Sunday Feb 3rd

Time to go home.

We woke up around 7am to shower and finish getting everything packed. We went for breakfast at the hotel again and had the same as yesterday. After we ate we got everything ready to check out of the hotel. We had to get the car back to Hertz by 9am and we had about a 20 minute drive. We got there at 9:03. No Problem. With our luggage in hand we caught a Hertz shuttle to Orlando Int’l airport. We got to the airport at 9:10 and we figured we had enough time to make our 11:03 flight. Well after checking in and going through security it was 10:05! It took almost an hour. Well, we still had time to get something to eat and use the restroom. We got to the terminal at 10:25 and they started boarding around 10:40. The plane was scheduled to leave at 11:03 and it left at 11:10. The flight was pretty good. I think we are starting to get the hang of flying, as we are seasoned travelers now ;) The plane landed around 1:15. And we were waiting for our luggage at 1:30. This didn’t take too long for our 3 bags to come off the conveyor. Once out of the terminal we had to get a shuttle to the economy parking lot to get “V”. The shuttle took quite awhile to come and it was packed. We got off the shuttle and found the car easy as we took a picture of the lot where we parked. It cost $82 to park for the week. We left the airport at 2:10 to head home. We stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel before getting on the NE Extension for our final drive home. We pulled into our driveway at 5:40 with just enough time to wind down before the Super Bowl.



This was a great trip! After waiting for a year since the last cruise it’s hard to believe it’s over. Now we have to wait until next year for Ships & Dip V! Let the countdown begin!!

Did we have a great time?
Ya’mon!



"You never know what’s gonna happen…on the cruise-a!" - Tyler Stewart 2nd BNL show

Saturday Feb 2nd

This is going to be a long post as this was our most full day of the whole trip. The days on the cruise the shows didn't start until the afternoon and for the most part we only saw 1 show at a time. At Universal we would ride and do as many attractions as we could.

We woke up around 8 and went to the hotel lobby for their complimentary hot continental breakfast. By 10, we drove over to Universal as the entrance was just down the highway from the hotel. After parking in the Spider-man parking deck we made our way to the Islands of Adventure. We waited almost a half hour for tickets. They have a bunch of ticket options and the best one for us was the 2-parks 1-day option for $82.95 per person.

Our first stop was:

Marvel Super Hero Island – “Enter a gleaming comic book city where the world’s greatest Super Heroes pit themselves against the world’s most diabolical Super Villains in the ultimate battle of good versus evil.”

Of course this is what I wanted to see the most so if we did it first we definitely wouldn’t miss it. We figured that since the Hulk ride had the longest line we would go on that ride first. I don’t usually like roller coasters but after doing the canopy tour zipline in Jamaica we were ready for anything. We waited in line for about 45 minutes and the ride was amazing. It was the first roller coaster ride Stan can remember that he had his eyes open the whole ride. After that great adrenaline rush we went over to the Spider-man 3D ride. This had about a 40 min wait. We did 2 rides and it took almost 2 hours. We figured that if we wanted to get the most out of the 2 parks we needed to get an Express Pass that allows you to go to the front of the lines for the more popular rides. It costs an extra $30 per person and you only get to use the express pass once on each ride. Without that pass we would not have done as much as we did. After the Spider-man ride there were comic characters hanging around taking pictures with kids (and Stan). Stan got his picture with Storm & Rogue, Capt America, and Wolverine. We went into a comic book shop that was really cool and all of a sudden you hear a lot of sirens and a large commotion outside. Not knowing what it was we went towards the sirens. When we got there we see all the comic characters running to get on custom ATVs and drive off. Apparently there was a villain causing problems and the characters put on a little show. This happens after they take pictures for about a hour. Very cool and unexpected. After leaving Marvel Island, the next stop was

‘Toon lagoon – “Splash through the panels of your favorite cartoons and comic strips on the wild and wacky water rides of Toon Lagoon. The Sunday Funnies were never this much fun!”

Walking through 'Toon Lagoon is like walking through the Sunday Funnies that have come to life. Everywhere you look there is a different comic strip character adn there are a lot of fun photo-ops throughout the park like the one to the right.

That crazy Marmaduke!!

The first and only ride we went on in this area was the Dudley Do-Right ripsaw falls. This was a very funny and very wet flume ride. This was quite possibly the funniest ride I have ever been on. We got SOAKED!!! I don’t know if it was the ride that was funnier or if it was how wet we got. We literally 'wrung out' our shirts when we got off!! After this we needed to stand in the sun to dry off a little. When we were a little dry we started walking over to

Jurassic Park – “Experience the real Jurassic Park, where dinosaurs have been brought back to co-exist with man for the first time anywhere. It’s an adventure 65 million years in the making!”
The main ride in Jurassic park is the River adventure which you get wet on and since we were already wet we figured why not. We were on a Jurassic park river ride at universal in LA so we knew what to expect and this was just as good however we didn’t get too wet, which Amy was happy about. After Jurassic Park were went to

The Lost Continent – “Explore an ageless land of ancient myths and epic legends. From a castle guarded by warring dragons to a battle of titans beneath the sea, heart-pounding adventure awaits around every corner.”

Here we rode the Flying Unicorn, a fast little roller coaster with a lot of steep turns. It was really fun. Next we did Poseiden’s Fury. This really wasn't a ride as much as it was an attraction. This was a 20-min walk-through attraction in an “ancient temple”. It was a let down after all the other exciting rides. Next to this was the Duelling Dragons roller coaster. This was the only thrill ride that we didn’t ride. The only reason I can think of is that it was getting late and we still had the whole other park to do. After this we headed to

Seuss Landing – “The only place where all of Dr. Seuss' whimsical children's tales come to life before your eyes! It’s a treat for all of your senses…especially your sense of humor!”

I am not a real big fan of Seuss but it was cool to see the crazy buildings. We only went on the Cat in the Hat ride. It was pretty fun.

This would have been enough for 1 day but we were not done yet.

Time to go to Universal Studios Park.

Universal Studios Park is more of an attraction park and no real thrill rides.

