Norwegian Cruise Lines
 

Anyone know if speedos are worn and accepted on NCL cruises?
Is there a difference between the main sun deck and the "freestyle" sun deck?
My wife and I are taking a Panamal Canal Cruise from LA to Miami this winter.
I am tempted to take only my 2 speedo solars for swimwear.
I am in my early 60's and a bit on the heavier side if that makes a difference.

Why wouldn't they be?

Not a problem
 

I have not sailed NCL but have been on many cruises. While not real common, you will not be the only guy in a brief cut suit. They only frown on swimwear being worn in other areas of the ship, and that rule applies to any style suit. On my cruises I only had brief or very brief suits and it was never an issue. Have fun!

Hey Minimalist! you're going to have a great time (so jealous!) I've sailed on NCL, you will find *a lot* more speedos on Norwegian than you would on Carnival or RCL for example; NCL has a lot more Europeans customers. I'd bet you'll be in good speedo company.

what do guys normally wear to/from the pool areas?

i hate having to put shorts on but havent ever really found other kinds of mens cover ups

I worked for RCCL for 2yrs, and on the Brazilian cruise, most just wore their speedos to and from the pool...but most of the time they'd wear short shorts or a sarong...(which is what I wear to/from)

The guys in boardies mostly just waited for the shorts to dry. I wore running shorts over my swimsuit, unless I had a few drinks then I just said WTF and wore my swimsuit...lol. Or I wore a towel wrap. The older couples wore robes.

Norwegian Cruise Line
 

Called yesterday with another question. Asked about brief swimwear for men.
Was told it was allowed, and that while few US customers wear it, many from Europe and South America do. No surprise there.

Brief swimsuits on cruise ships.
 

I usually wear speedo style bright colored swim briefs, that fit well. When going to or from the pool area, I'll wear a toga wrap around my waist and shorts over my snug swim briefs at times. :) My swim briefs feel nice, even when hidden under shorts or wrap around toga.

I've only been on a cruise once but wore my speedo the whole time. If you make it a big deal it'll be one.

Just returned from a RCI cruise, western Caribbean and there were tons of guys wearing mainly trunk or square cut speedo suits, there was also many more guys in brief cut, this could be a great sign that these types of suits are getting more popular and accepted!!

Good to hear that they are becoming more common.

Yes, I have cruised 20+ cruises and had never seen this many square cut, trunk or speedo type swimwear. There were many more non US pax on this cruise, the Allue of the Seas and it has 5,000 pax + crew

Allure of the Seas
 

I'm actually headed out on Allure of the Seas this coming week (Jan 2) and will report back with any info on others in anything less that board shorts (usually the case with RCI cruises).

Like many have said, they are definitely allowed. You won't see a lot of speedos, but you do see some on any 'mainstream' cruise. Sometimes I've been the only guy in speedos, which doesn't bother me at all. Sometimes other guys start wearing them later in the cruise.

Cruise
 

Just got back from my cruise. There were a substantial number of men in brief suits, I would estimate about a quarter. Most seemed to be speaking a language other than English. I mostly wore a speedo solar and didn't feet at all out of place doing so.

Was this a gay oriented cruise?

Probably Europeans who aren't worried about wearing those kinds of suits.

Cruise
 

Cruise was not gay oriented, many retired couples and some retrired singles; some younger couples, singles and families. High percentage of Europeans (especially Germans) and Latin Amercans. I meant that about a quarter of the men were wearing speedos. Women were a mix of swimwear including a very few who were either not aware that topless sunbathing for women was not permitted or didn't care.

Sounds awesome. Where did your cruise leave port from?

Norwegian Star
 

I find the Americans are so prudish when it comes to wearing swimwear. They seem to prefer to hang around in soggy old boardies. As an Australian, I only wear brief swimwear. Speedos are not gay! And I wore them on a Norwegian Star cruise last week from Melbourne to New Zealand. Unfortunately the ships engines broke down out in the ocean and we got towed back to Melbourne (full refund and another cruise offered). But I spent three hot days out on deck, and in the pool, in my Desmiit low rise bikinis. Nobody minded, in fact two fellow male passengers became friendly and spent the time with me in their Aussiebums. Not as issue at all.

It was cruise from Los Angeles to Miami through the Panana Canal with stops in several countries along the way.

Respectfuly, SpeedoIan, have you looked around? Board shorts prevail in Australia, too. I find it far more productive to not sterotype an entire nation with flawed statements. I have worn brief style suits all my life (a long time) and it has never been as issue, never been a problem. I was told bluntly once to go put on some clothes, that was in Australia of all places. I don't see posts on here bashing your country, how about you skip bashing mine.

STS

I would never bash the USA. I love the country, having visited it seven times. It is just that in the USA speedos are considered by most as gay. That's where the stupidity lies. If the USA were to be bashed, as you call it, by me, it would be as a result of a recent election. That says something if ever anything does. I guess I will wait four or eight years till I next visit, when the USA hopefully returns to free trade. You can't expect to export without importing too. Great diverse country though. And much more polite people than the average Australian is these days.

