Swingers Cruise review - Freedom of the Seas, Nov 2012

Couples Cruise Review, November 11-18, Freedom of the Seas.

As I write this I am wobbly still from the boat that is suppose to be moving around me yet inexplicably is not in my home, just shy of bone tired, and recovering from what is the best vacation my wife and I have had, period.

Needless to say we had a good time. Several good times.

But anyways I digress. I may add more to this review as time goes on and my head is more clear, but I wanted to write it down now as its still fresh in my memory. I was going to write an organized review, but instead I give you a rambling narrative. Its what my mind is able to handle right now.

You, gentle reader, may recall my review from the last Couples Cruise we went on in 2011. Most of my issues with that cruise were with Royal Caribbean and not Couples Cruise directly. I'd like to say most of those issues have been resolved. This is good that I'd like to say it, because in fact they were mostly resolved. This ship was much cleaner, food was improved (still not as good as RC used to be), the staff was mostly excellent, and the only issues were the overwhelmed waiters in the main dinning hall who didn't know how to handle the random seating very well with the multitude of wine packages and non-constant tables. I'm quite surprised they just don't have a card reader for your Sea Pass card they can swipe and get your wine package etc from but my guess is normally that sort of thing isn't needed.

Over all I have few complaints about RC beyond the usual nickel and dollaring on things like alcohol, but thats the same on all cruises outside of expensive smaller ships. So lets get into the meat of it with some descriptions of the experience as my guess is most of you reading this are thinking, at least partially about going on such a cruise but are skeptical or worried how it would turn out. I'm going to have to go vulgar on this one, so those of you more sensitive readers may wish to cover your eyes for a moment, but it turned out fan-fucking-tastic. Ok, you can open your eyes again, its safe to proceed for now.

Just a disclaimer if you were on this same cruise, I will only be reviewing or talking about things which we personally did or I at least got a VERY good report on from someone we trusted. We did not take advantage of every aspect of entertainment on the ship. For example we did not see the ships comedian , which we heard sucked from people we trusted. He apparently opened with a line that the ship should be renamed Herpes of the Sea (or something as such) and spent most of his time insulting swingers (openly gay comedian btw). So I think he missed the mark there on his material. There was a swinger comedian (as in she was a swinger as well) but we missed her show and did not get a good report on it.

There were other classes through the Couples Cruises which were swinger/sex related and we did not attend any of those. In part because in some ways, while all the information was readily available, it wasn't as clear as on our past cruise. That was only a small part though. The main part was we were having to much fun with people to want to take the time.

So before I get into more specifics I'll give you a typical day (at Sea) that you would experience. First depending on your age/fit status/hangover/ and how late you were up the night before, you would wake up. At least I would hope so. For us that was often horribly early considering the night before, but kids does that to you, and sleeping past 8am is a rarity. So you get up and have breakfast like any other cruise, at least we did. We would get back to our room and shower and apply sunscreen ALL over. In case you were wondering, spray on sunscreen sort of burns on your penis. I'm not sure why its only the skin of the penis that does this, but it feels much like Ben Gay or warming lotion. We would then put on our “bathing suit” which rarely got wet, hit the pool deck and get naked. I'd say maybe 30-40% of the people would be fully nude. The rest would be topless (for women) or on the more prudish side. It could have been a higher % nude, I really wasn't counting. You will also find a few more RC people on deck “observing” then I think is normal, but why not let them look, everyone else is, and they are not allowed to touch. We were VERY luck and early in our trip ran into a group of swingers from a Western US city (which shall remain unnamed just for privacy) who took us into their fold and by the end of the trip doubled their size (from 6 couples and one single to 12 couples and the single). These guys were awesome and really helped make our trip great. We didn't hang out with them every night or every event, but did 4 of the 7 days. Its finding a group like this which turned a “good” trip into a “awesome” one. I am trying to think how I could replicate such a group for our next cruise, but I don't think we will be that lucky again.

But anyhow, we would hang out in the hot tubs and pools for several hours, basically all nude, and often quite literally frolicking. While the rule was no overt sex outside of play rooms and cabins, there was still a lot of light touching, hugging, that sort of thing going on. After several hours of this we would wonder down to dinner where the food was very good and the service somewhat confused. Meals in the main dinning room would take upwards of two hours, but based on the company we had (both this group and another ad hoc group we joined for a day) it was not a real issue. The parties didn't start usually till 10 or so and there wasn't much to do at that point. At times we found we were in pain from laughing. It was a good time.

Then would come the “theme” party. Some better than others. We didn't bring costumes for all (which was a mistake) but still had a blast with them, from both being part of it, and just watching people. Lets not forget this is a group of 1000's of swingers, and some are more “alt lifestyle” than others. Some were rather prudish, some sexy, some slutty, and some just freaky. All in fun though. Some parties had productions on the promenade deck with dancing and effects, others were just dress up and go dance on the pool deck or in the (covered) ice rink. These tended to include a lot of making out, touching, dancing, and eventually heading to the play room or cabin.

