About Us!

Cruising with Pride is a division of Worldview Travel (founded in 1974), a full service travel agency.

Cruising with Pride, specializing in All Gay and Gay Group Cruises and Tours, has been around since 1996, the same year Worldview Travel became a member of Virtuoso, a prestigious consortium of travel professionals that offers its members additional value and special benefits. Virtuoso limits their membership to only the highest rated and highest producing agencies. In fact, fewer than one percent of the travel retailers in North America are accepted for membership into Virtuoso.

Cruising with Pride's goal is to provide its clients with attentive customer service, good value and the most comprehensive listing of All Gay and Gay Group travel options - on land and sea - available in the current market today.





Tom Stephens

As Chief Operator of Cruising With Pride, Tom has been in the travel industry since 1993. After a year in Hawaii and a wonderful trip to Europe, he decided travel was his passion, and, being gay, specializing in gay travel seemed the perfect fit. He came onboard Cruising With Pride in 2003 and has not looked back. It has been the perfect place for him to grow as a travel consultant and hosting gay groups, traveling on gay cruises and tours, and working with a mostly gay clientele has been an amazing joy for him.

Life should be an adventure. And traveling can be such a wonderful part of our adventure, because it's the chance to see different things, experience different cultures, and change our perspective just a little.

I got into this business because I love to travel. Over the past years I have been to so many places and my world view has expanded immensely. I realize how lucky I am to have been born here in Southern California. Much of the world is not as fortunate as we are, with our weather, our freedoms, and our possibilities.

I have been involved with community charities over the years. For the AIDS Walk of Long Beach, we did some fundraising cruises, helping to raise close to $10,000 for the charity. Lately, I've been working with a gay run charity, Handing Out Hope www.handingouthope.org, a Non-Profit organization set out to promote community and individual empowerment, through the creation and support of specific and varied projects, both domestic and international. I learned long ago that it's not all about how much you can get, but, about how much you can give, as well.

More than anything, I love helping people to see more of their world. Being a gay travel specialist is very rewarding, helping gay people find places that will be suited to their individual needs and making sure they're going places they will find safe and comfortable. It's a constant learning process which will never end until we die, and I've always got more to learn. It's not a small world, after all.

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you will call me to help you with all your travel needs. Remember to take a step or you'll never go anywhere in life.

Tom Stephens



Places I've traveled...


North America - Canada: Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria, Montreal, Toronto, Saint Johns & Halifax

Mexico - Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta (hola, Sergio), Acapulco, Mazatlan, Ixtapa, Cabo San Lucas, and Ensenada (every year for our Halloween cruise, where we take over a gay club. So fun!!)

Caribbean - Puerto Rico, St. Croix, Jamaica, and dozens of other islands on cruises through the years.

USA - Alaska (many cities on cruises), Hawaii (Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island), San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Denver, Houston, New Orleans, Chicago, Boston, New York, Atlantic City, D.C., Portland & Bar Harbor, ME; Orlando, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Key West, Atlanta, Philadelphia, & Provincetown.

Central America - Beautiful Costa Rica, Panama.

South America - Peru (with Macchu Picchu, which is magical), Brazil (Rio Carnavale is like nothing else man made you will ever see, and, Iguazu Falls is the most amazingly beautiful thing God made), Uruguay, and Argentina (Buenos Aires!)

Australia - Sydney & Cairnes (Great Barrier Reef, amazing!!)

Europe - London, Paris, Rome (most of Italy), Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Zurich, Barcelona, Istanbul, Athens (and the islands of Greece), Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Brussels, Bruuge, Tallin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Malta, Sicily, Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo, & St. Petersberg.

Asia - Thailand: the land of smiles, was a beautiful experience. One of my favorite places and I hope to go back one day.
China: Beijing, Xian and Shanghai, with a cruise down the Yangzee River. China is HUGE. It's history is awe inspiring. Bali is on the horizon (Nov 08)

Middle East - Israel. An amazing, spirtual experience. Seeing the metropolitan Tel Aviv, riding on the Sea of Galilee, staying in a Kibbutz near the Golan Heights, seeing Bethlehem, Masada, the Dead Sea and, of course, Jerusalem. Whatever your faith, it is a truly amazing, ancient place, with so much history.

South Africa - Probably the most exciting trip of my life. On Safari, near Kruger national park, our jeep got stuck about 50 feet from a pride of lions! Yikes! We did survive, apparently...

Cruises - I've been on at least 40 cruises (lost count!). 7 with Atlantis and about that many with RSVP. I've sailed with Royal Caribbean the most, Celebrity, Holland America, Carnival, Norwegian, Disney, Star Clippers, and Cunard's QM2. Some day I'll get on Princess, Windstar and Crystal...Every cruise is a different experience and I've never been on a cruise I didn't enjoy (some more than others).

My travels for the future wish list...
Egypt
Madrid (and more Spain)
India (just to see the Taj Mahal)
Jordan (just to see Petra, then, I'll have seen all the 7 wonders of the modern world. I've seen; (1) Machu Picchu, Peru; (2) Christ the Redeemer (Rio, Brazil), (3) The Great Wall of China (Beijing), (4) Chichen Itza (outside of Cancun, Mexico), and (5) The Coliseum in Rome. See www.new7wonders.com
Tahiti
Antartica
Tokyo
Madagascar
Croatia
Transylvania (I'm part Transylvania)
Kenya
Iraq (just kidding!)
Tokyo
Morocco
Ireland
Portugal
Cologne (going in March!)
& More of the USA...it is beautiful here :-)