I am not surprised that people make tha gay connection and doubt it is a US only thing. Competitive events excluded, I do think a gay guy is far more likely to wear a brief cut suit compared to a str8 guy. I go to a beach in Maine, USA that has a fairly large contingent of brief (or less) wearing guys. It also has a very large gay attendance. Guess where the hottest swimsuits are. Whole companies, such as Aussiebum, clearly cater to a more gay clientele. The cover of DNA and many other gay media proudly display hot guys in skimpy swimwear. I don't really care if someone decides my sexuality based on the swimsuit I wear. If they have equated my swim brief suit as gay, it is not to hard to understand why. No matter where they live.

Cruise
 

There were plenty of men with there wives/girlfriends on the cruise wearing brief swimwear, but as I noted earlier, most of them seemed to be European or Latin American. For what ever reason, brief swimwear for straight men seems more common outside the US. I am an exception because I am as straight married American who wears swim briefs most of the time.

This is awesome. More power to you bro!

I am a straight married American who wears swim jammers most of the time. I have occasionally seen negative comments about jammers, here, but there's no denying that jammers are snug, feel great, look good (thighs clad in spandex can look amazing), and are much better for swimming than baggy swim shorts or board shorts. I learned that the hard way!

Labelling the wearers of speedos as gay is just cheap homophobia. Lazy homophobes unable to the identify gay men they wish to abuse attack all men who wear swim briefs or short shorts. Not wishing to be bullied many school boys and young men conform.
If you ran a swimwear company and wished to advertise your products would you choose hot young men, wimps or chubs to be your models? The answer is simple you want to associate your product with health, fitness and sexiness.

Out of curiosity, how does one define that the men with wives/girlfriends on the cruise "seemed" to be European or Latin American?

I have never been on any cruise with my wife, but we have spent plenty of time around and chatting with European tourists (mostly German and Russian) at clothing optional hot springs within the Western USA, one of which is quite close to our home. It is very popular with European tourists during the summer.

Both my wife and I are 100% American of European ancestry. Welsh for her and Dutch/ Swedish for me.

Do they seem to be European or Latin American due to the European women sunbathe topless and possibly wear high heels? My wife prefers this attire versus being entirely nude.

Do they seem to be European due to the men wear Speedos and/or thongs and if nude wear cock rings? This my common attire and I am not European and or Latin American.

Many of them were speaking Spanish and German (the cruise even offered excursions in those languages). Some also seemed to be speaking French and Italian.

Royal Carribean - Where are all of the speedos?
 

I am currently on a cruise on Royal Carribean hitting Bermuda, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and Haiti....I have to say, I am disappointed in the number of speedos I am seeing! I have only seen ONE speedo, thats all! I was expecting to see a lot more, and hoped to wear mine if there were more wearing theres....however I do think there are a lot of guys wearing their speedos under board shorts due to the very low number of speedos around the boat.

Go on and bust out your swim briefs!

Hopefully you can encourage others to do the same and greatly improve the situation.

Cruise
 

What is the makeup of the passengers.
The one where I saw a lot of speedos was heavily European and Latin American.

Why worry about what the other guys are wearing??
You're never going to see any of them again. I think we all can agree that it can be a little embarrassing to break out the speedo, but feeling the sun and breeze on the upper thighs feels good enough to not worry about what a bunch of strangers think.
Just do it

Speedos
 

Agreed. I had only packed speedo solars for swimwear on my cruise, but it was still reassuring to have a lot of company wearing them.

Cruises and beaches have changed in the past decade. People just travel with their own group of friends and everyone else is "invisible" to them. It is rare for "cruise directors" to hold group activities around the pool. My partner and I asked to be seated at a large table for dinner, they gave us the table but did not seat anyone else there. Mingling with fellow travelers is discouraged.
So do whatever you want, no one will notice or care. Management does not want a scene or bad reviews so they won't intervene either, for better or worse.

I was on the NCL Getaway last Christmas. And I wasn’t the only one wearing Speedo Style swimwear. I personally like the 2xist swim briefs. I wear my swim briefs all the time. I’ve only ever got one negative comment and I didn’t let it bother me. Everyone else loves them. Swim briefs are also great at clearing out crowded hot tubs on cruise ships.

Hot Tubs
 

Didn't clear out hot tubs on my cruise. But as I said before, there were a lot of European and Latin American passengers for whom speedos are normal swimwear.

On one of the cruises I went on. the pool area was always busy, bur no one was in Speedos, so I went up one deck to the sundeck which wasn't crowded at all. I pulled my swim shorts off to reveal my Speedos and stretched out on a lounge. Some people strolled past--no issues. The next day, I went to the same deck, and soon there were 5 guys in Speedos up there with me. The third day, there were about a dozen. Guys DO want to wear Speedos, but just don't want to make a spectacle of themselves.

Right on! That is exactly why you need to just do it and not worry about what other people have to say about it. Be yourself, be comfortable, and just do it.

It is surprising how other guys will come out of the woodwork and join in when they see it is all good!