Olivia Travel

Last updated
Olivia Travel
Company type Travel
Founded1973
FoundersJudy Dlugacz and Rachel Wahba
Headquarters
San Francisco
,
United States
Revenue$25 million (2007)
Website www.olivia.com

Olivia Travel is a travel company that creates cruise and resort vacations curated for lesbian and LGBTQ+ women. [1] Olivia was co-founded by Judy Dlugacz and Rachel Wahba [2] as a reimagination of Olivia Records' mission of lesbian representation and freedom.

Contents

The Olivia brand was launched in 1973. [3]

The premiere of The L Word in 2004 was hosted on an Olivia cruise. One of it's episodes, Land Ahoy, was set on one of the ships Olivia uses. [3]

Olivia offered its first all-woman cruise in 1990 and remains the only travel company in the world offering cruise, resort, riverboat, and adventure trips curated for lesbians and LGBTQ+ women.

Olivia takes its name from the heroine of a pulp novel by Dorothy Bussy who fell in love with her headmistress at a French boarding school.

Endorsement

The company has attracted attention due to endorsements from lesbian celebrities, such as golfer Rosie Jones (who was the first professional athlete in America to endorse a gay-oriented company) [4] tennis player Martina Navratilova and basketball player Sheryl Swoopes. Entertainers who have performed on Olivia cruises include the Indigo Girls and Margaret Cho. [5]

The company was involved in mild controversy in 1998 when its attempt to buy an ad on the sitcom Ellen 's anticipated "coming out" episode was rejected by ABC. [6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Meet the Most Popular Travel Company You Probably Didn't Know Existed". Thrillist. 9 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  2. ↑ "Olivia Team". Olivia.com. 2025. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
  3. 1 2 Braidwood, Ella (May 22, 2023). "'I stood there with my mouth open. It was a utopia': 50 years of Olivia, the lesbian cruise company". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2025.
  4. ↑ Whitley, David (2004-03-24). "Jones' endorsement could further national debate on gay issues". Orlando Sentinel.
  5. ↑ Saracevic, Alan T. (2005-10-30). "Swoopes' revelation pays off". San Francisco Chronicle.
  6. ↑ "Ad declined for Ellen". Kentucky New Era. 1997-04-11.
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