Cruise Journal: What to Expect (Part Two)
- Elaine Kelpien Federico
- Feb 1
- 22 min read
** The first part of this article appears in the January 2026 Issue 14 of ENGAGE! Magazine. To read the article in its entirety, please click here:
PART TWO
Day 2 -- At Sea
The next day we had some early photo ops with Jonathan Del Arco, Denise Crosby, Jeri Ryan, and Robert Duncan McNeill. Epic Photo, the company that sells and runs the photo and autograph opportunities aboard ship, does an EXCELLENT job of coordinating and facilitating the entire process. I cannot say enough good things about them. I have had a few snafus in the past (one was caused due to my iPhone and watch not changing to the correct time as we passed back and forth through time zones, with the unfortunate result that my daughter and I missed a photo with one of the stars.) Epic was able to reschedule my ticket for a different session and we got the photo we needed. I had been a basket case and they listened with care and concern, and made everything right. Photograph and autograph sessions typically go on sale in the weeks leading up to sailing, and there is a discount provided for booking BEFORE the cruise. If you are new to the Star Trek Cruise would definitely take advantage of this. With photos, you’ll be moved along fairly quickly and there is less time for interaction (this also varies greatly among the different celebrities).
Autographs allow for a little more time to share brief stories and personal anecdotes with the subjects in question, but time is still limited due to the long lines that form. Some celebrities are more popular than others, and if there is no one behind you in line, sometimes it is possible to have a pretty decent conversation. I remember one trip when my daughter and I spoke at length with Tim Russ, who was funny and charming and asked a lot of questions of us. Ultimately he decided my daughter needs to run for President someday (I’m not going to argue!). I had a beautiful interaction with William Shatner the year we sailed out of Los Angeles. I brought a book he wrote that my father had given me just before he died in 1998 of cancer. I briefly shared the story of how I came to receive the book from my father, and how he and I shared our love of Star Trek which ultimately became one of the very few things we had in common. Mr. Shatner was so touched that he remarked “how wonderful it was that I could share that gift with my father” as he happily autographed the title page. He looked me right in the eye and I was star-struck. This moment will always be one of my favorite memories, not just of Star Trek, but of my entire life.
During this day’s session with Denise Crosby, she offered me a hug after I told her this cruise would not be the same without her, and expressed how overjoyed I was that she had chosen to join us after the Los Angeles fires destroyed her home. I noticed that Robbie Mc Neill had a lot of “fun” with the guests while they were waiting for photos and autographs. He mentioned that this was his first cruise and said that he was really enjoying all of the interactions and hoped to return.
After our photo sessions, we headed to the Windjammer restaurant for a quick breakfast and then up to our room to put our photos down so we could join the Voyager panel taking place in the Palace Theater. This panel featured Robert Duncan McNeill, Jeri Ryan, Garrett Wang, Tim Russ, and Brannon Braga, and was hosted by Lolita Fatjo. During this panel I learned that Jeri had owned a restaurant with her husband for a brief time, and that she drew upon some of the characteristics of her autistic son when shaping her portrayal of Seven of Nine. Tim Russ talked about how Undiscovered Country and the Voyager episode “Flashback” were filmed simultaneously, and the logistics of appearing in both, albeit as an uncredited extra in the feature film.
Following the panel, we opted to take a pool break and do some reading. We had to meet up with a group of Kenneth Mitchell fans for a #BeKind photo on the Promenade, wearing our shirts from Pop Culture Hero Coalition, which all have a Kenneth Mitchell signature graphic on them. Kenneth Mitchell’s fight with ALS came to a tragic end in 2024 while my husband and I were on that year’s cruise. The year before, Kenneth had hosted a rave in Studio B with poetry he had written and performance art that he had choreographed which we carried out after painting our faces in Klingon war colors for House of Kor. We had danced around Kenneth while he read his poem through computer interface to music he had chosen. That night was one of the most memorable of my life, as I realized we were celebrating his life and his journey while he could still be with us. Each year on the cruise now we honor him and his legacy through acts of kindness in the name of House of Kor.
