Final month the fifth official Star Trek Cruise returned to port, after a seven-day voyage. Onboard to doc the expertise was a TrekMovie contributor and host of the Hungry Trilobyte podcast, Aaron Bossig who’s a cruising common.
The ship has a promenade
Greater than a floating Trek conference
Star Trek: The Cruise V disregarded of Port Canaveral, FL on February 26, 2022. The occasion was set on Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas vessel, a Voyager-class cruise ship in service since 2003. The itinerary held three ports of name: Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. In contrast to different occasions when the Mariner left Florida, this present day all of its 1,600 cabins had been full of Star Trek followers. The employees was carrying Starfleet uniforms. The wall artwork had been modified to painting Starfleet captains. The elevators had been redressed to resemble turbolifts. Crusing towards the horizon, the ship’s sound system performed Star Trek themes by Jay Chattaway and Jerry Goldsmith.
Sonequa Martin-Inexperienced greets followers on the primary day (Photograph: Star Trek: The Cruise)
As a lot the cruise ship had been remodeled into an area fantasy, taking a Star Trek conference to the seas transforms the conference as properly. Now, not solely do followers journey to the conference, however the conference additionally travels with them around the globe. Star Trek: The Cruise is an additional particular conference expertise, because of its distinctive means to construct an environment, current distinctive occasions, and nonetheless let followers share new Trek regardless of being removed from terrestrial shores.
Sushi from Mr. Sulu
From the second somebody is cleared to board, they’ll dwell as if they’re a part of the Star Trek world. STTC goals to make its conference its personal ship and crew, and the extent of camaraderie amongst shipmates is astonishing. Uniforms and cosplay are in all places. A ship at sea is its personal world. Touring in between ports, there’s no outdoors world to interrupt the enjoyable of Trek followers sharing good occasions and good tales. Star Trek: The Cruise travels with a full complement of Trek superstar visitor stars, together with actors from all sequence in addition to writers and artists. Main the record is all the time the “captain” of STTC, and on Star Trek: The Cruise V, followers had not one however two Star Trek captains: George Takei and Sonequa Martin-Inexperienced.
Additional enhancing the Trek wrapper put onto this cruise ship, regular cruise theme nights had been changed with Star Trek equivalents. The primary night, sometimes a really informal time, was dubbed “Gorn’s Toga Occasion” and passengers went to the primary events and pub crawls carrying Trek-themed togas and pajamas. The next night time, ceaselessly the semi-formal night on a cruise, was referred to as “The Roaring Holodeck”. Company wore Twenties-inspired costumes, and as something is feasible on the Holodeck, most added a Star Trek twist to their outfits. Formal night time, usually the third night, grew to become “Mirror Universe Evening.” Wild make-up, armor, and sashes crammed the ship as followers embarked upon a night dressing for the glory of the Terran Empire.
Cosplay is a giant a part of Star Trek: The Cruise
Get unconventional with Star Trek celebrities
STTC raises the extent of engagement with the followers, offering occasions which might be extra intimate and showcase the skills of the superstar visitors past their appearances on the TV sequence. That is perfect for followers who proceed to observe the careers of Trek actors, and who know their social media contributions properly. It’s additionally the most effective conference experiences for listening to from behind-the-camera expertise, comparable to writers, science advisors, and artists.
Emily Coutts, Jayne Brook and Robert O’Reilly play “Holodeck Heads” gameshow (Photograph: Star Trek: The Cruise)
A fantastic instance was Denise Crosby studying from her pandemic writing mission, “The Muses.” A sequence of quick tales, Denise’s work was themed round classical archetypes (youngster, mom, crone, and so on.) however introduced fashionable tales that immediately grabbed the viewers. With just a few minutes to every, it was exceptional how Denise’s writing was ready to attract the viewers into every story. As a approach to additional improve the occasion, artist Megan Levens sat behind Denise, sketching her imaginative and prescient of the story’s “muse”
dwell because the viewers watched.
Denise Crosby (Photograph: Star Trek: The Cruise)
On Thursday night, John de Lancie produced a stage manufacturing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Misplaced World”… tailored for a stage with too few props and an viewers with too many cocktails. The forged together with John Billingsley, Nana Customer, Conner Trinneer, and Robert Picardo carried out the comedy in wardrobe modified from their cruise put on. The end result was a sense of seasoned actors doing what they do greatest: feeding off their very own inventive vitality and including new life to no matter script they’re given.
Star Trek celebrities gathered for “The Misplaced World”
Garrett Wang, lengthy recognized for being a first-rate emcee at conventions around the globe, took his stage presence to new heights. In his stand-up comedy act “You Have Two Working Ft,” he captured the identical vitality he used telling in-jokes to his followers and developed it right into a full comedy routine. Most remarkably, a lot of his materials was pulled from occasions that occurred whereas on the journey—so not like different stand-up comics, his bits aren’t practiced for weeks or months on finish, making Garrett’s fashion a energetic mix of practiced routines and pure improvisation.
Garrett Wang does stand-up comedy
As if the expertise of Star Trek: The Cruise wasn’t distinctive sufficient, later that night followers gathered into the Royal Theatre to look at an early displaying of the season premiere of Star Trek: Picard. This grew to become greater than a watch social gathering. With the remainder of the world nonetheless hours away from accessing the episode, Isa Briones welcomed cruise passengers to the brand new season, and remarked how fantastic it was to have the ability to hear the viewers react in particular person, relatively than over Zoom. Isa was additionally joined by Picard actors Evan Evagora and John de Lancie to introduce the brand new season to the viewers packed into the theater’s 1,300 seats who greeted the premiere with cheers and applause making a uncommon enjoyable neighborhood occasion for watching an episode of Star Trek.
From the Risa Competition (Photograph: Star Trek: The Cruise)
Every cruise will get larger
Simply as conventional land-based conventions have been rising in reputation and scope, Star Trek: The Cruise has been as properly. Every voyage has seen a rise in fan attendance and superstar visitor participation, in addition to the scale of ship and the number of locations. For a lot of, STTC has turn out to be their annual conference of alternative, and it’s inconceivable to stroll across the ship and never see folks carrying shirts and hats from the earlier cruises.
T-shirt social gathering
Star Trek: The Cruise VI will depart from Los Angeles, CA on February 24, 2023. Kate Mulgrew has agreed to be the Trek captain for the subsequent occasion. Becoming a member of right here can be a lot of Star Trek celebs from throughout the franchise, together with Jonathan Frakes, Doug Jones, Terry Farrell, Robert Picardo, Connor Trinneer, and plenty of extra.
Cabins are nonetheless out there with pricing beginning at $1980 per visitor (for brand spanking new visitors, with a reduction for returning cruisers). For more information go to startrekthecruise.com.
The Mariner of the Seas was remodeled for Star Trek: The Cruise V