Walking clock-wise through the park, the first ride we went on was Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast. It was fun ride but we were sitting near the front all the way on the side and it was a little disorientating. Like most of the rides in Universal you are sitting a in big room and the seats move up, down, back and forth with what is happening on the screen. Next up was Shrek 4-D. This was fun and it was in 3D, they gave you glasses to wear. Since I wear glasses the effect was not as good on me as others. Next we went on the Revenge of the Mummy ride which is an indoor roller coaster. It was really good and kinda scary. At one point the ride is in complete darkness and you are speeding through not knowing which way you’re going. Next we did Disaster. This was an attraction that we was similar to one we did in Universal LA. It was like being on a movie set filming a disaster movie. You are sitting in a “subway terminal” where there is an earthquake and all heck break loose. It was pretty cool. After this, one of the rides we wanted to do was the Men-in-Black Alien Attack ride. This was pretty cool as it was an interactive ride where you had to shoot aliens while on the ride. It even took score. It was fun. Now it was getting dark and we had about an hour to do a couple more rides. One of the rides we want to do was The ET Adventure ride. When we got to the ride, it was not working at that time. So instead of going on that we went on The Woody Woodpecker Nuthouse Roller Coaster. This was a fun little coaster like the Flying Unicorn from earlier. While waiting in line for this in front of us were a brother and sister that were about 8-10 years old. They said this was the 16th time they were on this ride over the past 2 days. I guess they liked it. Well we did too. When we got off this ride we saw that ET was open again so we went over there. We did this at universal LA and we really liked it so we did it again and it was just about the same but no less fun. When we were done it was about 7:15 and the last showing of the Terminator 2: 3D attraction was at 7:30 and all the rides closed at 8 so we almost ran to the Terminator ride. This was almost a 30 min 3D show. It was here that I finally figured out that I was wearing the 3D glasses too close to my face and I was able to fully get the 3D experience. This was over at just about 8.

Whew! We did it-got everything in that we wanted to and then some!

Tonight was the first night of Universal’s Mardi Gras celebration. As part of the celebration they had a huge parade through Universal Studios. The parade started at 8 and we found a spot on the curb to watch the parade. It was crazy. It was the closest to being in New Orleans as you could get. It was really fun and the floats were throwing beads. We ended up with quite a few beads. After the parade there was a Brett Michaels’ concert. Brett Michaels is the lead singer from Poison. We listened to a couple songs but it was getting close to 9 and we didn’t eat dinner yet. We were going to eat Mel’s Drive-In inside the park. It looked just like an old drive-in complete with the cars from American Graffiti, including Milner’s 32 Ford. It was kinda crowded there so we left the park and decided to eat at the NASCAR Sports Grill, a NASCAR themed restaurant. It was pretty cool and all the booths had TVs that you could change the channel on, we chose to watch a hockey game. It was after 10 and we figured it was time to go back to the hotel. Since the hotel was only up the highway it shouldn't be hard to get back. Wrong! We must have taken a wrong turn leaving the park and we got lost. We ended up going the opposite direction from the hotel. When we finally got back to the hotel it was around 11. After a very full day we were exhausted and we had to do our final packing. I don’t know how we did it but we ended up packing better and lighter than we originally packed at home. With everything packed we got to bed at around 1am.

Another long but great day!!

Friday Feb 1st

We "woke up" at 6:30 to get the last of our stuff packed. We had a choice of leaving the ship by self debarkation or Carnival can take our luggage off and we can pick it up in the terminal. To have Carnival do it, the luggage had to be left outside our cabin before 1am last night and they start letting these people off the boat starting at 9am and it could take a few hours. Since we were out late last night at the All-star jam and we wanted to get off the boat ASAP to get to Orlando/Ocala, we chose to self debark. Self debarking starts at 7am. We got everything together and they called our floor to leave. It was pretty quick and after going through customs we were off the boat by 8am. We had a reservation at Hertz downtown to pickup a car at 10am. We waited a little bit for a complimentary Hertz shuttle to the pickup location. We got there around 8:30 and Hertz was packed! We had to wait for a ½ hour to get through the line. They said they had over 150 reservations for the day. It was their 2nd busiest day ever. I guess they were real busy partly because Hertz was a sponsor of the cruise. We finally got our car at 9. It was a 2008 Toyota Camry. Stan really liked it a lot. Before the trip we printed directions to Orlando so we knew we had to start by getting on I-95 north. After getting directions to I-95 from Hertz we were off. We were only on I-95 for little while then we had to get on Florida’s Turnpike. We ended up paying about $20 in tolls for the trip. We made 2 stops, for restroom and food, and we got to Ocala by 2:30 and went straight to Big Daddy Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing. There were a few people there, actually more than I thought.

The International Drag Racing Hall Of Fame plaques are out front and there is an A-7 jet out front as well. The museum is set back in 2 buildings. One for the antique car museum and one for the drag racing museum. Since the antique museum closes a little bit earlier the clerk said to head over there first then come back to the drag museum. So we did the antique museum first and there were some pretty cool stuff there including some of Garlits’ personal drivers and well as the featured car, a 1956 Chrysler Imperial that was built for a President Dwight D Eisenhower, that came with a 354 hemi.

After about a half hour we went over to the drag racing museum and it was a million times better that I or anyone could imagine! I can not put it into words how cool and exhilarating this was. Even the smell was amazing! I was taking still pictures of almost everything and Amy was videotaping. I know I had a great time. And I think Amy did too if it was only to see me that excited. To be around all that history…I am at a loss for words. I did notice that on the other side of one of the walls is Big Daddy’s actual race car shop. There were guys in there working on a primered front engine dragster of some kind. I tried to get a better look but they were real fast to close the door. Anyway they closed at 5 and we made a stop at the souvenir shop before they closed. We had an hour drive back to Orlando and we found the hotel easily(Hampton Inn) and then we were looking for a place to eat. We found a nearby TGIFriday’s. After eating we checked in at the hotel around 7. After the long drive and visit to the museum we were beat. We watched some TV and were both sleeping by 8:00 to try to catch up on some of the sleep we missed during the past week.

Thursday Jan 31st

Our last full day at sea.

We took it easy this morning as we know that after the BNL show tonight, the New Odds will be having their “All-star” jam up on the lido deck. Last year it was completely spontaneous and lasted well past 2am. We are expecting the same this year.

