jamcruise was the worst experience of my entire life and that is not hyperbole.
There is an arbitrary character limit preventing me from detailing my experience in full. Many people were mocking me and making me know how unwelcome I was on that boat and even if I don't have video or photographic evidence of that I am not delusional.
This was such a traumatizing event and continues to be as people will not leave me alone. After Brock Butler (the singer of Perpetual Groove) overreacted and cancelled his gig in January 2014 on the 15th story of the MSC Divinia on Jamcruise XII some performers and staff were openly mocking me because of my autism and anxiety. I was not stealing anybody's confidence or taking anyone's picture. I was not having a fangirl reaction. I was high on psychedelic mushrooms (and LSD?), and copious amounts of alcohol minding my own business when I traded someone a bag of clown noses for a dab, and I took the largest hit of pure THC extract I have ever had. Even as a former daily stoner I was not prepared for that hit. After not having smoked much for most of the week as marijuana is hard to come by on the boat and didn't risk taking it by plane, I was in outerspace. I don't know if you have ever spazzed out from taking too much, but it's not a fun experience when people are laughing at your expense and your head is spinning. I won't namecheck any musicians who were mocking me.
I have never experienced the kind of humiliation and bullying I received on this boat. Nothing comes close. I ignored mild mocking for the entire duration of the trip, and ignored intermittent but familiar provocations for years after without reacting. I have been dealing with flagrant gossip, defamation that has severed business & professional relationships, and passive aggressive "pranks" and antagonistic behavior for more than 7 years and counting.
nobody cares this I know, and although my experience is not indicative of how I am sure 99.99% of other cruisers have experienced, to reiterate, I am not delusional. If people playing the victim card want to paint the narrative that I am crazy, or now that I am dangerous (the audacity), this experience deserves to be shared. Mob mentality is not fun if you are on the receiving end.
By not intervening, Cloud9 normalized this behavior, and while I do understand this was surely an isolated incident that got out of control & one that they were not prepared for, I did not deserve the treatment I received from their staff & performers, certainly not this extent. People are gaslighting me while other musicians associated with this event are actively mocking me publicly and assassinating my character privately.
If you think I'm speaking out of school by posting this, I did ignore years of provocations as I said, and then I did send Cloud 9 Adventures a private email in 2016 when I was really reaching my breaking point which was ignored alerting them that the behavior had not subsided and was really getting old. My experience with their customer service has been met with condescension and derision. I'm going to get flack for posting this, and I don't care. I have lost so many relationships over this defamation.
People are justifying their future provocations based on my reactions to their initial provocations, as if I started this in the first place, discounting the fact that I ignored years of provocations.
If you go on Jamcruise, and you should unless you have social anxiety, I am sure you will have an amazing experience. Lay easy on the party favors, which is the opposite of what I did. I was not the only person on that boat partying to excess.
for full disclosure, after ignoring literally years of, again, intermittent provocations from people who were on this boat without reacting, I did spend a while overreacting and giving people the reactions they were after to see how they liked it. Cloud9 Adventures would be quick to point out that I was a jerk and I was. They might be quick to dismiss my claims while ignoring the facts, but they can not refute that some of their staff & performers were openly mocking me without lying, or that this behavior has continued to escalate and people are still messing with me to this day.
I could not care less about the $900 and some odd dollars I spent. I should have been treated with dignity and respect by their staff and their performers. I've made a million mistakes in my life and particularly in my twenties, but no amount of confirmation bias on anyone's part gives them the justification to continue to bully me. Cloud 9 Adventures d/b/a Jamcruise is painfully aware that this bullying has persisted and of all the nonsense went on under their watch.
I wish no ill will to this organization, or to the broader "jamband" community I no longer feel welcome in. You are reading this because it's been 7 years and I'm still dealing with this. read more
