Tswim, I think you are onto something there.  Good point about extreme minimal swimsuits vs a regular thong.  

 I have a reservation for next month at MSC Divina and im planning to wear mine there. They have a Yatch Club that its a private area inside the cruise with only about 70 cabins with a private pool and plenty space so hope to get a nice tan lines. I did about 2 years ago a transatlantic at MSC Musica and wore a thong almost every day. I saw another guy sunning in a G string at the AFT solarium. I wore mine  also at the sundecks, at the spa's hot tubes, at the sauna, co ed steam room. Few nice memories I use to take the last sauna and some times other guest used to open the door and found me laying on my back some times they stayed sometimes not another time I was relaxing at the hot tube and started alone then started to get full and by the time that I live it was packed and my towel was at the locker, it was fun. I remember the steam room with some girls...

 Been in the MSC Divina twice. Awesome ship.  Only saw one female in a thong. Never got to use mine :(...

 I will be on a Carnival ship again this summer and will wear a thong in the adults-only Serenity area as the areas around the pools are just too crowded and loud. In the evening, I will hit the hottubs in a thong on any part of the ship. It's my fifth cruise and done this every day at sea and any other day when I can squeeze in some time between other activities. I've heard fewer snickers and cat calls in this environment that the beach so its been a most enjoyable experience.

 Arthong, try the hairy chest contest.  Start off in board shorts or the most conservative suit you got,  then finish off in a moderate thong.   I will almost guarantee that you will win. Even if you can't dance and are smooth on top.   A bottle of real bad champagne like alcohol and a ship on a stick.  

 I just walked off a cruise ship yesterday. After spending a week on board, I must say I was very disappointed in the swimwear choice of those on the ship. All the men were in board shorts or something longer. Very, very few of the women were in cheeky bikinis. Even the 20 something women were covered in more traditional bikinis. Having a look around I figured I would have a tough time on the ship. Not so... I spent my days on the top deck in my traditional swimwear - pouch enhanced thong or a Skinz Sunseeker suit often pulled more to a thong than not. I got one off the hand comment by some overweight guy walking by me, several second and third looks from many women and a few women pulled out their phones to snap a photo or two. Otherwise I was left to myself to soak up the sun.

Saw ver few thongs on my recent cruise, but a substantial minority of the men were in brief suits. I wore a 1" speedo solar. Many of the men in brief suits seemed to be European or Latin American. Passengers in general were older married couples. 

 Just got back from 2 weeks cruise on Carnival. Did the pools, hot tubs and slides all in a thong, all day long. Not a single bad word, thou the crowds were 90%+ over 50. Most of the men were in board shorts, couple in speedos, Only one gal in a thong. The beaches in Aruba and St. Marteen were better. Lots of women in thongs and more guys in speedos, but still I was the only one in a thong. Several men from Brazil came to ask me where I got my thongs (Skinzwear) cuz they say they cant find mens thongs in Brazil. Their girlfriends were topless (no complaints here)

 Any advice on thing or g-string wear on Norwegian ship Pearl?

 Right or wrong, I have always thought of cruise lines as places where "old folks" go.  The commercials show a boat full of young adventurers, always with exactly two children.  Father and son were board shorts -- the small girl a one-piece, and the mom a very conservative two piece swimsuit.  Never shown are older people.  I have never taken a cruise trip, so I don't know if my perceptions are right.  If they are, the old-timers are the people who used to squawk complaints about thongers.  The young people from the ads are so main-stream, they probably don't realize that thongs are worn in places other than Europe and Miami.  With such a conservative crowd, I would not expect to see that many thongs and not many Speedos or cheeky swimsuits either. 

