Are Friends of Dorothy or GLBT parties standard on Carnival?

[EMSguy75]

My partner and I are going to be on Carnival Liberty departing 09/17/11 and the last cruise we had on the Carnival Splendor there were FOD times set up like everyone else said at different times so most all can attend. We did go to a few of them in hopes to get one of our single friend to meet someone. Everyone seemed nice and in face my partner knew one of them from Texas. We are looking forward to meeting new friends on this next cruise, as it will just be the two of us.

Shawn

[vadthethird]

My partner and I will be on Splendor July 24-31st. We'll be looking forward to FOD meetings. We're from Palm Springs (41 & 47). Looking forward to our first Carnival cruise; we've cruised other lines, but looking for a relaxing get away!

[masspector]

I saw someone mention that there is a gay cruise roll call on this site. I have not been able to find it. Can someone direct me to it? Thanks

[aquadaawwg]

my partner and I will be on the Liberty 6/2012 and can't wait. We were on the Victory last year and each night had FOD get together in the martini bar. But not much participation. I hope you will share your trip with us!

[bobnjeff]

We were on the Miracle last Dec. The only Miracle was that we survived it. I will not go into details but UGH!!! they did have FOD meetings but every day was a different time and place. Very strange. Meet a few guys but as I said, Never, never again!

[gregwsmith]

My partner and I will be on The Triumph 9/17/2011. We plan on attending a few at least.

[559cruisers]

ok Aquadaawwg, please tell me how you got that countdown clock to work on your signature...I can't seem to make it work. Only the crappy CC one works :-(

[EMSguy75]

I would imagine we will book our next cruise while on this one in Sept. Hey... I want to know how to put a count down on mine as well...Haha..

[Pleap]

My partner and I ( Paul and Ron ) of 11 years will be traveling on the Dream on Sept 17, 2011 with 2 friends ( Keith and Mickey ) who are both single. We will attend a few of the FOD meetings so they can meet other singles. Here is my email address if you would like to respond: pleap42136@aol.com. Be safe traveling. If this reply appears more than once, I was having trouble trying to get it to post.

 

 

Hi there Myself Thomas (24) and Partner Rob (33) are boarding the Carnival dream on the 17th Sep 2011, Will look out for notice of FOD meeting as like to meet other likeminded people & have a good time ;)

[Pleap]

Any of Friends of Dorothy traveling on the Dream on this Date?

 

Pleap

:)

[Pleap]

Anyone going on the Dream on this Date: Sept 17, 2011

 

Pleap:)

[Lipz]

We were on the Carnival Glory Aug. 13 -18 and stopped by the bar that was hosting FOD almost every evening. No one ever showed up. Carnival does advertise it in their Freestyle Daily though but my guess is not every gay person on the ship knows what it is!

[Richard & Philip]

Or do you need to request them?

We just got back from Triumph Cruise out of NOLA. It was awesome. We met about thirty people at the Friends of Dorothy gathering in the wine bar. We would all meet there every night. Met some great folks. Made the trip the best cruise ever.

[MarkRichard]

...our last cruise with Carnival , on The SPIRIT, Vancouver to Hawaii.....there was a FOD everynight for 12 nights and they actually moved us ,by our request, from the lounge by the MDR to the Aisian Piano Bar to give us mor privacy. There were probably up to 20 of us every night and only twice did 4 women come,,,we go back to Hawaii in April 2012 on the SPIRIT , so we will see if the FOD policy has changed,,,

[DudesInOTown]

We leave for our Dream cruise next Saturday. This will be our fifth sailing with Carnival. We'll see how things play out this year. In the past we have always seen FOD meetings posted daily in the Capers. We always show up for the first night or two and then throw in the towel, as we're usually the only ones there no matter how many other gay couples we see onboard. I think perhaps it's the terminology. I'd venture a guess that the under 30 gay cruiser has never even seen the Wizard of Oz. LGBT would catch a few more eyes, but might be a little risky for the cruise lines to print, as it's more generally known in the population and could invite trouble. We had far more luck meeting fellow cruisers last fall on NCL Star. We'd met a gay male couple online through an all gay cruise chat forum and got to know them before we sailed. Once on the ship we attended the FOD meetings nightly, and by day 10 we had a rather sizeable group of gay men and women--aged late 30's to mid 80's--meeting several times a day and enjoying the ports together. Maybe it's hit or miss. I'll let you know our luck with FOD when we return!

[greg_atlanta]

On Destiny 4 night cruise from Miami there were meetings in the program 2 of the 4 nights at 9:45 pm in Cheers, which is a wine/martini bar. The first night was crowded but I think most of the bar patrons were not FOD -- it was very close to the crowded comedy club and dance club and lots of other venues. The second night nothing was going on and there were maybe 4 FOD attendees (judging by gaydar). I was about to order a drink and join in but they don't serve beer at that bar (didn't want to mix) so didn't bother. But ran into another gay couple who passed by the bar out of curiosity.

