With over 103 million views, the Royal Caribbean has recently been trending on TikTok due to its 9-month voyage. The Royal Caribbean Ultimate World Cruise set sail in Dec. 2023 and will visit 60+ countries before docking in Sept. 2024. However, passengers online have been posting that the trip is already making waves. According to TikTok user Nchimad in Dec. 2023, they are determined to stay on “CruiseTok” to get all of the drama and arguments that are allegedly happening between passengers.

“[Seven hundred] people on one cruise ship for nine months. Can you imagine the type of drama that’s going to happen on that boat?” they said.

One of the most controversial moments so far has happened very recently to Tiktok user Brandee Lake. A world traveler of over 75 countries, they went to Tiktok to express their concerns as a Black passenger. In a video posted Dec. 2023, they said their first few days on the trip were difficult, with passengers and crew making her feel she didn’t deserve to be there.

But Lake’s experience speaks to a larger issue impacting travelers of color. Despite their significant contribution to the travel industry, Black travelers often face microaggressions and discrimination.

A 2019 report from The Black Traveler found that Black U.S. leisure travelers spent $109 billion dollars on their escapades. In the same year, Black people accounted for 20%of the luxury spending in the U.S. market, according to a report from the consulting firm Bain and Company.

Regardless of their impact, Black people still can face microaggressions, or the indirect verbal or non-verbal instances of racism, homophobia and more in these settings. Not only are they offensive, but microaggressions have been found to have a major physical and mental effects, according to psychology and education professor Derald Wing Sue in a 2020 interview with The Washington Post.

These symptoms can include increased stress and the discrimination can contribute to conditions like cardiovascular disease and hypertension.

“The Black/African American community is taking back their narrative, imagining new possibilities, and rewriting their stories into a vision that depicts prosperity and wellness. They are normalizing their success, wealth, and comfort within the community,” author Dr. Taiwo Abioye said in a 2022 blog post for C+R Research.

A 2020 study has found that online reviews using the hashtag #TravelingWhileBlack have helped those online avoiding potential racist encounters while being tourists. Along with these posts, Black travel and luxury influencers like travel content creator and creative digital media strategist Samantha O’Brochta share their love for exploration online through their own platforms. Still, there is a fear that O’Brochta and others have when stepping somewhere new.

“I’ve been a budget traveler most of my life, so my luxurious experiences have been few. But part of why I’ve shied away from certain expensive opportunities is out of worry that I won’t be treated the same way that a white traveler might in the same experience,” O’Brochta said.

While there are numerous types of microaggressions, four common microaggressions that Black people, even those in the influencer world, have experienced while traveling or in luxury spaces are below.

1. Negative assumptions or intrusions

Black folks traveling can experience a variety of microaggressions, including being mistaken for staff, unwarranted questioning of finances and overly familiar or patronizing interactions like unwanted physical contact or overly casual language.

For example, Lake was treated as if she was a crew member rather than a fellow passenger on the Royal Carribean cruise.

“If I get asked if I work on this ship one more time. It started at the Pre-Cruise gala where they assumed I was working. After I said I wasn’t working, they asked if I was independently wealthy. Basically, how can I afford this? Now one of the crew members assumed I was not a guest,” Lake said.

Social media immediately came to her defense, providing clapbacks that she can use in the future as well as encouraging words in her comments.

“Tell everyone a different story. Make them super elaborate and over the top. You own a diamond mine. You’re royalty. Etc. Eff them. Enjoy your trip!” Tiktok user Hannah L. Drake said in a Dec. 2023 comment.

For some Black people, they are willing to skip the vacation experience overall to avoid potential racist acts towards them.

“Idk. I don’t want to go on vacation and have folks follow me, ask to touch my hair, ask to take pictures with me or give me excessive compliments because I’m Black. I don’t want to be fetishized and I don’t want to be asked if I’m famous. Sounds like a nightmare to me,” X user Afro-African said in a July 2022 post.

2. Inability to fully enjoy amenities

Due to microaggressions, Black people may not get the full luxury or vacation experience compared to their white counterparts. This can be seen in influencer marketing, where there is a racial difference not only in what they earn, but how brands treat them abroad.

