Gay Cruise: The Benefits of Cruising when You're LGBT

May 02, 2016

Take a look at a globe. An Atlas. Google’s map of the world. Pretty big place, isn’t it? So many places, so little time. And if you’re a travel enthusiast — which you likely are if you’re perusing this site — you want to experience and see as much of it as possible.

Welcome to the wonderful world of cruising, an incredible way to experience the world – including destinations you never dreamed you’d go – with a fraction of the planning and effort you’d need to put into exploring all the corners of the Earth if you planned the trip on your own.

There are so many wonderful reasons to book a cruise — far more than we could possibly list in one article. But for the travel nut in you — the adventurer… the person who flips the pages of a travel magazine and imagines what it would feel like to jump into that photograph of family fun and adventure, we’re pretty confident cruise life offers the best possible opportunity to get out there and experience the world up close.

Explore Places You May Not Think to Go – One of the most exciting things about travel is discovering new places, and when you’re on a cruise, not only do you get to visit the places you’ve always dreamed of going, you often get to explore places you’ve never given much thought to on the same trip. Perhaps you’ve always dreamed about a vacation in Greece but you’ve never given much thought to Croatia — consider it a bonus, because you get to see both on the same trip. Bruges is one of the most beautiful cities in the world but not one people often center their European vacations around — you might get to spend a day there when you sail for Paris. People often fall in love with destinations they stumble upon unexpectedly. On a cruise, every morning you have the opportunity to discover someplace new from an entirely different perspective than you could ever see from land. The sense of wonder you get sailing into a different destination can only be experienced when you approach by sea.

Create Lifetime Friendships – On cruises, you repeatedly encounter people with similar interests with whom you will instantly bond. And while onboard, you will find you start planning your next cruise with your new-found friends! And sure, the opportunity is there to go off on your own and explore. But should you want some company for a shore excursion, or someone to grab a drink with after a day of exploring, you have your pick of interesting people from all over the world. This brings a greater, more enriching experience to your vacation because you meet so many people from different cultures. And the next time you think about traveling, look at that — suddenly you have a long list of people who might be game to take a new adventure with you… or at least meet you for dinner in a different city the next time you swing through town.

Meet People With Incredible Stories From All Around the World – Chances are if you’ve never been on a cruise, you’ve never been in close proximity with so many people from practically every corner of the world. People with experiences and histories and stories different than yours. For LGBT travelers, this can be especially educational and interesting — in a world that is literally changing daily with regard to laws in support of (and unfortunately in some cases against) the LGBT community, this is an opportunity to share experiences, learn from one another, and with any luck, form a new life-long bond.

Traffic? Forget About It – One of the most frequent complaints people make about traveling is traffic. Well, traffic and finding their way from point A to point B. It’s frustrating and it can really throw a wrench in your fun. Well imagine this — on a cruise, there are no traffic jams. There’s no pulling over to the side of the road to ask for directions or hoping your cab driver knows where he’s going. You pack and unpack only once — just think about how easy and stress-free that will be.

Cruises Define the Meaning of the Word “Vacation” – So often when you’re on vacation, you still have to work — from hotel check-ins to figuring out where to eat or something as simple as trying to find a coffee shop for your morning shot of adrenaline, it’s tough to just turn your mind off and enjoy. On a cruise, most of the thinking is done for you, and while you will have to think to decide between dozens of incredible activities you could spend your day doing, if that’s as intense as the work load gets, you aren’t doing half bad.

Luxury All the Way — If you’re going to see the world, you might as well do it in style. If luxury is the way you like to do things, the sky is the limit on a cruise ship. From massages and spa treatments to fine dining and private excursions during the day, you can indulge in special extras while on your cruise. And if you’re looking for luxury from day one, cruise lines like Royal Caribbean® offer the Royal Class Suite, a luxury experience that’s anything but boring with personalized staff members who go out of their way to make you feel at home and cared for, catering to your every need, without ever giving off an air of being stuffy or stifling.