The 80s Cruise sails from New Orleans for the first time, with Chaka Khan on top

The Feb. 27 – Mar. 6, 2027 voyage brings 27 acts, three original MTV VJs and a very loud week to the Port of New Orleans.

There will be leg warmers at the Port of New Orleans the last weekend of February, and nobody will be wearing them ironically. The 80s Cruise sails from New Orleans for the first time ever on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2027, and stays out through Saturday, Mar. 6, with 27 acts on the lineup as listed and Chaka Khan at the top of the bill.

The ship is Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas, and the itinerary heads to Costa Maya, Cozumel and Belize City before turning back up the river. The lineup was announced while the cruise's 10th-anniversary sailing was still at sea earlier this year, and the cruise has said more artists and special guests are still to come.

Start with the headliner. Chaka Khan is the kind of name that justifies the cabin on her own, and she leads a bill that leans hard into the decade's rock radio. Night Ranger, Loverboy, John Waite and Stryper cover the arena-rock end, with White Lion and BulletBoys behind them for anyone who still owns the hair spray.

Then the bill does something more interesting than a nostalgia package usually bothers to. Peter Hook & The Light and Public Image Ltd bring the post-punk side of the decade on board, and Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats bring their own corner of it. The Romantics, The Plimsouls, Nick Heyward and Katrina (Leskanich) fill in the power-pop and new-wave middle, and Slim Jim Phantom carries the rockabilly torch.

Don't sleep on the hip-hop and DJ side, either. DMC and DJ Jazzy Jeff are both on the bill, and the late-night slots belong to Retro DJ Travis Bell, DJ Hurricane and DJ Christopher J. Tribute acts Strangelove – Depeche Mode Experience and Electric Avenue – The 80's MTV Experience round it out alongside Steel Rod and Sunset BLVD.

For once, the party everyone flies in for starts on our side of the floodwall.

The hosts are a big part of the pitch. Original MTV VJs Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter and Downtown Julie Brown return, alongside SiriusXM's Larry the Duck and Lori Majewski. If you grew up with the channel, that's a week of the people who introduced you to half this lineup, now introducing it again.

Who to catch early: the sets you'd never buy a standalone ticket for. A week at sea is the right setting to finally see Public Image Ltd after a Night Ranger set, or to wander into The Plimsouls on the way to dinner. The headliners will draw the crowds; the in-between hours are where the cruise earns its reputation.

What it means for New Orleans is simple. Every other year, the locals who wanted this trip had to fly somewhere first. This time it starts here, with the Mississippi standing in for the airport and a parking spot standing in for a connecting flight. Book through the cruise's own reservations page — the link is on our listing — and keep an eye out for those still-to-come additions.

The city knows how to throw a week-long party better than almost anywhere. For once, the one everyone flies in for starts on our side of the floodwall.

Sources: The '80s Cruise Reveals Star-Studded 2027 Lineup Featuring Chaka Khan and More (Yahoo) (yahoo.com); The '80s Cruise Reveals Star-Studded 2027 Lineup Featuring Chaka Khan and More (AOL) (aol.com); The 80s Cruise reservations (reservations.ecpcruises.com); JamBase festival listing (jambase.com)