Adeena Reports on Star Trek: The Cruise!

[00:00:00] This is the Big Sci-Fi Podcast, the biggest sci-fi podcast in the galaxy, a proud part of the Trek Geeks Podcast Network. Season 6 was a blast, but Season 7 is going to be even more fun as we continue to go where no podcast has gone before, deep into the sci-fi universe.

[00:00:18] Join Adeena, Brian, Chris and Steve as they explore television, film and literature for the best sci-fi has to offer. Even if you're not a sci-fi fan, you'll love the banter and the epic tangents as these four friends talk about what they love. We invite you to sit back and relax because the journey is just beginning on this season of The BIG Sci-Fi Podcast.

[00:00:46] And welcome back big sci-fi fans to a very special edition of our podcast. We have a very special guest with us today and her name is Adeena Mignogna. And why is Adeena our guest today? You might be wondering that is because she just got back from Star Trek The Cruise 8. That's right. There has been eight of these things and she was on this past one, just got back and they celebrated.

[00:01:14] The 30th anniversary of Voyager. That was the main thing going on in the ship throughout the cruise. Of course, other Star Trek-y things and fun stuff happening, but that was what they were celebrating. And so we decided to jump on the Zoom room and talk about the cruise while it's still fresh in Adeena's mind. But before we introduce Adeena officially or let her talk for the first time, say hello to Mr. Steve Merkin all the way from Los Angeles, California.

[00:01:42] Hey, howdy, folks. Okay, I meant to say Southern Alabama, but anyways, also from the Ontario, greater Ontario area of Canada, our good friend who is representing our good friends, all of Canada, the Canadian people. We happen to appreciate Canada very much on this podcast. Christian Fox, welcome to the show again, brother.

[00:02:13] Thank you so much. Excited to be here. Oh, man. He's looking really flashy with his new glasses. Thank you, everybody. We need to talk about that. And I'm Brian Donahue from It Was Sunny Yesterday, But It's Raining Now, Ohio. Ohio. That's the official title of Ohio. It was sunny yesterday, but now it's raining, Ohio. Same as California. Oh, you've got some rain? Really? Yeah. Sunny yesterday, raining today. Thank goodness.

[00:02:43] Enough for the weather reports. Need the rain. This weather report has been brought to you by... Just kidding. So anyways, we're here to talk to our own Adina Mignona, who is safely back in Maryland. And Adina, how you doing? And we can't wait to hear all about the fabulous Star Trek cruise. I am great. I am so excited to tell you guys everything. It was even better than I expected.

[00:03:11] If you remember, I was on the cruise last year and we talked. We did this recording while I was on the ship. Oh, yeah. I forgot. Yeah. I listened to that. And one of the reasons why I wanted to wait to do this until we got back is I was very unhappy with the quality of how that came out. It's just the internet access on the ship is a little spotty and it kept dropping words. And I didn't really realize that at the time. So I would say a sentence and keywords were missing.

[00:03:41] So I apologize, everybody. You missed a few things. We're glad you have gotten that off your chest and that you have cleared the air about that because we have been really steaming about that. I know. I know. I'm a little human. I just can't. I know. I'm sorry. But it was different going. Chris corrected my English. Thank you. No, I bet the steaming works too. Okay. Okay. But it was different now going this year as a returning person because now I knew much more what to expect.

[00:04:10] So last year I went and I had, I had cruised several times before, but last year was the first Star Trek cruise I had been on. And now returning to a Star Trek cruise, knowing a lot more what to expect. And even the ship, while it was a different ship, it's the same class ship. So same size, same layout. So I was already familiar with all the things and the places to eat and the fitness center and just the whole layout.

[00:04:39] So it was just kind of like returning. And in some ways I did a few things that were the same as last year, like, you know, going to the gym and kind of how I ate and stuff. But then a lot of ways I did a lot of different things, mostly because of the people I was hanging out with this year. I was hanging out with different people. And we even had a little project, which I'm excited to tell everybody about because it ties into Trek Long Island, which we'll all be at in a couple months.

[00:05:08] But it was a great week. I felt like I was on vacation for the first time in 15 or more years. And so I had a great time. Wonderful. How was the accommodations? Were they the same type of room you had the last time? Or is it a different room? Different room. So last time I splurged and got a balcony room, which on a regular cruise I enjoy. And if I were to go on a regular cruise again, I still want the balcony room.

