We’re Taking You Inside the 2019 TCM Classic Cruise
This may be the rare cruise where no one gets sunburned.
The Turner Classic Movies channel is packing up its hosts, about 60 films and special guests including Diana Ladd, Cicely Tyson and Mitzi Gaynor starting today, October 22, for the seventh TCM Classic Cruise. This sailing — TCM’s first since 2016 — takes viewers from New York City to Bermuda over five nights on the Disney Magic, and TV Guide Magazine/TV Insider is aboard!
We’ll be trying out the requisite Bingo and buffets, dressing up (enthusiastically if not elaborately) in a classic-film costume for the All Hallows Eve party, and enjoying screenings poolside and in two state-of-the-art theaters.
Plus, we’ll be reporting on the reminiscences from legendary actresses Ladd (1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore), Tyson (1972’s Sounder and the nine-Emmy-winning 1974 TV miniseries The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman) and Gaynor (1956’s South Pacific) as they participate in discussions and introduce some of their most memorable projects.
(E. M. Pio Roda / TCM)
TCM’s hosts — Ben Mankiewicz, Alicia Malone, Dave Karger and Eddie Muller, minus recent Silent Sunday Nights hire Jacqueline Stewart — will be conducting the interviews and lecturing as well. (Noir pro Muller, for example, examines heists on the big screen.)
But they’re not the only experts on hand: Critic Leonard Maltin, film historian and preservationist Randy Haberkamp and Bruce Goldstein of NYC’s famed Film Forum cinema will also be doing deep dives into topics ranging from movie trailers to the first 25 years of the Academy Awards. No wonder we’re worried less about sun exposure and more about prioritizing what to attend. (We’re still torn between Hitchcock and screwball comedy for Thursday’s late-night option—feel free to vote for either Notorious from 1946 or It Happened One Night from 1934 in the comments.)
(E. M. Pio Roda / TCM)
Unfortunately, Alex Trebek, who has hosted trivia contests on past cruises and was slated to appear, was forced to cancel due to his health, sending this statement: “I love sailing on the TCM Classic Movies Cruises, so I’m very disappointed that I will not be able to make the October sailing. As you know, I’m battling pancreatic cancer, and the schedule for those treatments does not permit me to be away for that week. I hope you all enjoy the cruise, and that I will be able to join next year’s event.”
If you think you want to join next year’s floating filmfest, visit tcmcruise.com for more info. The October 4-10, 2020, cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy leaves from Port Canaveral, Florida, and visits Cozumel, Mexico; Grand Cayman; and Disney’s private island Castaway Cay.
In the meantime, stay tuned for more on TV Insider as we navigate the Atlantic and (we hope) signature cocktails with Turner Classic Movies.
