FoS makes UK Press

[TravelerThom]

I agree with you all - nothing in the description or photos is over the top or unusual for a Royal Caribbean cruise. Of the many times that we've sailed Royal Caribbean, we've never seen the belly flop or sexiest man contests because they're just not our thing, but we've been able to successfully avoid them by doing something else on the ship. I wonder why this family didn't do the same?...

I'm surprised that no one has remarked on where the pictures in the Daily Mail came from. Unless the Daily Mail had a photographer on this particular cruise [yeah, right], the likely source of the photos is the complainers, who would certainly have had to shove to the front to get those shots.:eek: Not that I smell a scam for reimbursement, or anything.:cool:

 

Thom

[peteukmcr]

Thanks, Pete, for the clarification. I guess, then, the Daily Mail is a few steps up from the old "News of the World" :)

 

Teddie

Quite a few steps up from the "News of the World" :D It is actually quite a conservative newspaper.

[jv_nyc]

...the likely source of the photos is the complainers, who would certainly have had to shove to the front to get those shots.

 

Very interesting point Thom...makes me wonder too.

 

I was trying to find the Roll Call for the cruise; I couldn't find it, but I stumbled across this thread - they had fireworks on their sailing! http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1732970

 

Here's a link to the YouTube video -

 

Unfortunately, one poster on the thread said that the Founder of the High Seas Rally passed away from cancer while on the cruise.

[Redrobo]

In the belly flop photos looks like Paul Teutul from American Chopper TV show sitting at the front.

[ticktoneer]

Biker group on board..... sigh. Link here.

Our first ever cruise was on the beautiful Mariner of the Seas and half of the ship had been chartered to Hogs on the High Seas. It was the WORST experience of my life. While I'm sure there are many very nice 'hogs' we got bullied and abused for a full 7 days for being gay. I can't tell you the names we were called at least once every hour if we were out and about. All from the hogs cliques. Neither of us 'looks' gay nor are camp or effeminate. I used to think - how do they know ???? We also had an incident where I went to the pool bar and 4 hogs started shouting at the bar staff to wash the glasses well so they don't catch fag disease !! There was another incident where my partner got in the solarium pool and all but one person got out. We ended up staying in our cabin nearly 24/7 for the last 3 days. We even ate room service rather than Windjammer or MDR. While disembarking and chatting to people in line we did find out a small contingent of hogs had decided to use us for 'fun' that week and due to the 'pack mentality' others followed and after a couple of days a decent sized group were looking out for us to 'make good sport'. Thankfully when we got back onboard (as it was B2B) we had an amazing, fantastic 2nd week.

[Ned11]

I didn't find out about these types of cruises until 2 months after I booked my cruise for April 2013 on the Explorer, there is a biking group on board.

I found out from my roll call.

I'm not sure what to expect but biking is not my favourite past time as my late brother in law was killed on one at the age of 31.

[Docdan48]

My wife and I have been on Six High Seas Rally cruises and have a fantastic time. Yes I will admit that we did get a lot of strange looks when we were in the terminal waiting to board. But let me assure you by the time the cruise was half over, I had numerous people not with the group come up to me and say that they were having a great time being around us. They also were very interested in learning about our charity of Dialysis at Seas and how it worked. I was a contestant in the beard contest and really enjoyed having my beard stroked and smelled by the judges. If you look at the beard contest pictures she posted you will see me on the far left. I am sorry that the OP did not have a good time but she was in the minority and I will bet you that she did not even try and talk to us.

[ticktoneer]

My wife and I have been on Six High Seas Rally cruises and have a fantastic time. Yes I will admit that we did get a lot of strange looks when we were in the terminal waiting to board. But let me assure you by the time the cruise was half over, I had numerous people not with the group come up to me and say that they were having a great time being around us. They also were very interested in learning about our charity of Dialysis at Seas and how it worked. I was a contestant in the beard contest and really enjoyed having my beard stroked and smelled by the judges. If you look at the beard contest pictures she posted you will see me on the far left. I am sorry that the OP did not have a good time but she was in the minority and I will bet you that she did not even try and talk to us.