After the group photo, we headed up to the Match Game with Celia Rose Gooding and Melissa Navia in the Star Lounge, but it was standing room only so we went to the Klingon Panel in Studio B instead. This was hilarious! Roxann Dawson started by saying that she was only “half Klingon,” so questioned her fitness for the panel, and Robert O’Reilly talked about his triplet sons (now adults) and said that is why he “has the eyes.” JG Hertzler talked about his good friend James Cromwell, who lives near him in upstate New York. Bob and JG traded friendly “insults” with one another, mostly about aging. Bob shared with us that playing the role of Edmond in King Lear had inspired his portrayal of Gowron.
Then it was time for us to head back to our room so I could grab a bracelet that my friend had hand-made as a gift for Jeri Ryan, and get in line for her autograph. My husband grabbed pizza from the Promenade Café while we stood in line for both Jeri’s and Robert Duncan McNeill’s autographs. They were both very funny and warm and we had a great chat. We had to change for the Mirror Universe theme night after the autograph session, so we missed the Science Trivia session as well as the start of the Tim Russ Crew in concert. I needed more time to change than my husband did, so he went to have steak for dinner in the dining room. We met up later during the Tim Russ concert, which featured Ethan Phillips sitting in on the saxophone! A welcome treat! The whole crowd began to chant “Tuvix! Tuvix!” I fell in love with Tim Russ’ musical style and immediately downloaded his album onto my phone.
We lined up for the main show that evening, Star Trek Rat Pack starring Casey Biggs, Jeffrey Combs, Vaughn Armstrong, and Ethan Phillips. We ate ice cream while standing in line and watched the Silent Disco that was taking place on the Promenade. The Rat Pack show was excellent as always. If you have the chance to see the Star Trek Rat Pack, I highly advise it. These guys put on a great show, and boy can they sing! They include some vaudeville-style comedy and have been putting on shows together for over 15 years, so it’s an ever-evolving performance.
Although we were tired after a full day of events, we made it to “Klingon Karaoke” hosted by Robert O’ Reilly and JG Hertzler. The best part of this experience was our resident Klingon expert (and in fact, Klingon language consultant to Star Trek: Prodigy) Jen Usellis, performing Aerosmith’s “Dream On” in the original Klingon. Clothed in full Klingon regalia and makeup, Jen really “brings it” on stage and I think this is now the way I always want to hear this song!
Day 3 - Costa Maya
Day Three of the cruise found us in port at Costa Maya. We were up at about 8:30 for a quick breakfast sandwich at the Café Promenade before disembarking on Deck 1 and securing some pool towels for our beach day. We enjoyed the relaxing beach time and open bar before returning to the ship around 3:30. After a shower and another visit to the Café Promenade, we changed into our cosplay for the Risa: Festival of the Moon theme night. We had a photo session with Nicole DeBoer and Robert O’Reilly at 4:30, which thankfully were completed quickly as we had a special presentation we wanted to catch at 5:00 featuring NASA Astronaut John Grunsfeld discussing his experiences with the Hubble Space Telescope. This was a fascinating and entertaining discussion, and one of the reasons I enjoy these cruises so much…I always learn something!
We enjoyed dinner in the Main Dining Room after which we secured a seat at the Star Lounge for “Trivia with Seven of Nine.” Jeri Ryan was a hoot during this event, acknowledging there were things about her character that even SHE didn’t know! That evening, the Palace Theater hosted a script reading of Star Trek: TOS “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky,” directed by Nana Visitor.
These script readings are always delightfully executed, with a full cast of talented actors reading along to scripts we all have come to know and love. The actors usually wear some minimal costumes, such as wigs or themed shirts, and make only nominal use of props. Robert Picardo stole the show, in my opinion, as the “old man” who escapes to the surface of the asteroid and realizes that he is on a floating world with an atmosphere, but ultimately can’t live with the truth. Jonathan Frakes, Celia Rose Gooding, Mary Wiseman, Ethan Phillips (playing Dr. McCoy), Tawny Newsome as Kirk, Jeffrey Combs (complete with “Spock ears”), Denise Crosby, Jonathan Del Arco, and Roxann Dawson rounded out the cast, who managed to pull laughs and shrieks of delight from the audience under the expert direction of Nana Visitor. This is a way to see the actors as we’ve never seen them before, showing off their comedic chops via both physical humor and witty dialogue delivery that was often absent in the conventional television series.
