Sayler04

Actually turns out o asked this in a dedicated thread a while back and forgot about it. Oops:-)

Hey yall,

Thanks for all the info! I havent heard of the pied piper cruise thing, sounds interesting. You've all given me a lot to think about:-)

J

Hi everybody:-)

I'm reid's husband Josh (see a few posts up). Like he siad, we havent done a gay cruise yet, but have talked about it some. I keep hearing how they're really cruisy (pun appreciated, but unintended) and that theyre more for singles or open couples, neither of which are we. I guess i'd really like to find a straight cruise thats all gay people, if that makes any sense. Does such a thing exist?

J

Hey y'all,

i have always wanted to do one of those all-gay cruises, but my husband isn't really on board with it (a cheap pun, but apropos). We've heard that these cruises are largely meant for single guys or couples in open relationships, of which we are neither. We've heard, too, that they're a lot like a floating circuit party, which is definitely not us. Ideally, i 'd like to find a gay cruise that's alot like a conventional cruise, only more culturally oriented toward gay men and populated mostly by gay people. Does anyone know if this even exists?

My husband and I are rather new to cruises, only taking our 2nd/3rd in january (65 days by the countdown). But we do vacation quite a lot and prioritize luxury and service in our travels. That said, carnival was so wretched in luxury and service that we went to the pursar to cancel our gratuity payment. The first two nights at sea, we had to sleep separately; we had reserved a room prepared with a king bed, but the bed was separated when we came aboard, and when we called the concierge to fix it we were told they had no clean mattress pads or duvets and we would have to wait a few days. Trés romantique. Later we requested a corkscrew and after three different deckhands brought us a bottle opener instead of a corkscrew we gave up on the wine and bought a corkscrew in Cozumel. Despite several requests, they never unlocked our wet bar. Except for a single bar near the casino, it was impossible to get drink service. Typically we would wait 25 minutes or more for the cocktailer to take an order from us, another ten to actually receive the drink, and the order was almost unilaterally wrong. I ended up developing a taste for champagne and pineapple juice, because it was the closest thing to a mimosa the bartenders seemed able to make.

There were children EVERYWHERE, and the spa was the only place where children werent allowed. We bought the spa package. I had a rather nice massage, but my husband's massage was only about nine minutes and left him with big purple bruises all ofer his back for most of the trip. They had three beautiful steam rooms, really lovely spaces, and two of them were out of order from the second day on. They wouldnt refund the cost of the spa package.

The food was a study in extremes. The escargot was among the best i've ever had, as some of the desserts were tremendous. The wine list in the dining rooms was impressive and surprisingly reasonable in its pricing. The kitchen could not cook a medium rare steak if it was the only material on the whole boat that could save it from sinking; it was either cooked to charcoal or completely raw, and recooks always tasted as if it had been cooked alongside fish. The fruit was always wonderfully fresh and varied, and breakfast was usually quite good. The buffet was acceptable but rarely open; after returning from time greenside, the only food available was these terrible grey hot dogs from the poolside grill (read:poolside steam table). And LGBT events were neither hosted nor moderated and, as a result, were complete failures. We did, however, in stereotypical fashion, make some friends at the art auctions, which were rather nice.

The very worst part of the experience, though, was the fight, and the crew's reaction to it. Of course, the cruise line cannot be blamed for the behaviors of its guests, but they can be held accountable for their response. One evening we were walking the deck outside and we came across a fistfight. A man well into his 70s was beaten bloody on the deck, trying to crawl away from the scene, and is poor wife was bawling as she tried to stand him up. Some of the man's family were trying to detain the assailant, whose family was trying to engage them in a fight as well. I helped the man to a chair while my husband (a rather powerfully built man) tried to help maintain the peace. I went inside and went to the nearest crewmember, a young woman working at a coffee kiosk. I told her that a man had been assaulted on deck and asked her to please call security and the sickbay for assistance, and i asked her for a cup of water for the man and some ice for his bruises. As she stood in front of a sink, she told me she didnt sell water and id have to go find a bar. Then she told me to go find the casino cashier desk because it wasnt her job to call in disturbances. I should note that she was wearing a radio and there was a phone on the wall behind her. By the time i found someone willing to help, the assailant's son had gotten in a fight with two other people, grabbed his father, and disappeared; the victim was semi-conscious. It was one of the most disgusting examples of abominable service i have ever seen.

So in my inexpert opinion, carnival is best avoided, in much the same way that iran, hemlock, and the mid-80s suzuki samuri is best avoided.

We are Josh and Reid, 30s, from Laramie, WY (yes, the Matthew Sheppard town). This is my second cruise and Reid's 3rd; the last one was Carnival Dream, Jan 18, '15, w caribbean, fron NOLA. We weren't too pleased with the (utter lack of) service or the inescapable hoardes of children on Carnival; hoping for better from Princess. Carnival's LGBT offerings werent exactly robust, either; they had the requisite "Friends of Dorothy" get togethers, but they werent hosted or moderated and were attended largely by middle aged straight women thinking themselves edgy for meeting gay men on a cruise. We've heard Princess is far superior on all counts.

In any event, this is our first cruise on our own, without friends, so it would be cool to maybe find people to be social with. Anyone else on this cruise?