We interupt this blog to bring you breaking news.........
A MESSAGE FROM BARENAKED LADIES
By mutual agreement, Steven Page will be parting company with the remaining members of Barenaked Ladies. Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart will continue recording and touring together as Barenaked Ladies. Steven Page will pursue solo projects including theatrical opportunities while the band enters the studio in April 2009, and hits the road in the fall.
Page says "These guys are my brothers. We've grown up together over the past twenty years. I love them and wish them all the best in the future."
The band also wish Steven well in all of his endeavors. Ed Robertson says: "It's the start of a new chapter for all of us. Here's to the future!"
Everyone is looking forward to making new music and thanks their fans for their support.
WOW! We don't know what to say.
While reliving Ships & Dip V for this blog we never realized that these would be the last times we would be seeing Steve with BNL. We will pick up where we left off with the blog later this weekend when we had time to fully digest this news.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Day 3 - Tuesday Feb 3rd
We're in Meh-he-ko!! Buenos dias!
We wake up early (thank you Central Standard Time for the extra hour!), shower & get dressed, have breakfast in the buffet and make our way off the boat for an 8:15 meet time for our excursion. As with our previous cruises we planned adventurous excursions. This year most of the excursion in Cozumel involved scuba/snorkeling or hanging out on one of the many beaches. We didn't want to do either of those and we were planning on doing the beach thing in Great Stirrup Cay on Thursday.
So we decided to take it easy in Cozumel and we chose a highlight and shopping excursion. Our guide, Mike, took us around Cozumel by bus. Our first stop of the day was a place called Discover Mexico, a museum type of place showing Mexico's culture. There were miniatures of the Mayan ruins and other famous Mexican buildings. We traveled next to el Cedral, an old, small village with lots of local shops. Here Mike tells us about Black Coral and how to spot the true from the fake. Black Coral is like a type of jewel popular in Cozumel. It is actually a deep-water, tree-like coral that is kind of expensive and there are some dishonest shops who sell fake Black Coral. Since a lot of the shops here sell it, Mike didn't want any of us, "his family", to get ripped off. After about a half hour here, we are back on the bus to drive around to the other side of the island. We stop at a beachy area for about 20 min and then on to our last stop -- The Cava Antigua Tequila Factory. Here, we see the Agave plant that tequila is made from and learn the distilling process of tequila. Afterwards, we are let loose to sample about 10 different types of tequila. Stan liked the Cava Antigua Anejo Tequila while Amy found that she preferred the flavored ones, like coffee, almond, orange. We bought a bottle of Anejo tequila and a small bottle of the Cream of Cava flavored one and then back on the bus to take us back to the ship. We were back on the ship around 3:00 and had a late lunch.
This gave us the rest of the afternoon to relax before the Great Big Sea sail away show on the pool deck. As we expected the show started a little later than the 6:00 PM start time. We were sitting towards the side of the stage near the water slide with our feet in the pool. This seemed like a good place to wait except for the 2 kids who kept going on the slide and splashing as they ran back to the top of the slide. When the show started we stood on the ledge where we were sitting and had a pretty good view of the stage over all the people who were standing down front. As per usual with GBS, it was a very energetic show and we barely noticed the sun setting and the tempurature going down.
After the show, it was time for dinner. Since it was a little bit late for diner for us (around 7:30), the main dining rooms were filling up. We walked by Tangos, one of the $10 cover charge restaurants, that served a mexican fare, and saw that they weren't busy, so we decided to try it. It turned out to be a good choice. They gave us complimentary margaritas, we enjoyed our quesedias and enchlaidas, and this ended up being our best meal of the cruise.
Our night was little different from the previous 2 cruises in that BNL would be playing a Main Show and we were not seeing them. The first time in 3 years of Ships & Dip and we did not see them!
We still had a great night and enjoyed some great music. First up at 9:00 in Bar City was Gaelic Storm. We would finally now be seeing a full set by them. And boy did they not disappoint! They played most of our favorite songs and a few that were new to us but the rest of the crowd knew. The Bar City venue is a weird place and not that great for a concert. The stage is very small and there are a few chairs set up in front of the stage (how you could sit for a GS show, I don't know?) and then behind the chairs is an area for standing (Where we were) and finally behind that is the Bar. Off to the side there are stairs that go up to the next floor where there is another bar and from there you can look down onto the chairs and audience - You can barely see the bands feet as the "stage" is set back and the ceiling is low. During GS's last song the singer, Patrick, started singing/walking out in the crowd. He made his way to the stairs and went upstairs. From our vantage point we could see him up on the second level still singing. Then for a second we lost him and couldn't see him.
However we heard him as he was carrying his microphone and went into the upstairs bar and ordered a shot of whiskey! While this is going on, Twigger and Jesse, also make their way up the stairs still playing,just in time to meet Patrick as he is coming out of the bar with his shot. The show then ended with them up there and we make our way up there to say hi to them and get a couple of pictures.
