The Future of the Cruise Ship

I would be more inclined to consider that a dynamically relocating hotel than a cruise ship. It'll spend 300 days out of a year 'no where interesting', then for 60 days everyone will be jumping in to their familiar ship to visit whatever resort the ship happens to be parked by. For those 300 days, it wouldn't be anything more interesting than an overpriced spa.

As a customer, I could see it being valuable because I don't have to deal with the egocasting facilities of these locations. I can go in a secure body, with a place to go back to, and a liaison to deal with customs. However, I'd also be teed off that it's only available at a certain location for a short time, and that almost all of the time it's not available anywhere. For my money, it's probably cheaper just to egocast directly to a resort at that location, and I can do that when I want, rather than based on someone else's schedule.

I can see cruises, be they permanently or from hab-hopping, being done. Most of todays cruise ships are "ocean, ocean everywhere" with nothing interesting to do, until you hit the next harbor and get to see Marseille or Pisa, so people ARE already spending their money/rep on a location doing nothing with no actual chance to leave (Helicopters excluded)

Water borne cruise ships of earth, may have a booming industry for once humans. Even sentient warmachines could need relaxation.

Water borne cruise ships could exist at some holiday water themed habitats or emulated in various holiday virutual worlds.

Space cruisers could be euphemism for mobile morph factories or act as that as bonus, utilizing the long transit to grow biomorphs & construct synthmorphs. Capable of granting exploring passengers & customers perfectly configured physical morphs for the ships next destination.

If not ego-casting into space cruisers & using them as a hub, passengers could utilize various tricks to spend the waiting time: slowmo /accelerated simspace, sleeping booths, morph configuration, recreation & courses

Why take a physical cruse when it is essentially meaningless? Why not just take a "classic" cruise on Earth in XP? It would be cheaper, safer, and you wouldn't have to worry about resleeving.

Otherwise I would see cruises as luxury habs with sylph morphs in an exotic environment (like the Venusian Clouds, Saturn's Rings, or around any of the major comets in the Solar System). You need to make it worth while for people to resleeve onto the cruise in the first place.

Why? Perhaps its "smart"(Gucchi & stylish.)

Another "value" is the need for recluse & self excile. EP lifestyle could be quite hectic & people may seek "time off" to get a breathing space & time to think. Sustaining the need for inefficient & disconnected cruising companies.

I can see this being a big deal in Socialite cliques. The biggest and most exclusive parties would be on custom cruise ships that one the most connected can attend (and in return they also boost their rep and status in those cliques). It would be similar to modern yacht parties held by the rich and famous, only longer term.

Aren't scum barges basically cruise ships? Giant, floating parties, full of all the amenities, et cetera.

With a half-decent set of repair bots, repair swarms, and cleaning swarms, I don't see why a scum barge would be any worse than any other habitat.

Yeah I took Scum barges to be more like Gypsy colonies. Like said above, they run the gambit of really crappy to very good. No matter what condition the barge is in though, there is a certain culture that would be counter to a Cruise Ship that most Hyperelites and Socialites would find distasteful (like having to work for basic needs).

Not really. The Scum are those individuals who dont really fit into general society, the misfits and the strange, the anarchists of the Inner System and the criminals. All stuck together on pre-Fall haulers and colony ships that are only days away at any one time from imploding in a frenzy of violence and crime that only such individuals can perform.

So Space Gypsies. The Post-Scarcity chappers would probably be the Extropians or the Autonomists.

It basically depends on which end of the above-mentioned spectrum their scum barge is on. I'm sure there are a few scum barges out there with manageable populations and plenty of cornucopia machines where they live post-scarcity lifestyles with not much work required. Then there are others with too many mouths to feed, too few resources, and a definite need for the population to contribute in order to survive.

root@The Future of the Cruise Ship

I'm using this for Carnival of the Goat, so

King Shere @-rep++;

I visualize a Scum barge flotilla as something of a cross between BSG's ragtag fleet, the seedier levels of Babylon 5, and the Quarian Migrant Fleet in Mass Effect. Some would be clean, some would be cesspools.

OTOH, I see an actual cruise ship as catering to the Creme de la creme of society. High security, ridiculous extravagance, etc.