Now this was a typical day for us and the group we hung out with. It was our speed and our type of play. Again though this is not just a cruise it was a city of swingers. By the end of the cruise, swinging seemed less a “lifestyle” and more just “life”. Many people were joking that by the end of the cruise that we would have to retrain ourselves that grabbing someones ass while giving them a kiss was not a normal hello for strangers and the like.

Being a city of swingers, you had swingers which I think didn't leave the playroom for the entire trip unless it was closed. I spoke with one of the Couples Cruise people when she looked VERY tired one morning and she said she was up past 4am (it was about 830am) and had a hell of a time getting people to leave the main playroom. They turned on the lights, made announcements, and practically pulled the sheets out from under people to get them to move. There was also a BSDM play room (we never saw it), a “Dark room” where you had to feel your way, and a hall pass room (which apparently became used as a second play room (who's to say who's on a hall pass really) since really the first one was WAY to small for demand).

We only made it down to the play room once and after basically wandering around a couple of laps looking for an open bed gave up. It was like looking for a parking space at a mall on Christmas Eve. Also a lot of people were complaining about the smell (you can guess what) which was rather strong. While we decided it wasn't our thing, much as we did the last cruise, it was obviously VERY popular, too popular in terms of space.

Now as for the “types” of swingers on board. Being there were 1000's, it quite frankly included all types. There were swingers one toe out of the grave, and 20 somethings. There were fat ones, short ones, tall ones, fit ones, body builder ones. There were the LA style pretty people who thought they were too good to talk to anyone but their own 'kind', and some people that looked like they came out of an episode of “Swamp People” (and I'm not using hyperbole). There were also nudists who were very annoyed that Castaways travel didn't seem to feel the need to mention that “clothing optional” cruising would be really a lifestyle event, not a nudist one. This seems to be a common problem for nudists, you would think they would have learned by now. I did see a castaways post card advertising one of the upcoming cruises, and the only hint it would be a swingers cruise was the line that it was through “Couples Cruises” or something like that, so I do think they had a point.

Like any swing party, even a week long one, if you are shy and hope to be approached, odds are you will stay by yourselves. Everyone was very respectful of boundaries that we saw, and we even ran into a completely vanilla couple on the ship, who while sticking to themselves were at least completely safe from us swinger types.

The shore excursions were the typical RC style ones, though the RC island allowed full nudity, and there were other clothing optional ones. We did have our only real disappointment and moment we felt ripped off on our second excursions. It was a pool party at “Black Beards Estate” and it cost some 40 dollars each (I think it was slightly more). It was grossly over crowded and they should have stopped counting dollars signs and thought about guess experience. We did have a very good time but only because we met some great people to talk to, we could have done that on board. So we sat in our one area with a beach towel (luckily one of the group got off on the first bus and got a space), and chatted until it was over. We had our ONE “free” rum punch drink, and then a cash bar. My wife had a Pepsi, she thought it tasted odd, and found it expired in July. I had a beer, mine expired in September. It wasn't enough to make me angry and demand a refund, we were having too good a time to be pissy about anything, but it does make me rethink taking such arranged parties in the future. To be fair as well I don't know who did the ripping off here. It could have easily been the Black Beards people overstating their capacity. Really a minor disappointment.

So where was I overall for the rambling reviews (did I mention my house seems to be floating at sea).

Food – 3 stars over all. (out of 5).

Parties – 4 stars.

Organization – 4.5 stars.

Ship Cleanliness – 4 stars.

Ship Crew – 4 stars.

Couples Cruise People – 5 stars.

Entertainment – 3 stars.

Ok, let's get back to the entertainment. They had movies (including children's movies) going, I'm sure they are the standard RC ones). A lame magic show where the magician seemed to just want to make sure we liked him on Facebook, an ice show which also seemed out of place on a cruise but was entertaining, a comedian who bombed but kept plowing on, some on deck activities which were pretty funny (the Cruise director is amusing). There were swinger related bits as well which we all missed but we fun on the last cruise so I'd assume they were good here too.

Ok, I'm on page 4 of single spaced review, so I'm taking a break here. I will continue my review later. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.

Happy for you and your wife, Chicup. It sounds wonderful. I appreciate that you have taken the time to review.

Thanks for the review Chicup. We keep meaning to type out just as a thorough review but time keeps slipping on, so we better just post some random thoughts.

Obviously we were on the same cruise, which was AWESOME, and may have even run into you a time or two but with 2000 couples to meet and flirt with, it gets a bit overwhelming. So we largely concur with your review but we had some different experiences we would like to share.

