Frequently Asked

And if it isn't here, email us. A person answers.

Fifty-five questions, grouped. If yours isn't here, email us —a person answers.

BOOKING

  • Complete our booking form and our team at The Cruise Boys® will contact you to confirm your stateroom and take your deposit.

  • Yes. Access to the Waves of Pride private events comes from being in our group block, and the only way into that block is through The Cruise Boys®. A cabin booked directly with Celebrity on the same sailing is a perfectly good cruise — it just isn't this one.

  • Only bookings made through this website or directly with The Cruise Boys are part of Waves of Pride. If you see the sailing listed by a third party claiming group access, email us before you pay anything.

  • Usually yes, as long as it isn't paid in full and hasn't passed certain Celebrity deadlines. Email info@TheCruiseBoys.com with your booking number and we'll check. Do this sooner rather than later — the window closes well before sailing.

  • $250 per person, and that books you. The remaining balance is then split into up to ten equal monthly payments, scheduled automatically — there is no separate deposit schedule and no large final bill. Final payment is due by August 15, 2027 for everyone, so booking later in the year means fewer, larger payments rather than a later deadline. Retreat suites require $1,000 per stateroom up front.

  • Yes. Retreat suites are available at prevailing retail rates with a $1,000 deposit per stateroom. Suite guests receive the Premium Beverage and Wi-Fi packages, and a flat $99 entertainment fee at any time — it doesn't rise on September 11 the way the standard fee does. Contact us for current suite pricing.

  • Yes. Edge Single staterooms with Infinite Veranda are purpose-built for one, at $2,469.40. That figure is the total for the one adult in the cabin — its maximum occupancy is one, so it isn't a per-person double rate. It works out as a modest premium over the double-occupancy veranda rate rather than the full single supplement you would usually pay.

    If you'd rather share and split the cost, guests find each other in our Facebook group — see Sailing Solo for how that works and what to sort out first.

  • Join our Facebook group and post what you're looking for — cabin category, budget, early riser or night owl. It's where guests find each other, and it works better than a matching service because you get to talk properly before committing.

    Sharing a Deluxe Inside is $1,609.40 per person — $860 less than sailing solo in an Edge Single. We don't match or vet anyone, so read Sailing Solo before you arrange anything.

  • Yes, in Veranda, Ocean View and Inside categories. Third and fourth guests are $1,106.40 in an Edge Veranda and $1,006.40 in an Ocean View or Inside, per person including gratuities.

  • By booking order, within the category you choose. The earlier you book, the better the location and the more say you have in it. If you have a specific preference — midship, high deck, near the elevators, away from the elevators — tell us when you book and we'll do what we can.

  • Yes, and it's much easier if you book at the same time. Send us everyone's names together and we'll request adjacent or nearby cabins. We can't guarantee it — Celebrity assigns the actual numbers — but grouped bookings almost always end up together.

  • A booking confirmation by email as soon as your deposit is taken. Your final documents, luggage tags and boarding pass come from Celebrity roughly a month before sailing, once online check-in opens.

WHAT IT COAST

  • The Total Price Per Person shown covers cruise fare, taxes, fees, port expenses and gratuities. On top of that you'll pay the Waves of Pride entertainment fee, and bus transportation if you want it. Airfare, shore excursions, specialty dining, spa and personal purchases are not included.

  • It's a separate fee from your cruise fare, and it's what gives you access to all four private Waves of Pride events — the DJ and the production too. It is not included in the stateroom prices you see on this site.

    For an Inside, Ocean View, Veranda, Concierge or AquaClass stateroom: $149 per person if you book on or before 9/10/2026, $199 after. Retreat suites are a flat $99 per person, whenever you book — the deadline doesn't apply to them.

    It's required for group guests, and it is non-refundable and non-transferable.

  • Separately from your Celebrity booking. It isn't part of your cruise fare and it won't appear on your Celebrity invoice or your onboard folio — we bill it directly.

  • No. Every full-fare guest in an Inside, Ocean View, Veranda, Concierge or AquaClass stateroom receives the Classic Beverage Package. Retreat suite guests receive Premium. You can upgrade to Premium onboard for an additional charge, and drinks at our private parties come from your included package.

  • You're served the non-alcoholic selections from your package — specialty coffees, teas, juices, mocktails, bottled water and sodas — at no extra cost. The minimum drinking age on Celebrity's Caribbean sailings is 21.

  • Yes. Basic Wi-Fi, one device per guest, for every full-fare guest. Retreat suite guests receive the Premium Wi-Fi package. Basic is fine for messaging, email and social; upgrade onboard if you need to stream or take video calls.

