On Vacation, Finding Families Like Yours

The New York Times

By: Amy Gunderson 

August 21, 2005

TWO years ago, Linda Peduto and her son, Michael, then 9, spent a week hitting Florida's theme parks and beaches. But after long days at Sea World, Universal Studios and Daytona Beach, there was something missing.

"The two of us had a great time together, but at the end of the day, there was no one to share it with," said Ms. Peduto, a single mother from Downingtown, Pa. "It seemed so lonely. Plus, there was no break for me."

So when summer vacation rolled around last year, Ms. Peduto sought out trips designed for single-parent families. She chose a weeklong trip to the all-inclusive Beaches Boscobel resort in Ochos Rios, Jamaica, that was organized by Single Parent Tours, a company that runs several trips a year for solo parents traveling with their children. For Ms. Peduto, there wasn't a chance to feel isolated.

"While I was standing in line to go through Customs, I turned around and saw this woman standing with her child," she recalled. "I asked her if she was with the group and we hit it off right away. On the bus to the resort, 6 out of the 14 adults there were with Single Parent Tours."

The travel industry is beginning to look beyond the nuclear family and offer more options to single parents and same-sex couples traveling with their children. Tour operators are offering specialized trips that cater to those markets, with more international destinations, while a handful of hotel chains are adjusting their pricing to eliminate supplementary charges for single travelers at certain times during the year.

Gay and lesbian travel has long been seen as a lucrative market, estimated at $56 billion a year, according to the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, a trade group based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Family travel represents a small, but growing slice of that market.

"It is a niche within a niche, but we are starting to see some real attention paid to it," said John D'Allesandro, the interim executive director of the association.

Last summer, R Family Vacations took some 1,600 people on its first cruise - to the Bahamas - aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. This year 2,200 people, including 630 children, went on a cruise in early July from New York to Halifax, Provincetown and Martha's Vineyard.

Fredrica Van Sprang, her partner and their four children took the R Family Vacations cruise to the Bahamas last year and the New England cruise in July.

"It's a chance to meet other gay and lesbian families and not have to deal with the outside world for a week," said Ms. Van Sprang, "It was our own little utopia."

She noted that her children were exposed to a greater diversity of families. Until the cruise, she said, "We didn't know any families with two daddies."

One thousand people have already signed up for R Family's next cruise - to Alaska next July - and the company is expanding its offerings next year to include a small charter cruise to the Galápagos Islands and a camping trip in the Midwest. The success of the company, which was co-founded by Kelli O'Donnell, Rosie O'Donnell's partner, has sparked interest from other tour operators.

"They really made a huge splash with the first cruise last year," said Andrew Mersmann, the managing editor of Passport, a gay travel magazine. "That probably turned a lot of other companies on to the market."

A tour operator called 2Afrika that runs trips to 19 African countries, started Gay 2Afrika last September; it now accounts for 20 percent of the company's business. Next year, it will offer Kenyan safaris, and with two paying adults, a child 7 to 12 is charged only for air fare.

Olivia Crusies and Resorts, a San Francisco-based tour operator that seeks out the lesbian market, ran its first family trip to Club Med in Port St. Lucie, Fla., two years ago and is offering another family trip next July to a resort in Big Sky, Mont., that can accommodate 600 guests.

"The trips eliminate the feeling of any potential homophobia or potential discrimination," said Amy Errett, Olivia's chief executive, referring to some gay travelers' concerns about vacationing on their own. "We don't do anything that isn't exclusive. When we do a cruise we take the entire ship. That creates a sense of safety and also allows us to tailor the programming."

For single parents, there are special concerns about traveling abroad with a child. Angela Aggeler, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the State Department, recommends that parents who travel alone with children outside of the United States carry letters of authorization from the other legal guardian.

If a passport is lost overseas, the permission of both custodial parents is required to replace it, just as it is required to get a new passport. If only one parent has custody, documentation of that fact should be obtained and carried.

But probably the biggest headache for one-parent families is pricing. Kathleen Scott was turned off by the price tags at inclusive resorts, which base their rates on double occupancy. So if there aren't two adults, a child may be billed at an adult rate or one guest may be charged a single supplement.

