Clothing Optional Cruise

[richard1s]

Most have read the report of the horrible, unforgiveable assault that occurred on the Nieuw Amsterdam; I am sure that we all hope that justice is swift for the perpetrator & the person is punished accordingly.

 

On a completely separate topic, I am surprised that there is such a thing as a "clothing optional" cruise; I have never heard of this before, ever. I (hopefully) believe that there is an isolated area of the ship for sun bathing "sans clothing"; I can't imagine anything beyond that. Sometimes I have to work my courage up just to walk through the pool area on a normal cruise. I don't need more.

 

I also find it interesting that these themes are sometimes not disclosed at the time of booking. Our recent NA cruise was a "gay and lesbian" cruise. First, control the impulse to chastise me, neither my wife nor I have any problem with this issue - at all; in fact, I didn't even realize it until mid-week and when someone told me. Duh.

 

Maybe if there is a "theme" to the cruise, the timing of disclosing the decision is a factor or perhaps it is just policy; but I would appreciate knowing if it is "official" when I book the trip.

 

I have heard some horror stories about theme cruises - and often it is the "Insurance Actuary Theme Cruise" or the like that engenders the most collective outrageous behavior. But I think most of us book assuming that the new population of the cruise city are all anonymous strangers who want to get away for some peace and quiet on our own terms and in private.

[sail7seas]

The clothing optional cruises are only done for full charters.

[cbr663]

I feel that the cruise lines should always inform the public whenever there are groups on boards - whether that is for a theme cruise or any other type of cruise. Any large group on a cruise has the very real potential to change the dynamics of the cruise for many passengers. People behave very differently when they are part of a group, and sadly, many groups are completely oblivious to how their behaviour affect others around them.

[kjw869]

Most have read the report of the horrible, unforgiveable assault that occurred on the Nieuw Amsterdam; I am sure that we all hope that justice is swift for the perpetrator & the person is punished accordingly.

 

On a completely separate topic, I am surprised that there is such a thing as a "clothing optional" cruise; I have never heard of this before, ever. I (hopefully) believe that there is an isolated area of the ship for sun bathing "sans clothing"; I can't imagine anything beyond that. Sometimes I have to work my courage up just to walk through the pool area on a normal cruise. I don't need more.

 

I also find it interesting that these themes are sometimes not disclosed at the time of booking. Our recent NA cruise was a "gay and lesbian" cruise. First, control the impulse to chastise me, neither my wife nor I have any problem with this issue - at all; in fact, I didn't even realize it until mid-week and when someone told me. Duh.

 

Maybe if there is a "theme" to the cruise, the timing of disclosing the decision is a factor or perhaps it is just policy; but I would appreciate knowing if it is "official" when I book the trip.

 

I have heard some horror stories about theme cruises - and often it is the "Insurance Actuary Theme Cruise" or the like that engenders the most collective outrageous behavior. But I think most of us book assuming that the new population of the cruise city are all anonymous strangers who want to get away for some peace and quiet on our own terms and in private.

 

This was a full charter cruise booked through Bare Necessities Tour and Travel Co. Next year, the same agency has booked the Celebrity Constellation as a full charter.

 

When did you sail on the Nieuw Amsterdam?

[Krazy Kruizers]

I think OP sailed on the Feb 9th cruise.

[cruisin'girl]

I feel that the cruise lines should always inform the public whenever there are groups on boards - whether that is for a theme cruise or any other type of cruise. Any large group on a cruise has the very real potential to change the dynamics of the cruise for many passengers. People behave very differently when they are part of a group, and sadly, many groups are completely oblivious to how their behaviour affect others around them.

Because so many cruisers feel like you do, me included, is exactly why cruiselines will never tell if there is going to be a large group on your cruise even when asked directly. There would be too many cancellations if people knew before they boarded.

[BJzink]

I feel that the cruise lines should always inform the public whenever there are groups on boards - whether that is for a theme cruise or any other type of cruise. Any large group on a cruise has the very real potential to change the dynamics of the cruise for many passengers. People behave very differently when they are part of a group, and sadly, many groups are completely oblivious to how their behaviour affect others around them.

I totally agree - we ended up on a cruise with several hundred persons who belonged to a very liberal political group. They took over one of the lounges as their own, paraded through the ship with political signs, wore buttons, were very loud & sang their "rally" songs at the top of their lungs. We complaigned to the passenger service desk, but nothing much was done. I think the management quashed their parades & signs, we didn't see them after the first 2 days. But it was uncomfortable for those passengers who were not with them. We would have definitely tried to change to a different cruise had we known. I'm sure this is why the cruise lines will not inform passengers ahead of time. I used to have a website where you could look this up. Does anyone know about this????

