JoJo Siwa Cruise turns fandom into a private party

On Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas, fans describe a three-night JoJo Siwa-themed sailing that felt less like a spectacle and more like a shared experience—complete with workshops, concerts, and moments backstage.

When the ship began to pull away from the port, Maddie Maschue didn’t watch from a distance. She was standing in JoJo Siwa’s stateroom, waiting for the meet-and-greet to start—then stepping into motion as the balcony doors opened.

“The boat’s moving, let’s go out to the balcony,” Maschue recalled Siwa telling her as the ship headed out. “So we ran out there, we took some photos out there, then we took some in her room. It was just like such a personal experience.”

Maschue, 36 and based in Phoenix, Arizona, was among the fans who boarded Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas for a three-night cruise that departed June 12 and carried a JoJo-packed agenda.

The trip’s promise was theme-park energy. What stood out to passengers, again and again, was how tightly the cruise tried to fuse access, personalization, and community.

Maschue said her journey to the ship started long before June. She first became a fan after Siwa’s time on “Dance Moms. ” but didn’t see her live until attending a concert in London in 2025. “When she said she was doing a cruise and she was gonna put on the same concert. ” Maschue said. “I was like. oh. well. I have to go. because it’s gonna be like the concert. but way more.”.

On embarkation day, she and a friend she met at the show traveled to Florida’s Port Canaveral, where they immersed themselves in Siwa-themed activities.

One of the biggest draws for Maschue was a bow-making workshop—an apparent nod to Siwa’s signature accessory. Guests were given rhinestone kits, and passengers also dressed as Siwa celebrating her 21st birthday at EPCOT for an event in which attendees were asked to come as their favorite JoJo.

The pricing on the cruise’s website. as described by Maschue and other passengers. reflected a mix of bundled activities and separate add-ons. The most recent advertised fares started at $1,300 per person. Some activities were included. while others cost extra—ranging from dinner with Siwa for $150 to a movie and pizza night in her suite for $1. 250.

For many fans, the cost wasn’t the focus once the sailing began. The focus was proximity.

Teia Johnson, 24, flew all the way from London for the cruise. She runs the unofficial Siwa Nation fan page. and she said her path to the trip included a detour that turned out to be fortuitous: she and a friend originally won a contest for a trip to Los Angeles to meet the star. but the cruise dates ended up fitting better.

Johnson said she received a complimentary fare and flights to Florida instead.

“Dance Moms” was Johnson’s introduction to Siwa. but she said her connection deepened after she was bullied for her height. She pointed to Siwa’s ability to take negative comments “in stride.” When Johnson was struggling in school. she said Siwa’s song “Boomerang”—with the lyrics “I’ma come back like a boomerang”—helped her feel better.

As the cruise unfolded, Johnson said she was able to see “Boomerang” performed live onboard, alongside “Karma”—with Siwa doing the dance—plus “Choose UR Fighter” and “Serendipity.” She also stressed that Siwa was present throughout the trip, even offstage.

That offstage presence mattered most when fans were pulled into moments that didn’t feel like distant fanfare.

Johnson said that when she and more than two dozen other fans booked a cabana party with Siwa at Royal Caribbean’s private Bahamas island, Perfect Day at CocoCay, she even helped Johnson fine-tune a dance move.

Johnson’s view of Siwa’s impact ran alongside her view of the cruise itself. “I love an underdog, somebody that, like, is really misunderstood,” Maschue said earlier in the week’s retelling. “I feel like she’s very misunderstood by a lot of people.” Johnson echoed the idea from her own perspective. “As she’s grown up, I’ve also grown up with her,” she said.

Another detail that passengers highlighted: the JoJo crowd didn’t overwhelm the ship. With Siwa’s fans a relatively small percentage of Utopia of the Seas’ capacity—more than 5,600 guests—Johnson estimated there were between 200 and 250 guests there specifically for the JoJo Siwa Cruise.

That smaller footprint shaped the experience. Johnson said fans could still move through other parts of the ship like any other cruise. She also said non-JoJo attendees seemed curious about the events. and that she personally was mistaken for Siwa a few times because people told her she looked like JoJo.

On board, the social side of the cruise became its own kind of attraction. Even when Siwa wasn’t around, Johnson said the fans stayed connected.

One night, Johnson said they attended a party with Siwa and other passengers in the ship’s Solarium. Maschue described the moment as the opposite of a scripted appearance. “She literally got out there and danced with us all,” Maschue said. “She just made us all feel almost like we weren’t fans, like we were friends, kind of.”.

After Siwa left, Johnson said the energy didn’t fade with her. “It’s like everyone was there for the same reason and everyone got along,” she said. “Honestly, it was probably the best weekend that I’ve ever done.”

Representatives for the cruise did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

For passengers, the ending point wasn’t just the concerts, workshops, or the themed stops. It was the sensation—captured in their own stories—that the cruise wasn’t only about watching a celebrity. It was about being folded into the experience. sometimes literally from one room to the next as the ship moved away from port.

JoJo Siwa Cruise Royal Caribbean Utopia of the Seas Port Canaveral Perfect Day at CocoCay fan experience consumer travel