Dearest Rachel –
I wasn’t the one to bring it up to my dad when I visited him yesterday, but I’d already read the news item about the fellow when Dad broached the subject. Not that it should surprise me (although it did, since I assumed that most of the folks there would likely be my age or older, unlike the clientele of the typical cruise, since who has that kind of both time and money to do such a thing but affluent retirees?), but it appears that I’m not the only person blogging – or planning to blog – about my (admittedly, future) experiences aboard the Ultimate World Cruise. It seems they’ve had a TikTokker aboard already, busily “spilling the goss,” as the kids say, about his relatively brief (eighteen days; long for most cruises, but miniscule in comparison to this particular one) experience.
From what I can tell, he didn’t always have the best time while aboard – although I’ll cut him some slack, as travelling, and cruising in particular, isn’t apparently his niche, so he had no clue what to expect from such an event (he described the ship as “a retirement home with a Cheesecake Factory attached,” which is clever enough, if somewhat harsh) – but some of his problems seem to have been self-inflicted. By way of example, he apparently discovered from hard experience that you don’t make comparisons to the Titanic while aboard the ship – at least, not in public. I mean, I’d looked up such comparisons between it and the Quest on last year’s trip, but that was between Daniel and myself in the privacy of our cabin. Talking about it loudly in public, while it simply never occurred to me to do so, strikes me as roughly akin to joking about bombs in an airport, or calling out “guilty” instead of “present” when roll is called during jury duty. Some things just aren’t supposed to be done.
Apparently, too, some of his choices in attire, particularly for formal nights, were a bit… outré… for the more typical cruising clientele. Sure, tiaras and baseball caps go together if you’re terminally online, but among those of an older generation, they tend to turn some heads, and not necessarily in a good way. Indeed, some of his choices weren’t even allowed in the main dining room, from what I read (no, I’m not planning on checking out his videos; I may not care about spoilers as much as you do, but I’m not going to rely on the perspective of a fellow who lives by online rules in the middle of real life). As such, he even went so far as to inform the godmother of the ship herself of his experience; which, since I don’t watch “The View” either, I don’t know any more of those details either, nor do I care to.
But hey, that’s the TikTok generation for you, I suppose; the whole point of “getting clout” is stirring up drama – doing the most outrageous, obnoxious things in order to get attention. And since it works – look, there’s no point trying to deny it; he gets views, and lots of them – we’re gonna keep getting more of that kind of behavior as time goes on, I suppose. Any parent will tell you that what you reward in a child, you get more of from that child. I just hope I don’t wind up with a clout-chaser like him as a neighbor, or a table mate, once I’m aboard.
The question becomes, then… how do I avoid becoming that clout-chaser myself?
I mean, there’s no question about the fact that I’m doing much the same thing, in writing and sending videos to you (admittedly, the latter still leaves me painfully self-conscious about the process – it just seems weird to be out in public, talking to my phone, while holding it out in my arm or a selfie stick. Don’t I look ridiculous to everybody else?). I may not have the million followers that this fellow does – in fact, you are essentially my only real audience; everybody else is just a side benefit – but am I not acting just as he is along the way, by focusing my attention on trying to record things and post them online?
I’m hoping it’s just a matter of perspective. Since I’m (somewhat) more accustomed to life aboard ship – and, if you’ll excuse me for saying it, real life in general – that measure of self-consciousness should serve as a restraining bolt to keep me in check from some of the more egregiously attention-seeking actions. That, and the fact that my livelihood doesn’t depend on getting that many people to notice me and what I’m doing – indeed, the more unobtrusive I can be, the better. I’m just hoping to record my experience in real time for you to keep an eye on me – and for me to remember some day in the future when I can’t quite do so on my own anymore. If anyone wants to follow me along as I document this, that’s wonderful, but it’s not some kind of imperative I need to demand or struggle to maintain. Additionally, I don’t want to get in the way of someone else having their own good time, nor do I have the right to belittle their idea of a good time. Odds are, I might be in their shoes some day; something this fellow could probably stand to bear in mind (not that anyone should expect that he will).
Ah, well… that’s youth for you. I wish him luck, I guess, and ask the same from you. It looks like we’re both going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 