starri

5 hours ago, fshepinc said:

But it is also a week or so of freedom from heteronormativity, its attitudes and constraints.

More so than the parties, the thing that's freeing for me about Atlantis is that it's a week where I don't have to apologize for being myself.

A lot of the cruise lines, as they've renovated, have gotten rid of single-sex free dry saunas.  At his point, most of them want you to pay to access their thermal suites.

I don't know that specifically about the Jade, but in 2024, I'd be more surprised if they had a space that any (male) guest could use for free.

3 hours ago, summercruisin' said:

When I called Princess to update the gender marker there after finalizing the passport, the first two people I spoke with said it really didn't matter, as long as the name and birthdate were correct. I had to call a third person and insist they change it, because it matters to my kid, and they finally did. But, their insistence that it didn't matter makes me think it may not even matter for the manifest after all.

I'm sorry for all the levels of annoyance, but I just had to give you my admiration for how far you are going to make sure your kid is treated the way they want to be treated.

If my trans patients all had parents that would do even half as much, I'd have a bunch of happier patients.

Virgin.

On 9/24/2023 at 1:53 PM, RICHARD@SEA said:

are the VV total ship charters???

Yes.  They chartered Valiant Lady (was originally Brilliant Lady but when it was delayed it changed) out of San Juan in March, and then two cruises on Resilient Lady first from Athens to Barcelona and then Barcelona to Southampton in August.

This is in addition to the big cruise on Oasis of the Seas and the inevitable Mexican Riviera cruise in the fall in terms of big ships, and then their more exotic Med cruise on Oceania Riviera in July.

Right now, I’m booked on Oasis, Valiant Lady, and the Athens-BCN leg.

10 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

The ship is very poorly designed, I just don't see how its going to work!

I mean, Atlantis has at least three VV cruises on offer for next year.  It's clearly working for someone.

7 hours ago, RBCal said:

I saw a gay acrobatic Cirque du Soleil level show on an all gay cruise that was better than the Vegas Cirque shows (I've seen all of them).

If you're talking about AirOtic Soiree on Atlantis, I wholeheartedly agree.

On 7/4/2023 at 8:11 PM, Obobru said:

I think with Grindr being so popular gay guys don't need pineapples or any other symbols. For straight swingers maybe theres no app that allows them to easily meet on a cruise. 

Grindr doesn’t work so well with cruise ship Wi-Fi…

…I’ve heard.

On 8/7/2023 at 5:54 AM, CDNPolar said:

Why do you want to travel with a gay group and not just meet whoever on a ship?

Not everyone gets to be "immersed" in gay culture.

I did my first Atlantis cruise this year.  Now, I live in New York City, so I get to more or less be authentically myself 365 days out of the year, but I still found the experience incredibly freeing.  

Compare that against a guy from Utah that I met while I was on board.  One of the last nights, while I was feeling great but ready to get back to my normal life, he told me how much he wished he didn't have to go home.  And it took me a minute, but I realized that what his day to day life is like is very different than mine.  It was a powerful moment for me.

Depending on your interest level, Atlantis is doing a Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan on Brilliant Lady next year.  Given the ship, it’s likely going to be at least fractionally more sedate than the big party cruise on the Oasis.

On 3/16/2023 at 5:14 AM, CDNPolar said:

I am all for someone being out and proud in their own way, but we have to understand that sometimes being too out and proud can garner attention that we don't want.

Any time you make a statement of "I'm all for....but..." you're basically saying you're not for it.

I'm 45, so a generation ahead of you.  I wasn't cognizant of the worst of AIDS, but I did manage to be there for Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and the Defense of Marriage Act.

Your generation gave us "We're here, we're queer, get used to it!"  Being open and unapologetic about who we are is what got us to where we are now.  The need for that hasn't changed.  No one who's anywhere on the rainbow should be forced to diminish themselves for the comfort of the normies.

I had a PHENOMENAL time on the Harmony cruise last month.  I was very anxious going in, because I got very, very sick last summer, had emergency surgery where I was essentially cut in half to remove most of my colon, lost 40 lbs in the span of three weeks, and then turned around and had a second surgery to hook the remaining colon back up in November, so between the scars on my stomach and the way my physique has been wrecked.  

