Celebrity From A Gay Point Of View

We just returned from a 12 day transatlantic on the Century, and as noted in a previous post Allan King was our cruise director. From the time we checked in at the desk through departure we were treated with the utmost respect.

It turned out that there were more than 75 of us on this trip--no organized group--just 75 of us. The ship's newsletter published a daily FOD gathering at 7:30 each evening.

Now for the dinner seating. They must have known. We were seated with 6 other gay guys without asking and I saw that there were other similar tables. Our wait staff was absolutely top notch, even teaching us a few handy turkish phrases.

We danced every night in the disco and hung out with the production show performers. We even had our own little "gay beach" over the mast bar.

As for whether or not Celebrity is gay friendly? I'd say yes, and we won't hesitate to sail with them again.

Just got back from two weeks on the Summit with a Pied Piper group. The staff and crew were largely wonderful. I only heard of two minor negatives.

A friend of ours commented to us quite late in the cruise that he was unhappy with his waiter. The waiter was Jamacian and didn't seem to happy to have a table of gay men. I asked why they hadn't asked to for a new waiter, I am sure that the request would have been immediately granted. He was just the sort to keep quiet and put up with it. Our waiter was great.

There also was an incident late in the cruise. There were a lot of teens that liked to hang out in the Disco and the staff had trouble getting them to leave at 11 (no one under 18 in the Disco after 11). It would normally take repeated attempts to get them all to leave. They weren't really causing a problem, but it was just the policy. On one of the last nights, the father of some of the teens got into an arguement with ships security. He felt that his teens should be allowed to stay because they were "still on Hawaiian time" and couldn't get to sleep and there was nothing else for them to do. The father was quite upset and during his arguement with security he made a statement that his kids shouldn't have to be exposed to all the men dancing together in the Disco. It was a stupid comment for him to make because security turned it right around and pointed out to him that if his kids were out of the Disco when they should be, that they would not have seen two men dancing together. That was the end of the argument.

As my user name suggests, I may be biased, but I have never had a bad time on any of my Celebrity trips. Our first trip was with Royal on our honeymoon and it was nothing special (it was a few years ago however;) ) Since then we have done Celebrity and have had nothing but good service and a friendly atsmosphere. We have done the couple thing and have done some were we found an incredible group of fun GLBT. On one cruise we had over 20 couples (nothing planned, just a great sailing that no one could pass up) and the wait staff told us they love it when gay men are on board - they always leave great tips and have a great time. When in the Med. last year, it was right after a RSVP cruise and the staff said the same thing. When we first starting sailing the FOD was unheard of; now we have seen it at least once a cruise, often times more. On the cruise with 20 couples, they reserved Micheals club for us and had food with a full bartending staff and the cruise director and some other staff all stopped by.

BobTimDTx,

My mother was also on the cruise you guys were just on. She said she met you guys. My partner and I also live in Dallas and love to cruise! Email us: thesportscouple@yahoo.com

Sorry to jump into this thread like this, but my mother was also on 12 day transatlantic cruise and she said that there were approx 80 G&L on the cruise! When she told me that number, I was like AWESOME! I definitely want to cruise Celebrity to experience it for myself.

theSportsCouple

Email me on aol, LibraGymJock, doing ok right now. =)

On our first Celebrity cruise, we were celebrating our anniversary and indicated so on our reservation. What a pleasant surprise when we received a personal, written invitation to attend the honeymoon/anniversary cocktail party with the Captain! Then, to top it off, on our actual anniversary dinner evening, our entire waitstaff, asst MD and the head MD along with several other waiters brought out a cake and sang "Happy Anniversary to You" at our table - very loudly I might add. We've been Celebrity advocates ever sense!

JIMBHAM,

We are delighted to hear that you recieved such wonderful treatment on your cruise for your anniversary! My partner and I are having a ceremony next December and have booked a cruise on the new Century for our honeymoon. We too have told them it is our honeymoon and requested the beds be arranged together, etc. I have been curious though if they would see two female names and not treat us as as a real honeymoon couple.

I am very happy to hear of the treatment you received! The singing part during dinner should be interesting!

