Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (usu. gay) the search for a sexual partner, usu. focussed on known pick-up areas, e.g. a park, a beach, etc.

1932		‘R. Scully’ A Scarlet Pansy 165: As soon as the college examinations were finished, Fay [...] set out on a summer tour to include the Pacific Coast and as much as possible of that which lay between it and New York. ‘My grand cruise,’ Fay styled it.
1961		Socxial Problems 106/2: The major form of establishing contact is the ‘cruise’, with the fellator passing ‘queer-corners’ or locations until his effort is recognized by one of the boys [Simes:DLSS].
1961		J. Rose At the Cross 55: ‘Bella said ‘Go on, forget it for tonight, go out and have a good old cruise’ [Simes:DLSS].
1972		‘R. Cummings’ Suck Slave 12: I wasn’t on the cruise in the basement. I didn’t know what the word meant [Simes:DLSS].
1982		P. Robins Our Hero has Bad Breath 98: It was around then I changed my job and my apartment, too, but not my habit of an occasional cruise around the Cross [Simes:DLSS].
1985		S. Payne Beat 99: Prissie was off. Maybe for a cruise, maybe just to get out of the house [Simes:DLSS].

2. (US Und.) a male homosexual who picks up partners on the street.

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 53/1: Cruise, n. (West and Pacific Coast) A male oral sodomist who makes street pickups. ‘That cruise we robbed looked like a bum but he went for four C’s (four hundred dollars) on the shake (extortion).’.
1972		‘M. Booton’ Tearoom Dangler 165: It is dark heresy to admit that a subway cruise, finally borne intact to a hotel room, is a better lay than a star bargain from a King’s Cross pub [Simes:DLSS].

3. (gay) a quick glance that assesses a passing individual in sexual terms.

1967		J. Herbert Herbert Fortune & Men’s Eyes 15: [no text] [Simes:DLSS].
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 240: Donny gave me a shot in the ribs. ‘Your first cruise’. [Ibid.] 243: Most of the guys passing gave him a heavy cruise.
1983		OutRage Dec. 46/2: Now we have a total cruise, no disguises and no hiding.
1987		C. Bram Surprising Myself 207: [H]is eyes snapped back at me. He stared. It was more a stare than a cruise, but everyone had their own style [Simes:DLSS].
1999		Guardian Guide 31 July–6 Aug. 93: Were you or were you not on a gay cruise?