[00:05:35] But on this cruise in particular, so I got an interior room this year and which I've had before when I've been on cruises before I have had interior rooms. So I knew what to expect there. And which mostly what you expect there is it gets really, really dark. You turn off the lights, you're inside. It's very dark. But what I noticed last year is really I spent, other than sleeping and taking a shower, I was not motivated to be in my room at all. I want to be out there doing stuff with people.

[00:06:03] And so I knew coming in this year, getting the interior room was going to be fine because I'm not going to want to be in the room. And that's exactly what happened. You know, I was pretty much there to sleep, to get changed, to just stop by, to drop stuff off, pick stuff up. You know, yeah. And that's definitely, I'm already booked for next year for the ninth cruise. Wow. Which will be also the, next year is the 60th anniversary of Star Trek. Ah, okay. Right.

[00:06:32] So it's going to be a pretty, we have this feeling it's going to be a fairly epic cruise. And next year, like, William Shatner is supposed to be on board, all that. So, yeah, that was my long-winded answer to your question about my accommodation. Okay. No, that's, I appreciate it because, you know, that's the thing about cruising is that some people like interior, but they're bothered by maybe the motion of the ship. Some people, and they feel claustrophobic. Other people like the balcony.

[00:06:59] I went on a cruise last year in August with my wife to Alaska, and we had a balcony, and we sat on there. We enjoyed the view. We made use of it. But if you're not going to, as you said, you're- Right, right. Yeah, you're doing Star Trek things. Yeah. So why, you know, if you're going to, if even, there is a substantial price difference between balcony and interior room. So, yeah, I mean, if you're just using it for your amenities, then you're out and about the whole time.

[00:07:29] Yeah. And yeah, you did, that was good. One of the cool amenities, though, when you are in the room is several channels on the TV are playing Star Trek. Mm. Oh, that's cool. Okay. Yeah, yeah. And now, it's on a loop. It's not like, there's a channel that's the Voyager channel, but it's only looping through like a handful of episodes, like 10 episodes or so. So throughout the week, you pop it on, you might be seeing the same episode again. Right, right. As opposed, I don't know, and I don't know why, what limits the selection. But then there's a few different channels.

[00:07:59] So you can turn the channel and get an original series episode, next generation episode, a movie, you know, something like that. So you have still some choice. And it's also fun, there was one day, again, similar to last year, I spent like one hour in a bathing suit. I didn't go into any pools or anything, but I did get into my bathing suit and went up on deck. And they were playing Star Trek IV, you know, my favorite movie. Oh, on the big screen, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I just sat there, I had some ice cream and like watched Star Trek IV for a while.

[00:08:29] Excellent. Nice. Yeah, that sounds fun. And repeated the words to my neighbors. I told them that I would probably be doing that and they were perfectly okay with that. Oh, it's a dream. That's awesome. Did you get to do any search for Spock stuff? Did you get to do our favorite Genesis? No, that one didn't come up at all. Star Trek IV came up a lot. And that was because they were also playing it.

[00:08:56] There was one of the bars, so they take all the bars that are on the ship and each bar is rethemed also in Star Trek. So there was like the Bat-Lift bar, which we spent a lot of time at. There was the Starfleet Academy bar. Nice. There was an EMH one. Oh, yeah. And I think those are the main ones. Oh, and then the Gorn's something. Oh, I'm blanking on the name of it. But the quote-unquote piano bar was Gorn something.

[00:09:26] It was Gorn themed. Okay. That's kind of cool. Maybe it was Sean de Gorn. No, I'm sorry. Sean de Gorn. It was Gorn something. And I'll have to look it up. But yeah, so the art, a lot of the art and a lot of themes were different from last year. There were a few pieces that were the same. So if you go to the casino, it's Quark's casino. And same thing last year. It was also, so I could tell that some of the entryway art that was like Quark. And he's like, you know, come to my casino.

[00:09:56] Get your Latinum here. You know, that was the same. But the felt on the tables, like on the blackjack tables and everything, that was different this year. Interesting. With a Star Trek theme? Because it said Star Trek The Cruise. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yep. They refelted many of the tables. Wow. Not every single table, but lots of them. Okay. And it was definitely different from last year because it did say Star Trek The Cruise 8 on them. So that's how, you know, I know it was new. All right. That's neat.

