Insane Discourse about the World Cruise

[Lexster]

So...I am not sure if this has been discussed, but I am absolutely floored by the discourse I'm seeing about the World Cruise. I know a lot of people aren't into cruising so much that they look things up or watch videos about it, but man....I've seen people complain about classism because Pinnacle members get exclusive parties and things. I've seen someone complain about excursions being cancelled because they really wanted to see penguins. Like...yeah, that happens. And it's Antarctica. If it's too dangerous to tender, they can't go. I think the main problem is...there are a ton of young influencers on this cruise (I really didn't expect that, honestly) and they are constantly going on TikTok about it. It makes it seem like the World Cruise is out of control bad or something. I mean, I saw like a week of headlines when the ship flooded due to stormy weather, but they were all worded like "World Cruise Floods" without any caveat in the headline that there was a logical reason for it. They all seemed to imply there was an issue which caused the flooding by omitting that. I've actually not seen much coverage of positive experiences on the ship. I know, this is pretty common for most media to be anti-cruise, but still...

[ScottD]

It's a small group of tik tokers drumming up drama and trying to put negative spins on everything. I'm following quite a few people on reddit and IG and they've had nothing but glowing reviews about the whole trip so far

[DoomSlayer]

Unfortunately, they will do almost anything for clicks and views to their channels.  Click bait titles and fabricated drama are part of what brings their followers in.

[Lexster]

8 minutes ago, ScottD said:

It's a small group of tik tokers drumming up drama and trying to put negative spins on everything. I'm following quite a few people on reddit and IG and they've had nothing but glowing reviews about the whole trip so far

Well, that's good. Personally, I don't think I could handle 9 months on a cruise ship, let alone one of the smaller ones like Serenade, but nothing I've seen complaints about are, like...novel. It's just people who don't know that's how things are.

[Starrynight0154]

Deleted my TikTok and don’t regret it. Too many attention seekers. The influencer probably had his world cruise fully paid for by a sponsor. If I lived expense free for a few months I wouldn’t be complaining about minor issues. 

[steverk]

The complaints I've seen on line are minor gripes meant to create drama. I mean really, is it surprising that an excursion got canceled? Is it really a crisis to all of humanity?

I've had some hot tub discussions with new sailors on my current cruise though. They really don't understand how anyone would think a world cruise would or could work. They were shocked when I pointed out that world cruising may be new to Royal,  but it has been a thing since the 1970s. People who go on these things are very experienced cruisers and they know what they are getting into. I  seriously doubt any of the regular customers are surprised or unhappy. 

[Doug_Texas]

I’m on a 9 night mini segment of the World Cruise and hope it is a normal experience.  At least it is in August - hope things settle down by then.

[smokeybandit]

The life of a social media influencer.

 

Do something many can't do so you can say "see, look what I did" then complain about it since complaints get more traffic than compliments.

[GatorCruiser]

The worst thing to ever happen to this World was the creation of the original iPhone. Its creation as the first true “smart phone” allowed for the proliferation of social media which then became miniaturized in the form of apps and the rest is pathetic history.  It produced a lost generation who has no social skills because they grew up and live in their phones. 

[happy cruisers 2]

6 hours ago, ScottD said:

It's a small group of tik tokers drumming up drama and trying to put negative spins on everything.

Kind of sounds similar to other aspects of current life in America, doesn't it?

[TXcruzer]

The VAST majority of the social media surrounding the WC is being posted by individuals not even on the ship. 

[Pattycruise]

The problem is people watch that junk.  

[ScottD]

Here ya go...on CNN.com today... exactly what we are talking about.... https://www.cnn.com/travel/nine-month-world-cruise-tik-tok-royal-caribbean/index.html  This details the false drama-a flood that turned out to be a few puddles and a tik tocker who was actually sponsored to join the cruise to cause havoc.  The rest of the stories are actually pretty good, check it out. 

[TXcruzer]

On 1/18/2024 at 2:37 AM, ScottD said:

Here ya go...on CNN.com today... exactly what we are talking about.... https://www.cnn.com/travel/nine-month-world-cruise-tik-tok-royal-caribbean/index.html  This details the false drama-a flood that turned out to be a few puddles and a tik tocker who was actually sponsored to join the cruise to cause havoc.  The rest of the stories are actually pretty good, check it out. 

one of my favorites was the Tik Tok poster who, on 2 different occasions posted the following reports.

 

1. Pinnacle members were treated to an evening viewing the Northern lights while all other passengers were not permitted on the outside decks (mind you this was in the fort week and the ship was off the eastern coast of Brazil, south of the equator)

 

1. Pinnacle members were "given" upgraded accommodations that other cruises were not permitted to book.  The "reporter" used photos of an Oasis class CL suite photo for the Pinnacles and a standard inside room stock photograph for the others.

 

Let us not forget all the drunken swingers and nightly orgies on board as reported by many......................

[Ditchdoc]

I have a news feed I scan through daily. Every day there is some headline that sounds so dramatic but if you read the article, its pretty ho-hum. Take it for what it is. Its just click bait and what the internet has evolved into.

