A nude cruise is coming to Miami. Better pack extra sunscreen if you plan to go

A new kind of cruise will be sailing out of PortMiami. Pack extra sunscreen because all of the passengers will be nude.

Nude cruises aren’t new and certainly not for everyone. But going out in public in the buff goes back centuries, and advocates include Benjamin Franklin and Henry David Thoreau, who surely would have appreciated the option of the shipboard buffet on the Lido deck. And Miami, gateway to the warm and sunny Caribbean, seems like a natural place to set sail.

The firm Bare Necessities Tour & Travel has hired Norwegian Cruise Line to host a an annual nude cruise in 2025, an executive told the Miami Herald in an interview on Tuesday. That firm has chartered similar excursions with Carnival Cruises out of Tampa in recent years, including one scheduled for next February.

“We recently negotiated a 2025 charter with NCL,” said Ken Tiemann, chief operating officer for the Austin, Texas-based Bare Necessities. It will be the first charter out of Miami and with Norwegian Cruise Lines.

The 11-day excursion, dubbed the 2025 Big Nude Boat on NCL’s Norwegian Pearl, will depart Miami on February 3, 2025. Stops include Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Castries, St. Lucia. Tickets will go on sale in August, he said. Reservations must be made through Bare Necessities.

The departure location was a big reason for the switch of cruise companies. “You can get further and deeper into the Caribbean in seven days from Miami than you can in seven days from Tampa,” said Tiemann.

The company was also looking to appeal to repeat cruisers. “You get some passengers that desire a change of scenery,” he said.

So, what is a nude cruise?

Bare Necessities trips are for naturists — not kinky adventurers. “We try to stay pure to the values of the American Association of Nude Recreation” or AANR, said Tiemann.

“We’re not a lifestyle or a swinger cruise,” said Tiemann. “There is a little bit of confusion.”

Those types of hedonistic cruises certainly do exist, he said, but they are really lifestyle cruises and comprise a different category, he noted.

AANR, based in Kissimmme, Florida, near Orlando, touts Franklin and Thoreau’s support of nudity. It reminds folks that President John Quincy Adams regularly bathed nude in the Potomac River.

“We’re just offering a cruise to people who prefer not to wear clothes,” Tiemann observed.

So, just you and the high seas with nothing in between them.

For now, Bare Necessities still has to finish organizing its 2024 cruise on the Carnival Pride, which departs Tampa on February 25 and lasts one week. Cheapest fares for that are $1,200 to share a double occupancy room. Port taxes are estimated at $150.55 per person.

They don’t seem too concerned with Norovirus, which recently afflicted passengers on some cruises. “The health protocols are handled by the cruise lines,” said Tiemann. “I’m not concerned at all.”

Bare Necessities first cruise with Carnival was in February of 1999. Its first one with another carrier was in 1991. It always charters with a cruise line. It has worked with Holland America, owned by Carnival Corporation, and Celebrity Cruises, a subsidiary of the Royal Caribbean Group, too. But it had not departed from Miami since 2018.

As for future plans for the company, the executive said for the near term, they likely will focus on their NCL cruise and look to make that successful.

“This one [the 2024 cruise] with Carnival will be the last one for the near future,” he said.

Still, the agreement they signed with NCL is only for 2025 and does not require any future exclusivity, he noted.

The rules of nude cruising

Here are the rules of decorum for the 2024 cruise. Tiemann expects them to be similar for the 2025 Big Nude Boat with NCL.

▪ When the ship is docked alongside in port, all passengers must be dressed throughout the vessel, including balconies, until the ship leaves port and an announcement is made that nudity is again permissible..

▪ The ship provides a self-serve buffet on the Lido deck, which is a clothes-free area. Clothing is required for all meals taken in the dining rooms. Casual attire is fine in all of these venues. Bathrobes are not permitted in the dining room..

▪ Lingerie, fetish-wear, and excessive genital jewelry are not appropriate at any time..

▪ Please sit on a towel at all times while nude, in a G-string, thong, or any time you are bare-bottomed. A fresh beach towel will be provided in your stateroom each day for that purpose.

▪ Displaying yourself nude in front of other ships in port or while port authorities are on board the vessel for clearance is strictly prohibited..

▪ No photographs, videos or electronic images of any person may be taken without the express consent of that individual. “NO PHOTO ZONES” around the pools or in dance venues must be followed to avoid confiscation of photo capturing devices.

▪ Dangerous or rude behavior will not be tolerated at any time.

▪ Fondling or inappropriate touching of personal body parts or those of someone else, overt sexual activity or any solicitation for sexual acts is strictly prohibited..