What a great show!
With Gaelic Storm's set going a little long we arrived about 20 minutes late for the 10:00 Boothby Graffoe show in the Fyzz lounge. Boothby is an English comedian who does his routine in songs. We first heard of him on last years cruise and wanted to catch him this year. Being a little late we still ended up with good seats and we were laughing as soon as we sat down. Mid-way through his set he was joined on guitar by Brian McMillan from Thin Buckle for the rest of the set. Between each song he would do a little stand-up and it was all very funny. We had a good time laughing for almost an hour.
We made our way over to the Spinnaker Lounge for 11:30 to see Butterfly Boucher. We heard of Butterfly from when she opened for BNL in 2004. We had her first album and Stan really likes her music and was looking forward to seeing her set. She played a really good set with just her and a guitar to start. She then brought another guitarist to play and she also had a drum machine for some songs. She played some songs from her first album and some from her new album which were really good. (yes we did buy the new album from the merch store) About half way through her set just as she gets to the chorus of "I Can't Make You Love Me", somebody comes running down the aisle towards the stage singing along. He then hops up onstage behind Butterfly signing the chorus and you could tell she was a little confused by this because it happened so fast and it took a second for her and the crowd to realize it was Ed from BNL! I guess their main show was over. What a great moment. A definite highlight! Ed only stays for the one song and is gone as fast as he appeared. But we are not done with the BNL guest appearances. Butterfly is later joined on stage for her last song by Jim from BNL. They play "Another White Dash" and this ends another great show on the cruise.
With that, we now come to the close of another day by having our ritual late night snack in the cafe and finally back to the cabin for some sleep by 1:30. We have a day at sea tomorrow with a bunch of shows scheduled for the Stardust Theater.
Finally here are a couple photos from Cozumel.
We wake up early (thank you Central Standard Time for the extra hour!), shower & get dressed, have breakfast in the buffet and make our way off the boat for an 8:15 meet time for our excursion. As with our previous cruises we planned adventurous excursions. This year most of the excursion in Cozumel involved scuba/snorkeling or hanging out on one of the many beaches. We didn't want to do either of those and we were planning on doing the beach thing in Great Stirrup Cay on Thursday.
So we decided to take it easy in Cozumel and we chose a highlight and shopping excursion. Our guide, Mike, took us around Cozumel by bus. Our first stop of the day was a place called Discover Mexico, a museum type of place showing Mexico's culture. There were miniatures of the Mayan ruins and other famous Mexican buildings. We traveled next to el Cedral, an old, small village with lots of local shops. Here Mike tells us about Black Coral and how to spot the true from the fake. Black Coral is like a type of jewel popular in Cozumel. It is actually a deep-water, tree-like coral that is kind of expensive and there are some dishonest shops who sell fake Black Coral. Since a lot of the shops here sell it, Mike didn't want any of us, "his family", to get ripped off. After about a half hour here, we are back on the bus to drive around to the other side of the island. We stop at a beachy area for about 20 min and then on to our last stop -- The Cava Antigua Tequila Factory. Here, we see the Agave plant that tequila is made from and learn the distilling process of tequila. Afterwards, we are let loose to sample about 10 different types of tequila. Stan liked the Cava Antigua Anejo Tequila while Amy found that she preferred the flavored ones, like coffee, almond, orange. We bought a bottle of Anejo tequila and a small bottle of the Cream of Cava flavored one and then back on the bus to take us back to the ship. We were back on the ship around 3:00 and had a late lunch. This gave us the rest of the afternoon to relax before the Great Big Sea sail away show on the pool deck. As we expected the show started a little later than the 6:00 PM start time. We were sitting towards the side of the stage near the water slide with our feet in the pool. This seemed like a good place to wait except for the 2 kids who kept going on the slide and splashing as they ran back to the top of the slide. When the show started we stood on the ledge where we were sitting and had a pretty good view of the stage over all the people who were standing down front. As per usual with GBS, it was a very energetic show and we barely noticed the sun setting and the tempurature going down.
After the show, it was time for dinner. Since it was a little bit late for diner for us (around 7:30), the main dining rooms were filling up. We walked by Tangos, one of the $10 cover charge restaurants, that served a mexican fare, and saw that they weren't busy, so we decided to try it. It turned out to be a good choice. They gave us complimentary margaritas, we enjoyed our quesedias and enchlaidas, and this ended up being our best meal of the cruise.
Our night was little different from the previous 2 cruises in that BNL would be playing a Main Show and we were not seeing them. The first time in 3 years of Ships & Dip and we did not see them!