[tjcruisers]

If I was Royal I'd look over if any of these tik tokers causing drama broke any rules and if so I'd give them exclusive opportunity to do the remaining tik tok's from the brig. They can tik tok how they've been given access to part of the ship that pinnacle members don't

[Curt From Canada]

We are on the Ultimate World Cruise right now. Just heading back to Ushuaia (after visiting a Penguin Rookery). I will post something more substantial and detailed later, but the short course is:

1).  No drama … the experienced cruisers already figured this out. Actually, the cruise so far has been extremely relaxing.  Although we have been a little bit too busy. 
 

2). Thé entertainment overall has been better than “normal” cruises (some of it excellent … rare for a Radiance class ship). The food has been hit and miss (as usual) … however, we did have the best MDR dish in over 30 cruises a few nights ago. 
 

3).  The staff is in over perform mode. They are doing a phenomenal job. 
 

4).  1,600 on this segment is well below capacity. 700+ Diamond and above C&A members.  1,600 only should bring up some questions. 
 

5).  Tons of dancing opportunities … only once did we have to elbow our way around the dance floor
 

I will start a start a separate thread when we get back on board.

 

Curt from Canada

Partial Ultimate World Cruiser

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 hours ago, tjcruisers said:

If I was Royal I'd look over if any of these tik tokers causing drama broke any rules and if so I'd give them exclusive opportunity to do the remaining tik tok's from the brig. They can tik tok how they've been given access to part of the ship that pinnacle members don't

I'm sure that's exactly what the drama queens/kings are hoping for. Then they can claim that they're being harrassed/penalized for "revealing the truth".  Royal's best tactic is to ignore them entirely.

[Doug_Texas]

1 hour ago, Curt From Canada said:

We are on the Ultimate World Cruise right now. Just heading back to Ushuaia (after visiting a Penguin Rookery). I will post something more substantial and detailed later, but the short course is:

1).  No drama … the experienced cruisers already figured this out. Actually, the cruise so far has been extremely relaxing.  Although we have been a little bit too busy. 
 

2). Thé entertainment overall has been better than “normal” cruises (some of it excellent … rare for a Radiance class ship). The food has been hit and miss (as usual) … however, we did have the best MDR dish in over 30 cruises a few nights ago. 
 

3).  The staff is in over perform mode. They are doing a phenomenal job. 
 

4).  1,600 on this segment is well below capacity. 700+ Diamond and above C&A members.  1,600 only should bring up some questions. 
 

5).  Tons of dancing opportunities … only once did we have to elbow our way around the dance floor
 

I will start a start a separate thread when we get back on board.

 

Curt from Canada

Partial Ultimate World Cruiser

Wow, only 1,600 out of 2,100 capacity.  The 44% Diamond and above isn’t surprising.  I’ll look forward to your cruise thread.  I’m curios, what MDR dish was best in 30 sailings?

[Curt From Canada]

24 minutes ago, Doug_Texas said:

Wow, only 1,600 out of 2,100 capacity.  The 44% Diamond and above isn’t surprising.  I’ll look forward to your cruise thread.  I’m curios, what MDR dish was best in 30 sailings?

It was a Thai Shrimp dish that was very spicy (more than we expect in an MDR). We are trying to negotiate with the chef for an encore. 

Curt from Canada 

[Gears]

20 hours ago, ScottD said:

It's a small group of tik tokers drumming up drama and trying to put negative spins on everything.

This is also a functional and behavioral disorder of a generation...

[PurdueFlyer]

 

10 minutes ago, Gears said:

This is also a functional and behavioral disorder of a generation...

even more bizarre, at least to me, are the people that have a continued appetite to consume this content.  

[JFCruise]

5 hours ago, TXcruzer said:

1. Pinnacle members were treated to an evening viewing the Northern lights while all other passengers were not permitted on the outside decks (mind you this was in the fort week and the ship was off the eastern coast of Brazil, south of the equator)

Wait - are you saying that for a night, passangers were not allowed to be outside at all? That's pretty crappy. I get reserving a space or whatever, but not being able to go to the pool deck or other outside areas is weird.

[smokeybandit]

3 minutes ago, JFCruise said:

Wait - are you saying that for a night, passangers were not allowed to be outside at all? That's pretty crappy. I get reserving a space or whatever, but not being able to go to the pool deck or other outside areas is weird.

I think the takeaway is this influencer tried to claim that only Pinnacles were allowed outside to watch something that they'd never be able to see in the first place due to being many thousands of miles away. So a double whammy of influencer absurdity.

[Zacharius]

15 hours ago, happy cruisers 2 said:

Kind of sounds similar to other aspects of current life in America, doesn't it?

As someone who has lived in multiple countries on three continents and travels to about 30-40 countries per year, I can assure you it's definitely not just America.

[TXcruzer]

2 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

Wow, only 1,600 out of 2,100 capacity.  The 44% Diamond and above isn’t surprising.  I’ll look forward to your cruise thread.  I’m curios, what MDR dish was best in 30 sailings?

Royal said from the outset that 1650-1700 would be the maximum they wanted to book

[TXcruzer]

1 hour ago, JFCruise said:

Wait - are you saying that for a night, passangers were not allowed to be outside at all? That's pretty crappy. I get reserving a space or whatever, but not being able to go to the pool deck or other outside areas is weird.

