This past December, 1,000 passengers sailed out of Miami Harbor on a massive cruise ship with no intention of returning back to their regular lives for a whopping 9 months. Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise plans to travel to over 60 different countries and hit all 7 continents along its lengthy journey through the seas, making it the longest cruise the world has ever seen. While this may seem like the epitome of all trips and the relaxing break from everyday life that we all wish we could have, almost everyone on the internet is in agreement that a 9 month cruise is pretty excessive. Requesting 9 months off from work or school to go on vacation isn’t exactly the same as asking for a week or two, and such a long time aboard a boat is definitely enough to drive someone crazy. However, there are still many people who jumped at the opportunity to go on this cruise and its internet popularity has inspired other companies to create similar ones, but is so much time living on a ship really a good idea?
While there are clearly a number of issues with this cruise, people on social media seemed most concerned that the passengers of the ship would have their trips ruined when they didn’t end up getting along well with one another. The cruise intends to give those present the chance to bond with other travelers that are similar to them, but the types of people aboard the ship widely vary, which could definitely bring some legitimacy to these worries.
Due to the high price for a spot on the cruise, with the cheapest tickets going for $54,000, a big chunk of the people on the trip are obviously pretty high class and expecting a fancy vacation for their money. However, the remaining passengers are mostly influencers who were invited to join the fun after posting viral videos online about the cruise. These people likely have much bigger personalities and less table manners so the whole internet was expecting them to clash with their wealthy co-passengers, going so far as to say the cruise would make a great reality show. Despite all this distress online, I don’t see any kind of evidence that crazy drama has actually occurred on the ship and I think there are worse things for us to worry about when it comes to the wellbeing of the people on this vacation.
Taking a trip is obviously always fun, but living on vacation for this long can definitely cause both physical and psychological damage to a person. Physically, eating unlimited amounts of cruise food and relaxing on the deck for the better part of a year would be detrimental to a person’s health. Vacation is a prime time to eat as unhealthily as you wish, but this could be pretty damaging if you are doing it for such a long time. Cruise guests will likely suffer health difficulties and more when they leave the ship. In truth, after living on the ship for so long, it’ll probably feel more like leaving their whole lives than the end of a trip which will absolutely affect them mentally. They also will have gone a lengthy 274 days without working any kind of a job so I would be pretty surprised if their positions are still available for them when they return back to their prior homes. This might not be as much of an issue for the super wealthy passengers, but the influencers on board whose fame is entirely centered around them being aboard the ship will definitely have a problem when their claim to fame has concluded.
Between the insane length, the extortionate ticket prices, and the substantial number of places the ship will be visiting, the Royal Caribbean Ultimate World Cruise is truly one of a kind. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that being a passenger on the ship is a positive thing. Despite how luxurious it may seem on the surface, the people aboard the ship could be facing lifelong complications after their 9 months of fun conclude. It’s best for the rest of us to stay far away from any severely lengthy cruises in the future. After all, the high seas are famous for driving people mad.
