More than 2000 athletes from 67 countries have traded conventional gym floors for the open ocean after setting sail on the world’s first official HYROX fitness cruise, which critics have called a “floating cult” and downright “gross”.
The five-day trip aboard the 962ft luxury liner Mein Schiff 4 departed from Palma, then travelled to Barcelona, promising fitness fanatics a “festival of fitness” across the Mediterranean.
It was billed as an immersive lifestyle getaway rather than a formal race, bringing together nearly 60 international coaches and packing in hours of structured training, recovery clinics and wellness activations.
Yet while attendees praised the high-energy atmosphere, footage from the ship’s decks has left the internet divided over whether the experience looks like fun or an absolute nightmare.
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Since launching in 2017, HYROX – which challenges competitors to complete an 8km run with eight gruelling functional fitness workout stations – has exploded into a global fitness phenomenon, attracting an estimated 1.4 million entrants during the 2025-26 season alone.
Offshore, the sport was transformed by turning the ships decks into a functional training hub featuring the brand’s signature 365 Series tracks, overseen by coaches including Faisal Abdalla, Maximilian Löw and Dena Hogan.
On one of the decks, an expansive workout and education zone hosted massive 150-person F45 Sweat the Deck workouts alongside technical running workshops and movement prep stations.
The liner also hosted community workouts, Les Mills activations such as THE TRIP, sprint cycling, pilates and FS8 Reformer sessions designed to support active recovery.
The ship also offered educational masterclasses on race-day pacing and sports nutrition, complemented by recovery zones, bespoke physiotherapy clinics, and even guided running clubs through the streets of Barcelona.
While the itinerary leaned heavily into health and wellness, viral clips shared on social media quickly revealed that guests were partying well into the night.
Footage captured showed gym-goers dancing beneath strobe lights until the early hours.
In one clip, revellers were seen dancing on a packed pool deck at 1am to heavy DJ sets.
Times writer Mickey Noonan, who boarded the ship for the inaugural sailing, described the sheer scale of the sporting takeover.
“All of the sunlounges had been hidden away,” Noonan reported.
“It was barely 8am and the deck was humming with activity, having been so since before dawn.”
Noonan said that while the ship’s sunrise and predawn classes booked out instantly, the party atmosphere meant spots frequently freed up when hungover participants inevitably slept through their alarms.
Once videos of the hybrid exercise-and-rave getaway hit TikTok and Instagram, the comment sections were flooded with divided opinions.
“I have the biggest FOMO of my life,” one viewer confessed, while another commenter chimed in that the whole setup looked “like the coolest experience ever”.
“OMG this LOOKS INSANE,” added another excited fitness follower.
Someone else couldn’t help but laugh at the wild social dynamics aboard, commenting that they just knew there was “a whole lot going on” behind closed cabin doors.
However, sceptics were horrified by the thought of being trapped on a boat with thousands of sweaty fitness buffs.
“Hell on earth,” one user bluntly declared.
Several people insisted they would “rather be sent to war”, and another insisted they would “rather go to prison”.
“I’d rather watch paint dry,” a third critic wrote, while someone else quipped that they would prefer to “stick a fork in my eye”.
Another bluntly stated: “The most obnoxious person you know would go here.”
The unique environment of a floating gym also raised eyebrows, prompting one person to comment that the ship “probably smells CRAZY”.
Base prices for the cruise ranged from approximately $4145 to $4215 AUD per cabin on a twin-share basis, meaning travellers were shelling out around $2075 to $2110 per person before accounting for international flights.
Unlike standard HYROX races, which typically sell out in minutes, the cruise struggled to shift cabins at initial rates, forcing organisers to roll out a 30 per cent discount promotion in April and slash prices well into September.
Attendees also reported grappling with an overwhelming influencer presence across the decks, where regular gym-goers reportedly had to navigate around an endless sea of tripods and even professional camera crews for big fitness influencers.
In a candid review published on the fitness platform Roxlife, one reviewer lamented the sheer volume of content creators dominating the communal fitness stations.
“I’d like to think that future HYROX cruises, should they take place, won’t have the same must-document-every-detail dynamic that defined this inaugural one, because it was off-putting,” the review noted.
“It’s one thing to record a few videos for social media; it’s another to have a dedicated videographer follow you around, as the larger influencers did, or the poor man’s version: a tripod permanently propped a few feet away.”
The writer added that some fitness creators even went as far as strapping body cameras to their chests during workouts, while the ship’s official seminar schedule featured a dedicated session entitled “The Digital Athlete: Social Media & Personal Brand”.