18 Apr

A Whole New Kind of (Space) Cruise

What: A Two Night Adventure on the Galactic Starcruiser

When: March 7-9, 2022

Why: When the Starcruiser dates were released, Mukta and I knew we were booking.  I couldn’t make the first couple of dates, so we booked the third (fourth?) date! 

Who: Mukta, Myself, Kevin, and Gautam!

Here we are!

More About the Starcruiser: This was an experience unlike anything I’ve ever done, and I suspect unlike anything most of you have ever done either! Therefore, I’ll break from my normal format and give you some more information before we dive in.

Disney had made it very clear from the beginning that this was no ordinary hotel. In fact, you can’t even choose your number of nights to stay, or the day you would check in. It’s a two-night experience, and everyone checks in and out on the same day. You are with the same group the entire time.

There are 100 rooms onboard, and that’s a great number. It never felt overly crowded, and small enough where you saw familiar faces often.

This entire experience was set up like a cruise (albeit a cruise in space!). I can’t even begin to tell you how much I felt like I was on a cruise. And as an avid cruiser, I loved that!

This was also a very expensive two nights! Stephen, even being a Star Wars fan, said this didn’t sound like his kind of thing, so I went with Mukta! Splitting a room with someone else made the cost much more palatable.

This was my first experience with LARP-ing (Live Action Role Playing). In fact, I had never heard of LARP-ing before. And dressing up in costumes for events is not my thing! Once I realized that’s kind of what it was, I wasn’t sure I was ready for that!

Disney said this for the dress code – “We encourage you to dress the part with appropriately themed outfits and creative costumes that add to the fun.” They also said that guests were welcome in clothes from their home planet! Ha! 

I (wrongly) assumed that was our plan. When Mukta sent me pictures of her costumes, and told me Kevin and Gautam were working on theirs, I realized I could not be a fuddy dud! So I was in full scramble mode. I decided I was going for more of a Star Wars “bounding” idea as opposed to full costumes, although I did give in an order a Padme cape from a link of purchase options that Disney sent us before we left.

I mentioned to Ally that I was looking for things to wear and she said, “Why aren’t you just wearing Space Force clothes every day?”

I was like – Oh. Lightbulb. Such a good idea! Unfortunately, while I do have lots of Space Force gear, I didn’t have a lot of what I wanted and I didn’t have time to find it at this point, but I did throw some in! My t-shirt in the picture above is somewhat hidden, but it’s Space Force!

In the days leading up to the Starcruiser, I was on an actual ocean cruise on Royal Caribbean! Stephen listened to all the podcasts and read experiences from the first few voyages. On Sunday morning I was driving from Ft. Lauderdale after disembarking, on my way to Orlando where we would board the Starcruiser the next morning. Stephen called to tell me a few things. I asked him if he wanted to go now that he’d heard everything, and he said, “Oh yes. Totally.” So that was a good sign!

He did tell me I needed a backstory!

Um. Wut?

I didn’t have a backstory! He promised to write me one and send it. He did, and it was perfect!

Here are three of our backstories:

Mukta’s –

Gautam’s –

Mine –

The highlights of mine? I’m the leader of the Space Force on Coruscant, and I’m married to a mid-level imperial officer. If you know anything about Stephen, you will realize how perfect that is. 😊

Enough preamble! On with the trip report! 

A Whole New Kind of (Space) Cruise – March 7-9, 2022
Day 1 (Part One) – Whoa 
Day 1 (Part Two) – So Much Whoa
Day 2 (Part One) – Excursion to Batuu 
Day 2 (Part Two) – There May Have Been Tears 
Day 3 – Back From Space!