ILoveGay.NET

by Alfred Verhoeven

In this series I normally look at mainstream brands that are somehow involved in Marketing the Rainbow (what I’ve called B2G, in line with B2B and B2C), but this time I want to highlight a “LGBT Owned and Operated” company: that is called a G2G activity. It concerns Atlantis Events, founded in 1991 and now a leader in the field of all-gay travel: both cruises and resort holidays.

Cruising

Recently in “The other kind of cruising” I wrote about the cruise as an all-inclusive vacation: travel, accommodation, food, and entertainment. It would be good if every cruise was also inclusive in terms of their passengers. Unfortunately, the typical clientele tends to be older and more old-fashioned, so joining such a ‘family’ for a week or two can be tricky for gays and lesbians. An event ‘among chosen family’ is much more pleasant.

That said, times are changing. A number of cruise lines have discovered LGBT travelers in an attempt to bring them in. They have even organized onboard events such as ‘Friends of Dorothy’ gatherings – a term that doesn’t mean anything to the rest of the passengers, so it’s a safe name for “meet your LGBT+ fellow travelers”. (If you want to know where that expression comes from, have a look here).

Note: 65% of qualified respondents in an annual LGBT travel survey (n = 4,500) indicated that those who took a cruise vacation in the past year took a “regular” or non-gay cruise. So they are not even customers of the company – or actually the two companies – that I want to talk about, but they are being targeted by the big boys like HAL, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian.

The beginning: RSVP

In 1985, RSVP Vacations discovered the need among gays to have an all-gay vacation. Its founder, Kevin J. Mossier, had a bold new idea: to provide a safe, customized vacation environment for gay men and lesbians. When he couldn’t find a resort at the time that would open its doors to the concept, he found an understanding cruise line and RSVP was born. The first cruise – “A Cruise To Remember” – sailed out of New Orleans in early 1986 with 750 guests ready to create and enjoy an immersive experience as only a “family vacation” can.

Since then, RSVP has offered cruise and land vacations in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. In 1992 they introduced the Sea Spirit, the world’s first gay-operated cruise ship. For three years she proudly flew the rainbow flag in the Caribbean, New England and Alaska. “Over the years RSVP has welcomed some of the most amazing celebrities to our community. We’ve had High Tea with Quentin Crisp, movie presentations with Vito Russo, Q&A with Armistead Maupin, a look at Broadway with Harvey Fierstein and Anthony Rapp, LGBT history with David Mixner, and much more. Over 100,000 guests have traveled with RSVP in nearly 30 years.”

Atlantis

In 1991 Atlantis Events entered the stage and that year they had their first all-gay resort event at Club Med in Playa Blanca, Mexico. It was founded by Rich Campbell, who is still CEO now. He flies around 250,000 miles a year, “some of it for fun” – but mostly to be present at all of the events his company produces.

What started with the very simple idea of ​​”a gay week on the beach with friends” has grown into a company producing all-gay cruise and resort vacations around the world. Now they are the largest company in the world dedicated to creating unique vacations for the LGBT community, hosting some 25,000 guests a year.

Atlantis’ slogan is “The Way We Play” – indicating that they focus on more ‘playful’ travel than just cruising between destinations. Itineraries usually include the Caribbean and Mediterranean each year, while the Baltic, Alaska, South America, Asia and Australasia also feature on the agenda with some regularity.

The way they play includes poolside T-Dances, themed parties that vary depending on the area they sail in – Greek Isles Party for example, and always the popular White Party last – and excursions in partnership with the cruise line (but often with their own guides). Personally, I have experienced the Atlantis feeling 8 times and can confirm that it is a unique and all-inclusive environment and way of travelling. As a bonus, the gorgeous models featured in the ads are often real guests and they – or their lookalikes – can be found on every cruise.

For the parties, no holds are barred, because especially the American guests – who often only have a very limited number of vacation days – do everything they can to make a party a PARTY, with costumes that would not look out of place during the Rio Carnival. Extra trunks come along for the platform soles, wigs, masks and costumes – something different for every day, of course!

Not a typical guest

As Atlantis posts on their website, “There is no typical Atlantis guest.” Passengers range from early 20s to over 80, singles, couples, groups – from all walks of life. A cabin-sharing program also makes it easier – and at least cheaper – for individual travelers to participate. The vast majority of guests are North American, but the percentage of European and Australian guests has steadily increased in recent years.

