Global Courant 2023-04-19 18:43:39
Kat Whitmire is VP of Sales at Bare Necessities, a nudist cruise company where guests can be naked on board.Cat Whitmire
A chance modeling gig introduced Kat Whitmire to nude cruising in 1997. Now she organizes them.
Whitmire owned a company singing telegrams before she became a sales associate for Bare Necessities.
She described what her job – organizing cruises where all guests can be nude – is like.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kat Whitmire, a 61-year-old who works as a vice president of sales for a nudist cruise company. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I am a cruise organizer for Basic necessities Tour and travel, a nudist cruise company. I’ve been planning our two sailings all year: a trip in February aboard a large cruise ship called our Big Nude Boat, which has 3,000 passengers, and a smaller cruise in the summer.
In 1997, a friend who was a staff photographer at Bare Necessities was looking for a married couple to join their next cruise and appear in some promotional photos.
Both my husband and I are confident in front of an audience. I have a background in theater and ran my singing telegram business, and my husband was an on-air meteorologist. We had been skinny dipping with friends before so felt comfortable, and the cruise was in Tahiti which sealed the deal.
I went on their cruises and volunteered for over a decade before going full time
We worked as models on our first cruise and kept returning for the next decade to work as General Staff. We answered questions and helped with little things like making sure guests have a towel between themselves and their seats.
In 2010, the company wanted to hire a sales associate who spoke German – nudism is very big in Germany. My German is good enough, so I threw my hat in the ring.
I live in Austin and have been working full time at Bare Necessities since 2010.
Now I am the vice president of sales for two Bare Necessities cruises. I also help to staff and organize the cruise activities while we are sailing.
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Whitmire and her husband work for Bare Necessities.Cat Whitmire
Before each cruise, I create schedules so that our staff know when to man the information stand, perform “dinner shift” to ensure guests adhere to the dress code, and go to the dance club in the evening to make sure everything runs smoothly. expires.
I also help coordinate registrations for shore excursions. We typically have about 10 to 15 excursions to choose from in each port. There are new challenges at sea every day, including dealing with the weather and arriving in port at a different time than planned – which means we need to make sure the teams behind shore excursions are aware.
Not everyone understands what nudism is
For us, being naked is not sexual or something to be ashamed of.
Nudism is about leaving judgment behind. If you don’t wear clothes, you can’t immediately see someone’s economic status or voting record; you have to talk to them to find out who they are. Our guests form deep friendships that I don’t think come easily on a textile cruise.
We are not a swingers cruise. This is not a lifestyle trip. There are plenty of those travel options, but that’s not what we do.
There are rules for naked travel
We have rules on board the ship. The main one is that you have to ask permission before taking a photo that has someone else in it.
Men cannot be overly excited. We say that when they start feeling things moving down there, jumping in cold water or thinking about baseball.
Dinner in the formal dining room has a dress code, largely because waitstaff carry trays of hot food. “No nips, no bits, and no butts” is what I always say to remind people of our dinner dress code.
The dinner is the only time guests are required to wear actual clothing – no mesh, nothing see-through, and nothing made of rope.
The captain and crew are not naked. Our first day on board is always a bit of a shock for the crew, but after that it’s fun for everyone. Nor are we naked for our port excursions.
Entertainers and staff on a Bare Necessities cruise wear clothes.Cat Whitmire
We’ve been to incredible places
I made incredible memories working for Bare Necessities. One of my most memorable days was when we visited Tanna, an island in the South Pacific in Vanuatu.
Our ship was the first major cruise ship to anchor in their bay. As we gathered on the beach to meet the locals, a group of men with leaves performed some of their island’s traditional dances. It was unbelievable.
Whitmire said a visit to Tanna, Vanuatu was unforgettable.Cat Whitmire
Over the years we have been to many warm places including Fiji, Tahiti and the Mediterranean.
But my favorite of the nearly 50 sailings I’ve done was in Alaska. It was a hard sell at the time because nudism and cold don’t always go together, but it worked well. The ship extended the roof over the polar deck so we could stay warm and enjoy swimming in the buff. At the harbor we explored some hot springs with sulphur.
Any cruise takes a lot of planning
Going on a cruise is like putting on a big theater production.
Behind the scenes, I work hard with guest lecturers and cruise line staff. Then we run for a week and we’re done. We’ll start all over again right away.
The cruise has to be new every year, but we also have to keep enough of the big successes – for example, on the cruise we just ended, we had private islands in the Bahamas all to ourselves.
We repeated some theme nights that were very popular. Surprisingly, nudists love costumes.
On our Big Nude Boat we have different theme nights and a huge costume party. My favorite costume ever was a guy dressed up like a tequila bottle. He had a cork on his head. His body was the bottle. You just have to imagine what the worm was. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life.
We’ve done mash-ups of themes like “‘Wizard of Oz’ meets ‘Alice in Wonderland’.” We just got off a cruise where each night at dinner represented a different historical decade – it was a huge hit so I suspect we might do it again.
The cruises are great for those curious about nudism
Our way of traveling is not for everyone. Not everyone understands what nudism is all about, and that’s okay. If you’re curious, this way of traveling might be what you’re looking for.
I joke that skinny-dipping is our gateway drug.
On our Big Nude Boat with just over 2,100 passengers, approximately 70% of the guests on board are repeat guests. Our boutique small ship sailings sell out very quickly. That tells me we’re doing something right.
Read the original article Business Insider
