No to FOD request on Westerdam

[digby]

HAL may have made the list of best cruise lines for gay travelers, but they refused to schedule a FOD party on the 5/7 sailing of the new Westerdam. When one of my friends went down to request a party be announced in the daily news letter, he was told that they could not do that. He was told that all such 'special' gatherings had to be arranged through the head office BEFORE the sailing date. We counted at least 25 other gay people on board. Several of us made it clear in writing that we would not be spending gay dollars where we were not respected. (I have to say the staff in the cabins, dining room, and all bars could not have been more friendly to us though.)

[eroller]

Does this also apply to "Friends of Bill W?" I consider that a "special gathering" as well.

It amazes me that any cruise line such as HAL which sometimes charters their ships to RSVP and Atlantis would have such a policy.

Once again I think it boils down to the Cruise Director. There is too much inconsistency from ship to ship for it to be a head office policy. I think it's about time the head offices of every cruise line implement a standard policy to be used throughout each fleet. This way a single homophobic Cruise Director can't ruin the fun for all and tarnish the cruise line's reputation with gay passengers.

Ernie

[mattinla]

Yup.. just like the guy on Diamond Princess ignored our request, and they are known for regularly scheduling them without asking. It all comes down to the CD and their whims.

[tadjr]

I was thinking about this the other day wondering if the Dawn Princess cruise would offer a FOD party (they did).
How about getting a couple pads of post its (my mom found purple ones) and just make up your own invite and plaster them on the ship instead? FOD Party/Date/Time/Place then spread out and put them everywhere. All over the inside of the elevators, stairwells, on the menu board, anywhere else you happen to travel. Dont just plaster a wall of them, but if you are in an elevator and one happens to get stuck to the wall, what can you do? Of course, they would be taken down eventually by the crew when cleaning, but continue to put them up various times of the day until they are all gone. When the FOD party is held no one is going to know who arranged it or who posted it all over the place. Next time might make them think about placing a simple 1 line note in the daily briefing advertising the meeting instead. Its not like they're forcing anyone to go and most people dont even know what a Friends of Dorothy meeting is. The bingo announcements are more annoying and intrusive on most ships. Geez. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

I'm having withdrawal. Need help!

[gaupin]

tadjr. i don't quite know if that would further infuriate the ship's crew/cd staff by having to take down all the notes. i still see asking the cd or member of the cd staff as the way to go...NOT just leaving note at purser's office, but talking with them. and perhaps presenting a copy of one of these posts re: complaining to the line as it certainly is NOT the line policy would get the message across more than pasting post-its all over the place. just IMHO. mike

[RMS Olympic]

Is there a way to get a statement from the big cruise lines concerning their respective policies on FOD gatherings via this web site. Then with a copy of their satement in hand you could present it to the CD on board...then he or she would be putting themselves on the line to reverse a published policy.
Cruise critic appears to have some influence, maybe its time the gay / lesbian community ask for help in addressing a situation that is a common subject on this site.

[tadjr]

I agree with the post it notes I was just being sarcastic, but the ship sure would look pretty! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]
The guy who arranged the FOD party on the Dawn said he asked one of the crew performers he had talked to and he said to talk to the CD who told him to ask so and so who said talk to so and so, so it might be a matter of just finding the right person to talk to to begin with. No one attended the event we had, no one from bar services came through to take a drink order so even though it was advertised, they didnt do anything else to "help" the party get going. I would think that advertising a party and then at least telling one of the deck waiters to attend would make both the cruise line and the waiter some money that they would be interested in. Everyone probably would have bought a drink that wasnt offered so they got zip for it and no one from the cruise was forced to attend.

I'm having withdrawal. Need help!

[bepsf]

I am surprised to hear that a HAL CD didn't do a FOD event for you!

I wonder if he'll be aboard in Feb for the RSVP cruise ("Sorry, no dancing on the Lido deck tonite... And no [I]touching[/I]!!!")

Curious what kind of response one would get by asking to speak with the ship's captain or asking the CD for the number to the head offices in Seattle?

(And folks wonder why we prefer gay charter cruises...)

Brian

Oosterdam Feb '04 RSVP Caribbean
Oosterdam Sept '05 RSVP Alaska

[RMS Olympic]

Brian, I will expect you to insure the RSVP cruise is a success and that you personally keep Thulewx aka Phil happy [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
Me, I'll be down in the engine room [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]

[kona1234]

I was on the Westerdam, London-Athens, in early August. They had an FOD party that was actually advertised in the daily paper. One of the asst. cruise directors held it. Very Fun!

[JeffCoud]

I agree Ernie!

