''All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise'' is a 2006 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

that follows

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American talk show host, comedian, and actress. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' in 1984. After a series of television ...

and her family along with several other families on the first-ever cruise designed for gay parents and their families. It was arranged and planned by Rosie O'Donnell and her life partner Kelli O'Donnell. The cruise ship set sail on July 11, 2004, and the film debuted on April 6, 2006, on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

. The film was released on

DVD-Video DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVDs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in most of the world in the 2000s. As of 2024, it competes with the high-definition Blu-ray Disc, while both rece ...

on June 13, 2006. The film went on to be nominated for three

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

Synopsis

The film follows the maiden voyage of

R Family Vacations R Family Vacations is an LGBT vacation entertainment company that provides luxury cruise ship trips with a focus on inclusive activities for children and services including same-sex marriage ceremonies. They are a subsidiary of Tzell Travel Group ...

, the travel company founded by Rosie and Kelli O'Donnell which specializes in gay family vacations. The cruise starts in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on July 11, 2004, and sails along the U.S. East Coast, stopping in

Key West, Florida Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Islan ...

, and then in

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. It is on the island of New Providence, which had a population of 246,329 in 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of The Bahamas. As of April 2023, the preliminary results of ...

. Five hundred families attended the cruise, including LGBT parents as well as non-LGBT people. In the film, Rosie and Kelli's family, along with several other families on the cruise are interviewed, including former

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

star Esera Tuaolo along with his partner and their children. Comedian

Judy Gold Judy Gold (born November 15, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorpora ...

also makes appearances. When the ship stops in the Bahamas, the cruise members are met with protests from some local

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, though interviews show that there were many locals who did not have a problem with LGBT people and did not agree with the action of the protesters. Despite the protests, the trip continued as normal to the end.

References

External links

Official HBO Site
* 2006 documentary films 2006 television films 2006 films 2006 LGBTQ-related films Documentary films about families Rosie O'Donnell HBO documentary films 2000s English-language films Films directed by Shari Cookson 2000s American films American LGBTQ-related documentary films English-language documentary films {{LGBT-documentary-film-stub