They re-run the TV show "Love Boat" and from what I have read, this show sort of created new interest in cruise vacations at a time when cruise lines were suffering from lack of customers.  The ship's crew was adorable and so focused on service for their guests that they would wipe your nose if you sneezed.  What really was impressive was the shots around the "pool".  Guys normally wore Speedos or minimal swim shorts with inseams only a few inches long.  Women wore the fashionably skimpy swimwear shown in Sports Illustrated and other magazines -- some quite tiny.  I am sure these shots were used to increase show interest -- providing something for both men and women to look at, even if the storylines were rather dull.  They also had the endless line of has-been movie stars and popular TV show actors as guest stars for those that liked this type of entertainment.    The show ran from 1977 to 1986 in prime time, but has been shown in reruns ever since.  This was pretty much pre-thong for most of it's run, but the images of skimpy swimwear week in and week out may have helped thonging to be more accepted -- at least for a while.  But I don't think the swimwear worn on Love Boat was any more realistic than the totally focused crew.  People who went on the ships of the period may not have found as many minimal swimsuits on good looking people as depicted on the show.  I don't know if the show created a new market in younger cruise vacationers, but those that were watching are now the older people who would be on board todays ships.  In the old days, real cruise ships advertised their swimming pools and sunning decks.  Now it is the food, shows and ports-of-call that they advertise.  Swimming and sunning are rarely shown or mentioned in brochures or advertising.  Love Boat never had a kid under 20 unless they had some major role in the plot.  Now we advertise that cruise ships are for children, just like Vegas is now a family destination.  I don't think cruise ships are much like the ads now, and were not like Love Boat back then -- but the difference is that at least back then, showing a little skin was played up, and now we seem to be more concerned about movie theaters, six story atriums, and WIFI connections.  I wonder if during the golden age of thonging (late 1980's to early 1990's) thongs were more popular on cruise ships.  Baywatch occasionally showed women in thongs -- if Love Boat was still on, would they have had some hanging around their hot-tub sized pool, and would it have helped thonging then and maybe created better acceptance of thongs on cruise ships today?

 I have been on several cruises over the years. They have decidedly changed. When I first cursed the staff, the attention to detail and the over all atmosphere was amazing. While my first cruise had many older people on board there were also a few younger. But then cruising was expensive. Over the years as the price has come down I have seen a much younger crowd on the ships. Swimwear in the ships seems to be about equal time o most any beach I have been to. There are many women in small bikinis and thong swimwear, a few men in bikini cut or square cut briefs and one of two men in a thong which is usually me. I found that the women have no problem with what I wear. A few men have been insecure and made comments. Mostly everyone there is a odd to have a good time. Having said this, I would not go on a Disney cruise and expect to see minimal swimwear. Also what is generally see is that the much older people are not hanging out on the pool deck. There are a few but in general not many. There are children on board, but not a lot. Mostly it is couples escaping the children for a week. I’ve done a sexy legs contest on the pool deck where I stripped down to my swim thong. That brought cheers and lot of fun laughter. Now I am not walking the deck in just my thong most of the time, but I will jump in the water and return to my chair. There has never been a problem. Often other women who wear thong bikinis will set up near by I think for comfort seeing me in a thong.

 I've been on a few cruises.  The big lines like Celebrity and Royal Caribbean I have never even seen cheeky bikinis.  I had worn a men's bikini on RC and the woman I was traveling with had a fit that I wasn't wearing board shorts because that's what all the men wore.  I did take a Windstar cruise and wore my Skinz scrunchy back, minimal front bikini and never had a problem.  There was a family from Brazil on the ship and the women always wore thongs.  I was the only guy in a bikini but no one ever made an issue of it.  Maybe on a European based ship you'll see more but on an American based ship there are very few.

 I was on RC in September. Saw quite a few girls in cheekies and thongs but of course I was the only guy. Got some looks, but enjoyed myself anyway.

