REMEMBER THE old Hollywood song A Gal in Every Port?
Well, there were nearly 2,000 guys in Lisbon port over the weekend but if any girls were getting excited, they needn’t have bothered – they were all gay.
The Celebrity Constellation sailed into Lisbon last Thursday with 1,900 gay tourists on board.
It is the first time ever that an all-gay cruise has disembarked in the Portuguese capital and, judging by its success, won’t be the last.
The Resident went down to the Cais do Alcântara to meet some of the passengers, to find out what they thought of Lisbon as they boarded ship on Friday afternoon after spending 24 hours in the Portuguese capital.
“We absolutely loved it, very charming with an old world feel to it with all the old architecture,” said Greg from Texas, originally from New Zealand, who was treating his mother Eleanor on this, his ninth cruise.
“We particularly liked the shops in the downtown area and of course we went up to the castle and were impressed with the fantastic views,” he added.
And did they try the local fish which Portugal is so famous for? “Unfortunately I don’t like fish, so gave that one a miss,” he said, adding that they went “to the Gare Oriente train station to admire the architecture”.
“We just got back from the Castelo de São Jorge and it was really lovely up there, the beautiful picturesque view of the city,” said Greg’s partner Randall.
“Everywhere we’ve been people have been really very friendly, it’s been great and Lisbon is definitely a place I’d like to return to someday,” said Greg.
And did they know that their Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice was in town at the same time?
“Oh we don’t really rate her. Now we know that we’ve just gone off Lisbon a bit,” joked the obvious Democrats, who would have liked to see Hillary Clinton get the Democratic nomination.
Itinerary
The cruise ship left Harwich in England on August 30 and arrived in Lisbon at midday on Thursday, where it stayed until 4pm on Friday before heading out to Cadiz and then on to Ibiza and Barcelona, where it was destined to finish its cruise on September 9.
And what was it like on board the ship? “The cruise is what you’d expect, lots to do, different bars and restaurants, shops, cinemas, shows and all the usual things that you find on a good cruise ship,” said Greg.
Holidays aimed specifically at gays have been in vogue since the 1980s since the purchasing power of the ‘pink dollar’ is significant given that many gays have good, stable jobs, earn well and usually don’t have school fees to worry about.
It’s a fact that isn’t lost on the various gay bars and clubs in Lisbon, such as Trumps, Brica-a-Bar, Finalmente and the latest addition O Labyrinto next to the Portuguese parliament, the Assembleia da República, which carried out flyer promotion to attract the largely American visitors.
“Ours is a members only club and we organise events to satisfy niche interests,” said O Labyrinto manager Hélder Tiago.
Hélder Tiago agreed that Lisbon was not a traditional gay destination like Berlin, Cologne, Paris, London or San Francisco, but said that he knew from his conversations with cruise ship operators that this kind of specialised tourism could and should change the city and bring in valuable business.
