Miami's clothing-optional cruise is coming back for another round. Bare Necessities Tour & Travel has confirmed that its Big Nude Boat will depart from PortMiami on February 15, 2027, kicking off an 11-day Caribbean voyage aboard the Norwegian Jewel that ends February 26, 2027.
The 2027 sailing marks the latest chapter for a company that has been organizing clothing-optional charters since 1990, when founders Nancy and Tom Tiemann launched the venture out of Austin, Texas, according to BoardingArea. Bare Necessities has since organized more than 65 full-ship nude cruises worldwide, and as Time Out reports, the 2027 itinerary will call on Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas along with stops in Puerto Rico, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, St. Kitts, and the Dominican Republic.
Fares for the voyage start at $2,000 and climb as high as $33,155 for a three-bedroom garden villa, per the same report, with more modest interior cabins also available for guests booking through the Big Nude Cruise website. The company's decision to keep Miami as its home port isn't new for 2027 — Bare Necessities shifted its primary departure point from Tampa to PortMiami in 2025, and COO Ken Tiemann has explained that sailing out of Miami lets ships push further into the Caribbean within the standard 11-day window, according to Hits 97.3.
A Bigger Ship for the Next Voyage
This time around, the charter is trading up. The Norwegian Jewel, which entered service in 2005, stretches 965 feet with a gross tonnage of 93,502 and can carry up to 2,376 passengers supported by 1,069 crew members, per Travel Weekly's ship data. That's a step up from the Norwegian Pearl, which Bare Necessities chartered for its February 2026 Big Nude Boat sailing as part of an ongoing annual agreement with Norwegian Cruise Line, as reported by NewsRadio WFLA.
The Norwegian Pearl also served as the ship for the 2025 sailing that Hoodline covered when it set sail from PortMiami that February, following the initial 2025 announcement Hoodline reported back in May 2024. Moving to the larger Jewel signals that demand for the niche charter keeps growing, even as the destinations and departure city stay familiar to past passengers.
Rules Meant to Keep It Non-Sexual
Despite the bare skin, organizers are firm that the trip is not a sexual event. Big Nude Boat guests are barred from overtly sexual activity and fetish-wear, and the ship enforces a strict no-photography policy to protect passenger privacy, according to Time Out's report on the 2027 itinerary. Passengers must also cover up with clothing whenever the ship is docked in port and use a towel any time they sit on a surface.
Enforcement isn't gentle. Guests who break decorum rules — including taking unauthorized photos or appearing unclothed while docked — face immediate disembarkation and removal at the next port of call, per Hits 97.3's report. Casual attire is also required in sit-down dining rooms, even though nudity is otherwise the norm elsewhere on board, and the ship will host festive themed parties and naked workshops throughout the voyage, according to Time Out.
A Long-Established Niche With Real Economic Weight
Clothing-optional cruising has grown from a fringe curiosity into a mature travel niche. Demand expanded from a single 500-passenger ship charter in 1992 to more than 65 full-ship charters catering to over 30,000 nude vacationers annually by 2018, according to data cited by Forbes. An economic impact study sponsored by the American Association for Nude Recreation Florida Region found that nudist and clothing-optional tourism generated $4.3 billion in direct expenditures and $7.4 billion in total economic impact in Florida back in 2016.
Loyalty runs deep among Bare Necessities' clientele: company leadership has reported that more than 70% of passengers on its Big Nude Boat charters are repeat customers, and sailing requires guests to be at least 21 years old. That repeat business helps explain why the company keeps expanding its charter footprint even as it settles into Miami as a permanent home port.
Miami's Cruise Boom Provides the Backdrop
The 2027 sailing arrives as PortMiami rides a wave of record-breaking growth. The port welcomed 8,564,225 cruise passengers in Fiscal Year 2025, a 4.02% increase over the prior year, according to Miami-Dade County's own figures. On November 30, 2025, the port even logged a single-day record of 75,201 cruise passengers moving through 10 turnaround ships, as reported by Cruise Fever.
Against that backdrop of record volume, a single clothing-optional charter is a small slice of PortMiami's overall traffic — but it's a recurring one. With the charter agreement between Bare Necessities and Norwegian Cruise Line now extending into its next annual cycle, the Big Nude Boat's return to Miami in February 2027 suggests the niche voyage has found a stable place on the city's crowded cruise calendar.
