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Friends of Dorothy Meetings on Celebrity


geoherb

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We just got off Celebrity's Century. It was a 4-night cruise. The first evening, we showed up at the martini bar for the Friends of Dorothy meeting. There were two officers there. When my partner asked one of them about the Friends of Dorothy meeting, he said he did not know her. He was clueless.

 

Eventually another gay couple came to the martini bar. We talked with them for a few minutes before heading back to our cabin to get ready for dinner. We did not see anyone else show up.

 

On our Princess cruises, the GLBT meetings have been hosted in various venues that are not being used for other purposes. There's always been a staff member there to welcome people and get the conversation going. They've either ordered drinks for everyone or brought along a couple of bottles of champagne.

 

Perhaps on longer cruises Celebrity's announcement of a time and place to meet works, but I missed having a quiet place to meet where you knew why everyone was there. We couldn't tell if there was anyone else there for FOD or not.

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On the maiden voyage there was a FOD gathering posted every day in the ships schedule. Turn out was great and the crew treated all very well.

My hats off to Celebrity, especially with all the hectic issues on a maiden voyage.

I have always liked Princess and will continue to sail them, but I think Celebrity is up a notch. Princess changed after they were bought by Carnival Corp.....and I think the bar was lowered. But in these hard economic times, just being able to cruise is a blessing and just to be on board a ship is enough for me. Lets hope ships are not laid up due to the economy.

Happy holidays to all

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We just got off Celebrity's Century. It was a 4-night cruise. The first evening, we showed up at the martini bar for the Friends of Dorothy meeting. There were two officers there. When my partner asked one of them about the Friends of Dorothy meeting, he said he did not know her. He was clueless.

 

Eventually another gay couple came to the martini bar. We talked with them for a few minutes before heading back to our cabin to get ready for dinner. We did not see anyone else show up.

 

On our Princess cruises, the GLBT meetings have been hosted in various venues that are not being used for other purposes. There's always been a staff member there to welcome people and get the conversation going. They've either ordered drinks for everyone or brought along a couple of bottles of champagne.

 

Perhaps on longer cruises Celebrity's announcement of a time and place to meet works, but I missed having a quiet place to meet where you knew why everyone was there. We couldn't tell if there was anyone else there for FOD or not.

 

I like the idea of being in a separate space, perhaps a less busy bar. On our last cruise we all met up in the Martini bar on Celebrity's Summit and when we sat down, we didn't know who was there for the FOD and who wasn't. Fortunately, someone dragged us over to the proper location.

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We just returned from the 12/7-12/14 cruise on the Solstice. The Friends of Dorothy was listed in every daily program for 7:30pm (in between 1st and 2nd sitting dinner sittings). The first couple of nights it was in Michael's Club but was moved to the Martini Bar on the 3rd night for the remainder of the cruise. Although Michael's Club was a more private lounge, the piano player was rather arrogant to anyone that was talking when he was playing (I thought that was the purpose of a piano bar....) so the atmosphere was just not appropriate for any type of social gathering. After a few days onboard, the Martini Bar became the defacto gay bar after about 10:30pm until closing.

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"Although Michael's Club was a more private lounge, the piano player was rather arrogant to anyone that was talking when he was playing (I thought that was the purpose of a piano bar"

 

Yeah...he did throw a bit of a "hissy fit". You would have thought it was a theatre.

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I think they walk a fine line with FOD. If it's too secluded, some say that it's homophobic (how dare they hide us away like that!) but for others, if you're too mixed in with the mainstream, they hate that (how was anyone supposed to tell who was there for the party!).

 

In any event, Celebrity seems to go no further than listing the time and the place in the daily paper. It's up to the passengers to make their own friends (which I prefer but I can see why some prefer a facilitated gathering). I understand that Princess has an officer (or a member of the activity staff) there and they supply some bubbles but I think that is the exception in terms of the mainstream lines.

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  • 4 years later...

We're aboard the Solstice the first week of June in Alaska.

We'd be happy to meet other Friends of Dorothy at the Martini Bar!

We've only sailed on Celebrity when chartered by Atlantis before.

Tom Garrison and Larry Sullivan:):):)

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We're aboard the Solstice the first week of June in Alaska.

We'd be happy to meet other Friends of Dorothy at the Martini Bar!

We've only sailed on Celebrity when chartered by Atlantis before.

Tom Garrison and Larry Sullivan:):):)

 

Hello Tom and Larry -- we'll be on the Solstice with you. I'm Elbert (uncleelbie) and I'll be with my partner, Barry, and his mom and dad Phyllis and Gordon. We've been on Celebrity a few times -- we really like them. --- Elbert

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We're aboard the Solstice the first week of June in Alaska.