I ,(Stan), got up pretty early to walk around the ship. I wanted to take some pictures of the ship with not a lot of people around. A lot of the places I went, I was the only one around except for the Carnival cleaning staff. I had a little breakfast at the lido buffet and then went to see if Amy was up yet. It was around 9:30 and she was up and ready to go. I went with her to breakfast and then we walked the ship a little. Our first scheduled event was the Meet the Managers panel at 11 in the Adriatic lounge. This was a cool 1hr Q&A session with BNL’s management including their touring manager (and 6th BNL member) Fin. This was very cool. It was like a State of the Union of BNL. We also got to hear some stories about the band from behind the scenes. The panel was very informative. The biggest thing that I took from the panel was that BNL is an independent band now as they are not on a major label and that we, the fans, are their “record executives”. Not being on a major label allows BNL to be more free with their music and allows them to do a lot more of what THEY want to do with their music. Doing cruises and touring when they want is just a small part of that.

After the managers’ panel we grabbed lunch. After lunch was the songwriters’ panel in the Caribbean Lounge at 1pm. This was a special event where Sixthman had a lottery to gain entrance. A few weeks before the cruise I found out that I won 2 tickets for this. When we got there we sat about half way back on the floor. Last year they had a songwriters’ panel and it was only Ed and Steve from BNL. This year it was said that it would not only be BNL but also include members of other bands on the ship as well. This year’s panel was (sitting from right to left) Kurt Swinghammer, Jason Plumb, Craig Northey from the New Odds, Ed, Steve, Sarah Harmer, Alan Doyle from Great Big Sea & Boothby Graffoe (an English comedian and singer/songwriter). I was expecting this to be pretty good but this was definitely one of the top 5 best moments of the whole trip! They were scheduled to play from 1 to 2:30 but ended up enjoying themselves they played until around 3:30! I think they all started being very timid but once they got into it, it was outstanding. Each person on stage sang a song starting from the right with Kurt Swinghammer. It was just him and his guitar. Then Jason Plumb sang one of his songs. It continued through each person in order on stage. When they got through everyone they went back to Kurt and went through every one again. We figured this would be it but they all said "lets do another round." Each song was great! It just keep getting better and better. It was very cool to see all these talented musicians play their favorite songs they wrote. Even more fun was watching the other musicians on stage in awe of each other.

When the songwriters’ panel was over around 3:30 we headed up to the Lido deck to see Harvey Danger. On our way we stopped past the Black & Red Seas Lounge as there would be show after show all night in there starting at 4:00 with Brian MacMillian. There was a huge crowd waiting to get in (this was one of the smallest, but most popular, venues on the ship). I guess this is where everybody who wasn’t going to the BNL show tonight was going. We were glad to be going to the BNL show as we didn’t want to wait in the crowd. We finally made it the Lido deck, had a late lunch, and were pleasantly surprised to see Harvey Danger hadn't started yet. They were late and didn’t start until 4. We ended up being right up front for the show and they were great! They played for over an hour and half and the last song they played was their big hit and my favorite song “Flagpole Sitta”.

Since the next few hours of shows were in the crowded-and-no-room-available Black and Red Lounge we fortunately had some extra time so we went to our room to pack. We decided to take advantage of the 'self-assist' debarking which means we will carry off our own luggage instead of having Carnival's porters take our bags off. The only disadvantage of this is that self assist is the first off the boat starting at 7am, so we needed to have everything ready before going out for the night since we weren't planning to get much sleep with the BNL show and the All-star jam late tonight. When we had everything packed, we were out for the night. We finally saw a full Checkerbaord Guy act. He is a juggler that was onboard last year as well. We love him! Then we caught the very end of Joe Pisapia’s show in the Adriatic Lounge. He is the guitarist from Guster and his band was made up with guys from Guster and BNL. I liked the 2 songs we heard. Then we went up to the Lido deck to see Great Big Sea. This is the 2nd time we saw them and they are really great.

Just before they ended we left to go see Gaelic Storm in the Adriatic. It was too crowded so we just went right over to the Caribbean Lounge to see the BNL show that started at 11. We were in just about the same seats that we were in for the Double Dippers show on Sunday. This was one of the best BNL shows we ever saw! They were really having a good time on stage and it transferred to the audience. During their song “Old Apartment” they asked a kid from the crowd that they met on the cruise to play drums. The kid was 12 and it ROCKED! It was one of the coolest onstage moments ever seeing BNL. Another memorable moment was when Andy Creggan joined Ed for a very moving version of "Am I the Only One". They played for over 2 hours and the set was full of rarely played songs. After their usual encore they came out to play one more song like they did on Tuesday. They joked that the only reason why everyone was cheering after the regular encore was the crowd knew BNL came back for another encore for the previous show.

Once the show ended we made a quick run up 4 flights of stairs and across the whole ship to get to the Lido deck for the New Odds All-star jam. Just as I had figured, there were a lot of people there. Everybody was talking about this show whereas there were at least half as many people there last year. The New Odds started playing at 12 and by the time we got there after the BNL show it was past 1am and Acid Wish was on stage. Acid Wish are the New Odds’ alter egos and Acid Wish/New Odds are by far the heaviest band on the ship. As expected they were rocking out and shortly the crowd got bigger as the BNL crowd started showing up. Soon other musicians showed up. I think the first was Ed from BNL. Soon just about every member of every band on the ship were on stage. It was wild! Once the other musicians started coming on stage they never finished a song. Someone would start playing some song like “Crazy Train” by Black Sabbath and then sing/play a couple lines then change to “My Generation” by the Who, then “Shake It Up” by the Cars and so on. The more random or funny the song was, the better. They must have played parts of over 100 songs. It ended up as being like one long song that lasted until 4:45am when Steve announced that the Carnival staff asked them to wrap it up as we were coming into Miami and the stage had to be taken down and all of the equipment needed to be packed. Sure we were tired but it was the last night of the cruise and we just saw a great BNL show and a wild and crazy 3 hour jam.

We went to our room and since we were packed we forced ourselves to sleep for about an hour because in addition to debarkation we also have a long drive to Orlando tomorrow.

Wednesday Jan 30th

We were up early again this morning in anticipation of our "Canopy tour" excursion in Jamaica. There was an 8am meet time so we were up by 6:45. We were actually up before the ship was even docked! It was cool to see the island as we were coming in. We had some breakfast up at the buffet on the Lido deck, walked around the ship a little to see the island from this angle, then went back to the room to gather our things and headed off the boat. After stopping for the traditional "off the boat" pictures we made our way over to the meeting spot for our Canopy tour. We were put on a bus around 5 after 8 and waited for our group to be complete. By 8:15 we were on the road!

