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Does anyone do the FOD/LGBT gatherings?


3DogDay
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I’m putting this out there because on our last several cruises, they have turned out to be a bust. Either no one goes or the few that do seem to want to keep the conversation within their own group. We were on the Brilliance of the Seas several years ago, and the gathering was quite popular. We even had several groups of straight people would join in. But since then, they’ve been pretty dead. Is this just not the thing to do anymore, or am I missing something?

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We have experienced the same thing. It all depends on the port and time of year the ship sails from. On our last RCCL Serenade of the Seas cruise there was a GLBT nightly and no one showed up, however there were many family members on board we meet thought-out the cruise. We talked about why no one was at the GLBT meeting venue and most said it was not the right venue or time for it. The best and largest gatherings we have had were on Princess and Holland American sailing from Port of LA.

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We were on the Westerdam last month and there were 7 of us that met every nightw we were all congenial and had a great time ashore and on the ship.

Philip and David

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We usually go to the meetings, especially the first one if possible. Out of the four cruises we've taken recently, a couple have been shorties (3- and 4-day long ones), so there wasn't as much time to get to know people like we have had on longer cruises.

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On my most recent Princess and Norwegian cruises, the LGBT gatherings have been really popular and added a lot to the fun factor on those cruises. I suppose it depends a lot on the line. I hear that RCI does a poor job promoting their gatherings.

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We try to make it a few times during each cruise. This last one (NCL Getaway), we only made it one night and even then we could only stay 15-20 minutes because we were meeting friends for dinner.

 

The gatherings change from cruise to cruise. We have had some where there was not much interaction or low attendance. Other times, it was a pretty active group with lots of interaction, dinners, and excursions during the entire cruise.

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I’m putting this out there because on our last several cruises, they have turned out to be a bust. Either no one goes or the few that do seem to want to keep the conversation within their own group. We were on the Brilliance of the Seas several years ago, and the gathering was quite popular. We even had several groups of straight people would join in. But since then, they’ve been pretty dead. Is this just not the thing to do anymore, or am I missing something?

WQe always found the meetings on Cunard well attended, frequently with a staff member providing snacks & such. The recent ones on Celebrity are pretty lame. They were at the Molecular bar(which few pax go to)I always felt they should be in a section of Skybar.

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We just returned from the Royal Caribbean transatlantic sailing on Splendour OTS. I knew in advance that there would not be any official notice in the daily "compass", but rather people could post a 3x5 notecard on the notice board by customer service and try to gather their own group. Never a note, and I didn't post one either. There were about 30-40 gays on board. Some were in the steam room all the time (so I've heard😉), some were in the lounges for the free drinks in the evening, everyone was scattered. Timing is a real issue....plus I think "times are a changing". We even participated in the "love and marriage show" as a gay couple.....and won!

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With only two cruises under our belts, we're hardly seasoned, but the BF and I have a made a point of doing NCL's FOD/LGBT meet-ups every night we've been aboard, even if that has sometimes meant sitting in an otherwise empty lounge for a while.

 

The way we figure it, we're probably going to be enjoying cocktails somewhere anyway, and those who are "fashionably late" will be less inclined to poke their heads in, see an empty bar, and trudge slowly away disheartened that no one attended. In the meantime, we get our own bartender and full run of the place.

 

Typically, once others see signs of life, we get company. Mind you, when I opined to the BF that we were like the little specks that a hail stone coalesces around, he told me lay off the frozen drinks, so YMMV. :eek:

  • Haha 1
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On our most recent cruise timing was probably the biggest issue. It was in the martini bar at 8pm - right after the early show and before the late dinner seating. It was hard enough to get a drink, much less meet anyone. We tried the first couple nights but after we didn't bother.

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We've only been on one sailing so far - the Anthem maiden voyage APR22, the gathering where set for 22:00 at the Bionic Bar. I think we saw the notice on the 2nd day but it was several days later we where able to stop by because we had late dinner.

 

For those that do not know the Quantum class - the Bionic Bar is a very open area on the upper balcony of the Royal Esplanade. It is loud - very loud (DJ music) and people are constantly hanging out / passing through.

 

We may be atypical gays because we do not like to dance, we do not like a venue where you have to shout to communicate. But the nights we went by, we could not identify if there where an LGBT group present - so they may not have kept it up after the first days.

 

Our next cruise is on 14 nights on Indepence of the Seas, June 2016 and we will of course attend again, we'll try and get there one of the first days. I think it would be nice to make some friends for the cruise - incidentally we also missed the CC Meet & Mingle because we never got the invite.

