All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise on AllMovie

Entertainer Rosie O'Donnell, her wife, Kelli, and their children set sail for the Bahamas with 500 other gay, lesbian, and transgendered families in this television documentary. All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise goes behind the scenes of the 2004 inaugural voyage of R Family Vacations, a gay travel company founded by the O'Donnells. Interviews with a cross-section of passengers are interspersed with footage of on-ship entertainment (including Broadway-style musical numbers featuring O'Donnell) and on-shore demonstrations by anti-gay activists. The cruise's passengers include not only gay parents and their adopted and biological children, but also straight parents, siblings, and friends of gay passengers. O'Donnell says the goal in launching her company was to provide vacations with an atmosphere in which same-sex partners and their kids could feel welcome instead of scrutinized. Interview subjects recount tales of other, less queer-friendly vacations, while others give a peek at the realities of gay marriage and adoption. Several longtime couples celebrate weddings and commitment ceremonies, while others meet new friends and, in some cases, sperm donors and surrogate mothers. All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise premiered April 6, 2006, on HBO.