What compels a bunch of seemingly sane geek icons to trap themselves on a boat full of fans…for a week?? I wish I had the answer (since the very concept seems fraught with potential disaster), but thank goodness there are so many willing to take one for the team.
March 2017 marks the 7th sailing of JoCo Cruise: an annual, weeklong cruise that began as a Jonathan Coulton fan cruise back in 2011. The experience is equal parts nerdy convention and music festival – which has developed a cult following – and is known for its daily concerts, 24-hour game room, welcoming “Sea Monkey” community, more geeky onboard events than you could possible attend – and a wide variety of high profile, awesome guests on board.
The first wave of guest has been announced (See what I did there? Wave? OK, moving on…), and it’s pretty darn spectacular. Just take a look at that lineup up there, and tell me you don’t want to be on that boat. I know I sure do.
Remember: they’re all trapped on a boat…with YOU! This is your chance to corner Paul & Storm and force them to sing a barbershop quartet with you and a random stranger. When else will you have the chance to grab Peter Sagal for a little one-on-one Bluff the Listener or Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank?
Want to chat Westworld or Winter Solder with Ed Brubaker? Sing harmony with Aimee Mann? Get private cello lessons from The Doubleclicks? Have your novel critiqued by Maureen Johnson or John Scalzi?
OK…I can’t actually guarantee any of those things will happen. And you might find yourself tossed overboard if you actually try to make them a reality. But that doesn’t take away any of the awesomeness that is the JoCo Cruise. What can I promise?
- Daily live music and comedy, both large-scale (in the ship’s main theater) and smaller-scale (in the ship’s various other lounges and public spaces).
- An enormous library of games, a 24-hour gaming area (featuring tabletop, RPG, and card gaming opportunities), and free play throughout the ship. Plus tournaments, new game playtesting, Q&A sessions, and meetups.
- A writing track that features panels, readings, and hangouts throughout the week with some of the most creative minds currently working in fiction, comics, webcomics, music, film, and television.
- Celebrity “office hours,” panels and Q&As, karaoke nights, dance parties, open-mic nights, cocktail parties, and movie nights.
- And a ton of other, more-spontaneous events organized by the guests.
The 2017 cruise will depart from San Diego, CA, on Saturday, March 4th and return on Saturday, March 11th, with ports of call at Cabo San Lucas, Pichilingue, and Loreto. You can book now, and although staterooms aren’t exactly cheap, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more awesomely geeky cruise.
Bon voyage!
That is pretty nerdy and sounds awesome with that lineup.
I started looking into some geeky type cruises and there is also another cruise I heard of this year called GaCuCon Cruise which is more of a gamer thing.
Seems like this cruise event thing is catching on which is great because I love conventions but am starting to hate convention halls lol.