Its hard to describe the cruises in our own words, but i give it a try after each cruise, and anyone who comes with us is welcome to send us their own thoughts. I hope these inspire you to join us ...

March 2019 (by Glen)

 After busy 2018 my wife of 28 years and I decided we needed a break away from work and the kids. 

I came across the March lifestyle cruise to New Zealand hosted by some random couple one of whom’s name sounded like a 1970’s Ford sedan 🚘 (how wrong I was😂) Ok we’ll take a punt and book it ? 

Corina & Bob were more like a Porsche 911 than a family sedan💃🏿🕺. From the moment we met them at the pre-cruise breakfast along with their other friends we knew we had made the right choice. They took the time to get to know everyone and were genuinely interested in ensuring that everyone had a good experience based upon their own comfort levels. Everyone was well informed of what was going on each day and able to join in or relax at their own pace. We were particularly comforted by the way in which they chose to ensure everyone was included regardless of pre-existing friendships. ( Although the group was very welcoming)

The most difficult thing to explain to our vanilla friends was why we chose a cruise in the first place! Those who know us knew we would last about 15mins around a pool lounge before getting bored 😑. Instead we were running late for dinner from so much socialising! 

Then of course is the awkward interrogation of why we enjoyed it so much..which was hard to hide!

 
We found that we quickly got into the cruise bubble where people and friendship and acceptance wash away the everyday grime of life. It was so nice to be among so many other lovely couples who are all on the same page. 

Life’s too short not to (lifestyle) cruise. We’re already going cruising again in 2020 thanks to Bob & Corina 🤗 

10 day Ovation of the Seas report (by Bob)

Wow - I was in the taxi on my way home trying to work out how we could have had such an amazing time. I have been on 2 full takeover cruises and they blow your mind, but I found myself just as exhausted, just as happy, and with just as many new friends from this partial takeover. Like the full takeovers, it was a 10 day full on party, I was never short of someone to have a drink with, we laughed, we met new friends from far and wide, and we rarely slept. Everyone left planning for the next one and looking forward to going to work for a rest. Our first cruise reunion has been planned for next month!

The trip started early with an afternoon and evening at Manly on a rooftop bar on Thursday, a night out in the rocks in a private function area, and breakfast near the ship Saturday morning. Before we got on the ship a lot of friendships had already been forged.

We headed out of Sydney with 50 of us on board. We had people from Florida, Perth, Tassie, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Newcastle, and somewhere best described as "leave Wagga Wagga and keep driving". Ages ranged from 18 (literally) to over 60, with the biggest group being in the 40's and 50's.

The beauty of a group this size is that everyone can cruise their own way, enjoy all the things the ship has to offer, and then always find someone to meet up with when you want to. Some ate every meal with us, others went off to early dinner, or shows, or bed, but we always ended up back together eventually. The piano bar had 2 modes, quiet early in the night, and raging dance party when we all arrived. The drinks package was fantastic, with cocktails flowing constantly. One $20 tip got us the best service you would ever ask for, and a million laughs.

By the second or third day there was no need for special lanyards or secret handshakes to identify each other.

We generally managed to stay under the radar, despite the vanilla facebook group with 500 members finding our website and declaring they were on a swingers cruise! After the initial shock and horror, they started to have a bit of fun with it, and google told them that pineapples were the international symbol for swingers. Facebook filled up with a photo anytime someone saw a pineapple shirt, a pineapple cup, and they even managed to find a pineapple haircut! Of course, we played along and all wore pineapple stuff on the last night to "come out of the closet". We even had the cruise director laughing every time he saw there were pineapples in the cocktail of the day during the ships morning TV show.

We don't organise play rooms, and believe we can all arrange to entertain in our cabins. So while I cannot report on that activity, I'm pretty sure most couples found their own new friends, and at least one cabin was able to fit 9 people ;)

The thing that really struck me is that cruising is a great holiday with your partner, a bit more interesting if you can get a group of friends together, and just amazing if your group of friends is 50 strong, all lifestyle people, and all ready for a 10 day party.

10 days was a long cruise, and we all felt totally shattered when we got off. Work has been a nice break this week.

The main thing that has come from the cruise though is the friendships that have been formed. You cannot compare the interaction you have at a party to the friendship you can form over 10 or 12 days of spending time with other couples. I have undoubtably made friends on this cruise that we will have for life, and many more who we will see often in future. I am sure most of the group will have had the same thoughts.