 Please refer to the thread on the rich are more likely to wear thongs.   Please don't lump all cruises and cruise lines together.  The more luxurious lines (expensive and with smaller ships) are probably more thong friendly, but older.   Carnival (AKA Walmart of the seas)  will skew younger, but more herd-like so thongs may or may not be seen.   Some lines like Princess the thong, skimpy tolerance will vary with itinerary, length, and time of year.   For example on a 10 day January partial Panama Canal transit,my son and his friend were about the only 20 somethings on the 2500 passenger ship aside from crew and staff.   A Christmas cruise to the Caribbean had a far more diverse age range, with almost thongs on the ladies being seen.  Any cruise going to St. Martin is bound to be more thong tolerant (even Disney) than a leaf peeping cruise to New England and Canada.  So some research is required as is word of mouth.    There are other options, like full charters from Bare Necessities (Big Nude Cruise) or AIDA a German line that features FFK decks and being German, topless accepted around the pools.  

 Martylouie   -  what is a FFK deck?t

 FKK stands for "frei-korper-kultur", which is German for "Free Body Culture", i.e. naturism or nudism.

 Recently returned from a Caribbean cruise on the Rotterdam. On the first and last days, which were sea days, I felt comfortable in Skinz Bravura thongs on the Sun Deck. In ports, I also thonged in Cancun (Mandala Beach Club), Roatan Honduras (Paya Bay Resort) and Costa Maya (Jungle Beach) with no issue whatsoever. Upon our return to Tampa, I spent the afternoon on the beach at Treasure Island wearing a Skinz M12RU, Adjustable Micro G String. The weather was cooler so most people were wearing street clothes but I did notice one other gentleman in a G String.

 WOW- looks like Australian media is hammering this cruise line for a tops optional cruise!  Didn't think they'd get so bent out of shape- it's not like it's a nude cruise- those don't raise an eyebrow in the conservative USA
http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-ideas/weird-and-wacky/worlds-first-toplessoptional-cruise-to-set-sail/news-story/e546a2dd299dbbc11b72c519e5f9656c

"Didn't think they would get so bent out of shape".

Sailor; Thanks for drawing the article to our attention, but there is nothing in the article indicating anyone is "bent out of shape" (Def'n: Angry or agitated). Indeed it is rather positive when viewed through the eyes of the target consumer. And I mean consumer, not reader. News Corp media companies are leaders in the questionable practice of getting what is virtually advertising and running it as a news story

Incidentally, News Corp is run by Rupert Murdoch who has long been considered 'American' despite being born , and making his initial fortune, in Australia.

What do they mean first? Many cruise lines used to have an adults only topless or even nude sundeck. Most if not all of them have been phased out.

minimalist; News Corp media companies are also renowned in Australia, and I suspect in most places they publish, for poor quality journalism. They rarely check sources for accuracy and often print stories they know not to be correct. The writer covers "lifestyle topics", so probably doesn't have to to do much in the way of fact checking either.

sailor; Further to my previous post, I note that the writer of the article, Alisha Prakash, went to New York University and lives in New York as well. So we have a poor quality article written in the USA grabbed by a newspaper run by a USA media magnate. Odds are it is used by other News Corp publications elsewhere in the world. Basically, nothing at all to do with Australia.

Just got back from a cruise on RCCL's Oasis of the Seas, there were so many cheeky and thong bottoms on the lady's that I saw more ass cheeks there than you can at a strip club!

Car57 - How small were the bikinis? My GF and I were talking about a cruise last night. I told her I didn't think she could wear her micros. 

Visa the suits were straight up thongs.  There weren't any Wicked Weasels or Malibu Strings on the ladies but simple thongs with various types of tops.