[00:10:24] And I took pictures last year and this year too, so. All right. All right. All right. Who'd you meet? Who'd you say cans with, hug, get a picture with? You know. Did you eat with anyone? Come on. Like just hang out? Yes. Fill the beans. Yes. I met, I pretty much met everybody. Let's see. So let's, what order should I do this in? Okay. Well, ahead of time, you can purchase photo ops and autographs.

[00:10:54] So I did a few of those ahead of time. So I had a photo session with Jonathan Frakes. Awesome. Because I keep missing him. He's like canceled on me three times. Jerry, Jerry Ryan. That's awesome. Very cool. Cool. Roxanne Dawson. Yeah. Mostly to round out my Starfleet engineer collection. I'm almost done with my Starfleet engineer collection. And also, I was also looking at it like, who do I not encounter at conventions frequently?

[00:11:21] Because some of these people I do encounter, like I've met Garrett Wong like several times now. You know. So who have I not seen? And who am I unlikely to see in the next, you know, year or two? So Roxanne Dawson was high on that list. And then, of course, Kate Mulgrew. Oh, wonderful. Beautiful. And the loveliest thing about doing the photo op with Kate and even Roxanne is they're the ones I'm able to tell the story of, hey, I'm an engineer working in aerospace.

[00:11:48] And in particular with Kate Mulgrew, so Voyager came on while I was in college. So I was already down my STEM path. I was already heading down that path. I already knew I wanted to be an engineer in aerospace. But what I didn't really appreciate until I recently rewatched Voyager is how much Captain Janeway definitely had an effect on my leadership style. And most of my career, I'm not just an engineer.

[00:12:16] I've mostly been a team lead or manager or some way, shape or form leading teams. And when I was rewatching Voyager, I was like, oh, wow. Like, I can see it. I didn't realize how much of an effect her character had on me. I can see it now. And so I was able to tell Kate Mulgrew that.

[00:12:35] And I don't think any of them gets tired of hearing the stories of how Trek and their characters have impacted people, no matter what it is. And to segue for a second, one of the evenings entertainment, Robert Picardo put on an opera thing. And what that was, and a lot of people ahead of time were like, I don't want to go see opera. And I was like, wait a second. Come on, guys.

[00:13:04] You know, it's going to be. It's the doctor. Yes. But the thing is, you know, it's not just going to be straight opera. You know, they're doing something. They know this audience. They're not going to just do straight opera. They're going to do something entertaining for this audience. And that's what they did. So Picardo brought along this guy, Arturo. Oh, gosh, I'm liking his last name. But he's like some world famous opera guy. Did he mention his name when he was on the show? I think he did. He did mention. Was that somebody else? Okay. When he was on our show.

[00:13:34] Yes, when he was on our show. I think he did. I think he did. I should say. But so they did interesting things where they would show a little bit of opera from Voyager and explain the background of it. And then like the real opera guy would sing some of it. And so it was like a mix of stories and singing. They also did two really cool, interesting things.

[00:13:55] One, they took the famous scene from Star Trek II where Khan and Kirk are speaking, where Kirk is in the Genesis planet and Khan steals a Genesis device and he thinks he's leaving Kirk. He thinks he's stranding Kirk. Right. And turn that scene into opera. Oh, that's so cool. So wait a minute. Right. The music, they added music to the dialogue. Oh, wow. And then they sung the dialogue. So it was exact dialogue.

[00:14:25] They sung the dialogue in an operatic style, an English operatic style. But then with operatic music, it was, again, I'm not an opera fan, but that was amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be really cool. And then Jen, who is the Klingon pop singer. Yep. She apparently also has classical training. She came out and did Klingon opera. Oh, that's awesome. I'd love to hear that. In Klingon. Awesome. In Klingon. Yes. She did Klingon opera.

[00:14:54] So it was an amazing show. She was at Trek Long Island last year. Yes. I don't know how I met her last year. I think she will be back. I think I heard that. She was there at least one year, and I think she will be back, too. So she was amazing. Totally amazing. So that was my segue from, you know, and one of the things that Picardo was saying is that, you know, a lot of us, me especially, we talk about how Star Trek has motivated us

[00:15:22] in our engineering or STEM careers. But there were a lot of people that saw the opera in Voyager, and it motivated them in their music. Ah. That's amazing. And they showed some clips on the screen, too, of some famous musicians and stuff talking about the motivation. And even Arturo talked about it, too. He is also a Star Trek fan. So it's not just the STEM engineering. So that was my segue there is I don't think any of them get tired of hearing how much of

[00:15:51] an impact they've had on all the rest of us. Okay. So I did all my, I had all my photo ops and autographs with those four. But then there are two other pieces of the story to tell you, like who did I just kind of randomly talk to and meet? And the main two people I want to shout out to is one, Robert O'Reilly. Oh, okay. Who played Gowron. Yeah. So on Sunday afternoon. Those eyes. Yes.

