gay group cruises

This year Olivia is celebrating 20-years of providing lesbian vacationers with an amazing vacation experience. Olivia has built their brand on “creating a space for YOU to feel free”. When you cruise with Olivia you cruise with a whole boatload of new friends as well as with the staff at Olivia who are seasoned professionals in the travel and entertainment industry. Olivia charters the whole ship and provides entertainment and itineraries that resonate with the lesbian community.

Olivia is well known for their amazing on-board entertainment. Previous performers include Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang, the Indigo Girls, HEART, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Kate Clinton and Julie Goldman.  Olivia also stages parties throughout the cruise that are always fun filled, festive and outrageous.

And Olivia knows exactly how to get things going for their solo travelers. No matter how gregarious or shy you are their Solos Program has dedicated Solos Coordinators on-board who will help get the party started and help you on the way to a love-connection or an introduction to new group of friends.  Olivia is big on enrichment programs, from culinary advice from Top Chef’s Josie Smith Malave and Jamie Lauren to vacation sex advice from renown sexologist Dr. Carol Queen (regularly heard on Sirius’ Out Q’s Derek and Romaine Show), Olivia always provides something fun and fascinating to help make your cruise memorable.

Upcoming Olivia Cruises for 2010 and 2011

Caribbean Sun Cruise, Norwegian Caribbean Line’s Norwegian Sun
October 30th-November 6, 2010
Departing Port Canaveral (Orlando) Florida, visiting Charolette Amaile, St. Thomas /St. John U.S.V.I. Phillipsburg, St. Maarten and Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

Mexican Riviera Cruise, Holland America’s Oosterdam
March 26th – April 2nd, 2011
Departing San Diego, California, visiting Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas

Upcoming Olivia Ultimate Escapes Cruises for 2010

Whales and Sea of Cortez Cruise, Lindblad’s National Geographic Sea Lion (intimate 62 passenger vessel)
April 10th –April 17th, 2010
Departing La Paz, Mexico, visiting Isla Carmen, Isla San Marcos, Isla Santa Catalina, Isla San Jose, Isla Partida and Espiritu Santo

Amazing Galapagos Adventure, Lindblad’s Expeditions' ms Islander
May 29th – June 7th, 2010
Departing Guayaquil, Ecuador/Galápagos, visiting several Galapagos Islands including Santa Cruz, Bartolome, Santiago, Isabela, Fernandina and Floreana, Disembark ship and fly to Quito, Chile for overnight stay before flying home.

Provence to Burgundy Riverboat Cruise, Avalon Scenery
July 20th – July, 27th, 2010
Departing Aries, France, visiting Avignon, Cruising – Viviers, Tournon/Tain L’Hermitage – Vienne, Lyon, Mâcon-Tournus and Chalon-sur-Saône

Cruising the Greek Isles and Turkish Coast, Azamara Journey
October 3rd – October 10th, 2010
Departing Istanbul, Turkey, visiting Mykonos, Greece, Kusadasi, Turkey (excursions to Ephesus), Rhodes, Greece, Santorini, Greece and Athens (Piraeus), Greece

The most enjoyable vacations are those where you feel free to be yourself, let go and enjoy time away from home with newfound friends. Cruise vacations are a great way to meet your vacation needs. Whether cruising solo on a traditional cruise, sailing with a small group of LGBT people or setting sail on an all-women with 1,600 women, a cruise vacation is the perfect and often economical way to relax and let go. Check out GaySailAway's list of Great Cruise Providers for Lesbian Travelers.

Last year newly founded “Sweet” was launched it’s groundbreaking Caribbean Cruise.  You may have read in the tabloids, or saw on the Today Show, Merideth Baxter’s coming out which was catapulted to the media by her presence with then-unknown partner on the Sweet Caribbean Cruise.

What’s so sweet about Sweet is its mission of merging the best of lesbian travel with social and environmental awareness. And loving the environment while being socially conscious as never been so much fun! “There’s a lot we can do to make our world a better place in which to live. Sweet is committed to doing our part to curb global warming by offsetting the pollution our vacations create. Additionally, we’re committed to promoting lesbian self-esteem, health and visibility. That means, you’ll see us raising money to benefit lesbian health organizations, fighting diseases (like cancer, AIDS and heart disease) and working for equal rights for women and lesbians.”

Sweet bills their cruises as “for women who want to do it all on their vacations and in their lives. It’s for women who work hard and play hard, women with big hearts and big dreams. It’s about making life as sweet as possible”.

Besides off-the-hook parties, incredible entertainment and amazing destinations, Sweet offers its guests the opportunities to work on reaching their personal goals , working to enrich the communities to which they travel .

Sweet is the brainchild of C.E.O. Shannon Wentworth, who has served as V.P. of Marketing at Olivia and Director of Marketing at PlanetOut, Inc., and founding partner Jen Rainin, who helms the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, a private family foundation that funds inspiring and world changing advances in education, medicine and the arts. Both women are well established professionals in the LGBT business community and enthusiastic supporters of many LGBT/Women-focused foundations including the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California, the Galapagos Conservancy, the Humane Society, Sports for Kids, Sierra Mono Indian Museum, Save the Children, Human Rights Campaign and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Upcoming Sweet Cruises for 2010

Sweet Hawaiian Islands Group Lesbian Cruise, Norwegian Cruise Lines Pride of America
July 31st – August 7th, 2010
Norwegian Cruise Lines Pride of America
Departing Honolulu, Hawaii visiting Kahului, Maui, Hilo, Hawaii, Kona, Hawaii and Nawiliwili, Kauai.

“Live, laugh, love, dream out loud…”  R Family Vacations has revolutionized the way the LGBT community is vacationing. As we become out-er and proud-er there has become a need for an inclusive vacation for gay families, singles, couples, groups of friends, proud grandparents and even siblings to celebrate together. Along came Rosie O’Donnell, then wife- Kelly O’Donnell and travel industry guru-Gregg Kaminski to found R Family Vacations to fulfill this new niche.  HBO featured the inaugural cruise on their Emmy-nominated documentary “All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise”.

Six years later, R Family Vacations is continuing to build the Pride!  Always attracting some of the greatest entertainers on land, previous cruises have hosted Gloria Estafan, Cyndi Lauper, Erasure, the Broadway cast of Avenue Q and many more. R Family’s staff of exuberant professionals are onboard to ensure that you and your family are having the vacation of your lives. From signature parties to Rosie inspired activities, there is something going on for everyone-from 3 months old to 99 years.

Upcoming R Family Cruises for 2010

Western Mediterranean Cruise, Norwegian Caribbean Lines Norwegian Jade
June 20th – June 27th, 2010
Departing Barcelona, Spain, visiting Monte Carlo, France, Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy, Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy, Naples, Italy and Palma, Mallorca

R EPIC Summer Group Cruise, Norwegian Caribbean Lines Norwegian EpicAugust 14th – August 21st, 2010
Departing Miami, Florida, visiting Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Charolette Amile, St. Thomas U.S.V.I., and Nassau, Bahamas