June 2010: Gay Cruise Scheduled for Bermuda
A cruise marketed towards gay men aboard Celebrity’s 1,950-passenger Summit is scheduled to depart May 30, 2010 from New Jersey sailing until June 6.
Travel supersite Frommers has an article entitled “Attention Gay Men: Pied Piper Offering $700 Bermuda Group Cruise” where it lists the starting cost at $370 without taxes and fees. The cruise will dock for three days at Kings Wharf.
Cruise ship in Dockyard, Bermuda. Credit: Slgckgc/Flickr
The fact that the organizers, Pied Piper, have hosted prior gay groups on cruises to Bermuda over the years doesn’t change the fact that Bermuda doesn’t have a solid track record on welcoming gay friendly cruises in the past.
In 2007, a family friendly cruise designed for gay and lesbian families cut Bermuda from its planned itinerary due to possible protests by certain church groups. Previous cruises have hosted up to 600 children, and organizers said:
If we didn’t have kids on board and there were protesters, we would go, but we did not want to expose kids to that hatred while they were on vacation.
As TV star Rosie O’Donnell planned to take the cruise along with her children, the reaction and subsequent cancellation of the Bermuda leg was widely reported amongst major international press outlets including CBS, Fox, Daily Mail, Washington Post and many more.
The organizing company said Bermuda’s Premier had assured them they would be welcome as tourists, and noted that they receiving hundreds of supportive e-mails from Bermuda residents.
The organizers stated they “had no hard feelings against Bermuda. It’s just a few church groups.”
