Atlantis Events 2011 20th Anniversary – Allure of the Seas
Apr 23, 2011, 10:23 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SEA
Programs: DL Diamond, UA Silver, IHG Platinum, One Man Street Fair in my spare time
Posts: 605
Atlantis Events 2011 20th Anniversary – Allure of the Seas
As promised, my brief FlyerTalk review of the Atlantis 20th anniversary cruise from February 2011. A tee up first, for those that may not be familiar with gay charter vacations – Atlantis Events has been around for 20 years (http://www.thewayweplay.com/), is based in West Hollywood, and offers charters of large cruise ships and luxury resorts, primarily for gay men and their friends. Since 1994, I have done eight gay vacations (three RSVP, five Atlantis), of which seven were cruises. Some of you may have read my FlyerTalk review of my 2007 Atlantis Baltic/Russia cruise, and frankly, the response was so positive, I wanted to provide another gay vacation charter review and discussion.
The charter of Royal Caribbean line’s Allure of the Seas was considered a bold step for Atlantis Events when it was announced over a year ago – Allure is the largest cruise ship in the world, and the February 2011 charter was scheduled for a few months after the ship’s initial delivery into service in late 2010. Atlantis Allure sold rapidly (5,500 passengers signed up and paid deposits within three weeks of the announcement.) That expectations were high would be an understatement, especially given how well it sold during a global economic recession. Historically, the January “huge ship” Atlantis cruise has had a reputation for fantastic dance parties, incredible costumes, stunningly attractive men, and a pretty high alcohol and drug consumption rate.
I’ll dispense with flights first, as they were not that notable. I flew down on VX Main Cabin Select (SFO-FLL) on the red eye on the Saturday night before my cruise left – I do want to thank the two men sitting behind me who found it necessary to talk to each other at a loud volume for the entire overnight flight, ensuring that I arrived sleep deprived and cranky. Thankfully, I had a hotel room at the Hyatt Place in Dania Beach waiting for me on arrival, and was somewhat in balance when I went to Port Everglades. Coming home, I took the late afternoon nonstop on B6 (FLL-SFO) which was great. Friends don’t let friends use MIA whenever FLL is a viable alternative, and the VX/B6 nonstops are great options for those of us at SFO to get to South Florida.
Much has been written/hyped/promoted about Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allure_of_the_Seas
On the whole, I give the ship a solid grade of a B … on the one hand it is a significant engineering accomplishment, and the scale is staggering. As a dear friend on the ship from Toronto said – “I will say this for you Americans – when you go big, you don’t mess around.” On the other hand, the Allure (for me) was not the optimal hardware or configuration for the Atlantis charter product, for many reasons I will later go into in this write-up. Having said that, I had a really good time, and I am glad I experienced the Allure, but I don’t ever need to experience a ship that large ever again, and I was not alone in that assessment. Ambience wise, it felt like a cross between a mid- to high-end shopping mall and Caesar’s Palace.
Some facts, figures, and observations – Allure is made up of over 500,000 parts and there were several specials (Discovery and Science Channel) about the shipbuilding process in Finland – they were also broadcast on the ship. She is 72 meters tall (about 236 feet) – or put another way the height of a 22 story building – which is big by any standard – and 360 meters long (1,181 feet), which is about a quarter of a mile. Allure employs 2,100 people on any given week in addition to the 5,500 passenger guests, and the spa and gym are spacious by cruise ship standards – the spa and gym see high utilization during the gay charters in relation to “typical” weeks. The passenger manifest was heavily American, but there was a strong representation from Europe, Latin America, and Australia, which was refreshing. I estimate there were about 100-200 of us from the SF Bay Area. About 4,500 were returning Atlantis customers, and I would estimate about 60-70% couples/30-40% single passengers. I would say the average age was between 35-40 years old, skewing toward the younger side. A special shout out to the Australians – no matter where you went – they were the friendliest, always the first to extend their hand and introduce themselves, and by far the most fun passengers to hang out with at any venue.