We still had a great night and enjoyed some great music. First up at 9:00 in Bar City was Gaelic Storm. We would finally now be seeing a full set by them. And boy did they not disappoint! They played most of our favorite songs and a few that were new to us but the rest of the crowd knew. The Bar City venue is a weird place and not that great for a concert. The stage is very small and there are a few chairs set up in front of the stage (how you could sit for a GS show, I don't know?) and then behind the chairs is an area for standing (Where we were) and finally behind that is the Bar. Off to the side there are stairs that go up to the next floor where there is another bar and from there you can look down onto the chairs and audience - You can barely see the bands feet as the "stage" is set back and the ceiling is low. During GS's last song the singer, Patrick, started singing/walking out in the crowd. He made his way to the stairs and went upstairs. From our vantage point we could see him up on the second level still singing. Then for a second we lost him and couldn't see him.
However we heard him as he was carrying his microphone and went into the upstairs bar and ordered a shot of whiskey! While this is going on, Twigger and Jesse, also make their way up the stairs still playing,just in time to meet Patrick as he is coming out of the bar with his shot. The show then ended with them up there and we make our way up there to say hi to them and get a couple of pictures. What a great show!
With Gaelic Storm's set going a little long we arrived about 20 minutes late for the 10:00 Boothby Graffoe show in the Fyzz lounge. Boothby is an English comedian who does his routine in songs. We first heard of him on last years cruise and wanted to catch him this year. Being a little late we still ended up with good seats and we were laughing as soon as we sat down. Mid-way through his set he was joined on guitar by Brian McMillan from Thin Buckle for the rest of the set. Between each song he would do a little stand-up and it was all very funny. We had a good time laughing for almost an hour.
We made our way over to the Spinnaker Lounge for 11:30 to see Butterfly Boucher. We heard of Butterfly from when she opened for BNL in 2004. We had her first album and Stan really likes her music and was looking forward to seeing her set. She played a really good set with just her and a guitar to start. She then brought another guitarist to play and she also had a drum machine for some songs. She played some songs from her first album and some from her new album which were really good. (yes we did buy the new album from the merch store) About half way through her set just as she gets to the chorus of "I Can't Make You Love Me", somebody comes running down the aisle towards the stage singing along. He then hops up onstage behind Butterfly signing the chorus and you could tell she was a little confused by this because it happened so fast and it took a second for her and the crowd to realize it was Ed from BNL! I guess their main show was over. What a great moment. A definite highlight! Ed only stays for the one song and is gone as fast as he appeared. But we are not done with the BNL guest appearances. Butterfly is later joined on stage for her last song by Jim from BNL. They play "Another White Dash" and this ends another great show on the cruise.
With that, we now come to the close of another day by having our ritual late night snack in the cafe and finally back to the cabin for some sleep by 1:30. We have a day at sea tomorrow with a bunch of shows scheduled for the Stardust Theater.
Finally here are a couple photos from Cozumel.
Day 2 - video - Barenaked Ladies
Here are a few videos we took from the Barenaked Ladies main show 1 in the Stardust Theater on the 2nd day of the cruise.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Day 2 - Monday Feb 2nd
Day at sea
We both woke up this morning around 7:30. After taking a look at the schedule for the day, we showered and got ready for breakfast.
The ship has a breakfast buffet every morning in the Garden Cafe which is located on the pool deck. We both enjoyed our omelets at the made-to-order station that they had. After breakfast we go back to the room to get ready for the now infamous "naked photo" at 10:00. Getting ready for this is actually pretty easy--you just throw on your robe (with nothing on underneath) and proceed to the pre-determined spot, which was the pool deck. If you are reading this and you have never heard of the naked photo, this is something the band started on their first cruise. About 500 of us showed up the first year and we all dropped our robes for about 10 seconds for a "naked at sea" photo and have conituned doing it since. They had security standing guard only allowing those participating in the photo on deck. They had about 850 of us crazy "dippers" in the picture this year (slightly less than last year). And even some crazier ones actually jumped in the pool for the picture when the photographer called for some 'floaters" to fill in the pool area of the shot! (If your curious, the floaters convinced the band to jump in with them!) No, we didn't jump in the pool, but we did have a good spot this year and we will leave it at that.
Back at the room and clothed, we stopped by the Reverb room, Reverb is an environmental organization that BNL supports. They offer up suggestions for offsetting our carbon footprint on the environment, and give out cool samples. As with previous cruises, they were running a raffle for tickets to the BNL shows and we bought two chances for tonight's show. They told us the winners would be announced after 4:30 -- see you then! We then went to the David Bergman photo seminar slated for 11am. David is the photographer for the naked photo as well as BNL's tour photographer. He was offering a seminar where he was showing his work, BNL related and his other subjects, and fielded questions from the group. Most of the questions asked were about taking better concert photos. David offered up his suggestions and we blame him for the 1800+ pictures we took during our trip, mostly during the shows, trying to get that one great shot.
The seminar lasted about an hour, then it was over to the Garden Buffet for lunch. We don't remember what we had but we're sure it was decent. Next we went to the Stardust theater to line up for BNL's Snacktime show.
