Is Carnival Gay Friendly

[grrl2grrl]

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd jump in with my 2 cents. I went on the Carnival Legend almost a year ago, out of Tampa to the Western Caribbean on a 7 day cruise. My In-Laws brought us on the cruise as a gift. We had a wonderful time. The steward didn't even look at us funny when we asked for the beds to be put together. He just smiled and said, "Yes".

We didn't go to any of the bars or out to party, as our interest was more sight-seeing and relaxing than parting. The FOD was published daily in the Capers, I casually walked by one of the meetings, and there was an obvious lack of attendance despite the amount of other family on the ship. We did run into another couple I saw on the roll call board, but even then we didn't hang out.

My partner and I held hands the whole time, no matter where we were on the ship. We also hit up several of the photo backdrops on formal night to give us more variety to choose from. All of the photographers were fine & professional. All of our staff was wonderful the entire trip, and we met more people from outside the states than we met that lived in the US. There was a very nice elderly couple that sat at the table next to us at dinner every night, and we met a European couple on their honeymoon at breakfast one morning. There was a snobby mother daughter combination that sat with us at lunch one day, but I doubt it had anything to do with our being lesbians and more to do with the un-comfortability of that stick's placement...

We did not see any children the entire trip despite the 400 that were on board, and I didn't see too many of the "loud, rowdy" types. When I did, I just went to the other side of the ship, as gay or straight it's just not my cup of tea...

I am sailing on Carnival Spirit soon & can't wait to go!!!

[MiamiSpartan]

Never have had an issue...

I will say the FOD parties were not that well attended, and I wish they wouldn't have them in the Piano Bar, which stifles any kind of conversation, but at least they made an effort...

[emjsea]

We sailed the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore on 1/10 and had a great time. The assistant cruise director *had* to be family as well as the usual numbers of staff. Noticed that there were FOD meetings almost every day and some twice a day. Never noticed any homophobia, even in the entertainment (probably because of the assistant cruise director).

 

I think on cruise ships the problem is more often the climate of the other passengers rather than the ships crew.

[OK2BU]

sailed out of Galveston, Tx. Carnival Conquest...we were treated very well by all the staff and had not a problem one with any passengers. We had reservations about sailing out of a Southern port being that, as some have posted, middle America with traditional values could be a problem. We found Carnival to be very gay friendy...

[neilrr]

Hello Everyone!! Here is my 2 cents....

 

My partner and I have been on most of the major cruise lines with the exception of Carnival. We had heard as of late that he food has been very good and things have changed from being only a party atmosphere with young 20 something's roaming the ship. My straight sister had mixed reviews about Carnival too - one trip was really good and the next beer bottles were all over the deck in the morning.

 

We prefer Celebrity, as it is a bit more upscale and sophisticated. We love having a good time and have met many gay people on the ship and interesting "straight" husbands as well. :eek: We are on a 10 day S. Caribbean cruise 3/26/10 out of P.R. on Millennium and we have more gay people than ever in our cc group.

 

IMHO, many gay people seek a bit better quality after all the crazy party years. We have also had a wonderful time on Princess, RCCL (food so-so) and recently went on a HAL (crowd was a bit too old for us); food and service was very good to excellent. The only line that we suggest staying way from is NCL - worst food we have ever had on a cruise.

 

Happy Cruising...Neil:)

Edited January 26, 2010 by neilrr

[grrl2grrl]

Neil,

I have a couple of problems with your post above. 1st I'd like to acknowledge that you are entitled to your opinion, and your freedom to express it.

My opinion on your post is that perhaps your assumptions, about "gay" people are a bit narrow-minded. You said "IMHO, many gay people seek a bit better quality after all the crazy party years." How can you make an assumption about quality on a cruise line that you have never been on, or what gay people as a whole prefer?

Gay people, like all people, have different wants, needs, preferences, not just a need for better quality as judged by you.

I am a gay person with my crazy party years behind me. I received excellent service on the Carnival line of the highest quality, my every wish and then some was full-filled.

Please know that I can appreciate your opinion that you prefer Celebrity cruises.

With all that being said, the Princess line is owned by Carnival. So what you are actually saying is you have been on the Carnival line, just the Princess brand. Now please address the topic of this post & let us know how gay friendly the Princess line of Carnival was for you...

