Â
If itâs true that 71 percent of you really prefer to stay at gay owned-and-operated hotels, then we must have it on good authority that plenty of you are traveling with gay companies doing gay travel things. And we want to hear your stories â both good and bad!
No, weâre not out to be the Yelp.com of gay travel, but engaging in a LGBT-specific excursion brings about its own unique experiences. Whether your cabin porter hooked you up with extra towels or special powders, or the owners of a clothing-optional resort invited themselves into your corner suite unannounced, we want to hear about it. (Great travel experiences are worth sharing, too!)
Whether itâs a cruise with Atlantis or R Family, a package deal through RSVP, or a stay at a resort like Floridaâs Island House or Vegasâs Blue Moon, you must have tales to tell. If youâre willing â and we promise to keep you anonymous, if you choose â tell us all the details.
Rather than leave your story in the comments, email [email protected] with âGay Travel Storiesâ in the subject, and be sure to include:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
⢠Where you went (location) and where you stayed (company name)
⢠Who you traveled with (friends, ex-boyfriend)
⢠At least one hilarious/titillating/scandalous anecdote from your trip
⢠Whether you enjoyed the experience, and if youâd recommend it to others
⢠If you want to remain anonymous (if you donât request it, we may publish your name by default)
⢠And if youâve got photos, well, send âem!
Weâll share some of the best in the coming days.
MissTransSylvania
I need to get new boobs.
Lady Ga-Gasp
Careful girl, the waves will toss those fake tits to the right and left so violently that you’re Izod Alligator logo might spill into the sea.
Strepsi
Guys, I love the idea of a safe gay environment, but I want to know if these things are as full of Adonises as the ads show, because that’s the reason I HAVEN’T gone on one…. I mean I feel bad about my body after going to the gym, I can’t imagine how shitty I’d feel about myself on Muscle Queen Cruiselines. At least at straight family resorts I can measure up to the average straight dad. Know what I mean?
Fitz
@Strepsi: Exactly. I have heard wonderful things about the new Atlantis, but the old one was all guys who looked like that, except that they were grinding their teeth from all the drugs that they had done. It was all the things you hated about junior high.
Matt
I have no problem doing gay vacations but most of the time I don’t because of the expense. I can do the same destination with my gay friends on a straight hotel/cruise/etc. for a lot cheaper. Just like my local gay bookstore, most of these gay themed operations are a lot more expensive.
ousslander
Try RaINbow Mountain in The poconos
B Damion
These trips are usually full of vanilla cream men…:)which i love. But!!!!! I just don’t have the body for it n i would feel depressed the entire time. If i’m going to spend my money i want to be comfortable n for folks to be nice to me. So nope. my vote is a str8 cruz…
Sorry Family i just can’t do it.
Richard
Having been to Cancun twice with Atlantis, the resorts certainly aren’t all adonis-clones – there was me, for one. More generally, though, what a few of the guys there (who travelled a lot with the gay lines) told me was that the cruises are… well, more “cruisy’ and tend to be more perfect-bodies-partying-non-stop than the resorts.
My experience with Cancun was that it was pretty relaxed; there were the parties and events and such if you wanted to go, but there were also plenty of normal guys just lounging around chatting (and usually drinking, but not drunk-drinking). I’d say half to 3/5 were in “great” shape (gym-type, not “model” type), with the about a third being pretty average (10-20 lbs overweight, some body fat, love handles, whatever) and the rest getting heavier.
No one seemed to care, though – there was honestly far less attitude than I was expecting the first time, certainly less than I ran into at the White Party in PS or even at some of the more “trendy” clubs in WeHo. That’s also, apparently, more true for the resorts than the cruises, though the cruises aren’t supposed to be too bad.
I didn’t take too many pictures of the “crowd” my first time out, but if you want to see what few shots of the guys there I have (plus other stuff; fair warning, there’s a lot of people on the trapieze and a lot of ocean/water/sky kinds of things), you can check out my flickr collection at http://www.flickr.com/photos/26309519@N04/collections/72157604913739990/.
Honestly, though, if you want to do a vacation like this but are worried about standing out or attitude or anything, the Cancun trip would be a “safe” place to start, and it’s a lot of fun (provided H1N1 doesn’t break out while you’re there đ ).
Timothy
@Strepsi: Hey Strepsi I went on my first Atlantis cruise this past October and I was worried for the same reason as you. I am an average guy that goes to the gym, but no Muscle Queen, and I was worried being 45yrs young I would not have any fun at all. But I had an amazing time, meet great guys of every shape and size and age. There is something for everyone on the cruise. Atlantis puts on a great time for all, I would highly recommend it to all my friends.
