Knitter? ‘Golden Girls’ Fan? There’s a Cruise For That.

April 2, 2024

WASHINGTON POST – Theme cruises have something for everyone.

By Hannah Sampson Kaity

Talley saw the announcement and knew she had to get on board: A cruise exclusively for Hallmark Christmas movie fans? With cookie decorating, tree lighting, movie marathons and karaoke? “I got super lucky,” said Talley, 36, of Ontario, Calif. She landed a booking time that got her a spot on the cruise, which turned out to be Taylor-Swift-concert-level popular. After it sold out quickly, organizers added a second voyage, which also sold out.

Talley, a Costco manager who also makes TikToks about cruises, expects to bring an entire Christmas wardrobe, ugly sweaters and all: “I’m going to be very corny on this cruise.”

The Hallmark cruise will make its maiden voyage in November, but it’s hardly the first event to gather an extremely niche community of fans and send them out to sea. Theme cruises have catered to groups as diverse as cat lovers, headbangers, Trekkies, conservative activists and zombie aficionados.

There are clothing-optional cruises, faith-based cruises, swingers cruises and cruises for people who want to practice their golf swing.

“If there’s something out there that people like to do, there’s probably a cruise about it,” said Chris Gray Faust, executive director of the news and review site Cruise Critic.

Theme cruises can take many forms, from a small group tucked into a larger sailing to a full-ship takeover. Some are put on by the cruise lines, but most are organized by a travel agency or production company that blocks rooms and venues or charters the entire ship. Those sailings must be purchased through that third party.

Trips are often scheduled during off-peak times, such as January through March or October and November. Prices are higher than a standard cruise, generally reflecting the extra programming or additional perks that passengers get.

Experts say specialty sailings have exploded in recent years as cruise lines have expanded and consumers have sought out more meaningful ways to travel.

Overall, the travel industry is getting so much more experiential in a number of ways, and theme cruises are the ultimate experiential vacation,” said Chris Hearing, a partner and executive director at Entertainment Cruise Productions, a major organizer of theme cruises. “You get immersed, in our case, in week-long theme cruises where from the moment you walk on the ship, you are surrounded by people that are completely into Star Trek or Comic-Con or motorcycles or ’80s or ’90s music.”

Another producer, Sixthman, got its start in 2001 with a rock-themed event featuring Sister Hazel. This year, the group will pull off 23 cruise events, and the schedule calls for 27 next year, said CEO Jeff Cuellar.

As the cruise industry builds more ships and tries to cultivate new audiences to fill them, Gray Faust said theme cruises often serve as an entry point.

It brings a lot of first-time cruisers into the fold,” she said. “They’re fans of whatever the theme is. The fact that it’s on a cruise is almost secondary.”

Howard Moses, a travel adviser, created a site called themecruisefinder with a business partner several years ago and said more than 700 cruises are listed at any given time, from small groups to full-ship charters.

It has blossomed in the last, I would say, 10 to 12 years,” he said.

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