B-list celebs hit the high seas

Ray Tamarra / Getty Images Contributor

Kate Gosselin will host a cruise in August aboard Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.

By Rob Lovitt, msnbc.com contributor

Can?t get your fill of celebrity culture from your TV or Twitter feed? Not a problem.

Sign up for the just-announced Kate Gosselin cruise?and you can sail away with the two-time reality-TV star ("Jon & Kate Plus 8," "Kate Plus 8"), former ?Dancing with the Stars? competitor and celebrity blogger for CouponCabin.com.

B-list celebrities don?t die, it seems, they just find new ways to market themselves.

?Part of it is a realization that celebrities as we have traditionally thought of them were folks who weren?t accessible to us,? said Carla Santos, associate professor of tourism management at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

?You?re never going to be on a cruise with Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie so the next best thing is someone who?s had a few minutes of fame,? she told msnbc.com.

Consider some of the other less-than-A-list cruises currently available:

• The Weezer Cruise: Almost two decades after hitting the charts, the popular ?90s band will be sailing from Miami to Cozumel on the Carnival Destiny, Jan. 19?23. Everybody sing: Ooo-wee-oo, I look just like Captain Stubing, oh-oh, and you?re Julie McCoy ...
• The Star Trek Cruise: Quick, can you name the characters played by John Billingsley, Denise Crosby and Garrett Wang on the various iterations of "Star Trek?" Neither can we but, apparently, they?re the featured celebs on a Celebrity cruise that will boldly go, well, to the Western Caribbean. Alas, dates are not currently available, perhaps due to a fluctuation of the time-space continuum, the machinations of the Borg or a general lack of interest.
• Love Letter Cruise: You?ve heard him on land, says the website, you?ve heard him on the radio but you?ve never heard him at sea. Who?s him? That would be R. Kelly, who?ll be crooning his way from Miami to the Bahamas on the Carnival Destiny, Oct. 1??6. Think ?Bump ?N Grind? meets the motion of the ocean.

Live Poll

What themed cruise would you rather board?

• 173126

  Kate Gosselin

  6%

• 173127

  Weezer

  11%

• 173128

  Star Trek

  12%

• 173129

  Love Letter

  1%

• 173130

  I'd rather go to work

  71%

VoteTotal Votes: 487

Gosselin, of course, adds a new twist to the concept of celeb-hosted cruises as her accomplishments basically amount to achieving fame for being famous. Still, if you want to meet Kate in person, have your photo taken with Kate and receive a personalized gift from Kate, well, mark your calendar for Aug. 12?19 when the Allure of the Seas will set sail for the Western Caribbean.

In the meantime, consider the fact that the close quarters of a cruise ship can be both a blessing and a curse, especially when it comes to mingling with someone best known for controlling behavior, public meltdowns and terrible dancing.

?The cruise setting is interesting,? said Santos. ?It works perfectly for what they?re trying to create, which is closeness and the ability to rub elbows with these folks.?

On the other hand, she added, ?You can?t leave unless you decide to jump ship.?

For some reason, the vision of a Kim Kardashian cruise just popped into our heads.

More stories you might like:

Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

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Source: http://todaytravel.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/11/10120051-b-list-celebs-hit-the-high-seas

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