On December 10th, Serenade of the Seas left the Port of Miami. This is no ordinary cruise. The ship carries several hundred passengers, who will spend the next nine months living on board the ship as it travels to 150 ports of call, 60 countries and seven continents. Marketing materials for Royal Caribbean’s “Ultimate World Cruise” describe it as “an epic journey that takes you to all four corners,” with prices ranging from about $54,000 per person to $117,000 per person.
There have been cruises around the world before, but this was the first time. almost exactly 100 years ago. But no cruise has captivated the Internet quite like this one, and many online have dubbed it its own real-time “reality show.” While more than a dozen passengers and crew members have begun documenting the trip and posting updates from the ship through his TikTok, a handful of loyal omnibus accounts are compiling all the information into bite-sized news updates. There is. Some passengers came along with existing followers, including South African influencers. Amike Oosthuizenthe mother was cast members of The Real Housewives of Pretoria, or University of Alabama graduate student Brooklyn Schwetchewas already posting travel content before the cruise. But mostly, people who started posting about their cruise trips saw their TikTok follower count skyrocket from basically zero to more than 100,000 in a matter of weeks. On #cruisetok, the passengers are the characters, the updates are the “plot,” and the actual destination is just the backdrop for maximum drama. As of January 22nd, videos with the hashtag are: #UltimateWorldCruise Collectively, they received over 340 million views.
It started just as Serenade of the Seas began its journey in December, and multiple videos about the cruise went viral. Among them, there is a video called “”.Things to be stressed about on a 9 month cruise,”, the poster lists everything from “alcoholics” to “serial killers” as potential threats, bingo cards That included the first and second coronavirus outbreaks, a pirate takeover, a wedding, a mass sexually transmitted disease, a mental breakdown, and, of course, a podcast after returning home. One creator started a series called “Ship Happens.” She prepares the document with great care. Everything that happens on board, such as a scheduled port call to the Falkland Islands being canceled due to rough seas or a passenger accident discovered a whale; another says to himself, “sea tea director”
This is obviously a kind of weird way to discuss normal people just living their lives and going on (yes, very extravagant) vacations. But it’s becoming more and more familiar as TikTok continues to dictate what millions of people watch and when. The closest thing to the Ultimate World Cruise is the annual Bama She Rush, where the University of Alabama first-year student shows off her outfits on her TikTok for various sorority recruitment events every August starting in 2021. It may be a ritual. After some of these videos went viral, the women who appeared in them became temporary celebrities, as did the people who commented on the phenomenon. Whether you’re telling your own backstory about Bama Rush, sharing which girls you’re “rooting for,” or wondering how you ended up watching these videos in the first place, the buzz is… As things got hotter, more people started competing for a little money. Its attention-grabbing. The result was a media frenzy that lasted about two weeks, after which the algorithm was introduced.
Because what algorithms are always looking for is novelty with timeliness, and that’s exactly what a nine-month cruise can best provide. Consider Joe Martucci, a 67-year-old retired CFO from St. Cloud, Florida. He and his wife Audrey went on a cruise as a retirement gift. “I was sending a video to my kids and they said, ‘Dad, put this on TikTok and show your friends.'” I didn’t know that they had 90,000 “friends.” ” he said in a video chat while the ship was docked in Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Argentina.his first cruise postunder the account @spendingourkidsmoneyhad been viewed 1.5 million times, and within weeks passengers were coming up to him and saying they had seen him online. Because he starts every video with “Hey, kids!” His followers have come to see him as a father figure (e.g. comment: “Please know that you are healing a little bit for those of us who didn’t have a father.” Please enjoy your holidays, we love you! – Daughter”).
He says he is honored by this sentiment and that is why he maintains it. People are so fascinated by Martucci that they are making plans to meet him when the ship arrives in Southampton, England, on his July 26th ( TikTok of his itinerary She revealed that she had planned to shop at Primark that day, and fans decided to go with her.)
Or consider 23 years old little rat brain, her account has grown to around 150,000 followers and is a “fan favorite” of Cruise. (Little Rat Brain keeps her identity secret from the internet, going by only a username.) Even though she has never used social media much, on board posts funny, sometimes surreal, chaotic, edited videos that show what life is like. Journey. While she says she never aimed for her fame, she understands why people are fascinated. “We’re a very small group on a sealed ship that we can’t get out of,” she said. “And alcoholic beverages are free. It’s the perfect setting for a drama.”
