Exclusive | Ask the Travel Expert, July 2008

Ed Salvato is editor-in-chief of the award-winning Out Traveler magazine, its Web site OutTraveler.com and exciting new blog, GPS. A pre-eminent gay travel expert, Ed speaks often about gay travel and is frequently quoted in the press. He writes a monthly syndicated travel column and appears regularly on radio and TV.

Ed and his team know gay travel, and they prove it by answering your questions.

FOD on deck: finding LGBT friends on mainstream cruises
A friend and I are going on a Princess cruise in September. It isn't a gay cruise, but I wondered if there was a website where Gays could register their travel information to see if any others might be on the same ship. It would make dinner conversation so much more interesting then talking with Bob and Karen from Omaha about their 3 kids.
Mainstream cruises have many so-called ?special interest group? events, from singles mixers to Friends of Bill, for those in Alcoholics Anonymous. To get to know some other gay folks on board, check the daily cruise activity bulletins for events for ?Friends of Dorothy? or ?FOD.? Norwegian, Carnival, and Princess, three particularly gay friendly mainstream lines, offer nightly FOD events on the majority of their cruises. Princess often bills their mixers as ?Rainbow/GLBT Get Togethers.?

If there?s nothing rainbow-hued on the itinerary, make a polite request of the cruise director and the odds are that they will schedule them? and you?ll be sure to find some more suitable table-mates.