When the bus got going our driver, Garfield, told us that it would be about a 45-50 min. drive to the Cranbrook Flower Forest, where our adventure would begin. Thirty minutes would be highway driving and about 20 min. would be on a two-way, one lane dirt road up the mountain to the Forest. Along the ride Garfield was explaining some Jamacian terms. We learned a "CD"versus a "CJ". CD =careful driver. CJ=crazy Jamaican! Garfield said, "by the end of our time together you tell me what I am". Well we learned quickly that Garfield was one of the CD's because there were PLENTY of CJ's on the road and they were not hard to point out!! Also we saw some cars with a big capital "L" on the car and we found out that they were learning how to drive, equivilant to having a learners permit here in the states. They should have been CD's but were more like CJ's and Garfield got away from them quickly.

We also learned that there were "no problems" in Jamaica, only "situations". For instance, if one of those CJ's hit our bus--no problem 'mon. If we got injured and missed the ship--then that's a "situation"!

Garfield then told us about"ya'mon". Ya'mon is a common greating in Jamaica. When everything is going well it's "ire". So when he would ask us periodocally how we all were doing, we'd all respond "Ya'mon, ire"!!

He took us through the next parish, or county, of St.Anns. We saw some of the nicer homes(where the doctors, lawyers and drug dealers live, as Garfield joked), but mostly the homes and areas were poor. The homes were built of cement-blocks to withstand hurricanes. Also there are no laws in Jamiaca where the house has to be finished before you can live in it. We saw a lot of cinderblock houses that were only 1 room with a roof and a bunch of partially built walls. Garfield told us that most houses are never finished. Minus these poor areas, the countryside of Jamaica was actually very pretty-very mountainous and lush. When we turned onto the one-lane two-way road into the countryside we saw lots of kids walking to school and men and women walking to work. This was a very interesting part of the ride as the road was very rough, tight turns and yes oncoming traffic in very tight spots. We still told Garfield he was a CD as he got us to the start of our tour safely.

We got to the Forest and were geared up for our adventure. The canopy tour is a series of "ziplines" or traverses through the forest on a type of pulley system from platform to platform. There are a total of 9 lines, 7 straight , a 45degree angle, and one that went straight down. The longest traverse was about 600feet and most were at least 45 feet above ground! Our guides fitted us all with the proper gear, gave us a brief "how-to"explaination, and we were on our way! It was about a 20 minute walk to the first platform. Along the way we were pretending we were on the 'Amazing Race' (a reality show on TV we really enjoy,a scavenger-hunt around the world and they do tasks- like this zipline-all the time. In all honesty, the show is the main reason we picked this excursion). We get to the first platform- we were positioned about the middle of the group so we got to see a lot of people go before us. The guides don't really give you a chance to be nervous, when its your turn they hook you up to the lines,double and triple check the connections and you're off through the trees!! Stan went first, then Amy--WHOO-HOOOO!!!!!!! This is AWESOME!!! Surprisingly Amy wasn't scared or nervous but Stan was a little nervous. The men and women who ran this were very cautious and safe. What a different view of the Jamaican forest. The first line was horizontal, the next was the 45 angle, then horizontal straight across again, then straight down (think going down a firemans pole!). Then there was a "catch up"point where the group was together again before heading for the last 4 passes. I don't know how to explain what it was like flying through the forrest-- well, it was just that. Very exhillarating!! We both agreed that this was one of the best, most fun things that we've ever done. When it was over, it was a 20 minute scenic walk out of the forest back to the bus. Garfield took us to the "gift shop" of the tour. During the tour there was a man taking pictures of everyone as they were ziplining across. At the gift shop they had a deal to buy the pictures they took of you plus some other nature shots of the area and video of the tour. Of course, we got'em. We parted ways with Garfield when he dropped us all back at the ship around 1:15.

We didn’t want to hang around in Jamaica too much (it wasn't the type of place you would want to wander around), so once the tour bus got back to the pier we got back on board. We had lunch and even got in a quick nap before getting ready for this evenings lineup. At 4, Oakhurst was playing the sail away on the Lido deck. Oakhurst was on last years cruise but we didn’t see them play a full show. We did see the guys in the band all over the ship all week. They are a Denver-based band that plays what they call “Appalachian Bluegrass Folk-Rock”. There is a banjo player, a mandolin player, a regular acoustic guitarist, a stand-up bass player and a drummer. It was raining a little when they started and we watched for a little bit. Then is started to rain a lot harder and they stopped playing. We hung around out of the rain for a little bit waiting for the band to start again. Once it stopped raining I noticed the guys were carrying their instruments off to the side of the stage and it looked like they were tuning up. So I figured they would be starting again. I headed over to where they were, off the side of the stage and they all started to play. They were just playing and singing. No electric and no microphones. Just 5 guys jamming like they were out on the street and I had a front row “seat”. It was awesome. I never really seen anything like this before and I was loving it. It was cool to see these guys play so hard and fast and have a great time just playing. After a couple of songs I turned around and noticed that there were was quite a crowd. One of the equipment guys brought a microphone so the rest of the lido deck could hear. I didn’t know it at the time but I was standing right next to a girl that was a singer for the DeWayn Brothers, Jamie Lee. Apparently they were on the cruise but were added so late they didn’t get a show of their own and only played late nights on the open mic nights. On one of the songs Oakhurst asked if Jamie Lee would sing with them. She never heard the song before but knocked it out. After a little bit I saw Andy from Sixthman checking it out and he looked impressed that Oakhurst were not playing on the stage but an acoustic set. Soon I saw Andy talking to the Carnival bar waiters and then right after they were passing out beers to the crowd. That was pretty cool. This was whole set completely unexpected and totally made the top 5 moments of the cruise.

After Oakhurst played for about an hour we once again went for dinner in the dining room. We ended up sitting at the same table and had the same waiter and he remembered us. After having another really good dinner we ordered the warm chocolate melting cake again because during the BNL show the other night Steve asked if anyone had the dessert and wondered if everyone’s was also undercooked as his was all liquid inside. He said that if we order the dessert again to ask for it overcooked. Well I guess everyone did and Carnival was not too pleased by it but I have to say the dessert was better today.

Then we went back to the room to change into out pajamas. Tonight was a theme night and Sixthman encouraged everyone to come out in their PJ's for the night. How often do get to go outside of your room in your pj's (and best of all listen to great music) and its socially acceptable?!! This was a very cool and very comfortable, I might add, way to spend the evening.