We tried to talk to the Hogs - see our post above

[Rocknsoul]

Our first ever cruise was on the beautiful Mariner of the Seas and half of the ship had been chartered to Hogs on the High Seas. It was the WORST experience of my life. While I'm sure there are many very nice 'hogs' we got bullied and abused for a full 7 days for being gay. I can't tell you the names we were called at least once every hour if we were out and about. All from the hogs cliques. Neither of us 'looks' gay nor are camp or effeminate. I used to think - how do they know ???? We also had an incident where I went to the pool bar and 4 hogs started shouting at the bar staff to wash the glasses well so they don't catch fag disease !! There was another incident where my partner got in the solarium pool and all but one person got out. We ended up staying in our cabin nearly 24/7 for the last 3 days. We even ate room service rather than Windjammer or MDR. While disembarking and chatting to people in line we did find out a small contingent of hogs had decided to use us for 'fun' that week and due to the 'pack mentality' others followed and after a couple of days a decent sized group were looking out for us to 'make good sport'. Thankfully when we got back onboard (as it was B2B) we had an amazing, fantastic 2nd week.

 

How horrible. :( It's great that you were on a B2B & got to leave the ship with good memories.

[crisndeefromde]

I sure hope this wasn't the posters first cruise. Seems like telling the newspapers about the terrible vacation just gave the Bikers more publicity as they do fantastic charity work. Rccl is not and will not post what groups are on a cruise.

 

Next time do some homework........you can like others have said find out if big groups are on a certain cruise.

[RCI Cruisers 004]

Looks like it was a fun cruise ! I wonder if she took the time to get to know any of them or just judged them by what they were !

[crisndeefromde]

Our first ever cruise was on the beautiful Mariner of the Seas and half of the ship had been chartered to Hogs on the High Seas. It was the WORST experience of my life. While I'm sure there are many very nice 'hogs' we got bullied and abused for a full 7 days for being gay. I can't tell you the names we were called at least once every hour if we were out and about. All from the hogs cliques. Neither of us 'looks' gay nor are camp or effeminate. I used to think - how do they know ???? We also had an incident where I went to the pool bar and 4 hogs started shouting at the bar staff to wash the glasses well so they don't catch fag disease !! There was another incident where my partner got in the solarium pool and all but one person got out. We ended up staying in our cabin nearly 24/7 for the last 3 days. We even ate room service rather than Windjammer or MDR. While disembarking and chatting to people in line we did find out a small contingent of hogs had decided to use us for 'fun' that week and due to the 'pack mentality' others followed and after a couple of days a decent sized group were looking out for us to 'make good sport'. Thankfully when we got back onboard (as it was B2B) we had an amazing, fantastic 2nd week.

 

 

Sorry you had this experience. Unfortunately in our world today there are little minded people no matter what walk of life they have chosen. I surely hope you didn't stop cruising because of this. Take care and Happy New year!

[Docdan48]

We tried to talk to the Hogs - see our post above

 

I believe we have had this conversation on a previous post. I do apologize for the actions of some people. All bikers are not made from the same mold. Please do not group all bikers as bad due to the crude behavior of a few.

[retird]

I agree with all the posts that say all bikers are not bad people. I have a lot of friends who enjoy biking in groups and travel throughout the world with their bikes. It seems that some on this and other threads are concerned whether these are friendly bike enthusiests or one percenters. I do not know this group being referre to but could someone clarify for the thread whether any (outlaw one percenters) go on the cruises organized by the High Seas Rally/Hogs on the High Seas.

[dorisdoris1]

2,500 is an awfully large group,charity or not if you had gone on a family cruise it would impact on your experience.

RCL did the right thing here,i wouldnt have had the cruise i was hoping for.