We'd be happy to meet other Friends of Dorothy at the Martini Bar!

We've only sailed on Celebrity when chartered by Atlantis before.

Tom Garrison and Larry Sullivan:):):)

 

Four friends (2 college classmates and their partners) and I will also be on the same cruise. We definitely plan to spend time at the martini bar and FOD.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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In any event, Celebrity seems to go no further than listing the time and the place in the daily paper. It's up to the passengers to make their own friends (which I prefer but I can see why some prefer a facilitated gathering). I understand that Princess has an officer (or a member of the activity staff) there and they supply some bubbles but I think that is the exception in terms of the mainstream lines.

 

This represents a policy change for Celebrity. They were not and didn't put the Friends of Dorothy gathering in the Daily but it was out by the guest services desk saying the time and location. It was at the Martini Bar on the Millennium. The only hosted Friends of Dorothy I've ever had was on Princess. The other cruise lines you see in my signature have never hosted ones including NCL.

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This represents a policy change for Celebrity. They were not and didn't put the Friends of Dorothy gathering in the Daily but it was out by the guest services desk saying the time and location. It was at the Martini Bar on the Millennium. The only hosted Friends of Dorothy I've ever had was on Princess. The other cruise lines you see in my signature have never hosted ones including NCL.

 

 

You're commenting on something I said 5 years ago which was correct when I said it. You are right that they don't put it in the daily anymore, which is a shame. They don't do it for any group (red hats, bible studies, ma jhongg, the gays) but I still think it's a loss.

 

We had hosted events on Princess, as you say, as well. I don't really need a host/free drink but I do like when it's in the daily.

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You're commenting on something I said 5 years ago which was correct when I said it. You are right that they don't put it in the daily anymore, which is a shame. They don't do it for any group (red hats, bible studies, ma jhongg, the gays) but I still think it's a loss.

 

We had hosted events on Princess, as you say, as well. I don't really need a host/free drink but I do like when it's in the daily.

 

I sailed on the Celebrity Reflection Eastbound Transatlantic a few weeks ago (Apr 20, 2013--May 6, 2013) and the meeting WAS published in the daily newsletter. In fact during the cruise one of the gang got the cruise director to change the daily listing to "LGBT Get-Together" as it was felt that this was more open, inclusive and contemporary in 2013!

 

We had a very fun collection of people at the events, and the crew couldn't have been nicer to us. :D

 

I am sailing back to back on Celebrity Millennium (Northbound Alaska then Southbound Alaska) in less than 2 weeks (Jun 6--21, 2013) and will see how it's handled there.

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  • 2 weeks later...
You're commenting on something I said 5 years ago which was correct when I said it. You are right that they don't put it in the daily anymore, which is a shame. They don't do it for any group (red hats, bible studies, ma jhongg, the gays) but I still think it's a loss.

 

We had hosted events on Princess, as you say, as well. I don't really need a host/free drink but I do like when it's in the daily.

 

It's like were in the closet again. We just have to know the places to meet. ;)

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My views on the parties has evolved, too. I think that as the LGBT community goes mainstream (which seems accelerating as I type), asking cruise lines to give us a "safe space" to meet each other seems less reasonable.

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My views on the parties has evolved, too. I think that as the LGBT community goes mainstream (which seems accelerating as I type), asking cruise lines to give us a "safe space" to meet each other seems less reasonable.

 

Think of it this way - the cruise line arranges for space (that would be unused otherwise) for groups to meet - Kiwanis members, red hat ladies, LGBT, whatever. They make some extra money off the bar tabs and those people get to meet similar people that they might have not otherwise bumped into. Everyone wins. I don't see what's unreasonable about this.

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Nor do I. I just think that there are folks who get really bent out of shape when it doesn't happen and claim a line isn't gay friendly unless it throws them a party. I guess my thinking on the issue has evolved to the point where I think they show they value my business by treating me like any other group.

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Hello all,

 

I was on the Equinox for May 17th and the FOD was at the Molecular Bar every night of the cruise (12 night). There were usually between 6 and 12 guests on any particular evening, but some guys did not come even tough they knew about it.

 

Off on the Century for Alaska on August 18th, hope a few guys are on board that sailing. :-)

 

Cheers

Todd

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On our last two cruises, Celebrity posted that the meet up was in the Molecular Bar. In both cases, we ended up in the Martini Bar. The main reason is the Molecular Bar only had the ingredients for the special drinks they make. This made it difficult for anyone that drinks beer or other cocktails.

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