[Roguethunder]

Good Evening. My partner and I are about to go on our fourth cruise and have yet to meet any family on board. We just celebrated our 15th Aniversery on March 1, 2011. We have not made it to the FOD. In fact did not know exactly what it was until our last cruise. It was always held at 11:30 and by that time we were usually beat. LOL Old farts. Anyway we are sailing on Oct 2, 2011 out of Galvestin, TX and just wondered if on Carnival Conquest. I just wondered if perhaps anyone would be sailing on the Conquest then. Would love to meet other couples. We are not big partyers, so don't do the club scene here in the old Bible Belt, Texas LOL . Have never been on Olivia but like several others have said. It is really expensive. We use our RCI and pay for it throughout the year, so does not reqire a bank loan.If you are sailing the same time, holler at us.

[SimRob]

My partner and I will be on this cruise and have gotten no responses on the roll call forum. We would like to meet some other gay couples (or singles [wink] [wink] ). We have been together 30 years and are not big partyers or drinkers.

[TvTech6]

Anyone going on the Dream on this Date: Sept 17, 2011

 

Pleap:)

 

 

My buddy and I just got OFF of Carnival Dream the day you were boarding. We were traveling with people we met on a cruise in June 2010 at the FOD meetings on Carnival Glory. We actually met about 12 wonderful people on that cruise, and about 8 of us have stayed in touch via FACEBOOK. 4 of us were able to book together this year. We had another great time, and met a few more people at this year's FOD gatherings. We are already planning our 2012 cruise on the CARNIVAL FREEDOM. The new people we met are going to try and join us next year also. There were others that showed up for the FOD meetings, chatted a few minutes then would move on. While I like that they schedule these, they do not do anything to gather the people together. It is just random people walking into a public space, and you are on your own to find each other. (i realize that is not always that tough). BUT, that being said ... we have made it work, and met some nice people. Hope your vacation on the DREAM was as fantastic as ours was.

 

Patrick

[95turbogirl]

Any other FOD on board with us?? We are a large group 6 lesbians, 1 straight girl and my daughter!

[RanchoDeluxe]

We sailed in November on the NCL Star for a 7-day. Everyday in the schedule (whatever they called it) were both Friends of Dorothy/GLBT and Friends of Bill W meetings. I had to explain to my 80 year old, traditional, southern mother named Dorothy what these were. Damn my DH thought that was funny. Whilst she is not religious, mom and I have some heated conversations about gay marriage. Different generations, that's for sure. (She had heard of AA.)

 

Anyhow, I wanted to point out that other cruise lines are also routinely organizing get togethers for GLBT cruisers, just like they do singles mixers.

 

And the question. I understand from the earlier comment that Dorothy refers to the Wizard of Oz Dorothy, but when did she become associated with homosexuality? Dorothy wasn't gay. Is she a popular drag persona? Was Judy Garland gay? My Mom and I are both curious.

 

And Oh dear lord, if I have used non PC language please forgive me. No flaming me. I'm just not up on the lingo. My mom is 80 and I'm no spring chicken.

[JALinker]

...somewhere over the rainbow... catchy tune. rainbow connotation...

[GaNavy]

FOD meetings have been standard issue on each of my Carnival cruises over the last 5 years - they also had them on Princess years ago.

 

Regardless, I've never had any trouble meeting family on any of my cruises. Just flip the gaydar to "ON" (if, that is, yours is ever "OFF") and you're set. Most but not all of the gay folk I've met onboard have been coupled.

 

As for "Dorothy," it is indeed a reference to the Wizard of Oz. No, Dorothy wasn't gay and neither was Judy Garland, but Judy had a huge gay following - in fact, she still does - and so in the code that gay men used to have to use when being gay was, in many places, a crime punishable by imprisonment, "Friend of Dorothy" (as in "Are you a friend of Dorothy?") became a way that we could identify each other without being overt about it. Today, it seems both obscure and kind of oddly quaint...but it can be a good reminder of how much the world has changed over time.

Edited February 10, 2012 by GaNavy

[RanchoDeluxe]

As for "Dorothy," it is indeed a reference to the Wizard of Oz. No, Dorothy wasn't gay and neither was Judy Garland, but Judy had a huge gay following - in fact, she still does - and so in the code that gay men used to have to use when being gay was, in many places, a crime punishable by imprisonment, "Friend of Dorothy" (as in "Are you a friend of Dorothy?") became a way that we could identify each other without being overt about it. Today, it seems both obscure and kind of oddly quaint...but it can be a good reminder of how much the world has changed over time.

 

Thanks Gordon! About two days after my post I had a du'oh moment and went and Googled FOD. Got my info. But I appreciate the feedback.

[paulypride]

The FOD meeting was at 10pm each night of the five day cruise in the "Puttin on the Ritz" bar. There was about 10 of us the first night...myself, my husband, our best friend, another couple who are friends of ours and two other couples...males from Tennasee and a lesbian couple from NC.....we saw shows and played bingo a few times together....we had a lot of fun. Looks like I am gonna be on the Victory in June....hope it works just as well