You can post a cheerful cruise review online, share your heart, and still end up with a stranger saying he would toss you off the ship. That is exactly what happened to a retired couple who travel full time, and instead of fuming about it, they sat down with a smile and read the meanest comments out loud.
LJ and Russell run the Retire2Roam channel, where they share life as retirees traveling full time on a budget. They have been at it for almost two years, and a video about their 14-day repositioning cruise drew by far more comments than all their other videos combined.
Some of those comments were, in LJ’s polite phrase, lively. Russell added that she was putting it nicely. There were hundreds, then thousands, and they say it was worth a whole follow-up video just to answer the zingers.
The Title Sticklers
First up were what the couple calls the technical sticklers. Their video was titled “After 14 days at sea, these cruise behaviors shocked us,” and one top comment called it a cheap trick, saying there was no way they spent 14 days at sea and that they were using a clickbait title to fund their lifestyle.
LJ answered that they did stop at some ports, but they never spent a night in port, so every one of the 14 days involved time at sea. One stretch was eight straight days on the water. As for funding a lifestyle, they laughed, saying YouTube is definitely not paying their bills. If it were, they joked, they would be living on a yacht.
Bless Their Hearts
Next were the commenters who tried to psychoanalyze where the couple is from. One wrote that they were Southern and that they should welcome themselves to the real world. Russell and LJ took it in stride with a classic Southern reply: bless your heart. They suggested the writer needed a biscuit and some sweet tea, honey, just to calm down.
Then came the one that got the biggest groan. A man wrote that he would throw them overboard if he had to be on a ship with the two of them. Russell’s response was a laugh and another “well, okay, then,” followed by yet another bless his heart.
LJ also addressed the accent talk head on. Her Southern dialect can be nerve-racking for some people, she says, but everyone has an accent, and it may be nerve-racking for someone else. More often than not, she says, people tell her they love it.
The Blunt Ones
Out of more than 2,500 comments, the couple says, about 95% were positive, with viewers sharing shocking behavior they saw on their own cruises, describing what they enjoyed, and naming which cruise line they preferred. Only about 4% were negative, they estimate. But a few were short and brutal.
- “What a load of garbage.”
- “Slow, boring.” LJ guessed that one was meant for them.
- “Are you expecting a kindergarten audience?” Her reply: no, but we are glad you showed up.
- “Advised, do not do any more videos.” The couple’s answer: too late, we already had some done.
- “Ken and Karen with their cry channel.” Russell noted it was not the first time they had been called Karens.
- “If I wanted to listen to old people complain, I’d call my parents.”
- “Why did you go on the cruise? You could have stayed at home and played the moral police.”
A Carnival Cruise And A Bad Rap
The biggest comment they saw over and over was about the cruise line. They were on a Carnival ship, and many viewers said, in effect, what did you expect, it is Carnival. LJ says that is the line’s bad rap, but they had a fantastic cruise anyway, apart from a few bad actors.
It was an international repositioning cruise from Spain back to the United States, not the three-day party cruise from Florida to the Bahamas that people see on the nightly news. The average passenger was about 50 years old, with some older and some younger, and only six or seven kids on the whole ship.
Developing A Thick Skin
Both agree that anyone who wants to be a YouTuber needs a thick skin. In the beginning, LJ says, the negative comments were difficult and she wanted to defend and explain herself. Then their son offered a bit of wisdom: any comment is a good comment on YouTube.
They did remove one or two comments that turned racist or looked like rage bait, but they let the rest sit where they were. A few commenters even admitted they had not watched the video at all and were simply there for the comments. They gained a lot of subscribers from the video, which they say they truly appreciate.
What Anyone Can Learn From It
There is a gentle lesson here for anyone who shares opinions online, whether it is a cruise review or a recipe. Most people are kind, a small few are not, and the best answer is often a little humor. LJ and Russell responded with sweet tea, laughter and no hard feelings.
They also remind viewers that they are who they are. No one should expect them to switch to a fancy British voice next week, they joke. They hope their story encourages other retirees not to be afraid to get out there, travel, and maybe even start a channel of their own, comments and all.
As they signed off, the couple said they were getting ready for their first super typhoon in Guam, so a different kind of adventure is already on the way. And if you ever find yourself reading a mean comment about your own travels, remember what they say: out of 2,500, the kind ones won.
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