ABSTRACT

Dozens of music festivals aboard cruise ships now ply the waterways of the world, ranging in genre from bluegrass to metal to indie rock. Attendees talk of the intense feelings of camaraderie and belonging, referring to each other and the artists as “ship fam”. This intense feeling of belonging is somewhat at odds with the location, which is a mobile geography and a non-place where it is not physically possible to “belong”. This chapter discusses the experience of cruise music festivals from the point of view of belongingness. Data were drawn from a series of interviews undertaken in 2016. The research finds that several aspects of the cruise festival, including the hyperreal and mobile geography of the ship itself, the promotion and production of “ship fam”, and the experience of the festival, actually enhance the sense of belonging and camaraderie. This in turn makes return visits more likely and thereby increases the financial viability of the festival.