Nude cruising. Not just for daring Europeans anymore

Next February, Carnival Cruise liner Carnival Freedom will send its first nude cruise out on the open water.

The eight-day Panama cruise will offer just what one expects from a proper nude vacation to Panama. The only clothing one might consider packing for the trip would be a sun-shielding Panama hat.

I especially like the Valentine's Day stop: Colon, Panama. It sounds like the perfect place for nudists to get all cuddly.

According to this article in Imperfect Parent (seriously, just how imperfect can nudist parents possibly be?), 70 percent of the almost 3,000 passenger capacity ship is already booked.

Carnival Freedom, by the looks of things, is the latest company to jump on the growing nudism bandwagon.

Throughout the last few decades, the nude tourism industry has evolved from a niche — if frowned upon — tourist segment into a $440 million dollar a year industry, according to the American Association for Nude Recreation as quoted in Imperfect Parent.

It’s easy to see the advantages of the “clothes optional” way to vacation.

No tan lines, for one.

It also provides endless opportunities to come up with what not to wear.

Quite practically, it eliminates the annoying packing and unpacking part of any holiday — not to mention airlines losing your luggage — which should, honestly, be the main selling point.

It’s also very egalitarian, as far as vacations go. Other than bad silicone implant jobs, saggy middle-class butts and those unfortunate choices of cocktails, there would be no obvious class markers.

Granted, it won’t be the first nude cruise out there.

For example, the Paul Gauguin cruise in French Polynesia has offered cruises for naturists for a while.

In nude-happy Germany, similar cruises, gatherings and even nudism-friendly hiking trails have hardly been making news.

Even in America Bare Necessities, a nude tourism company, has been organizing smaller nude cruises for years.

Carnival Freedom, however, is expected to be the largest nude gathering in the world.

Not that size matters, of course.

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