Friendship 2024

Photo cred: Courtney Hansen

On January 6th, 2024 I embarked on my 10th music cruise led by Gary Richards (aka Destructo). It all started back in January 2012, when I took the Maiden Voyage on a little cruise called Holy Ship! At the time, no one knew what this was or what to expect. It was just something that looked like it could be fun and the price wasn’t bad. I was living in Dallas at the time, but had heard about it when I was back home visiting California, so I rounded up a little Dallas crew and we set out on the adventure of our lifetimes upon the beautiful MSC Poesia. Little did we know that our lives were about to be changed forever.

Holy Ship! connected me to the most wonderful community of friends throughout the world. It connected me with like minded, hardworking individuals who share the same love for music, travel, new experiences, and general idea of living life to its fullest. I have been able to travel the world with these friends and have the comfort of knowing I’ll have a friend who will open up their home to me, or a friend to grab dinner with, almost anywhere I travel to. It brought me joy and a sense of community during a rough patch in my life. Holy Ship, now Friendship, is my happy place! Being on a beautiful cruise ship in the middle of the ocean with music, friends, and plenty of food, what more can you ask? Running around the boat with little responsibilities, in a world full of responsibilities, is a nice little break and reset in life. And if you like music festivals, but hate porta potties, this is the life for you. This is the most luxurious way to attend a music festival.

Around late 2017/early 2018, due to contracts, politics, etc etc, Gary Richards had to leave his music cruise child behind (Holy Ship!). But as life often goes, sometimes we sadly have to leave the past behind and start fresh. In December of 2018, we embarked on a new Maiden Voyage, Gary’s new creation, called Friendship. Friendship felt like those early glory days of Holy Ship. It was more intimate and brought the right people and good vibes back.

Friendship 2024 was my second graduation year! I graduated Holy Ship after the 4th year of Holy Ship and now have graduated Friendship after my 4th year of Friendship. Friendship 2024 was incredible! We sailed upon a bigger boat this year, the Norweigan Joy. The boat had 2 awesome water slides and a racetrack on the very top of the boat! Not to mention the fancy Haven suites with their own pool, hot tubs, and dining area. I was not in a Haven suite, but at least I had some fancy friends with one!

There were lots of fun activities during the day like yoga, a daily rock paper scissors tournament, scavenger hunt, talent show, and much more! One of the cool new additions was “Friends of Bill”, which I discovered is an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. I thought it was really cool to see that incorporated into the schedule.

This was the first sailing that we have ever done a 5 night cruise. I wasn’t sure if I could handle a 5 night cruise, but to my surprise it all still went by so quickly. It was actually nice to have the longer cruise, it felt more relaxed, and you didn’t have to rush to do everything you wanted to do. This was also the first sailing that we went to Belize and had a day to night time island party!

The island parties are always the best! (Remember the pirate ship from Half Moon Cay! Classic Holy Ship island party.) The production of this island party on Belize definitely outdid other island parties. The stage had a cool pyramid set up (kinda reminiscent of the pyramid at Burning Man) and visuals were projected on the pyramid and the light tower.

We were graced by an island set from the one and only, Sonny Moore, aka Skrillex! Sonny met us at the island in Belize, but he had so much fun with us, and probably was reminded of the old days on the Maiden Voyage of Holy Ship, that he decided to come back on the ship with us! The next night we got a surprise Dogblood set (Skrillex and Boys Noize). I don’t think I’ve ever seen the pool decked more packed than during this set! The energy in the crowd and on stage was sky high. Sonny of course popped up on the decks and hyped the crowd even more!

Every year, Gary (Destructo), plays a sunrise sermon set. This has become a staple for the cruise, which started on Holy Ship and continued on to Friendship. The sunrise sermon is always one of my favorite sets to attend on ship. The vibes are high, and you know all of the friends will be there. Because it’s usually a very long set, Gary gets more play/fun time to incorporate different music that he may not get to incorporate in a normal Destructo set. This year the sunrise sermon was right after Skrillex on the island. I of course stayed until the end as always and popped up on stage for a bit. It was amazing to see the sunrise from the island. Also, that moon during the island night time party was a sight to see. It was a beautiful orange-yellow sliver hanging over the dark ocean waves, with the cruise ship sparkling in the background.

Sunsets, sunrises, and moon gazing always make me so grateful to be alive. It helps me to internalize the life that I live, all of the opportunities I have been so fortunate to have, and appreciate nature, the universe, and the cycle of the life. There are ups and downs in life, but each day is a new day and a new opportunity if you let it be. (“Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.” -The Beatles)

Friendship is more than just a music cruise. It’s a chance to get out of your normal environment, relax, have fun, be creative, be yourself, meet new friends, and dance out any negative energy you may be holding in. It can bring you lifelong friends and memories that make life so much sweeter.

Oh, and I can’t leave without mentioning the skate ramp in the middle of the pool deck! That was a first and one of the coolest new additions in my opinion. We had the skate ramp last year, but having it in the middle of all the action on the pool deck during the sets was just so exciting! It brought those Cali vibes for me!

I said that after my 10th ship, it could be time to retire… but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to retire from ship… not until Gary Richards does at least!