Celebrating 5 Fabulous Years

Congratulations Pride of the Ocean!

Pride of the Ocean celebrated its 5th anniversary at sea with many celebrated artists at an elegant cocktail party on the Norwegian Breakaway’s outdoor Spice H20 Lounge en route to New York.

Congratulations! “Back on Board” wins Outfest Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature

Pride of the Ocean would in turn like to celebrate the premieres of several works by Pride of the Ocean guests. Cheryl Furjanic premiered “Back on Board” at Outfest on July 19, where it won the audience award for best documentary feature. Congratulations Cheryl!

Cheryl Furjanic, Caleb Mose and Will Sweeney. @Kurtew Photography

Andrea Meyerson premiered “Letter to Anita” at Outfest on July 20. Madeleine Olnek premiered “The Foxy Merkins” at NewFest on July 20.  “Casper Andreas premiered “A Last Farewell” at NewFest on July 27.

And The Best is Yet To Come

“The community that we’ve built over the past 5 years has been extraordinary. Our destinations, ships, value, and memorable experiences only get better with each trip, and our upcoming trip to Hawaii is really pushing the envelope.”, said Program Director John Scagliotti. “We really enjoy hosting these trips, and a  trip to Hawaii is tops on many people’s list of dream destinations, but it’s a rare treat to visit the Hawaiian islands by cruise ship and an even more of a treat to do it the company of smart engaging people.” To learn more about Pride of the Ocean’s Hawaiian Islands cruise, click on the image below.

Pride of the Ocean Visiting Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Ocho Rios in 2015

Recently added to Pride of the Ocean’s portfolio of destinations for 2015, Grand Cayman is known for its famous 7 mile beach, crystal clear waters, and coral reefs, making it one of the most sought after snorkeling and scuba diving destinations in the world.

Also renowned as a top destination for divers and snorkelers, Cozumel is where Spanish Conquistadors first discovered Mexico; consequently, there are many sites and ruins of historic significance to marvel at.

On Jamaica’s picturesque North Shore, Ocho Rios is home to many spectacular waterfalls, from which the town derives its name. You can also channel your inner 007 on James Bond beach, where the movie, “Dr No” was filmed.

Click here or on the button below to learn more about these and other exciting destinations coming up in 2015.

Celebrate! Where will you be on National Coming Out Day?

Pride of the Ocean will be celebrating National Coming Out Day on October 11, 2014 in Honolulu. National Coming Out Day was founded in 1988, and the date of October 11 was chosen because it was the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Pride of the Ocean will then depart on a 7 day tour of the Hawaiian Islands, where the film, “Kumu Hina” will be screened aboard The Norwegian Pride of America cruise ship. Click here for more details.

“Kumu Hina” filmmaker, Joe Wilson, was recently interviewed by Dallas Voice about Hawaii and the film’s upcoming screening at the Asian Film Festival of Dallas, where he said of Hawaii,

“…the Hawaiian spirit of aloha is very real. People here — Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike — tend to be much more courteous, respectful, welcoming and inclusive than in most other places.”

Click here or on the button below to read more about the film “Kumu Hina” and Joe Wilson’s full interview.

Wish You Were Here With Us!

5th Pride of the Ocean Sets Sail! Join us for the 6th! Bon Voyage!

First Openly Gay Bishop Tapped By President Obama & Pride of the Ocean

The fifth annual Easter prayer breakfast at The White House hosted faith leaders from many different spiritual disciplines. During the breakfast, President Obama encouraged the American people to stand united against “religious-based violence.”

At the conclusion of the breakfast, Bishop Gene Robinson was pleasantly surprised to be unexpectedly asked by President Obama to close the breakfast with prayer. Robinson, the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop, later tweeted about what an honor it was.

For those of you in our Pride of the Ocean cruise group sailing June 1-8, 2014, you’ll be able to enjoy hearing more about this special occasion from Gene Robinson himself, as well as hear him speak about spirituality and activism, following a screening of the film in which he was featured, “For The Bible Tells Me So”, with the film’s director Daniel Karslake. More about that here, or click the button to the right. 

While we have officially closed our group for the June 1-8 cruise aboard The Norwegian  Breakaway, if you call  Geisha Cumberbatch at (866) 432-0050, she might be able to miraculously squeeze you into the group (after all, we have a Bishop on board, so we expect miracles) .

And speaking of miracles and President Obama, what a miracle the Hawaiian Islands are! We are still building a great Pride of the Ocean group for our Hawaiian Islands cruise, including a screening of Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson’s new film about native Hawaiian culture, called “Kumu Hina”.   It’s a great way to celebrate National Coming Out Day on October 11 with a “aloha spirit”! For more info on our Hawaiian Island cruise, click here or on the button below.

March 31 is a very important day

An official communiqué to our Program Director, John Scagliotti

This just in from the White House:

“The Affordable Care Act has the potential to transform the lives of countless LGBT people
and improve the health and well-being of our community – for generations to come.”

