Gay cruises can be a ton of fun! They can also be exhausting. And even depressing.
Dream Boat is a new documentary that follows five men on an international gay cruise.
“As long as the world is how it is, people will still need places where they can be themselves without fear and discrimination,” filmmaker Tristan Ferland Milewski tells Vice, “and this is a boat, a place, where they can do that.”
Or can they?
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While making the film, Milewski quickly noticed that, when confined together on a boat for an entire week, the men quickly found ways to discriminate against one another.
“There’s the performance of masculinity,” he explains. “Many gay men have this experience, that their masculinity is questioned through being gay, and maybe you’re denied your masculinity in a way you internalize.”
Milewski describes the cruise as being a 24-7 quest for pleasure-seeking that involves “crazy parties” and “no sleep” on what he describes as “a boat of dreams and a boat of disillusionment.”
For seven days and nights, 3,ooo men spend the entire time dressing up, partying, getting drunk, seeking love and friendship, and, Milewski notes, having a lot less sex than you might expect.
Related: Sex, Survival, And Five Things I Learned On The Poz Cruise
“I think in a way, a cruise like this represents a universal quest,” Milewski says. “We all want to live and love as we are. And as you see in the film, it’s not so easy sometimes.”
Ultimately, he says Dream Boat offers a dark but beautiful portrait of modern gay culture.
“It’s all about raising questions: where are we today, and who do we want to be? What potential do we have to turn gay culture into something empowering and positive?
Check out the trailer below.
h/t: Vice
Stache
NO way could you force me into that but it’s worth watching though.
Stache
Waiting for Danny595 and his Promiscuity is the end of civilization screed..
RIGay
It is the primary reason my husband and I don’t like to participate in [fill in the subculture] events.
Doug
Another film that looks interesting but will never be available to watch unless you can find it online in a couple of years.
heath0043
It releases on Netflix on December 12th.
jpcolter
I’m pretty sure I would not have a good time on a floating hotel hosting a 24 hour circuit party with 3000 drug addled men. The eye candy factor would last about 24 hours and then I would feel like I was in hell until I could get off the boat.
seaguy
Not everyone onboard is using drugs.
trelld
Looks interesting. I never thought about the people who go on these cruises who use it to get away from homophobia in their country.
mz.sam
I would never go on this gay cruise on this particular destination on this particular cruise line…No Way. And I go on gay cruises every year on one particular cruise line. Why? All attitudes, prejudices and just plain bitchiness is left behind at the California port/dock. All the years, nothing but friendliness and brotherhood: gay, straight, male, female the perennial positive vibe is infectious and have made lasting friends from every trip (and I don’t work for the cruise line). About the documentary…to each his own.
john.k
I saw that documentary at the GAZE film festival in Dublin. The general reaction seemed to be that it put people off the idea of a gay cruise. As one friend put it “if I had found myself on that boat I’d have been the first over the side” (lol)
seaguy
I plan to check this out when it hits Netflix. I have friends who have gone on gay cruises here in the US and they were totally happy with the experience and none of them are models or Falcon porn stars so I think it ends up being that you have a good time if you set about to do so. If you spend the whole cruise being jealous and depressed because you’re abs are not washboard and you don’t have men falling over themselves to get you to go back to their cabin with them, then you’re going to have a bad time for sure.
chris33133
Every gay man I’ve ever spoken to, who has been on a gay cruise, has had an awesome time. Maybe it was not sex 24/7; but I’ve heard hilarious stories of people in drag going through U.S. customs, acting as fem as they want and no one caring, and simply being caught up in the joy of being out amongst hundreds of gay men. ….. Maybe people who are my age found these cruises liberating but now they’ve become little more than cruising on cruises. If that’s the case, we’ve lost something that — once upon a time — was a great experience for gay men.
jagmanca
My partner and I did a number of cruises 2002-2008 and had a great time. Just did another and again a great time. Mid-forties then, mid-fifties now. We found the cruises always to have available the experience you put into it. Sure, lots of parties if that is your thing, but also a great opportunity to meet like minded people, make great friends and great memories. We too found that the cruises tend to be a place where all are welcomed, and barriers to day to day life are gone. People seem to be much more open to acceptance and getting to know each other, attitude free and affirming. I always tell people the same thing and wouldn’t hesitate to go on another for a minute. Judging anything by a narrow focus to make a point is always wrong.
macMonKii
?
silveroracle
Once again, I view this due to the stupid Waywire app.
IWantAFullBeard
While making the film, Milewski quickly noticed that, when confined together on a boat for an entire week, the men quickly found ways to discriminate against one another.
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No! Who has ever heard of a judgemental homosexual?
Knight
Although I’ve never been on one of these, I’ve been around enough friends who have (some working on them as “models” who are essentially paid to show up in the themed costume of whatever party is going on and just look pretty/show off their muscles to the guests) to know that a floating bath-house with all-you-can-eat bacteria-ridden food (that no one wants to be seen eating anyway, so as not to appear to be the “fat one”) wouldn’t be for me. I much prefer traveling to a city and discovering it on my own pace, meeting people who share my interests and enjoying the sex when it happens organically.
Geeker
I watched it and it was more than a little depressing.
DonMikeOGG
These kinds of cruises appeal to one small segment of the entire gay male population, yet the overriding message is that this is what all gay men are like and we should all learn a lesson from this about the way we think and behave. There are many more types of gay men then the kinds who go on these cruses and I think if the clientele were a little more diverse this might be a rather different documentary.