[00:16:21] And he still has, it's amazing. He has the eyes in real life. It's crazy. Yes. So the first day we're on the ship, we're sailing away, and there's this one bar lounge, and they call it the observation. It's the observation deck. And it's my favorite place on the ship because you get a really wide view. You know, you're facing forward. You're aft on the ship, but you're facing forward. So you get kind of like a really wide view. And it's also, unless there's an activity happening up there, a scheduled activity,

[00:16:49] it's a pretty quiet place on the ship. So last year was my favorite place to go. And again, this year is my favorite place to go. So when we're sailing away, that's where I want to go up and be. And so I go up with my friend, Paul, and we see, you know, Mr. O'Reilly sitting there. And I look, I'm like, let's go sit with him. So we did. And we chatted. He's also from the Long Island, New York region.

[00:17:14] And so we talked about ships and boats and the water and being from New York and stuff. And he was, he was super sweet. So that was one. Nice. And then the other one now, and I think I talked about this last year is the, the idea of when can you approach some of the celebrities versus not? Like if you're in a restaurant in real life and you see a celebrity there, right. But on the cruise ship is, is very different.

[00:17:43] So you have very public eating places. Like you have like the large buffet and then there are other, like there's the main dining room and the celebrities, they do have other places to go. There's like a green room like place and everything. So if you see a celebrity, if they're, if they're coming out into the public, very public buffet and sitting down to eat, I think it's kind of understood. I mean, you have to be respectful, but it's kind of fair game. You can, they are there to interact, you know, and they know it.

[00:18:13] Now, sometimes they might be popping through the buffet to grab something quickly because they're on the way. And that is really the most convenient thing. But they're, they're move in that case, they are moving with purpose, you know? And so I think last year I told you guys, I got like a fist bump from John Delancey in that situation because, you know, he was moving with purpose. But when they're sitting down to eat, it's, it is okay. So I saw one afternoon, I saw Ethan Phillips sitting there and I asked him, can I join you? He said, sure. And it was quick.

[00:18:43] He was nearly done with his meal. So we were only sitting there five to 10 minutes, but he's an avid reader. So of course, you know, I'm an avid reader. So he's telling me about the latest book I read. And he actually asked me how I got into Trek, which I told him. And I asked him if he considers himself a Trekkie at all or anything. He told me he doesn't, he said he's seen maybe six episodes of Voyager.

[00:19:08] But that's more because he doesn't want to see himself at, he's not interested in seeing himself act, which I get, I get. I have a hard time listening to myself or seeing myself on video. So I totally get that. But he was delightful. And then the next day, I was sitting there with my roommate and he was looking for a place to sit. So I said, hey, you want to sit with us? And he did. Again, you know, like 15, these are quick lunches. So for 15 minutes, we talked more about books. I think that's the beauty.

[00:19:38] They like to talk about something other than what everybody always talks about. Well, what about the broth that Neelix made? And blah, blah, blah. You know. Right. They want to talk about themselves. Yes. No, I want to talk about books. Yeah. And then the third, let's see, I saw, I ran into Garrett Wong a couple of times between that bar and the buffet. And then Robin Curtis. Oh, yeah. I ran into her. I ran into the show. That's beautiful.

[00:20:08] There it is. Now, she did this amazing, amazing, amazing show in the evening. She did a reading, something that she wrote. It was called, it's like a woman's sexual odyssey for the first 68 years. I'm butchering the name of this. But it was her personal story of her sexuality for her first 68 years.

[00:20:31] It was amazing in so many ways because she is so open and candid in a way that I don't think I've encountered in real life before. And so when I saw her the next day, we talked about, you know, we talked about it and I was telling her how blown away I was. So she's read that before in a few places and I'm hoping that there's like a recording

[00:20:57] or something of that in her future for that because it is good for people to be candid and open about their sexuality in that way. I feel like we are generally very repressed and that's not necessarily a good thing. So that was amazing. And then we talked about that. I think those were the primary things in the wild.

