A cruise passenger has lifted the lid on an experience unlike any traditional holiday at sea — a nude voyage with 2,000 fellow travelers, all embracing the naturist lifestyle.
When most people picture a cruise, their minds may drift to dramatic scenes from Titanic, enough to make some swear off ships entirely. But on this particular journey, the distraction wasn’t iceberg anxiety — it was the reality of being surrounded by thousands of naked people.
That raised one obvious question: what happens if someone gets, well, a little too distracted?
One traveler who had just returned from a “2,000 person nude cruise” decided to answer that question on Reddit in an r/AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread.
The seven-day voyage, costing $2,500, was organized by Texas-based Bare Necessities Tour and Travel and set sail from Tampa, Florida. Identifying themselves as an “experienced nudist,” the poster, u/wisecommenter2, said they were comfortable from the start.
Curiosity among Reddit users quickly turned to one very specific topic: arousal.
User u/LostnHidden asked: “Maybe not specific to the cruise, but nudism in general… I’m assuming boners just happen, since it happens in everyday clothed life, too. Are they frowned upon or just accepted in this environment?”
The traveler replied: “This cruise is very non-sexual, so a man would want to hide it somehow. Non-nudists think about this a lot more than nudists do.”
Another Redditor, u/tortillini-houdini, followed up: “What was the rule for boners?”
The poster clarified: “As I said above, this is something that nonnudists worry about a lot more than nudists. I’ve been a nudist for ten years and I’ve almost never seen one. Since this cruise is not a sex-positive event, the man would be expected to conceal it.”
The discussion then shifted to the bigger picture: why nudism at all, if it isn’t sexual?
User u/YoungandPregnant asked: “If the nudist thing is not sexual in nature at all, what is it for? Is it for looking? Do you WANT to see other naked bodies?”
The traveler compared it to the freeing feeling of skinny dipping: “Have you ever gone skinny dipping? It’s great to be nude to go swimming, dancing, walking along the beach, etc. For me, that’s the main thing. If I’m candid, I don’t mind seeing naked women, so that’s nice too. It’s the same reason men don’t wear shirts to go swimming or on the beach.”
They added: “It’s great feeling. I’m sure some people have an exhibitionist thrill, but I don’t. Also, I’m not sure that a naked person among 2,000 naked people could be considered an exhibitionist.”
For the curious, the takeaway is simple: life on a nude cruise isn’t about sex — it’s about freedom, comfort, and the unique joy of living without clothes, even if only for a week at sea.