March 31st is the deadline to sign up. Click here to learn more.

March 31, is also the final date to sign up for Pride of the Ocean’s June Pride Festival on board the Norwegian Breakaway” Our festival will also “improve the health and well-being of our community.”

Click here or on the button below to learn more:

A Last Farewell…

Only 1 week to reserve your cabin to see Pride of the Ocean’s 2012 Body of Work award winner screen his first Swedish language film

Writer and Director Casper Andreas will be screening his latest film “A Last Farewell”, about an aging author haunted by visions of his late husband and in conflict with his pregnant daughter, on Pride of the Ocean’s June Pride cruise June 1-8, 2014

Casper Andreas was awarded Pride of the Ocean’s 2012 Body of Work Award. He will be joined on our next cruise by our other award winners, Andrea Meyerson, who won our 2013 award, and Vic Basile, who will be awarded our 2014 award.

Support Casper by joining us with a special promotion. Click here or on the button below for details.

Body of Work award winner Casper Andreas on a recent Pride of the Ocean cruise

Looking Through the Sensational Headlines About Anti-Gay Religious Laws

In his landmark Nation cover story for the 1993 march on Washington, headlined the gay moment, journalist Andrew Kopkind noted, ‘Not for 30 years has a class of Americans endured the peculiar pain and exhilaration on having their civil rights and moral worth — their very humanness — debated at every level of public life. Lesbians and gay men wake up to headlines…”

Twenty years later, LGBT issues are still making headlines. We at Pride of the Ocean dig deeper to address those topics with film and discussion to examine some of the important issues that LGBT people face. John Scagliotti, partner to the late Andrew Kopkind, presents thoughtful films and intelligent panels on the issues that make the headlines.

On our 45th Anniversary of Stonewall cruise, Pride of the Ocean will be doing exactly that on the hot topics of religion, law and politics.

Daniel Karslake will be presenting a film that has truly made a difference. See video trailer below, or click here.

Click above to watch video

“For the Bible Tells Me So” is, strictly speaking, an educational film, but there is no denying that it fills a need. – The New York Times

In addition to this film, we are doing a panel with one of the most important religious leaders in the country, Bishop Gene Robinson.

“God calls all of his children to the table. We can disagree and even say a lot of hateful things, but what we can’t do in good conscience is — demand that someone else not be at the table.” – Bishop Gene Robinson

You won’t want to miss this important film and discussion on Pride of the Ocean.

One of the most important missions of Pride of the Ocean is to increase visibility of the LGBT community. For this reason, the film festival is hosted aboard ships with a diverse group of passengers, in order to put out a positive, constructive, example of the LGBT community to society at large. As part of that mission, Pride of the Ocean will be making a charitable donation of $75 to Episcopal Response to AIDS and offering a cabin discount of $75 for each person reserving a cabin with the promotional code of GENE14. Click here to take advantage of this offer while helping those with HIV.

Episcopal Response to AIDS is an independent 501(c)(3) organization, whose mission is to support, foster and financially enable HIV/AIDS ministries affiliated with Episcopal faith communities in the Greater New York area. From its inception in 2006 through 2012, Episcopal Response to AIDS has awarded approximately $150,000 in 45 grants to 24 grassroots HIV/AIDS ministries in the Dioceses of Long Island, Newark and New York.

Reimagining the Erotic…

While some African countries rightly continue to make headlines for some of their new draconian anti-gay laws, we on Pride of the Ocean want to take this opportunity to explore some of the complexities rooted in the African diaspora.

We find a new work-in-progress by Seyi Adebanjo, which we are delighted to be screening for you on our New York to Bermuda cruise, a fascinating work of storytelling. Entitled “Qya: Something Happened on the Way to West Africa!”, Adebanjo’s film explores ritual, the erotic and gender through indigenous Yorùbá spirituality in Nigeria.

seyi adebanjo

Adebanjo says “re-imaging the erotic in the future will give strength to a new story and people who cross the border of gender/spirit/sexuality.” Adebanjo’s film will be part of a series of exciting shorts that will be screening as part of our 5th anniversary cruise, embarking from New York City on June 1.

The exciting part for you is that as a Pride of the Ocean passenger, you will be meeting some truly amazing and talented people.

Join this engaging group by booking your cabin here.

Meet Your Emcee

Matthew Moore

Pride of the Ocean’s 2014 Emcee, Matt Moore, is a producer, comedian and improv teacher who founded “Improv for the People” in 2010. “Improv for the People” offers classes in improvisation and trains not just actors, but business school students as well, improvisation being a valuable skill outside of the theater. In Los Angeles, Matt trained at the acclaimed Groundlings Theater, home to many well-known actors, comedians, and celebrities.

He is the producer of MonkeyShines Improv, Alley Catz Comedy Show, and is a frequent performer at the Comedy Store in Hollywood, CA.