Oh. and the ship was amazing, but you can read about that anywhere. For those who have only ever gone on P&O, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity really do take the experience up a few levels.

Bliss Cruise (by Steve and Joanne)  

As this was our second such cruise we were a little more prepared (not in terms of costumes though - maybe next year).

We have discovered that the actual act of "swinging" was far less important on this cruise than we thought it would be. Of course there are always those that are more interested in notches on the bed but for most it was secondary. It is the people on these cruises that make it such a special event. They are the happiest, most honest, most fun. most accepting most ....etc etc people we have ever met. We were amazed at how many people we remembered from last year and how easy it was to pick up as old friends and catch up for so many laughs. 

It is difficult to explain the atmosphere, I think "sexy carnival". Jo and I danced till at least 2 each night, with each other and with other friends, where the sexual tension and fun was awesome. We have found our comfortable spot by doing these cruises. We love to meet people, get to know them a little and flirt and tease and dance and .... then if something happens it does but we do not care if it doesn't, it was all good fun. We met made more friends this cruise and expect to meet more friends next cruise. We have invites from all over the world and hope (like you) people will come over here and enjoy our hospitality.

One thing you mentioned that we (particularly me - Steve) found, was the ability to compliment women on how they looked and not be looked on as a perve or rude or strange. We were walking down the promenade and in front of us was a couple where the lady was in a very short school girls skirt, displaying a wonderful butt. We both commented on it and Jo told me that I should tell her. The couple happened to stop at the same bar we were going to and I did just that. The response was...."thank you so much, I work hard to try and keep this arse". You do not get that on a vanilla cruise LOL. 

We have also just cancelled a Mediterranean vanilla cruise we had booked for July, one of the main reasons was that we just could not see ourselves having as much fun and then being disappointed. These cruises have ruined our cruising experience!!!!!!!! LOL

Corina and I, and 2 friends headed off to Florida in December for a 7 night Bliss cruise.

A Bliss cruise is a total cruise ship takeover (they actually charter the boat and sell their own tickets) for swingers and the occasional non swinging nudist. Yes, there are 2,800 swingers on a boat.

The boat was the Celebrity Silhouette, which is 5 star, and as good as any that sail from Australia. It did everything the same way it normally does, so all you miss out on compared to a normal cruise is the seniors lawn bowls at 11 am. The ship just operated as normal.

There were a few changes though - the indoor adults pool area was converted to a 100 bed play room! Each bed had a steel frame around it and curtains for privacy. You were not allowed in there unless you were playing, and no boys allowed in alone.

Another room upstairs, and an open deck were also turned into play rooms. No need to ever have people back to your cabin if you want to make it your sanctuary.

The entertainment for the cruise wasn't bingo and book club, it was massage classes and bondage lessons and sex talks. You have to see 200 ladies in the play room being massaged by their partners and orgasming at almost the same time!

An hour out of port the announcement would come over the loud speaker that it was now ok to be naked on the pool deck. That deck was instantly and constantly the party central for the cruise! On a deck that normally has one bar, they set up an additional 6 temporary bars. In case you are wondering, yes, most people did end up naked a lot of the time.

We had 7 days of partying, interrupted by 3 days where we stopped at various Caribbean islands.

They sell a drinks package, so an icy cocktail was always available and "free" once you paid the up front fee.

We met all the people who booked through our travel agent at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale for the 2 days before the cruise, and I think we had just as much fun at the Hilton pool bar (and our room) as we did on the ship. That’s a definite add on.

The average age would be what you would get at any party, 35 to 55, with a few older, and a good number of younger people. There was a large number of younger people who seemed to dance all night around the pool deck and then sleep till the afternoon. I doubt there was anyone who didn't have a lot of people their own age to socialise with.

How much sex you get is entirely up to you, there was certainly enough people there that you could never miss out, and I'm sure some people didn't sleep!

However, the thing that amazed me is the number of genuine friends we made from all over the US and Canada. (The vast majority of passengers were from there).

The other thing is that almost everyone goes on these cruises every year. It was rarely anyone said this was their first swingers cruise. I guess that shows what a fantastic time it is.

So how good was it? Corina and I booked for the next 2 years before we left the ship!