Have to say this though,if they really did get a free cruise then there was no need to go to the papers at all,chalk it up to experience when you book your next,FREE cruise.;)

[jackaboo]

Our first ever cruise was on the beautiful Mariner of the Seas and half of the ship had been chartered to Hogs on the High Seas. It was the WORST experience of my life. While I'm sure there are many very nice 'hogs' we got bullied and abused for a full 7 days for being gay. I can't tell you the names we were called at least once every hour if we were out and about. All from the hogs cliques. Neither of us 'looks' gay nor are camp or effeminate. I used to think - how do they know ???? We also had an incident where I went to the pool bar and 4 hogs started shouting at the bar staff to wash the glasses well so they don't catch fag disease !! There was another incident where my partner got in the solarium pool and all but one person got out. We ended up staying in our cabin nearly 24/7 for the last 3 days. We even ate room service rather than Windjammer or MDR. While disembarking and chatting to people in line we did find out a small contingent of hogs had decided to use us for 'fun' that week and due to the 'pack mentality' others followed and after a couple of days a decent sized group were looking out for us to 'make good sport'. Thankfully when we got back onboard (as it was B2B) we had an amazing, fantastic 2nd week.

 

That's Awful!! I can't imagine having to deal with that on a cruise :( I get really paranoid and wound up just by the funny looks I get from other passengers.

But as a previous poster said, at least you had the second week of b2b to enjoy!!

[sherilyn70]

Our first ever cruise was on the beautiful Mariner of the Seas and half of the ship had been chartered to Hogs on the High Seas. It was the WORST experience of my life. While I'm sure there are many very nice 'hogs' we got bullied and abused for a full 7 days for being gay. I can't tell you the names we were called at least once every hour if we were out and about. All from the hogs cliques. Neither of us 'looks' gay nor are camp or effeminate. I used to think - how do they know ???? We also had an incident where I went to the pool bar and 4 hogs started shouting at the bar staff to wash the glasses well so they don't catch fag disease !! There was another incident where my partner got in the solarium pool and all but one person got out. We ended up staying in our cabin nearly 24/7 for the last 3 days. We even ate room service rather than Windjammer or MDR. While disembarking and chatting to people in line we did find out a small contingent of hogs had decided to use us for 'fun' that week and due to the 'pack mentality' others followed and after a couple of days a decent sized group were looking out for us to 'make good sport'. Thankfully when we got back onboard (as it was B2B) we had an amazing, fantastic 2nd week.

 

I am sorry you had to experience this... but I also have to ask you what this really has to do with them being bikers? Have you never experienced this mentality ever in your life from non biker groups? Some of my friends are even gay bikers!! Gay men and leather, that would never go together, right? :) I find it extremely prejudiced and disappointing for you of call people to claim it was because they were bikers when I'm sure you have been stereotyped most of your life for your own life choices/circumstances.

[cruisnseas]

I am sorry you had to experience this... but I also have to ask you what this really has to do with them being bikers? Have you never experienced this mentality ever in your life from non biker groups? Some of my friends are even gay bikers!! Gay men and leather, that would never go together, right? :) I find it extremely prejudiced and disappointing for you of call people to claim it was because they were bikers when I'm sure you have been stereotyped most of your life for your own life choices/circumstances.

 

:eek:

[peteukmcr]

I am sorry you had to experience this... but I also have to ask you what this really has to do with them being bikers? Have you never experienced this mentality ever in your life from non biker groups? Some of my friends are even gay bikers!! Gay men and leather, that would never go together, right? :) I find it extremely prejudiced and disappointing for you of call people to claim it was because they were bikers when I'm sure you have been stereotyped most of your life for your own life choices/circumstances.

What has it to do with bikers? Well, from the report it would appear that it was bikers from this particular group who were breaking the RCI code of conduct by being extremely offensive to the OP. Whether the OP has ever experienced this mentality from non biker groups is totally irrelevant, it appears clear that the biker group were responsible.

 

I find it extremely prejudiced for you to defend anyone, bikers or not, for the behaviour shown towards the OP.

 

You also cannot be sure that the OP has been stereotyped at any time of their lives for their 'life choices'.

[jackaboo]

I'm sure you have been stereotyped most of your life for your own life choices/circumstances.

