It’s been four years since I did my last festival cruise and I got the incredible honor of being invited as a content creator and workshop host to attend Groove Cruise to celebrate their 20th anniversary. I had heard of Groove Cruise from friends attending previous sailings; however, the timing never worked out until this sailing came around. I fully believe what’s meant to be will be and I was meant to experience Groove Cruise for the first time on this special occasion. I’m excited to share my experience as a first-time Groove Cruiser.
About Groove Cruise
Groove Cruise began in 2004 by Jason Beukema as the premier floating dance music festival. This special cruise sailing has become known as a weekend escape for Groove Cruisers to dance, express, have fun, connect, and more. Groove Cruise has always fostered a community of die-hard music lovers and I immediately felt the energy and connection the moment I stepped onto the ship. You can expect a wide variety of music, activities, outfit themes, and people when you board Groove Cruise.
This sailing I joined was held from January 24, 2024, to January 28, 2024, docking off from the Port of Miami and boarding the Norwegian Encore. Before the sailing, we flew into Miami and stayed in Brickell the night before to get ready for the sailing the next day. In this review, I’ll dive into the venue, the music, the vibes, and the overall experience. I’ll also share some tips for next time and if I would attend again.
The Venue
Your home for the next four days is a massive cruise ship where you can eat, sleep, rave, and REPEAT. Having this all-inclusive experience within the Norwegian Encore makes it so easy for you to create the experience you want. Whether you want to go dance, hit the gym, have a spa day, or take a nap, the possibilities are endless as this ship has everything you need. The process for boarding the ship and getting off the ship was also super seamless and not stressful thankfully. The ship was really easy to navigate and we lucked out having our room on the same side of the ship (forward) where a lot of the stages and activities were. I was one of the fortunate ones that didn’t deal with sea sickness although I did feel the ship moving.
I had an interior stateroom with two beds that I found to be super spacious. There was a lot of storage for our clothes and things. The bathroom and shower were spacious as well. There were plenty of places to charge things and it did come with a blow dryer. You can also turn on a button to let housekeeping know to clean your room and when you don’t want to be disturbed. You could also order 24-hour room service to your room anytime you needed it. They also dropped off a daily newsletter with the events for the day. One mistake we made was not preordering water prior so that was a lesson learned for next time. Overall, I felt our room and the boat was very clean and well put together.
Stages and Production
What truly is amazing to see is how Groove Cruise converts typical cruise areas into stages. With 10 stages to explore on this ship, each stage brought its own vibe. There was one outside stage that was the “main stage” on the pool deck where you could enjoy daytime sets, sunset sets, and late night into sunrise sets. The second mainstage was the Theater stage where you could even take sitting breaks in the theater-style seating with invigorating production. The Atrium was another main inside stage where they swapped out production and decorations based on the nighttime theme for that day which I enjoyed. The rest of the stages were found in converted bars and restaurants and even in the casino on the ship. Production was on point with all of the stages as well as the sound was bumping for all of the sets.
Food
When it comes to food on the ship, there are a few options available to you that are included. Then there are also a few options on the ship that you could pay for like Teppanyaki. For the included options, you could go to the buffet or go to one of the standalone included restaurants. They also had the main dining rooms open for dinner. The one dinner we did pay for was Teppanyaki which was one of our favorite dinners of the whole time. To see what your food options are, you could check out the cruise line app to see. You could also set dinner reservations through the app as well.
Music
With music going basically 24 hours, there was no shortage of good music. Groove Cruise had a wide variety of subgenres, from bass to trance to house to techno and more. You could easily walk across the ship and stumble upon a new favorite artist. There were also specialty sets like Throwback sets, Deep House Brunch, and fun sets to vibe to.
Top 5 Favorite Sets
Here are my top sets of the sailing:
- Max Styler
- Max Styler with the headline spot on night 3 on the Main Pool Deck was FIRE. He really turned on the dark and sexy house vibes and we had a great time. He’s definitely on the rise if you don’t know him, get to know him!
- Kyle Walker b2b Deeper Purpose b2b Max Styler b2b Ranger Trucco
- What was scheduled as a Kyle Walker set, turned into a mass b4b in the Atrium on the second night. It’s always so fun seeing similar artists vibe together and watching them collaborate together to bring a solid set.
