The Jay and Silent Bob Cruise Askew made its debut voyage from February 23rd through the 26th aboard the Norwegian Pearl with Sixthman. The cruise began in Miami, Florida and sailed all the way to Nassau, Bahamas. The experience was hosted by Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, and all their friends from the View Askewniverse.
In all honesty I wasn’t familiar with Jay and Silent Bob or the Askewniverse until six weeks before the cruise. I’m not sure how I missed all these cult classics in the 90’s when I was in college but I put myself through a crash course of movie viewing and research to make sure I was prepared for the voyage. I fell in love with the characters and the humor so I was pretty excited to board the ship and see the live events with the characters.
The 3-day immersive experience gave guests a deep dive into the fictional Askewniverse. Activities featured were exclusive behind-the-scenes panels, question and answer sessions, live podcast recordings, activities with the actors and podcast hosts, and much more. The ship even featured a pop-up restaurant, Mooby’s, made famous in Clerks 2.
The bars onboard served drinks paying homage to inside jokes from the Askewniverse movies. Specialty cocktails included the Quick Stop Quencher, Bluntman & Chronic Coolers, Mallrat Margaritas, Snoochie Mai Tais, and Boo Boo Kitty F*ucks.
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively. They appear in films, comics, and tv programs all based in the fictional View Askewniverse. The saga began with the film Clerks, released in 1994, which centers around Jay and Silent Bob selling marijuana, bothering passers-by, and causing trouble outside of a Quick Stop.
In the following years the movies in the saga were released: Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II, Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie!, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, and Clerks III.
Friday – February 23:
Friday’s activities began with Open Play Street Hockey on deck, based on Dante and Randal’s games of street hockey on the roof of the Quick Stop.
Around 4 p.m. the Pearl pulled out to sea leaving Miami behind for the open seas. The weather was beautiful with sunny and 70-degree weather for the group photo that was taken with everyone onboard the top deck as the ship set sail.
After the group photo, Smith brought out the actors and hosts that were joining him on the cruise for the weekend. He gave an introduction of each person and how they fit into the View Askewniverse.
The first formal event of the cruise was the Jay and Silent Bob Get Old podcast. The Jay and Silent Bob Get Old podcast started as a podcast about Jason’s sobriety as a weekly check in. At the time of the podcast onboard the ship, he was 13 years, 7 months, and 3 weeks sober. He also said that there are AA meetings on the boat and that he will be attending them while onboard during the cruise.
Kevin started off by saying that Sunday would be the six-year anniversary of the heart attack he had that changed his life, and that he is very happy to have the opportunity to be on the cruise. Jason brought some levity as always to the conversation when he talked about his love of bath bombs and how he gets bummed out when traveling and there is only a shower. He also mentioned that he is excited to be in Miami, where his favorite show, CSI Miami was based.
During the podcast at sea, Kevin announced that he has been writing a new Jay and Silent Bob movie about a competing weed store opening across from their fictional store in Jersey. The mob is also involved for the first time in this movie. They did a cold read of a scene from the movie, which Jason had not seen before the cruise. It was very fun to see unpublished work being read live onboard for the first time in front of a live audience. It was a continual reminder of the brilliance of Kevin Smith’s writing chops.
Later in the day the live version of Edumacation Podcast, by Kevin Smith took place in the theater. In an effort to get smarter, Kevin recruits entertainment producer and former writer, Andy McElfresh, for a weekly session of learning about the unknown. The podcast is presented in four sections: The SCI, The FI, The Why, and The Bye.
In this particular episode the duo talked about sharks, which is one of Kevin’s biggest fears. So, Andy gave him facts on the Megalodon as a reminder that sharks are below them on the boat.
Live music was playing in the boat atrium with LO(U)SER and Telethon gaining new fans who enjoyed the live performances.
Out on the main deck stage at 7 p.m. Soul Asylum led by lead singer Dave Pirner played their biggest hits including “Black Gold.” I met several super fans who joined the cruise just to see the band perform live during their two appearances throughout the weekend.
Brian O’Halloran, who played Dante in the Clerks movies, led his first Pub Crawl of the trip where fans could sample beers across multiple bars on the ship while Brian met everyone and told stories.
Saturday – February 24:
On Saturday we arrived at the port of Nassau in the Bahamas. The islands were beautiful, but unfortunately there was rain on and off throughout the day. We took an excursion through the ship and rode a smaller transfer boat past houses belonging to some of the biggest celebrities in the world on Paradise Island. We landed on Pearl Island for a Beach, Lunch and activity to swim with pigs on a nearby small island called Pig Beach, where dozens of swimming pigs live and play with tourists. We got to swim alongside them and interact with them for an hour.
Later in the day, once we were back on the Pearl. We attended a wine tasting with Trevor Fehram who played Elias in the Clerks film series and his wife, Renee Humphrey of Mallrats sampling 4 different wines with guests. The couple shared stories from their adventures together during the event in the Spinnaker Lounge. Renee works with her brother at his winery Eric Kent Wine Cellars. She hand-selected wines from the Norwegian collection for fans to sample during the tasting.
