Ubersoca Cruise 2016: Inside the First-Ever Sailing That Took Soca to Sea
On Wednesday, November 9, 2016, the Norwegian Pearl pulled away from Miami carrying an idea that was still completely new: take the energy of Soca, Carnival and the Caribbean fete experience and build an entire cruise around it.
This was the first-ever Ubersoca Cruise.
Over five days and four nights, the ship sailed from Miami to Ocho Rios, Jamaica and back, with Soca artists, DJs, parties, concerts and Carnival-inspired experiences filling the voyage. Contemporary coverage described Ubersoca as the first full cruise-ship charter dedicated exclusively to Soca music.
For Julianspromos, it was another first. After years of documenting Carnival roads, concerts, fetes and festivals across the Caribbean and North America, 2016 became the company’s first Ubersoca Cruise and the beginning of a partnership that would continue as the cruise itself grew.
Before the Ship Ever Left Miami
Julianspromos’ involvement with the inaugural Ubersoca Cruise began long before embarkation.
The two companies entered a formal advertising, promotional and event-coverage partnership, with Julianspromos supporting the first sailing through email marketing, social media, website promotion and YouTube exposure before providing coverage aboard the Norwegian Pearl.
That relationship made sense for both sides.
Ubersoca Cruise was launching an entirely new Soca travel experience and needed to reach the same international Caribbean audience that Julianspromos had spent years building through music promotion, video and event coverage.
For Julianspromos, the partnership opened another lane. The company was no longer simply traveling to a Carnival destination or covering a single weekend event. It was helping promote and then document an experience that would unfold continuously for several days at sea.
The partnership would prove valuable well beyond the first sailing.
Five Days of Soca Aboard the Norwegian Pearl
The inaugural voyage departed Miami on November 9, spent November 10 at sea, arrived in Ocho Rios on November 11, spent another day at sea on November 12 and returned to Miami on November 13.
Once onboard, the scale of the programming became clear.
The first Ubersoca Cruise featured more than 40 events and activities and 7+ concerts, creating an environment where the next party, performance or experience was rarely far away.
The original artist roster included Kes The Band, Destra Garcia, Kerwin Du Bois, Lyrikal, Patrice Roberts, Farmer Nappy, Lil Rick, King Bubba, Peter Ram, Fadda Fox, Hypasounds, Rupee, Edwin Yearwood, Ricardo Drue, Tian Winter, Shal Marshall, GBM Nutron, Skinny Fabulous, Kevin Lyttle, Teddyson John, Preedy, 5Star Akil, Ravi B & Nisha B, and Majah Hype.
The DJ lineup stretched just as widely across the Soca world, with names including DJ Puffy, Private Ryan, Barrie Hype, Back to Basics, Dr. Jay, DJ Jester, Crown Prince, DJ Stephen, Nuphoric, Giselle D Wassi One, Soca Twins, DJ Spice, Freeze International, Riggo Suave and many others.
It was less like attending one concert and more like stepping into several Carnival weekends at once.
Turning Five Days Into a Series of Mini-Movies
The Julianspromos coverage did not reduce the cruise to one long recap.
Instead, different moments from the voyage were edited into a series of short highlight mini-movies, each using a Soca or Caribbean release as its soundtrack.
The artist and song names in these particular titles identify the music used to score the highlight film, not necessarily an artist performing in the footage.
That approach gave each installment its own mood while allowing the visuals from the cruise to move almost like a music video.
Part 2 — Soundtrack: Farmer Nappy, “Miss Meh Wid Dat”
Another mini-movie was cut to Farmer Nappy’s “Miss Meh Wid Dat,” pairing the record with the movement and atmosphere aboard the ship.
Part 4 — Soundtrack: Timaya, “Bang Bang”
The international side of the soundtrack came through Timaya’s “Bang Bang.”
Part 5 — Soundtrack: Shal Marshall, “Famous”
Shal Marshall’s “Famous” gave another installment its soundtrack as the 2017 Soca season was beginning to take shape.
Part 6 — Soundtrack: Lil Bitts, “Automatic”
The series continued with Lil Bitts’ “Automatic” behind another collection of cruise highlights.
Together, the mini-movies turned the voyage into something that could continue circulating online long after passengers returned home.
Ocho Rios Becomes a J’Ouvert Destination
One of the biggest moments of the inaugural voyage came when the Norwegian Pearl reached Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on Friday, November 11.
The port stop became a Beach J’Ouvert, carrying Carnival energy off the ship and into Jamaica.