- Gabriel & Dresden
- Our group was planted at this set and we decided to check it out and I thoroughly was surprised by this set. I thought it was going to be more trance-like and it was definitely more melodic and progressive house with sprinkles of trance. Production also brought out the lasers for this set which was a nice surprise.
- Disco Lines on the Island
- The perfect daytime island set was brought by Disco Lines. I really enjoy Disco Lines set because he really plays to whatever environment he is playing in. It was the perfect set on the most perfect day. Honorable mention is Tiësto’s set afterwards which was very iconic. I just enjoyed Disco Lines set more.
- John Summit
- The perfect ending to this sailing was John Summit’s Main Pool Deck set on the final night. This was by far my favorite John Summit set I’ve seen. He really curated the best set list and kept the energy high the whole time for the 2 hours.
Vibes
Going into Groove Cruise, I did have a preconceived notion about the vibes. I had heard it was an older crowd and a more rowdy crowd. To be honest, I didn’t feel like I was the only young person aboard. There was such a diversity of ages, races, and ravers.
Groove Cruisers
Overall, the Groove Cruisers are what make this cruise what it is. From the moment I got to the port, I could instantly feel the energy. People were just excited to be there and had good energy right away. People were ready to have a good time and spread the Groove Cruise vibes to each other. I left this weekend with so many new connections as well as fun little gifts and trinkets. It can be intimidating to be a newbie, but any veteran I met welcomed us with open arms and connection. It really is a testament to this festival when you can meet people on their 17th Groove Cruise or 9th Groove Cruise why they keep coming back. A lot of veterans also returned to Groove Cruise just for the 20th anniversary. I can officially say I am a part of the Groove Cruisers.
The Themes
To keep the energy and vibes going, Groove Cruise plans out themes for day and night. This honestly is super helpful with packing and planning what to wear. It makes it a lot easier to curate outfits based on the themes rather than planning outfits yourself. Have fun with the themes if you attend Groove Cruise. You won’t be left out if you don’t dress to the theme, but it makes it that much more fun when you can.
Activities
Another part of the vibes of Groove Cruise is the activities aboard the ship. The ship had some of its own activities, but Groove Cruise had a full calendar of activities that cruisers could partake in. For some activities, you had to register beforehand and the others you could just show up for. Even more special is there were activities where you could interact with artists as well. Similar to a regular cruise, there were also excursions on the island day that you could sign up for along with artists being included too. With the activities included, it definitely gives you a packed and fun schedule with the music and other things a part of Groove Cruise. I was honored to host an intention setting workshop and vision board workshop for attendees.
Overall Experience
Looking at the overall Groove Cruise experience, it truly was a well-rounded experience. I had the best time aboard and I am grateful for the experience. I would highly recommend this experience to any festival goer. The all-inclusive cruise mixed with seeing your favorite artists and enjoying the sights of the Caribbean truly can’t be beat. On top of the community that you join when you come to Groove Cruise is special.
Tips for Next Time
I wanted to include some tips for myself next time and some lessons learned. I definitely will do some more tips for Groove Cruisers for the years to come.
- Make sure you preorder your beverage package or water to the room ahead of time. I think the window was 48 hours before the sailing you could do it in your account online.
- Try to sleep when you can and become a pro at naps.
- Next time I’d like to explore a lot more between sets, parts of the ship, and activities.
- BE PRESENT. Spend more time relaxing.
- Getting off the ship sooner on disembarkation day helps to avoid panic at the port. Could also consider getting a hotel for that day to decompress then fly out the next day.
Would I attend again?
10000%! I’m already ready for 2025 to come. This is an event to look forward to and am so excited for what’s to come for this festival. You can appreciate this festival as a truly community-grown festival that isn’t backed by a major festival corporation. Jason has created something really special here and I can’t wait to return.
If you’re interested in Groove Cruise, be sure to lock in your room for 2025 as rooms are selling quick. Use code RaveCultureCast when booking your rooms. Stay tuned for more content to get you ready on all of my platforms.
Check out my Groove Cruise videos on YouTube!
Leave a Reply