[boulders]

There is a thread here that lists all of the known charters and large groups on HAL cruises.

[quanta88]

Our recent NA cruise was a "gay and lesbian" cruise. First, control the impulse to chastise me, neither my wife nor I have any problem with this issue - at all; in fact, I didn't even realize it until mid-week and when someone told me. Duh.

 

Wait, weren't you on the Jan 26th sailing on Nieuw Amsterdam? I was on that. It was not a "gay and lesbian" cruise, unless you count the small LGBT meeting in one of the card rooms - but that happens on every ship on every cruise, like the AA "Friends of Bill W." get-together.

 

We had a small group called "Movers and Shakers" (something to do with real estate); I saw a sign for them outside the Half Moon Room; otherwise the cruise seemed to be group free to me.

 

It was the first leg of a Collector's Cruise to boot.

 

There are LGBT cruises of course, however they are also sold as exclusive charters.

[sail7seas]

I feel that the cruise lines should always inform the public whenever there are groups on boards - whether that is for a theme cruise or any other type of cruise. Any large group on a cruise has the very real potential to change the dynamics of the cruise for many passengers. People behave very differently when they are part of a group, and sadly, many groups are completely oblivious to how their behaviour affect others around them.

 

 

Because the cruise lines well know all this, they will not tell us even when asked directly. We were once aboard with a very large group and it was dreadful. We learned a very hard and costly lesson that cruise. It doesn't really matter what the group is as what matters is the rest of us feel like we are in the way. Well, actually, all those not a part of the group are in the way.

 

Venues are closed for their private use, sometimes full dining seatings are reserved for just them and a host of other inconveniences and worse.

 

[richard1s]

Wait, weren't you on the Jan 26th sailing on Nieuw Amsterdam? I was on that. It was not a "gay and lesbian" cruise, unless you count the small LGBT meeting in one of the card rooms - but that happens on every ship on every cruise, like the AA "Friends of Bill W." get-together. There are LGBT cruises of course, however they are also sold as exclusive charters.

 

Yes, that is correct - 1/26; I guess you invested the time to research? I may have been misinformed by passenger(s), crew or maybe even my spouse. But either way, that never mattered to begin with and wasn't really my point.

 

However I did learn today that there are "clothing optional" cruises. My wife and I are germ-a-phobes and routinely wipe down our stateroom surfaces when we board. Now I guess we have some new areas of concern in our stateroom.

[quanta88]

Yes, that is correct - 1/26; I guess you invested the time to research?

 

The LGBT (and Bill W., etc.) meetings are listed in the On Location. I didn't see a lot of same-sex couples, did you? As for research for avoiding groups altogether, yes I check the Cruise Critic thread on group bookings before picking the date of any cruise.

 

However I did learn today that there are "clothing optional" cruises. My wife and I are germ-a-phobes and routinely wipe down our stateroom surfaces when we board. Now I guess we have some new areas of concern in our stateroom.

 

Valid point. You may feel some consolation that, according to some participants posting in several CC threads:

 

1. The passengers always carry a towel with them to place on any chair they may sit on
   
2. Nudity is reserved for sunbathing/daytime. They wear clothes like everybody else for dinner.
   
3. As usual, the HAL crew are cleaning constantly and keeping the ship spic and span day in and day out.
   

P.S. Thank you for your review from the other day; I would say it was spot on. We too enjoyed that cruise immensely.

[richard1s]

I didn't see a lot of same-sex couples, did you? As for research for avoiding groups altogether, yes I check the Cruise Critic thread on group bookings before picking the date of any cruise.

QUOTE]

 

I didn't notice same sex couples- really; we were too busy having a good time.

 

If you are the same delightful couple from Toronto - retired nurse and retired hubby from Toronto PD in a monkey suit, that we dined with on second formal night, we so enjoyed meeting you both. Canadians are so much fun!

[quanta88]

If you are the same delightful couple from Toronto - retired nurse and retired hubby from Toronto PD in a monkey suit, that we dined with on second formal night, we so enjoyed meeting you both. Canadians are so much fun!

 

Alas, we were not. Never fear, we Canadians are everywhere. :)

[djhsolara]

Cruise lines disclosing groups traveling on a cruise just screams discrimination.