We ended the evening by joining the Risa Festival of the Moon party including live music from Band 47 already in progress on the pool deck.
Day 4 - Cozumel
On Day 4, we had a more relaxing schedule because we had elected not to go ashore in Cozumel. Both of us had been there a number of times, and we like to have the “run of the ship” when everyone else is away. We spent several hours by the pool, sipping cocktails and catching up on our reading. My husband decided to go ashore around midday because he had misplaced his water bottle and wanted to buy a new one. I stayed on board and had a nice workout at the gym. While there ARE activities planned aboard on port days, they are nothing that guests would feel sad about “missing” in favor of shore excursions. The one exception to this is the “artist-hosted event,” such as wine tasting with Robert Picardo or charity breakfasts with Jonathan Frakes or Chase Masterson. Those are ticketed events which go on sale in the months leading up to the cruise and they sell out VERY quickly (within minutes). Sometimes, they DO conflict with various shore excursions on port days, so it’s important to be aware of this if you are interested in doing BOTH. We’ve had a conflict arise and had to cancel the shore excursion, which Royal Caribbean was happy to do. I also made the mistake one year of purchasing tickets to two different celebrity-hosted events which overlapped by 30 minutes. I wound up selling the tickets to one of the events to a couple on board the ship who were very happy to have the chance to attend. If you have the chance to try one of these special ticketed events, please do so. They are extremely enjoyable and offer a special time with the actors and science advisors, typically surrounding a skill-based concept such as cupcake decorating or cocktail mixology. But if you can’t manage to secure such events, you’ll still have a very full and wonderful cruise.
After working out, I got ready for my scheduled makeup session with Emmy-winning makeup artist, Thomas Surprenant and team! This was the first cruise I had decided to try professional cosplay makeup, and I was delighted with the experience. I had made an appointment on the first day of sailing and met up with my makeup artist, Lisa, on Deck 4 near the Tavern. Curious guests stopped by from time to time, watching the “magic” unfold. The theme that night was “Holodeck Mashup,” which was a delightful invitation to blend various genres and fandoms as if a holodeck program had gone suddenly, chaotically wrong! I had planned to merge Captain Marvel with the Borg and enhance my “tesseract distinctiveness” with Borg regeneration! The makeup artist applied Borg implants to a couple of areas on my face. I could have opted to do a hand/wrist like Seven of Nine, but I thought it might be cumbersome and interfere with eating, hand-washing, etc. The ship left port while I was in the makeup chair, snacking on pizza and enjoying some of the different cocktails from the Klingon bar. My husband came to join me and watch the showing of Star Trek VI on the screen at the bar. The whole experience was relaxing and fun, and I enjoyed hearing tales of past theatrical makeup applications from Thomas and his team.
Dinner that night was Italian-themed, so we ate in the dining room after changing into our cosplay. We had the opportunity to walk through the Lightspeed Art Gallery to check out some of their autographed prints for purchase. The curator explained to me that they are the oldest official source for autographed collectibles, evidenced by the large and varied selection.
The evening’s entertainment in the Palace Theater was “Star Trek Goes to the Opera” starring Robert Picardo and Arturo Chacon-Cruz, a friend of Picardo’s. Jen Usellis, who should be a national treasure, joined the performers on stage with an impeccable Klingon aria and a verse of Leonard Cohen’s Alleluia in Klingon.
Following the show, we danced for awhile at the Holodeck Mashup party in Studio B with Band 47 and lasted until about 11:30 before retiring to our stateroom.
