Gay cruise charters a profitable niche

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.

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.

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 there’s 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.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! Rosie’s 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: Windstar’s 148-passenger Windstar to the French and Italian rivieras, Windstar’s 308-passenger Windsurf to Panama and Costa Rica and Ponant Cruises’ 226-passenger Le Diamant to the Baltic Sea.

All signs point to continued expansion in gay cruising, with the women’s and family niches particularly ripe for growth, with new overseas source markets for U.S. operators, such as Europe and Australia, coming on line.

“We haven’t even seen more than the tip of the iceberg on the women’s side,” said Errett. “If you look at how many lesbians there are in the U.S. and how many have traveled with us so far, there is still opportunity.”