Snacktime is BNL's first children's album that was released last year. They were letting all the children in first with their parents (yes, a lot of people brought their kids on the cruise) and then they would let everyone else waiting fill in. We were happy to get into this as the line we were in stretched most of the ship and we weren't sure that there would be room. Even happier that we found seats in the third row, left side. The show started at 1:30 (1:45 actual time) and the band played all the songs from Snacktime as well as some other crowd favorites that were kid friendly like One Week and If I Had A $1,000,000. The band's energy was great for the kids and they put on a great set.
By 3:00, we had a few hours of downtime, one of the few times during the whole week that we were free, we decided to swing by The Sean Schau. This is comedian Sean Cullen's type of 'variety hour'. We only stayed about 15 min as we arrived in the middle of the show. If we caught it from the beginning we might have enjoyed it more but we just weren't feeling it. Throughout the rest of the cruise the show was replayed on the ship's TV and it was pretty funny. We took a walk out by the pool, Amy was wanting some outside sun time, and we thought maybe we'd take a little nap outside. Well, it was quite windy out and after about 20 minutes of the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds, we decided to take our nap to the cabin.
Before heading out for dinner, Amy wanted to stop by the Reverb room to see if the winners were announced for the concert tickets. We got there at 4:45 and didn't see any names posted. Stan figured they didn't do the drawing yet and was ready to leave, but Amy wanted to ask. She found out they held the drawing at 4:30 and you needed to be present to win. What? Nobody said that this morning, just to check back. She explained this to them and they said "yeah, I heard him say that to you. What was your name?". She gave them our name and found out that our names were actually drawn! We did win and we got the tickets!
This is great but now this messes up our night. We wake up, plan our day, and think we have it all worked out but our best laid plans are always at the mercy of the powers that be.
We decided to eat dinner at Azura, one of the ships main dining rooms. Stan had the lobster selection and Amy chose beef wellington--mmm good (well, sort of).
Our plan was to see Gaelic Storm play out on the pool deck at 8 but based on the game of hide and seek that the sun was playing with clouds earlier we knew the weather would not hold up. Sure enough we were right. While we were eating we thought we saw lighting. After we ate we headed out to the pool deck to see what was going on as Butterfly Boucher was scheduled to be playing there. Well it was pouring! No shows out on the pool deck tonight. Now the big question was where Gaelic Storm would be playing as we really want to see a full show by them. As we were standing by the doors to the pool deck watching the rain, right behind us comes Steve Twigger, singer/guitarist for Gaelic Storm. We figured if anybody would know where Gaelic Storm would be playing it would be him. He says they are playing in Bar City at 9:00. Well now we know where we are going.
On our way down to Bar City we stopped in the Atrium to see Mike Evin.
We never heard of him before and only caught a few songs but they were really good. When we got there Mike was playing piano and Andy Creeggan, an original member of BNL, was there playing percussion. The crowd really liked him and they did a awesome version of Billy Joel's Piano Man complete with the full audience singing along. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO.
As it was getting closer to Gaelic Storm's start time we left the Atrium and headed over to Bar City. The new start time was 9:00 but they started a little late and we would have to leave before the show ended as the BNL show started at 10:00. Once again we would not get our chance to see a full Gaelic Storm show.
We made it over to the Stardust at 10:00 for BNL. We had pretty decent seats, toward the back on the left side. There were about 6 empty seats to the left of our row so Amy was happy to have lots of room to dance. They came on around 10:20 and as usual rocked a great show. Of note, was the crew made the band a "bucket of balls" in which they placed the names of all of the songs that the band had not yet played on any of their cruises, on ping pong balls. The guys in the band would pick out a ball and play the song that was on it. One of the balls that was pulled, Ed didn't even recognize as a BNL song!(and it was on their last album!) With a little coaxing from the other guys and the audience, he figured it out, played it and then resumed their regularly scheduled show.
After BNL, we stayed in the Stardust for a comedy show by Kevin McDonald from the Kids In the Hall. He was joined by Craig Northey from The Odds playing guitar as background music. We didn't stay long as it was getting late and the comedy was way out there. After heading up for our ritual late night snack, we go to bed with an extra hour of sleep coming to us. In the morning, we will be docked in Cozumel and also, a new time zone!
We both woke up this morning around 7:30. After taking a look at the schedule for the day, we showered and got ready for breakfast.
