Denman

I'm booked and wondering if any others here will be on board?  Only two weeks to go!  😊

I also posted about this in the LGBT Roll Call section but see many are also posting here, too.  I am currently on the MSC Preziosa in Norway and this line is great in many ways but hasn't seemed to catch on as much with gay travelers in the U.S., it seems.  This Dec. 11th sailing on the brand new Seascape is priced as low as they get and yet I know the ship will be beautiful and the food excellent as well based on the few cruises I've taken with MSC (including the Divina from Florida).  Anyone else considering this December 11th sailing?  Check out the deals that include free balcony upgrades and lots of OBC, too! 

Any others contemplating the incredible offers for a beautiful ship's first Caribbean sailing?  I'm close to booking it and hope to see some other "friends" on board!

5 hours ago, cruiselovers21 said:

Hi David 🙂 we are eelko & bernd! Just passesd our Covid test 🎉 ready to party

Congrats on the negative test, Eelko and Bernd!   I'm already in Ft. Lauderdale visiting a friend and I'm looking forward to all our wonderful sea days coming up.  See you soon!

17 hours ago, cruiselovers21 said:

We have the couple pass for the sauna …. See you there!

See you guys there!  What are your names by the way?  I'm David.

I see zero supplements for all the NCL cruises at that time and personally, I'd "Jump for Joy" out of Miami.  But, the crowd will likely skew younger so it depends on what ages intrigue you, I suppose.  If you want a more mature crowd and the extra cost is no object, then go for Celebrity for a more refined experience.  Also, if you prefer fewer children on board, then Celebrity is best as NCL, RCL and CCL all are full of slides and amusement park features that attract families.  There's no guarantee on how many will show up at the FOD gatherings, but definitely go the first night they are listed because if they are not supported in the beginning, they tend to fade away or at least that's been my experience.  I've never been on the massive RCL ships that you're likely looking at but the only advantage I could see is that there will be some more guys on board just because of the higher ship population in general.  I'd pass on San Juan mostly because it's not worth the effort to get there unless there's some of the ports further south that interest you.  And the NCL Epic is a strange ship (they never built another like it for a good reason, I think).  I was on it for a transatlantic sailing in 2011.  And,  I've been on the RCL Explorer as well and although it was nice, it's now 22 years old.  Also, if you're on any of the gay dating (or hookup) apps,  you'll likely see quite a few guys on the ship once you board and also on port days if you have coverage.  Chat them up if there's interest since many of them don't attend the gatherings.  Some ship wifi systems block them or I'm told you have to buy the highest grade/speed of internet before they work.  Hope that helps!  Let us know what you choose.

Welcome, GateGuardian!  I'll plan to see you at the first LGBT gathering listed on the app.  There may be one on embarkation day but nothing is posted on the app yet.  If I had to guess, it will be at 5 pm at the Wheelhouse Bar on deck 7 aft.  At least that's where they had them on a sister ship in December.  Oh, and thanks for your reply, Chris.  I'll try to email you now.  See you all next week!

You might want to watch the "Cruise with Ben and David" videos on Youtube.  They posted two of them and they are entertaining and will give you a good idea of what to expect.  After watching them, I might consider one cruise with them but I doubt that I would prefer them for the long haul.  Most of their cruises are 4 or 5 days (too short for me) and the alternative ultra-modern look with lots of red, white and black might be fun for one voyage but would seem sterile to me after a while.

Hey Chris (or other solo cruisers!)...Does anyone interested in access to the "Enclave" thermal suite area?  If you do, we can get a better deal under a couples pass.  And, I think the price will be better onboard as they lowered it for me when I was walking away from it on the Majestic in December.  It's a great area for a quiet escape.  Let me know and I'll post my email here so we can chat off the site.  

Thanks, Chris.  I tried to PM you but that feature is disabled for some reason.  I've mapped out a lot to keep me busy in BCN including another visit to the Miro Museum but it would be nice to compare notes.  I did the Madrid trip you mentioned a few years back and drove through southern Spain and also Portugal.  I didn't get to Cordoba although it seems like quite a lot of bus time for a day trip from Malaga but it looks fascinating!  I look forward to seeing you and others on board.  I'll try to get to the gatherings, especially this first few.  Hopefully they will schedule them at 5 pm as was the case on Majestic Princess in December.  See you all soon!

