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Star Trek: The Cruise

Dukhat

Admiral Obvious
Premium Member
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 'nobody ever watched ENT,' 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 :)
 
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You're doing a great job hitting the highlights so I'm not going to interrupt with my own narrative right now (frankly, I'm still processing the entire experience). For now I will post this one photo, because it's the only selfie with a Trek VIP that I took all week (I *really* tried my best not to bother the stars!)

IMG_0549.jpeg

Me (R) and Rod Roddenberry (L) in the cruise terminal on Friday, waiting for our luggage to be delivered. Yep, even the son of the Great Bird of the Galaxy has to wait for his luggage like the rest of us plebians!
 
You're doing a great job hitting the highlights so I'm not going to interrupt with my own narrative right now (frankly, I'm still processing the entire experience). For now I will post this one photo, because it's the only selfie with a Trek VIP that I took all week (I *really* tried my best not to bother the stars!)

View attachment 52464

Me (R) and Rod Roddenberry (L) in the cruise terminal on Friday, waiting for our luggage to be delivered. Yep, even the son of the Great Bird of the Galaxy has to wait for his luggage like the rest of us plebians!

Rod Roddenberry was absolutely the highlight of the cruise IMHO. More on that later.

if you think about it the star trek cruise at sea is kinda like a starship in outer space

Thank you Jack Handey.
 
Pt. 2: The Guests

Both Shatner and Koenig were on this cruise. Shatner was on last year's, and we got to see him at his panel (although it wasn't really a panel as it was only him talking and not taking any questions.) I was pretty awestruck to be in his presence in the audience, and he mostly spoke about his suborbital flight. This year, he was getting around in a motorized chair, unlike last year. He also seemed to be a bit hard of hearing, but nowhere as bad as Koenig. It was great seeing Walter as well, but he has very much lost his hearing, and at times it was almost uncomfortable when Frakes kept asking him questions during a judging panel and having Walter constantly saying "What?" Despite Koenig's voiceover in PIC S3 and Shatner's recent commercial, I very much doubt that either of these men are ever going to be in a Trek production again. Takei will be on next year's cruise (from what I understand, he wasn't on this one because he doesn't want to be around Shatner...at least that's the rumor I heard.)

I had no idea that Rod Roddenberry was going to be on the cruise. We attended his panel for Treknation and his documentary film about his family. It was amazing, and Rod is an amazing guy. Super friendly, super humble, and very aware that his father was flawed. He seemed to enjoy chatting with people around the ship, and I had no idea he was a year younger than me (52.)

Another highlight for me was Michael & Denise Okuda. They did a panel on their time together in Star Trek production. A lot of what they spoke about I already knew, but Mike seemed to appreciate that we were sitting in the very front row. I think this was their first cruise and I gathered they weren't quite sure how interesting their info would be to the fans. But there was a pretty good turnout. Mike came up to us later to thank us for sitting in the front, and I told him how honored I was to hear him talk. I hope they come back for another cruise. My only regret was that I didn't have enough time to really chew his ear about the real questions I wanted to ask him about production.

The cruise staples are usually Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Denise Crosby, & John DeLancie for TNG, Nana Visitor, Terry Farrell, Chase Masterson, Max Grodenchik, and Armin Shimerman for DS9 (and Armin served us drinks at the bar one night!), Robert Picardo for VOY, and Connor Trineer & Dominic Keating for ENT. There's also an excellent singing group consisting of Casey Biggs, Vaughn Armstrong, Max Grodenchik, and Ethan Phillips (who also has a raunchy comedy act), but they weren't on this year's cruise. As for production personnel, Lolita Fatjo tends to usually moderate panels. Tawny Newsome and Stashwick seem like they will be staples as well, but the majority of the staple guests seem to be from the older shows.

Part 3 tomorrow :)
 
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What was the average age range of the cruise attendees?
Obviously it's going to be a very rough guess based on what you remember.

Oh no, that's very easy to answer. The average age is about 50. There are zero kids under the age of 13 on all three cruises I've been on. Our 16 year old was one of maybe three teens on the ship. Star Trek: The Cruise does not seem to cater much to young people. I don't know if that's indicative of the state of Trek fandom or just the cruise itself.
 
Oh no, that's very easy to answer. The average age is about 50. There are zero kids under the age of 13 on all three cruises I've been on, Our 16 year old was one of maybe three teens on the ship. Star Trek: The Cruise does not seem to cater much to young people. I don't know if that's indicative of the state of Trek fandom or just the cruise itself.
How expensive are the cruise tickets per person on average?

Since you've been on 3x of them, does the price per person very dramatically assuming similar quarter sizes?
 
How expensive are the cruise tickets per person on average?

It depends on several factors. If you book for next year's cruise while still on the present cruise, you get the best rates. It's still not cheap, though. It was about $3,000 per person for us based on the type of room we got, although our kid's price was only $1800. Not sure if that's because he's 16 or because of a discount.

Since you've been on 3x of them, does the price per person very dramatically assuming similar quarter sizes?

Yes. Prices range drastically based on the type of room. Now I do know that many people crap out right before the cruise for whatever reason and need to sell off their room quickly. My friend is good at finding this type of thing and can get a $6,000 room for $1,000. But it's usually just a one-person inside cabin, the cheapest cabins you can get.
 
The most expensive rooms run about $11,000. Insane, but if you get enough people to share it, it's not as insane.
 
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 'nobody ever watched ENT,' 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 :)

What does a cabin cost on one of these cruises??

Edit: oh I see the answer above.....11k . That's not too bad.
 
The most expensive rooms run about $11,000. Insane, but if you get enough people to share it, it's not as insane.

What are you getting for that price?
My mom and Wink this summer just did a 15 day cruise from Japan to LA for $1800 per person, outside cabin with balcony, all amenities included.
 
What does a cabin cost on one of these cruises??

Edit: oh I see the answer above.....11k . That's not too bad.

What are you getting for that price?
My mom and Wink this summer just did a 15 day cruise from Japan to LA for $1800 per person, outside cabin with balcony, all amenities included.

The $11,000 cabin is the suite, the best and biggest cabin on the ship. I don't know what that price includes other than that. But really, that's super overkill unless you plan to have four people sharing it.

Our cabin (outside cabin with balcony, all amenities included) came to about 7800, for three people (one king bed for two and a pull out couch for the kid.)
 
The $11,000 cabin is the suite, the best and biggest cabin on the ship. I don't know what that price includes other than that. But really, that's super overkill unless you plan to have four people sharing it.

Our cabin (outside cabin with balcony, all amenities included) came to about 7800, for three people (one king bed for two and a pull out couch for the kid.)
. This sounds fun. Smaller ship suits me. I would not want to go on the larger cruise ships. I prefer the ocean liners. Always wanted to go on the Queen Mary 2.
 
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