The ship has a breakfast buffet every morning in the Garden Cafe which is located on the pool deck. We both enjoyed our omelets at the made-to-order station that they had. After breakfast we go back to the room to get ready for the now infamous "naked photo" at 10:00. Getting ready for this is actually pretty easy--you just throw on your robe (with nothing on underneath) and proceed to the pre-determined spot, which was the pool deck. If you are reading this and you have never heard of the naked photo, this is something the band started on their first cruise. About 500 of us showed up the first year and we all dropped our robes for about 10 seconds for a "naked at sea" photo and have conituned doing it since. They had security standing guard only allowing those participating in the photo on deck. They had about 850 of us crazy "dippers" in the picture this year (slightly less than last year). And even some crazier ones actually jumped in the pool for the picture when the photographer called for some 'floaters" to fill in the pool area of the shot! (If your curious, the floaters convinced the band to jump in with them!) No, we didn't jump in the pool, but we did have a good spot this year and we will leave it at that.Back at the room and clothed, we stopped by the Reverb room, Reverb is an environmental organization that BNL supports. They offer up suggestions for offsetting our carbon footprint on the environment, and give out cool samples. As with previous cruises, they were running a raffle for tickets to the BNL shows and we bought two chances for tonight's show. They told us the winners would be announced after 4:30 -- see you then! We then went to the David Bergman photo seminar slated for 11am. David is the photographer for the naked photo as well as BNL's tour photographer. He was offering a seminar where he was showing his work, BNL related and his other subjects, and fielded questions from the group. Most of the questions asked were about taking better concert photos. David offered up his suggestions and we blame him for the 1800+ pictures we took during our trip, mostly during the shows, trying to get that one great shot.
The seminar lasted about an hour, then it was over to the Garden Buffet for lunch. We don't remember what we had but we're sure it was decent. Next we went to the Stardust theater to line up for BNL's Snacktime show.
Snacktime is BNL's first children's album that was released last year. They were letting all the children in first with their parents (yes, a lot of people brought their kids on the cruise) and then they would let everyone else waiting fill in. We were happy to get into this as the line we were in stretched most of the ship and we weren't sure that there would be room. Even happier that we found seats in the third row, left side. The show started at 1:30 (1:45 actual time) and the band played all the songs from Snacktime as well as some other crowd favorites that were kid friendly like One Week and If I Had A $1,000,000. The band's energy was great for the kids and they put on a great set.By 3:00, we had a few hours of downtime, one of the few times during the whole week that we were free, we decided to swing by The Sean Schau. This is comedian Sean Cullen's type of 'variety hour'. We only stayed about 15 min as we arrived in the middle of the show. If we caught it from the beginning we might have enjoyed it more but we just weren't feeling it. Throughout the rest of the cruise the show was replayed on the ship's TV and it was pretty funny. We took a walk out by the pool, Amy was wanting some outside sun time, and we thought maybe we'd take a little nap outside. Well, it was quite windy out and after about 20 minutes of the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds, we decided to take our nap to the cabin.
Before heading out for dinner, Amy wanted to stop by the Reverb room to see if the winners were announced for the concert tickets. We got there at 4:45 and didn't see any names posted. Stan figured they didn't do the drawing yet and was ready to leave, but Amy wanted to ask. She found out they held the drawing at 4:30 and you needed to be present to win. What? Nobody said that this morning, just to check back. She explained this to them and they said "yeah, I heard him say that to you. What was your name?". She gave them our name and found out that our names were actually drawn! We did win and we got the tickets!
This is great but now this messes up our night. We wake up, plan our day, and think we have it all worked out but our best laid plans are always at the mercy of the powers that be.
We decided to eat dinner at Azura, one of the ships main dining rooms. Stan had the lobster selection and Amy chose beef wellington--mmm good (well, sort of).
Our plan was to see Gaelic Storm play out on the pool deck at 8 but based on the game of hide and seek that the sun was playing with clouds earlier we knew the weather would not hold up. Sure enough we were right. While we were eating we thought we saw lighting. After we ate we headed out to the pool deck to see what was going on as Butterfly Boucher was scheduled to be playing there. Well it was pouring! No shows out on the pool deck tonight. Now the big question was where Gaelic Storm would be playing as we really want to see a full show by them. As we were standing by the doors to the pool deck watching the rain, right behind us comes Steve Twigger, singer/guitarist for Gaelic Storm. We figured if anybody would know where Gaelic Storm would be playing it would be him. He says they are playing in Bar City at 9:00. Well now we know where we are going.
On our way down to Bar City we stopped in the Atrium to see Mike Evin.
We never heard of him before and only caught a few songs but they were really good. When we got there Mike was playing piano and Andy Creeggan, an original member of BNL, was there playing percussion. The crowd really liked him and they did a awesome version of Billy Joel's Piano Man complete with the full audience singing along. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO.As it was getting closer to Gaelic Storm's start time we left the Atrium and headed over to Bar City. The new start time was 9:00 but they started a little late and we would have to leave before the show ended as the BNL show started at 10:00. Once again we would not get our chance to see a full Gaelic Storm show.
We made it over to the Stardust at 10:00 for BNL. We had pretty decent seats, toward the back on the left side. There were about 6 empty seats to the left of our row so Amy was happy to have lots of room to dance. They came on around 10:20 and as usual rocked a great show. Of note, was the crew made the band a "bucket of balls" in which they placed the names of all of the songs that the band had not yet played on any of their cruises, on ping pong balls. The guys in the band would pick out a ball and play the song that was on it. One of the balls that was pulled, Ed didn't even recognize as a BNL song!(and it was on their last album!) With a little coaxing from the other guys and the audience, he figured it out, played it and then resumed their regularly scheduled show.