[OK2BU]

Dana...I like you already...

[truchattycathy]

We sailed on Conquest Halloween cruise in Oct. '09 on the Conquest out of Galveston. It was a Gayribbean Cruise and even tho no one in my party is gay, we joined the group, because we knew it would be fun. And it was!!!! Probably the most fun I have ever had on a cruise and the people were all so friendly. I would say YES Carnival is gay friendly, as are most of us that sail on Carnival.

 

We met several gay couples and really enjoyed getting to know them. Hope to see some of yall that posted on here on future cruises!

 

As far as the post about "southern" values....they are the same all over the country, their are good people and prejudice people everywhere you go. I am southern born and bred and I have lots of gay friends that are as well.

Edited January 27, 2010 by truchattycathy

[neilrr]

Neil,

I have a couple of problems with your post above. 1st I'd like to acknowledge that you are entitled to your opinion, and your freedom to express it.

My opinion on your post is that perhaps your assumptions, about "gay" people are a bit narrow-minded. You said "IMHO, many gay people seek a bit better quality after all the crazy party years." How can you make an assumption about quality on a cruise line that you have never been on, or what gay people as a whole prefer?

Gay people, like all people, have different wants, needs, preferences, not just a need for better quality as judged by you.

I am a gay person with my crazy party years behind me. I received excellent service on the Carnival line of the highest quality, my every wish and then some was full-filled.

Please know that I can appreciate your opinion that you prefer Celebrity cruises.

With all that being said, the Princess line is owned by Carnival. So what you are actually saying is you have been on the Carnival line, just the Princess brand. Now please address the topic of this post & let us know how gay friendly the Princess line of Carnival was for you...

 

Dana - Just as you respect my opinion I respect yours -- as a shareholder of Carnival and all of their different divisions including Princess -- each division generally has a certain demographic that it caters to. By the way, -- HAL is also a division of Carnival and they generally cater to an older crowd. RCCL and its divisions do the same thing. I agree you do have crossovers -- but as you said, it depends on your personal preferences and I am going by the feedback that I received regarding Carnival. As I previously said -- I have heard that the food has improved and Carnival is a wonderful cash cow (as a division) as all of the younger people drink much more than on HAL as an example.

 

As to gay friendliness, overall IMHO -- Celebrity was a bit more gay friendly - as an example, on our last cruise Celebrity staff brought a bottle of Champagne to one of our FOD meetings and as of late, I was just contacted by the entertainment staff (Celebrity prompted) that they are setting up a meeting for the gay cruisers and complimentary activities and tours. These are some examples - look under the Millennium GayCrewmember posts for additional information. We were really surprised ourselves.

 

My post was not to offend, but for people to see what is happening on other cruise lines with respect to the gay client and the treatment we receive.:)

 

Neil

[angelsbaby1]

Most people base thier opinions on the experiences they have had on the different cruise lines.

My partner & I LOVE Carnival! We have only had positive experiences on the Carnival ships (Valor & Freedom) that we've sailed on. We have never been treated in a negative way at all! Although I do wish that more "family" would show up for the FOD gatherings, I understand that some people don't need/like to have a specified place for all GLBT passengers. We've made many friends (gay & straight) on the cruises that we still keep in touch with.

As a previous poster stated, most of the time it's the other passengers, not the crew, that have issues. We simply ignore the closed minded people who try to make us feel uncomfortable. I always remember what my mother told me a long time ago..."Some people are only happy when they make others unhappy!" I refuse to give people like that the satisfaction. It works for me...

Happy sailing everyone!

Angel :)

[grrl2grrl]

Dana...I like you already...

 

You made me smile :)

[debates2]

I'm puzzled. I am a single gay, professional and parent. I have emotional, spiritual, financial and sexual needs like any other gay person. Why do we make such an issue of being different and search for FOD parties or being seating with other gays on our cruises? Be comfortable with who you are. You are more that just a gay man or woman and God forbid if we can't include new diverse, perhaps even straight friends into our circles. Have fun and relax. If you want to find a date or hook-up go on an Atlantis Cruise. I don't like straight people forcing their ideals on me and I'm not going to force mine on them.

