How was the Star Trek Cruise?

I receive this question often, this is likely due to me spamming all social media for the past few months. It’s really difficult to explain why I loved it so much. My background of Trek is really only the past few years while trying to stay sane during the lockdowns and such. Sara used to take me to conventions in years past and I really only enjoyed the heavily fan-run ones versus the cash cow Comic-Con type.

For starters, everyone on the ship is like-minded, full of love, and excited to be their true selves, whatever that may be. It’s refreshing watching people let loose without fear of looking silly or their body type – it was a full-on party for 7 days straight. You could have a conversation with a 70-year-old man about something Trek-related and then look across the ship and see three people breakdancing to the Beastie Boys…there was just action everywhere and you could people watch for hours – never a dull moment.

You are up close and personal with the actors from multiple eras of Trek – this isn’t a having to wait in line for hours to get in the first couple of rows of their panels. You could walk in 20 min early, be served a glass of wine and watch the stars come up on stage one by one. While walking throughout the ship, you’d see stars walking around, sitting at a bar, hitting the buffet, and the fans were polite and respectful of their privacy didn’t see one occasion of an awkward exchange between the fans and the actors. The panels were excellent – none of it was scripted – it was just chatting on stage.

Most of the actors have other talents – whether it be Tim Russ (Tuvok from Voyager) playing with his blues band, Garrett Wong (Harry Kim from Voyager) doing stand-up comedy, or Kenneth Mitchell (multiple characters on Discovery) putting on a DJ set – there was never a dull moment. Speaking of Kenneth Mitchell, he suffers from ALS and during his performance, the cast of Discovery surrounded him dancing, while he DJ’d from his wheelchair – the fans were given glow-in-the-dark pool noodles to make it an unforgettable scene from the stadium seating. It was such an emotional moment seeing how much love they had for each other that it was almost unbearable to watch without getting teared up.

But, the number one thing about everything is seeing all of the fans and chatting with so many people and creating friendships. You’d see folks that you met for the first time the night before, you’d look a bit “dehydrated” and would chat about the previous night’s event. Whether it was a roaring 20’s party where balloons were scattered everywhere, or, Q’s costume event where there were dozens of unique outfits, or, the alternate universe evening where you could rock the evil or sexy version of the Trek character. It truly was one of the best times of my life and since my expectations before the cruise weren’t blown out of proportion, it was an extremely special experience. Oh, and I was constantly being checked out by all genders… which never hurts the ego 🙂