Romantic Queer Honeymoon at Sea – 1
Queer honeymoons are back in, and COVID-19 is out. We are celebrating the freedom to travel again!
Queer honeymoon at sea is all we wanted after all those problems with travel because of the pandemic. The pandemic is out, and queer travel is back in. Welcome to another queer travel review!
By LP Howard
What a difference a year makes for European travel! Twelve months ago, one had to jump through many hoops with COVID paperwork for every country. One needed proof of vaccines, quarantines, and more. Fast forward to the summer of 2022, and travel is booming again. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally take that honeymoon cruise that had been put off for quite some time.
We’ve done the RSVP and the Atlantis gay cruises, but the limitation for continuing with those options is the repetitive nature of the same ports year after year. Travelling, after all, is about changes and seeing new places and people.
To check out new lands, one must look beyond the LGBTQ comfort zone of travel. Let’s explore the “heterosexual “cruising” world! If you talk to other queer travellers, it will become clear that there is no need for segregation in the twenty-first century. Just relax, and you will be as safe as ever before. Probably safer.
Norway and Iceland sea cruises for queer ang gay folks
Two places we had always wanted to visit were the countries of Norway and Iceland.
I had always heard that these Scandinavian nations were stunning spots to visit, so when my United Cruises travel agent suggest I put those accumulated UA flying miles to good use, I told her about a Princess Cruises 14 day sailing to both those “Top of the World” locations I had read about out of Southampton, England.
This was well over a year ago and allowed us to finally redeem long-held Virgin Atlantic miles for Upper-Class seats to Heathrow Airport with an easy 90-minute ride to the port city.
What follows is our day-by-day highlights of this two-week adventure in a post-pandemic world.
DAY 1 – Start of our queer honeymon
After a 24-hour delay, it was a mad dash to an LAX airport hotel to find a room and a meal!
We finally took off the following day. Fortunately, we had the same crew and passengers from the day before. That made for a festive and friendly cabin.
Ten hours and a day late, we finally made it to Heathrow. We travelled in a Mercedes Benz taxi with Wi-Fi to our port hotel and toured around Southampton, England on foot.
DAY 2 Sky Princess embarkation, South Hampton, England
We boarded the Sky Princess, a stone’s throw from where the ill-fated Titanic set sail on April 10, 1912. The ship was late into port due to a sporting event in the English Channel, where they closed passage to all the vessels. We started this trip with delays, but we maintained our good mood.
The Sky Princess finally set sail by 8:30 PM. After unpacking in our Penthouse two-room suite on Deck 14, we toasted with our complimentary glasses of Champagne. Our suite was directly opposite the Concierge Lounge, which was accessible for food and beverages 24/7 and sparsely populated.
We had a romantic dinner in the French restaurant on board – Bistro Sur La Mer – with the very handsome and friendly 20-something (gay) server, Roberto, from Mexico. This was much to the delight of my Mexican-born husband, who had many lengthy conversations, Español.
DAY 3 (At Sea) – Sea Cruise for Queers Review
Our first full day at sea heading northeast through the English Channel toward our first stop in Norway.
The day unfolded leisurely with a sumptuous & healthy in-room breakfast. Then book reading, catching up on the Sky Princess activities TV channel and a trek to the very well-equipped and mostly empty gym. What sort of queer travel would it be without gym? This was followed by a visit to the Princess Cruises signature Lotus Spa with its giant whirlpool, ceiling rainfalls, steam rooms, hot stone recliners and various custom showers from tropical jungle rain to cold arctic water sprays.
We were offered a complimentary night at the specialty restaurant, the Crown Grill. It exceeded our expectations with delicious sea scallops in a sauce that was to die for—followed by delicious tender seabass topped with jumbo prawns.
