What if your next cruise vacation also included access to a licensed relationship counselor onboard?
Picture yourself boarding a cruise surrounded by queer community, beautiful destinations, and a full week of connection and celebration.
Every year, certain cruise sailings become those gathering spaces for LGBTQ+ travelers and allies who want to vacation together in a welcoming, affirming environment.
If you’ve ever wanted a vacation that blends community, celebration, and personal growth, these sailings offer a unique opportunity to experience all three.
Big Gay Cruise is a travel company that helps bring large groups of LGBTQ+ travelers and allies onto the same cruise sailings. Their goal is simple: create a vacation atmosphere where people can relax, celebrate, and connect with others in a welcoming and affirming environment.
Instead of chartering an entire ship, Big Gay Cruise reserves a large portion of cabins and curates entertainment and social events specifically for the community. This means guests can enjoy everything the cruise line normally offers — beautiful destinations, dining, pools, excursions, and entertainment — while also participating in additional LGBTQ-focused events throughout the week. If you prefer to book directly with them, let them know that Kayla sent you!
These events often include:
• drag shows and live performances
• themed parties and nightclub events
• community meetups and social gatherings
• exclusive entertainment from LGBTQ artists and performers
The result is a cruise that feels both like a traditional vacation and a vibrant community gathering.
Where does the counselor on board come in?
Branson’s Couch Counseling hosts a series of guided wellness sessions designed to help people feel more confident, grounded, and connected while they experience everything the cruise has to offer.
These sessions are interactive and welcoming spaces where you can reflect, learn, and walk away with new ways of showing up for yourself and the people around you. The goal isn’t just learning something new, it’s helping people feel more comfortable engaging with the incredible community around them and making the most of the week together.
Together we explore things like navigating social nerves, communicating with partners and friends while traveling, reconnecting after conflict, and creating meaningful moments with the people you care about.
• Calming Social Anxiety and Building Confidence for your Cruise
• Helping Your Relationships Stay Intimate for Decades
• community meetups and social gatherings
• exclusive entertainment from LGBTQ artists and performers
LGBTQIA+
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Excursion Support
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Social Anxiety Support
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Queer & Ally Friendly
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Setting Daily Intentions
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Conflict Repair
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Nervous System Support
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Healthy Relationship Skills
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LGBTQIA+ ✳︎ Excursion Support ✳︎ Social Anxiety Support ✳︎ Queer & Ally Friendly ✳︎ Setting Daily Intentions ✳︎ Conflict Repair ✳︎ Nervous System Support ✳︎ Healthy Relationship Skills ✳︎
I’m genuinely excited to share this experience with you.
Cruises have a unique way of bringing people together — new friendships form quickly, conversations flow easily, and there’s something special about stepping away from everyday life and connecting in a new environment.
My intention is for the sessions I host during these sailings to feel welcoming, supportive, and fun. Whether you join one session or several, I look forward to creating an environment where people can learn, laugh, and feel a little more connected to themselves and the people around them.
I feel incredibly grateful to create spaces where our community can gather, connect, and support one another.
I can’t wait to see you onboard.
-Kayla
Throughout the cruise, I host a series of interactive wellness sessions designed to support emotional well-being, confidence, and meaningful connection while traveling. This pass gives you access to over 6 hours of guided workshops spread throughout the week.
These sessions are casual, interactive, and completely optional so you can drop into whenever a topic resonates with you. You’re welcome to attend on your own, or with your travel companions if they’ve also purchased a pass.
Topics may include:
• Calming Social Anxiety and Building Confidence for your Cruise
• Nervous system reset & somatic grounding
• Communication tools for couples and travel partners
• Repair and reconnection after conflict
• Helping Your Relationships Stay Intimate for Decades
• Morning alignment and setting intentions before port adventures
This upgraded pass includes everything in the Emotional Wellness Access Pass.
In addition to the workshops, this upgraded pass includes a private one-on-one support conversation (approximately 60 minutes) that can be scheduled at a time mutually convenient for us during the cruise.
This dedicated time allows us to focus on anything that may be on your mind — whether that’s navigating relationship dynamics, managing stress, processing a meaningful life transition, or simply creating intentional space to reflect during your vacation.
Because these conversations are personalized and limited in availability, only four upgraded passes are offered per sailing.
Research shows that couples and close friends who experience novelty, adventure, and shared exhilaration together often feel more bonded and emotionally connected. But sometimes anxiety, hesitation, or fear of conflict can keep us from choosing the experiences we’re most curious about.
During this guided experience, I’ll join you for part of your excursion to help you stay present, playful, and connected while you take on the adventure together. If nerves pop up, I can help you regulate and move through them. If emotions run high, we’ll turn that moment into something meaningful rather than stressful.
During this experience, I’ll join you for approximately two hours of your shore excursion to help you stay grounded, present, and intentional while you create that memory together. My role is to offer gentle guidance, emotional support, and tools that help you fully enjoy the experience and to be more present with the people you care about.
A professional photographer will also accompany us to capture candid photos from the experience so you can relive the memory long after the cruise ends.
This experience is wonderful for romantic partners, but it can also be booked by close friends who want to celebrate their connection through a shared adventure.
Each Curated Shore Experience includes:
• Pre-excursion intention-setting meeting
• Approximately two hours of guided support during your activity
• Professional candid photography throughout the experience
Requires One of the
Wellness Passes
During this unique cruise-based retreat, engaged couples participate in guided group sessions designed to help them explore the most important topics that shape long-term relationships. The retreat focuses on building emotional connection, communication skills, shared expectations, and sustainable partnership dynamics.
Together we explore topics such as:
• communication patterns and conflict navigation
• intimacy and emotional connection over time
• division of household labor and invisible mental load
• financial conversations and long-term planning
• family dynamics and life expectations
• building a relationship culture that supports both partners
Sessions take place during the cruise’s sea days, allowing couples to engage deeply in the work while still enjoying the experience of traveling together. Between sessions, couples have time to relax, explore ports of call, and create meaningful memories alongside other couples who value intentional relationship growth.
This retreat is designed to be welcoming to LGBTQ+ couples, allies, and couples in a variety of relationship structures who want to approach marriage thoughtfully and intentionally.
Participation is limited to a small cohort of couples to maintain an intimate and supportive environment.
Couples interested in attending begin by scheduling a brief consultation to ensure the retreat is a good fit for everyone involved. After the consultation, approved couples will receive booking details and retreat preparation materials.
Cruise cabins are booked separately through the travel team coordinating the sailing.
The retreat price is per couple/constellation.
Requires Attendance to
the Premarital Retreat
While the retreat curriculum is designed to be experienced in a group format, some couples may want dedicated time to explore a topic more deeply.
This private session offers approximately 90 minutes of focused time together during the cruise to explore something specific within your relationship. Many couples use this time to dive deeper into a topic that surfaced during the retreat or receive additional support navigating a conversation that feels particularly meaningful.
These conversations are relaxed, supportive, and personalized to you and your relationship. Because they are scheduled outside of the group retreat sessions, they allow space for more individualized reflection and guidance.
Private Couples Deep-Dive sessions are only available to couples participating in the cohort retreat and can be scheduled at a mutually convenient time during the cruise.
Availability is limited.
Let’s Talk About Your Cruise Experience
If you're feeling curious about joining one of these sailings or participating in the wellness experiences onboard, I’d love to hear from you. Whether you have questions, want help deciding which option might be the best fit, or simply want to learn more before booking, this is the place to reach out.
Fill out the form below and I’ll personally get back to you with more information.