DAY 5 - Belize City
Day 5 was another relaxing day for us as we elected not to tender ashore to Belize City. I had visited before, and opted for more pool and reading time, along with an extended breakfast at the Windjammer where I ran into Garrett Wang. After breakfast we headed to one of the staterooms that had advertised in the cruise Facebook group with some intriguing giveaways. After a quick lunch, we headed to our wine tasting event with Robert Picardo. This event was held at 3:30 on a port day and is an example of the type of schedule conflict that could endanger shore excursions. Bob had brought his friend, Arturo Chacon-Cruz, to serenade us while we sipped on different types of wines. He sang “Grenada” while playing guitar, enrapturing the entire room. After this, he broke into “Malaguena Salerosa,” a Mexican folk tune that immediately reminded me of my father. He had always been a fan of Nancy Ames and became a listener of Hispanic folk music when growing up in Argentina. My father had a version of the song by the Limeliters as well, and I heard it often as a child. It was a special moment for me, receiving a message from my father who passed away in 1998, through Arturo’s song choice. There is a Next Generation episode, the Bonding, where Captain Picard tells a young Jeremy Aster, “On the Starship Enterprise, no one is alone.” This is how I feel about sailing on the Star Trek Cruise and the constant reminders everywhere that none of us are ever truly alone.
We had to hurry from the wine tasting to make our photo opportunity with Kate Mulgrew, and boy howdy, was I star-struck. I had just finished reading her first autobiography, “Born With Teeth.” Seeing her in person was a huge deal for me. She has become an actress (as well as the embodiment of Captain Janeway) that I truly admire. She was lovely to meet, and had a very warm and welcoming countenance. After the photo, we ran back to our stateroom to change for dinner with our friends from Atlanta. We followed dinner with the “We’re in Town for Something Else” comedy improv show starring Tawny Newsome and Eugene Cordero. Friends, if you have the chance to see these two ultra-talented actors together, please do! You will laugh for an hour straight.
The Star Trek Squares game show was the Palace Theater entertainment for the night. In my opinion, Wilson Cruz stole the show (although Garrett Wang had the center square). The game show events in the Palace Theater are my absolute favorites of the week, and no matter what format is chosen, JT Watters and the cast make sure the audience leaves in stitches.
After the show, we went hurriedly to the Schooner Bar to see if Casey Biggs had joined Connor Schenk as rumored, for some impromptu singing. He had not come by that time, so we went to Studio B for the “Episodic Overdub Adventure” with Denise Crosby and “friends.” The venue was bursting at the seams. Cruisers know that this show is one of the most popular events, and with good reason. In these shows, Denise will choose an Original Series episode to play on the screen while several actors hold microphones and ad lib dialogue from their seats on stage. In this particular show, the chosen episode was “Assignment: Earth.” Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Eugene Cordero, Garrett Wang, and Denise Crosby provided hilarious overdubbing, including giving a voice to Isis, the cat.
For Day 6, we were up early for a 9:45 photo session with Robert Picardo, during which I thanked him for three things: For being the Doctor on Voyager, for creating Alfonso, his alter ego, and lastly, for being the incredibly talented and humble Robert Picardo, one of the most enjoyable actors we were lucky to spend a week with. I went straight from the photo session to a ballet class with Linda Park, Hoshi from Enterprise. I guarantee you she looks like she has not aged a day since filming the series. We had a lovely class, and I found her to be very friendly and approachable.
We tried to get a seat at Larry Nemecek and Dr. Erin Macdonald’s talk on planets and stars in the Star Lounge, but the room was completely full, so we took a walk up to the pool deck for the T-shirt party hosted by Chase Masterson and JT Watters. I was disappointed to miss the astronomy talk but also heartened to see such interest in science and astro-nomical phenomena. My friend Minessa, who had to miss this cruise, had asked me to buy a coffee for Thomas Surprenant, so we delivered that gift and then ran into Casey Biggs who was getting coffee on the Promenade. At the T-shirt party, we saw Nana Visitor casually chatting with guests near the pool,
Around 2 pm we had our autograph session with Denise Crosby, then grabbed lunch and went back to the pool. Epic Photo schedules photo sessions FIRST and autograph sessions for those actors SECOND. This way, you will always have something for the actor to sign if you have ordered a photo with them. Epic also sells 8 x 10 photos of most of the actors at their table; in case you did not bring something for them to sign.
