For many music lovers, the days of attending "festivals" are over.
For us, it happened a couple of years ago when we spent about $200 to sit in the great outdoors, munching on over-priced cold dogs and drinking watered-downed soda, while straining to hear the music over mindless screeches of the groupies around us standing and blocking any hope of seeing the performers we came to see, except on huge video screens. And did we mention that the evening was bookended by five hours in the car?
Other than all that, it was a great experience.
And now, for the cruise demographic, there is the S.S. Coachella.
A little backgrounder here…
The Coachella Music Fest, staged annually in southern California, has grown into such a popular event that tickets for NEXT year's event all sold in less than a day. So now the show is going on the road — or the water — as the S.S. Coachella.
Two 4-day cruises on the Celebrity Silhouette in December will feature 20 bands. It doesn't matter that we haven't heard of most (or all) of them, because there are thousands of 
people who have, and many of them will be buying tickets when they go on sale on Saturday. They can get on the ship for as little as $500 each if they don't mind four to a stateroom (hey, that's palatial compared to four to a tent on the fairgrounds), and if they can swallow a $200 "booking fee" — that's how the promoters make their money.
As for the performances on the ship "most" are included and some artists will be on stage only once in the four days. The cruises start in Fort Lauderdale. One goes to Jamaica, one to the Bahamas.
The best place to start for reservations and all the details is at www.sscoachella.com.
You may even be able to hear and see the performers, and what was our five-hour drive will be a five-minute walk to your stateroom. And oh yes, no waiting in line for porto potties.
Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas
11 nights
October 9, 2012
Rome (return): Alexandria, Ashdod, Athens, Naples
Inside: $699
Cost per day: $63
www.royalcaribbean.com