What It Was Really Like Gog on a Gay Cise

Contents:

• THE 8 TOP GAY CIS FOR 2023
• 12 TOP GAY CIS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS 2023 AND 2024
• THE GAY CISE OF AGE
• 'GAY SUMMER MP': HOW CIS CREATE SPACE FOR LGBTQ+ TRAVELERS AT SEA
• I SPENT $5,200 TO GO ON AN ALL-GAY CISE — AND SPENT THE ENTIRE 10 DAYS ISOLATN WHEN I TTED POSIVE FOR COVID
• WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE
• I WENT ON MY FIRST GAY CISE — HERE'S WHAT IT WAS LIKE

THE 8 TOP GAY CIS FOR 2023

When to gay cisg, gone are the days of discreet "Friends of Dorothy" meetups.

The term – a phemism that dat back to the 1950s – was once ed to dite gay social events on daily cise le programs, whout explicly llg out members of the muny on board. As travel on the high seas ntu to bounce back om the COVID-19 panmic, gay and lbian travelers should nsir settg sail on a fun-filled cise vatn as their next planng a cise, vatners should first nsir what their ial sailg looks like. Some cise operators (thk: Atlantis Events and La Demence) are known for their electrifyg, all-night parti, which may be perfect for gay groups of iends.

Cisers should also thk about whether they'd like to travel aboard a gay-iendly mastream le, such as Celebry Cis or Virg Voyag, or opt for an all-gay, full-ship charter wh a third-party vatn pany.

12 TOP GAY CIS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS 2023 AND 2024

Of VACAYA's all-gay charters, he says, "For one magil week, our muny gets to be the majory and live life out loud the blissful utopia VACAYA creat on a gay cise.

"The all-gay cis were liberatg, empowerg, and fun, but limed to a small spectm of people. This le gets the stamp of approval om prev LGBTQ cisers, who praise the ships' genr-ntral bathrooms, onboard shows wh rint drag queens and diverse Voyag offers gay-specific sailgs through travel pani like Atlantis Events, but s more mastream erari still offer a welg, clive atmosphere that attracts LGBTQ cisers year-round. Atlantis EventsThe world's largt gay and lbian travel brand, Atlantis Events was found 1991 and wel more than 20, 000 travelers annually on LGBTQ vatns.

For s all-gay cis, Atlantis charters megaships om popular l like Royal Caribbean Internatnal and Norwegian Cise Le, so cisers will have a fully immersive board, travelers n enjoy all the perks the megaships have to offer (thk: pools, hot tubs, sports urts and plenty of dg choic), pl special events like drag performanc, motivatnal speakers, LGBTQ movi on mand each b and high-energy circu parti across the ship. "As an LGBTQ ciser, you're lookg for a ship wh lots of entertament, cludg dance parti and events, " says Mars Martez, founr of Men Who Bnch, a Black gay liftyle blog.

THE GAY CISE OF AGE

"One of the bt cise [l] for gay cisg is Atlantis, sce you'll be able to meet hundreds of attractive men and party all day and night on the ship. " Atlantis hosts primarily gay men; women make up about 5% to 10% of bookgs, acrdg to the Atlantis webse.

Cisers will also enjoy performanc by drag queens, gay Broadway stars and more, pl more typil river cise perks like sightseeg and lavish meals. Celebry Cis(Courty of Celebry Cis)Celebry Cis sets the scene for an excellent vatn for gay travelers, om s extravagant annual Pri parti to s daily LGBTQ programmg throughout the year. After night one, there are other social events for gay cisers to party and hang out together.

'GAY SUMMER MP': HOW CIS CREATE SPACE FOR LGBTQ+ TRAVELERS AT SEA

Although all erari are gay-iendly, nsir bookg a Pri Party at Sea sailg (which tak place each June) for an extra special experience. Private travel pani like VACAYA also charter Celebry ships for all-gay voyag throughout the (Getty Imag)Specifilly marketed toward lbians and LGBTQ women, Olivia has hosted more than 350, 000 travelers by land and sea over almost five s. The popular cise le equently partners wh Atlantis Events to offer all-gay voyag throughout the year, but even the standard sailgs earn praise.