No sir, not at all.  This just shows the absurdity of what is being posted.

 

Do you think you can see the northern lights off the coast of Brazil?  

Do you think they installed Crown Loft Suites on Serenade for this cruise?

[JFCruise]

@TXcruzer - Ha I totally misread your post saying that it happened. I totally whiffed on the "northern lights south of the Equator". I understood your post as "these things happened and tiktokers are complaining about it because they are dumb".

I mean it would make sense to give the Pins some love, and if I was on that cruise I wouldn't complain. But that whole (now I realize fake) situation was ridiculous.

Edit: I have absolutely no clue what sort of suites each ship has, though. So shrug on that question lol.

[DunkelBierJay]

I'm on the Serenade Facebook group and I see nothing but positive on it. The influencers seem to influence people who wouldn't buy a cruise anyway. The drama is just engagement and monetization for them.

[jeffmw]

These TikTok feeds, etc., are absolutely not for us. They play specifically to every negative stereotype of the cruise industry: it's dirty, it's cramped, the food is bad, etc. The internet is an echo chamber, and this stuff plays perfectly into the type of stuff casual social media users love devouring online ("My trip is a disaster!")

Overall, I wonder if Royal didn't see this coming. The World Cruise was clearly something that they promoted (outside of simply being being ON it) to being attention to the cruising industry and Royal specifically but it seems to be having the opposite effect. 

[steverk]

1 hour ago, jeffmw said:

These TikTok feeds, etc., are absolutely not for us. They play specifically to every negative stereotype of the cruise industry: it's dirty, it's cramped, the food is bad, etc. The internet is an echo chamber, and this stuff plays perfectly into the type of stuff casual social media users love devouring online ("My trip is a disaster!")

Overall, I wonder if Royal didn't see this coming. The World Cruise was clearly something that they promoted (outside of simply being being ON it) to being attention to the cruising industry and Royal specifically but it seems to be having the opposite effect. 

Idk thart the tik toks are bad for the industry.  There's an old saying that there's no such thing as bad publicity 

[GatorCruiser]

It’s hard to articulate how much I love cruising. I take it personal when people who don’t know diss it. 

[smokeybandit]

21 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

It’s hard to articulate how much I love cruising. I take it personal when people who don’t know diss it. 

But ships are a floating petri dish and you might innocently fall overboard. Oh and there's nothing to do on a cruise.

[steverk]

1 hour ago, GatorCruiser said:

It’s hard to articulate how much I love cruising. I take it personal when people who don’t know diss it. 

I understand and agree. 

But look at it this way. If everyone that disses cruising suddenly liked it, there wouldn't be enough ships to handle the demand and prices would skyrocket 

[ScottD]

10 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

But ships are a floating petri dish and you might innocently fall overboard. Oh and there's nothing to do on a cruise.

Or my favorite " it's a floating retirement home" 

[GatorCruiser]

21 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

But ships are a floating petri dish and you might innocently fall overboard. Oh and there's nothing to do on a cruise.

People are either cruisers or they ain’t. There’s no convincing some people how cool cruising is when they have their minds made up before ever stepping foot on a ship. The excitement I feel when just stepping over the threshold on embarkation day could be bottled and sold. Man what a rush! 
Agreed about keeping the secret though , we can’t have too many people taking up cruising.  

[judgen]

Hey gatorcruiser, I'm a 73yo solo old man cruiser who sails at least twice a year, maybe 3 this year. I get the same exact feeling as you stepping on the ship. My next cruise is Feb. 25 out of NJ and will be my first diamond cruise so even more excited. Only 37 days to go.

 

[happy cruisers 2]

5 hours ago, judgen said:

My next cruise is Feb. 25 out of NJ and will be my first diamond cruise so even more excited.

Have a fantastic cruise, judgen!  Congratulations on reaching diamond!  I know you'll enjoy the other cruises you do this year too.

[FOB]

Cruise lover here - first diamond cruise is out of NJ in July but currently have 5 booked between then and May 2025!
My sister on the other hand wont even set foot on a ship - possibly due to too many rough crossings between Scotland and Ireland as a child

My children have been brought up as cruisers (all have Emerald level through me but not the points to back it up).

We are currently trying to work out how to get the best value for 10 (5 sets of 2) adults and 2 toddlers for my 60th birthday cruise.

Only one of the partners was a bit "I am afraid of ships" - until I showed her photos of Oasis class and it turns out her FOMO is worse

Would have loved to do the UWC but work commitments didn't allow it - hopefully they will organise another one soon now myself and DH are retired

[Vancity Cruiser]

On 1/17/2024 at 4:16 PM, GatorCruiser said:

The worst thing to ever happen to this World was the creation of the original iPhone. Its creation as the first true “smart phone” allowed for the proliferation of social media which then became miniaturized in the form of apps and the rest is pathetic history.  It produced a lost generation who has no social skills because they grew up and live in their phones. 

Remember when we thought stupidity was due to lack of access to information............

Turns out that wasn't the problem.