After BNL, we stayed in the Stardust for a comedy show by Kevin McDonald from the Kids In the Hall. He was joined by Craig Northey from The Odds playing guitar as background music. We didn't stay long as it was getting late and the comedy was way out there. After heading up for our ritual late night snack, we go to bed with an extra hour of sleep coming to us. In the morning, we will be docked in Cozumel and also, a new time zone!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Day 1 - video - Thin Buckle with Steven Page
Here is a video we took from the Thin Buckle show on the Pool deck to close out the first night of the cruise.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Day 1 - Sunday Feb 1st
Here it is, the day we've been waiting for all year!
Boarding day for our third once-in-a-lifetime trip!
After waking up around 7:30 Stan went for a walk around the hotel while Amy hit the hotel's fitness center. We met back up at the room an hour later and went to breakfast downstairs in the hotel's restaurant. We both had the buffet (as we figured we'd practice for the cruise). There were delicious waffles that Amy enjoyed and delicious bacon that Stan enjoyed! After breakfast it was time to shower and pack everything up and get this cruise started. We left the room at 11:30 to head over to the port. After checking out, we went to wait for a cab and since this was the host hotel the line was full of cruisers and was probably the longest the hotel has ever seen. There was about a twenty minute wait for us to get to the front of the line and luckily a taxi van pulled up and we were able to share a ride with 8 other "dippers". The ride took about 8 minutes and cost us $7 each. We gave our bags, except for our carry-ons, to the porter and we will see them in our cabin in a few hours.
Below was our first view of the Norwegian Jewel upon arrival to the terminal at about 12:15.
The first thing we had to do when we arrived was to fill out a form for Norwegian that stated whether or not we have been sick in the last 48 hours. We never encountered this with Carnival and this is normal procedure for Norwegian. Next we went through security and unlike the airlines this goes much smoother; just empty our pockets and x-ray our carry on bags. Then there was a short line to check in for the cruise. We had to set up our on-board spending account and get our picture taken for our ID cards. A short walk upstairs to another line gets us our concert tickets and cabin keys.
Are we there yet??!!
Almost--one more line to have our embarkation photo taken and then we encounter our first surprise. Kevin from BNL is there to greet us as we walk on to the ship. We didn't see them but the rest of the band members took turns during the boarding process. The next surprise, that we would get very used to, was the Norwegian staff spraying our hands with sanitizer as we walked on to the ship. As we found out during the week, they would do this outside of each dining area. In addition, there were self-sanitizing stations in the hallways, elevators, etc.
Almost--one more line to have our embarkation photo taken and then we encounter our first surprise. Kevin from BNL is there to greet us as we walk on to the ship. We didn't see them but the rest of the band members took turns during the boarding process. The next surprise, that we would get very used to, was the Norwegian staff spraying our hands with sanitizer as we walked on to the ship. As we found out during the week, they would do this outside of each dining area. In addition, there were self-sanitizing stations in the hallways, elevators, etc.
FINALLY!! AT 1:00, WE ARE ON THE SHIP!!!!!!!!!
And what's the first thing we do? Accept a glass of complimentary champagne! Since they told us our cabins wouldn't be ready until after 2, we headed up to the pool deck to have our traditional embarkation burger and Stan's fruity umbrella drink.
After eating we decided to scope out the sightlines for the BNL sail away show that was scheduled for 5. With the layout of the stage this year we figured our best spot would be on the upper level of the pool deck across from the stage. We walk around the ship checking out the other concert venues before heading to our cabin a little after 2. Our first impression of the room was that it was a little smaller than our cabins on Carnival but still nice. And what do we do when we get there-- Amy immediately gets to work disinfecting the room with her Lysol and Clorox wipes while Stan checks out the view of Miami from the balcony! With that finished, we take a few minutes to plan out our evening of shows and then it's time to muster. The muster drill takes place at 3:30 and is mandatory for all on board. Our muster station is located in the Azure dining room and we are told what to do in the case of an emergency. Now when the drill is finished it is always a mad dash to the pool deck where everything is vying for a good spot for the sail away show. Fortunately, we have a system for this, as it is our third time and all. Stan takes our life jackets from the drill, and literally, throws them in the room while Amy runs to hold the aforementioned spot. Exercising this morning pays off because Amy was the first one on the second level of the pool deck and had her pick of spots. Stan made it up a few short minutes later and there was nothing more to do but wait till 5 when the show would start. We had yet another surprise when, at a little before 5, the ship actually set sail. This doesn't usually happen until after the band takes the stage but Norwegian officers are on the ball and no one is complaining.