PR agency MSL US and influencer education platform The Influencer League released a study in Dec. 2021 that found that Black creators made 35% less than white creators. This inequality has also been seen in the treatment that Black creators receive on PR trips by brands like Tarte. From private jets to giant pools, the brand is known to go all in for participants – but there is still mistreatment even in the influencer world.

In May 2023, the brand invited Black influencers like Bria Jones to a trip to Miami for the year’s Formula 1 race. In an since-deleted Tiktok video from May 4, Jones explained that she would be leaving on May 5 and coming back home May 6, only being able to see the practice days. However, she learned that non-Black creators with more followers were invited to stay until May 7, the day of the big race.

“I have more integrity than to get all the way to Miami and realize that I’m being treated like a second-tier person or like I’m being ranked,” Jones said in the video.

Tarte’s founder Maureen Kelly addressed the situation on May 5, stating that they were trying to ensure a mix of up-and-coming creators and big creators as well. Nevertheless, the damage had already been done despite Jones later saying there was “miscommunications on both ends.” This wasn’t the brand’s first trip controversy, with their Dubai trip in Jan. 2023 having a visible lack of POC creators according to content creator and brand collaboration coach Kahlea Nicole Wade in a Jan. 2023 interview with Today.com.

3. Having to be the “token Black person”

With calls for more diversity in influencer marketing, brands have attempted to be more inclusive of all types of people. However, in May 2019, Youtuber Kiana Naomi called out the brand Dote Shopping for using her as the “token Black girl” on their PR trip to Fiji.

She originally did not discuss how she was treated on the trip because she wanted to avoid being portrayed as the ungrateful or problematic Black girl. Eventually, she decided that she needed to release a video explanation because she felt that the company didn’t care for her well-being.

“By being silent, I am doing a disservice to the thousands of Black girls who watch me, look up to me and look up to this brand that I was mistreated by,” Naomi said.

Being the only Black girl on the trip, she shared how the other white girls on the trip cliqued up, leaving her to feel like an “outcast.” On top of that, the company wasn’t interested in taking pictures of her.

“Diversity is not throwing one Black girl among a whole bunch of white ones and saying ‘Aye, we are diverse.’ That’s not how it works,” Naomi said.

Dote Shopping later released a statement denying the claims that Naomi made, stating that promoting diversity, equality and inclusivity is part of their company mission.

4. Interactions with security or official personnel

According to a 2019 study by Pew Research Center, “Black adults are about five times as likely as whites to say they’ve been unfairly stopped by police because of their race or ethnicity.” These interactions can happen anywhere, even while traveling.

For example, author of “Black People Breathe: A Mindfulness Guide to Racial Healing” and DEI consultant Zee Clarke in a 2022 interview with Triple Pundit found that Black women are more likely to have their hair searched by airport security. Despite the TSA website stating that hairstyles like braids and buns could trigger the alarms, many Black women have had their scalps roughly searched, according to Clarke.

In another instance, American Airlines faced backlash in 2023 for kicking both track star Sha’Carri RIchardson and rapper Talib Kweli, who almost was arrested, off their flights for filming a video and the size of their bag. The airline also was sued in federal court last year by a passenger who said they were kicked off the flight in an “act of blatant racial discrimination.”

The NAACP back in 2017 released a statement cautioning Black people when flying with American Airlines. Regardless of the warning, Black individuals can face discrimination and microaggressions randomly during their travel experience.

What needs to happen now

Time will tell if the work that is needed for true equality in these spaces and online will come. According to O’Brochta, the first place to start is with the travel companies that help organize these trips and experiences.

“There’s a discrepancy of how many Black travel influencers get invited on press trips or included in campaigns over their white counterparts, and it’s glaringly obvious and shows that Black traveler’s dollars are not appreciated and respected,” O’Brochta said, sharing the need to make space for everyone to be seen in a positive light.

Since releasing the video about her negative first days on the cruise, Lake has continued to post each day of her experience, from crossing the equator to celebrating Christmas on board. She has not released any videos addressing any microaggressions or racist behavior towards her since.