nKoTb Summer Cruise 2012

So this happened

2013-06-01T16:51:00.001-04:00

I know this blog says Cruise 2012. Let's talk about that later.

VIP check in was at 4:30 and by the time we got done with our surprise group photo, I think it was around 6:15. The group photo, by the way, threw me off because I was not prepared for it. And somehow, no one in our group had a preference of who to stand with. Everyone said “we like them all.” When does that happen?

For the group, Karen and I made sure to go in last to give everyone else as much time as possible. Danny was on the end, so that meant we stood with him. We said something to the effect of “we’ll be back in 5 minutes for the ultimates,” and he shouted to the photographer, “Hey, they’re ultimates.” We said, “oh, they told us to come in here.” He said, “I know, but we gotta fix this.” So then I was flustered we had done something wrong.

Poor Jon looked delirious from lack of sleep. Karen asked him if he had slept at all and the answer was, not really. Next was Joe who seemed to be presenting a dissertation to the two girls standing with him, and we didn’t want to interrupt when we were coming right back, so we decided to leave. Donnie started yelling at us because we hadn’t finished the line, and we again explained we were coming back. The whole thing was weird. I don’t respond well to unplanned NK encounters!

After that, we ask what we’re supposed to do and VIP Lars puts us in this little seating area next to the bathrooms with the other ultimates. Everyone was lovely and chatting was a good distraction, but I also kind of just wanted to close my eyes for a minute.

Without warning, Lars comes back to tell us to “think about” lining up. I panic and run into the bathroom to do some emergency lip gloss. This was tricky because the entire 5 stall bathroom was seemingly lit by a single 40-watt bulb. You’d have better lighting at midnight under a street lamp. While I was in there, @SimplyShannon came in and we started chatting about the awkward group pic. I didn’t think I was in there more than about 2 minutes, but when I came out, all the ultimates were gone and there was no sign of Lars.

Panic again! I was immediately convinced I had missed everything and it was over. But I ran back to where we lined up with groups and found everyone. I got at the end of the line. The set up was such that everyone in line was watching you go in, so I was actually pretty happy to be last and not have an audience.

As soon as that had been settled Extremely Drunk Girl #1 lines up behind me and starts asking what’s happening. She was so drunk, she had missed her group photo and was now trying to get an ultimate to make up for it. But in the meantime, she wanted to talk. Talk about her stomach surgery, talk about how short Michael Buble is, talk about how she had to pee a lot. I tried gesturing to the 25 year old security dude for help, but he was worthless. Meanwhile, her friend, Extremely Drunk Girl #2 kept telling #1 to line right up and get a pic.

We inch toward the door. #1 never shut up and was nearly hanging on me. Meanwhile I am thinking there really should be more chairs in the line in case someone’s (like me for example) knees gave out. #1 has 4 children. #1 used to work security. Finally, me: you need to get out of this line. #1: they told me to stand here. Me: no one who works here told you to stand here and you need to get out.

At this point, we were close enough to Earl that he noticed, and he told her to go get another drink. That actually worked. By now girl #9 is up, I’m completely thrown off from encounters with the drunk kind, and I realize I have no plan for how to start. Also, watching the people in line ahead of me was making me more nervous. And why were there so many people in the room? Did 7 other people really need to be there?

I started to have A Moment. I was now the only person left in line, standing next to Earl, who was texting on his phone. After a few seconds, Earl notices that I am having A Moment, and asks me very sweetly if I’m okay. And that’s when I felt my eyes start to tingle. “Uh oh,” says Earl. “Shit, here it goes,” I think. Female security person who is not Earl looks over and asks me what’s wrong. This prompts two girls standing outside the door to notice and act concerned, and all the attention to me starting to cry is making me more panicky, which makes me cry more. “Stop crying,” says female not-Earl helpfully. “Go tell that guy your name.”

I take a couple deep breaths and walk down to the end of the ramp to tell the VIP Nation guy my name. Him: “what are you doing? Go talk to them.” I only realize now she probably said “tell the guyS your name.” Which I did not do.

This is the part where sensory overload completely takes over, and I started to have way too many competing voices in my head to process. So I am only vaguely aware of what happened from this point forward.

