Picture this: if Fyre Festival and Below Deck were to have a child, the result would be what the internet is hoping #UltimateWorldCruise becomes. Prepare yourselves, sailors, as we dive into this social media sensation that currently seems to offer more entertainment than reality.

On December 10, a cruise embarked from Miami on an impressive 274-night journey, promising to cover 11 Wonders of the World and over 60 countries. Sounds spectacular, doesn’t it?

Mere weeks into the voyage, passengers aboard the ship have turned the cruise into a viral hit on TikTok, with #ultimateworldcruise amassing over 73 million views as of this writing.

With more than eight months remaining, a few vacationers have gained minor celebrity status, and observers are convinced that drama is on the horizon.

So, how did all this begin?

It all kicked off two years ago when tickets first hit the market with a hefty price tag, as described by Australian TikToker Christian Hull.

According to Hull, there were just two choices available: either the full nine-month ticket, priced at USD $53,999 (around $80,000 AUD), or a ticket to one of the four “segments” according to NBC.

These four segments (or “legs”) comprised The Americas, Asia and the Pacific, The Middle East & Mediterranean, and Europe.

The cruise didn’t sell as many tickets as expected by the operators, so a new option was introduced. People could now buy tickets for multiple segments, prompting those who had initially purchased the full nine-month ticket to opt for the shorter (and more budget-friendly) multi-segment tickets.

This allegedly resulted in chaos.

Who’s on board & what’s the drama?

The main attraction so far features Brandee Lake, a traveler from the US.

Lake mentioned she had been asked several times if she worked on the cruise, which is quite troubling. Once by a fellow passenger and another time by a crew member.

“It apparently seemed unbelievable to some that a Black woman (and her family) could be a guest on this once-in-a-lifetime journey,” she shared.

Lake’s TikTok recounting the incident has been viewed two million times.

Additional TikTokers such as @AngieLinderman (136k followers), Brooklyn Schwetje (145k), and Amike_Oosthuizen (167k) appear to be enjoying themselves so far, with their day-in-the-life videos consistently garnering tens of thousands of views on the platform.

What’s in store for the next eight months?

The online community has also begun speculating about what lies ahead.

One viewer even crafted their own bingo card, marking off events as they unfold on board.

Overall, nothing too outrageous has occurred yet. Nothing documentary-worthy.

Perhaps that’s why some “reality” TV shows are scripted...

However, with the internet’s attention firmly fixed on this floating community, anything is possible during the remaining eight months of the nine-month cruise.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.