How a luxury cruise became “reality TV” on TikTok

The Ultimate World Cruise, a cruise departing from Miami in December 2023, takes the form of a reality show. About 20 TikTok accounts film the inside of this luxury trip, transforming it from fantasy to reality show with twists and turns.

A 9-month round-the-world cruise at an incredible price. But what could go wrong? On December 10, 2023, hundreds of passengers boarded the Royal Caribbean liner “Serenade of the Seas” and left the port of Miami.

Nicknamed “The Ultimate World Cruise”, the voyage was originally planned to visit 60 countries across 7 continents and four corners of the globe. An expensive “epic trip”. Each passenger had to pay between $54,000 and $117,000 for the right to board.

Despite the expensive price, passengers have been watching the series of adventures in real time for three months. Twists and turns worthy of a reality show are constantly being shared by the nearly twenty TikTokers on board, both among passengers and crew. A very popular soap opera on social networks.

The self-appointed improvised “characters” of this epic introduced themselves after the first viral messages:

Morbid prognosis

Even before the problems started, Internet users became passionate about bots. On December 21, influencer Marc Sebastian demanded, “Put a camera on this boat immediately… There’s going to be a riot! I want to see!” Messages liked by 1.3 million internet users.

Interest in cruising continues to grow as days pass, with the hashtag #UltimateWorldCruise surpassing 150 million views by early 2024, as reported by American media NPR.

“TikTok feels like a reality show that’s fun to follow,” Cara Harms, author of the widely shared bingo on TikTok, explained to the press.

In its grid, it anticipated various events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the seizure of a ship by pirates, the repatriation of a passenger in an emergency or the use of cruises by brands through sponsored content.

A good number of predictions – quite imprecise – eventually proved correct later. This is for example the case of a major flood on board or a patient being evacuated by helicopter.

Other predictions didn’t come true… but not much. This is a case of a ship being taken over by pirates. Indeed, hundreds of passengers were initially supposed to cross the Red Sea. But, on February 2, the tourists came to know of a change in their itinerary.

Due to high instability and acts of piracy in the area around the Suez Canal, the crew decided to avoid the area entirely.

Lack of wine and spill pineapples

Other “plays” were not so easily possible. An example of this was Mike and Nancy Jacobs’ vociferous condemnation of the wine shortage in a February 1 video.

“You won’t believe it! They told us that we drank more wine than they expected (…) They tried to restore in Barbados but found nothing, they tried in Rio but found only a little”, explain Sixty – Yearlings, with smiles on their lips. A crunch that’s hard to swallow with such a high entry ticket.

Another point of interest for “spectators”: a possible system of swinging between different passengers. In videos shared on social networks, users warn of the presence of an upside-down “pineapple” on the cabin door. An indicator that will be in the community of cruise enthusiasts is the sign of an open couple.

The occupant of the cabin seized the subject to make sure she was not practicing swinging, but this fruit had a very distinct taste.

Behind closed doors and social networks: elements of a larger-than-life show

Dramas, rumours, arguments… the lives of passengers told in these short videos almost take the form of a series. A closed session on the high seas shaped by interactions between traveling TikTokers and “viewers,” as Jamie Cohen, a media studies professor and former reality TV producer, explained to NPR.

Internet users open the door to a conspiracy that creates reality around people who are just on a boat for fun”. To capitalize on the video’s success, a brand paid influencer, Marc Sebastian, to “create” chaos and commotion while on a boat. .

He remained on the ship for only a month without much success in starting any conflicts. “I really thought I’d find a lot of conflict (among the passengers, editor’s note) but unfortunately, they’re all pretty cool!” Finally, is the cruise fun?