. Anyway, it was a nice ship and a nice sailing in general.