Tonight we were planning a light night of shows. We planned on seeing Kurt Swinghammer followed by Thinbuckle in the Adriatic Lounge starting at 8. Then maybe see the Vanity Project on the Lido after Thinbuckle. Well it started as planned. We went to the Adriatic Lounge before 8 to see Kurt Swinghammer. He is a very talented singer/guitarist and he played with a lot of other acts on the cruise but this time it was his set. He played a few songs solo and then Ed, Jim and Tyler from BNL played with him. It turned out to be a really good set. After Kurt Swinghammer, we stayed in the same seats for Thinbuckle. I really like Kevin and Thinbuckle. They played a really good set with a bunch of guest appearances including one from Ed. After Thinbuckle, the Vanity Projects were scheduled to start at 11 out on the Lido deck however while Thinbuckle was finishing up their set we noticed the Vanity Projects and a big group of people waiting outside the Adriatic Lounge. It turns out, it was too windy out on the Lido deck for the band to play there so they were going to play next door in the Black & Red Seas Lounge. Since there was a show that just started in the Black & Red Seas Lounge and Thinbuckle was almost finished, they decided to move the Vanity Projects again, this time to the Adriatic Lounge, where we were already sitting. As luck would have it we were going to have a good seat to the Vanity Project. We glad we didn’t move as the Vanity Projects were great once again and just like last year at the 2nd Vanity Project show Steve was losing his voice. The show started around 11:30 and didn’t end until around 1am. Also like last year we stuck around after the show to get our picture with Steve. The only downside was that Harland Williams was supposed to perform in the Adriatic Lounge at midnight and it was moved to the Red & Black Seas Lounge and there was nowhere near enough seats for that show. We weren’t going to it so we didn’t mind but apparently some people were very upset.

Afterwards, we took a jaunt up to the Lido for a quick snack(gotta love 24 hour pizza), stayed for a song or two from Acid Wish and were in for the night around 2am. Man, these days keep getting longer and later, but we LOVE IT!!

Tuesday Jan 29th

We were up around 6:30 in anticipation of our shore day in Grand Cayman. The night before we had gotten a “tender ticket” to get off the ship. The port in Grand Cayman is too shallow for the cruise ship to dock so the ship anchors off the coast and smaller boats “tender” passengers from ship to shore. To better organize everyone getting off ship, Carnival offers tender tickets to get off the ship in the morning. There is no charge, they give you a sticker with a number and when your number is called you can make your way to the gangway to get off the ship. This is especially helpful if you have an early excursion booked and need to get off the ship early as they let off those with tickets before everyone else. We had #7 so we were off the ship and on a tender boat between 7:30-7:45.

We didn’t book an excursion with Carnival. Instead we booked through Chris (aka Dr.Evil on the BNL Ships & Dip message board). Chris posted about a month earlier that he and his friends wanted to charter a boat on their own to Stingray City and to do some snorkeling. They had been there before and used Capt'n Bryans charter and had enjoyed it. He needed at least 25 people to reserve the boat and it would be $35 per person. (This was much less than carnival was charging for a similar itenery) He got more of a response than he expected… 90 people signed up and he ended up getting 2 boats! We needed to be off the boat early to meet up at Capt’n Bryans at 8:30 for a 9:00 departure. Since we didn’t know who Chris was or what he looked like,(or anyone else who was signed up for that matter), we wanted to be early. To make matters worse we didn't bring the directions to Capt'n Bryans and we had no idea where to go. Lucky for us there was a couple on the tender boat sitting in front of that did bring their directions so we follwed them. It was only a short walk to the office from the port and we were there by 8:15 as were most of our group. Everyone showed up on time which we thought was pretty impressive for such a large group. Chris introduced himself (he seemed like a nice guy, maybe around 40, overheard someone say he used to be in the military) He lined us all up to sign everyone in and collect money. He also told us that the boats were a little behind schedule and we wouldn’t be leaving till closer to 9:30. Once we checked in with him we went to get breakfast at a local bakery next door since we had not eaten before getting off the ship. When it was finally time to load the busses to get to the boat we were ready. Since there were so many people we had two boats, Capt’n Bob and Capt’n Bob 2 and since some expressed interest in beer on the boat we were separated into the “drinking” boat and the “dry” boat. No surprise but we chose the dry boat and were on the bus heading to it. Once on the bus we were told it would be about a 10 min. ride to the boat and once there, another half hour to Stingray City. So we sat back and enjoyed the ride and the scenery. The water in the Caribbean is so pretty and aqua blue that it looks fake.

We finally got off the bus and got on our dry boat to go to Stingray City. This is a very popular attraction in the Caymans and from what we heard is THE thing to do. Stingray City is a sandbar in the middle of the Caribbean. It is about 4-5 feet deep and the stingrays are very docile in this area. They are used to the constant flow of people around them and it doesn’t hurt that everyone brings them their favorite treat, squid. When we arrived, there were already a bunch of groups here. (I forgot to mention that 7 other cruise ships were docked in Grand Cayman that day)

Our boat dropped anchor and all were ready to get in the water. Our guide told us that we wouldn’t be able to touch bottom where our boat was but a few feet away you could on the sandbar and that’s where he would show us the stingray up close. Wait, hold up, you can’t touch bottom?? The guides didn't offer any life vests before jumping in the water. This is when Amy starts to get a little nervous. See, Amy is not a strong swimmer – okay so she can doggypaddle but can’t get her head underwater. When everyone gets off, Stan goes out to test the conditions. He can’t touch and it’s a little ways till you can and is nervous for Amy. It takes a few minutes to muster up the nerve, then sets her mind to going in. "I didn't come all this way to sit on the boat and watch! I want to see the stingrays! I'm just gonna doggypaddle like hell, and tell me when I can touch bottom." In she goes and with Stans help pushing her along, makes it to the guides holding the stingrays. Once there, she asks him if there are vests for the snorkeling stops, he says "yeah" and then places the singray right in Amy's arms! It was a female, the guide says they're the larger ones and the smaller ones were the males and they usually stayed toward the bottom. She was kinda slimy, jelly-like and was pretty heavy. The guide man shows us her eyes, gills, mouth and stinger. When we see her mouth he takes her out of the water and she "spits"water at us! We didn't feed them although some people did and they said it was like a vaccuum taking the squid out of their hands! We stayed in this area about 20 more minutes with various stingrays swimming right past, into and under us. It was pretty cool being out there and kinda scary.

