With an explosion in the tourism industry and an estimate of almost 2 million people visiting Iceland in 2017, it was only a matter of time when a gay cruise around Iceland would be offered. This summer, Source Events, which specialise in adventure and luxury tours for the gay community, will embark on their first Voyage around Iceland.
“Iceland has been on the top of our list for Source Events travel destinations in our guest surveys. Our travelers are looking for adventures and cruises for the mind, body & spirit and especially experiences that connect them with nature. We also know that Iceland is an incredible community, a very gay welcoming island and that at one point you had a gay prime minister. Of course the combination of the spectacular natural beauty and gay friendly community is exciting to our guests,” says Craig Smith, founder and president of Source Events.
“I always had this dream of going to Iceland; I had seen pictures and more recently heard stories from our travelers and others. And everybody raves about spectacular natural beauty, the people, the Icelandic cuisine and the nightlife.
Windstar Cruises has been one of our most popular travel partners, based on their excellent customer service and 5-star luxury ships. We‘ve done many cruises with them and they‘ve just added three luxury ships to their portfolio, all that have been recently renovated. One of them is StarPride, which kinda fits with our theme of pride but that just happens to be the name of the ship and we think it‘s a perfect fit for our first voyage in Iceland!”
StarPride is a yacht of 440 feet with guest capacity of 212. According to Craig, there are still spaces left on the Iceland cruise taking place 17-24 July. “One of the neat things about StarPride is that it‘s all suites. The smallest suit is almost 300 square feet, which is still quite large. All the suites are ocean view and have living room area, bedroom area, large bathrooms with two sinks, and 24 hour room service. There’s a fantastic spa and gym on board and two restaurants. This is the first time we‘re using one of Windstar’s new luxury yachts with all suites, and we know our guests are going to love the ship.”
“… we‘ve just heard that Iceland is an incredible community … and the country has been coming really high up on our customer surveys. So we decided to do it (the cruise) this year.”
The cruise starts and ends in Reykjavík and the trip takes the travellers around Iceland, stopping in Heimaey, Seyðisfjörður, Akureyri, Ísafjörður and Grundarfjörður along the way. “There are going to be different excursions, some will be more active than others so whatever level of fitness someone is in or however active they want to be, they‘ll have that choice. There will also be some cocktail parties and music events on board but you know, on a cruise like this, Iceland is the star and people are going because they want to enjoy the beauty of the island. We‘re going to invite our guests to come at least 2-3 days early to be able to do things like the Blue Lagoon and other activities and just enjoy some of the nightlife of Reykjavík. If they want us to organize some group gatherings there, we can look into that too.”
Craig says that even though this is the first Voyage Around Iceland, it might very well just be the start of something more. “You know, when we go to a place like Iceland and then people share their photos and stories, because these days people use Facebook and Twitter and so on, usually we find there‘s more requests for that so once we‘ve gone to a place, we tend to put it in our rotation and do it maybe every other year.”
Having founded Source Events in 2001, Craig’s job is now possibly the greatest job in the world. “Yes, my partner and I go on all the cruises, acting as cruise directors and hosts. WindStar provides the crew, chefs and housekeeping and then we add to the mix with special events, entertainment and excursions. This last year we did about eight cruises and adventures, this year we‘ll have six. We have just come back from the Caribbean on an Oceania ship; this summer we‘re also going to the French Riviera with the world‘s largest sailing yacht,” says Craig, referring to the Royal Clipper, which has room for 220 guests and 90 crew.
“I’m very grateful to have a dream job, producing these inspirational adventures around the world for our gay community and friends! It all came about because of an invitation to dream. I was working with a life coach and had been producing special events for the gay community and my coach asked me what my next dream was. I said: If it can be anything, let’s explore this amazing world and bring guests together in the spirit of adventure, discover and friendship.
We started small, inviting our friends to our first cruise at a house party. Over the past 15 years Source Events has grown and we now have thousands of guests from all around the world traveling to 37 countries on 6 continents to some of the world’s most beautiful and exotic destinations. When we began, I don‘t think I could have imagined all the places I‘ve been to now and really how our community has grown, and I’m so grateful for all of these wonderful experiences.
“I think we‘re all really interested too in learning what is going on with climate change and the environment and what can we do.”
Even though we’ve grown, our cruises and adventures are intimate enough for us to be responsive to the needs of our guests and it’s extraordinary to be part of creating a family of travelers that is having life changing experiences while connecting with new and old friends around the world.”
Craig says that majority of their “family of travelers” comes from North-America, some from Europe and a few from Asia. And that although the core is gay men, more and more friends and family have started coming on the trips too. “It really is a luxury to have all these great facilities on a small yacht, and be able to keep the group small and intimate; it‘s not a monstrous ship, so people get to know each other really fast and there‘s a lot of guys there who have been traveling together for years, have made friends on our tours that they reunite with on the trips and keep coming again and again.”
And what is he looking forward to the most on his first Iceland visit? “For me, I’m looking forward to the spectacular scenery. I‘ve seen these pictures and wonder, are they all true or are they photoshopped? And then, the light, to be able to be out in the midnight sun and just meeting some local people. Learning more about the gay community there, what life is like there and I think we‘re all really interested too in learning what is going on with climate change and the environment and what can we do; what effect it‘s having on Iceland and the people who live so closely with nature and so on. So I‘m looking forward to both a fun, educational and inspirational adventure in Iceland.”