I didn’t need to worry.  I was dancing with my shirt off by the third night.  I’ve never felt so free in my life.  I don’t know how I’d do a Muggle cruise again.

Got off the Atlantis Harmony cruise last Sunday.  They are, in fact, going to be chartering Brilliant Lady for a Southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan for either later this year or early next.

Personally, I’m itching to book the next big party cruise, but they hadn’t finalized the details by the end of the Harmony week.

I mean, I don't have any experience at all with Atlantis, although I'm booked on the Harmony with a group of friends.  I'm hoping I enjoy it enough to want to do it again, but I couldn't go with my husband if it was a majority deck party, because he'd hate it.

We're doing our first (non-Atlantis) VV next summer.  I was hoping if we end up liking the ship, he have wanted to do an Atlantis charter, but I guess not so much now.

I mean, if they're chartering Oceania Vista, they're not wedded to the idea of the Atlantis experience exclusively being huge deck parties.

Prima is a good deal bigger than the Virgin ships, although it's not huge by any stretch of the imagination.  It's also a bit bigger than Navigator of the Seas that they used on their most recent Halloween cruise.

Are my husband and I going to have any company?

This is an Atlantis charter.

I'm going (my first time) with a group of friends.  It's sold out, but there are resale groups on Facebook if someone can't go.

I hope to see you aboard.

5 hours ago, andrcan said:

No worries - I've been on Allure a few years ago and in the elevators, one always has to yield to mobility scooters: everyone there has good time indeed, it's just we only tend to notice certain types 😉

Well, I usually take the stairs.

I'm actually more excited than nervous, and that actually scares me.

52 minutes ago, andrcan said:

On the other side, don't sweat the costumes too much: some parties are always there - White, Dog Tag, Disco to name a few - and so many people just wear something neutral and still meddle in well.

I'm glad the Dog Tag one is a constant for...reasons.

52 minutes ago, andrcan said:

Regarding the age and the shape - well, it all depends. Longer exotic cruises tend to have more mature crowd than short Caribbean trips (not that many young kids have time and money for a 10-12 day European or Asian cruise) so my observation is, the average passenger on a Mediterranean cruise is in his 50s. Same with the shape. There are always eye candies but not like you're gonna have diabetes)

I mean, this is the big Harmony one (and then they're turning around and having another on Norwegian Prima in like three weeks), so I know I'll likely be towards the upper end of the age range.  Which I'm fine with.  I just want to have a good time, and hopefully not be too physically repulsive.

On 4/16/2022 at 6:13 AM, Surfguyxxx said:

They'll send you a list of events prior to your sailings so you can pack accordingly.  The afternoon Tea Dances are not to be missed.  Quite the menagerie of eye candy 😜.  Have fun.

I wish they'd give the party themes further in advance.  I'm determined to enjoy my midlife crisis while aboard.

Thank you both for the info.  This may be my one shot to be the world's oldest, schlubbiest circuit boy.  Just have to workout nonstop for the next 9 months.

So, I know we collectively tend towards more sedate activities, but I was wondering about anyone's collective experiences on Atlantis charters.

I booked my first one with two of my best friends (one friend and me: mid-40s, other friend mid-30s), because I've always wanted to do it, and at 44, I'm reasonably comfortable in my body as I'm somehow in the best shape of my life.  I know it's not a non-stop party even if YouTube videos make it seem that way.  So, what's it like when you're not dancing?

My husband and I are booked on the same cruise.  We've cruised primarily with X, but thought we'd give HAL a shot.  While I know itineraries are always malleable, my husband was really hoping to dive in Cabo.

This is not off to a promising start.

My husband and I were on Oasis OTS back in October.  I don't think we ever really went to the meet-up, because we went the first night and there were few people when we were there.  But it seemed to be pretty well attended other nights, and was held in Vintages, so it was actually conducive to conversation.

Mostly cis gay men, but there were two trans women who attended a night or two.

I wouldn't cruise with DCL, at least not with my husband because he LOATHES Disney.  So that's no hardship for me.

I actually canceled a planned WDW solo vacation for the Epcot 40th anniversary over this.  I don't judge anyone who makes a different decision than I did, but I know I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I kept it.