AEW wrestling legend, Chris Jericho, has been running this cruise since 2018, shortly after he left WWE to pursue other interests in the world of professional wrestling—namely his second battle with Kenny Omega for New Japan Pro Wrestling (the 1st having occurred in 2017 while he was still in talks with WWE) and of course subsequently signing with then-new promotion AEW.
On starting the cruise at that time, Chris had stated, as was reported by sportskeeda.com:
“…Well it started we did the Kiss cruise in 2015, and it was such a great experience as a professional, as a fan, as a performer, all across the board I was just really impressed with how much fun it was and how easy it was. I mean, you get up in the morning, you hang for a bit, you do your gig, you go back to your cabin take a shower; then you’ve got the rest of the night to do whatever you want to do…It was a great party, a great time and as soon as we got back from it I called my manager, Fozzy’s manager and I said ‘Dude, I want to do this, I want to do a cruise that’s synonymous with Chris Jericho – Rock and Roll and wrestling’ and that’s where it all started, three years ago now. So it took quite a while to get it up and running but now we’re almost ready to roll man, less than a week away…!”
via: Sportskeeda
Well, the cruise has become a hit and of course, it’s back again now that things have loosened up slightly as far as restrictions due to the pandemic are concerned. But, in light of numbers rising all over the world, and especially here in North America, Jericho and his advisers have decided that it would be best to request that all guests on the cruise be fully vaccinated when attending this year’s festivities, as was also reported by ewrestlingnews.com. They released this statement:
“…Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced the launch of its SailSAFE health and safety program on April 5, 2021. This includes required vaccinations for all guests and crew on NCL sailings through December 31, 2021. All guests sailing on our 2021 events are required to be fully vaccinated at least 2 weeks prior to departure in order to board. Vaccines combined with multi-layered and robust preventative health and safety measures, including universal Covid-19 testing prior to embarkation, will help us provide a uniquely safe and healthy environment…”
via: Jericho Cruise’s Health and Safety
What the guests will need to provide:
“…Each guest must submit proof they have completed the full cycle of required doses for the vaccine administered at least 2 weeks prior to their sail date. Guests who are not old enough to be vaccinated will not be allowed on these sailings. However, we eagerly await an expansion of the age criteria for vaccinations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration so we can once again welcome these guests back on board…As plans and protocols continue to evolve in the months leading up to our first 2022 sailing, we cannot yet confirm if guests will be required to be vaccinated on our sailings beyond 2021, but we will continue to follow the science and expert advice…”
via: Jericho Cruise’s Health and Safety
Chris Jericho has been synonymous with the term professional wrestling and has been at it since his debut in 1990—that’s 30 plus years, folks! He was the very first-ever WWE Undisputed Champion, he having beaten both The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin on the very same night.
But his name is equally synonymous with rock music; he has been writing, recording and touring his music with his band Fozzy since 1999—that endeavor being 20 years ago now.
So a cruise like this—that always has music and pro wrestling—just sort of made sense for an epic and consummate performer like him.
At the end of the day, he doesn’t want to force his opinion on anyone and just wants to keep everyone safe, and that above all else, is commendable in times like these.
The ‘Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager At Sea,’ which is slated for October 21st until the 25th of this year will feature: tons of wrestling matches featuring AEW stars as well as perhaps others (in the past NJPW and ROH wrestlers were on hand), 3 Fozzy shows, live recordings of Jericho’s Podcast, Talk Is Jericho and a special version of Family Feud with Chris Jericho. It sails from Miami to Grand Bahama Island.
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Sounds like an epic time to me for sure.