Just wondering if Sapphire Princess is gay friendly?

[Luke916]

We have traveled on Princess before but cannot remember if they were gay friendly or not? Was wondering if any of you are familiar with the ship itself or the line and was hoping someone can help us out with what to prepare for in either case. I am sure there will be no problems but we are not the "gay cruise" type and just want to relax with some regular folk!

 

Hoping to hear back from some people in the know!

 

Jamey & Marc

[DCT61]

Me, My partner and another gay couple were on the Sapphire Princess in April. We found the ship to be pretty gay freindly. There was a LGBT get together every night in one of the bars. Never got any bad vibes the entire cruise...had a great time, and well definately cruise again w/ Princess.

[NewPennCruiser]

We regularly cruise with Princess and have always been comfortable with them. We have in fact been on the Sapphire three times and it's one of our favorite ships. A couple of years ago we did a Coastal cruise on the Sapphire from LA and the LGBT meetings were well attended and we met a lot of nice people (gay and straight) on that cruise. In fact, at one of the LGBT meetings they provided a bottle of champagne for the group and I thought that was a nice touch. One of the reasons we regularly return to Princess is that they always make us feel welcome as a couple and that means a lot to us. You'll hear similar stories from others regarding Cunard, HAL, Celebrity, etc but in our experience Princess has never disappointed us. I'm sure you'll have a great time. Dave

[rizrizriz]

We also were on the Saphire back in 2009 and had a great time... met bunch of folks and never felt any bad vibe on the ship and each meeting had some of the staff there.

We are going on Carnival Magic next month, so hoping its the same. From what I heard its good also

[jimcradd]

My partner and I were on the Sapphire in March and had a great time. The crew we came in contact with were all friendly. In fact we are booked to go on the ship again in December.

 

Jim

[pisces1948]

I'll add to the chorus We have traveled on a number of Princess ships including the Sapphire and always found them welcoming We have met a number of interesting people, both gay and straight and enjoyed their company during and after the cruise

[duck addict]

How could any ship named "princess" not be friendly? LOL

[Luke916]

Thank you guys for the input. I've noticed on some other threads I posted on here that i get people looking at the thread (lots actually) but no one ever replies. Is that normal? I assume that they are just reading them and not necessarily going on that particular cruise. I am hoping that there will be some other gay couples on our cruise and we do like going to the LGBT meetings so we can meet and socialize.

Since we are going on back to back cruises with them I would hope that some would be on either cruise. But i appreciate the responses on here and hopefully one day will meet up on a cruise in the future!

 

Jamey & Marc

[CL-JW]

My husband and I have sailed Sapphire twice and find it very gay friendly. Lots of gay and gay friendly crew and many LGBT gatherings.

 

We've found Princess as a whole is quite gay friendly as well.

[NewPennCruiser]

Thank you guys for the input. I've noticed on some other threads I posted on here that i get people looking at the thread (lots actually) but no one ever replies. Is that normal? I assume that they are just reading them and not necessarily going on that particular cruise. I am hoping that there will be some other gay couples on our cruise and we do like going to the LGBT meetings so we can meet and socialize.

Since we are going on back to back cruises with them I would hope that some would be on either cruise. But i appreciate the responses on here and hopefully one day will meet up on a cruise in the future!

 

Jamey & Marc

 

The more we cruise, it seems like we notice more gay couples onboard so I'm sure there will be quite a few "family" around. It sounds like you're doing a back to back cruise....we're doing our first b2b on Crown next February and I'm already looking forward to it. Have a great cruise! Dave

[shepp]

We're confirmed Princess cruisers, and find the line to be queer-friendly to a fault. When we celebrated our anniversary aboard the Sapphire, the waiters brought a cake and sang to us...

 

And the Sapphire is a lovely ship.

[Luke916]

We're confirmed Princess cruisers, and find the line to be queer-friendly to a fault. When we celebrated our anniversary aboard the Sapphire, the waiters brought a cake and sang to us...

 

And the Sapphire is a lovely ship.

 

 

Thats funny... we took our honeymoon cruise on HAL and the waiters did the same thing but seemed to be confused when they realized who the ones celebrating and sang and tried to leave without any embarrassment to us. I know HAL and Princess are both owned by Carnival so I assume that they were all going ot be gay friendly. But I can tell you that Carnival is not as gay friendly. Maybe not the crew but some of the passengers were very offputting. Sat with an older couple and the wife's sister and they made a big stink about sitting with us on the first night. They had no ohter place to put them so it made the dinner and the 11 nights after a bit uncomfortable.

