First Gay Cruise, Atlantis or RSVP?

I know I'm a little late to this conversation but I've been on 2 Atlantis and 1 RSVP cruise. I'm 48, 5'6", 215 and a hairy bear. There are bears on both cruises and RSVP has a slightly older crowd. I know you said you weren't a party guy but overall I found the entertainment is always SIGNIFICANTLY better on Atlantis. Entertainers are more current and overall better. On RSVP I found it was entertainers that were even old for me - Broadway singers, Charo from the Love boat? (seriously I'm not even old enough for this and my Mom would struggle to remember her), even the drag on RSVP was so bad people were leaving the theater. Overall I would say Atlantis hands down. Miss Richfield 1981, Bob the Drag Queen were the hosts of many events on Atlantis and they are excellent.

Even on RSVP I felt a little creeped out. The old guys on there were very persistent and aggressively flirtatious. I was in a hot tub and this guy kept trying to put his foot in my crotch and the same for my partner - that wasn't unusual for RSVP but it is for Atlantis. Overall you can have fun anywhere and I did enjoy both but I wouldn't rush back to RSVP and I know I'll do Atlantis again.

The entertainment you cite, Broadway singers and Charo, were the ships regular entertainment, not RSVP's own. And Charo was outstanding and I did not see an empty seat. Yet having been on RSVP and Atlantis, I would tend to agree that Atlantis has the better entertainment overall. It seems that RSVP is more content to have mostly the same entertainment every year with one or two new acts, but Atlantis will try to get special guests and entertainers every year (from reading the posts). For a while, RSVP tried to have special secret guest, but some of their high profile guests flopped. It seems Atlantis really aiming to pull in a younger crowd, although guys say that the both cruise lines tend to have a similar demographic now. I would still suspect that the Atlantis January cruise draws more younger people overall than RSVP's Feb cruise. For one, the Atlantis ship have tended to be much bigger and more 'flashier'.

I talked to an Atlantis crew member on one of the cruises and the average age difference between the cruises is literally around 2-4 years. Both average in the mid 40's pushing toward 50. Atlantis wants older customers because they spend more money so they changed a lot of the online marketing a couple years ago. It switched from twinks to 40 year old guys with abs. In the end it's not that different than a straight cruise showing young couples when the reality is older. I'm not a late night for (for the most part) but I loved Atlantis Tea dances (dog tag and 70's themed) and I loved the at sea brunches. RSVP didn't do a brunch- I really liked on Atlantis that so it was a plus for me.

My partner and I are both mid 50's and we've taken 3 Atlantis cruises but we won't take anymore. It's such a hassle getting in touch with them to book a cruise, you can leave messages and they just don't call back. We're at the old fart age that doesn't put up with as much as we did when were were younger. We tried to book a recent Sydney cruise and after repeated calls and voice mails left we just gave up (even though they state they will call you back we never got a single call back). The trip before that was similar but we persisted and finally got a live person and was able to book, but I recall it being a PITA.

We did like the Atlantis cruises, they were fun, but definitely geared to the 30's (or younger) crowd or those older gents that are interested in the 30's crowd. RSVP sounded a bit more like our speed but since I read they're part of Atlantis, then, oh well, we'll just go on straight cruises and know they they're ready to take our money when we're ready to go!

If you haven't been on one and you're more patient than us, then try it out, I can't see that anyone wouldn't like it but if you're a bit older, then while you're getting breakfast the next morning don't be surprised to see the party go'ers coming in for breakfast after all night dancing :)

Something to consider: Know where the on-deck dance parties will be held (call RSVP to find out). You DO NOT want a stateroom below or near this location unless you intend to attend all of them and could sleep in a disco. Also consider booking away from the Crows Nest bar or below it - on our cruise they moved the party inside to the Crows Nest due to weather and I can only imagine what the noise level in the staterooms below would have been like until 2AM.

We've done 9 RSVP cruises and no Atlantis so can't speak to Atlantis. However, friends of ours have done many Atlantis cruises (70+ and mid-50's) and love them. They are on the RSVP Alaska cruise this summer so it will be interesting to hear how they like it and how they find it differs from Atlantis.

We stopped cruising with RSVP because of the limited availability and the fact that they repeated the itineraries year after year - you can only see the Caribbean so many times before wanting to go somewhere else (we did 7 Caribbean, 1 Alaskan and 1 Greek Isles). We now prefer regular cruises which are more low-key and suit us better (HAL and Princess being our preferred lines). The friends above keep trying to get us to join them but we've been there and done that - no more thank you.

The entertainment you cite, Broadway singers and Charo, were the ships regular entertainment, not RSVP's own. And Charo was outstanding and I did not see an empty seat. Yet having been on RSVP and Atlantis, I would tend to agree that Atlantis has the better entertainment overall. It seems that RSVP is more content to have mostly the same entertainment every year with one or two new acts, but Atlantis will try to get special guests and entertainers every year (from reading the posts). For a while, RSVP tried to have special secret guest, but some of their high profile guests flopped. It seems Atlantis really aiming to pull in a younger crowd, although guys say that the both cruise lines tend to have a similar demographic now. I would still suspect that the Atlantis January cruise draws more younger people overall than RSVP's Feb cruise. For one, the Atlantis ship have tended to be much bigger and more 'flashier'.

Charo was RSVP entertainment, not the Regal Princess', though she was there for the christening on the ship.

I though Bob the Drag Queen was on RSVP for something like two years before he made it on RuPaul's Drag Race.

RSVP has just announced opening the cruise bookings to that that have sailed one or two cruises with RSVP. It should be open to all really soon.

Roll Tide Guy, Did you ever do a RSVP cruise?  I’m trying to pick one too, and the Atlantis cruises just look a little too crazy!

I was waiting for the end to this story and it never happened.  Roll Tide Guy didn't post about his experience on RSVP and whether it was worth it?