Jeff

>>>>Once again I think it boils down to the Cruise Director. There is too much inconsistency from ship to ship for it to be a head office policy. I think it's about time the head offices of every cruise line implement a standard policy to be used throughout each fleet. This way a single homophobic Cruise Director can't ruin the fun for all and tarnish the cruise line's reputation with gay passengers.

[bdjam]

[quote name='JeffCoud']I agree Ernie!

Jeff

>>>>Once again I think it boils down to the Cruise Director. There is too much inconsistency from ship to ship for it to be a head office policy. I think it's about time the head offices of every cruise line implement a standard policy to be used throughout each fleet. This way a single homophobic Cruise Director can't ruin the fun for all and tarnish the cruise line's reputation with gay passengers.[/QUOTE][font='Bookman Old Style']I’m with Ernie on this one too. It is interesting that one of the most popular of the Princess Cruise Directors is reported to be a big homophobe and refuses FOD parties. Others regularly promote them through the Patter and ship-board announcements. Some of the FOD gatherings I’ve attended have been hosted – on one cruise with my help, believe it or not - others have not. It would be nice to have some consistency so we could pick our cruise line accordingly.[/font]

[Zebby90210]

I do think it may make sense to get some type of email about FOD policy from a high ranking person at headquarters prior to boarding and then if the CD refuses show him the email.

I've been cruising and watching these threads for a number of years and can't believe that FOD's are not just automatic these days.

From now on I will bring phone numbers of headquarters with me and call from the ship if necessary to speak of the "mutiny" that may go on during the cruise.

It's time we all stand up and "demand" FOD meetings just like there are Friends of Bill and whatever other "special" groups there are out there.
I can't imagine going on a cruise withouth FOD gatherings. We have met so many couples who are now great friends at FOD's. Once couple just came from London and stayed with us for a week and next week we are meeting 2 couples that travel to our area every year.

"I can no longer tolerate intolerance"!

[donharry]

We were on the Oosterdam October 28. Noticed several other gay couples. Met two but there were lots more. About third day there was a Friends of Dorothy announcement. We went. 22 guys showed up. From that day on we met every evening in the Vista bar. The cruise director, a young girl joined the party and told us how the get together happened. One of HAL's executives was on the ship. He noticed the gay couples and told her to put the FOD in the daily newsletter. She said "Can we do that?" He said do it. So there is no such thing as a friendly cruise line. It depends on who has what job and what they decide to do. Maybe all cruise directors are not all knowing. Perhaps you should tell them when asking that it has been done before. That's what I'm going to do next October on the Zaandam. We are doing a 10 day Panama Canal and keeping our fingers crossed that we meet another friendly group.

[bepsf]

Smart move Don - Do you happen to know which HAL Exec it was?

[hopecottage....cruisin]

What is FOD?



[quote name='digby']HAL may have made the list of best cruise lines for gay travelers, but they refused to schedule a FOD party on the 5/7 sailing of the new Westerdam. When one of my friends went down to request a party be announced in the daily news letter, he was told that they could not do that. He was told that all such 'special' gatherings had to be arranged through the head office BEFORE the sailing date. We counted at least 25 other gay people on board. Several of us made it clear in writing that we would not be spending gay dollars where we were not respected. (I have to say the staff in the cabins, dining room, and all bars could not have been more friendly to us though.)[/QUOTE]

[Joe and Ivan]

[quote name='hopecottage....cruisin']What is FOD?[/QUOTE]

Friends of Dorothy (FOD) is quaint old way of saying "Gay and Lesbian." It was originally a euphemism to avoid speaking the "unspeakable" in the presence of naive straights. Of course, it refers to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, as played by Judy Garland. Some people would prefer that we drop it since we are proud of who we are. Frankly, I like the term in same way that I like old Tiffany glass.

Ivan
South Padre Island, Texas

[voyeurism26]

We had an FOD meeting on our cruise...we have been going on HAL since 1995 and in starting in 2001 we have noticed more and more FOD gatherings on HAL and every HAL ship we have been in since 2001, including our recent voyage, we had a FOD meeting. It was set for 7:30PM in the sports lounge which in my opinion was a great idea to have it at the bar area oppose to having in some obscure section of the ship away from the bar. At least HAL realizes it can sell drinks.

Perhaps many of you guys that are complaining about not having a FOD meeting on the ship might be overlooking the fact that its in the daily schedule but for some reason you might have overlooked the schedule time, if I did not look so close, I would have missed the FOD meeting on our last Westerdam cruise especially since they had it at 7:30pm at the sports lounge.

Oh! And not one person in our FOD meeting requested the gathering, they automatically printed it in the daily program.

-V26