 

It may be that since I'm from Denmark I find it difficult to see the real need to have LGBT meetings - but I reckon it would be a nice way to make friends. And by te wat, using the term FOD is to me an ancient unneeded disguise that only powers the feeling of being the odd ones out. But I have always been openly gay since I found out when I was 20 years old (in 1990).

 

Br

Nicolai

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On my most recent Princess and Norwegian cruises, the LGBT gatherings have been really popular and added a lot to the fun factor on those cruises. I suppose it depends a lot on the line. I hear that RCI does a poor job promoting their gatherings.

 

It all depends on the ship and cruise director. We just got off the Serenade od the Seas. 13 days NOL to BOS and LGBT was posted nightly in the Compass but no one showed up.

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On the inaugural transAtlantic from Greece to Cuba aboard the Louis Cristal, we felt that we may have been premature in asking the ship to help organize a FOD gathering. But we knew that our personal accommodation was the perfect venue for it, for our deck area could easily accommodate those of us aboard who we estimated to be at least 12 couples. The problem however was two fold. One there were at least five languages to contend with, few speaking English and secondly, Europeans seem to avoid public social gathering with their own. But as we have rebooked the 2016 Cuba season perhaps we will try again as more North Americans join us aboard

 

http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af114/Yarkerhill/Louis-Cristal-0678-1.jpg

 

http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af114/Yarkerhill/LouisCristal.jpg

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We just returned from the Royal Caribbean transatlantic sailing on Splendour OTS. I knew in advance that there would not be any official notice in the daily "compass", but rather people could post a 3x5 notecard on the notice board by customer service and try to gather their own group. Never a note, and I didn't post one either. There were about 30-40 gays on board. Some were in the steam room all the time (so I've heard;)), some were in the lounges for the free drinks in the evening, everyone was scattered. Timing is a real issue....plus I think "times are a changing". We even participated in the "love and marriage show" as a gay couple.....and won!

 

Congratulations on your victory! I'm afraid you are probably right, to a certain extent, about the times changing. And on recent cruises I, too, met a few "family members" in the hot tub and other places who never attended the LGBT gathering. But since socializing is a big part of cruising for me, I will still make the effort to attend so long as the lines promote the gatherings. And it's nice to hear the steam room didn't go unused. :p

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Out of our 12 cruises we have had a decent turnout at LGBT meet-n-greets on all of our trips, with the exception of our Alaska cruise on NCL Sun (no gays showed up nor seemed to be on the entire ship) and Crystal (no meeting scheduled, but met several others around the ship).

 

Celebrity has always had a very active gathering on each of our voyages, but as others have said, the scheduled timing and location has been pretty poor. We usually ended up scouting out others and scheduling our own time and place.

 

For us, Azamara has provided the best location - high up in the ship, in a quiet lounge, at a good time....and the turnout has been good.

 

We really enjoy the meetings and have made some great friends from all over the world.

 

 

 

Michael

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To this point, we've only sailed on Disney Cruise Line, where they have no LGBT gatherings. Well, nothing formal. Hanging out with the Concierge staff was pretty much the same as an LGBT gathering.

 

Did you just out the Concierge staff?:rolleyes:

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Out of our 12 cruises we have had a decent turnout at LGBT meet-n-greets on all of our trips, with the exception of our Alaska cruise on NCL Sun (no gays showed up nor seemed to be on the entire ship) and Crystal (no meeting scheduled, but met several others around the ship).

 

Celebrity has always had a very active gathering on each of our voyages, but as others have said, the scheduled timing and location has been pretty poor. We usually ended up scouting out others and scheduling our own time and place.

 

For us, Azamara has provided the best location - high up in the ship, in a quiet lounge, at a good time....and the turnout has been good.

 

We really enjoy the meetings and have made some great friends from all over the world.

 

 

 

Michael

 

For us, Azamara has provided the best location - high up in the ship, in a quiet lounge, at a good timeWhat time and place was that?

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For us, Azamara has provided the best location - high up in the ship, in a quiet lounge, at a good timeWhat time and place was that?

 

5:30pm in the Looking Glass Lounge on the starboard side. We practically had our own bartender and a sizable turnout.

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5:30pm in the Looking Glass Lounge on the starboard side. We practically had our own bartender and a sizable turnout.

 

Thanks, that's a great time and location. If I remember correctly when we sailed on Holland America, we had 2 a day 1700 and 2300 on their upper level as well.

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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

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I knew in advance that there would not be any official notice in the daily "compass", but rather people could post a 3x5 notecard on the notice board by customer service and try to gather their own group.

 

They used to put it in the Compass when they still referred to it as FOD. They might be afraid that it would freak out the more conservative passengers. On my last RC cruise there was a posting on the board, but the timing was lousy and the location was bad. Someone else tried posting for another time and location, but even they didn't show up to it.

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