Fancy sharing your cruise with 2500 hairy bikers or swingers!!

There was a recent article in a newspaper about a family that had their Caribbean cruise ruined by 2500 hairy bikers on their annual “High Seas Rally”. The family in question had booked a week on Freedom of the Seas and were looking forward to relaxing on board!. What they were not expecting was belly flopping competitions alongside best beard competitions and best body art competitions. This was compounded by loud and vulgar language and dare I say it- some of them were having intimate encounters in the jacuzzi’s.

Themed cruises are regular occurrences and the cruise companies tend to have a high profit margin on these groups which is why they do them. You would think they have a duty of care to tell you this at the time of booking but I am afraid not so there is always a chance there may be a large group on your sailing. This can cause problems as sometimes areas become out of bounds for non-group passengers such as the solarium as was the recent case for some of my clients who were on board Anthem of the Seas.

However I have to say a bikers cruise is probably tame in comparison to some themed cruises such as the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender) cruises.

However I have to say that I have been on a cruise where there was a high majority of LGBT passengers and I had an absolutely fantastic time. I will never forget meeting these two lovely young men in their thirties who for want of a better word were very HOT!! They had wonderful manners and kept our whole table amused at dinner and I will never forget the first formal night when they both appeared in the most exquisite evening dresses along with long blond wigs and amazing jewels. I actually felt a little put out as they looked better than me!

The next two themes tend to be only when the ship has been completely booked out for very obvious reasons and they are nudist cruises and swingers cruises.

Nudist cruises are  exactly as they sound cruises for nudists. Clothing is optional and only mandatory for the dining room when shorts and t shirts must be worn. The only other time they must be worn is when customs official come on board. Having worked on a cruise ship I am not sure how I would have dealt with this without some childish school girl sniggering as all men are not created equal.

My last theme is ‘swingers cruising’ and I never realised how popular this was until I researched it. Most of us have heard of house parties where you throw your keys in a bowl and go home with the person whose keys you pick out. In fact the act of swinging is more popular than ever with young and old partaking. Bliss Cruises is just one of the many companies who charters ships for these parties and in fact have chartered Celebrity Silhouette in November this year and Celebrity Summit next March. They have a strict code of conduct but this one made me squirm at the thought of an open play area!!

Sexual Activity Rules: Sexual activity can only take place in your private cabin or in a designated play area of the ship. There are no exceptions to this rule. Under no circumstances can you approach any of the shipboard staff for any reason to solicit any form of sexual activity. They are not permitted in your cabin either. They will lose their jobs. Guests violating any rule pertaining to sexual activity in forbidden places may be removed from the ship by its security team at the next port of call. No refunds will be issued.

And this one made me giggle in a nervous way!

Nudity Rules: . Please sit on a towel at all times if nude, it’s just common courtesy.

Have any of you ever been on a cruise that was themed or had their cruise ruined because of a large group on board?

Do you think the cruise lines should advise you if there are large groups on board?

Would love to hear your comments?