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?