Reply To: JCCC4: Post Mortem (Feedback Thread)
Here’s some excerpts of what I left on the survey (also sorry, I didn’t realize how many people would be unhappy about repeat live band karaoke performances. blinded by sequins.)
Positives:
“It is so clear that you guys worked really, REALLY hard to make this work, even with the tough constraints of the shorter schedule, the competition for ship venues with the “official” cruise entertainment, and a much larger herd of nerds to wrangle. You guys ROCK.
I also enjoyed having new entertainers on board this year, and I thought there was a great balance between the new and the returning performers.
I didn’t make it to the Sara Watkins concert; it would have been helpful to know in advance that it wasn’t going to be recorded. I LOVED Thrilling Adventure Hour, and I loved Peter Sagel. Please let’s do all the old-timey radio and community radio ever next year. Bringing Cecil Baldwin (Welcome to Night Vale) onboard would be the SHIT.
Paul and Storm were hilarious, as usual.
I liked the office hours with the various famous people I think it would be even better to have them earlier in the week (e.g. first sea day.)
I continue to really appreciate the way dinner is done, with open seating. It’s a great way to meet new people in a relaxed setting, and it was often the highlight of my day. “
Negatives:
“I was overall kind of disappointed this year. I feel that there was an effort to pack too many events into a cruise that was a day shorter than last year, and the very late night official events made socializing difficult. I understand that there was a lot of competition with the regular cruise entertainment for the large venues, but as a result of the schedule I felt like I had very little time to hang out with sea monkeys outside of the shows, and I missed seeing many of my friends. My favorite part of JCCC3 was unwinding with new friends after the evening shows; I would prefer having fewer performers and shows, and more time for shadow cruise events/general hanging out.
There’s also a sizable portion of the sea monkey population with mood disorders/anxiety/several-standard-deviations-above-average-introversion/whatever, and maintaining a regular sleep schedule is absolutely crucial to stay healthy. My friend started a focus group for sea monkeys with mental health concerns, and we are working on formulating some suggestions (for both shadow and official cruise elements) to make the cruise work better for this segment of the population.
One great idea that has already arisen is to provide an official 24/7 communal “quiet area” for sea monkeys. Right now it feels like the two major options are to hang out in a giant crowd with people, or retreat to your stateroom. We would love for this to become a false dichotomy, and to have a dedicated area where people could bring their books/crafts and just hang out together quietly. Downtime is becoming increasingly necessary for a lot of folks as the crowds get larger, and a dedicated space to have “social downtime” would be a great option.”
I would also like to add myself to the list of who was uncomfortable with some of John Roderick’s behavior (I included more details in the survey.)
P.S. I would be totally down with an all-sea-day cruise.