 

I have sailed Carnival and Royal Caribbean and must agree with a previous comment made about the culture there within for 3 & 4 day cruisers, especially on Carnival. The longer cruises seemed less "party, party" to me. I have had more fun enjoying champagne with an elderly lady in her late 70's on my last cruise at an art auction. She asked me if I were gay and I told her I was and we enjoyed a great conversation.

 

My point - chill. If someone is throwing a glass at your head report those kinds of actions to Security. I'd be curious to know what prompted such behavior.

[new22003]

Just my 2 cents

First of all I am a straight married guy so take that for what its worth. I know I cant fully understand the challenges because I am not gay. I hope I’m not butting in here.

That being said we do most of our cruises with our neighbors who are a gay couple. I have have seen them have both good and bad times on carnival ships (we have been on 4 cruises together). I will say geography seems to make a big difference. We live in the midsouth and did our first 2 cruises out of New Orleans and Mobile due to their close proximity. They had no problems when were cruised out of New Orleans and had a delightful time but there was a signifigant problem in Mobile. We have also cruised out of Miami and Los Angeles with them and both those were absolutely delightful. We were able to meet and hang out with several openly gay and lesbian singles/couples on the miami cruise.

We are heading back to miami on the Valor Sept 12 if anyone on board would like say hi. Take care!

[Kontroller123]

we are on cruise 6 and have never had a problem with anyone on the ships

 

the staff tends to endear themselves to you if you are gay

[Thegolden]

My partner and I have never had a problem on any cruise lines, we have had some staff not know what to do but that is all. We have chosen not to do the "Atlantis" gay cruises because honestly we do not want to pay the upcharge for the cruise plus honestly being on a cruise with 3000 other gay men would drive me crazy!

 

Currently we will be traveling on the Enchament of the Seas out of Norfolk VA with my parents, and his parents and grandparents and I am sure we will have a blast. The only time I have been snub for being gay was on the roll calls on Cruise critic.

 

Mark

[miajordyn]

Anyone going?

[apollobeach]

We are an openly Gay male couple and we are getting ready to take our second Carnival cruise. In our opinion, we found most of the staff of Carnival to be very welcoming to Gays and Lesbians.

[Francophile]

I took one of the weekend cruises out of Los Angeles to Ensenada with the board of LGBTQ Funders (affiliated with the Council on Foundations) that had used this option instead of the usual New York location for a board meeting. Not only was it cheaper (with many board members on the West Coast) but we found the line very gay-friendly and had nothing but good interactions with other passengers. Folks are on cruises to enjoy themselves. The possibility always exists that there's a jerk aboard. Nothing to be done about that.

[bgarbus]

Looking for a FOD meeting on the Carnival Glory, Oct 16, 2011 - 6 day Bermuda cruise out of Norfolk, VA... Here's the link.

 

Bookings should being no later than May 17th 2010 if interested!

 

Link - Roll Call for Carnival Glory Oct 16 Cruise to the Bermuda!

 

 

:D:D:o:o:eek::eek:

 

.

Edited May 11, 2010 by bgarbus

[bgarbus]

Thanks everybody going this Saturday but I sure appreciate your kindness in including me in February. Hope you have a great cruise and I will report back on my mine in a couple of weeks.

 

Joey821

 

I have noticed that Carnival tends to be the 'red-neck' line, mainly because it is the cheapest and the (lol) trailer trash can afford it... They always tend to be the haters. So your best bet is to find a "Friends of Dorothy" group on the sailing and stick around like minds. :eek:

 

If not - Holland America would definitely be the way to go. Most of the crew officers are from the Netherlands and are very GLBT friendly from my experience.

 

Carnival is fine if you aren't going with expectations of having a gay-ole-time. We have enjoyed our sailings on Carnival, but Ray and I are both very low-key people. It really depends on your tastes I guess. We love HAL, but don't like we have to travel to NY or FL to cruise so we stick with whats more local to VA...

[apollobeach]

I have noticed that Carnival tends to be the 'red-neck' line, mainly because it is the cheapest and the (lol) trailer trash can afford it... They always tend to be the haters. So your best bet is to find a "Friends of Dorothy" group on the sailing and stick around like minds. :eek:

 

If not - Holland America would definitely be the way to go. Most of the crew officers are from the Netherlands and are very GLBT friendly from my experience.