Iterari typilly feature LGBTQ meetups at the begng of each cise for gay travelers to meet likemd passengers. Outsi of the sailg experience, Royal Caribbean has also publicly mted to support the LGBTQ muny throughout the year, and was the first cise le to earn the tle "Gay Traveler Approved" om GayTravel 2023, nsir a Royal Caribbean voyage that sails to gay-iendly statns.

"Puerto Vallarta, Mexi, [is] full of gay bars, clubs and gay beach, " says Martez. ]The Cise Wh La Demence(Courty of The Cise wh La Demence)Acrdg to past cisers, if you're lookg for one of the bt party scen on the open seas, nsir an all-gay cise wh La Demence. Powered by a popular gay nightclub Bssels wh the same name, La Demence – French for "the madns" – primarily ters to a European crowd.

I SPENT $5,200 TO GO ON AN ALL-GAY CISE — AND SPENT THE ENTIRE 10 DAYS ISOLATN WHEN I TTED POSIVE FOR COVID

Prev cisers had high praise for the erari – which exclively vis gay-iendly lotns – as well as the uy cktails, themed nights (stum strongly enuraged), glamouro entertament, and unique events like drag bgo and high heel Demence sails every summer to statns like Rome; Athens and Mykonos, Greece; Kotor, Montenegro; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and more. For s, the thought of an LGBTQ+ cise brought to md one thg: a mega ship full of shirtls gay men — mostly cis, whe, buff and tanned — plyg the waters of the Caribbean to seemgly endls club mic.

Variety Cis is focg on the Seychell for an October LGBTQ+ cise (which is cheekily emed as “straight iendly”) bee the island natn is one of very few Ai that has passed laws to actively protect lbian, gay and bisexual employe om discrimatn the workplace. Both jumped at a chance for Moss' girliend to be somewhere "culturally entirely queer"bee she had not had as much experience socializg LGBTQ+ more: Bt travel suranceFor some LGBTQ+ travelers, gay cis have offered a kd of haven on the seas. While early cis tered primarily to gay men and lbians, the market has grown recent years, wh more optns aimed at a more diverse array of queer travelers.

Cise operators that tered to gay and lbian passengers began sailg the '80s and '90s, acrdg to a timele om IGLTA. Where people uld be together wh members of their muny and get away and be ee om fai or work, you know, be out, bee the world was so different the '80s, " John Tanzella, print and CEO of the Internatnal Gay & Lbian Travel Associatn, sailgs were a tougher sell back then, though.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE

"It was probably really hard to get a cise le to take a gay group ( the early days), " Tanzella some s, ships rryg LGBTQ+ passengers were turned away om ports, he add. 'I jt want to see more of ':The importance of seeg people like you while travelgJon Fenwick went on his first gay cise 2008 wh Atlantis Events after some iends talked him to .

"You fely see a lot of the same fac om trip to trip, and a lot of people would go on the same on every year jt to have a rnn, or sometim we ll gay summer mp, " said Fenwick, a ernment rmatn technology specialist based Arlgton, optns were also more limed and siloed, wh cis aimed primarily at gay men or lbians, he add. Fenwick has met other gay passengers on mastream cis but said the experience isn't the same, "You fely don't have the (same) eedom to be yourself on a regular cise. The pany's clientele is predomantly gay men, but 20% of the sailg's guts were women.

I WENT ON MY FIRST GAY CISE — HERE'S WHAT IT WAS LIKE

"We have gay, straight, queer iends our real liv, " said Riedlg, who liv Spokane, Washgton, and Palm Sprgs, California. Among those, Atlantis is particularly popular among gay men but wel women, transgenr and nonbary guts, and "even straight parents, " as well, CEO Rich Campbell said an while Olivia Travel's guts primarily intify as cisgenr lbians and queer women, nonbary and transgenr guts have always been wele, acrdg to VP of marketg Autumn Roper's part, he said the kds of sailgs VACAYA aims to offer shift the dynamic LGBTQ+ people experience elsewhere, even if only for a week or two at a time. Dave Benbow booked an all-gay cise the Mederranean for $5, 200 and was so exced to go.