A swinger cruise is an entire ship chartered by a lifestyle company, so that for a week the pools, bars and theaters are a private lifestyle party with play areas at night; a hotel takeover is the same idea on land for a weekend. Both are booked like ordinary holidays, months ahead, and both sell out because the two biggest, Bliss Cruise and Naughty in N'awlins, have waiting lists of couples who go every year.
Lifestyle cruises
Bliss Cruise
Bliss Cruise is the largest couples-only lifestyle charter company in the United States. It charters whole ships from the major lines (recent and upcoming sailings have used Royal Caribbean and Celebrity vessels, with a Celebrity Summit charter announced for 2028) and sails them out of Florida to the Caribbean with a crowd that is entirely lifestyle couples. Each sailing has a name and a theme: at the time of writing, Wonderland (November 9 to 16, 2026, Curaçao and Aruba), Fiesta (February 24 to 28, 2027, Cozumel), Celestial (April 18 to 24, 2027, Dominican Republic and Grand Turk) and Saints and Sinners (November 8 to 15, 2027, St. Maarten and St. Kitts). The ship becomes topless or clothing-optional in designated deck areas, every night has a theme with a dress code, and the organizer sets up multiple play areas that run on club rules. Bliss has sold out its charters outright in recent years, which is why it adds sailings and why cabins go on sale a year or more ahead.
Temptation Caribbean Cruise
Temptation, the Cancun resort brand, runs an adults-only, topless-optional cruise out of Miami, in recent years each October on a Norwegian ship, with recent itineraries calling at Key West and Nassau, and at Montego Bay and George Town for the October 2027 sailing. It is the first topless-optional cruise and it is a party cruise, not a swingers' one: tops are optional on the pool decks and at designated events, clothing is required in restaurants, phones are banned in the clothing-optional areas, and there are no play rooms. Fares have been advertised from around £976 per person including a drinks package. Couples who want the Bliss experience should book Bliss; couples who want a loud week at sea with a sexy dress code and nothing more are Temptation's crowd.
How booking a charter works
- Cabins go on sale by category (inside, ocean view, balcony, suite) a year or more ahead, usually to past guests first.
- You pay a deposit per cabin, then installments, with final payment some months before sailing. Lifestyle charters are stricter on refunds than the cruise line's own sailings, so read the terms.
- The organizer, not the cruise line, sets the rules: age, couples-only, dress codes, camera policy. Breaking them at sea means being confined to your cabin or put off at the next port.
- Pack for the theme nights, which are published months ahead, and for the dress codes in the dining rooms, which are the cruise line's and apply.
Hotel takeovers
A takeover is a hotel bought out for a lifestyle weekend. Nobody who is not part of the event is booked in, so the lobby, pool and bars are private, the ballrooms become dance floors and the suites or a floor become play areas. Tickets bundle the room with the parties, there is usually a welcome party on Friday, a themed main event on Saturday and a pool party in between, and the hotel's own staff work it with the organizer's rules posted at check-in. Takeovers range from a single floor of a suburban hotel for a hundred couples to an entire downtown district.
Naughty in N'awlins
The largest is Naughty in N'awlins, held every summer in New Orleans and now in its third decade. The 2026 edition drew more than 3,000 attendees across three downtown hotels and over 1,400 rooms, with a five-day pass priced at $850 per couple covering daily classes, social evenings, parties and scheduled play time. It has its own Sexual Freedom Parade through the French Quarter, open to the public, and themed spaces that have included a dungeon in a conference room and a pitch-dark room. The same organizer runs a Naughty Halloween weekend and group weeks at resorts and on cruises.
SwingFest and the Florida takeovers
Florida invented the modern takeover. SwingFest filled the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida in 2008 with what was billed as the world's largest swingers party, with $300 weekend passes and seminars alongside the parties, and the Tampa and Kissimmee takeovers of the years after it drew a thousand attendees at a time. Tampa still runs the busiest takeover calendar in the country, and Secrets Hideaway in Kissimmee is a hotel that became a permanent takeover; the Florida clubs guide covers both. Current takeovers, their hotels and their dates are on the hotel listings and the events calendar.
Dress codes and theme nights
Every lifestyle cruise and takeover runs on themes: white night, lingerie, masquerade, schoolgirl, fetish, glow, and the organizer's own. The themes are published with the booking, and dressing for them is expected; couples pack a suitcase of costumes and the regulars judge newcomers kindly but do notice. Dining rooms keep the hotel's or ship's own dress code. Day time is swimwear, with toplessness or nudity only in the designated areas that the organizer announces.
Play rooms at sea and in hotels
Play areas on a cruise or at a takeover run exactly like a club's: towels provided, condoms provided, an open door is an invitation to watch and not to join, no means no, staff or volunteers present, and no phones. The main difference is scale and time: a ship's play area may hold hundreds of people and stay open until dawn every night for a week, which is why experienced couples pace themselves and why the etiquette guide is worth rereading before you sail. Nothing is for sale and nothing is expected; a large share of guests on any sailing never go in.
Who goes
The crowd on a full charter skews from thirties to sixties, is almost entirely couples, and includes a lot of first-timers, because a cruise is the easiest way to spend a week around lifestyle people without walking into a club alone. Many couples meet their cruise group online months ahead. The groups for each sailing and takeover are where cabin mates, costume plans and dinner tables are sorted out, and the member directory shows who else from your city has booked.
Before you book
Decide between couples-only with play (Bliss and most takeovers) and topless party without (Temptation). Book the moment sales open, because the good cabins and the host hotels go first. Read the refund terms. Then join the event's group, find a couple who went last year, and ask them what to pack; every regular has a list. If a week in one place sounds better than a week at sea, the resorts guide covers the hotels where the takeover never ends.