The Last Cruise

As someone who worked in retirement home for the elderly with dementia (that was hit hard) at the time these events happened and indeed the rest of this pandemic that yes, is still happening, I really wanted to see this one. I wanted to see what it was like for them on that ship and compare it to my own experience. So maybe I have some bias but I will admit, the documentary wasn't as ominous and clean cut as the trailer, it was an "ok" documentary. But considering what little footage they had to work with, I suppose it was a serviceable enough job.

There is a lot of politics surrounding this virus so hopefully people will keep that out of their reviews, I know I will.

Unfortunately a lot of it is filmed on phones so that may bug some people as I see it bug people in reviews for other documentaries. But like I said considering what little footage they probably had to work with, I'd say it was well enough put together. It was odd for me to watch personally, I myself witnessed the senior community I worked at turn into a ghost town/prison, I remember having to continue working and wondering everyday if I was going to get it, whether I was safe or if I was going to give it to someone else. So the way they portray the ghost ship was chilling, to me at least, from my opinion it was shown accurately.

Classism definitely reared its heads in this documentary. I do though wish they focused less on the passengers and more on the crew, I feel they showed more of the passengers and I found it sad they didn't put more focus on the injustice and anxiety of the crew, which they did touch on, but certainly not enough. At least I got to go home at the end of 16 hour shift, these poor people had to work in cramped conditions with little to no protection or understanding of what was happening. Again, they did touch on it, but more emphasis could have been put on those poor people, who got to watch rich Americans leave while they worked their fingers to the bone to keep those passengers alive.

I understand the passengers were bored and frustrated, but I found some of them incredible pretentious, ungrateful, and downright rude, and I did not have the sympathy for them in the way I think the documentary wanted me to. Dementia patients I worked for in the senior home complained less than these people. Its almost as if these people thought the same level of pre-Covid service they were promised would continue in a situation like this, I only really felt emotional for one of the passengers and his wife. But the rest of the portions of the passenger segments left me uninterested and kind of insulted as someone who worked during these hard time in one of the most dangerous places.

All in all it was a slightly above middle of the road documentary, not amazing but told the story the best they could with what little they had.

This documentary totally missed the mark. It had a real opportunity to show the early days of COVID from the perspective of people truly affected by illness and fear... and while some of the disparity of the haves vs have-nots was on display, it was done in such a way that I think the filmmakers wanted us to feel sorry for the passengers. Granted, I may have done, had they not showcased mostly ignorant, rude, self-absorbed westerners who we know proved during 2020 that they don't care about anyone but themselves. "Who cares if my stylist dies from a virus, I want a haircut!" (You know, THOSE people.)

Also, as an aside - if you suffer from motion sickness, the first first cell phone footage in this documentary may trigger you.

When I started this I was definitely very interested in the topic and the situation. It just seemed like a doc of halfway developed arcs and never told a full story. I feel like there were so many missed opportunities to learn more about the backstory of the guests that were featured, the crewmembers, the families at home, comparing what was going on on the ship to what was going on in other places, etc. And also - my goodness - what happened to these people? What was it like when they got home? Who are the people that died? Who got sick after the flight? There was so much either left on the table or on the cutting floor. I think this documentary could've been so great and just wasn't developed enough.

I debated on whether or not I even wanted to watch this. People who take cruise ships are usually either elderly and out of touch or upper middle class to wealthy and entitled, while all of the above utterly ignore the grave impact cruise ships have on carbon emissions and the state of our world's precious oceans. I totally expected the self-absorption that some other reviewers are complaining about. BUT I remember being obsessed with the horror of this particular cruise ship in 2020 so I thought well if I hate it I can just turn it off.

The experience of the poor crew is the core reason you should watch this documentary. To contrast the experience of the travelers to the workers is eye-opening. I can only imagine the sadness and barely controlled rage of these individuals who were put at risk, and I was glad to hear their stories and appalled to see just how many were non-English speaking and non-Western and brown skinned....of course a corporation was treating these human beings as second class citizens, it's always an important reminder to see it full color though.

I think there should have been more coverage on the people who died on this ship, there were 14 victims. Perhaps the director felt it was exploitative but really that should have been shown more attention.

They put more sympathetic light on the passengers who basically ate well and had a longer vacation instead of the crews.

Like, I'm sure there was still cabin fever and it sucks to be stuck in a room for months (lucky for those that book a bigger room), but the crews definitely had it worse.

Another reviewer already spelt out the hardship of what the crew had to do. The captain must be stressing thinking of what he should do to elevate the mood. How bout the food sourcing and whether management of the cruise did their best to help them?

In the end the documentary came off as entitled and not that informative or interesting.