Come alive: set sail to the sounds of Jamaica on the Welcome to Jamrock Reggae cruise

My favorite collection of essays takes its title from a chapter referring to luxury cruises as “a supposedly cool thing I’ll never do again.” But the eighth annual Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise turned out to be so much of fun that I might definitely do again, a Jamaica-focused float that featured live performances by Sean Paul, Stephen Marley, Third World, Beenie Man and lots of more. Sold out months upfront, Jamrock offers nightly performances by veteran and young reggae and dancehall enthusiasts, sound battles and screenings of iconic Jamaican classics resembling “Shottas” as vacation cruise ships sail to the Caribbean.

Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite cruise — a ’90s R&B-themed cruise to the Bahamas with Maxwell, Ledisi, Musiq Soulchild and more — sent notifications to my social media timeline as I packed for Jamrock; the number of musical cruises catering to black vacationers is on the rise. Taking advantage of this 12 months’s fiftieth anniversary of hip-hop, the Rock the Bells Cruise had a fun launch in Nassau in November with De La Soul, MC Lyte, Rakim and other great rappers from the golden era. But Jamrock has spiritual reggae vibes on board, as I learned on my first cruise last December.

Someone once said that guests, like fish, start to stink after three days. The same could apply to spending almost per week with lots of of other passengers on our floating hotel, a large cruise ship called the Independent of the Seas. Fortunately, the experience of jostling amongst reggae lovers for five consecutive days of concert events was a positive one. On the 14-deck ship, everyone could enjoy a hot tub, slot machines, (relatively) advantageous dining, mini golf, movies, spa massages and morning yoga. Our swim itinerary included stops in the Jamaican towns of Falmouth and Ocho Rios before returning to Miami, with options for excursions that included ziplining, horseback riding, waterfall wading, etc.

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On the second day of “Whiteout Night,” we were all ordered to wear head-to-toe white for concert events by Wayne Wonder, Sean Paul, Stephen Marley and others. Sitting front and center behind a conga drum in the green, yellow and red of the Ethiopian flag, Marley delivered an acoustic set full of material from his latest album, “Old Soul.” His younger brother Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, who founded Jamrock Reggae Cruise in 2014, later joined him for a 2010 duet of “Jah Army.” Bob Marley covers are inevitable at Jamrock, and Stephen Marley didn’t disappoint, adding rousing new arrangements of “I Shot the Sheriff” and “Trenchtown Rock” to his setlist.

Jamrock’s fans included Rastafarians with long curls, middle-aged and retired couples, young women sunbathing BBL in thong bikinis with their muscular boyfriends – and, of course, the occasional white reggae fan. Looking for impressions from each a typical beginner reggae fan and an experienced expert of this scene, during “Blackout Night” on the third day (everyone wearing black), I contacted a young graduate of St. John’s University, which looked prefer it might have been the first Jamrock.

Chanel Mayers, a 25-year-old Afrobeats fan from Trinidad, got here on the cruise to spend time along with her parents. “They have been to Jamrock five times and loved it,” she said. “When I was performing, I thought, ‘Oh, I know more reggae than I thought!’ (With) Sean Paul, I knew most of the songs. Beenie Man was pretty cool.” Before Lady G took the stage, Mayers’ mother added that she loved the reggae theme most of all. “These are really conscious lyrics and we don’t hear them anymore because people are just singing about random things that aren’t really important,” she said. “I think reggae is more about life. It’s old school and I love it.”

For my seasoned expert, I turned to music journalist and reggae specialist Rob Kenner. Known as the voice of Vibe Magazine’s “Boomshots” column (Kenner was a founding editor), he has been on the cruise since its inception, interviewing artists on Jamrock Radio. I approached him about several personal events.

“The performance in the Third World will be a legendary attraction,” he says. “This year they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first recording. (guitarist and co-founder) Cat Coore played cello; singer AJ Brown sang opera-type vocals. It was just another level of musicality that you don’t see every day. Damian Marley produced Third World’s last album, More Work to Be Done, which was nominated for a Grammy Award. So it’s a family atmosphere.”

As each Kenner and Mayers’ mother noted, even during the great escape, music also reflects life on land. “(F)or the latest, Jahshii has been through a lot of really intense things over the last year,” Kenner explained of the rising dancehall artist, who began his set by singing a canopy of Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come.” “If you know the movie, it’s about an artist who gets caught up in street life and his music begins to reflect what he experiences in real life. Jahshii definitely has a similar experience … a lot of drama happened,” he continued. “I have never heard such a raw performance, with (Jahshii)’s voice bursting with emotion as he sang ‘Born Fighter.’ It was a big deal.”

Providing rest and pampering, whether you are an informal reggae listener or a rudebwoy fan, the Jamrock Reggae Cruise guarantees sunshine, positivity and righteous vibrations to revitalize you. Dates for 2024 are December 9-14; tickets are already on sale.

Miles Marshall Lewis (@MMLunlimited) is a Harlem-based author and cultural critic whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Rolling Stone, and lots of other magazines. Lewis is currently completing a cultural biography of comedian Dave Chappelle, the sequel to Promise That You Will Sing About Me: The Power and Poetry of Kendrick Lamar.