"My daughter eats like a bird so it is ludicrous to pay adult pricing for children," said Ms. Scott, an oncology researcher with two children who was widowed in 2003. She estimates that she saved $1,000 last year by taking a trip to Ochos Rios through Single Parent Tours, and she plans to take another trip with the company next year to Turks and Caicos.

Many big resort chains in the Caribbean, like Breezes, the family-resort arm of the all-inclusive SuperClubs, and Beaches, which has four resorts in Jamaica and Turks and Caicos, drop their single supplements at various times during the year.

"It is a way to build the shoulder season business," said Kyle McCarthy, the editor of Family Travel Forum. But family travel catering to single parents has been slow to flourish, despite demographics that indicate a broad market. According to the Census Bureau, nearly 32 percent of households with children under 18 are headed by a single parent. But Ms. McCarthy said she often hears that travel operators "think that single parents don't have the income."

"They are seen as women struggling," she said. "That is probably one reason the industry hasn't gone after this market more full force."

But many single parents can't seem to get enough of these trips. Since her visit to Ochos Rios last year, Ms. Peduto and her son Michael attended another trip for single parents, a weekend at Rocking Horse Ranch Resort in Highland, N.Y. They discovered a whole new group of travel companions: three single moms and their children, all around Michael's age.

"Now we've planned a vacation together," Ms. Peduto said. "We have gotten together three times throughout the year and in August we are renting a house on the Jersey Shore for a week."

Single Parent Tours, (877) 464-6778, www.singleparenttours.com, will have a two-night trip to Rocking Horse Ranch Resort in Highland, N.Y., Nov. 18 to 20. Activities will include line dancing, horseback riding, fishing and tennis. The prices are $568 for one adult and one child over the age of 3, or $721 for an one adult and two children.

Breezes, (877) 467-8737, www.breezes.com, is waiving single supplements at its Curaçao Resort, Spa and Casino until Dec. 20, and at its two Dominican Republic properties, in Punta Cana and Puerto Plata, until Oct. 31.

Beaches, (888) 232-2437, www.beaches.com, eliminates single supplements at its four resorts in Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos twice a year: in the spring and from mid-August to Oct. 31. There are welcome receptions, cocktail parties for parents and a children's movie night. Prices for adults at Beaches Negril in Montego Bay, Jamaica, start at $201, and visitors can save up to $170 a night on single-supplement charges.

Gay 2Afrika, (866) 429-2237, www.gay2afrika.com, is offering nine-day Kenyan safaris departing April 8, July 8 and Aug. 19, 2006. The trips cost $2,490, including taxes and air fare from five major cities in the United States, including New York and Boston. For a child 7 to 12, the safari is free with two paying adults, but air fare must be purchased through Gay 2Afrika, starting at $1,195.

R Family Vacations, (866) 732-6822, www.rfamilyvacations.com, will offer a seven-day summer cruise in the Pacific next year. A chartered Norwegian Cruise Line vessel will leave Seattle on July 2 and travel the Inside Passage to the Alaskan ports of Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, and Victoria, British Columbia. Prices for the cruise start at $999 for adults for an inside cabin that sleeps four and $1,499 for a cabin with a full ocean view. Rates for children 3 to 12 are $399, while those over 13 pay $799. All passengers are charged $300 in port taxes and fees. Prices will go up after Sept. 15. R Family Vacations and Lindblad Expeditions are planning a 10-night trip to the Galápagos Islands in November 2006. The trip includes seven days on a chartered 47-passenger ship and three nights in Ecuador. Rates are still to be determined, but will probably start around $4,000 for adults.

Olivia, (800) 631-6277, www.olivia.com, is offering a six-night trip at the Big Sky Resort in Montana starting July 1, 2006. A room that can accommodate four starts at $1,499 for the week. There is also a family week package next year that includes breakfast daily, three dinners, a day trip to Yellowstone Park and a gondola pass. The adult price is $399, while rates for children start $269 for those 5 and older. Children 4 and under pay $59. Prices are good until Oct. 15.