More On Gay Cruise Turned Away By Turkey & Egypt

It was a bit of a “working vacation” these past two weeks while on my Atlantis cruise of the Mediterranean…

After our cruise ship, the Scarlet Lady, was turned away from Turkey and then Egypt, the incidents garnered international headlines.

One new bit of info I just recently learned – it was the Egyptian Navy that intercepted our ship shortly after midnight on July 9 and ordered our captain to turn away from Egyptian waters.

As the only member of the LGBTQ media who was onboard during the debacle, I’ve been interviewed by several major news outlets and thought I’d share some of the coverage 🙂

Last week I posted my interview with CNN here. And I was also contacted by Ireland’s RTE radio network to chat on the kerfuffle.

Thanks to NY Times for including me here: Gay-Themed Mediterranean Cruise Turned Away From Turkey and Then Egypt. (Gift link) https://t.co/Jr6bXfgVs2

— The Randy Report 🇺🇸 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦 (@randyslovacek) July 17, 2026

Today, I’m featured in the New York Times (gift link) about the incident:

Both Egypt and Turkey rely on tourism economically, and the war in the Middle East has disrupted travel to the region since February. That has taken a toll on small tour operators.

“People in Turkey knew we were coming; it would have been a huge impact on the economy,” said Randy Slovacek, a journalist and a passenger on the Scarlet Lady. “So many of us scheduled paid excursions.”

“That’s not so smart,” Mr. Slovacek said of the decision to deny entry.

In any case, he said, he is moving on.

“No marginalized community wants to be kicked at the curb,” Mr. Slovacek said. “We have laughed about it. I will not be going to Turkey or Egypt. I will remember that this is the way I’ve been treated.”

And I also did an interview with The Times of London here.

“Just hours before we expected to dock we received a note slid under our cabin doors at midnight informing us that Egypt would not allow our ship to enter Egyptian waters,” said Randy Slovacek, an LGBT journalist who travels every year on the Atlantis cruise with his husband Michael Caprio. “It never feels good to be told: ‘You aren’t welcome here.’”

“For a week we get to simply be who we are without judgment,” Slovacek said. “We hold our spouse’s hands like the rest of the world without worrying that someone will be offended. For a week, we just celebrate being ourselves. That’s what I enjoy most about these trips.”

“Turkey very much wants to become a member of the European Union, but this debacle will not help them, in my opinion,” said Slovacek. “This represents yet another backslide in democratic freedoms for the Erdogan administration.”

The Scarlet Lady’s passengers said they would not let what happened deter them from travelling.

“I once read a Jewish in-joke that sums up the meaning of Jewish holidays: “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat,” said Slovacek. “Our LGBTQ version: ‘They wish we were invisible. We’re not. Let’s dance.’”

The gay party boat that got caught between Islam and the Westhttps://t.co/9lCTY7Ckbf

— David Burton ⭐️⭐️ (@DavidBurton1971) July 17, 2026