So, what happens when you bring together 5,500 gay guys, a handful of adventuresome straight girls, and 20 hardy lesbians on the largest ship in the world for a week in the Caribbean? A whole lot of people having great fun, plenty of vacation relaxing, wildly creative costumes for dance parties, a fair amount of sex, and a lot of drinking from what I observed.
Here are two fantastic videos, both made by passengers, which do a far better job than I can do in capturing the Allure experience. One is seven minutes and the other is 18 minutes. Both are in chronological order in terms of the cruise week. (Note the second one is HD, so will take longer to load and credit to my friends at R&D Films on the second one.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMA4wTID1TQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtZfT...layer_embedded
So, my guess would be most FlyerTalkers might have one of two responses to the video just above – a) Wow – that looks like an amazing experience or b) I never have any desire to do anything like that. It all comes down to what you want in a vacation and the people you want to spend it with. I can say I have found all my gay vacations to be really memorable fun, and they have been encouraging and empowering from a community-building standpoint. I love my people, and their creativity and joy and compassion over the last thirty years of my life give me sustenance every day.
Here is the condensed schedule, and I won’t go much into port reviews, as I only got off the ship in the Virgin Islands. There are multiple shore excursions scheduled in every port catering to a wide variety of interests and activity levels.
Sunday – embarkation from Fort Lauderdale
Monday – morning in Nassau, Bahamas
Tuesday – day at sea
Wednesday – US Virgin Islands
Thursday – St Maarten
Friday – day at sea
Saturday – day at sea
Sunday – disembark Fort Lauderdale
On the entertainment front, I particularly enjoyed Cheyenne Jackson and Andy Bell. I would add that on the gay charters, there are activities scheduled literally 20 hours a day, every day, so being bored is not really a viable complaint, but at the same time, I never had trouble finding a quiet place if I wanted one either.
I hope I have given you a sense of the Atlantis Allure experience. Others on this site have referenced the drug arrest on the Allure, and that a small number of guys were kicked off the ship – but on balance – arrests happen on cruise ships regularly (www.cruisebruise.com) and the bottom line is that stupid people bring illegal things on cruise ships pretty regularly. All the online hand wringing or disapproval in the world probably won’t do a great deal to solve the GLBT community’s drug and alcohol problems. That is another discussion for another thread.
Every cruise line employee I have talked to over the past 15 years love the gay charters for these reasons: a) no kids, b) we are vastly less demanding the regular cruise clientele, c) we’re good tippers, and d) alcohol receipts are 5x a regular week, and spa receipts are more than 2x a regular week.
I have made some wonderful new friends on all of my cruises, and several remain close friends to this day. But, comparatively, of all my gay vacations, Atlantis Allure 2011 would rank toward the bottom, for reasons that are both about the structure (ship is simply too big to connect meaningfully with other people through the week, hardware of the Allure is not a good fit for the demographic, and the majority of passengers I encountered while not unfriendly were definitely self involved or pretty caught up in their entourages, which is understandable) and about me (I am on high side age wise of their target demographic, and I am at a point in life where I want a smaller, more intimate experience for my vacation dollars.)
But, having said that, if it is something that interests you, by all means go for it. Life is an adventure, and a cruise ship full of other gay men can be a wonderful and joyous adventure. To quote the witty gay author Armistead Maupin, “You are queer, you lucky fool, and that makes you one of life's buccaneers, free from the clutter of 2,000 years of Judeo-Christian sermonizing . . . start hoisting your sails. You haven’t a moment to lose.”
I think he really has the right idea.
The charter of Royal Caribbean line’s Allure of the Seas was considered a bold step for Atlantis Events when it was announced over a year ago – Allure is the largest cruise ship in the world, and the February 2011 charter was scheduled for a few months after the ship’s initial delivery into service in late 2010. Atlantis Allure sold rapidly (5,500 passengers signed up and paid deposits within three weeks of the announcement.) That expectations were high would be an understatement, especially given how well it sold during a global economic recession. Historically, the January “huge ship” Atlantis cruise has had a reputation for fantastic dance parties, incredible costumes, stunningly attractive men, and a pretty high alcohol and drug consumption rate.
