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?
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.
A gateway for cruise newcomers
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 there are more than 700 cruises 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.
Talley, who booked the Hallmark Christmas cruise, said theme cruises got her hooked on sailing. She spoke to The Washington Post from Miami after departing a chef-focused cruise and right before boarding a regular sailing on another cruise line. She has been on the Sail Across the Sun cruise, featuring Train and several other acts, four times.
“There’s just concerts happening the entire time,” she said.
Swifties, Trekkies and crafters
Some event production companies sell the opportunity to be in close quarters with the objects of fan affection. Sixthman, which is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line, pitches the events to singers, chefs and others as a way to interact with their die-hard fans who will follow and support them anywhere. And for those fans, it’s a tough chance to pass up.
“You’re not just spending an afternoon, you’re spending your vacation with them from breakfast to lunch to dinner to cocktails and activities,” Cuellar said.
Even though the Hallmark Christmas cruise — which is being put on by Sixthman — hasn’t named the stars who will sail, Cuellar said the event was the fastest sellout in the company history.
“Within like 48 hours of the first sellout, there were people already putting mugs on Etsy that said, ‘I survived the Hallmark presale,’” he said. “You talk about a passionate audience.”
Other cruises are entirely fan-driven, without the presence of any stars.
Jessica Malerman and two friends and fellow travel agents came up with the “In My Cruise Era” trip in October during another group cruise with their agency, Marvelous Mouse Travels. There’s no affiliation with the Taylor Swift empire, but the trip has already sold the maximum 199 staterooms it reserved on megaship Allure of the Seas in October 2024.
Events will include dance parties, trivia, cocktail parties, friendship bracelet swapping and karaoke.
“What people want is the connection and they want to make friends and they want to go on vacation and have a sense of community,” Malerman said.
Chad Kampe, the owner of Flip Phone Productions, put on the first — and second — Golden Fans at Sea cruises in early 2020 after organizing a “Golden Girls”-themed bar crawl several years before. The company produces drag shows across the country.
The sailings have included themed dances, costume contests, caftan welcome parties, scavenger hunts, performances from the Golden Gays drag troupe, appearances from people with ties to the show and some very competitive trivia sessions.
“The ‘Golden Girls’ trivia is the most intense trivia you’ve ever seen,” Kampe said.
The events take place on regular voyages, meaning passengers might end up surprised by the surplus of Blanches, Dorothys, Roses and Sophias. In year one, Kampe said a biker group was also on board.
“They loved us,” he said.
Many theme cruises are organized around hobbies or other special interests.
Melissa Gower, founder of Craft Cruises, organizes an average of 10 knitting cruises a year. The knitters and their needles don’t take over the whole ship, but the sailings include instructors, social gatherings and “private fiber-related tours,” she said.
“I have people who traveled with me in 1999,” Gower said. “They’ve been on 30-plus knitting cruises, and they’re still booking travel with us.”
How to find (or avoid) a niche cruise
The Theme Cruise Finder website allows people to search according to category for upcoming trips. Often, sales will open up during an event for the people on board, so it can be difficult to get a reservation on a popular repeating cruise.
Gray Faust said travelers will often comment on Cruise Critic forums about their surprise at being on the same ship as some kind of group. She said a friend ended up on a cruise with Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans “and she hates Tampa Bay.”
In 2016, more than 1,500 vacationers who thought they were taking a regular Bahamas cruise ended up sharing space with then-Patriots player Rob Gronkowski and fans on Gronk’s Party Ship.
Gary Bembridge, a cruise YouTuber who runs the site Tips for Travellers, recommends people search online for the name and date of a cruise they’re considering to see if a theme cruise shows up at the same time.
Moses, one of the founders of the theme cruise site, is co-president of a separate business, The Cruise & Vacation Authority, which organizes theme cruises as one of its services.
“In general, theme cruises are way more fun than a regular cruise because you’re traveling with like-minded people,” he said.
And if someone isn’t like-minded on a shared ship, he said the theme group tries to be understanding.
“We try to be very respectful of the other guests on board,” he said.