After eating we decided to scope out the sightlines for the BNL sail away show that was scheduled for 5. With the layout of the stage this year we figured our best spot would be on the upper level of the pool deck across from the stage. We walk around the ship checking out the other concert venues before heading to our cabin a little after 2. Our first impression of the room was that it was a little smaller than our cabins on Carnival but still nice. And what do we do when we get there-- Amy immediately gets to work disinfecting the room with her Lysol and Clorox wipes while Stan checks out the view of Miami from the balcony! With that finished, we take a few minutes to plan out our evening of shows and then it's time to muster. The muster drill takes place at 3:30 and is mandatory for all on board. Our muster station is located in the Azure dining room and we are told what to do in the case of an emergency. Now when the drill is finished it is always a mad dash to the pool deck where everything is vying for a good spot for the sail away show. Fortunately, we have a system for this, as it is our third time and all. Stan takes our life jackets from the drill, and literally, throws them in the room while Amy runs to hold the aforementioned spot. Exercising this morning pays off because Amy was the first one on the second level of the pool deck and had her pick of spots. Stan made it up a few short minutes later and there was nothing more to do but wait till 5 when the show would start. We had yet another surprise when, at a little before 5, the ship actually set sail. This doesn't usually happen until after the band takes the stage but Norwegian officers are on the ball and no one is complaining.YEA! WE'RE CRUISING!!!
Our hosts take the stage at 5:15 (the first of many shows starting late) and do not disappoint. They kick off the cruise with a great set and everyone is singing along with every song. When their show is finished at 6:15 we first went to the room to see if our luggage had been delivered, which it had, and then to dinner, at one of the two main dining rooms, Tsar's. Stan feasted on baby shrimp cocktail, sirloin steak and fries while Amy enjoyed her salad, chicken breast, mashed potatoes and veggies.
With our bellies full we went to the merch table (first of many trips) to buy some t-shirts while all the sizes were still there, dropped them in the room and then walked by the pool deck to hear a song or two from Melissa McCelland & Luke Doucet, an unknown to us husband and wife duo. Next was a night of shows in the main Stardust theater. We found great seats in the fourth row, just off center. First up was Sloan at 8:30. We had never heard of this band before the trip and had just listened to a few of their songs before we left. Rolling Stones + Kinks = whole lot of crazy Sloan. We really enjoyed them as they were very entertaining. Next up was Great Big Sea at 10:00. We discovered them on the cruise last year and had been listening to their music a lot since. This would be our first time seeing them that we were familiar with their music and we couldn't wait. They took the stage and rocked our asses off! Was it because of our great seats? Our first full show of the week? The energy of them playing their first show of the cruise? Don't know but we really enjoyed them--a definite highlight so far.
They finished playing by 11:45 and before calling it a night , we would see one more show --Thinbuckle on the pool deck. (Thinbuckle is Kevin from BNL's band). We missed their first few songs but made it in time to see Steven from BNL preform a song with them. The rest of their set was good. By this time we were starting to get a little munchy so we went over to the Garden Cafe (buffet) and grabbed a late night snack of hot dogs and nachos. It's now getting close to 2, so we head back to our room, unpack and call it a night by 3.
Whew...a 3AM bedtime and this is just the first day!!!!!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Pre-Cruise Saturday January 31
Welcome to the latest installments of Stan & Amy’s Ships & Dip blog. With it being less than a week since we disembarked from the Norwegian Jewel and the cruise still fresh in our minds we are finally getting to post our daily recaps. We will try to post a recap every couple of days or so as these post are more like short stories rather than blog posts and we can really ramble and get detailed or as some might say tiresome. Anyway, go grab yourself your favorite beverage and possibly a snack and take a seat in your favorite chair and enjoy.
We start our trip on 1/31 from Blakely where we were packed, ate breakfast (Dunkin Donuts), out the door and on the road by 8:00AM. We couldn’t wait to get out of the cold NEPA weather. The drive was uneventful which is exactly what we were hoping for on our first day of the trip. We found a parking spot in the economy parking lot that was near a pickup/dropoff shelter to wait for a shuttle to take us to the terminal. We were freezing as we were waiting in the cold because we left our heavy coats and boots in the car since we did not want to travel with the extra heavy clothes. After waiting about 10 minutes a shuttle came, after another 5 minutes we were at the terminal checking in for our 12:15 flight to Miami.
With the new US Airways luggage charges we have to pay $15 for each checked piece under 50
lbs and $65 per bag over 50 lbs. We were concerned as we have 2 bags to check and really wanted them to be under 50 lbs. They weighed the first bag which we figured was the lighter of the 2 and it weighed 38 lbs. So far so good. We held our breath for the 2nd bag and it came up 42 lbs. Yeah! No extra charges for us. Now we headed to the security checkpoint which is always a chaotic mess with removing our shoes, empting our pockets and having our carry-on bags x-rayed. We made it with no problems and we were now in the terminal waiting for our flight, US Airways flight #1651 to Miami. We were in the last zone to board and we grabbed our seats in row 8 seats E and F on the “driver” side of the plane. The seats were just in front of the wing and therefore I had a nice view, which I really like. As we were getting ourselves set in, we were talking to the others in our row and they were all going on the cruise too. There were even a few others on the plane as well going on the cruise. It really is a small world after all!