 

Most idiotic sentence I have read on these boards. Being gay is not a choice

[F27TW]

I'm surprised that no one has remarked on where the pictures in the Daily Mail came from. Unless the Daily Mail had a photographer on this particular cruise [yeah, right], the likely source of the photos is the complainers, who would certainly have had to shove to the front to get those shots.:eek: Not that I smell a scam for reimbursement, or anything.:cool:

 

Thom

 

 

very true ... if u notice, "Horrified Mum" (:rolleyes:) was literally right up in their faces a couple of times to get those pics.

silly cow.

[peteukmcr]

Our first ever cruise was on the beautiful Mariner of the Seas and half of the ship had been chartered to Hogs on the High Seas. It was the WORST experience of my life. While I'm sure there are many very nice 'hogs' we got bullied and abused for a full 7 days for being gay. I can't tell you the names we were called at least once every hour if we were out and about. All from the hogs cliques. Neither of us 'looks' gay nor are camp or effeminate. I used to think - how do they know ???? We also had an incident where I went to the pool bar and 4 hogs started shouting at the bar staff to wash the glasses well so they don't catch fag disease !! There was another incident where my partner got in the solarium pool and all but one person got out. We ended up staying in our cabin nearly 24/7 for the last 3 days. We even ate room service rather than Windjammer or MDR. While disembarking and chatting to people in line we did find out a small contingent of hogs had decided to use us for 'fun' that week and due to the 'pack mentality' others followed and after a couple of days a decent sized group were looking out for us to 'make good sport'. Thankfully when we got back onboard (as it was B2B) we had an amazing, fantastic 2nd week.

 

What has it to do with bikers? Well, from the report it would appear that it was bikers from this particular group who were breaking the RCI code of conduct by being extremely offensive to the OP. Whether the OP has ever experienced this mentality from non biker groups is totally irrelevant, it appears clear that the biker group were responsible.

 

I find it extremely prejudiced for you to defend anyone, bikers or not, for the behaviour shown towards the OP.

 

You also cannot be sure that the OP has been stereotyped at any time of their lives for their 'life choices'.

Apologies, I was referring to the poster above when I referred to the OP. However, my comments still stand in relation to the earlier poster.

[laurspag]

It's interesting to see sometimes what people post. I often have a post in mind, but after reading what others say, it makes me think a bit about looking at things from all perspectives.

 

My husband and I are good friends with a group of people that ride Harleys. They are some of the nicest people you could know, that would stop at the drop of a hat and help you with anything. I guess we could call them bikers, eh?

 

I don't think the intention here is to stereoptype bikers. It so happens that some people have experienced bad behavior and this bad behavior was by people that were part of the bikers group on board. I don't get the impression that anyone is trying to stereotype. There is no denying that behavior being talked about was from this group.

 

I will go back to my original paragraph though, and say that there are good people and bad people. It doesn't matter what their hobbies are.

[ticktoneer]

I am sorry you had to experience this... but I also have to ask you what this really has to do with them being bikers? Have you never experienced this mentality ever in your life from non biker groups? Some of my friends are even gay bikers!! Gay men and leather, that would never go together, right? :) I find it extremely prejudiced and disappointing for you of call people to claim it was because they were bikers when I'm sure you have been stereotyped most of your life for your own life choices/circumstances.

I didn't claim it was because they were bikers per-se. I claimed issues with a big group and pack mentality more-so.

 

Thanks other posters for your kind words and reflections.

[ticktoneer]

What has it to do with bikers? Well, from the report it would appear that it was bikers from this particular group who were breaking the RCI code of conduct by being extremely offensive to the OP. Whether the OP has ever experienced this mentality from non biker groups is totally irrelevant, it appears clear that the biker group were responsible.

 

I find it extremely prejudiced for you to defend anyone, bikers or not, for the behaviour shown towards the OP.

 

You also cannot be sure that the OP has been stereotyped at any time of their lives for their 'life choices'.

Thanks peteukmcr :-)