I’ll dispense with flights first, as they were not that notable. I flew down on VX Main Cabin Select (SFO-FLL) on the red eye on the Saturday night before my cruise left – I do want to thank the two men sitting behind me who found it necessary to talk to each other at a loud volume for the entire overnight flight, ensuring that I arrived sleep deprived and cranky. Thankfully, I had a hotel room at the Hyatt Place in Dania Beach waiting for me on arrival, and was somewhat in balance when I went to Port Everglades. Coming home, I took the late afternoon nonstop on B6 (FLL-SFO) which was great. Friends don’t let friends use MIA whenever FLL is a viable alternative, and the VX/B6 nonstops are great options for those of us at SFO to get to South Florida.
Much has been written/hyped/promoted about Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allure_of_the_Seas
On the whole, I give the ship a solid grade of a B … on the one hand it is a significant engineering accomplishment, and the scale is staggering. As a dear friend on the ship from Toronto said – “I will say this for you Americans – when you go big, you don’t mess around.” On the other hand, the Allure (for me) was not the optimal hardware or configuration for the Atlantis charter product, for many reasons I will later go into in this write-up. Having said that, I had a really good time, and I am glad I experienced the Allure, but I don’t ever need to experience a ship that large ever again, and I was not alone in that assessment. Ambience wise, it felt like a cross between a mid- to high-end shopping mall and Caesar’s Palace.
Some facts, figures, and observations – Allure is made up of over 500,000 parts and there were several specials (Discovery and Science Channel) about the shipbuilding process in Finland – they were also broadcast on the ship. She is 72 meters tall (about 236 feet) – or put another way the height of a 22 story building – which is big by any standard – and 360 meters long (1,181 feet), which is about a quarter of a mile. Allure employs 2,100 people on any given week in addition to the 5,500 passenger guests, and the spa and gym are spacious by cruise ship standards – the spa and gym see high utilization during the gay charters in relation to “typical” weeks. The passenger manifest was heavily American, but there was a strong representation from Europe, Latin America, and Australia, which was refreshing. I estimate there were about 100-200 of us from the SF Bay Area. About 4,500 were returning Atlantis customers, and I would estimate about 60-70% couples/30-40% single passengers. I would say the average age was between 35-40 years old, skewing toward the younger side. A special shout out to the Australians – no matter where you went – they were the friendliest, always the first to extend their hand and introduce themselves, and by far the most fun passengers to hang out with at any venue.
So, what happens when you bring together 5,500 gay guys, a handful of adventuresome straight girls, and 20 hardy lesbians on the largest ship in the world for a week in the Caribbean? A whole lot of people having great fun, plenty of vacation relaxing, wildly creative costumes for dance parties, a fair amount of sex, and a lot of drinking from what I observed.
Here are two fantastic videos, both made by passengers, which do a far better job than I can do in capturing the Allure experience. One is seven minutes and the other is 18 minutes. Both are in chronological order in terms of the cruise week. (Note the second one is HD, so will take longer to load and credit to my friends at R&D Films on the second one.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMA4wTID1TQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtZfT...layer_embedded
So, my guess would be most FlyerTalkers might have one of two responses to the video just above – a) Wow – that looks like an amazing experience or b) I never have any desire to do anything like that. It all comes down to what you want in a vacation and the people you want to spend it with. I can say I have found all my gay vacations to be really memorable fun, and they have been encouraging and empowering from a community-building standpoint. I love my people, and their creativity and joy and compassion over the last thirty years of my life give me sustenance every day.
Here is the condensed schedule, and I won’t go much into port reviews, as I only got off the ship in the Virgin Islands. There are multiple shore excursions scheduled in every port catering to a wide variety of interests and activity levels.