Before we knew it we were on the taxiway and ready for takeoff. We took off a little late at about 12:27. Since we had our laptop with us we watched a movie and then listened to some music on our Ipods.The plane landed at about 2:27 and by the time we got our luggage it was around 2:40. With our bags in hand we headed to the taxi stand to get a cab to take us to the Marriott Biscayne Bay hotel which was the host hotel for the cruise.
The ride was maybe 15 minutes and the hotel was really nice. We checked in with no problem and went up to the room on the 16th floor. We had a really nice view of the Port of Miami and we had a balcony where the door was unfortunately locked. As with all Sixthman cruises the host hotel holds a pre-cruise party and this year was no exception.
We do attend for a few minutes but usually do not hang around too long. Before the party we walked to the Bayside Shopping area that was about 8 blocks away. It is like strip mall on a boardwalk. It is pretty nice area with a lot of little stores and restaurants. We walked around for alittle bit and then decided to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a themed restaurant from the movie Forrest Gump. The food was really good but the place was really busy as the Miami Heat were playing the Dallas Mavericks and the arena is about a block away.
After eating we walked back to the hotel and stopped by the pre-cruise party. We grabbed a drink and walked around a bit. We did meet Steve from Sixthman who is our favorite blogger on the Sixthman blog. After hanging out for a little bit longer we decided that it was time to go to sleep and get ready for real start of the cruise.
Tomorrow we will be getting on the ship and seeing BNL for the first time since the last cruise.
Stay tuned!
lbs and $65 per bag over 50 lbs. We were concerned as we have 2 bags to check and really wanted them to be under 50 lbs. They weighed the first bag which we figured was the lighter of the 2 and it weighed 38 lbs. So far so good. We held our breath for the 2nd bag and it came up 42 lbs. Yeah! No extra charges for us. Now we headed to the security checkpoint which is always a chaotic mess with removing our shoes, empting our pockets and having our carry-on bags x-rayed. We made it with no problems and we were now in the terminal waiting for our flight, US Airways flight #1651 to Miami. We were in the last zone to board and we grabbed our seats in row 8 seats E and F on the “driver” side of the plane. The seats were just in front of the wing and therefore I had a nice view, which I really like. As we were getting ourselves set in, we were talking to the others in our row and they were all going on the cruise too. There were even a few others on the plane as well going on the cruise. It really is a small world after all!
Before we knew it we were on the taxiway and ready for takeoff. We took off a little late at about 12:27. Since we had our laptop with us we watched a movie and then listened to some music on our Ipods.The plane landed at about 2:27 and by the time we got our luggage it was around 2:40. With our bags in hand we headed to the taxi stand to get a cab to take us to the Marriott Biscayne Bay hotel which was the host hotel for the cruise.The ride was maybe 15 minutes and the hotel was really nice. We checked in with no problem and went up to the room on the 16th floor. We had a really nice view of the Port of Miami and we had a balcony where the door was unfortunately locked. As with all Sixthman cruises the host hotel holds a pre-cruise party and this year was no exception.
We do attend for a few minutes but usually do not hang around too long. Before the party we walked to the Bayside Shopping area that was about 8 blocks away. It is like strip mall on a boardwalk. It is pretty nice area with a lot of little stores and restaurants. We walked around for alittle bit and then decided to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a themed restaurant from the movie Forrest Gump. The food was really good but the place was really busy as the Miami Heat were playing the Dallas Mavericks and the arena is about a block away.After eating we walked back to the hotel and stopped by the pre-cruise party. We grabbed a drink and walked around a bit. We did meet Steve from Sixthman who is our favorite blogger on the Sixthman blog. After hanging out for a little bit longer we decided that it was time to go to sleep and get ready for real start of the cruise.
Tomorrow we will be getting on the ship and seeing BNL for the first time since the last cruise.
Stay tuned!
Monday, February 9, 2009
WE ARE BACK!!
Just wanted to add a quick post to let everybody know that we are back from our trip.
We had a great time except for some weather issues.
We are currently going through our over 1500 pictures and 8 hours of video. We also have to get caught up with all the TV we missed while we were away.
Oh yeah we also have to go back to work. We will work on the daily recaps/novels and post them as soon as we can. Here are a couple of quick pictures to hold you over.
We had a great time except for some weather issues.
We are currently going through our over 1500 pictures and 8 hours of video. We also have to get caught up with all the TV we missed while we were away.
Oh yeah we also have to go back to work. We will work on the daily recaps/novels and post them as soon as we can. Here are a couple of quick pictures to hold you over.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
