Booking a 965ft ship to try out a new cruise concept is “probably one of the craziest things I’ve ever done”, according to lawyer-turned-promoter Nathaniel Turner.

But the ubersoca cruise, the Bermudian entrepreneur’s gamble on a travelling celebration of soca, fared well in uncharted waters.

“Last year involved a bit of trial and error as it was the first time; we were trying to find out what works,” Mr Turner told The Royal Gazette. “This year we have a much better idea on how to execute it.”

For 2017, the plan is to “get a bigger ship, and build on the experience we created last year”.

Few locals knew that Bermudians were behind last November’s Miami-to-Jamaica cruise last November dedicated to soca.

Reggae is a more popular genre in Bermuda, and beyond the Gombeys and some local DJs, the island had little to send with the 2,000-strong voyage of the Norwegian Pearl.

It was a risky proposal with little guarantee of success.

“Once you sign the contract, there’s no turning back,” Mr Turner said. “That boat sails, whether there’s three people on board, or 3,000.”

A DJ before and during his law training, Mr Turner hit on the idea during a cruise with his mother, when a crew member mentioned that the vessel had been booked the previous week by an American pastor.

“I didn’t know it was possible to charter a cruise ship, so I put the idea in my back pocket for a few years.”

Tinkering with the notion five years ago, he amassed a group of friends to analyse it with him, then decided to take the plunge.

“Sometimes you have to jump and build your wings on the way down,” he said.

The next ubersoca sails from Miami on November 16, a four-day jaunt, this time to Cozumel in Mexico, with a November 15 pre-party in South Beach, Miami.

Putting the cruise together took 18 months. Pitched to passers-by at the 2015 Carnival in Miami, the concept initially looked like a tough sell.

“It was a new thing, and the response was pretty phenomenal. At first, people weren’t sure if this was for real: they would ask if all the artists would be on board, and whether they’d have the whole ship,” Mr Turner recalled. “Even the artists and DJs weren’t sure.”

The cruise drew some top names, including Kes the Band, Destra, Patrice Roberts — and incorporated all the acts into a roster of daytime events while the ship was at sea.

“We had events like the artists versus DJs football and basketball tournaments, bowling tournaments, a Talking Soca forum and How to be a Soca DJ,” Mr Turner said. “It was different for the artists and DJs. They’re constantly going from carnival to carnival, event to event, so rarely have the opportunity to unplug and enjoy themselves as a collective. We also built a studio on board which gave artists the chance to record and collaborate with other artists. A lot of collaboration came out of the cruise.”

Drawing passengers from around the world, the cruise offered many soca artists their first global promotion: “If we win, soca wins,” the organiser said.

Arriving in Jamaica, “we had the j’ouvert beach party waiting for us”, Mr Turner said: “We could hear the music when we docked in Ochos Rios. This was all being set up while we sailed from Miami. Once we arrived, we had a carnival procession with the Gombeys from the ship to the party.”

Managing the experience waiting on shore is a key component of the cruise, and with Cozumel as this year’s destination, Mexican themes will be incorporated.

Assembling the cruise is “exciting and scary at the same time: scary in terms of the investment of time, money and energy, but very exciting to watch it unfold”, Mr Turner said. “It’s a huge operation.”

Attracting an audience appears less daunting the second time around: “Anywhere that has a carnival, we’ll promote it,” he said.

For more information, see www.ubersocacruise.com