We were called back to the boat and went to our next stop, a snorkeling area called "the aquarium". With life vests on, we were both more relaxed getting into the water. Life vest and snorkeling gear on (which we brought our own) we were ready to do this. This was our first time snorkeling. Stan got the hang of it pretty quickly, Amy took a little longer to relax her head under the water without closing her eyes! Boy! It was beautiful out there. We didn't see a ton of fishies but what a beautiful expierence. The water was so clear! We were called back to the boat for our last stop, "the coral reef". This time we got off the boat more quickly to maximize our time there. They gave us about 20 min. at each stop. Again this stop was beautiful. Then we were done and heading back to the dock. Once there, it was back on a bus taking us back to the port. This bus ride back had some true Caribbean music. None of us aboard that bus will ever forget the classic, "I don't want to be a conch" song!!!

When we got to the port we took a little walk around the main street of Grand Cayman. It was very tourist-y with all the pirate shops and other caribbean souvenirs. There was a Hard Rock cafe and also a Margaritaville resort which we had to go in and take a few pictures after a 15-20 min walk we made our way to the port to get a tender boat back to our ship.

We got back on the ship around 2:45 and went straight up to the lido deck for a late lunch as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. After eating we went to our cabin and washed up and got ready for the evening starting with the Sail away show with Great Big Sea at 4:30. Great Big Sea is a band from St John’s Newfoundland that we didn’t really know. However when they were announced to be on the cruise there were a lot of people really excited they were coming. It turns out they are really good and we liked them a lot, so much so we made an effort to catch another of their shows later in the week. They are a fun folk-rock band and a lot of their music is based on traditional Newfoundland folk songs. Not only were the songs really good but the banter in between the songs was equally enjoyable. During the energetic set it was a “The Captain’s Party” where waiters were walking around the Lido deck with free hor’dourves and free drinks. It was during this show that Ed was standing near us. Someone asked him for a picture and he obliged, so Amy thought why not and asked for a picture.

After the show we headed to the Ionian Bar to see The Brothers Creeggan again. We didn’t know was that the Ionian Bar is not really a drinking bar as it is a cigar bar. There were not a lot of people smoking but there was a thick cloud of smoke just sitting in the middle of the room. Once you got used to the smell it was another great show. I really enjoy seeing the Creeggan brothers as they are so very talented and they look to enjoy playing with each other.

Next we went to the Atrium to see Brian MacMillian play. He is a guitarist in Thinbuckle, Kevin from BNLs side band. I enjoyed his set but it was just him and a guitar and it was a little too mellow for Amy. We stayed about a half hour and then went to the lido to see Carbon Leaf. Carbon Leaf is another band we hadn’t heard of before the cruise but a lot of people were really excited to have them on. They were okay, not as high energy as we had hoped. They left no impression on Stan as he cannot even remember seeing them!(and no …he wasn’t drinking!) At 10:30 we ended up back at the Atrium to see Sean Nelson from Harvey Danger play. This set was just him singing and playing piano. Once again Stan really enjoyed this but it was not Amy’s favorite. (Amy note: I like Sean but his songs were too mellow and sad for me at this hour and were putting me to sleep) Sean is a little eccentric and so is his humor and song choices. Most of the songs he played I didn’t know including 2 Kinks songs that I couldn’t recall. It sounded great nonetheless. The set ended around 11:30 and at 11 was the 1st BNL headline show of the cruise.

When we booked the cruise we had a choice of the 1st or 2nd BNL shows to attend. We chose the 2nd because last year we thought the 2nd was better and hopefully it would be the same this year. Since we chose the 2nd show we did not have wristbands to get in the 1st show and we were figuring that , like last year, they would broadcast the BNL shows on the in-cabin TVs. We did not hear anything this year so we thought we would hang out in front of the doors to the show and hear a little and maybe get a peek inside. When we got there, there were 3 other people there doing the same thing we were. They were a little more ambitious as they were trying to get in the show as well. We figured if they were going to try, we might as well try too. After standing to the side for a little bit we saw Andy from Sixthman come by with an “angry fan”. Andy is the co-founder and CEO of Sixthman who is very hands on and tries to make everyone happy. Apparently the angry fan had floor tickets and didn’t realize the floor would be packed and everyone would be standing up. I guess she has a younger child that couldn’t see and the family was upset. Whatever their problem was Andy was taking care of it. While he was handling that he saw the 5 of us standing to the side and asked us what was wrong. Someone said we are hoping to get in the show. Andy then told us to wait off to the side and after he took care of his current situation he would check in with us. While we were standing off to the side the security guard at the front door to the lounge said that since we were waiting for Andy we might as well stand by the door so we could all watch a little bit of the show, which we did. We could see and hear pretty good from the door that I was content to stand there the rest of the show. But Andy wouldn’t have that. He came back in about 5 minutes and told us to follow him. He walked us up stairs to the upper balcony and told us we could watch the show from the back of the balcony. That was very cool! We really like that since we were in the back and standing up we could dance and enjoy the show as much as we wanted. We ended up missing only the 1st 3 songs. Not too bad for not having tickets to the 1st show. The show was pretty good. It was pretty much a basic BNL setlist. BNL always plans a 1-2 song encore and like always they did the same for this show. However when the encore was done the crowd was still cheering like mad. The house lights came up and the crew started unplugging everything but the crowd stayed at it. After a few minutes the band came back out. Ed said this was the first “real” encore the guys did in over 15 years. It was fantastic. They played 1 more song and then they finally were done.

It was after 1am and we decided to grab a drink and a snack from the lido deck before going to bed. Up on the lido deck stage the New Odds were playing so we checked them out for a little bit. They are real fun and I wish they didn’t play so late. Another long day comes to a close and we are getting excited for our Jamaica Canopy tour tomorrow.

Monday Jan 28th

With our first late night behind us and the first full day at sea ahead of us we got up around 7:30. With both of us up we went up for Breakfast at the buffet on deck 9. At 10, BNL was having a naked photo up on the lido deck. Everybody would go up to the lido deck in their robes and the band was there too and when the cameraman counted to 3 everybody dropped their robes for the photo. They did it last year and about 500 people showed up. This year there were about 1000 people. Yes we did it last year and again this year. We have the pictures to prove it although you can’t really see us at all. After that we went to our room and got dressed then we walked around to get acquainted with the ship.