As far as the ship itself goes, we had been on it before but on a vanilla cruise. The ship itself is awesome, same as always. We always enjoyed the ice shows and the physical activities like the climbing wall and flowrider but somehow never managed to try this on this cruise. Guess we were always too busy having fun in other ways. However a few nights they had the "deck party" in the ice skating area which had been converted to a large dance floor/nightclub and we had a blast there dancing and mingling the night away.

The wait staff was a bit overwhelmed at times but they did as well as could be expected, with all the different seating arrangements, drink orders, wine packages going on. The main dining room food was good but not as good as previous trips. The other restaurants especially the Windjammer where you tend to eat breakfast (if you get up in time) and lunch were as good as ever. The room service was also top notch, although I noted they were a bit slower coming in to the room because of not knowing what was going on at the time. Our room stewards were excellent and provided for all our needs and special requests. Mrs got into the habit of dressing with the door open and music playing so the evening steward a section down, would laugh and start dancing also in the hallway. One time she even requested a song that they could both dance too. Over all all the official staff had special training and instructions on what to expect and help us crazy swingers have a good time on the cruise, but there was absolutely no physical or sexual interaction between the cruise line staff and us. We were told they would immediately lose their job. Most took it in stride but you could see some wide eyes watching at times. lol But all were genuine and we never felt inappropriate or shamed in front of them

In the past we always went to the planned night shows but we never managed to see a single one this time. However we talked to some that went and they said the shows were good. We wanted to go to the swinger/comedian/singer show but missed it. However the next night we met her at the promenade and had a great time talking and laughing with her and about 5 other couples sitting around. This was during the fetish wear them night so we had lots of fun watching others parade by. Even got into a silly sexy paddling scene on the promenade. Don't worry if you don't get it, you had to be there.

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During the day, there were lots of official and unofficial meet and greets ,especially on the sea days. Some were so so, some were very good. However it was a good way to meet other people with similar interests or from your area. There were also some classes and seminars scattered throughout the cruise. However it would have been better if there was a better description listed in the program or daily guide and better planning for some of them. We went to a session on erotic hypnosis; the presenter was great but the facilities were horrible! Had too many people in a small room and then when we were moved into a larger room, had distracting music playing. We popped in to the squirters lecture. Only stayed a few minutes but they seemed knowledgeable and had a nice set up.

The best sessions/interactive seminars were in the large play room with the massages seminars. We missed the naked speed dating but heard it was a hoot. The group massages were so much fun. 4-7 hands on you at the same time massaging you was the best, and had some sensation play with the towel sweep. By the second one on the last full day, people were much more comfortable and you could hear some orgasms over the soft music and moaning from the message's good feeling.

We participated in each night's theme costumes and this ranged from good to great. As the nights wore on, the costumes and activity and flirting levels just increased in fun and exposure. Some of the themes were sexy PJs, Marti Gras, purple (one of our favorites) and white night and the aforementioned fetish/kinky nights. While at times the boat was rocking some at the beginning of the cruise, most women wore medium to high heels and seemed to be fine with the footing and walking about.

Regarding the excursions, it depended on what you chose and who you were with. We had been to the islands before so we skipped the tourist/vanilla excursions but we heard the schooner ship was great. The RC island was nice, much better than the Carnival island. The fact that it was clothing optional and we met some great people that continued on to true friendships later on is just icing on the cake. We also went to the Black Beards Estate and had a wonderful time. It was crowded and so we just put down on our stuff on a bench, disrobed and wandered about. Everyone got a ticket for a free rum drink which was quite tasty and strong. When we went to buy another one, they told us to go back to the set up stand and those rum drinks were continued to be given out free. Also we went into the rum factory on-site and got free samples of the rum they make there. We continued to wander about in the gardens and pools and ended up talking to a great bunch, one of the ladies was a former Playmate model! That is a first. How many times can you say you talked to a Playful model naked in a pool?

Another excursion was informal but well worth remembering in the future. Some went to the Orient Beach which is a fairly well known nudist beach. However we went to the other side of the island where the airport is. Now being on a small island and not much land between the beach and mountains, the runways are a bit short for the larger planes so they have to fly just over the beach. So you witness these planes landing just 100 yards from where you are. Also when the larger planes take off, their jet engines exhaust go through the 2 fences and the road to sandblast you. Some of the people trying this are actually thrown off their feet and through the air and thrown into the ocean. It isn't for everyone but is quite the experience and has been documented on some shows such as Mythbusters.

Now if you not that adventurous you can always watch from a well known bar on the beach. What makes it fun here is that the women drink for free if they are topless. You can only imagine how wild and fun that bar was that day with a cruise ship full of swingers docked that day.

We tried the larger group play room. While it was crowded, we found it did not take too long to find a bed, with clean sheets, to use. And there were built in seating to watch and talk softly while waiting. Nice way to meet some new friendly folks! We did not notice any usual odors and they had atomizers to help.