Fun fact: legend has it that during one of the White Parties – as usual on the upper deck – another ship came by and contacted the bridge of the Atlantis ship to ask if something was wrong, as they were saw the huge amounts of smoke and lasers and lots of people walking around on the deck outside, all dressed in white. They could be reassured that all was well, very well… (that legend has now been confirmed three times!)

PlanetOut

RSVP at one point struggled to survive, and in January 2006 PlanetOut (owner of Gay.com, and The Advocate and Out magazines) agreed to buy RSVP Vacations for $6.5 million. All 12 employees, including President Paul Figliller, were offered jobs at PlanetOut.

RSVP’s results deteriorated further and they suffered a great loss when they chartered the Queen Mary II (QM2, the largest and most expensive liner ever built at the time) for the first-ever transatlantic LGBT voyage. Figlmiller said he had chartered the prestigious Cunard vessel because: “Gays and lesbians can now have a registered partnership in the UK and we want to support the UK in doing so.”

Note: Transatlantic voyages are usually intended to transfer a ship from one season of the ocean to the other for the next season. The cost to charter a ship for such a trip (which doesn’t have many interesting ports, and more days at sea) is usually less.

The QM2 was scheduled to sail from New York City to Southampton (UK) from May 29 to June 4, 2007. The transatlantic crossing on the luxury ocean liner was not your usual gay cruise, normally stopping at a number of interesting ports, or sailing in warm regions where relaxation or partying is an everyday affair. Despite heavy discounts ($1,198 for an Ocean View Stateroom with a balcony – a discount of $2,600 per person), the cruise was severely undersold. This was added to an already unfavorable situation, leaving RSVP heavily indebted. At the end of the year in 2006, the company reported a loss of 3.7 million on sales of 68.6 million. While this was an improvement over 2005 revenues, the RSVP purchase was “the beginning of the end” for PlanetOut.

Note: Gay tour operator Pied Piper Lines advertised tickets for a similar trip in 2017 to the gay target audience: “Sit among the thousands of celebrities and dignitaries who have sailed across the Atlantic in unparalleled style and elegance”. This time, however, it wasn’t all gay.

Atlantis and RSVP come together

In October 2007, PlanetOut announced the sale of RSVP to competitor Atlantis Events. The two labels remained separate and only a few marketing activities were combined. RSVP’s brands as ‘luxury sightseeing cruises for a more mature audience’ and Atlantis as ‘luxury fun holidays for the younger gays’ were retained. Atlantis tends to Royal Caribbean ships and Celebrity, RSVP cruises were often with Holland America Line.

The fact that Atlantis hires an entire ship means they can secure the ‘all-gay’ character, but also carry the risk of occupation – or lack thereof. This, plus the fact that they bring a whole team of hosts and entertainers, including DJs, comedians and often a surprise celebrity guest star (like Rita Moreno, Deborah Cox, Roseanne Barr or Debbie Reynolds), makes their travel packages significantly more expensive than a ‘regular’ cruise. Also famous are the comedians: Shann Carr, Alec Mapa, Jim David, ‘stewardess’ Pam Ann and the inimitable Miss Richfield 1981.

They run about 6 cruises a year and 2-3 resort vacations. The cruises range from “boutique sized” (600 passengers) to the “largest gay cruise ever”, with more than 5,000 guests on a ship like Oasis of the Seas.

The ships’ live-in staff often look forward to the gay cruises, as the guests are usually two decades younger than the average straight cruisers, and the camaraderie and one big happy family feeling extends to them too. Then there are the events and parties, which are definitely different from other cruises. Plus – gratuities are probably more generous.

Conclusion

Atlantis is the undisputed leader in gay cruises, and probably LGBT vacations in general. The RSVP acquisition nicely expanded their target audience. The competition from a number of other queer providers, plus the growing attention the major cruise lines are paying to rainbow travelers will hurt them somewhat, but interest from this demographic continues to grow, so the pie – and with it, every slice of the pie – is getting bigger as well.

Alfred Verhoeven is a marketer and is in the final phase of his PhD research Marketing the Rainbow. He previously wrote for ILOVEGAY about The other kind of cruising, Booking.com, Home Deco, Haters and trolls: the ‘letter to the editor’ of the 21st century, 5 Bizarre LGBT Videos, TRANSparency, Transgender persons as a target group, Matchmaking, 5 videos that went viral, From Representation To Respect, Cultural sensitivities and social involvement in marketing, 4 reasons to practice diversity and The Rules of Market Segmentation.