[00:21:23] And then the last set of encounters is, this is going to be related to Trek Long Island because Trek Long Island, hopefully people know that one of the purposes of that convention is to raise money every year for one or more charities. This year, the primary charity is Library for the Kind, which puts books in the hands of kids and their families

[00:21:48] that support diversity, inclusion, kindness, because every kid deserves to see themselves in a book. And what we did before getting on the ship, we printed out, me and my friend who I was traveling with, we printed out the Library for the Kind logo on a large poster board. And my friend Paul, so I'm the science coordinator for Trek Long Island. He's a diversity coordinator for Trek Long Island. So we had this poster board made. Actually, we had two of them made.

[00:22:15] And the intent was, we knew we were going to be able to get Chase Masterson to sign it. We really wanted to try hard to get Kate Mulgrew to sign it. And then see how many other celebrities we could get to sign it. We got at least a dozen. Wow. Wow. That's great. So this board is going to be auctioned off at Trek Long Island. Oh, wow. And so let's see. So the signatures that are on it, and there's a handful of fan signatures too.

[00:22:45] So it's a really, I'm sure that board will be seen on social media in the coming months, you know, ahead of the auction. But so Chase Masterson signed it, Kate Mulgrew, Jonathan Frakes, Denise Crosby, Tim Russ, Bob Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Bob O'Reilly, Von Armstrong, Jeffrey Combs. Who am I forgetting? There are more. Oh, Tawny Newsome. Oh, great.

[00:23:16] Roxanne Dawson signed it. Linda Park signed it. Oh. That's cool. Nice. So every series, Robin Curtis signed it. Every series is represented on this board. That is fantastic. Very cool. Well, I tell you, I'm leaving my checkbook at home because I'm afraid what that will go for in the ultimate. Because, oh my God, to have all those signatures. It looks really nice. Like, it looks really nice. I can't wait until everyone sees it because I'm very pleased with how it came out.

[00:23:46] And we also got people, Rob Perlman signed it. Larry Nemechek, Dr. Trek signed it too. Yeah. And you know, I really love how it looks. And yes, if I would love to bid on it, I don't think I'll be able to afford it. No. I'd be able to afford it either. This might be the sky's the limit. Yes. Oh, Nana Visitor signed it. Oh, my God. Oh, man.

[00:24:10] So the last two days on the ship, or the last two sea days, I didn't do, other than the evening shows, I didn't, you know, we didn't do any other programming. We were basically going to the different autograph sessions because that was the place to be. We were working with their publicist slash agent people to basically get their signatures for this charity board. And everyone was super helpful, super nice. We, you know, we explained what we were doing. I mean, it's for charity.

[00:24:37] It's, again, for books for kids for a good reason. That is wonderful. I think everyone gets that. Yes. Without a doubt. So that took up, you know, again, we started early in the week, but it was like that last two days that we were like, because I think at some point we were like, let's see what kind of signatures we can get. Let's get a few. But then it turned into, okay, let's see if we can get them all. Yes. Right. So, so who is in possession of this document of amazing signatures? Right. Where is it right now?

[00:25:07] Who's, who's guarding it with their life? It, it is being guarded. And that was the other thing is as we got more signatures, you know, kind of recognizing the, wow, we are in possession of something pretty valuable. And so, yes, it's, it's taken care of. It's in an indisclosed spot. Yeah. It is. Fort Knox. It's in Fort Knox right now. It is. Paul is going to make an inventory of who's on the board.

[00:25:34] And then I'm going to make a map because sometimes you can't always recognize the signatures and such. So I'm going to kind of draw like a map of who's signature is where. Okay. Very good. Very good. You were going to say, Brian. Yes. Is there anything that surprised you this time around? Pleasantly is what I'm digging for. Really? Was there any pleasant surprises that you weren't expecting?

[00:26:01] Well, seeing Kate Mulgrew and her, her show. So the last evening, it was an evening with Kate Mulgrew. And while I have been at a convention with her, I was on stage doing my own stuff in a side room. So I hadn't seen her speak in that kind of a form before. That was, that was the first time I'd ever seen that.