We have only been on one cruise together so far and it was on Carnival this past February. The beds were not together as we had requested and our room steward was nice but very curious/confused when we requested that he put the beds together. He actually said to me "but you are two women?" which as soon as this was out of his mouth he looked embarassed and assured me he would take care of it while we were at dinner. They did have FOD meeting but no one attended but my partner and I. I don't think there was a lot of family on that sailing! We were also placed at a table full of singles and I would have preferred to dine with other couples, but this being our first cruise I didn't know we could request to be moved. Anyways, that was Carnival and I am expecting more from Celebrity.

We are also doing a NCL cruise in December and another cruise on Carnival in February. The December cruise is for my parents anniversary so that shouls be fun with family and the Carnival cruise in February is a group cruise with the very Lesbian choir we sing with so watch out Carnival you have a bunch of lesbians coming in February!!!!

Sorry for the rambling!!! LOL Thanks again jimbham we are already counting the days!!

Jodie

Hi there, me and the b/f have done several Celebrity ships. We've never had the slightest problem. In fact, on the Connie, we were invited to the party for anniversary and weddings. We won for the newest "newly weds". We were married on March 23 this year. How bout that. The prizes were kitch but that is not the point. We were included. And we were in the dvd for the cruise as I showed off my ring.

So go and have a great time.

Bryan and Roger:)

And on every Celebrity ship we've done, I think there were several FOD parties.

Bryan and Roger:)

And you two were quite the "adorable couple!" Hope all is well with you!

We've sailed on Princess, Celebrity, Cunard and Crystal, and I have to say that we've found Celebrity to be the most relaxed about the issue. On EVERY cruise, we've found lots of friendly straight people who befriended us, and many gay couples, too, but it's always seemed that on Celebrity, there was just more consciousness on the part of the staff to acknowledge us as a couple. We've had about 50% success getting the beds together before we ask, but, with a matter-of-fact attitude when requesting it from the steward, we've never had more than a "I'll take care of that right away" from staff.

Alan, I agree about the FOD thing being dated, but as guys in our early forties, we're still on the younger end of the spectrum of cruisers...although I've known what FOD means since I was in short pants!;) Maybe it's those four years I have on you...oooh, maybe I'm not allowed to say "early 40's" anymore?:eek:

My greatest "weapon" on any cruise has been a good attitude, combined with the assumption that it's not a problem to be gay. Confidence in who you are is both an attractive quality to others, and an attitude that doesn't brook being disparaged. Besides, nothing drives the homophobes crazier than seeing you have a great cruise! :D We often have assumed over the years that people react to us a gay couple first, when in reality, it may have been our (once) youth, the simple fact that we were passengers, that we were Americans, whatever.

Happy cruising,

Andrew

:)

i sailed on the celebrity millennium last april and i had cause to go to the ship's doctor (i got an eye infection in the steam room...) later that week i saw him in the sauna/men's room and he was very friendly. =)

x

26/10/2014 Tokyo to Hong Kong - celebrity millennium

Any other guys booked

We enjoy Celebrity's Caribbean itineraries in particular. They are one of the few line to offer itineraries that avoid island countries with harsh anti-gay laws on the books. I don't really care if the laws are enforced, but my partner and I simply do not want to fund these countries with our tourism dollars. It doesn't matter if you get off the ship or not, the port fees are paid per person either way.

For example: Reflection sails San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Constellation sails Key West, Cozumel. I personally think they should better market these itineraries to LGBT customers.

As far as Celebrity's crew is concerned, they are top notch. We have never had a problem.

Our's too was on Celebrity and have loved her ever since. Not only the quality but the service is wonderful, the crew is very cool with "anything" and the atmosphere is refreshing. You pay a bit more but for the quality, it is well worth it. We've been doing a lot of RCI and when we finish our next cruise we will be Diamond +; from there it's back to Celebrity for us on nice long voyage.

This will be the second spring break in a row I'm spending on this beauty. Me and my "straight" friend are booked for the 17th of March and cannot wait to turn all the way up. They offer the best drinking packages by far .... hellloooo premium!!!