 

Carnival is fine if you aren't going with expectations of having a gay-ole-time. We have enjoyed our sailings on Carnival, but Ray and I are both very low-key people. It really depends on your tastes I guess. We love HAL, but don't like we have to travel to NY or FL to cruise so we stick with whats more local to VA...

 

My Partner and I view cruising as a total experience to be enjoyed on all levels. When we book a cruise we always get deluxe suites because this is what we prefer. In our opinion we have observed that due to last minute deals, web specials and deals by TA's individuals who may not

have been able to afford to cruise can. On the one hand, it is good that individuals have the opportunity to broaden their horizons so to speak. In our opinion, the present behavior of some individuals clearly crosses the line. Since Azamara is one of the more up scale lines and does not offer basement prices, we selected it for our up coming European cruise.

[keithm]

I have noticed that Carnival tends to be the 'red-neck' line, mainly because it is the cheapest and the (lol) trailer trash can afford it... They always tend to be the haters. So your best bet is to find a "Friends of Dorothy" group on the sailing and stick around like minds. :eek:

 

If not - Holland America would definitely be the way to go. Most of the crew officers are from the Netherlands and are very GLBT friendly from my experience.

 

Carnival is fine if you aren't going with expectations of having a gay-ole-time. We have enjoyed our sailings on Carnival, but Ray and I are both very low-key people. It really depends on your tastes I guess. We love HAL, but don't like we have to travel to NY or FL to cruise so we stick with whats more local to VA...

Thank you!! I've been called a snob by many in the "gay friendly cruiseline" thread. Ive seen much of what you refer to when we go shoreside. We sail on Cunard(owned by Carnival)We've never had a problem. I feel that with the cheaper cruise some(but not all!!)are not so worldy & regard with distaste. That being said there really is no cruiseline that is not gay friendly. They all need our money! Could you imagine what a "Gay boycott" could do to a cruiselines rep.??

In the Caribbean you do have to be mindfull of the rabidly antigay church groups. This is especially true on Jamaica & Grand Caiman. It's pretty easy to blend in with the tour groups. If you decide to go it alone just use common caution.

[keithm]

Neil,

I have a couple of problems with your post above. 1st I'd like to acknowledge that you are entitled to your opinion, and your freedom to express it.

My opinion on your post is that perhaps your assumptions, about "gay" people are a bit narrow-minded. You said "IMHO, many gay people seek a bit better quality after all the crazy party years." How can you make an assumption about quality on a cruise line that you have never been on, or what gay people as a whole prefer?

Gay people, like all people, have different wants, needs, preferences, not just a need for better quality as judged by you.

I am a gay person with my crazy party years behind me. I received excellent service on the Carnival line of the highest quality, my every wish and then some was full-filled.

Please know that I can appreciate your opinion that you prefer Celebrity cruises.

With all that being said, the Princess line is owned by Carnival. So what you are actually saying is you have been on the Carnival line, just the Princess brand. Now please address the topic of this post & let us know how gay friendly the Princess line of Carnival was for you...

We've had friends on Princess many times. No cruiseline I can think of is not gay friendly.

The other passengers, however can be a different story. Unfortunately some on the really cheap cruises may not be as gay friendly as those who've been on several cruises or travel on some of the higher priced ships. Sorry if it offends, but it seems to be way things are.

[keithm]

Ah -- I was last on NCL in 2003 and no problems. It is a shame they seem

to be changing their attitude towards G&L cruisers because that is my preferred line.

NCL is part of Star Cruiseline, which is based in Malaysia. With it being a Muslim country, they are conservative. I wouldn't be too surprised if they aren't too keen on having a lot of gay passengers.

[HLR]

NCL is part of Star Cruiseline, which is based in Malaysia. With it being a Muslim country, they are conservative. I wouldn't be too surprised if they aren't too keen on having a lot of gay passengers.

 

Can you say more about this? NCL is the cruise line RFamilyVacations uses for all their cruises...and I have sailed as a dance host with them numerous times in the last few years and there were FOD meetings EVERY night.

 

HLR