 

The demographics of passengers is not disclosed to anyone. They would never say "we expect about 1/3 of the ship to be Americans and 1/3 of the ship to be Canadians, etc"...so it wouldn't make sense for them to say "we expect about 1/3 of the ship to be gay and 1/3 of the ship to be a group of realtors and the rest of the ship will be everyone else".

Edited February 17, 2014 by djhsolara

[djhsolara]

If you want to know if there are any organized groups on your sailing, you can Google your ship name and sail date to see.

[sail7seas]

My point is not as to sexual orientation.......

 

It is about whether there will be 500 in a knitting group, or 600 in a book club or any very large number of guests who are a part of the total passenger mix.

When that happens, such things as Crows Nest closed to all others not a part of the group, being told to leave aft pool on a sea day because they are having a private pool party, whole dining time reserved for the group and all others forced to whatever is left over........

 

We have had it happen to us.

It has nothing to do with Nationality, Religion, Race, Sexual Orientation or anything else that could be described as discriminatory.

 

Those large groups bring in lots of money and all attention is focused on pleasing them and anyone not in the group are very much secondary during that cruise.

 

 

Edited February 17, 2014 by sail7seas

[sail7seas]

If you want to know if there are any organized groups on your sailing, you can Google your ship name and sail date to see.

 

 

That is definitely worth a try but is not consistently perfectly accurate.

[djhsolara]

I agree Sail that perhaps they could just say something very vague like "there will be a group of about 500 passengers onboard and because of this some venues may be closed at times for their use"...but then I could also imagine that somewhere along the line some agent will slip up and say what this group is and then it does become an issue. I also see the impact this may have on selling the cruise. If you're telling me that I won't be able to use parts of the ship, I probably won't book that cruise...and perhaps many others wouldn't either and they could end up with just the 500 people from this group on the ship.

[sail7seas]

I agree Sail that perhaps they could just say something very vague like "there will be a group of about 500 passengers onboard and because of this some venues may be closed at times for their use"...but then I could also imagine that somewhere along the line some agent will slip up and say what this group is and then it does become an issue. I also see the impact this may have on selling the cruise. If you're telling me that I won't be able to use parts of the ship, I probably won't book that cruise...and perhaps many others wouldn't either and they could end up with just the 500 people from this group on the ship.

 

 

Exactly.

Having suffered 'not being part of the group' once, we would run like the wind were we to hear there was to be a large group on a cruise we were booking. :eek:

 

No one should be put inthe circumstance IMO

We pay to have full use of the whole ship; not to be denied access to venues reserved for a group we are not a part of.

 

All cruise lines know this and that is why they avoid providing that information even when directly asked. It is deceptive.

 

[TiogaCruiser]

The demographics of passengers is not disclosed to anyone. They would never say "we expect about 1/3 of the ship to be Americans and 1/3 of the ship to be Canadians, etc"...so it ....".

 

Not totally true. One our first HAL cruise we were given the breakdown of countries of origin and minors for pax on one of the dailies. Now, I haven't seen it since.....

[startwin]

Not totally true. One our first HAL cruise we were given the breakdown of countries of origin and minors for pax on one of the dailies. Now, I haven't seen it since.....

Yes, they still do it, at least on some of the ships.

[djhsolara]

Not totally true. One our first HAL cruise we were given the breakdown of countries of origin and minors for pax on one of the dailies. Now, I haven't seen it since.....

 

 

I remember something like that, but it was a fact that was disclosed during the cruise...not used as a selling point.

[Oceanwench]

I would say most theme cruises are charters.

I am thinking of things like The Smooth Jazz Cruise, different rock music cruises, Turner Classic Movies cruise.

A clothing-optional cruise is definitely going to be a charter.

 

There are some smaller groups that offer theme cruises but don't charter because they are not filling the ship. The soap opera cruises were that way. There was a Dark Shadows cruise not too long ago that wasn't a charter.

 

There are also special interest group cruises that might draw a lot of real estate agents, doctors, Amway salespeople or knitters.

 

We have sailed with some groups on our ship - one was a spiritual film society, one was a Christian singer's followers - and we were not disturbed by either.

But I can see why some groups might take over venues and make it unpleasant for non-group members. I wouldn't be happy in that situation.

I certainly would not want to sail with a political group with parades, banners, etc. -- unless, of course, it happened to be the one I belong to. :D

 

I've had pretty good luck googling my cruise dates and ship, or looking at the list on CC or at the theme cruise finder website.

[kpgibbs]

When I saw the topic of this thread, all I could think of was NO ONE wants to see me nakid!!!