 The wife and I just got back from a cruise on Carnival Cruise Line. I was taking her on a cruise for her birthday and my In laws wanted to join us and they brought their friends too. One of the other couples brought their 30 year old daughter who has never has been on a cruise. There was a total of 9 of us. The ports we visited were The Bahamas, Carnival's island, Grand Turks and the Dominican with a day at sea. 
We were informed that the 30 year old (Crystal) would be hanging out with us since she wanted to do shore excursions. While the old crowd isn't interested in the beaches and water sports.  I looked at my wife and she knew what I was thinking and said " oh well don't worry about it".  
When we arrived at the Bahamas the 3 of us took a cab and told him to bring us to a beach, just happens to be close to the port.  I wore a black thong under my shorts and after finding a nice spot in the beach I dropped my shorts.  Because there was no way I was going home with a board shorts tan.  Crystal said "that's a small suit" and that was it. I brought some cereal from the boat and showing her how to snorkel and feed the fish.  
The next stop at Carnival's island I didn't know what to expect since there would be probably 3000 people on a section of beach. Today Crystal stayed with her parents and did some walking around.  The wife and I walked away from the crowds down the beach. We figured judging by the size and age of the guest on the cruise. Not too many would make the walk.  As we set up further down the beach we were enjoying the sun, but noticed a few more people outside the roped off area snorkeling in deeper water.  We dragged a couple chairs passed the "no chairs past this point" with some others. It was better snorkeling and some shade too from the trees. Also we saw a group of 12 crew members enjoying the day in the beach. The wife and I ( in a thong) walked about a mile down the beach. On our way back we had to walk pass/thru the crew as they were walking about 300 feet behind us. One of the girls waved to us and I didn't recognize her. My wife told me it was a card dealer from the casino. We enjoyed a nice day on the beach. After dinner and another night in the casino we chatted with the dealer we met on the beach.  
Crystal signed up for a snorkeling / beach shore excursion at Grand Turks  and being a 1st timer, my wife offer to keep her company. We jumped on a boat with 50 other Carnival guests and made our way to our 1st reef.  I wore a Skinz Rio while snorkeling around and for the remainder of the trip. The snorkeling boat dropped us off at a beach owned by their company and spent 3 hours on the beach.  We got a few drinks and I wore a small thong ( my friend calls it a g-string) to tan on the beach. Then we made our way back to the ship, had dinner and played in the casino.  
After the last few days we decided to chill out by the pool at Amber Cove in the Dominican and I wore an small thong/g-string in a multi color. I got a real nice tan. We made our way back to the ship for dinner and casino.  
Our last day was a day at sea and my wife was going to play bingo with the rest the our group. I wasn't having anything to do with bingo. After breakfast a grabbed my little black ok g-string and headed to the deck. I had no ambition to swim in the pool so I headed to deck 10 aft.  I was actually amazed how many opened chairs there were. I set up port side aft next to the stairway going down.  I spent from 10 am to 3:30 in my g-string with numerous people coming by and setting up next to me without any problems. I would cold off in the shower on the 10th deck. My wife would stop by now and then. The bar maid made some good tip money on me.  She would always make sure I had a drink and call me by my 1st name. Even walking by like every trip and ask me how I was doing.  I made my way to dinner and then back to the casino.  
My thoughts about wearing a thong on a cruise ship. I probably wouldn't wear it down at the pool, just for argument sake.  But I wore one everyday and yes I kind of expected something from laying on deck of the boat. Let's face it most of them a very overweight and the seniors are really not going to say anything negative. I was The only male wearing a thong (didn't see a Speedo) on the ship a couple females were thongs on the ship and on the islands. So after reading my review you know I like wearing a thong while tanning and my casinos.  

 My wife and I have only been on cruises 4 times, all since we took early retirement.  We've only used Royal C.    On all 4 cruises the most coverage suit I worn on the ship were briefs smaller and thinner (unlined) then a 1" side Speedo.    When on biat nor kale trips where there would be lots of families I wore a 1" Speedo brand.  I had thongs with me as well as a suit with a slider back.  I never wore the thong at the pool, but did for evening soaks in the hot tubs.  I did wear the slider back suit on the RC private beach. Never saw any men in thongs, very few in briefs.  On each trip there were a few women in thongs.   I own cheeky back suits (V back and Rios) and have decided to wear them at the start of our next cruise.   Hopefully, I'll get around to wearing the thing by the end of the cruise.  Very interested in learning about which cruise lines tend to see at least women in thongs.    P.s., I never wear a suit with more coverage and a Speedo.    

