Hello all,
I just got back from the Star Trek cruise, and thought I would create a thread about it, both to talk about my experiences (and others' too, if anyone else was there), and to give some insights into Trek's future from information given by the actors and production personnel who were there. I was going to do this last year when I was on it but never got around to it.
Anyway, this was my third cruise. 2023, 2025, and 2026. This was cruise IX, the '60th Anniversary of Star Trek' cruise, although nothing really special was done for that, just like I think nothing special is going to happen for it onscreen.
Just some quick history to start. This is the 9th cruise, although I believe they skipped a year because of Covid. And according to a friend of mine who has been cruising since the first one, apparently the actors were originally far more accessible to the public early on, hanging out with fans at the bars or having extended conversations past their regular panels. But Covid killed that, and many of them now spend most of their time in their staterooms when not participating in their scheduled events. Which is understandable, as the odds of catching Covid or a virus on a cruise ship are pretty good. Funnily enough, on several occasions I did see many of the actors out and about but did not immediately recognize them, only to see them later at a panel or event and realize who I saw. (e.g. I thought I saw Terry Farrell in the dining room. I smiled at her, she smiled back at me, I walked away, and saw her later and realized yep, that was her.) This happened with Anthony Rapp, Todd Stashwick (who, to be fair, dressed like a total bum and was quite unrecognizable), and Eugene Cordero. Poor Eugene; I judged that because many didn't know what he looked like IRL, he was walking around the ship wanting someone to talk to him, lol. (I could be completely wrong about that.)
But enough about me. The ships Royal Caribbean usually uses for the ST cruise are their Voyager class ships. These are mid-size ships that have a 3,000 passenger capacity, and the cruise is almost always sold out. If anyone is a cruise aficionado, you'd know that the ships themselves kinda suck compared to RC's newer, larger ships. But my gf and her son had never cruised before at all so they had no frame of reference like I do. But the truth is that it's far more about the cruise itself than the ship they use. The ST cruise is simply awesome. I will never go on another cruise that isn't one of these, because what's better than being on a ship with 3,000 Star Trek fans? Everyone on that ship has a common interest, and it's fun getting to know other people and sharing your Trek stories with them. Bring at least one costume, because everyone dresses up. I had a cheap TNG Riker uniform from Amazon last year, but this year I splurged and got one of the PIC season 3 leather jackets (I'm going to change my avatar pic to that soon.) IMHO, these people represent the majority opinions of Star Trek fandom, and not the tiny niche population of the TrekBBS. And judging by the costumes which ranged from every Trek iteration imaginable, I will say that anyone who makes blanket statements like 'everybody hates nuTrek' or 'ENT sucks,' etc., clearly doesn't know what they're talking about. But more on that later.
To conclude until tomorrow, I will post some relevant info I learned:
1. Michael & Denise Okuda made it clear that there will never be another edition of the Star Trek Encyclopedia.
2. Marina Sirtis made it clear that Legacy will never be a thing.
3. At the ENT panel, someone asked Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery and John Billingsley about United, and none of them had ever heard of it.
4. Tawny Newsome said absolutely nothing about any future project she might or might not be working on, which is atypical if something was in the works.
Tomorrow: Part 2
I just got back from the Star Trek cruise, and thought I would create a thread about it, both to talk about my experiences (and others' too, if anyone else was there), and to give some insights into Trek's future from information given by the actors and production personnel who were there. I was going to do this last year when I was on it but never got around to it.
Anyway, this was my third cruise. 2023, 2025, and 2026. This was cruise IX, the '60th Anniversary of Star Trek' cruise, although nothing really special was done for that, just like I think nothing special is going to happen for it onscreen.
Just some quick history to start. This is the 9th cruise, although I believe they skipped a year because of Covid. And according to a friend of mine who has been cruising since the first one, apparently the actors were originally far more accessible to the public early on, hanging out with fans at the bars or having extended conversations past their regular panels. But Covid killed that, and many of them now spend most of their time in their staterooms when not participating in their scheduled events. Which is understandable, as the odds of catching Covid or a virus on a cruise ship are pretty good. Funnily enough, on several occasions I did see many of the actors out and about but did not immediately recognize them, only to see them later at a panel or event and realize who I saw. (e.g. I thought I saw Terry Farrell in the dining room. I smiled at her, she smiled back at me, I walked away, and saw her later and realized yep, that was her.) This happened with Anthony Rapp, Todd Stashwick (who, to be fair, dressed like a total bum and was quite unrecognizable), and Eugene Cordero. Poor Eugene; I judged that because many didn't know what he looked like IRL, he was walking around the ship wanting someone to talk to him, lol. (I could be completely wrong about that.)
But enough about me. The ships Royal Caribbean usually uses for the ST cruise are their Voyager class ships. These are mid-size ships that have a 3,000 passenger capacity, and the cruise is almost always sold out. If anyone is a cruise aficionado, you'd know that the ships themselves kinda suck compared to RC's newer, larger ships. But my gf and her son had never cruised before at all so they had no frame of reference like I do. But the truth is that it's far more about the cruise itself than the ship they use. The ST cruise is simply awesome. I will never go on another cruise that isn't one of these, because what's better than being on a ship with 3,000 Star Trek fans? Everyone on that ship has a common interest, and it's fun getting to know other people and sharing your Trek stories with them. Bring at least one costume, because everyone dresses up. I had a cheap TNG Riker uniform from Amazon last year, but this year I splurged and got one of the PIC season 3 leather jackets (I'm going to change my avatar pic to that soon.) IMHO, these people represent the majority opinions of Star Trek fandom, and not the tiny niche population of the TrekBBS. And judging by the costumes which ranged from every Trek iteration imaginable, I will say that anyone who makes blanket statements like 'everybody hates nuTrek' or 'ENT sucks,' etc., clearly doesn't know what they're talking about. But more on that later.
To conclude until tomorrow, I will post some relevant info I learned:
1. Michael & Denise Okuda made it clear that there will never be another edition of the Star Trek Encyclopedia.
2. Marina Sirtis made it clear that Legacy will never be a thing.
3. At the ENT panel, someone asked Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery and John Billingsley about United, and none of them had ever heard of it.
4. Tawny Newsome said absolutely nothing about any future project she might or might not be working on, which is atypical if something was in the works.
Tomorrow: Part 2