[00:26:25] And her stage presence, just her speaking is unbelievable. So when she came out on stage, she came out to a standing ovation. And I've been in lots of situations where plenty of people have had standing ovations before. And usually the person on stage, when that happens, the person on stage is like, oh, thank you very much. Please sit down. Please sit down.

[00:26:50] And they, they say that please sit down like five times before and people will slowly start to sit down. Whoa. So here, Kate, all she did was like, raise her hand. And she calmly said, sit. We all sat. I got goosebumps. It was like, our captain just gave us an order. We are all complying.

[00:27:15] It was the eeriest thing like I'd ever experienced in that kind of a setting before. I mean, it was cool. And, and her stage presence, how she carries herself on stage. I can only like hope to halfway emulate something like that in my own stage stuff. And it might be the Catherine Hepburn tie. And she played Catherine Hepburn on stage. And she even did a little Catherine Hepburn impression for us, which was just, again, she's amazing. And she was amazing.

[00:27:44] So her, so her evening with Kate Mulgrew is at first she called out Brandon Braga and kind of interviewed, had a Q&A just with him. That's nice. Which was really. Oh boy. Oh yeah. That was really interesting because she asked him some very candid questions that we don't think he was, knew he was going to be asked. Oh wow. And, and the rumor, and this is a rumor, I don't know the truth. So the way these shows work, there's two performances usually in an evening.

[00:28:14] Apparently, so I, I saw the first performance every evening. Apparently he didn't go on stage the second time. So that's all rumor. And if he didn't go on, we're just speculating. Because like, don't know for a fact why he might not have gone on stage, but everyone felt the questions were very like, I don't want to say like attacking, but they, they could make someone very uncomfortable, I guess.

[00:28:43] Were the, were the questions. So the evening one again would be Kate interviewing Brandon. For 15 minutes. And she told us, she's like, I only want to talk to him for like 10, 15 minutes. And then, and then the rest of the evening was her taking questions from the audience and using that as a springboard to tell stories. But the second show, which he did not appear in, was also going to be interviewed by Kate one more time. Is that right? We think that that was the intent. And so maybe.

[00:29:12] And again, I'm just here to say that he didn't come on stage. I don't know this for a super fact. But she did do a second, she did another second stage where she interviewed, she discussed things. So again, the question is, and the, the wondering is, did he just not want to go under the. Right. The spotlight. Under the. Of Captain Janeway. Which I could understand. I mean, if he was not prepared for that. Mm-hmm. I can clearly understand that.

[00:29:39] And there were questions that I don't think anyone else could have asked him because. So in the moment, I wasn't thinking it was crossing a line because again, I don't know what her relationship is with him. If you know how good or not good it is. I feel like it should have been good in order for him to do that just to begin with. Right. But I don't really know. And yeah, I don't know. So. But it was, it was interesting. I saw him one time at Star Trek Las Vegas being interviewed on stage.

[00:30:09] He seemed like a very timid person and maybe he was not prepared for the type of questions that you, you heard and saw. And maybe that was just, he didn't want to do it again. You know, that's very. Yeah, I know. That, that is a speculate. Again, that's speculation. I don't know that for a fact. It's just speculation. Okay. Interesting. But like I said, overall, I was very pleasantly surprised just by her, seeing her on stage, seeing her command presence on stage.

[00:30:37] That, that was probably the most surprising thing. Wow. That's great. That's great. I'm glad you had a great time doing this. Yeah, that sounds like an amazing time. Yeah. Yeah. Just to be, I mean, I've gone, I've gone to Trek conventions only one day, but to do a whole week on a cruise and be immersed in it 110%.

[00:31:00] And to have the chance to, like you said, to sit down and have a nice nosh with Neelix, I think that's pretty special. That's hilarious because that was the word I use. You use nosh. A couple times I use nosh and well, because in between when I was having lunch and when I was having dinner, I needed a nosh in the afternoon. That's exactly, that's exactly the word I use with my friends. But when you say, you know, immersed 110%, it's actually not necessarily that immersive.

[00:31:28] And I want to point that out because I know at least one of my friends was hesitating to sign up because he was worried about it being too immersive. Right, right. And it's only that immersive if you want to be that immersed. There are plenty of places to go on the ship where you are feeling like you're getting away to include your own cabin. Right. But there's the library, the fitness center, all these places. And you can feel like you're not super immersed.