Lawrence
I don’t know what’s worse, being on a cruise where I’m the least ‘in-shape’ person or going on a cruise with a company that assumes that all gay men yearn for that ‘perfect body’ adonis and mass markets those images ad nauseum.
terrwill
I was on an Atlantis cruise and we were all quite perplexed when a group of 4 elderly couples boarded the ship. We are talkin red state rightwing lookin Ma’s and Pa’s. They too looked a bit perplexed tryin to figger out why there were no ladies it seemed on the cruise. None the less the boat sailed away. We were seated at the table next to them, and my friend who has balls the size of watermelons asked the why they were on this particular ship. One of the women explained that she heard so many good things about the resort Atlantis from family members taht she thought the ship was part of the Altlantis resort! The menfolk looked as uncomfortably freaked out as you could vision. All dressed up in their polyester suits ascared one of the fags were gonna goose them……….
Long story short. The Gays on the ship adopted these folks as our surrogate Grandparents and by the time we all left the cruise there were emotional hugs and kisses all around. One of the men in the group told me “I been so damm wrong about you folks for 72 years……………”
Kyle412
I went on an Atlantis cruise for my 30th birthday and didn’t have fun. Many of the guys are from middle America and you can tell this was their first time at a big gay event. They were wide eyed. It was quite sweet to see, BUT the NY and LA boys with their prefect bodies weren’t overly friendly and acted like the mean girls club. I went on the cruise looking for romance and most of the guys who hit on me were in relationships. It was like a floating bar and after a day I wanted to jump over board. If I were to go on a cruise again I would prefer going with my mom and grandmother than a bunch of gays.
scott ny'er
@terrwill: What a funny, sweet and sad story. I get a little angry at people who are so dogmatic. 72 years. I mean, that’s effed up. I’m glad you guys were able to open up this dude’s eyes but do we have to hijack these people just so we can show them we are just like them. Sheesh.
Fitz
@terrwill: I know that I am totally tangential here.. but.. I have had very similar experiences of opening people’s eyes– especially in my partner’s family. It’s one of the reasons that I push people to be out. My experience with Atlantis was a long time ago, but very NOT gay positive. I am going to take the hopeful view that what I saw was a one-off, or that they have grown. So if we can all just adopt one hateful phobe, homophobia will be solved?
FunMe
I just got back from first Atlantis gay cruise … the 2010 Caribbean Cruise. It was an amazing experience!
The majority of the people I met were nice, friendly and cool. I really loved the fact that there was a variety of men, young/old/middle-aged/etc. and great-looking bodies/hunks/college types/slim-skinny/overweight/average and more! This particular cruise was truly representative of our community. Why do I say that? Well, yes the majority of the people were in shape. I think the we gays tend to take care of ourselves than the rest of the straight population hence the majority of good bodies. But there were all types of shapes on this particular cruise.
I was friendly with everyone even those I was not attracted to. Maybe it was just me, but the positive energy I put came back to me 10 fold! Also, even those I did not meet, since I love to dance, I made sure to send out great smiles everywhere.
The only 1 person who was negative was this tall Venezuelan guy with grey hair. I thought he was good-looking, but when he refused to take his photo, I realize that was the one ass hole on the ship who ended up looking UGLY with his bad attitude. But it didn’t matter! He was in the minority – a minority of one! (By the way, most of the time he was alone and looking like “the loneliest man on earth”. LOL)
There is something to do for everyone. I for one love to dance, so I would end up falling asleep late. The few times I went to eat breakfast, it was seeing other folks who had had their proper 8-9 hours sleep ready for their breakfast at 8am. What’s that! đ
Yes, the majority of the people at the cruises like to dance at parties. The themes were amazing: tag night, disco, Diva music, Alice in Wonderland (fantastic costumes), and more. Eventually culminating with a wonderful WHITE PARTY. However, there were a lot of shows, casinos, movie theaters, games and other activities to participate in and enjoy.
I highly recommend this particular cruise. For me being from the West Coast beach area, it was perfect as I got to meet a lot of people from the East Coast, South America and Europe.
Rick
@terrwill: communication brings understanging, thanks for the story
Rick
@FunMe: Oh, I want to thank you so much in educating us to what a “good” body is.
I feel lifted.
FunMe
You’re welcome. đ