I went on a western Caribbean cruise with NCL last December. I didn't see much in brief swim wear even with the women. I was reluctant to wear anything very brief. But, I did find a spot on a very upper deck where I wore a brief g-string with sliding front which provided very minimal coverage. This year I am going to try wearing a small "genital" bag which is strapless and only minimal enough to be legal. When I wear these with my street clothes, it's almost like being nude. I'll be on a different NCL ship, so I will have to find a new spot to sun

I was under the impression that NCL had (on some ships) an adults only "freestyle" sun deck where full nudity was allowed. So a g-string or baggie of any kind should be acceptable there. If i was to take a cruise i would always look for one of their ships which had a "freestyle" sundeck on the off-chance that nudity was allowed on them. It may be interesting to read their literature in full and then to query with NCL by email what the term "freestyle sundeck" means and whether nudity is allowed there or not. Then again, i would probably risk a thong or g-string on a higher level deck anyway that is away from the mainstream of foot traffic.

I took a cruise last summer and loved it. One thing I really enjoyed each day was wearing a thong in the spa area steam rooms, saunas and showers. I felt very free and alive doing so. It feels so good to just be almost naked with the water/steam/etc. I wasn't there for sex or flirting it any of that, but I did feel sexy for sure. However, I kept myself covered with a towel while getting up, sitting down, and walking between the areas. I covered up mostly because I was shy about it, and maybe a little embarrassed. Next summer I am taking another cruise and already I am really looking forward to wearing a thong again in the spa area. This time I am really hoping to be more proud of myself and open. I'd like to be able to walk from room to room and shower to shower without putting the towel on and covering up. I would not want to wear a thong in the main public pools. The spa area is inside, and is coed and 18+. Any tips on feeling less shy about openly wearing a thong in the spa area?

I posted this in March of this year: "Just got back from a cruise on RCCL's Oasis of the Seas, there were so many cheeky and thong bottoms on the lady's that I saw more ass cheeks there than you can at a strip club!" Just got back yesterday from a cruise on RCCL's Harmony of the Seas and thong and cheeky swimsuits were worn by about 50% of the women ranging from 15 to their 50's. Of course I was the only guy I saw who wore a thong. I wore one on Labadee, at the beach, and in the pool and hot tubs each AM; wore a square cut the rest of the time because my wife didn't want me to wear a thong in front of our friends who were on the cruise with us.

I thonged in my Joe Snyder thong on Symphony of the Seas last year in the Adult Solarium and no one said anything.

I would not walk through the Lido Buffet in a thong, but hanging around an adult pool should be fine. That being said some lines are going to be more thong averse than others, you need to research the demographics of the line and of the itinerary.

My wife and I recently returned from a one-week Bahamas cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas. This was a terrific trip with five days of perfect weather departing the Port of Miami and visiting Nassau Bahamas and RC's private island - Coco Cay. We also stayed a night in South Beach and that portion of this trip report is in the Miami Beach thread. Before the trip I re-read every "cruise" or "Bahamas"-related post on this message board and found much of it was sparse or dated. Our sailing was one of five consecutive cruises aboard this ship where up to one third of the bookings were made by a national corporation as a reward for employees. What this means is that the general tone of folks was probably more conservative than on "normal" RC sailings. That said, if you're female and in reasonable shape you can walk about every outdoor deck of this ship freely wearing your thong bikini. I saw perhaps a half dozen, during the two days I spent time in the vicinity of pools or sun decks. I also saw numerous "cheeky" bathing suits with sheer cover-ups worn by women on interior decks or in common dining areas. I did not have an opportunity to ride the water slides as the lines were always too long. We spent our day in the Port of Nassau walking about the town enjoying architecture, art galleries, a rum distillery and meals. We did not visit a Nassau beach (not even Junkaroo) and I saw no small swimwear that day. At "Perfect Day at Coco Cay" I did see several women openly tanning, swimming and walking along the beach or along pathways in thong bikinis. I also saw several men wearing briefs (speedos), two being a very muscular gay couple at the main pool. I wore board shorts this day as I was sunning with my wife and some of her professional friends. Previous posts in this forum suggest male thongers head to the "South Beach" of Coco Cay which will probably be good advice, but during the fall of 2019 this SB portion of Coco Cay is closed to public use as it is being renovated and improved with new facilities. Signs showed an expected opening of December 2019. This area would be the most remote and "quiet" area for people to relax and enjoy the sun. That said, many of you men - based on your remarks in this forum - would have no problem sporting a reasonably "conservative" thong bathing suit anywhere on Coco Cay, though you'd probably avoid the kid's section. We did not pay the additional fees to access the waterslide / wavepool areas so I don't know what that area was like. My suspicion is that since it caters to younger, more physically fit folks that one should expect to see at least women wearing thong bikinis there. On the final "day at sea" I was able to enjoy several hours sunbathing in a black Skinz thong. I found a "clam shell" day bed near the bow of the ship facing the sun and laid out in this sheltered location where I had privacy. Nobody bothered me. If I was taking this trip years ago when I was: 1) not 20 lbs overweight, 2) had a base tan, and 3) was not sailing with my wife's business associates I would not have hesitated to wear my thong more openly as did several of the ladies. I was doing this solely to enjoy the feeling of the sun on as much of my skin as possible, not to "be seen." We did have a balcony room which I highly recommend, but these didn't have enough room to sunbath without the glass railing blocking the rays.