The problem for TikTokers summarizing what’s going on on board the ship is that their reality TV stars aren’t posting much drama. According to Little Rat Brain, the reason is very clear. “I don’t think a lot of people create drama because they don’t want to jeopardize their vacation. For example, if you have to go to the buffet at breakfast, someone might be staring at you for two hours. I might end up sitting next to you on the bus going on an excursion. I can’t run away from everyone on this cruise.” Instead, participating TikTokers absurdly said, Tilt, Host a social gathering A corner where all the “cast” gather and introduce themselves in a talk show format, calling themselves “characters.” So far, most of the content has been intentionally offensive.
That’s not to say it wasn’t without the problems you’d expect on a nine-month cruise. At some point, flood (It’s okay now). One cruiser is temporarily prohibited The cause was a 12-day re-boarding of the boat after an unauthorized trip to Brazil. Some guests were upset The difference in treatment between Royal Caribbean Loyalty Program members and regular passengers (this is the point of joining the Loyalty Program). The originally scheduled stops in Russia, Ukraine and Israel were changed for obvious reasons. One guest accused her of being a swinger because she had a pineapple decoration on her cabin door (“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” she said) mentioned in response video).
When asked if anyone had been cheating or having sex, Little Rat Brain said he attended a singles mixer at Royal Caribbean but quickly left when no one else showed up. . “There’s literally no one there. I went in, looked around, went out to double check I was in the right place, went back, got a drink, sat there for two minutes, and was like, I’m leaving. . love island It’s not happening. ” Perhaps most tragically, the ship’s red wine disappeared in an instant. Since then, they have stocked up.
Most of the plot is a meta-drama between the TikTokers and non-TikTokers on board. The truth is posted in a private Facebook group, and there are at least five groups for this cruise. Apparently, many non-TikTokers are irritated by the amount of filming on planes and don’t want their faces included in background shots. While the TikTokers I spoke to said they were very conscious about not posting anything with strangers on camera, Martucci said the tensions spilled over onto the ship as well. “I saw an incident the other day where a guy attacked someone and said, ‘Are you one of those TikTokers?’ Don’t point that camera at me! If you point that camera at me, I’ll get mad!” ” says Martucci. “I felt bad for that kid. He didn’t have the camera pointed at him.”
Then along comes a TikToker who has no problem making enemies.Via model and influencer Marc Sebastian I made a video Begging someone to pay for him to go on a cruise – “I’m going to cause chaos, wreak havoc, record everything” – featured in Atria Books, a Simon & Schuster publication . I made him an offer and booked him an 18-night itinerary starting January 5th. (Contract details: he would have read one book They posted about it out of the eight books they sent him. ) Within a few days, he became enemy No. 1 for a certain class of cruisers. yelled at him In case of abusive language or long sentences threads I hate In one of our Facebook groups.At one point he I was escorted out. After the live broadcast, he visited the lounge area reserved for club members when one of his viewers called the ship to criticize him.
One would imagine that Royal Caribbean isn’t too happy about his presence either — he’s been pleading their demands with the company. workers are poorly paid While giving you the experience of actually being on a boat… miserable in a way.
The way Ultimate World Cruise’s social media spectacle spilled over off-screen and onto the actual ship may be more interesting than the understandable ups and downs of living at sea with hundreds of other people.Americans are always have a special fondness for To the cruise. Since the industry’s inception in the 1970s, there has been a huge market. Perhaps it’s because cruise lines have gamified vacations in the form of points and loyalty perks, or perhaps it’s because Americans love all-you-can-eat buffets and freedom. You won’t have to make any decisions.Cruises are actually on the rise longerHowever, accidents can certainly happen. Ask potential passengers. I’m currently filing a lawsuit A three-year cruise was suddenly canceled just days before it was scheduled to depart.
It’s no wonder, then, that passengers on such voyages become objects of fascination for those of us who don’t have the means or desire to spend such a vacation, and why the TikTok algorithm grows their videos so much. No wonder he did it. Ultimate World Cruise fits perfectly into the platform’s recipe for viral gold: a timely, slightly controversial niche with universal appeal. But now, his TikToker on cruises is becoming an object of fascination and frustration for his fellow passengers. People I spoke to said that since the video went viral, more people on board have started TikTok accounts in hopes of being one of the “protagonists” themselves. By my count, Sebastian is the only influencer to ever land a sponsored content deal onboard a ship, but that doesn’t mean more brand money is likely to seep into cruises any time soon.
As for the TikTokers themselves in the boat, most of them view the newfound attention as a funny coincidence, unless they’re too mean. “We have some that we really like,” Jenny Hunnicutt, 34, who runs a writing consulting company on board the ship, says of the drama compilations. “The positives outweighed the negatives.” Unless the other half of the ship revolts against his TikToker, we hope this continues.
This column first appeared in the Vox Culture newsletter. Please register here Not only will you never miss the next news story, you’ll also receive exclusive newsletter information.
