Rinzler

Here's a survey for those who have taken gay cruises before:

If you could only take 1 or 2 gay cruises, which ones would be and in what order? I'm referring to the chartered gay cruises and not any regular cruise. Please also specify the destination and the cruise ship.

There doesn't need to be rationale, it's part of the contract we agree to. There's the rationale. I imagine Atlantis agreed to charter a full ship, and with that X says that is whatever number and expects that number in gratuities. Atalantis may make some money or lose some money on the collection or payment of gratuities overall, but to protect themselves, they stipulate up front the gratuity policy then we can take or leave it and find another cruise.

 

I just looked ay my invoice from the San Juan sailing this March, it was 7 nights, I was in a Celebrity Suite sailing solo. I paid $160 in gratuities or $11.42 per person per night. That's the equivalent of $11.42 x 2 x 7 nights = $160. Typical celebrity gratuity for the suite would have been $15.50 per night per person in the cabin. For a standard cabin, it would be $12 per person per day. I am not sure what folks in standard cabins paid for gratuities, but it seems in a suite my rates was less than celebrity's normal suite gratuity rate, so I expect the standard cabins are even lower.

I know that it doesn't need to be rationale behind it but it seemed odd to me that they do it when the non-chartered cruises don't. This would be my first gay cruise so I'm kind of clueless and thought the guy at Atlantis that I spoke with gave me the wrong info but it's the same guy who always answers the phone. Anyway, I prefer to pay gratuities directly because there's no guarantee that the staff will get them. I've seen in a lot of businesses that the staff ends up getting much less than what you paid in tips/gratuities.

By the way, the gratuities you paid in your 7-day cruise seem much lower than what Atlantis is charging now. In their upcoming 12-day AKL-SYD cruise, prepaid gratuities for a solo cruiser would be $130x2=$260 or $21.67 per day. For their current 7 and 8 day Caribbean cruises, that would be $25.71 ($90x2) or $24.25 ($97x2) per day. And the former happens to be a Celebrity Silhouette.

I've also noticed that their fares seem to have remained almost the same or have even gone lower from previous years. From the looks of it, Atlantis is having a hard time selling them out like in the past.

If you're already planning to be in Australia/New Zealand for a few weeks, and you're hitting the same areas by yourself, I would do a med cruise rather than repeating the same ports. I'm hoping for another med cruise on Seabourn in 2015.

That med cruise on one of the Seabourn cruises is not from Atlantis, is it? I thought they usually charter HAL, Princess and Celebrity cruises. Atlantis usually has a med cruise on the Celebrity Equinox or Silhouette, which is a nicer and bigger ship that I might be interested in.

Thanks for the info. I was planning on taking the cruise next year by myself. It would be my first gay cruise and I was trying to decide if it was worth it or if I should take one of their Med cruises instead. I'm not sure if I would like it but it's something I'd like to try and scratch off my list.

The destinations are not too much of a factor because I will already be traveling for a few weeks first in New Zealand and later in Australia. I don't mind the cold weather. In fact, I kind of prefer it instead of being too hot like in their Caribbean cruises.

If anyone has any other input I might find useful, I'd appreciate it. If you could only take or wanted to take one or two gay cruises, would it be one of those? If it's not worth it, I would rather take another one of their cruises and save my money for that Antarctic cruise I've been wanting to take as well.

Well, you have heard wrong . ;)

 

I know, people that have not been on a gay charter have heard that "it's like a floating bath house". Does sex happen? Yes, like on any cruise. Does sex happen around the swimming pools, in the buffet, in the atrium, in teh bars or in the show lounge? No. Are cabin doors open with people lying naked on their beds? No. Are people walking around naked or wrapped in towels looking for sex? No. So it is not like a bath house at all. If you want to find action you could find it, just like on a regular cruise.

I've had friends who've been to some of Atlantis cruises in the Caribbean and they said there were guys having sex everywhere (i.e. in the halls, gym, steam room, dance floor, etc). So there's a lot of truth to that. It's not a typical cruise.

If anyone has been on their cruises, I would be interested in knowing on how they are and how they compare to Atlantis' cruises.

I'm assuming you can still bring the usual bottle of wine or champagne on Atlantis cruises if the respective cruise line generally allows it?

For those who went to this cruise or have been to it in previous years, what's the demographic (nationalities, age, etc) like in this cruise from AKL to SYD?

I'm expecting an older crowd but still mostly American. Were there a lot of Aussies and Kiwis? I would prefer a different crowd for a change and different from the young fit and party-type of guys who usually go to their Caribbean cruises.

I don't want to sound cheap and it's not something I feel the need to normally do but doesn't anyone smuggle liquor on these cruises?

For someone who isn't a heavy drinker or rarely drinks, do you think he would still enjoy this type of cruises?

Gratuities are prepaid for charter sailings and yes you pay for 2 people even if sailing solo. I think the grats are prepaid due to the way dining is handled on charter sailings - I could be wrong though, Port fees and taxes are only for one person.

But I don't understand the rationale for paying twice the gratuities. The cabin fare for double occupancy I understand but it should be like the port fees (per person). It's not like I'll be ordering for more than 1 person. When I travel solo on regular cruise lines, I only pay gratuities for 1 person. Maybe I'm missing something or someone can kindly explain it to me.

If you're traveling alone and have your own cabin, do you have to pay the prepaid gratuities twice or just once per person? I'm planning on going one of their cruises on the HAL's Oosterdam.

Their site says "prepaid gratuities per person based on double occupancy" and over the phone, I was told I have to pay twice the prepaid gratuities even if I'm traveling solo because is based on double occupancy. And do I really have to prepay for these gratuities? Never traveled with Atlantis before but most standard cruise lines do not require you to prepay them.