George Takei Q&A

April 20, 2026

Oh myyy — where do I begin? First, get ready to move. Whether you’re on two feet, two wheels, or your own personal shuttlecraft, you will be zooming from panels to parties to the pool deck faster than the Enterprise at Warp 8. Make sure whatever gets you around is charged up, comfy, and ready for warp speed — because this ship does not slow down.

Second, don’t be shy. This is a ship full of the most passionate, warm, welcoming fans in the galaxy. Strike up a conversation in an elevator, at the buffet, anywhere — you will make friends for life before you even hit the first port of call. The atmosphere onboard is like nothing you’ve ever experienced at a convention. Everyone is free to be exactly who they are, and nobody bats an eye. That’s Gene Roddenberry’s vision come to life, floating on the Caribbean.

Third — and this is critical — pace yourself. It is a seven-day voyage, not a sprint. The programming is wall-to-wall with shows, Q&As, trivia, themed parties every night, and surprises waiting in your cabin each evening. If you try to do everything on Day One, you’ll be in sickbay by Day Three. The journey is as important as the destination — and I should know, I’ve been on a few.

And finally: bring your sense of humor and your sense of wonder. Leave your phasers at home. Set your expectations to “stun.”

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Well, first and foremost, you’d find Captain Sulu exactly where he belongs — on the bridge. Or in this case, the navigation bridge of the Mariner of the Seas. Old habits die hard. After commanding the U.S.S. Excelsior through Beta Quadrant gaseous anomalies and Klingon shockwaves, I suspect Hikaru would take one look at the ship’s helm and say, “Move over, I’ll take it from here.” And if the helmsman protested? Well, as Captain Sulu once said: “Fly her apart then!”

But eventually, even a starship captain needs shore leave. So, after seizing the conn, you’d find Sulu in two places. First, at the fencing studio — if the ship has one. And if it doesn’t, he’d improvise. Sulu has been a swashbuckler since 2266, when a little virus lowered his inhibitions and he went charging bare-chested through the corridors of the Enterprise with a rapier, challenging everyone to a duel. Spock himself called him “a swashbuckler out of your 18th century.” That spirit never left him.

And late at night? The Captain’s Club bar, naturally. A man who spent decades navigating the stars deserves a good cocktail and a great story. He’d probably be regaling the bartender with tales of how he saved Kirk’s posterior at Camp Khitomer. Again.

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Ten years! A decade of Star Trek at sea. When they first told me about this cruise back in the early days, I thought, “Well, this is either going to be magnificent or the most elaborate holodeck malfunction in history.” Thankfully, it has been nothing short of magnificent — every single voyage.

What I’m most looking forward to is the sheer celebration of it all. 2027 is a milestone year — we’re honoring 40 years ofThe Next Generation, a decade of Discovery, five years of Strange New Worlds, and of course, ten glorious years of this Cruise. That is an extraordinary amount of Star Trek history sailing on one ship. And the lineup — Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, John de Lancie, and so many more — it’s going to be a reunion for the ages.

But honestly? What I treasure most about every voyage is you — the fans. Over 3,000 of the most devoted, joyful, diverse, wonderful human beings from every walk of life, all gathered together to celebrate a vision of the future where humanity has gotten its act together. Star Trek has always been about inclusion, about the idea that our diversity is our greatest strength. And on this ship, you feel it. You live it. That is what Gene Roddenberry dreamed of, and it’s happening right here on the Caribbean.

So, what am I looking forward to? All of it. Every panel, every party, every conversation, every “Oh myyy” moment. Set your course for 2027, because I intend to make this anniversary one for the history books.

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Oh, I have a delicious one. You all know the famous scene from “The Naked Time” — the episode where Sulu loses his inhibitions, rips off his shirt, grabs a rapier, and terrorizes the Enterprise crew with his swashbuckling prowess. It remains my favorite episode to this day. But here’s what you may not know about how it came to be.

The writer, John D.F. Black, came to me on set about a month before filming and told me he was writing this episode where a virus destroys the crew’s inhibitions. He said he was thinking of putting a samurai sword in Sulu’s hands. Now, I appreciated the thought — it was “ethnically consistent,” as I diplomatically put it. But I told him: “I was born in Los Angeles. When I was a kid, I didn’t play samurai — I played Robin Hood!” My mother even sewed me a Robin Hood costume, and I got to be Robin Hood in the backyard because, well, it was my backyard and I had the costume. So I suggested a fencing foil instead — a rapier, like a musketeer. A D’Artagnan!

John loved it. Then he asked the fateful question: “Do you fence?” Now, you never ask an actor whether he can do anything, because we are expert at everything. I said, “Oh, it’s my favorite sport!” That night I was furiously flipping through the phone book yellow pages trying to find fencing schools.

But here’s the wonderful twist — the fencing instructor they eventually hired for me was the very man who had choreographed the sword sequences in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn, the same movie that had swept me away as a child and inspired my backyard Robin Hood adventures in the first place. Star Trek made that great big, beautiful circle for me. From a little boy in a homemade costume to a starship officer with a rapier — all because I had the nerve to tell a writer, “How about something different?”

And as a bonus: I got so enthusiastic practicing with that foil between takes that I was officially written up for “attacking actors” on set. James Doohan — Scotty himself — claimed for years that I poked him with the thing. In my defense, he wandered into my rehearsal space. A swashbuckler needs room to work!