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But surely All Aboard could afford to cool it with the relentlessly (pardon the pun) rosy picture. Passengers of all ages share their experiences struggling for acceptance and their gratitude for what's touted as a judgment-free environment in what feels a bit like a college LGBT rap group.

The message that gay people can have loving families begins to sound unnecessarily defensive when it persists for one and a half hours.

Of course, the market for gay family cruises may not exist without the hatred that population attracts. The dramatic aerial shot of the ship gliding across the sparkling waters brings to mind the threat lurking in the deep. The rainbow wake in one advertisement is somehow hopeful and sad.

All Aboard does depict the bigotry the families are subjected to once they reach land, in a scene in which protesters greet the disembarking passengers with waving Bibles and anti-gay barbs. The negative element is positioned outside the insulated community of the ship, and, as if on cue, an innocent child asks his parents why the angry crowd hates them so much. Then it's back to the fun, which is, after all, what this is all about.

A particularly amusing thread charts a lesbian and gay male couple's attempt to size each other up as potential co-parents. “Family cruise” takes on new meaning as these couples scope each other out - their dinner date is slightly awkward and their casual approach to such a life-altering alliance seems almost capricious. Legal-minded viewers might wince at the latent messiness and inherent risk of such an arrangement. But there's something empowering in their grassroots approach to making an arduous and expensive process less complicated and commercialized.

Former Green Bay Packer Esera Tuaolo provides further fodder for celebration. He speaks candidly about how he remained closeted while in the NFL, for fear of retaliation on the field by opponents and even teammates. This in addition to the usual fallout of coming out or, worse, being outed in professional sports. He talks about how it became nearly impossible to hide their relationship once he and his partner had children, and this segment serves as clear reminder of the special need queer families have for a queer-friendly cruise. Olivia, alas, isn't for everyone.

All Aboard reveals some interesting facts, such as that the cruise hosted 1,500 people, on the largest operating cruise ship (965 feet long and 105 feet wide). T he cruise offers art auctions and the ship sports original artwork by Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse and Monet. Many of the guests bring along non-gay parents, siblings, cousins, other family members and friends, and at least one couple has a wedding on board.

There are a variety of activities geared toward kids, teens and adults. Child care is provided, as are seminars on adopting, and entertainment featuring current Broadway stars and popular gay/lesbian comics and musicians. Rosie gets yet another venue for singing and dancing in front of a large and delighted audience. And in this case she gets to wear a captain's uniform and stay in a cabin grander than anything Merrill Stubing ever enjoyed.

The film provides entertaining moments, despite droning on with too many similar stories. We don't get to witness any teens balking at having been dragged aboard the good ship against their will, or any divorce-worthy spats between haggard parents in their cramped staterooms. But then the documentary would have too easily slipped into a reality-TV-style parade of dirty laundry, which was not it's purpose, even if it might have made for a more interesting film.

All Aboard ! Rosie's Family Cruise premieres Thursday, April 6, at 8PM/7C on HBO. Find more information about R Family Vacations at their website.

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