Was it common to meet swingers on cruise ships?

[SoftStub805]

About ten years ago my wife and I were on a Carnival cruise. It was a few days into the one week cruise, the night of the formal dinner, and we were walking out of the main dining room along with a mass of other people. My wife was a few steps ahead of me. Suddenly a man walks up beside me, and asks,

"Excuse me, are you and your wife swingers?" His wife then steps into view in front of him. Like my wife, she is a short BBW and looking very pretty in her formal dress and heels. We are not swingers, and I was caught off guard that someone would ask me. I just gave a brief laugh and said,

"No. We're not into that." He just gave a friendly smile and said,

"Hey, no harm in asking. Right?" I just smiled and agreed and they vanished into the crowd.

I caught up with my wife, who had not heard the brief conversation, and to this day I have never mentioned it to her.

I want to run this question by the forum: Was it common about ten years ago (and maybe it still is) to meet swingers aboard cruise ships?

I have also thought that since my wife and I were middle aged, about the same as the other couple, we are pretty friendly and outgoing with other passengers and crew members when on a cruise so probably seemed approachable, and he and I had the same taste in women, so perhaps he thought he would just ask and maybe get lucky?

Then again maybe there was something about us that was inadvertently giving off the impression that we were swingers. If so, what might that have been?

We will never know for sure, but I am interested in what others think. Thanks.

 

[jw_kk]

The short answer is yes - this was certainly true a decade ago, and likely still is.

It is less common today, but there were cruises, and cruise lines that offered their services to organized swinger groups, hosting swinger-lifestyle focused cruises. Due to notoriety in the media, this is less common to an extent, and more subdued in terms of public awareness and advertising. You can visit sites like SLS and find event notices for these.

KK and I used to cruise frequently - declined significantly after the norovirus outbreaks that became frequent aboard cruise ships in the last ten or so years, double-whammy the pandemic. Before then, we typically enjoyed a couple of cruises a year.

On “vanilla” cruise routes, we often found a target-rich environment for KK to engage in sex with strange men. A couple of times, we did a hot wife challenge theme while cruising, situations I encouraged KK to have sex with at least one different man every day, in return for a reward. The ship-board casinos, clubs/lounges, and bars make good hunting grounds for a hot wife.

We went on a few cruises where the line had partially booked the ship for swinger events - unaware upfront, but we figured it out quickly after the fact - in similar situations to yours, we were approached by swinger attendees who were forward about their interests. It’s possible you weren’t giving off any particular vibe, and the couple simply approached you because of the possibility that you might’ve been part of the group.

 

[SoftStub805]

I knew there were swinger cruises, whether sponsored by the cruise line or unofficial in that a large group of people into the lifestyle decide to book a certain ship on a certain date. Either way I assumed they would all know each other at least by sight, or have some prearranged way to meet up, such as a certain lounge, etc.

 

[jw_kk]

I knew there were swinger cruises, whether sponsored by the cruise line or unofficial in that a large group of people into the lifestyle decide to book a certain ship on a certain date. Either way I assumed they would all know each other at least by sight, or have some prearranged way to meet up, such as a certain lounge, etc.

The lifestyle community is pretty diverse - it’s the usual case that lifestyle couples have a relatively small inner circle of other couples/friends they engage with, so there’s no universal way to identify others outside one’s own inner circle.

Some of these are urban legends; black jewelry, like a ring, bracelet, choker, toe rings, anklets, certain tattoos, articles of clothing (a unicorn-themed T-shirt on a woman), or a particular vibe like sexy dressing are often associated with those in the lifestyle.

On a swinger/lifestyle cruise, unless the organized group is very, very small, or the event is what’s known as a “take-over,” there’s no practical way for anyone to readily identify a participant. Most likely, your situation was just someone hoping for opportunity.

 

[Sextravert]

About ten years ago my wife and I were on a Carnival cruise. It was a few days into the one week cruise, the night of the formal dinner, and we were walking out of the main dining room along with a mass of other people. My wife was a few steps ahead of me. Suddenly a man walks up beside me, and asks,

"Excuse me, are you and your wife swingers?" His wife then steps into view in front of him. Like my wife, she is a short BBW and looking very pretty in her formal dress and heels. We are not swingers, and I was caught off guard that someone would ask me. I just gave a brief laugh and said,

"No. We're not into that." He just gave a friendly smile and said,

"Hey, no harm in asking. Right?" I just smiled and agreed and they vanished into the crowd.

I caught up with my wife, who had not heard the brief conversation, and to this day I have never mentioned it to her.

I want to run this question by the forum: Was it common about ten years ago (and maybe it still is) to meet swingers aboard cruise ships?

I have also thought that since my wife and I were middle aged, about the same as the other couple, we are pretty friendly and outgoing with other passengers and crew members when on a cruise so probably seemed approachable, and he and I had the same taste in women, so perhaps he thought he would just ask and maybe get lucky?

Then again maybe there was something about us that was inadvertently giving off the impression that we were swingers. If so, what might that have been?

We will never know for sure, but I am interested in what others think. Thanks.

Yes and no. We cruise a lot. Swingers certainly do cruise and sometimes you'll see clues like upside down pineapple clothing. But if you want action you have to do more than sit around in your pineapple clothing. You have to be engaging and sexy at bars and other places people hang out on board. I'd say it's easier for a hotwife to score than a couple. If you want to swing on a cruise go on a lifestyle takeover cruise or go with a group of swinger friends on a vanilla cruise.

 

[Bobbers]

Well it was for us. The cruise to nowhere out of Tampa. We had our own section just for swingers but other people would peek.

 

[HotAsianwife]

About ten years ago my wife and I were on a Carnival cruise. It was a few days into the one week cruise, the night of the formal dinner, and we were walking out of the main dining room along with a mass of other people. My wife was a few steps ahead of me. Suddenly a man walks up beside me, and asks,

"Excuse me, are you and your wife swingers?" His wife then steps into view in front of him. Like my wife, she is a short BBW and looking very pretty in her formal dress and heels. We are not swingers, and I was caught off guard that someone would ask me. I just gave a brief laugh and said,

"No. We're not into that." He just gave a friendly smile and said,

"Hey, no harm in asking. Right?" I just smiled and agreed and they vanished into the crowd.

I caught up with my wife, who had not heard the brief conversation, and to this day I have never mentioned it to her.

I want to run this question by the forum: Was it common about ten years ago (and maybe it still is) to meet swingers aboard cruise ships?

I have also thought that since my wife and I were middle aged, about the same as the other couple, we are pretty friendly and outgoing with other passengers and crew members when on a cruise so probably seemed approachable, and he and I had the same taste in women, so perhaps he thought he would just ask and maybe get lucky?

Then again maybe there was something about us that was inadvertently giving off the impression that we were swingers. If so, what might that have been?

We will never know for sure, but I am interested in what others think. Thanks

Swingers don’t have a certain look. The only reason they asked was because they were looking for a couple to have fun with.

 

[DewMyWife]

We tend to go on smaller ships, which don't lend themselves to swinging. I imagine big ships, with thousands of people, are a good possibility.

When we're in Europe, we prefer to go to social/swinger clubs anyway.

 

[SoftStub805]

Interesting to see this message thread coming back to life. Having had time to reminisce some more on that cruise and read replies, I agree that it was most likely another couple just looking for a good time, so they thought they would ask.

I hope they were able to find another swinger couple. Also, assuming they had struck out at least one other time, I hope they were turned down without the other couple making a scene.