We spent seven days and nights on Star Trek the Cruise VIII, from the afternoon of Sunday, February 23 to the morning of March 1. Rather than taking a strictly day-by-day approach as with our prior blog posts, I am taking a topical approach for this post. The days were crazy fun and chaotic.

If you have ever taken a week-long cruise, this is the same. And it is vastly different. Sure, there are shows and onboard activities. There is a casino. There are shore excursions. And there is STAR TREK EVERYWHERE ON BOARD!!!! If you are a Trekkie, a Trekker, a geek, a nerd, or any other type of sci-fi fan, I highly recommend Star Trek the Cruise. Just...wow! Check it out.

The Stars:

Star Trek would not exist without the stars. In this case, I don't mean the stars in the night's sky, but the stars from TV and the big screen. Most of the actors stay on the cruise for the duration and occasionally mingle with us commoners. While they are on stage, it is typically okay to take pictures and videos. While they are out and about, not so much so.

The first day of the cruise, all the cast with the exception of Kate Mulgrew who hadn't yet arrived were introduced and gave a quick how-do-you-do. Below are a few of the cast members. You may spot a theme. Do you see it? It's there, for most of them.

Yes, you guessed it. This year was the 30th Anniversary of Star Trek Voyager. It is one of my favorites among the Star Trek shows. We were able to get autographs from eight of the nine main crew members on the cruise. Kate Mulgrew arrived midweek, so she is not pictured above. Robert Beltran who played Chakotay was unable to attend. We also got Jonathan Frakes' autograph on a fan club magazine I got back in 1992.

The jacket below is one of two that we got before the cruise, one red and one blue. We elected to get the red one autographed. Red represents command. Blue represents science. There was also a gold option which was for operations. The blue jacket goes better with our personal outfits. The red will hang in a shadow box to preserve the autographs. We had the signatures done using fabric pens that are supposedly washing machine safe. Even so...not gonna wash it!

Shows, panels and more shows:

While it was great getting autographs and shaking hands with the stars personally, the shows and panels were the highlights of the cruise for us. The autographs represent a lot of time standing in line (which for a fellow with back problems is...well...a problem). The shows fell into three broad categories. There were game shows, acted/read theatrical productions and musical shows.

My two favorite shows were the theatrical productions. As with last year, they did a dramatic act/read of an original series episode. In this case, it was "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky". That has always been one of my favorite episodes. If anything, it was even better live. It was primarily a read-through. There was a little bit of acting. I think the best scene was Robert Picardo's.

In the TV show, Kirk, Spock and McCoy are on a spaceship that looks like a planet. They meet an old servant man who tells them that he knows the truth. "But things are not as they teach us. For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky." He then dies; killed by the Oracle that guides the ship and the people on their centuries-long journey. Picardo played the old man and was fabulous.

The other show was a read-through of the 1938 Halloween radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds. There was a TV movie about the broadcast called "The Night That Panicked America" back in '75. John De Lancie (Q) produced the show and kicked it off with a narrative about the radio broadcast. He wasn't in the show. I believe he headed off to prep for the costume judging later that evening. The best part of the show was that our friend Rob Parkinson was one of the cast members in the read-through.

Rob met John De Lancie I believe on his first Star Trek the Cruise back in 2018. He was selected to be one of the audience participants in a show and has remained in touch with De Lancie. John invited Rob to participate again this year. How cool is that?!?!?

For this show, we were requested to take no pictures or video. So, all we have are a couple of pictures of Rob on stage after the show.

Here are a few pictures of some of the other shows and panels.

Cosplay

No good sci-fi fandom would be complete without cosplay. There were six separately themed events, Gorn's Pajama Party, Star Trek Mirror Universe Night, Risa's Festival of the Moon Party, Holodeck Malfunction Mashup (Rob's suggestion from last year's cruise), the Star Trek Formal and Q's Costume Party. Faith and I dressed up for the Mirror Universe, the Risa party and the holodeck malfunction. We attended all the others except for the pajama party (too late and too tired).

For Mirror Universe, Faith could not decide on a costume. I had my Captain Pike formal outfit from last year's cruise, so I did the evil Captain Pike. I got a 3D printer back in August before I left Microsoft. My first chance to use it was while preparing for the Trek Cruise. For the Captain Pike outfit, I printed the insignia comm badge.

For the holodeck mashup, we both dressed up. Faith played Princess Leia the Material Girl. I played a Klingon Jedi. When we went to the Space Conn back in October, we picked up Leia's light saber. My weapon was a mashup of a Klingon Kurleth Sword and a light saber. I spent WAY too much time designing, printing and painting the sword. It was fun and it was a chore. I got the face prosthetic from a costume store. I also designed, printed and painted Faith's Rebel pendant.

Some folks go all out for the cosplay. Here are some fun examples.

No Ship of Fools, But A Ship of Nerds

There was seemingly no end to the nerds (including yours truly) and the nerd props. Here is a glimpse of some of the fun.

Our first night on the cruise, we ate at the "Captain's Table." This is a six-course gourmet meal. Each course was paired with a wine selection that was custom selected for that menu item. I have become somewhat allergic to alcohol (called alcohol intolerance). I drank and paid for it later. Nevertheless, the meal was sumptuous, and the company was terrific.

We had three shore excursions on the cruise which were in Costa Maya, Cozumel and Belize City. We also spent nearly a week in Miami and the surrounds before and after the cruise. I plan to blog those separately.

Until then, live long and prosper.