I would start writing but then stop…

I thought I knew what I wanted to say about Groove Cruise but when the time came to write it all out, I would blank. It was truly over and no words can accurately describe Groove Cruise, as a friend once told me, “It’s a feeling you have to experience”. Man oh man, what an experience it was.

Groove Cruise Orlando 2022 took place between Jan 20^th-24^th, 2022 on the Mariner of the Seas Royal Caribbean cruise ship that left out of Port Canaveral. The original destination was supposed to be Haiti but got changed to Freeport, Grand Bahama. As a first timer, I was fortunate enough to have gone with two Groove Cruise veterans. Check-in was a breeze. For my two friends, it was like a mini reunion for them to see familiar faces from previous cruises as this was a whole new experience for me.

Groove Cruise is jam packed with 96 hours of music. It felt as if every nook and cranny, on every floor of that ship had music playing. Everywhere I walked, I could hear music. Everywhere I looked there were smiling faces, dancing feet and hugs. For some, it was there first big festival back (since the pandemic). Groove Cruise symbolized for many a sense of normal life returning. Despite being a Groove Cruise virgin, I felt like I was already a part of the Groove Cruise family and the feeling of being part of this community is one of the experiences that can’t be described. Now, I understand why people keep coming back to Groove Cruise.

With so many artists, there would be scheduling conflicts so I decided to keep none though I made sure to go support friends of mine; such as Trance Jesus and LA local Dustin Husain. However, two of the must see sets that I couldn’t miss was Ferry Corsten’s deep sunset set, and New World Punx; Ferry Corsten and Markus Schulz collaboration together. From there, I didn’t keep a schedule, I went wherever I wanted. The beauty of Groove Cruise was discovering new artists. There is a comfort in knowing that wherever you went there was good music being played in the genres of house, techno and trance.

Saturday morning, we attended the beach party at Freeport, Grand Bahamas. My friend and I decided to walk along the beach to enjoy the scenery. It felt disorganized not knowing where I could use my drink tickets, coupled with long wait times. Getting back to the ship was a hassle as locals wanted to charge money for rides since shuttles were running late. After couples hours of some hassling with the shuttle company and locals, we were finally heading back to the ship. Luckily, we got out of there on time before it started to rain a bit. In hindsight, I probably would have stayed on the ship if I had known but I didn’t let it ruin my experience.

There were so many activities to do on the ship with artists such as whiskey and wine tasting, laser tag and more. Although, I didn’t get to partake in any of them, it was still cool knowing that the option was there. Artists would freely be roaming, and it was nice to see them interact with us Groove Cruisers.

It’s hard to believe that Groove Cruise is over, but the one is in October and sails to Cabo. I’ve got my eyes set on returning back to Groove Cruise and experiencing that feeling that is special only to Groove Cruise.

-Sharissa Garcia