[00:31:56] And a lot of people bring their, you know, non-Trek spouse or partner. And they usually do have a great time. So, but if you want to be fully, like, Trek the whole time, yes, you can certainly be. Okay. But you also aren't, you know, you're not, you can get away if that all makes sense. Plus we have days where we're at port. And those days you don't have to get off the boat, but there's no Trek programming really during the day. You know, you could stay on the ship.

[00:32:26] You could stay on the ship and go to the pool. You could do whatever you want. Right. But those days are very light on the programming during the day. And so we had this year, there were three port days. The first two I got off the ship. The third one, I chose to not get off the ship. Partly because the first two days I might have spent a little bit more money on souvenirs than I planned. So the third day it was like, well, how do I prevent myself from doing it again? I don't put myself in that situation.

[00:32:54] But also it was, we were in Belize, which you're anchored, you're not docked. And so you need to take a tender to the thing. And it was going to be like a half hour. And I was like, okay, you know, this is my day to just stay on the ship where it's going to be quiet. And what I did is I walked every single deck up and down to look at all of the door decorations. Because that's the thing on cruise ships too. Yes, yes. Oh, that's fun. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:23] On a normal cruise ship, people will decorate their doors, you know. And then on the Star Trek cruise, well, it's decorated with all the Star Trek stuff. But there's also a door decorating contest. So people are motivated to do it. So I did deck by deck. I walked all of it. I ended that day with 20,000 steps. Wow. Very good. All the steps. Yeah. Nice. So, yeah. Because I would do a couple decks. Because, you know, when I'm walking it, I'm looking at everyone.

[00:33:52] I'm taking a picture. And in some cases, a lot of them are interactive. Where maybe they want you to write a message. Or they want you to do something. And so I was taking the time to do all the things. So it took me an hour. Like, I think I did two decks. And then I took a break to go get a nosh with some friends. And then picked up where I left off. And then, you know, continued. But no, it was a lot of fun. The one that won had done a recreation of the entryway to Che Sandrine.

[00:34:24] Tom Paris' holiday program. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And it was really good. It was really well done. Do you know, if I was on the Star Trek cruise, what beverage of choice I would have in my hand at all times? What beverage of choice would you have? Root beer. That's actually the perfect thing. It's Trek, but it's also just root beer, which is awesome. You know, it might have a splash of something here or there in it too.

[00:34:52] But I would have root beer. Guys, I don't know about you, but my life feels dull and boring after listening to Adina. I feel pathetic and rather depressed about my current situation. No, I'm just kidding. But, you know, also coming back from a cruise. Yeah, sure. It's all, you know, now I'm back to real life. That's vacation.

[00:35:20] We're living vicariously through Adina and the cruise. Okay. That's what we're doing, folks. Yes. Adina, it's fun. It was fun last year talking to you about the cruise. It's been a lot of fun hearing you. And guys, because we're an audio podcast, you just can't even picture the joy that's on her face as she describes different aspects of her trip and the fun she had.

[00:35:45] And we are pleased to be able to bring you this little slice of the Star Trek cruise. And we'll do it the same again next year because Adina's already signed up for that. I am rebooked. If you're a fan of the big sci-fi podcast, make sure you look for her. I'm sure occasionally she wears the big sci-fi podcast t-shirt while she's on board the ship. If you're a fan and you enjoy the podcast, make sure you reach out to her.

[00:36:13] We're all also going to be at Trek Long Island here at the end of May. Yes. And so make sure you check that out. It's going to be a lot of fun. They've got a terrific lineup of guests this year. It's absolutely out of this world. So exciting to see what's happening all up and down this convention this year. So make sure you check that out. Sign up for that now and reserve your hotel room, all that stuff. And come hang out with us.

[00:36:41] We'd love to just hang out with you and learn about you like we do a lot of our guests here on the podcast. And again, just again, shout out to Adina. Thank you for sharing your lovely experiences with us on the podcast and with all of our listeners. If you'd like to learn more about the big sci-fi podcast, encourage you to follow us. We have a Facebook group and a public page on Facebook. Just type in the big sci-fi podcast and both of those will pop up for you. We have an Instagram account too, don't you know?

[00:37:09] You can learn about us on the Instagram. We post occasionally fun stuff on there too. And also check us out on the Trek Geeks website, trekgeeks.com slash big sci-fi podcast. This has been a very special edition of our podcast, the Star Trek Cruise 8 Special Edition. Until next time, stay strong, keep loving each other, and be kind to your neighbors.