festivals

Dancefloors are often said to “writhe,” “bounce,” “jump” and “sweat.” But only a select few lightly sway with the rise and fall of ocean waves.  
Electronic music festivals at sea have been part of the U.S. live music ecosystem for more than two decades, ever since the inaugural Groove Cruise embarked in 2004 with 125 people on a chartered party boat from New York. In the 21 years since, Groove Cruise has grown to host thousands of attendees on increasingly larger ships, with another trio of other dance cruises later sailing into frame.  

Holy Ship, created by HARD Events founder Gary Richards, began in 2011, while Richards launched his second dance cruise, Friendship, in 2023. Insomniac Events took full control of Holy Ship in 2017 after Richards left HARD and Insomniac’s parent company, Live Nation. (After several sailings, Insomniac turned Holy Ship into an on-land event called Holy Ship Wrecked in 2020.) Meanwhile, Insomniac’s newer cruise, EDSea — a play on the name of Insomniac’s flagship festival EDC Las Vegas — embarked on its maiden voyage in 2023.

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Each of these events offers sun, fun and nonstop music, although each differs slightly in the style of dance music it offers, the crowd it draws and the destination to which it sails. Still, with these events being roughly similar, are there enough fans to fill each boat? 

“I was very concerned when [Holy Ship] launched in 2011,” says Jason Beukema, the founder of Groove Cruise and the company that produces it, Whet Entertainment. But after attending the first Holy Ship to assess the competition, he found “there just wasn’t a lot of crossover” in the crowds. And despite often happening within weeks of each other, both Holy Ship and Groove Cruise sold out in subsequent years.

Similarly worried about the 2023 launch of EDSea, Beukema also took part in that inaugural voyage and again witnessed a different demographic, finding that Groove Cruise attracts an older and more gender-balanced crowd. He says having a trio of cruises on the market in 2023 and 2024 has even been good for Groove Cruise, “because it’s brought a lot of eyeballs to the cruise festival game in the dance music space. There’s a lot of people that go on the other cruises, learn about us and end up on Groove Cruise.” 

“I agree that the dance cruise market is big enough for all of us,” says Insomniac Events founder Pasquale Rotella. “Each event attracts its own audience and offers a unique perspective on what a music cruise can be.” 

Three similar events may seem inconsequential in the busy dance festival market. Cruises, however, are a different proposition given that they require a greater investment from attendees, who aren’t just paying for a ticket but an entire travel package that includes entry, lodging and in some cases food and drinks. (These latter two amenities vary by package.) Given that many attendees don’t live in South Florida — where all of the cruises now take off from — most also pay for flights. Notably, each cruise goes on sale nearly a year in advance to give attendees time to get on long-term payment plans.  

For Friendship, packages start at roughly $1,800 for the five-night event. Groove Cruise 2025, which sold out, offered packages starting at $950 for its four-night voyage, while the four-night EDSea 2024 started at $1,555. (Prices vary by how many people are in a cabin and where the cabin is on the ship.) “The cruise market naturally attracts a different audience due to its higher price point and all-inclusive experience,” says Rotella.  

Friendship 2024

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But many who have gone on one of these voyages will argue it’s money well spent. Cruises are enticing in that they give fans a tropical vacation fused with a festival and the chance to rub elbows with their favorite artists while on the boat. And these boats, with their myriad restaurants, bars and pool areas, are often more convenient than a typical show. 

“To build a festival site [on land] you’re considering traffic patterns, where people are eating and where they’re using the bathroom,” says Richards. “You’re basically herding human beings, and it kind of sucks. But a ship is the perfect place for three or four thousand people. You can walk out of your room at four in the morning and there’s a party going on. You don’t have to drive. You’ve got a nice bathroom in your room. You’ve got food at the restaurants. You’ve got all these clubs. A ship is the perfect venue.” 

Beukema says Groove Cruise attendees have a 70% return rate. Friendship also draws many of the same people year over year, says Richards, who is focused on bringing in new attendees for 2025 given that they’ve chartered a bigger and more upscale boat (via Norwegian Cruise Line) than in years past.   

Music cruises are, of course, not unique to the dance genre. For years, cruise lines and production companies specializing in concerts at sea have drawn all flavors of artists and fans to come sail away. But dance music has carved out an especially strong niche in the cruise world, as the genre’s typically hard-partying fans flock to events that can effectively go 24 hours a day.  

“You go to the city of L.A. saying you want to put 4,000 people somewhere for a show and [there are so many regulations],” says Richards. “But you get on the ocean, and we can rip at five in the morning. The captain will turn the boat to get the sunrise just right for us.” 

Beukema helped create the format in 2004. Wanting to get paid to go on vacation, he took a course at the International Tour Management Institute in the Bay Area and shortly thereafter secured a boat for 125 friends. The party grew over time, and seven years later he chartered his first full-fledged cruise ship, with Norwegian Cruise Line as a partner. Whet Entertainment has since done $100 million in revenue from 28 ship charters across multiple genres including dance, rock, salsa and country.  

