We're back from JoCo Cruise 2025. It was, hyperbole accepted, a transcendent experience.

The longer story is that the fam went on JoCo Cruise 2016, when Steve Jackson was a gaming sponsor. It was the last year that JoCo Cruise was a partial cruise charter -- it had about 2/3 of a Royal Caribbean ship. We came away thinking, "A floating nerd convention for a week is a great idea, but dang, we really hate big cruises." Stevie never went again -- he said the cruise was growing so fast that it was too expensive for a company his size to justify sponsorship -- and the kid started elementary school. Going again became impractical, but we had enough fun that I never unsubscribed from the mailing list.

Then came the election, and the cruise team sent a letter of encouragement to the list about standing firm in the face of despair and building intentional communities of love and acceptance. I knew I was in one of my most vulnerable moments, but that kind of message was a lifeline to a drowning man. I signed us up on the spot. We made some effort to see if we could get anyone we knew to go, but it's an expensive proposition that doesn't line up with any school breaks, and the cruise was leaving in less than 4 months.

It occurred to me than I'd dropped several grand and committed to pulling our kid out of school for a week for the most savvy marketing mail ever.

But my darker self was wrong. Every word in that email was woven in the personality of the event. It was beautiful. Also, now that the cruise was a full-ship charter, everything we'd hated about the 2016 cruise was dealt with. The sound was turned off in the casino (thank GOD). Up-selling was almost nonexistent. Every sitting area was filled with board games. Banners hung in the hallways saying, "Joy is an act of resistance." Someone left affirmations on post-it notes all over the ship. A really notable percentage of the attendees was out as trans. We also attended all the main theater concerts and loved all the guests.

It was exactly what we needed, and it was hard to come home. If anyone is considering doing this I can't recommend it enough. We can't go for 2026, but we're thinking hard on it for 2027. I can see why a lot of folks go every year.