Welcome to bare-adise? ‘Ballsy’ cruise sets sail — and travellers can pack light

If you’re feeling body-confident, then this cruise could be the holiday you didn’t know you’d been waiting for. Cruise company Bare Necessities has specialised in nude travel for 35 years, giving travellers the chance to unwind without worrying about pesky tan lines. If nothing else, it certainly eliminates any packing dilemmas. The annual Big Nude Boat voyage set sail from Miami this week on an 11-day roundtrip visiting Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, as well as Jamaica and Great Stirrup Cay.

Travellers will be in the buff, ‘morning, noon, and night’, while they are treated to onboard entertainment, fine dining excursions to exotic stops around the Caribbean. The cruise also includes what the company describes as an ‘exclusive stop at the line’s private island’, where bare cruisers can enjoy a beach barbecue, snorkel with (hopefully not snapping) turtles, and more, ‘au naturel’.

As you might expect, some rules govern where and when you can de-robe. Chiefly, you must remain clothed while docked in port, in the dining rooms, during the Captain’s receptions and whenever locals come aboard to perform. Bare Necessities also goes to great lengths to stress that there is not a sexual component to their offerings, stating that: ‘If you are seeking a lifestyle/swinger cruise, we are not the right product for you’.

During the rare occasions where clothing is required, the company also state that ‘shorts and T-shirts are acceptable, but lingerie, fetish wear, robes are not permitted.’. Unfortunately, you’ve just missed the boat on this year’s Big Nude Boat trip, however, more trips are planned for 2026. If the concept sounds appealing, then prices for their first trip of 2026 starts at from $2,000 (£1,600) per person, based on double occupancy of a two-person cabin.

The company is also offering an exclusive ‘six-star’ trip on the Scenic Eclipse II from Oct 26 – Nov 9, 2025, with prices starting at $13,660. Next year’s Big Nude Boat trip is set to depart February 9 – 20, 2026, and the latest information is available on the Bare Necessities website. Many travellers on social media expressed their support for the idea, with Instagram user @island_modeling commenting that ‘Life doesn’t get better than this’ and redsfan3758 saying ‘Beautiful, I can’t wait until my next nude cruise.’.

However, some Reddit users did raise a few concerns, with @Zechs-Merquise posting ‘I’ve always wondered if they deep clean all seats and linens after this. Maybe I don’t want to know’ and Great_Huckleberry709 adding that going on a trip like this was ‘very ballsy’. That said, FrictionMitten also added ‘Good for them. I wish I had their self confidence.’. In the meantime (and, dare we say, somewhat ironically), the firm also runs an online ‘big nude shop’ which sells – yep, you guessed it – clothes.

From T-shirts to sweatshirts, the line of merch is presumably to help show your support for the concept once you are back on dry land. In addition, if you are feeling a little bashful, the self-described ‘Captains of Bare Cruising’ also offer small ship luxury sailing yachts, which they describe as providing customers with a ‘more intimate experience’… take from that what you will. Set sail to the Mediterranean in 2025 – here's all you need to know.

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