We're sailing on Celebrity's Zenith May 13th to Bermuda;our first Celebrity cruise and are asking all of you what to expect. We've sailed other lines and have found them to be anywhere from somewhat gay friendly to very gay friendly and would like to know where Celebrity falls. Any feedback is very much appreciated. Thanks!:)

Always did Cunard until this year. They usually had a well attended LGBT meeting. We did the Celebrity Eclipse from Jan.25-Feb.8. The food & staff were great. The LGBT meetings in the martini bar, however were nonexistant. We saw obviously gay pax on board, but none at the bar on the designated times. It luckily didn't really matter & we plan to do it again next year. Perry Grant(kind of a Liberace type piano player)was one of the highpoints. He's usually in Michaels Club. Currently he's on board Eclipse & will be there through next season.

Hey SportsCouple. I have tried to email you twice now, but both emails came back as undeliverable. Is the one you posted (a few messages up from this one) still valid? We're also in Dallas & are also cruise addicts. Just wanted to "e-introduce" ourselves & get acquainted! :-)

"kennetro"

(Ken & Ray)

As you can tell from our signature we love both Azamara and Celebrity. We have never had anything but excellent times on both cruise lines and never hesitate to recommend both to our friends. Happy cruising

Hey SportsCouple. I have tried to email you twice now, but both emails came back as undeliverable. Is the one you posted (a few messages up from this one) still valid? We're also in Dallas & are also cruise addicts. Just wanted to "e-introduce" ourselves & get acquainted! :-)

 

"kennetro"

 

(Ken & Ray)

That post was written 8 years ago and the posters were last on the board November 2012. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a response :)

Boy, do I ever feel stupid! LOL (that's okay, I'm getting pretty used to feeling stupid at this stage of my life....) Thanks for pointing that little detail out, Kollegekreed!

Yep, another two votes for =X=...I realize this is an old thread, but never hurts to give a shout out for your preferred cruise line. The only time we deviated from =X= was because of a particular itinerary which we wanted to try, that they didn't offer. The itinerary may have been great, but the service does not compare to what we receive on all of the X ships we've sailed on.

Hi,

As one of the original posters on this thread from 2006, I must chime in again to say Celebrity still gets our vote.

This summer we did a perfectly delightful sailing on Celebrity Eclipse to the Baltics. Yes, there are changes since this thread began — not all of them for the best since the bean counters reared their heads — but Celebrity is still a quality line delivering a fairly consistent product.

Enjoy travel, everyone!!

CM

We love Celebrity. We've tried Carnival and Royal Caribbean and we'll be back on Celebrity next month. We love the service, people, and ships on Celebrity.

When we first cruised Celebrity when we were in our late 20s/early 30s about 13 years ago we enjoyed the cruise but found it a little rigid and stuffy for our tastes. Although the food was top notch compared to all cruises we have ever been on, at the time they only had dining room service for dinner. No alternative period. As the industry has grown and changed and we have aged into or 40s we now find Celebrity is our preferred line. We still like Royal Caribbean a lot, but we really like the nicer touches provided by Celebrity. It also helps that our Diamond status transfers over to Celebrity's equivalent.

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When we first cruised Celebrity when we were in our late 20s/early 30s about 13 years ago we enjoyed the cruise but found it a little rigid and stuffy for our tastes. Although the food was top notch compared to all cruises we have ever been on, at the time they only had dining room service for dinner. No alternative period. As the indust ifry has grown and changed and we have aged into or 40s we now find Celebrity is our preferred line. We still like Royal Caribbean a lot, but we really like the nicer touches provided by Celebrity. It also helps that our Diamond status transfers over to Celebrity's equivalent.

 

Sent from my SCH-I915 using Forums mobile app

(The funniest thing about this thread is that I re-read my last post, and have no idea who I was talking about...ah, cruise ship friendships...)

Andrew

Very nice thread to reappear :). Allen and I enjoyed a number of cruises on RCL, and may very well cruise with them again some time, but our favorite continues to be Celebrity, especially now that we have "Elite" status. We find we enjoy and are welcomed by a broad mix of other passengers, straight and gay, and increasingly meet more gay fellow passengers on our Celebrity cruises regardless of non-attendance at designated FOD gatherings. Our next cruise on Summit (LOVE the M class ships) is a repo from San Juan to Bayonne, and has a HUGE roll call on the Celebrity boards -- wonderfully welcoming to both gay and straight. We're all out there :). For the day excursion to St. Johns (while we are in St. Thomas) there are at least 4 gay male couples signed up and one lesbian couple, among a lot of straight passengers -- and it's all good. Celebrity works very well for us.

David