Danny, for some reason, comes to escort everyone from the ramp. Immediately upon seeing me he said “Why are you crying? You were just in here.” Me, remembering I am not wearing waterproof mascara and frantically wiping my eyes, “I don’t know.”

Joe had started walking toward us and said “that’s a great dress.” Then he very slowly looked me up and down and said “gorgeous!” I’m fairly certain he was still referring to the dress, but is it any wonder I had no recollection of my name anymore? I don’t even think I responded. See? This is why I had to write things down. Otherwise it would have been just crying with a lot of blank stares.

Suddenly I become aware that the photographer is 1 ft away. “I have to get it together or these pictures are going to be a mess,” I say. I think I hugged Danny? By the photos it looks like I hugged Joe? I don’t know.

Joe notices that I am holding a piece of paper and asks me what it is. Or I think he maybe surmised that I was planning to read. So he pulls me over to the group and says “guys, she’s going to read us something.” (By the way, these quotes are all very approximate.) And now I’m standing like a quarterback in a huddle with everyone around me. This is too much. Have there always been this many of them? And why am I still crying?

Donnie asks if I want him to read it for me. No, I say, let me at least try it first and see how it goes. If that doesn’t work, he can take over.

Now, when I decided to write everything down, I did so with the realization that all of my photos would be of me reading. And I did it anyway. It was more important for me to take this opportunity to tell them how much they meant to me than to have cute posed photos. I knew me trying that on my own or going in there to make lighthearted regular conversation was not an option. So this is what I picked.

I open the paper and think “why are there so many words on this paper?! I can’t read all this!” Deep breath. I get exactly one word into reading and choke up.

Voice in my head #1: Stop crying asshole!

Voice in my head #2: Who is standing behind me? There are a lot of New Kids in here.

Voice in my head #3: Who writes a letter?

Deep breath. Donnie holds my hand and starts rubbing my arm.

Voice #1: Touching! There’s touching!

The Danny part, as you could probably guess, involved both of our mothers dying of cancer, and I meant what I was saying, but that was a terrible subject to bring up. Why did I think I could get through that on a good day? So I completely start to ugly cry. It was bad news. All while the photographer is right in our faces snapping away.

“These photos are going to be a mess!” I say again. “Ok, no more sad. Sad part’s done.”

I look at the paper again. The paper says “Jordan.” “Where’s Jordan?” I say.

Answer: right next to me. Like, not even a foot away. Where did I think he was? I am reading like a second grader giving her first ever class presentation. [Look at paper] “Jordan.” [Look up, locate Jordan, make half second of eye contact, back to paper.] But I can’t look at them. I can’t.

I have no memory of Jordan saying any words to me or hugging him at all. It may or may not have happened. Honestly no idea.

Looking at my paper, wiping my eyes, and most likely saying "These photos are going to be a mess."

Next is Jon. Ok, Jon’s not scary. But Joe is trying to read over my shoulder, and somehow that makes things worse. He is probably reading ahead. I want to tell him to stop reading ahead, because somehow this becomes a Big Deal in my head, but I can’t tell him that because then he won’t stand next to me. Also, why is he standing next to me? Can they just tell when someone is an X-girl? Is it like a sixth sense?

According to the photos I look like I am shaking Jon’s hand. Why?

So I read Jon’s part, which ends with “I’m sorry I wrote you off in the 80s for being an old man, because I see how wonderful you are to my friends and I get it now.”

Donnie (or possibly Jordan): your older friends, right?

Voice #1: Well, I guess technically Karen is like 9 months older than me.

Voice #2: Just agree with them you idiot!

Actual voice: uhhh.

[Back to looking at paper.]

Donnie’s turn. This one is surprisingly very emotional and produces even more crying! Got to the last sentence and just gave up and decided to hug him instead.

Now here comes another surge of nerves that I didn’t even know I had because now I have to read the Joe part, and I don’t know if I can get the words out. Plus he is still reading over my shoulder, which, stop that! Really he had probably read it himself while I was back on Danny. But words come out of my mouth and I think they are mostly what I wrote down, even the extra embarrassing last line. Then he hugged me.

As a whole, this 5 minutes or however long it was were the best Joe hugs I have ever received. Maybe he’s been taking lessons from Jon.