Less than 2 weeks out from sailing now!  What's everyone doing once they get to Barcelona?  I've been there before but want to spend more time seeing the next layer of sights and possibly renting a car for a couple days to drive up the coast or into the Pyrenees.  It would be nice to say I've been to Andorra and it looks beautiful!

I was on the Panorama for 14 nights recently on B2B sailings and the F.O.D. gatherings were always at 9 pm at the Alchemy bar which is late in my opinion.  I think they should mix up the times and put them at happy hour (5 pm) at least on sea days.  I brought up the idea to guest services and there was no indication that they were going to make any effort to change the times.  The gatherings should ideally be hosted by a CCL representative which greatly helps bring people together at least on the first couple nights.  God knows there are a LOT of LGBT staff working on CCL ships to draw from.  Anyway, the gatherings fizzled quickly but I did see a gaggle of well- lubricated guys in their 30s and 40s (all looking quite coupled) hanging out together there in the evenings from time to time.  

On 2/11/2022 at 2:06 PM, rsmdude said:

I hope to join you for this cruise as well.  Great solo deals and cool itinerary.  Will be my first ever transatlantic cruise so I’m eager to go.

Did you end up booking this cruise?  I see you're on the Majestic Princess out of LA now.  I did that cruise over Xmas and really enjoyed it.  It was a good introduction to the "Medallion" app!   Any others on board with us?  Just a little over 3 weeks to go!

Hope you can make it, Rsmdude!  And yes, the solo deals were great at only 10% extra or so.  I went for a balcony which wasn't much more and they've already upgraded my location once.  

Glad to seem some other "Friends of Dorothy" will be on board!  I was on Princess last month and they had an un-hosted LGBT gathering listed daily at 5 pm in what was the equivalent of the Wheelhouse Bar on the Regal Princess.  

I'm booked as of yesterday!  Who else will be on board?  

I'm getting close to booking this cruise solo and wondered if others will be onboard?  The entry requirements for Spain look relatively easy compared to other European countries so that's partially why I'm likely to choose it.  Would be interested in hearing from others thinking about this sailing as well!  

Sorry, I'm not sure why Cruise Critic always changes my capitalization to lower case in the tread title! Oh well, no changes to that permitted for some reason.

My friend Derek and I will be on board and wanted to see who else might be joining us? Hope to meet you in December! :D

Hello everyone! I searched for a thread for this sailing and hope I didn't miss it! Any others on this sailing? Looking forward to it!:D

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.

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!

The CCL Imagination is a much older ship so you'll probably notice that more than you'll feel uncomfortable as a gay couple on it. I wouldn't rate Carnival based on those older ships and recommend giving their newer ships a try before making comparisons. Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean are all more mass-market ships that appeal more to families and are definitely a different experience than Celebrity.

Hubby and I are just off the Carnival Miracle that went to Mexico. It was our first on Carnival, having sailed all the other major cruise lines.

While I was reluctant to book the Miracle, it was perfect as a last minute getaway and only a 45 minute drive to the port. Everything went smoothly and we rarely waited in a line for anything. The food was good, to my surprise and we ate every meal in the buffet.

We ran into other gay and lesbian couples on board and there were LGBT meetings almost daily.

Would I cruise again with Carnival? Based on this trip, yes. And when our friends raise their eyebrows when we tell them we cruised on a Carnival ship, I'll tell them not to knock it until they've tried it.

Wish I was still onboard!

Amen! Carnival is absolutely wonderful and always welcoming of the GLBT crowd. Perhaps it's ego-building for some to only cruise some particular line while dissing another. Frankly, there's little difference between most of the major cruise lines and the price points are frequently within $100 or $200. If one wants to really feel like they've really "arrived, they should be looking at Crystal or Regent Seven Seas. Those are out of my price range for sure, but I can afford all the other major cruise lines (including the gay-beloved Celebrity) and so I look at itinerary and the ship more than anything else. It's nice to mix it up as well and it opens the door to so many possibilities when I don't narrow the field of choices to particular lines. The only mainstream cruises that draw a LOT of gay men are maiden voyages and the repositioning cruises, particularly those across the Atlantic. All you have to do is look at the GLBT Roll Call section to see that most other posts regarding non-gay cruises are rarely replied to, or if they are, only by a few people at most.

I'm just replying to my own post to move this up a bit! Hope to see you onboard. :)