A Look at the Luxury End of LGBTQ Cruising

To many younger LGBTQ travelers, going on a gay cruise often means setting sail on a large 3,000+ passenger ship in the Caribbean, with days of onboard EDM concerts, sun-kissed ports of call, and maybe a bit of foolishness during the evening hours. But today’s queer cruise market is diverse in nature, and there’s also a growing need for luxury itineraries to ports of call in places like Vietnam, Egypt, Norway, and the Seychelles. 

Brand g Vacations has been operating since 2011 and focuses on what it calls “the next generation in gay travel.” The company began with a focus on European river cruises, but has grown steadily, today offering luxury vacations that also include ocean cruises and land tours. 

My husband and I recently traveled with Brand g, taking one of their European cruises aboard the stunning Atlas World Traveller, a yacht-style ship holding fewer than 200 passengers. I met Brian Van Wey, co-owner of Brand g Vacations, on our sailing, and asked him about the impressive growth. 

“When we started, I think we really perceived ourselves more as a cruise tour operator. As we have evolved, we realized that we’re not limited to that self-perception. It wasn’t how our guests perceived us, and it gave us the confidence to go into land tours, to trains,” he said. “I’m pretty excited about the possibility of chartering planes and doing some really exciting itineraries, because then you’re boundless. We were limited for a while as there’s only so many rivers in the world that have cruise ships. The ocean-going vessels expanded the breadth of the product. Obviously, supplementing with land is great, but it’s harder to curate that inclusive experience on land when it’s mixed.”

One thing we noticed, even on the first day of the cruise, was how many couples and solo travelers aboard were repeat customers, with some having traveled with the company a dozen or more times. Van Wey said that there is a degree of loyalty, but more so, it’s a trust level that they have achieved.

“You’ve entrusted X many days of your personal time, X many dollars. There’s a value. You do that, and we do not take it for granted—so we are going to do everything we can to take care of that. And we’ve always had an owner or someone of that level on every trip. So, we are able to course correct, if need be; we know exactly what’s going on. We don’t have to sit back and read surveys later,” he said.

For Boston-based IT Director João Ferreira and his husband, Ralph DiChiara Jr., this was their third Brand g trip.

“What keeps us coming back is the small groups, the fact that it’s a luxury product, and how close people become. While we’re on the excursions, we love the fact that the Brand g associates really interact with the guests and promote people becoming lifelong friends. We really like that—it differentiates them from other tour companies,” said Ferreira.

The other thing Ferreira appreciates is how Brand g takes care of everything.

“I think that’s really important,” he said. “My husband and I still work, so our life is busy. We don’t want to have to think about anything for the trip. I’d rather have somebody else organize everything. With Brand g, everything’s handled, starting with the transfers from the airport. You land and then somebody’s there waiting for you, you go to the ship, and you’re done. I think that makes a huge difference, because planning a trip like this would otherwise be super time consuming.”

We enjoyed the size of the World Traveller, and it had an impressive number of public spaces. Lisboa Restaurant was the main dining space throughout the day, but there were snacks, smaller bites like quiche and salads, and gourmet coffee drinks available at Paula’s Pantry for most of the day. There was also 24-hour room service, which we only used once for a late-night dessert. The ship has a primary lounge, an additional lounge with dramatic dome space at its center, theater, spa, fitness center, and sun deck with a pool and hot tub.

The nine-night itinerary stretched from Venice to Malta, with stops throughout Croatia, Italy, and Albania. Brand g chooses some smaller ports, allowing travelers the opportunity to visit less-touristy areas, as well as the occasional popular highlight like Dubrovnik. All tours were included; there were a small number of optional tours for a small extra fee, but we found all of our choices to be well organized, with insightful guides.

On one tour, we were walking through visiting a national park in sweltering heat. We were supposed to have 90 minutes of free time at the end. But as we’d already seen most everything on the guided portion, the group asked if we could cut free time down to 30 minutes, due to the oppressive weather. Our Brand g representative spoke with the guide and voila, everyone’s wishes were granted—the kind of on-the-spot flexibility that we really appreciated.

As this was a queer cruise (there were a few straight allies aboard), Brand g had four entertainers aboard, a combination of whom performed each night: Tony Award winning performer Levi Kreis (from Million Dollar Quarter, Hadestown, and Rent); iconic Australian drag performer Trevor Ashley; pianist and singer Ben Papworth; and “Big Red,” otherwise known as Meghan Murphy, a powerhouse of a singer and performer from Chicago. The evening performances were often standing room only, and we thoroughly enjoyed them. And like so many of our fellow passengers, we made great friends on the cruise, many we’ve kept in touch with, including two we are even planning to visit in their hometown later this month.

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