We just hung around and relaxed the rest of the morning and early afternoon as there was nothing scheduled. Amy enjoyed soaking in some good Vitamin D by the pool. We ate lunch at the buffet and were going to try to get in a nap. On our way to the room we noticed a line forming for the Adriatic Lounge. Nothing was scheduled here 'till the evening. Upon asking someone what the line was for we found out that the Brothers Creeggan were playing at 3:30. We than noticed the signs marking the schedule change. We still managed to get in a 20 min. power nap before heading to the show. BNL bassist, Jim Creeggan and his brother Andy make up Brothers Creeggan. Andy Creeggan was a founding member of BNL but left the band in the mid 90s. This year Brothers Creeggan were rounded out by Kurt Swinghammer on guitar (a solo artist performing on the cruise) and Ed from BNL on drums. The Brothers Creeggan show last year was a highlight of the cruise and it was again this year. Great show. Andy and Jim are very talented musicians but when they play together it is remarkable.

After the show was over we went back to our cabin to get changed for dinner as it was a “Green Dress formal” night. Amy had her green dress and I had my green shirt and we went to dinner around 6. The formal night dinner is usually the best as they serve lobster. We had our lobster and it was really good, way better than last years. I guess we made an impression on the waiter as he had an extra lobster dinner that he gave us.

After dinner we planned on staying in Adriatic lounge all night. Starting at 7:30 with Howie Beck followed at 9 by The Vanity Projects (Steve from BNL’s side band) and finally at 11, the Songs of Paul McCartney w/ Steven Page from BNL and Sean Nelson from Harvey Danger. We got there about 7:15 and got really good seats. Howie Beck started at 7:30 and he was OK. The best part was that his band was Tyler, the drummer from BNL, Joe Pisapia, the guitarist from Guster and Ryan Miller the lead singer from Guster on bass. If we didn't have as good seats as we had we might have left early. The Vanity Projects came on and were awesome! Steve really puts on great show. His songs are really different from BNL but no less rockin'. A couple of guys from the New Odds came out and played with them. It was really strong set.



We didn’t know what to expect from the Songs of Paul McCartney but I really enjoyed it. Steve played guitar on the left of the stage and Sean played piano on the right of the stage. They each told stories of why they liked the songs before they played them. It was really fun and the guys seemed to be enjoying themselves as well.

It was almost 1am when the show ended and we as we did almost every night we headed up to the Lido deck for a snack and a drink and check out who was playing on the Lido stage. Tonight it was Thinbuckle, Kevin, the keyboardist from BNL, side band. They were really good but we didn't stay long as we had to go back to the cabin to get some rest for Grand Cayman tomorrow as we have to be at the charter place around 8am.

Sunday Jan 27th

The night before, we ordered breakfast to be brought to the room. We had it scheduled to come up at 8:30-8:45. We were both up and waiting for it when it came at 8:30. We both had good big breakfasts; Amy had French toast and I had eggs, bacon and hash browns. It was the best breakfast we ever had in Miami (and only breakfast in Miami). After eating, we got ready to leave for the port. We had 3 pieces of luggage to check at the port that we had to attach luggage tags to which are color-coded and have our room number on them. We got down at a perfect time and got on the first shuttle.

The shuttle was full and we were in the back. The shuttle left the hotel around 11:40 (20 mins ahead of schedule) and the bus driver said we’d be there by noon. On the way, we passed the Orange Bowl stadium, the new Carnival Center for the Performing Arts and the American Airways Arena where the Miami Heat play. At the port was the ship Freedom of the Seas, which is one of the largest cruise ship in the world. After being in a little traffic we got to the port at 12:05. After sitting in the bus for about 5 mins while our luggage was being unloaded we got off the bus. We had to make sure all of our luggage was there. Once we spotted our 3 pieces, we headed into the port terminal. First we had to go through security. The line was not too long and we made it though fairly quickly.

We headed upstairs to through Carnivals check in. When we got to the top of the escalator we were greeted by Tyler, the drummer from BNL. A quick “hello” and “enjoy the cruise” and we were waiting in another line. This was where we had to set up our sail & sign card which is also our cabin key. While waiting in line we saw Tyler, Steve and Kevin roaming through the lines, welcoming everyone. This was our longest wait but it still was a lot quicker than last year. We got our cards and also our “tickets” to the BNL shows we are going to. The tickets are actually wristbands with the show and seating assignments printed on them. One more stop to have our embarking picture taken then we were heading to the ship. We had to wait in a very short line to get on the ship but while we were waiting Kevin was walking behind us with a security guard and I overheard him ask if he had to wait in line. I said to him “no you don’t, you can get right on the ship” He smiled and following his security guard they bypassed the line. Walking in the other direction was Jim, BNL bassist.

Now we were on the ship. We entered into the lobby and the first thing we noticed is that the room felt cramped as compared to the Legend from last year. Since this ship does hold a lot more passengers and is bigger than the Legend it appears that to add more rooms they had to make the lobby and other main rooms smaller. Since we didn’t have our luggage we didn’t need to go to our room yet so we headed for the lido deck to look around for something to eat. As soon as we got on the lido deck, we were greated by a waiter with the drink of the day specials - rum punch. We each got one, the special price was $6.95, yikes. There were a bunch of choices to eat but we decided on hamburgs. We got a tray, grabbed some fries, and a burger and found a table to sit at. After we ate we wanted to check out our room to see if our luggage had been delivered. It was not there yet, but Amy did have her disinfecting supplies and quickly cloroxed lysoled the room. BNL was playing a sail away show at 5 on the lido deck but before that everyone on the ship had to go to the muster drill where we meet at our room’s designated life boat and they show us how to put on our life jackets. Once that is done it is a mad scramble to drop off the life jackets at our room and run to the lido deck for a good spot for the BNL show. The lido deck stage is different on this ship as there are many levels as the rows go back. We found a decent spot. And it was about 4:00, so we had to wait at least an hour.

While we were waiting we could see that they were still loading the bands equipment on the ship using a crane and lifting it up by the pallet to the lido deck. Pretty cool to watch. Once 5:00 came they were still loading equipment and it seemed like there would be no end. Finally they were done and BNL came on. They played a great set without any hits, like One Week, Million Dollars, Pinch Me etc., it was very cool. The band started and we were still docked. About halfway through their set a LOUD horn from the ship went off in the middle of one of their songs and they kept playing. Then we started moving. It was cool to be listening to live BNL on a cruise ship as the sun is setting over our backs while leaving the port of Miami. Once we cleared the port, the ship blew its horn again, naturally in the middle of a song. This time the horn went off 3 times! It was funny as the band and all of the crowd was doing the “universal blow-your-horn-tractor-trailor” sign and the ship blew the horn again. The set was about an hour long and real fun.

