ABOARD THE
CELEBRITY INFINITY -- Three hours after embarkation had begun in
earnest at the dock in Vancouver, dozens of male passengers were
queued up for treatments at the Infinitys swanky AquaSpa complex.
The spas animated, largely female staff was clearly happy as they
surveyed a line that snaked out the door.
We are so thrilled
you guys are onboard, gushed one South African-born massage
therapist, sporting multicolored, spiky hair, shimmering body
glitter and an ear-to-ear grin. I cant wait for tonight. The discos
actually going to get used for once!
The source of her
glee? A seven-day Alaskan sailing, one of an ever-growing number of
full-ship charters by Atlantis Events, the gay vacation kingpin
based in West Hollywood, Calif.
For crews, all-gay
and all-lesbian charter sailings from tour operators such as
Atlantis Events, Olivia, RSVP Vacations and Rosie ODonnells R
Family Vacations more often than not mean bigger tips, looser
restrictions on fraternizing with passengers and a lot more work --
and play.
After toiling extra
hours each day, often from early morning until midnight, to fulfill
seemingly endless requests for spa treatments, the therapist and
her colleagues could be found on the dance floor at themed parties,
with the full blessing of Atlantis Events.
The therapist
confided that she, like many other straight crew members aboard,
had extended her contract with Celebrity Cruises specifically to
work the early June charter by Atlantis. The passengers are so
sweet and appreciative, she said. I love gay cruises.
Apparently, so do
the cruise lines.
Among the lines
working with gay charter operators are Royal Caribbean, Celebrity,
Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess, Holland America, Oceania, Windstar
and, starting in 2007, Cunard.
Stacy Shaw,
national charter sales manager for Celebritys parent, Royal
Caribbean International, and liaison to Atlantis Events -- one of
several gay operators with which Celebrity currently works -- said
gay charters are the most popular sailings with
employees.
Whenever I travel
around our fleet and tell employees and crew what I do, the first
thing they ask is if I can bring them more of those Atlantis
charters, she said.
Rich Campbell,
president of Atlantis Events, said many crew members extend their
contracts with cruise lines to sail with his companys charters,
which attract mostly gay men, because they enjoy themselves so
much.
Not to brag, but
were a fun group. We allow the crew to mingle a lot more than on
regular sailings, Campbell said. That interaction between crew and
guest is very important.
According to Terry
Dale, president and CEO of the Cruise Lines International
Association, each of the groups 19 member lines, which represent
95% of all cruise capacity sold in North America, has a sales team
or representative dedicated to the LGBT
(lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender) niche.
Nowadays, even the
daily activities programs of most mainstream sailings feature what
are called Friends of Dorothy meetings, where gay and lesbian
cruisers can meet and socialize.
Its definitely on
cruise lines radar screens, and theres a consciousness on their
part to recognize [gays and lesbians] as travelers and facilitate
communication, Dale said. We would be foolish as an industry not to
recognize the opportunity.
The lucrative gay
and lesbian cruising segment is subdivided into full-ship charters
on large vessels; sailings on smaller craft such as yachts,
sailboats and riverboats; and groups of gay travelers booked on
regular cruise departures.
The rapid growth of
the segment represents a profitable niche.
Ed Salvato, travel
editor at PlanetOut, publisher of gay magazines Out, OutTraveler
and the Advocate, said that while theres been a general gay travel
boom over the past decade, it is gay cruises that have exploded the
most.
They are the
biggest segment of growth, which probably mirrors whats occurred in
mainstream travel, Salvato said.
Growing
numbers
The average gay or
lesbian traveler is much more likely than his or her heterosexual
counterpart to cruise, according to Jerry McHugh, manager of
research and development at Community Marketing, a San
Francisco-based provider of gay marketing and research.
You cant even
compare the numbers, McHugh said, noting that an August 2005 survey
by his firm of gay travelers found that 51% had taken at least one
cruise vacation in their lifetimes, 31% had cruised within the past
two years and 11% had cruised within the previous year.
In contrast,
according to research from CLIAs Spring Overview 2005 report, 34%
of U.S. travelers had taken a cruise vacation or ocean/sea voyage,
and 17% had cruised in the past three years.
Gay cruisers have
until quite recently favored the mainstream cruise product.
Community Marketing found that of LGBT vacationers who had cruised
within the past year, 65% had sailed on a mainstream cruise, with
54% cruising on their own and 11% cruising as part of a gay group.
Only 35% had taken an all-gay charter.
