Friends of Dorothy?

[Jerking]

Princess is not necessarily where we belong (to paraphrase their slogan).

We asked for two lines daily in the Princess Patter advising of a meeting of the FOD. It appeared once, and then nothing. Said the purser to explain why he had earlier agreed to mention us in the Patter: "We thought you were a religious group". Didn't they put in the daily meetings of Bill W's friends? "They have an agreement with the company".

To be fair, the Patter did not announce any other group's gatherings.

We sailed Sea Princess back-to-back. The ship had just completed a reposition cruise through the Panama Canal. Though there were some exceptions, most of the waiters and cruise staff seemed very unhappy and unfriendly...and many passengers (most of whom had not gone through the canal) seemed to take their cue from the crew and adopted a similar bad attitude. The 1st week was perhaps the worst cruise we've had. "Good morning!" greetings to staffers and/or cruisers often produced silent glares.

The second week saw several staff changes, and a better mood (again, generally speaking). I have a couple of theories about what was different, but they're no more than theories.

Coincidentally, in both weeks aboard Sea Princess, we did manage to meet other gay couples. And Maitre d'Hotel Slavko and his impressive senior staff went out of their way to ensure we and our new friends were well looked after in the Dining Room.

Still, the experience was enough to make us think we'll return to Celebrity or Disney next time out. Both have provided us with generally excellent experiences.

[Larry]

Intersting comment, my partner and I have cruised with princess on many occasions, and while we had good service and enjoyable experiences, the cruise staff did not seem interested in organizing anything for the gay passengers (ie, a mixer, or something like that). Most of our princess cruises were longer (14 days) to exotic destinations, so all of the gay pax found eachother anyway. On Grand Princess in the Carib, again nothing organized for gay pax, although several other men and women that I met had asked with no response....disappointing. On the Grand Princess, all of the gay men seemed to find eachother in the steam room however.

I have found that Disney and Silversea are much more aggressive in arranging social events for their gay pax.......we have been on Silversea several times (and going again on Friday, cant wait), the gay cocktail parties usually held in pax suites are the hottest social events on board......many straight pax try to figure out a way to get an invitation to join the fun.

How do you go about setting up a FOD? Do you contact the ship ahead of time, after boarding? What do they provide? Just an announcement or what? TELL ME MORE!!!

I always try to find the Cruise Director or Assistant Director and ask if one is scheduled, and if not, can one be scheduled. I've tried the Purser's desk on Carnivore and was flatly refused - they always seem to be too busy to deal with such matters (yeah, right...). Go to someone with some power.