On the way to the Star Trek Meme Game with Larry Nemecek, we almost ran John deLancie down on the Promenade! We apologized for our hurry, and he was very gracious about it. Random little encounters like this really make the cruise worthwhile!
Pretty soon, it was time to change into our costumes for Q’s Costume Party, the biggest night of the cruise. I was dressing in a homemade cosplay of the evil “Bjayzl” from Star Trek: Picard. I am not at all supportive of her ruthless behavior on the series, but I thought her gold bodysuit costume was incredible. I had assembled it at home with the help of one of my good friends and was excited to try it out for the costume contest.
Participants lined up along the Promenade and waited for the judging process. While standing in line, I was able to chat with lots of other contestants and meet new friends. At one point, Kate Mulgrew and Robert Picardo walked by together, getting a preview of our costumes. The judges for that evening were Robb Perlman, astronaut John Grunsfeld, and Thomas Surprenant. I was not sure if they quite appreciated my approximation of Bjayzl’s character, but I had told Jeri Ryan a few days before that I would be cosplaying her nemesis in Picard and she had responded that she looked forward to seeing it! After the judging, my husband and I walked around for a bit, watched the contest finals, and then decided to retire for the evening.
Day 6 - At sea
On the final full day of the cruise, we woke up early for the Kate Mulgrew autograph session. I asked her to sign her book as well as the poster that I had purchased from her son’s gallery the previous month which was created to raise funds for him and his family after they lost their home in the Palisades fire. We spoke a bit about his resilience and about some of the themes in her autobiography. I told her that one of my favorite quotes from her book is, “Most women can count on one hand the number of times in their lives that they TRULY feel beautiful.” She seemed touched that I remembered the passage in the book. It was a great discussion.
After the autograph session, we ate breakfast at the Café Promenade and then spent some time people-watching at the Klingon bar (named the Bat’leth and Bloodwine) and eventually wandered over to the Palace Theater for the second Voyager panel, this one featuring Kate Mulgrew. We were able to watch the tail end of the Charity Auction to benefit the Planetary Society.
The Voyager panel was moderated by Dr. Erin Macdonald. Showrunner and writer, Brannon Braga, expressed his wonder at the continued interest and devotion to Voyager, which he happily witnessed on the cruise. Kate Mulgrew discussed how wonderful and important it is to include programing aimed at children, such as Prodigy. In her words, Prodigy was “exactly what Gene Roddenberry would have wanted.” The panelists enjoyed a lot of good-natured banter during the program. Roxann Dawson likened the Star Trek Cruise to a “family reunion,” far more personal to her than a convention. Robert Picardo shared that his favorite scene involved Robert Duncan McNeill in the season 3 episode “Real Life,” where Tom Paris told the Doctor, “You can’t avoid the pain of having a family if you want to really experience it.” Picardo went on to say that reconnecting with “Robbie” on the cruise was very meaningful.
Kate Mulgrew shared that she had fallen in love with all of her cast mates over the seven-year run. Braga told the audience that “Year of Hell” was such a popular episode because it showed how the family bond had formed, especially the “goodbye” with Janeway and Tuvok.
Erin Macdonald spoke about the power of the women in roles of leadership, science, and engineering. Roxann Dawson agreed and said that her older daughter is indeed a scientist at UCLA. Many of those on the panel talked about how Ethan Phillips would crack them up on set, often to the point of tears. Kate Mulgrew referred to Phillips as the “soul of the ship” and shared that it was very difficult to continue with production after his departure.
At noon, I had a “Date with Assimilation” in the Observation Lounge, where the Cruise Collective Pre-Ceremony was taking place. “Assimilation” into the Cruise Collective takes place upon your fifth sailing and includes a special meet-up and ceremony. Our assimilation was hosted by JT Watters and Jonathan DelArco on the pool deck, where we got to parade in front of the other guests wearing Borg masks, hearing remarks from Jonathan, and having our names read aloud.
