If you’ve ever done a gay ocean cruise, you probably have a certain image of that experience:
- Thousands of people
- Dance parties that can turn into public sexy time
- The need for a steamer trunk of costumes
- Having to drag yourself out of bed after a late night party to go sightseeing (since that’s sort of why you came on the cruise in the first place)
A Brand g river cruise takes the best of ocean cruising and gives it a refined gay spin:
- You’re still cruising with a gaggle of gays (all Brand g cruises are full charters, meaning you’re not part of a small gay group on a larger straight cruise – you ARE the cruise). But the group is much smaller. Instead of 2,000-5,000 guests, there are anywhere from about 50-150, depending on the ship and destination. On an ocean cruise, you may meet someone on the first day and never see them again. On a Brand g river cruise, you’ll have multiple chances to meet up again and again – on the included excursions, at meals, etc. Lifelong friendships (and indeed, some marriages) are formed on river cruises!
- Many Brand g river cruises do indeed have dance or top deck parties (depending on the ship and destination), but river cruises as a whole tend to be focused more on cabaret-style entertainment. And on the larger cruises (Europe, etc), Brand g brings our own special entertainment – Broadway divas, comedians and fabulous drag queens – on board to supplement the cruise line’s offerings. So, on a river cruise, there’s less dancing in your underwear and more throwing your underwear at the performers on stage.
- Dinner is also an event. River cruise companies focus more heavily (and spend more money) on food. So when you add that to the free-flowing wine and beer at lunch and dinner that’s usually included in your Brand g cruise fare, you’ll find that mealtime is quite the festive affair! Assuming you remember it the next day.
- Sightseeing is also a bigger focus of river cruises than ocean cruises. On an ocean cruise, you may spend several days of your cruise at sea. On a river cruise, you’re generally in port every single day – sometimes two in the same day. And since most if not all of your excursions are included in the price of the cruise, and river ships tend to dock right in the heart of a city, there’s a lot of sightseeing! And unlike ocean cruise excursions, you usually have a choice of who you want to do it with. Let’s say you’re doing a walking tour of Prague on a ship of 150 people. Multiple guides will each take a small group of people, but you always have your choice of which group you’d like to join – so you can meet up with friends, or pick a different group and make new ones!
All of these things – the focus on sightseeing, cabaret-style entertainment, meals and culture – combine to make a river cruise skew a bit older. Gay ocean cruises tend to have more guests in their 20’s and 30’s. River cruises skew more heavily to people 40+. That’s not to say that there won’t be people in their 20’s and 30’s, certainly – they’re just not the majority.
But you’ll feel comfortable and have a fabulous time no matter what your age. That is, after all, what makes a Brand g cruise special – the absolute sense of belonging and inclusion. It’s what makes our cruises a more “manageably” social experience than an ocean cruise. And that’s not to dismiss the ocean-going experience, which is fun and memorable in its own right.
But you’ll come away from a Brand g river cruise not only enlightened about the places you’ve seen – some guests have called their Brand g cruises “life-changing events” – but with great new friends. And even family!
