Alaska With a Slightly More Open-Minded Group of Travelers
Most lifestyle cruises are full-ship charters, and there is certainly something special about having an entire ship filled with people who share the same interests. The problem is that full-ship charters also seriously limit where you can go. Most of the larger charters leave from Miami, which means we tend to visit the same collection of Caribbean destinations over and over again. I have nothing against Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica or the Bahamas, but eventually you start wondering what else is out there.
That was really the idea behind our recent Naughty Group Cruise to Alaska. Instead of trying to find another lifestyle charter, we chose a destination we actually wanted to experience and invited some fun, open-minded people to join us. Thirty of us ended up sailing together on Virgin Voyages, and somewhere along the way I realized we may have stumbled onto a completely different way of doing lifestyle travel.
Virgin turned out to be an almost perfect partner for something like this. The ships are adults-only to begin with, and the entertainment and overall atmosphere are definitely aimed at adults. Virgin is also incredibly welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, and there is a general feeling onboard that nobody particularly cares what consenting adults choose to do with their lives. We weren't taking over the ship or trying to turn a regular cruise into a lifestyle charter. We were simply a group of friends traveling together on a ship where we felt completely comfortable being ourselves.
As it turned out, we weren't the only lifestyle couples onboard. A few were fairly easy to identify because they apparently owned every piece of pineapple clothing ever manufactured. Others actually found us through a Facebook group after seeing that our group was sailing on the same date. I suppose there are only so many pineapples you can wear before somebody eventually asks a question.
One of the best decisions we made was having a daily meet-and-greet at the Champagne Bar. It gave us a regular touchpoint without turning the vacation into a scheduled group tour. Everyone could go off and do whatever they wanted during the day, and later we could meet for a drink and hear about everyone's adventures. Someone had seen whales. Someone else had spotted bears. Another couple had gone hiking or spent the afternoon exploring whatever port we were in. It became a great way to reconnect every day, make plans for that evening, and, now and then, invite some new friends back to your cabin.
We did plan a few things together. We had one group dinner that almost everyone attended, and on another night a large number of us went to Gunbae, Virgin's Korean barbecue restaurant. There were enough of us that we had to split into two groups, but it ended up being one of the most fun dinners of the cruise. Gunbae is already an interactive experience with games around the table, so it naturally got everyone talking and laughing. That was really what I wanted from these group experiences. Nobody was being marched around with a clipboard and an itinerary. We were creating opportunities for people to get to know each other.
The same thing happened at night. Sometimes we would meet at Scarlet Night or the pajama party. Other nights we would meet at On the Rocks to listen to a live band, or I would get to The Manor a little early and grab a couch or an area where everyone could find us. Before long, there would be this happy little group in the middle of the ship, drinking, dancing, and having a great time.
There were also a few occasions when I noticed someone leave the dance floor with the other couple's partner. Usually there was a glance in my direction, followed by a wink, and then the four of them would disappear somewhere.
I have no idea where they went.
But they certainly seemed excited about getting there.
Some of the best moments, though, were the ones nobody planned at all. We had created a WhatsApp group for everyone on the cruise, and somebody might suddenly send a message saying they were heading to the hot tub on Deck 16. There was no official event and no reservation. They were going to the hot tub. Then another couple would show up, followed by another, and suddenly we had an impromptu hot-tub party.
Sitting in a jacuzzi with a bunch of open-minded friends while sailing through Alaska's Inside Passage is one of those experiences that is difficult to describe adequately. You are sitting in warm water, having a drink, and laughing with friends while mountains, forests, and some of the most spectacular scenery in North America slowly pass by. That's when it really hits you that this isn't another Caribbean lifestyle vacation.
And Alaska was ultimately what made the entire trip so special.
We saw glaciers, bears, bald eagles, salmon, and sea otters. We saw humpback whales and orcas. Every day brought something completely different, and because many of us chose some of the same excursions, those experiences became part of the group's story too.
One of my favorites was a crab excursion. We went out on a boat, pulled crab pots from the water, and at one point I got to hold a Dungeness crab. Afterward, they took us to a beautiful lodge for an all-you-can-eat crab feast with locally brewed beer. I had deliberately skipped breakfast that morning because I knew what was coming, and I can confidently say I got my money's worth. I'm not sure how much crab one human being is supposed to eat in a single sitting, but I'm fairly certain I exceeded the recommended amount.
Looking back at the cruise, what I enjoyed most was that we weren't trying to duplicate the experience of a full-ship lifestyle charter. In fact, I think trying to do that would have missed the entire point. What we created was smaller and much more organic. We had our own little community aboard the ship, but we were still free to experience everything Virgin and Alaska had to offer.
You could spend the day with your partner watching whales or walking beside a glacier, come back to the ship and meet everyone for champagne, have dinner with a few couples, listen to a band, and then see where the night took you. Sometimes everyone ended up together. Sometimes people disappeared in completely different directions. And sometimes a random WhatsApp message resulted in several couples from the group sitting in a hot tub together twenty minutes later.
That's the kind of travel experience I'd like to do more often.
And that's why we're already looking ahead to August 2028, when we're planning to do it again with Virgin Voyages, only this time we're going in an entirely different direction. We'll be sailing from Amsterdam toward the Arctic Circle on an itinerary that is unlike anything we've ever done with a lifestyle group.
The Brilliant Lady in Sitka
I don't know exactly what that trip will look like yet, and honestly, that's part of what makes me excited about it. I do know that I want another group of fun, adventurous, open-minded people who want to see an extraordinary part of the world and enjoy doing it with people they probably wouldn't meet on a traditional cruise.
Alaska showed us that you don't need to charter an entire ship to have a great lifestyle vacation. Sometimes you just need an amazing destination, the right ship, and the right group of people.
Although based on our experience in Alaska, having a hot tub on Deck 16 doesn't hurt either.
*All photos in this blog were taken by me or one of the couples in our group. None are from the internet or AI. For privacy reasons, there are no photos of our group cruisers.
Other Upcoming Itinerary Group Options
If you want to join us on a unique itinerary, here are a couple of our upcoming group cruises. Please use these links to join our group.
San Juan Caribbean Cruise
Ports of Call: 7 Nights
Jan 16-23, 2027
San Juan, PR, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. John's, Antigua, Castries, St. Lucia.
If you Book a Sea Terrace or a Central Sea Terrace and book the Essential or Premium Fares, you will save 10% and get an extra bar tab you can use on board.
Arctic Circle & Norwegian Fjords
Ports of Call: 11 Nights
Aug 14-25, 2028
Amsterdam, Bergen, Arctic Circle (Cruising), Tromsø, Honningsvåg, Arctic Circle (Cruising), Trondheim, Åndalsnes, Olden & Amsterdam
