A passenger on the 9-month cruise lists things about cruises he finds bizarre, including a rubber duck scavenger hunt

• TikToker Marc Sebastian spent 18 days on the nine-month-long Royal Caribbean Ultimate World Cruise.
• Throughout the experience, Sebastian shared his unfiltered thoughts about cruise culture.
• He opened up about aspects of cruises he finds bizarre, such as the rubber duck scavenger hunt.

One of the most popular characters aboard Royal Caribbean's nine-month-long Ultimate World Cruise is about to disembark — but before doing so, he shared a list of things about cruise culture he finds bizarre.

TikToker Marc Sebastian landed a spot on the cruise ship social media is obsessed with in January after begging to be sent onto the vessel to document the drama.

After his pitch went viral on TikTok in December 2023, Sebastian was contacted by the publishing company Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, which offered to send him on the cruise for 18 nights.

With his roller-coaster experience drawing to a close, Sebastian shared a video on Monday summarizing things he learned during his time on the nine-month cruise, which he describes as a "floating retirement home with a Cheesecake Factory attached." It has over 2.1 million views as of Tuesday.

The Titanic taboo and Whoopi Goldberg's link to the Ultimate World Cruise

First up on Sebastian's list is the taboo surrounding the Titanic.

The TikToker said he discovered chatting about the Titanic is frowned upon on cruises after mentioning that the ill-fated vessel was only 100 feet shorter than the Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas to other passengers during a lunch.

"Utensils dropped, OK? Waiters gasped, dead silent," he said. Sebastian added that he was confused until fellow cruiser Nadine Bower whispered that passengers shouldn't talk about the Titanic.

"You're not supposed to talk about the Titanic. Who knew that? I didn't," Sebastian said.

Besides the Titanic taboo, Sebastian said he was surprised to learn about the naval tradition of cruise ships having "godmothers."

According to the Cruise Critic, a cruise godmother is a title of honor given to someone "selected to bring good luck and protection to the vessel." Stars honored as cruise godmothers include Audrey Hepburn and Martha Stewart.

In the case of the Ultimate World Cruise, Sebastian said that title has been given to none other than Whoopi Goldberg.

"Whoopi, girl, you and I, we gotta talk," Sebastian said. "As an EGOT winner, I just don't feel like this is the right ship for you."

The Serenade of the Seas is far from Goldberg's first foray as a ship godmother.

She was previously named godmother of the Viking Serenade ship before it was removed from the Royal Caribbean's fleet in 2002, World of Cruising reported.

When asked to become ship godmother for the Serenade of the Seas, christened into service in 2003, Goldberg asked if the role meant she would need to "put the ship through college."

Hiding rubber ducks is a relatively new tradition among diehard cruisers

According to Sebastian, passengers on the nine-month cruise are "crazy" about hiding small rubber ducks around the ship for others to discover.

He said he's even seen a few passengers rifling through artificial plants trying to collect ducks.

The unique tradition is relatively new. According to Cruising Ducks, the rubber duck scavenger hunt started in 2018 when a 10-year-old passenger on the Carnival Breeze cruise hid 50 ducks aboard the ship.

The fad became so popular that there are now entire Facebook groups dedicated to sharing photos of rubber ducks discovered on cruises and their hiding places.

"I love a fun scavenger hunt. Why ducks? Because they float? I just don't get it," Sebastian said.

Cruise newcomers may be surprised to find out where the water in pools comes from

Sebastian said he was also thrown for a loop when he found out that the pool water on the cruise comes from the ocean.

"I don't know how in my head I thought they were filling them, but what I didn't think they were doing was filling it with seawater," he said.

However, it's common practice for cruises to use seawater as a source of potable water.

According to the Royal Caribbean Group, 90% of the freshwater used to supply pools, drinking water, showers, toilets, spas, and more is created on board using two processes — desalination or reverse osmosis.

The used water, known as wastewater, is treated before being dumped into the ocean.

Carnival Cruise Line has a similar process on its vessels.

Still, the process — and how often the water is replaced — shocked Sebastian.

"Let me tell you, they are not shy about sucking the whole pool down right into the ocean and then sucking up some new water," Sebastian added.

Marc Sebastian did not respond to a request for comment from BI.