Sunday – embarkation from Fort Lauderdale
Monday – morning in Nassau, Bahamas
Tuesday – day at sea
Wednesday – US Virgin Islands
Thursday – St Maarten
Friday – day at sea
Saturday – day at sea
Sunday – disembark Fort Lauderdale
On the entertainment front, I particularly enjoyed Cheyenne Jackson and Andy Bell. I would add that on the gay charters, there are activities scheduled literally 20 hours a day, every day, so being bored is not really a viable complaint, but at the same time, I never had trouble finding a quiet place if I wanted one either.
I hope I have given you a sense of the Atlantis Allure experience. Others on this site have referenced the drug arrest on the Allure, and that a small number of guys were kicked off the ship – but on balance – arrests happen on cruise ships regularly (www.cruisebruise.com) and the bottom line is that stupid people bring illegal things on cruise ships pretty regularly. All the online hand wringing or disapproval in the world probably won’t do a great deal to solve the GLBT community’s drug and alcohol problems. That is another discussion for another thread.
Every cruise line employee I have talked to over the past 15 years love the gay charters for these reasons: a) no kids, b) we are vastly less demanding the regular cruise clientele, c) we’re good tippers, and d) alcohol receipts are 5x a regular week, and spa receipts are more than 2x a regular week.
I have made some wonderful new friends on all of my cruises, and several remain close friends to this day. But, comparatively, of all my gay vacations, Atlantis Allure 2011 would rank toward the bottom, for reasons that are both about the structure (ship is simply too big to connect meaningfully with other people through the week, hardware of the Allure is not a good fit for the demographic, and the majority of passengers I encountered while not unfriendly were definitely self involved or pretty caught up in their entourages, which is understandable) and about me (I am on high side age wise of their target demographic, and I am at a point in life where I want a smaller, more intimate experience for my vacation dollars.)
But, having said that, if it is something that interests you, by all means go for it. Life is an adventure, and a cruise ship full of other gay men can be a wonderful and joyous adventure. To quote the witty gay author Armistead Maupin, “You are queer, you lucky fool, and that makes you one of life's buccaneers, free from the clutter of 2,000 years of Judeo-Christian sermonizing . . . start hoisting your sails. You haven’t a moment to lose.”
I think he really has the right idea.
May 3, 2011, 12:55 pm
#5
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Winston Salem, NC USA
Posts: 1,074
That was a very fair review. I was also on the cruise and pretty much feel the same way. I probably wouldn't have even gone on it to begin with, but it was kinda one of those "you've just got to be there" - types of situations.
It was a blast, but the size wasn't as condusive to meeting new friends which had always been a hallmark of the other cruises.
It was a blast, but the size wasn't as condusive to meeting new friends which had always been a hallmark of the other cruises.
May 4, 2011, 9:04 am
#6
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 92
I've done about a dozen Atlantis cruises (never the carribbean) and have always had a great time. I'm curious as to why people don't want to go back on the cruises even after having a good time. It seems to me that one issue Kay be the ship itself and another may be simply choosing to spend money elsewhere. Is this correct or am I missing something? I've made many friends on the Med cruises and on other cruises overseas.
May 4, 2011, 12:43 pm
#7
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MD/DC
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, TK Gold
Posts: 1,536
I've done about a dozen Atlantis cruises (never the carribbean) and have always had a great time. I'm curious as to why people don't want to go back on the cruises even after having a good time. It seems to me that one issue Kay be the ship itself and another may be simply choosing to spend money elsewhere. Is this correct or am I missing something? I've made many friends on the Med cruises and on other cruises overseas.
May 6, 2011, 8:16 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SEA
Programs: DL Diamond, UA Silver, IHG Platinum, One Man Street Fair in my spare time
Posts: 605
Thanks trvlr70. And I totally agree with MD/DC Flyer. To MForrestS's questions - it was just too big, and way too difficult, especially as a single traveler to make any meaningful connection with anyone on the ship. I thankfully knew a lot of people before I boarded, and had my own entourage I had cruised with before. And Allure doesn't even begin to compare to Solstice, for many reasons. I think there is a demographic that will enjoy Allure for many more Atlantis cruises - I'm just not in it.