Julianspromos captured Kes The Band performing live at the Beach J’Ouvert, alongside an event that also featured Teddyson John, Lil Rick and 5Star Akil, with music from DJs including DJ Jester, DJ Puffy, DJ Lantern MD and Nuphoric.
For passengers who had already spent days surrounded by Soca aboard the ship, Jamaica added another layer to the experience.
This was not simply a port excursion.
It was Carnival culture traveling with the cruise.
UberTrucked: Rupee, Lyrikal & Destra
Back aboard the Norwegian Pearl, the programming kept moving.
The UberTrucked Party featured performances by Fadda Fox, Peter Ram, Lyrikal, Destra Garcia, Ravi B and Rupee, bringing together another major lineup during the sailing.
The close proximity between artists, DJs and passengers became one of the qualities that separated Ubersoca from a conventional festival or concert.
Everyone was sharing the same ship for days.
Artists could move from the stage back into the wider experience, while passengers could encounter familiar Soca personalities throughout the voyage rather than only during scheduled performances.
One Last Party Before Miami
By the final night, the Norwegian Pearl had spent several days functioning as a floating Soca destination.
The closing party brought performers and passengers together for one final celebration before the ship returned to Miami.
The inaugural sailing was finished.
The larger Ubersoca story was only beginning.
The Coverage Became Part of the Next Chapter
Julianspromos’ work with Ubersoca Cruise did not stop when the Norwegian Pearl returned to port.
The post-event videos gave the first sailing a life online, allowing people who had not been aboard to see what Ubersoca looked and felt like.
That coverage also flowed directly into promotion for what came next. The December 2016 Julianspromos Beach J’Ouvert upload was already directing viewers toward Ubersoca Cruise 2017 booking information, connecting documentation of the first voyage with marketing for the second.
That cycle—promote the experience, document it, publish the experience, then use the resulting media to help introduce the next sailing—made the relationship especially valuable.
For a new event, the archive itself became marketing.
From a Risk to a Soca Institution
It is easy to look at Ubersoca Cruise now and forget how uncertain the concept was in 2016.
Founder Nathaniel Turner later described the pressure surrounding the first sailing and the relief of finally seeing the ship begin moving while Soca music played. Ubersoca itself has continued to identify 2016 as its inaugural voyage.
Reports from the period and later retrospectives describe a first year that had to establish credibility for a new type of Caribbean travel experience before the brand rapidly expanded.
The idea worked.
By later years, additional sailings were being added and Ubersoca had developed into a major recurring Soca travel experience.
But the foundation was the Norwegian Pearl in November 2016.
A Partnership That Grew With Ubersoca
The first cruise also changed the relationship between Julianspromos and Ubersoca.
What began as a 2016 promotional and coverage partnership continued into future sailings.
Julianspromos returned for Ubersoca Cruise 2017, documenting events including the All White Party, football tournament, Rum & Water Pool Party, UberJammy Jam and J’Ouvert in Cozumel.
The relationship continued again in 2018, by which point Ubersoca had expanded beyond a single annual sailing. Julianspromos’ archive now preserves coverage from all three years.
For Ubersoca Cruise, the relationship provided access to a media and promotional platform deeply connected to the Soca audience.
For Julianspromos, it became an opportunity to document an important new chapter in Caribbean entertainment from the very beginning.
Both brands were growing, and for several years their stories overlapped at sea.
Ubersoca Cruise 2016 Photo Gallery
Explore original photos from Ubersoca Cruise 2016, documenting the atmosphere, events and Soca experience during the inaugural five-day sailing aboard the Norwegian Pearl between Miami and Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
From the Julianspromos Archives
The inaugural Ubersoca Cruise sailed November 9–13, 2016, aboard the Norwegian Pearl from Miami to Ocho Rios, Jamaica and back to Miami.
Julianspromos worked with Ubersoca Cruise in an official advertising, promotional and event-coverage capacity, supporting the inaugural sailing before departure and documenting the experience throughout the voyage.
The resulting archive includes a series of soundtrack-driven highlight mini-movies, live performance coverage, the Jamaica Beach J’Ouvert, the UberTrucked Party, the final celebration aboard the Norwegian Pearl and original photography from the sailing.
The article was originally published on December 3, 2016, and the relationship continued through Julianspromos coverage of later Ubersoca sailings.
For Ubersoca Cruise, 2016 marked the beginning of a long-running Soca travel experience.
For Julianspromos, it marked the beginning of one of the archive’s most important event partnerships of that era—one that combined marketing before the experience, access during it and original media that continued carrying the experience to audiences afterward.
