To put it succinctly, it means this:
We only want you to pull out your wallet to buy that fabulous piece of art or to tip a stripper.
We include just about everything else.
From the moment you arrive at the destination airport, you’re under our care. Airport transfers are included, of course, and these aren’t big bus transfers where you’re waiting for 30 people to arrive. They’re Mercedes or SUV/small van-type vehicles, generally for your group only – two people, four, etc.
And we know how much luggage you tend to have, so we plan accordingly. Want to bring that beaded gown or set of free weights? Hey, if you can get it into a suitcase, our drivers will get it into their vehicles.
Pre-cruise (or land tour) hotels are always included, and they’re 4.5 or 5-star properties, including Inter-Continentals, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, etc. And every hotel includes a fabulous morning breakfast each day of your stay. Diet accordingly.
Onboard the river cruise ships, all meals are, of course, included, so you can eat like Henry VIII on a bender. But unlike standard river cruises, we also include unlimited adult beverages. No charging drinks to your room and getting a bill that’s five pages long at the end of your cruise. (On an ocean cruise once, friends of ours – who had a penchant for buying drinks for their small group – had a $2,000 bar bill.)
The same goes for our land tours. While it’s very difficult to offer unlimited drinks in hotels, we almost always have some form of liquor included in each city – wine and beer with dinner, complimentary cocktail hours, etc. You only have to be sober if you want to.
On most standard river cruises, shore excursions are not included in the fare. On Brand g, they always are. Every day, there will be some type of walking or bus (or both) tour.
Occasionally, there will be an optional tour offered, like a full-day tour to a nearby destination – the Salzburg tour in Austria on the Danube cruise is one example – but even those tours are moderately priced (usually less than $100 and often less than $50).
Brand g even prepays all tips (at a higher-than-standard rate), so there is never a reason to have to tip any guide, driver, room steward or waiter unless you want to for personal reasons.
Add to this the guarantee that all our trips are all-LGBT, and that all our European cruises include signature Brand g entertainers (like Amy & Freddy, Ann Hampton Callaway, Miss Conception, etc), and it’s pretty easy to see that all you have to do is show up in Prague or Madrid or Tokyo or New Delhi or Lima or Siem Reap or wherever…and we’ll take care of the rest.
And then your wallet can stay firmly inside your back pocket, or room safe, or that sparkly clutch you stole from Liza Minnelli when she wasn’t looking. Because when we say all-inclusive, we mean it.