  • Your Captain's Club tier, points and member benefits travel with you — this is a normal Celebrity sailing and you're a normal Celebrity guest on it. Make sure your Captain's Club number is on your booking. Tier benefits that duplicate something already included in your fare generally can't be doubled up

  • No. Group rates are contracted separately and already sit below Celebrity's public pricing, so resident, senior, military and promotional discounts don't stack on top. If you find a genuinely lower all-in price on the same sailing, tell us — we'd rather look at it than have you wonder.

  • Usually yes, though it depends on the credit's terms and how it was issued. Send us the certificate details before you book and we'll confirm with Celebrity.

PAYING FOR IT

  • Yes, and most guests do. FlexPay takes a $250 per person deposit, then splits the remaining balance into ten equal monthly payments — $135.94 a month for a Deluxe Inside, $185.94 for an Edge Veranda, $221.94 for an Edge Single. There's no large final payment to brace for.

    FlexPay changes when you pay, not what you pay — the total and the cancellation schedule are identical either way. Book early enough for all ten payments to land before final payment on August 15, 2027.

  • Because this is a contracted group sailing. Celebrity sets different deposit, payment and cancellation rules for group inventory than for individual bookings, and those rules are what you see on our Staterooms & Pricing page. They're not our rules and we can't waive them — which is exactly why we've published every one of them rather than burying them.

  • Yes. We strongly recommend every guest purchase travel insurance. It is the only protection against the cancellation charges below, and it's inexpensive relative to what's at stake. Buy it when you book, not later — most policies only cover pre-existing conditions if purchased within a short window of your first deposit.

WHO’S ONBOARD

  • Because Celebrity is better built for groups, and that difference lands directly on your week.

    We've run a lot of groups with Celebrity over the years, and it shows in what they let us do. Everyone who wants to can dine together every night. We get real evening use of real venues rather than a roped-off corner of a bar. And we can take over the Solarium — the glass-domed adults-only pool — for a private party. Those things are difficult to arrange on some lines and straightforward on this one.

    None of that is a knock on 2026's ship, which was the right call for a five-night inaugural sailing. But for seven nights built around four private events, Celebrity simply gives us more to work with — and gives you a better week for it.

  • No — this is a group within a regular Celebrity sailing, not a full-ship charter. We hold a block of staterooms and host four private events exclusively for our guests. You get the run of a beautiful ship plus a week's worth of our own programming.

  • Celebrity does allow children, and we'd rather say so plainly than have you find out at the muster drill. In practice it matters far less than people expect.

    Celebrity's guests skew overwhelmingly adult — in our experience running groups with them, you see very few children on board unless you're sailing over a major holiday like Christmas or Easter. November 6–13, 2027 is neither. It falls twelve days before Thanksgiving and outside the school holidays, which is part of why we chose it.

    On the second half of your question: yes. We've run many group sailings with Celebrity and they have consistently been welcoming to LGBTQ+ guests — in some respects more so than lines that market to us harder. Crew who work these sailings tend to be the ones who asked to, and they have always made sure our groups had an extraordinary time.

    And our four private events are ours, start to finish.

  • Laid-back during the day, considerably less so at night. Warm, welcoming and unpretentious. The people who love this are the ones who want a proper holiday — good food, a beautiful ship, long sea days — with the freedom of being surrounded by their own people. If you want a seven-day circuit party, this probably isn't it. If you want four excellent parties inside a genuinely lovely week, it is.

  • A wide range. Couples who've been together thirty years and people who booked alone last month. Late twenties through retirement, with the middle of the group somewhere around forty-five. First-time cruisers and people with a Captain's Club tier they're quietly proud of. What they have in common is wanting the week to be good rather than loud.

  • Completely, and we mean that as more than a formality. Waves of Pride is for the whole community — lesbian, bisexual, trans and queer women included — and we plan the week with that in mind. If you've been on gay cruises where that sentence turned out to be decorative, come and tell us how we're doing.

  • Absolutely. Bring your sister, your straight best friend, your parents. Everyone in the group is expected to follow the same code of conduct, and that's the only requirement.

  • No. Every body on this ship is a cruise body. If you've ever looked at photos from a gay cruise and quietly decided it wasn't for you, please read the code of conduct — body shaming is something we actively police, not something we tolerate and apologise for later.

  • Yes, and a good number of our guests do exactly that. Four private parties, three sea days and a group of a few hundred people who all want to meet each other does most of the work. We also run a solo mixer early in the week, before anyone has settled into cliques.

  • Celebrity's minimum age to sail is six months. Guests under 21 must share a stateroom with someone 21 or older, or have a parent or guardian in an adjoining stateroom. The drinking age onboard is 21.

    Our own events are adult in tone and intended for guests 21 and over.

  • Yes — see the question above on Celebrity and comfort. We also brief the ship on who we are before we board. If any interaction with crew or another guest falls short, come to us — that's what the code of conduct is for.

