A Look at the Luxury End of LGBTQ Cruising

08.10.2024 - 18:49 / travelpulse.com / Paul Heney

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. 

One of the fun events Brand g included on the cruise was a "Red Night," where guests were encouraged to wear the signature color. (Photo Credit: Photo by Paul J. Heney.)

“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.

Rovinj, Croatia was one of the ports on the Brand g cruise. (Photo Credit: Photo by Paul J. Heney.)

For Boston-based IT Director João Ferreira and his husband, Ralph DiChiara