Twenty-Five and Still Cruising

When I was 25, I set sail aboard my first Atlantis cruise. I was newly single and had easily been talked into taking the trip by my best friend. But as the departure date approached, I began to have second thoughts.

Was this my kind of vacation? I lived in New York and was the quintessential Manhattanite: I smoked too much, worked too much (my skin tone bordered on translucent), and my idea of wearing color might be to throw a little gray into the mix. As amazing as a boat full of taut, bronzed bodies clad in bright and tiny swimwear sounded, I wasn't exactly convinced an Atlantis cruise would be my scene.

I had completely underestimated what an Atlantis cruise really had to offer. I saw Rosie O'Donnell perform stand-up shortly after she publicly came out, perused an onboard art exhibit, was beaten into blissful submission at the spa by a small Thai woman with the upper-body strength of a lumberjack, rekindled a fling with a cute Canadian I had met during my college days, and spent more money on cocktails and the casino than I did on the cruise fare. I had one of the best vacations of my life and learned that, really, with so many people to meet and activities to bond over, an Atlantis cruise could be whatever I wanted to make of it.

Launched in 1991, Atlantis Events hosted its inaugural outing with 300 guests at the Club Med Resort in Playa Blanca, Mexico. Now, 25 years later, the company plans to embark on a whole new set of adventures starting this May, with the first-ever chartered cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's magnificent Anthem of the Seas, the world's most technologically advanced ship and a veritable game changer among seagoing vessels.

"Our guests have been asking for this incredible ship since she was first announced," remarked Atlantis president Rich Campbell. "There simply never has been an Atlantis cruise with so much to offer."

The Anthem sets a high bar in terms of onboard activities: highlights include bumper cars, a roller rink and circus school, a skydiving simulator, and a bar where robots mix the cocktails. Plus, Atlantis promises its 4,200 passengers the A-list entertainment and exhaustive list of LGBT-friendly activities that have been its trademarks since 1991.

So, if you see me on the Anthem, dancing under the stars and adrift in a sea of taut, bronzed men in bright and tiny swimwear, I'm on the exact vacation I'm meant to be.

For more informaiton on this and other Atlantis Events, visit AtlantisEvents.com.