Imagine seeing a tourist promotional video. A beautiful fjord, magnificent Peer Gynt by Grieg soundtrack and you see the slogan: “The worlds most beautiful adventure”. Then you go to Stavanger in Norway – and you take the cruise with Rodne Cruises and they try to recreate exactly the tourist promotional experience – with soundtrack and everything. You get exactly what you payed for – by blasting Grieg – the tourist promotional ad has been “recreated” in reality – it becomes more than reality and better. They totally meet your expectations.
In one of my favorite books, Travels in Hyperreality, Umberto Eco travels through the hyperreality of American Tourist destinations. He describes how reality is recreated in museums, theme parks and the Disneylands of America. How they constantly meet your expectations by creating destinations that are better than art, better than history, more natural than nature. You can see the Venus de Milo, with arms and everything. This also applies to the largest pyramid in the world – it’s in Las Vegas. The goal of the architect was simple – if you have been in the Las Vegas pyramid, you will be disappointed by the pyramids of Egypt. They will be smaller, less “real”. This video is the Norwegian version of Hyperreality. It is not enough to be actually in “The worlds most beautiful adventure”. You must be stimulated even more – by blasting Greig at 200 decibels – they give you the true Norwegian Fjord experience – the most beautiful moment of your lifetime.