We toured the other areas but did not use them. The dark room wasn't as pitch black as we had seen before but still gave the sensation of sight being taken away and you dependent on your other senses. The hall pass room was nicely decorated with curtains and light strands and seemed to be very popular- perhaps as just an other play area instead of only hall pass. There were 2 dungeons set up- one smaller one for hands on individual play and one in a larger room for more demonstrations and others to watch.

However I believe there was a tremendous amount of play in the individual cabins at night. The rooms with the balcony were well worth it, in our humble opinion. We saw some suites , up to the Presidential Suit for a meet and greet, and they seemed very nice and more spacious. One of them even had a 10 person dining table in it. Late at night or early in the morning, one noted lot of happy worn out people walking back to their rooms. Watching the sunrise from your own balcony after being up all night and having a great time is well worth the trip.

Like the previous poster said, it was the people you met that made the trip great. We met a great group of Canadians that was kind enough to include us in their ship gatherings and dinners. They just made a good trip great and we are indebted to them forever. Some of them have become true friends and we keep in touch and will be seeing them again whenever schedules allow.

Wow, thanks for the very detailed reviews. Mrs. Diggs and I love cruises (RCCL) and we are signed up for the Brilliance of the Seas swinger cruise in April 2013. I'll make sure I come and post a review. I felt this was excellent feedback and interesting to read.

I agree with DigginIt. These were great reviews, thank you for the time you spent on them. We're also jumping on the Brilliance in San Juan, Puerto Rico and can't wait. We haven't seen a lot of chatter on SLS and Kasidie yet but keep looking. I'm hoping we can get some meet & greets going first thing and get the party started early.

I agree with DigginIt. These were great reviews, thank you for the time you spent on them. We're also jumping on the Brilliance in San Juan, Puerto Rico and can't wait. We haven't seen a lot of chatter on SLS and Kasidie yet but keep looking. I'm hoping we can get some meet & greets going first thing and get the party started early.

I think it will pick up come March. It's still 4 months out

My husband and I have been on cruises before, just never one that was lifestyle friendly. Thank you for providing such a detailed and honest review. My husband and I will definitely have to book another cruise now!

Hey all, we read this review and it was the reason we joined this site. We were on the cruise and we agree with almost all that was written, just had a few different experiences.

We did make use of the playroom probably 5 of the nights, it did take some time to find a bed but if you were actively walking around and watching you could tell when a bed was becoming vacant. They had large bins with fresh sheets and towels and the attendant would help in recovering the beds, never had any "smell" issues with the room.

We were in an interior room, spent our money on a $1000+ bar tab instead!!! The room was acceptable, big enough for the two of us.

We didn't bring any outfits for the theme nights but were lucky enough to make friends with people that had extra, we dressed up for the fetish night and the Mardi Gras night.

For the fetish night we were with the couple that she walked him like a dog blindfolded down the promenade, they had extra leather and lace and we were able to outfit ourselves.

For the Mardi Gras night, we met a great couple at dinner and they had brought several bottles of latex. Wwe painted each other up, my wife was completely nude except for the feathers in her hair and the latex on her naughty spots, walking down the promenade, she got a lot of attention that night.

At the dinners, we split sometimes with a group of people we knew and a few nights we went in blind and got seated with people we had never met. Its a great way to meet people and you never know what could happen. One night while seated with two other couples, when first approaching the table we saw a younger couple and an older couple. We initially thought we would have nothing in common with the older couple (we are late 30's,they were mid 60's), anyway, so we tried conversation with the younger couple and they were dead fish. We ended up having a great time with the older couple and they were the ones with the latex. We went back to their room and I painted her and my wife up with the latex, nothing sexual except the nudity, but we all had a great time getting ready for Mardi Gras night.

There seemed to be a lot of lookers and men there showing off their wives' tits around the pool area. Not that I care but it seemed like there were a lot of prudish men. I'm (the male) a shy nudist, but at one point in the hot tub with about 25 other people, I was the only one completely nude, there were topless women but all of the men had bathing suits on. Sorry, that ain't right.

We brought two bottles of wine on board. It was allowed, they could have been two bottles of anything because they didn't physically look at them.

They provided magnetic door note pads, which was nice. Another thing that we didn't bring but is a good idea is business cards with your room number, picture, SLS or other screen name, and maybe an email address that you could hand out to people you meet. We met some great people that we no longer have contact with because we didn't remember to exchange contacts.

Overall, we had the best time. We will definitely be doing more in the future, and can't even imagine doing a vanilla cruise ever again.

there were so many things to do that we missed a lot of it and will need to go back to experience more....

a and k

Great review. I'd have to agree in that it was the best vacation i've ever had. It took me quite a while to recover. LOL