After the show was over went to eat in the dinning room but we were not expecting much as last year we were not impressed. We were surprised as it was really good! We were really only going for the dessert which everyone from last year was raving about but we didn’t have as we only ate once in the dining room last year. Stan has fillet and Amy has a mediterrean pasta dish. Then dessert! The dessert is warm chocolate melting cake. It is a chocolate cake baked in a single serving ceramic dish. What makes this unique is that on the outside it looks like a big cupcake but the inside is warm melted chocolate. It was so good and the chocolate was really rich. After dinner we went to our cabin to see if our luggage had arrived and it had.

Next on our schedule was the BNL Double Dippers show for alumni of Ships & Dip 1 that started at 10:30. Since we had assigned seating we didn’t have to get there early for a seat so we stopped around at the other shows going on beforehand.

The first band we saw was 54 seconds in the Adriatic Lounge. And we stayed for about 54 seconds! Just kidding. They were OK, we stayed for about 2-3 songs and to be honest I really don’t remember them too much except for one of the lead singers/guitarists was a female with blonde dreadlocks.

After 54 Seconds we went up to the Lido deck to see Gaelic Storm. They are a really cool Irish band with a bagpiper and a fiddle complete with thick Irish accents. They were really good.

After about a half hour we went to the Atrium, which is just the main lobby bar with a small stage behind/on top of the bar, to see Jason Plumb. He was on the cruise last year and he is pretty good. His first album was produced by Ed from BNL and his first single was co-written by Ed, which explains why it is such a great song. During Jason’s set he invited Ed onstage to sing that song, Satellite. (Ed's in the stripped shirt and Jason in on the right with the guitar)

Watch clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOe5tquUSXc

Needless to say it was awesome and this would be the first of many special appearances by members of BNL throughout the week.

After Jason Plumb we headed back to the Adriatic Lounge to drop in on Harvey Danger. I was really looking forward to hear them. We only stayed for a few songs as we are planning to check them out later in the week.

It was now 10:15 so we headed over to the main theater/lounge, the Caribbean Lounge for the BNL Double Dippers show that started at 10:30. The show was great. Our seats were good, 3rd row on the balcony. When we booked the cruise we had a choice of where to sit, the floor or the balcony. If you chose the balcony you got an assigned seat. If you chose the floor you got an assigned row and section and everyone would be standing. Because it would be hard for Amy to see we chose the balcony. To make this special for us, the band did not have a set list. They had a bucket in the middle of the stage that the people on the floor requested songs as they entered the lounge. The band would pick a song and they would play it. Very cool! This was another show where there were no hits and it was great. They played for about 2 hours.

After the show was over we went up to the lido deck to grab a bite to eat and to check out the New Odds playing on the lido stage. The New Odds were also on the cruise last year and they are a really rocking Canadian band. They also brought along their alter-ego band Acid Wish. Acid Wish is a crazy band that plays 80s covers, very wild, very cool. After seeing a little bit of The New Odds at around 1:00 we went back to the Adriatic lounge to check out the comedy show of Harland Williams, he is Kevin’s (keyboardist from BNL) cousin. The show was really funny and we would definitely see him again if his shows weren’t so late. Anyway after the show around 2:00 we finally went back to the room to get some sleep.

WOW what a first day!


The rest of the cruise can’t be this awesome….or can it?

Saturday Jan 26th

Here is the first installment of Stan and Amy's Ships & Dip blog. We had a great time and we hope that this will give you a little idea of what is was like for us. Please bear with us as sometimes we can ramble on over the littlest details. But we believe the best parts are in the details.

Well, anyway, settle in and away we go.....


The trip started Saturday morning when we were up by 7:30 and had Dunkin Donuts for breakfast at 8:00. We finished packing and got ready to leave for Philly and were out the door around 9:30. We got to the airport around noon and parked in the long-term economy parking lot. Within 10 minutes we're on a shuttle to the American Airways terminal for our 1:55 flight to Miami. When we got to the terminal we were worried that our big green suitcase would be overweight and we would have to pay extra to check the luggage. The limit for checked luggage is 50 lbs. We held our breath as they put the suitcase on the scale, it was 46 lbs! whew! With our luggage in American Airways’ hands we headed to the security checkpoint. This was another concern because our carry-ons contain all of our electronics; cameras, laptops, batteries, chargers, etc. We have to take our shoes off and put every thing in trays that have to go through an x-ray machine. We ended up using 5 trays and made it through fine. Since the x-ray machine can ruin undeveloped film, we requested to have our film hand inspected which took a couple minutes.

When we got through security we needed to get lunch. So we got sandwiches at a food place in the terminal, terminal A. Our flight is leaving out of gate A3, flight #749. After eating lunch and using the restroom we headed to the gate waiting area at about 1:10. Boarding was scheduled to start at 1:25 with the first class passengers first then with the back of the plane to the front. Of course we are close to the front of the plane so we had to wait an extra 15 minutes.

We finally got on the plane in seats 9E & 9F with me by the window in 9F. The plane ended up taking off at 2:10, a little late. The captain came on the PA and said the air was choppy so they were flying a little lower as to avoid the turbulence. It was pretty smooth until we got closer to Miami and it was a little rough. We had our laptop so we watched a movie, French Kiss. We landed in Miami around 4:50. First stop the restroom. Next stop baggage claim. One by one our 3 bags finally came out. Then we grabbed a cab to the hotel.

We checked in a 5:30, made a few phone calls home to our parents then settled in. Sixthman was having a pre-cruise party at the hotel and we could buy shuttle tickets to the pier tomorrow. It is $10/person and our shuttle is leaving at noon. We got the tickets then went to the party. It was just like last year where it is free to attend but you have to buy tickets to eat/drink. They had music playing of most of the bands on the ship. We were going to eat at the hotel but there is construction going on so we decided to eat at the party. It was $7/ea for a hamburger, veggie burger, or a chicken sandwich. $5 for a hot dog. Beer was $7 and soft drinks were $3. The party was outside and since we a close to the airport, there were planes taking off real low which was really cool!! We stayed at the party till 8 and then went back to the room to get some rest before our embarkation day at the port of Miami.