Way way back in the long ago, I tried to arrange a cruise with my gaming group at the time. Sadly, schedules clashed and budgets didn’t work, so it never quite got off the ground. I’ve never let go of the idea, though, and after a recent cruise, I’ve been mulling it over once more.

Personally, I love cruises, even for all of their warts. I’m generally the planner for any group (shocking, I know), and doing something all-inclusive takes a lot off of my plate. I don’t have to worry about food, entertainment, or that one friend who decided to rent a room ten miles from the main venue because ‘it has a pool.’ If I can get everyone on the boat, all other details are already taken care of.

And who wouldn’t want to game in paradise?!

Pros

You can game pretty much everywhere, so why pick a cruise?

Flexible Budget. Even on the same ship, there’s a wide range of pricing options. Someone who’s on a limited budget can generally get everything covered for around $500 for a week-long cruise, which includes food, entertainment, and an interior room. Someone with a bigger budget can opt for a balcony, or even a suite, and add on things like drinking packages if they want. This is nearly impossible to do anywhere else.

Food is taken care of. Like, I know I keep mentioning this, but food can legit be one of the most annoying things to manage. You have different diets, different allergies, and even if everyone is on the same page, someone has to manage ordering it and collecting money. And god, don’t get me started on people insisting that we could just have a line of crock pots going. Y’all, I have done that dance. Those people always forget that someone has to mind and clean those damn things. On a boat, you just show up at around the right time and you can get some food!

Proximity. My example earlier about the person getting a hotel 10 miles away from the main group? Yeah, that happened to me. It was annoying because ten miles in DC is not a short jaunt, meaning coordinating became annoying. On a boat, you’re never more than a short walk away from anyone. The longest cruise ship I could find that’s active isn’t even a quarter of a mile long.

Wifi. Most ships these days have wifi, though you’ll see this show up in the cons, too. It’s fast enough to get most websites working fine, so you can look up rules and even use character builders if need be.

Seating. As someone who has been forced to sit on a stool during a six-hour game because I was the ‘smallest’, let me tell you, I love having nice seating that’s abundant.

Accessibility. Many cruise lines are insanely accessible. Not only do they offer accessible rooms, but every area is accessible via ramp or elevator. Due to an injury, I had to keep an eye out for this on our last cruise, and there wasn’t a single place where stairs were a hard requirement. Beyond physical accessibility, most offer accommodations for most major challenges someone might have. Every major line I checked had a section on their site for accessibility of all kinds.

Childcare. Honestly, I can’t think of another option where you can arrange for free or extremely cheap childcare for kids of all ages. I’ve partaken of the childcare on two cruise lines, and my kids often pushed to go to the camp rather than hang with the olds.

Cons

It’s not all sunshine and roses, though…

Sucks for solos. Room rates assume double occupancy. If you’re traveling alone and don’t want to bunk up, you’re paying extra. Some ships have rooms for singles, but still, don’t expect to get the deal that the couples get.

Food quality. Food is plentiful, but I would generally say it ranges from ‘fine’ to ‘good’, with the rare jump into ‘excellent.’ If you’re traveling with foodies, they might start to get grumpy.

Add-ons add up. Remember when I said we’d get back to the wifi situation? On every ship I could find, wifi is extra, and it’s charged per day. There’s other add-ons that can start to drive up the deal you’re getting: Soda packages, drink packages, booze in general, excursions, restaurants, etc.

Finding a spot. The best spots on the ship tend to fill up early, so if you’re in a group of late risers, you may need to hunt around for a bit. That, or have someone bite the bullet and get a suite.

Ship activities. You might find the perfect quiet spot to chill out and play your game… and then a quiz starts. Or a musician starts their set. Or a meet-up happens. There’s very few places on a ship that are left alone all day, so you have to mentally prepare yourself that things might get loud at some point.

Seasickness. It happens. Most people get over it after a day or two, and I’d say the vast majority of passengers never get it. But still, it’s a risk, and if it hits you, it can suck.

So, how would I do it?