Once assimilated, the new members of the Cruise Collective receive special lanyards and are invited to attend exclusive events on future cruises. My husband will be assimilated NEXT time, as he is one cruise behind me after the year that I took my 14-year-old daughter instead!
After lunch at the Windjammer, it was time for the DS9 Panel featuring Nana Visitor, Chase Masterson, Casey Biggs, Jeffrey Combs, and Nicole DeBoer. Casey spoke about the perception of Deep Space 9 as the “black sheep” of the Star Trek television family, which had a positive aspect since it allowed production to continue with much less “interference” from media executives. He said that in his opinion, this scenario gave the writers and producers much more freedom to deliver the kind of provocative science fiction storylines that Star Trek fans have come to admire. He also spoke about a high school in Germany whose curriculum is entirely based on Star Trek, and how he was invited to speak there.
Nicole DeBoer said that the character of Ezri Dax seems much more accepted now than during her initial introduction due to streaming services. Chase shared that her favorite moments with the Star Trek phenomenon are the times spent with fans, much more important to her than anything she’s done as an actress.
Jeffrey Combs talked about the challenges of crafting a brand-new character very quickly, and reminded the audience that having a “village” of support helps his transformation to so many different characters he has played. Nana Visitor told the audience that she thinks DS9 could make a great opera and shared that she loves conventions for how they provided her with inspiration from fans that informed her work on the set as she thought on how much the character of Kira Nerys meant to the public. She expressed astonishment that the message of DS9 would endure for decades.
The entire panel discussed how grateful they were for messages from the fans who wrote to them about how much DS9 had “kept them alive” and “got them through” difficult times.
After the panel, we enjoyed some pool time and then headed to the dining room for our autograph session with Casey Biggs, who signed a commemorative cocktail glass I had brought from a previous cruise where I had taken a mixology class from him. I confided that I had “stolen” a phrase I learned from him for my Instagram handle. He had educated us on mixing cocktails but also that life is fleeting and precious, and as such, we should “do everything with intention.” It has become a mantra for me in the past several years.
Sadly, it was time for us to pack up our door decorations in preparation for the early morning departure, but we made time to attend the ever-enjoyable Trek Libs with Robb Pearlman in the Schooner Bar. Robb makes a great deal of fun out of soliciting (mainly) adult-type of humor out of fans who shout out suggestions for his fill in the blank Trek stories. I got to read one aloud and won a book that Robb had written, which he then autographed for me!
Following this event, we put our luggage out and went to our dinner reservation at Izumi Sushi, one of the specialty restaurants on the ship. We highly recommend taking advantage of the specialty locations if you have time. A great option for this is the final night, when there is no themed party. We were able to watch the sunset from our table, and caught a glimpse of Denise Crosby, Jonathan Frakes, Jeffrey Combs, and Nana Visitor hanging out nearby. There were several times during the week when we boarded an elevator (or Turbo Lift) only to find that one or more of the celebrities were riding with us. This was especially fun since it offered us the chance to make small talk or express our admiration. It seems like the actors enjoy this type of interaction for the most part, and it’s likely because cruise-goers have been educated and encouraged for years to allow the “talent” wide berths and plenty of space when encountering them “in the wild.” No one wants to be “hunted down” by over-eager fans. The reason this cruise works so well is that the passengers have learned not to intrude when the actors are mingling among us. I remember one night at a theme party when we danced for hours with Connor Trinneer right next to us, enjoying the music. Since nobody mobbed him, he was content to join us. Some of the actors are more willing to “mingle” than others, and you will run into some of them again and again. You may ask why groups of people sit outside of the Klingon bar and shout “Q’apla!” every chance they get. This stems from a past cruise where Robert O’Reilly liked to take long walks along the Promenade, and he would circle laps while cruisers patronized the Crown & Kettle. (If I remember correctly, it might have been the Gregarious Gorn on that particular cruise). Pretty soon, the patrons began to shout, “Q’apla!” at Bob and he playfully answered back. This became a tradition and inspired the Q’apla Collective Star Trek Cruise group on Facebook, which now organizes meetups at the pub on board.