ONBOARD LIFE

  • Not remotely. Come to all four parties, come to one, or spend the week reading on your veranda and eating well. Nobody is counting.

  • Yes — a group activity in Key West and another in Cozumel. We're working on both now and will announce details to booked guests and the list first.

    Both will be optional, like everything else we run. Grand Cayman is a free day.

  • Themes are announced to booked guests before sailing — the list goes to the guest list and our email list first. They're always optional, always easy to do from a suitcase, and nobody is left out for turning up in a plain white t-shirt.

    See the Entertainment page for the current list and packing notes.

  • Celebrity calls it Evening Chic on a couple of nights, and Smart Casual the rest. In practice: no beachwear, tank tops or flip-flops at dinner, and on the Chic nights people dress up as much as they feel like. Nobody needs a tuxedo. The buffet has no dress code beyond shoes and a shirt.

  • Celebrity allows two bottles of wine or champagne per stateroom on embarkation day, with a corkage fee if you drink them in a restaurant. Spirits and beer aren't permitted. Given the Classic Beverage Package is already in your fare, most guests don't bother.

  • Only in designated outdoor areas, and never in staterooms or on verandas — Celebrity charges a substantial cleaning fee for that, and it's a genuine fire risk. Vaping follows the same rules as smoking. Cannabis is not permitted anywhere on board regardless of what's legal where you live.

  • Yes — vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kosher, halal, nut allergies and most other requirements. Tell us at least four weeks before sailing so it can go on your booking, and mention it again to the maître d' on the first night. Serious allergies should be raised at booking, not at dinner.

  • Yes. Celebrity hosts open Friends of Bill W. meetings daily on most sailings, listed in the daily programme. If you'd like a Waves of Pride sober meet-up as well, email us and we'll arrange one — you will not be the only person asking.

  • Tell us at the time of booking, not after. Accessible staterooms are limited and go early, and Celebrity needs advance notice for mobility equipment, oxygen, CPAP machines and service animals.

    Apex is a modern, very accessible ship, but two honest caveats: George Town is a tender port, which can be difficult or impossible depending on sea conditions and your mobility, and some of our party venues get crowded. Guests must be self-sufficient or travel with someone who can assist. Email info@TheCruiseBoys.com and we'll go through it properly with you.

  • No. Our private events are for booked Waves of Pride guests only — that's what the entertainment fee pays for and how we keep the rooms ours. If someone you know is on the sailing, get them into the group instead; we'll help.

  • Yes, and it matters. Not everyone at our events is out in every part of their life. Please ask for permission before photographing anyone you don't know, don't post other people's faces without checking, and if anyone asks to be untagged or removed, do it without argument. Our own photographer works to the same rule and will always ask before taking your picture.

GETTING THERE & DOCUMENTS

  • We run a private round-trip coach between the Sand Lake Road SunRail Station in Orlando and Port Canaveral. It departs at 10:00 AM on Saturday, November 6 and reaches the port at 11:00 AM. Complimentary if you book on or before 9/10/2026; $60 per person round trip after that. Parking at Sand Lake Road is complimentary for the week — worth noting, since parking at the port itself runs about $20 a night plus tax, roughly $160 to $180 for the week.

  • Not before 12:00 PM on Saturday, November 13, 2027. The return bus drops at Orlando International Airport, Terminal B before continuing to Sand Lake Road, and you need the buffer.

  • We strongly recommend one. This is a closed-loop sailing from Florida, but Grand Cayman and Cozumel are foreign ports and a passport is by far the simplest way to travel — and the only practical way to fly home if you ever had to leave the ship early. Make sure it's valid for at least six months beyond November 13, 2027.

  • Book in the name exactly as it appears on your travel document, even if that isn't the name you go by. A mismatch between booking and document is a denied-boarding situation at the pier, and the rooming list locks on November 1, 2027.

    If your documents are changing between now and then, tell us as early as you can and we'll update the booking — there's no fee for correcting a legal name change, and this is a completely routine thing for us to handle. Your preferred name is what we'll use for everything else: your lanyard, your name badge, and every email we send you.

  • Most US and Canadian citizens don't for this itinerary. If you hold another passport or a green card, check the requirements for the Cayman Islands and Mexico well in advance — entry rules are set by those countries and it's your responsibility to meet them.

  • Key West and Cozumel are both long-established, welcoming destinations for LGBTQ+ travellers. The Cayman Islands are more socially conservative than either, and while there's no issue with visiting, some guests prefer a little more discretion ashore there than they'd use in Key West.

    We'll send a short, factual port guide before sailing so nobody's guessing. Ship rules apply on board regardless of where we're docked.

  • Email info@TheCruiseBoys.com. Waves of Pride is hosted by The Cruise Boys® - powered by KVI Travel.

Still have a questions?

Emial info@TheCruiseboys.com, or just reserve the cabin and ask later.

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