'Cougar Cruises' find cubs to love at sea

[Bonobo]

http://www.today.com/travel/cougar-cruises-find-cubs-love-sea-1C8897922



Amy Luna Manderino didn't expect to attend the Singles Travel Company's annual Cougar Cruise in December 2010--let alone meet someone. But having attended a cougar event on a lark and ended up winning the title Miss Cougar San Francisco, she received a free trip on Royal Caribbean International's Mariner of the Seas.

Manderino is part of a growing group of cougars, older women attracted to younger men, who seek "cubs," younger men who are attracted to older women.

While an average cruise often skews female, the Cougar Cruise draws slightly more men than women, said Rich Gosse, who runs CougarEvents.com and whose group The Society of Single Professionals sponsors the Cougar Cruise. "We try as much as possible to get as close to 50/50 as we can, but we never succeed in getting enough cougars for everybody," said Gosse.

Above all, the Cougar Cruise is an ageism-free zone. Manderino said, "The guy I ended up meeting--the one who asked me to marry him later on--I was saying to him, 'Wow, it's so great to have a safe place where you can really express yourself, because you hear all this hype about...older women being desperate.' He said, 'What are you talking about? Among me and my guy friends, [we believe that] if you can be with an older woman, you've hit the jackpot!'"

[MrSlayer]

1. Sounds like a good deal.

When I was 19 I was with a 43 year old woman. It's a standard I still measure the best sexual experiences I've had against. Blew my mind.

I might have been all into this cougar thing had it existed 25 years ago.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Everyone's an adult, so, hey.. knock yourselves out.

I tell you what, though, I'm not getting near a cruise ship after that "Turd Boat" fiasco.