After our fantastic sunset dinner, we went down to Deck 3 to the Focus Photo Gallery to pick out our photo selection from the Royal Caribbean photographers. We often like to get professional shots of us in our cosplay, and RC definitely has a lot of photographers out and about during the Star Trek Cruise. Epic Photo (ECP) has their own photographers, who shoot all of the events as well as candid photos of guests and cast. Those are available on the ECP website after the cruise returns and are free to download.
The last main show of the voyage was An Evening with Kate Mulgrew, and we had the second seating. She was fascinating to listen to, and perhaps more so because I had read her autobiography. She left us with the message that although Prodigy had recently been canceled, she was ready and willing to reprise the role of Captain Janeway, especially if she had the idea that the fans “needed” her. The loud applause, shouts, and standing ovation made it clear that the fans will always have a place for Captain Janeway in their hearts.
We ended the week by relaxing in the hot tub on the pool deck and watching Star Trek IV on the big screen.
The next morning when we were leaving the ship, I heard a song about starships playing on the speakers overhead. How appropriate, I thought. I remembered the first time my husband and I were walking up the gangway to the third Star Trek Cruise, which also left from Miami, and how we had no idea what to expect. We plunged into an epic adventure that year and became hooked for life. We learned what it was like to live in a Star Trek “bubble” for a week, and to be surrounded by scientists, explorers, entertainers, musicians, dreamers, heroes, and friends. We learned that when a passenger had lost a wallet at one of the bars, it was returned intact to Guest Services. We learned that when a cruiser had a mobility issue and needed help getting around, total strangers showed up and were more than willing to help. We learned that people who looked differently and had different experiences were not only welcomed but celebrated.
For Francis
I would not be able to send this cruise journal to be published without mentioning a person who, for me and many others, became a very big part of the Star Trek Cruise from the moment I met him. Dr. Francis Joel Smith, PhD., was an avid Star Trek fan, along with being a violinist and researcher, and was born with Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects the formation of a person’s face during fetal development. When he was born, the doctors thought he would be deaf and intellectually disabled. Francis became a researcher in craniofacial development and a world-renowned speaker and advocate for others with his condition. For its messages of inclusion and acceptance, as well as its intrinsic scientific elements, the world of Star Trek became very important to Francis. I would estimate that Francis had thousands of friends, judging by his reception aboard the ship. I think he also changed his T-shirts several times every day during the cruise, showing off so many different and clever Star Trek designs. One of his favorite things to do was to cosplay as a Talosian, and the second year I saw him compete in the Q’s Costume Party, he won! No one could ever channel a Talosian the way Francis did. He was light, and life, and always ready with a hug and a kind word. He knew his way around a wine cellar and had an incredible faith, as well as being a prolific writer. He passed away suddenly in 2023, after enjoying a night out at a science fiction themed bar with a close friend. We had expected to see him on the next cruise, and his absence was keenly felt. A group of his friends gathered to wear Talosian robes in his honor, and there were many references to Francis and pictures of him throughout the ship when we sailed in 2024. I still felt a sense of loss in 2025 when we next boarded for Cruise XIII. While I know that Francis will never really be dead as long as we remember him, I wish I had one more chance to share a glass of wine, trade opinions on the latest Star Trek series, or exchange hugs.
Conclusion
The Star Trek Cruise brings us friendships and experiences like no other cruise can. I hope I have been able to touch, however briefly, on what to expect out of this un-conventional adventure. The relationships I’ve built and the connections I’ve made through this exclusive experience are more significant to me than almost anything else in my life. The fact that I can share this unique opportunity with my family and friends makes it even more worthwhile. I hope you’ll consider joining us on a future cruise if you’ve been considering it. I have discovered that as much as I love being able to rub elbows with the celebrities and science advisors, it’s the fandom of Star Trek that keeps me coming back year after year. When I’m feeling like life is overwhelming, and anxiety is beginning to creep into my day, all I need to do is picture myself walking down the Promenade, passing the Q’apla crew, perhaps catching a glimpse of Robert O’Reilly, waving at a friend across the room, and feeling, unquestionably, home.
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