But theres a sea
change on the horizon. The same survey indicated that 51% of gay
respondents were interested in an all-gay cruise and that 21%
planned to take one. Meanwhile, just 18% had an interest in
mainstream sailings; 16% actually planned to book one.
Gay cruise
operators are busy ramping up capacity to meet surging
demand.
Business is
definitely growing, because the number of berths the charter
companies are managing are increasing significantly, McHugh said.
Companies that once did two charters a year on 200- to
400-passenger ships are now doing six or seven annually on
2,000-passenger vessels, and Im being conservative with those
numbers.
Salvato
agreed.
It looks like 2007
is going to be the year of gay cruises, he said. Theres going to be
a huge amount of capacity with all the cabin inventory coming on
line.
2007 will be a
watershed year on at least two counts. First, Atlantis Events,
which earlier this year held the worlds largest all-gay cruise
aboard Royal Caribbeans Navigator of the Seas, next January will
host an even bigger sailing on its sold-out eastern Caribbean
sailing aboard the worlds largest cruise ship, the 4,370-passenger,
160,000-ton Freedom of the Seas.
Theyve already sold
it out, Shaw said. A lot of that was the Freedom, but a lot was
also Atlantis. Were very happy.
Second, Atlantis
competitor RSVP Vacations, based in Minneapolis, will make history
next May with an all-gay transatlantic charter on Cunard Lines
Queen Mary 2.
The sailing will
break new ground on three fronts. It is the first transatlantic
charter of any type aboard the ship, its Cunards first charter with
an LGBT operator, and it represents the first foray by any gay
charter operator into large-vessel luxury cruising.
Were really going
after a luxury market with the Queen Mary 2, which no one has done
before, said Paul Figlmiller, president of RSVP Vacations. Our
mission is to enrich and enlighten the lives of gays and lesbians.
We will be expanding our product offerings because more choice is
always better for consumers.
But lack of choice
is not really a problem for gay cruisers these days. LGBT products
now come in all sizes, and they feature myriad destinations on a
variety of lines for several gay market niches.
Although all tour
operators specializing in gay cruises accept bookings from any and
all travelers, each tends to cater to a specific LGBT
demographic.
Among the large,
full-ship charter companies, Atlantis Events, noted for its onboard
nightlife, tends to draw a mainly gay male clientele. Olivia, a
former record company based in San Francisco, offers
entertainment-rich sailings for lesbians.
RSVP Vacations
claims to appeal to both gay men and lesbians with a mix of 75% and
25%, respectively.
The much-publicized
R Family Vacations was the subject of a recent HBO documentary, All
Aboard! Rosies Family Cruise. The company was founded to provide
LGBT families traveling with children a quieter, welcoming and safe
cruise environment.
Other tour
operators, including Pied Piper Tours, Gayribbean Cruises and Ocean
Voyager, place gay groups of various sizes, usually escorted, on
mainstream sailings. A more recent niche is intimate all-gay
charters aboard smaller craft such as yachts, sailboats and
riverboats from the large firms, including Olivia and RSVP, as well
as newer entrants such as Travelpride Gay Vacations.
Travelpride, based
in Wilton Manors, Fla., is marketing three boutique sailings
through July 2007: Windstars 148-passenger Windstar to the French
and Italian rivieras, Windstars 308-passenger Windsurf to Panama
and Costa Rica and Ponant Cruises 226-passenger Le Diamant to the
Baltic Sea.
In the
beginning
This now-booming
travel niche had a humble start just two decades ago with a single,
albeit sold-out, sailing in 1986. That first 770-passenger, all-gay
cruise charter, the brainchild of RSVP Vacations founder Kevin
Mossier, set sail on Bermuda Star Lines Bermuda Star from New
Orleans to the western Caribbean. (The
first-ever all-gay cruise technically occurred in December 1974,
when New York operator The Islanders Club chartered Paquet Cruises
Renaissance for a weeklong Caribbean sailing; however, no further
charters followed.)
Mossier chartered
that first sailing after being assaulted while on vacation with his
male partner in Key West, Fla., according to Figlmiller.
He thought it was
ridiculous and sad that gays and lesbians didnt have anywhere to
travel where it was safe, Figlmiller said.
That initial
sailing largely set the standards that distinguish the gay-charter
products offered today.
Kevin made sure it
would be a very unique and spectacular experience, said Figlmiller.
He hired all the entertainment, set up a discotheque on the back
deck, arranged pool games, etc. RSVP has continued to build on that
theme.
Gay charter
operators continue to micro-manage customers at-sea experiences,
according to Atlantis Events Campbell, who tries to be on every
sailing.
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