Fans onboard could also shop in the custom gift shop for custom movie themed souvenirs.
That evening, the cast of Mallrats met up to do a live script reading of the next version of the movie called Twilight of the Mallrats. Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, and co-stars Jason Lee, Renee Humphrey and Ethan Suplee all participated in the reading. Other Askewniverse stars also helped out in the reading including Brian O’Halloran (Clerks), Jennifer Schwalbach Smith (Clerks 2/Jay & Silent Bob), Jeff Anderson (Clerks) and Ralph Garmen. Audience members were also chosen to participate as characters in the reading as well.
The movie followed the adult version of the original characters facing issues with their own children at the same mall years later as they prepare for their senior prom. Again, it was amazing to hear a script that is unreleased with the original actors being a part of the reading. Kevin narrated the reading and noted how useful it was to work through the script in a live reading for edits as well.
Between live events we also checked out the Kevin Smith Me-Seum that was located on Deck 7 mid-ship. The space was setup to showcase Kevin’s movie memorabilia that he has collected over the past several decades while making his films. There were costumes, original scripts, movie posters and even the Jesus kite from Clerks III.
We caught Roots of Mine performing in the atrium before dinner and jammed out to their reggae style beats with fans who were back for more after catching their first performance on Friday night. The bands “Green Trees” and “Something’s Got to Give” were featured on the Clerks III soundtrack.
At 10 PM Brian O’Halloran led his second pub crawl while Jennifer Schwalbach and husband Kevin Smith led a large crowd in one of her favorite activities Bird Bingo in the theater at 10:30 for a late-night crowd.
Sunday – February 25:
Sunday morning began with a motivational walk with Ethan Suplee. The walk commenced with the motivational poem, “Invictus” by Ernest Henley. The one-hour walk on Deck 13 of the boat on the track for fans to get moving and start the day.
Throughout the morning fans could go to autograph sessions with the actors onboard for them to sign the cruise poster that was provided by Sixthman. Lucky fans who booked during the original presale event also got the opportunity to have their photo taken with Jay & Silent Bob.
At 1:30, a Q&A session with Kevin Smith started. When asked about what his writing process is, he offered the advice of “making pretend.” He also announced that the next Cruise Askew will be happening in 2026. He talked about how fun it was to be on the cruise and that he hopes to cruise to Kansas City at some point. He would like the next cruise to be related to his horror movie, Tusk. He would bring along the cast members of Yoga Hosers which included his daughter in a starring role.
Kevin shared that the nature of Clerks III is as autobiographical as he is going to make any of his movies because of how close to home it hits for him. Kevin then took the time to talk about his heart attack and the amazing doctors that saved his life. His goal in life is to move forward and find joy. He told his daughter to put his face on t-shirts forever after he is gone.
Kevin spent some time discussing mental health and how important it is to live in the now. You can’t control the past or the future. He had genuine and heartfelt responses to all of the questions asked of him. He also discussed the importance of his month-long hospital stay in the Spring of 2023 when he had a mental health crisis.
He explained that he has not changed his approach on political correctness and that he hates when people get upset with his content. He emphasized that none of his movies are ever meant to harm anyone, they are all looking inward. He even brought up how Dogma was a love letter to spirituality, even though it also offended people.
Next up was the Plus One podcast featuring Kevin Smith and Jen Schwalbach Smith, who have been married for 24 years. They talked about how their life has been as a married couple, how Jen broke her hip in November, and their horrible experiences on their first cruise together to Alaska.
During A-Mewes-ing Stories with Jason Mewes, Jason shared funny stories from his own life with the audience in a stand-up format. Before he came on, he was preceded by comedians DK, Jake Ruble, and AJ Wilkerson who have been touring with Jason on his stand-up comedy tour.
Fat Man Beyond was next, a podcast with Kevin and Marc Bernardin. In the podcast the pair covers current events in movies and comic books. They then participated in a Q&A session. When asked about who gets to see and make decisions on scripts, the audience was told that Scott is the first one who sees the script, and then Jordan or Liz read the script and tell Kevin if the script is feasible.
Kevin noted before sailing in a Facebook and during the Q&A onboard that the schedule was changing because he felt like the Clerks III script was just too depressing to end the cruise. He made a pivot to another unreleased script and movie called Moose Jaws, for the final script reading with the entire cast of actors onboard and some key audience participation.
Moose Jaws is set at a remote Canadian Summer Camp where a giant man eating moose is on the loose and chaos ensues for the camp staff and the town council.
The night ended with a DJ session run by Jeff Anderson to close out the Cruise Askew in epic fashion.
Overall this was an amazing first year experience for fans and participants. You could tell that Kevin Smith and all the actors were genuinely happy to be onboard and deliver the best possible unique experience for fans. Smith was everywhere everyday delivering hour after hour live entertainment. It was a dream come true for the Askewniverse fans to get up close and personal experiences at sea for these three days. We would highly recommend this cruise when it comes back in 2026 for any Jay and Silent Bob fan.