In terms of partnering with the cruise lines, Beukema cites “a lot of variables,” like pricing and what vessel will offer the best guest experience (Groove Cruise now costs eight figures to produce). He says that generally, music cruises are attractive to cruise lines because they’re usually more profitable than standard cruises that host the general population.

On Thursday (Jan. 23), Groove Cruise set sail from Miami to Labadee, Haiti on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Sea, a 6,780-capacity ship that’s one the world’s largest passenger vessels currently in service — which makes the sold-out Groove Cruise 2025 “the largest music cruise of any genre in history,” says Beukema. Meanwhile, Friendship sails from Miami on Feb. 22 with a lineup that includes Disclosure, Duck Sauce and Anderson .Paak performing as DJ Pee.Wee.

Last November, Insomniac’s second annual EDSea sailed from Miami to the Bahamas with a lineup featuring Sara Landry, Mau P and Dillon Francis. Rotella says that after years of planning, “2023 felt like the right moment” to launch the cruise “because we had seen the growing enthusiasm for destination events for quite a while.”  

Insomniac produced both EDSea and Holy Ship Wrecked in 2023, with the latter event happening from 2020-2023 after Holy Ship changed formats to a land-based festival at resorts in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Rotella says this change “allowed us to expand the experience” of Holy Ship and made the event “more accessible to fans who prefer not to cruise.” While Holy Ship Wrecked didn’t happen in 2024, he says Insomniac does “have future plans [for the event] that I look forward to sharing more about when the time is right.” EDSea, on the other hand, “is here to stay,” and it even expanded to include an additional day in 2025.  

EDSea 2024

Taylor Regulski

With each happening in the fall and winter months when festival season is slower, this cruise trinity helps fill in the calendar for promoters and artists. The premise is particularly attractive for fans in cold weather climates looking for a mid-winter getaway.  

Organizers take different approaches to booking artists for cruises. Groove Cruise lineups focus on house, techno, melodic techno and trance, with this year’s bill spanning those genres via headliners Eric Prydz, Nicole Moudaber, James Hype and Seven Lions, along with more than 100 other acts. Most stay for the entire cruise, although Prydz will only be on board the day he’s playing.  

EDSea also makes it possible for artists to get on and off the ship mid-sail, with new acts joining at docking destinations while others disembark. Rotella says this model “keeps the lineup dynamic and ensures a constantly evolving experience for headliners.” (Insomniac refers to attendees of all its events as “headliners.”) 

Meanwhile, “my whole thing is that you can’t leave,” Richards says of his belief that artists staying onboard for the duration maximizes the vibe, the community feel and the likelihood of special impromptu moments as artists jump on each other’s sets. But this ask also makes booking slightly harder, as some artists worry about losing out on revenue while their calendars are blocked during the cruise. “Guys I used to have on the ship for $200 are now getting $500,000 a night to DJ,” Richards says. “They want to come, but I just can’t pay that.” This year, he’s focused his lineup on big stars like Disclosure along with crucial underground acts from around the world, which is why he’s calling this sailing “International Waters.” 

Once on board, Beukema says Groove Cruise is more or less ”96 hours of nonstop music” played across 13 onboard stages, along with beach parties, with each edition hosting DJ-led daytime activities along with theme parties. Groove Cruise leans especially hard into aspects of “transformational festival” culture by offering activities like journaling, meditations, panel discussions on mental health and a celebration of life where attendees can honor people they’ve lost. (Beukema says he also married eight couples during Groove Cruise 2024.) Groove Cruise is also heavily focused on philanthropy, with Whet Entertainment’s attendant 501(c)3 nonprofit annually donating supplies to schools, orphanages and more in communities where cruises dock. It’s helped build homes for families in Cabo San Lucas and the Bahamas and also brings cruise attendees on land for volunteer opportunities like beach cleanups and construction projects.   

While dance cruises are dynamic in what they offer, Rotella says they’re also “more challenging to produce” than on-land events, given the limited window of time they have to get the ship ready after passengers from the last cruise disembark. Load-in for a land-based festival typically runs between days and weeks; cruises can offer far less. And while land events operate with trucks and forklifts, onboard gear must be moved by hand. Rotella also cites “much stricter” safety standards on the ship, “with anchoring and load capacities carefully calculated in advance with limited options for last-minute adjustments.” He adds that “another layer of difficulty comes from the strict manifests for equipment and personnel. Every item and individual must be documented ahead of time, with no room for late additions.” Despite the logistical challenges, he says, “the payoff is unparalleled when we finally set sail.” 

Richards agrees. “There are so many things you can do at this kind of an event that’s not like a festival. Like, when you go to the bathroom, I can pick the music in the toilet that you’re listening to. We can put chocolates from DJ Pee.Wee on your pillows. I have your full attention for five days.”