 

Bu thank you all for the help and responses...I do feel much better !!

[shepp]

I know HAL and Princess are both owned by Carnival so I assume that they were all going ot be gay friendly. But I can tell you that Carnival is not as gay friendly. Maybe not the crew but some of the passengers were very offputting.

 

Of course, lines can't control who books passage. They can aim at particular demographics, though; Carnival, I'm assured, attracts all sorts of pax, but is still associated with the party-hearty crowd...some of whom may not be queer-positive when they get tipsy. And though the Disney parks may be gay friendly, I'm betting that some of the parents onboard Disney cruises might not be thrilled if Junior were to see me and my honey dancing together. On the other hand, the only outright, unmistakeable homophobia I experienced was on staid old HAL, so it just goes to show you.

 

Plenty of other factors besides the line can influence things. In my experience, sailings out of San Francisco, which attract many cruisers from the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest, have felt usually friendlier than sailings from FLL...the HAL sailing having had a group of Southern Baptists onboard. The Cruise Director can also set the tone - the one on the HAL ship actually made a joke that implied that gay men weren't onboard. Neither did he deal with an antigay outburst during one show. And a CD will also influence which entertainers get hired, no?

 

And some of it's just luck.

 

(BTW, though the Carnival corporation owns a lot of lines, it's my understanding that they're run quite independently.)

[Luke916]

Funny thing is we sailed on HAL twice...the first one was on the Rotterdam in 2006 to Northern Europe, and had a wonderful (and very gay) cruise director who bought us and a lesbian couple we were hanging with some drinks. Then last year we sailed on the Amsterdam and he was again the cruise director and actually remembered us and again bought us a round of drinks. So like you said, its basically all run independently... never know who you will get. But I hope that Sapphire is gay friendly and hope to have a wonderful time.

 

 

 

 

Of course, lines can't control who books passage. They can aim at particular demographics, though; Carnival, I'm assured, attracts all sorts of pax, but is still associated with the party-hearty crowd...some of whom may not be queer-positive when they get tipsy. And though the Disney parks may be gay friendly, I'm betting that some of the parents onboard Disney cruises might not be thrilled if Junior were to see me and my honey dancing together. On the other hand, the only outright, unmistakeable homophobia I experienced was on staid old HAL, so it just goes to show you.

 

Plenty of other factors besides the line can influence things. In my experience, sailings out of San Francisco, which attract many cruisers from the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest, have felt usually friendlier than sailings from FLL...the HAL sailing having had a group of Southern Baptists onboard. The Cruise Director can also set the tone - the one on the HAL ship actually made a joke that implied that gay men weren't onboard. Neither did he deal with an antigay outburst during one show. And a CD will also influence which entertainers get hired, no?

 

And some of it's just luck.

 

(BTW, though the Carnival corporation owns a lot of lines, it's my understanding that they're run quite independently.)

[77Network]

I was on it in May. I give it a thumbs up. They sheduled a GLBT meeting everyday. Some were supose to be hosted, but they were not. The first night had a good turn out, but the other nights were pretty weak. One night we were the only people there. Staff was friendly and not a problem.

 

Food was only average though.

[artjer]

Anyone going on Sapphire on October 22?

[fadorastro]

Hi we are going on the sapphire to Hawaii and Tahiti, is anyone else going to be on this cruise, would be great to meet up. Paul & Karl

[KansasCityGuys]

We have been on the Sapphire once and fount it to be very gay friendly as other Princess ships and most cruise lines these days

 

In all of our cruising, we have only ever encounter one problem and it was on the Sapphire, but not with any of the crew, it was a homophobic passenger. My partner was all set to do a duet with his wife. All of a sudden his wife turns to my partner and says she can't sing with him. Then her husband makes a remark to us. His wife was so embarrassed, she stormed out of the room and we never saw this couple for the rest of the cruise. I have a feeling, they remained in their stateroom the rest of the cruise.

[webman]

Anyone going on Sapphire on October 22?

 

My partner and I are going on the 22nd. I am Tom and my partner is Steve. Hope to meet everyone when we got on board.

[fadorastro]

Hi Tom and Steve, maybe we can arrange a meetup when we get onbord and any others interested. We are Paul ad Partner Karl. UK