sarasotajt: small world! My wife and I also just got back from a Royal Caribbean cruise. What ship were you on? We did a 7 day cruise on the Allure of the Seas. We visited Haiti, Jamaica, and Cozumel. I also saw quite a few thong bikinis on the ladies and we were at the beaches on every port day. I wanted to strip down to my thong, but never got the chance.

I just returned from a 15 day cruise on the Eurodam. I was able to wear a Skinz Adjustable Micro G String at the Adults Only Pool and did notice several women in thongs and one other guy in a thong. I spoke briefly with the group and it turns out that they were the dance troupe on the ship.

Funny but I’ve noticed that on our 1 HAL cruise that it was much more male skimpy suit tolerant than Princess.

Carnival is trying a new dress code....doesn't mention thongs I don't think but social media response brings up thongs!! people mention thongs and sheer covers. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/travel/florida-cruise-guide/fl-bz-carnival-cruise-line-dress-code-bans-offensive-messages-20191226-7saebl2olrawpergjo7ibozknq-story.html

March 3rd, girlfriend and I are heading out on the NCL Epic out of San Juan. We are packing G-strings and Micro Thongs - Wicked Weasel, Dubio and TangaLand suits. I called NCL and asked about any restrictions at the adult pools on the ship such as SpiceH2O and Posh - no restrictions on thongs and G strings as long as privates are covered. No topless however. May try to score a pass to the Haven Pool deck - which is the top private suites. Will let you know what we find

Got back from cruise on NCL Epic just before the cruise lines shutdown over Covid 19. It was a week from March 1 to 8 - Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St Lucia and St Kitts. We were able to score a pair of passes for the POSH sun deck - this is the private sun deck for Haven staterooms - the high end cruisers. GF and I both wore our Dubio g-strings the entire time. While we were the only ones wearing g-strings, there were a few micro thongs on the ladies, I was the only guy however in a micro suite. Lots of alcohol was flowing each day were were on board so lots of fun on the sun deck (which was unlimited drinks with the premium bar package). We met 4 couples that had absolutely no issues with what we were wearing and made great comments on both of our selection of suits. The 'private' sun deck alleviated the issue of dealing with narrow minded brick-heads. Only had one guy make a comment on my suit as I was entering the Men's room - he said 'oh I thought this was the ladies room' - I said nothing and he went back to his lounge chair (pasty white guy that got burned to a crisp on the second day and we never saw him again). We both wore Dubio Thongs on a snorkel catamaran excursion and my GF got a number of very positive comments from both men and women. We had a great time and met a number of couples, again, absolutely no issues. Already booked for next year - first week in March on NCL - great cruise and great service.