For me, even with all the cons, I still think it could be a lot of fun. Here’s how I would do it:

Go for a week. I’ve been on cruises of all lengths, and I think a week would be perfect for this sort of thing. Shorter cruises, you don’t really have a chance to settle in (one of those days is dedicated to getting on the boat, so a 4 day cruise is actually a 3.5 day cruise). Longer, and it gets spendy, both in cost and PTO. A six to eight day cruise gives you time to settle in, experience everything, and still chill out.

Suite life! If one couple can swing it, totally get a suite. They come with extra seating and a balcony, which gives the group a place to game if all of the decks are full.

Electronics and materials. Laptops, even the small ones, are fairly clunky to use on a ship. Trust me, we tried on a few cruises, and it was a non-starter. Power supplies outside of your room can be rare, and tables are meant for holding drinks, not a crowd of laptops. If you can, move everything to tablets of some kind. Those, we had no problem slipping into bags and carrying everywhere.

And speaking of that, cut down on physical materials. You need to use the space around you efficiently on a ship, so you’re not going to have room for books and dice towers. Bring PDFs and dice rolling apps.

Maps… Man, this is the one thing I’ve been struggling with. As I said before, ships MOVE. Even on quiet days, there’s going to be a bit of rocking, meaning physical minis are out. Internet isn’t 100%, and not every player will want to pay for the fee, so VTTs are out. That leaves a few options:

• Magnetic battle map? I found hints of these existing online, but my admittedly short research session didn’t come up with a silver bullet. I feel like I could find something if I looked a bit longer, or I could make my own if need be.
• Graph paper. Kicking it old school! Literally, this is what we did when I was in high school. We used regular graph paper and erased a lot.
• Go 100% theater of the mind. This make some systems a lot rougher. It works great for Vampire: The Masquerade and MotW, but can make Pathfinder a huge headache. So maybe use this for games that are run in the open areas? I’m sure everyone wants to hear about whatever Banu bullshit we’re getting up to.

Herding cats. Ah, the most difficult part of any gaming group: Getting everyone to the table at the same time. Cruises are full of fun distractions, and honestly, I don’t think people should ignore something that really interests them. I know on my first cruise, I ran around and did literally everything on the schedule, and I don’t regret it. So, I’d assume that the table might be missing people, and adjust on the fly.

I’d also aim for times when everyone would be gathering anyway. Dinner is almost always at a set time, so game after that. During the day, maybe those who aren’t running around can gather in one of the bars and play something. One thing I wouldn’t do is overschedule. Cruises are supposed to be relaxing! We’re gaming in paradise!

Let’s talk moneydollars

Costs vary a lot by cruise line, time of year, departure port, type of room, and even the particular ship you pick. The cheapest months tend to be January through March, with prices going up during the summer and special occasions. Newer ships often cost more than ships that are due to be refurbished. Looking on cruise.com‘s comparison charts, I could find a range as large as $2000 between the cheapest and most expensive week-long trip.

For something like this, I’d go with the bargain or moderately priced cruise lines. Going lux is a waste of money if all you really want to do is roll dice with your friends, and honestly, pretending to be murderhobos on the expensive lines might get you the hairy eyeball. So that means picking a cruise line like Carnival, Princess, or Royal Caribbean (not an exhaustive list!). In my experience, Carnival is always going to be the cheapest option, while other lines might start cheap, but get more expensive when it comes to upgrading rooms and adding on packages.

That said, looking around Florida ports, winter interior cabins for a week tended to go for somewhere between $350 and $600 per person, while summer ranged from $500 to $800 for one week. So, not the cheapest expenditure (especially when considering flights), but way cheaper than hotel room for a week and three meals a day out of pocket.

Final thoughts

These items are neither here nor there, but are important to know.

Port days. The best days to find seating are going to be days when you’re in port (visiting a location). But staying on the ship means missing out on excursions or just walking around somewhere cool. I’d research beforehand to see if there was a stop that’s worth sitting out.

Flights. If you fly in, get in the day before the cruise leaves and get a hotel. Fly out in the late afternoon of debarkation day. Just trust me on this. You do NOT want to miss your cruise because your flight got delayed, and you don’t want to rebook because it took longer than expected to get off the boat.

Will I do it?

This was meant as more of a brain dump than a solid action plan, but I could absolutely see doing it in the next few years! Over the lockdown, my gaming circle grew large enough to make this feasible, if I can just get all the cats moving in the right direction.