Now I feel some sense of relief that I did it. “Done!” I think I said, the same way my child announces he is done eating.

“Photos!” says the photographer, who is probably thinking “bloody finally.”

I throw my paper on the floor and start wiping my eyes again. “These photos are going to be a mess!”

"These photos are going to be a mess!” is pretty much the theme of my ultimate.

We are standing Danny, Jon, Donnie, me, Jordan, Joe.

“No!” says Donnie. “She has to stand next to Joe.”

Great, I think, but Jordan needs to stay right here. Now what do I do? So I wordlessly grab both Jordan and Joe and shove them next to me. Smooth.

Danny sees the line is now uneven and sprints across to the other side of Jordan.

Snap. Snap. That’s it.

“Okay, bye.” I say. “Thank you.” And I pick up my paper and walk out. I am maybe 10 ft down the hall when I hear Donnie yell “Hey! Hey!” in the same way you would yell “Hey! That guy stole my wallet!” I keep walking.

One of the 7 other people in the room pulls me back to let me know that the “Hey!” was directed at me. Donnie runs over to the railing where I’m standing.

“That was good,” he says, and hugs me again.

“Okay,” I say, and leave.

20 ft down the hall I realize I forgot to tell them my name. I'm still a bit upset about this. For no good reason, because I'm sure they would have forgotten 3 minutes later. But it seems like an important detail, you know?

So that's that. As a postscript, I can't say thank you enough for all the kind words and messages yesterday and today. I felt completely supported and loved. I'm a lucky girl.

2012 Cruise Price List

2012-09-11T08:43:00.001-04:00

Because I am crazy when it comes to organization, I made this spreadsheet last year when I was planning to book. What I've deleted from this version is the section where my roommate and I both listed our top 12 choices for cabin categories side-by-side, then created a combined master list of what order we were going to try for categories in. It was color coded. I will spare you.

This spreadsheet lists only doubles because that's what I was trying for. As I recall, the triple and quad rates were about $50 less per person (so quads were $100 less per person than doubles). I also have a vague memory of these prices being around $50 higher in each category than they had been in 2011.

Since the ship next year is different (and newer), the categories are probably slightly off, but it's better than nothing, right?

2012 PRICE LIST SPREADSHEET (DOUBLES)

Oh, and I just found this! Helpful to see how the prices differ based on occupancy:
2011 FULL PRICE LIST

Greenwich Town Hall Recap

2012-03-24T17:40:00.003-04:00

You don't realize how much you miss those fools until you're in the same room with them, amirite? First of all, there's nothing like that anticipation before a special event like this. I compare it to second date nerves. Not first date, because you've already established you like the guy. Now you're just trying not to sound like an idiot.

Anyway, we got to the teen center around 10:45 for scheduled 11:30 check in. Why, after four years, we all actually believed it would start at 11:30 I don't know. The line didn't start moving until around 12:30. While we waited in line, several local Greenwich reporters took photos and asked if anyone was local that they could talk to. I did not say a word because I did not especially want my coworkers saying they saw me in the paper. A little before we went in, a man went down the line and told us all to go put our phones in our cars. I did, but no one searched our bags, which was surprising.

When I handed my ID to the guy at check in, he said "Oh, we've been waiting for you." Note to event staff: do not kid around with me like that. My brain cannot handle it! We also saw signs that said the event would be recorded for the purposes of promoting town hall events.

Upstairs, we sat in folding chairs. There was a NK backdrop set up in the back you could have your photo taken in front of for the website and poster-making materials in case you did not do your homework. Most signs were of the "I love New Kids" variety. (The best sign I saw was "Short shorts AND mini skirt? WTF #bhproblems")

Eventually, everyone got loaded into the room. Joe was then introduced as campaign manager and gave a rousing speech that promised, among other things, lower ticket prices. Donnie was introduced as president and spoke for several minutes without revealing anything -- a true politician! It was sweet though, and he promised to remove his sunglasses more in the future. Finally, Danny was introduced as vice president and gave a very short speech that said 2012 and 2013 would bring "more sweaty balls."

Next, we went on to questions. For future attendees, if you want to ask a question, you'll do better to be in the back or along the aisles. At least three people asked stupid questions like "I'm cold; can I come sit on the couch next to you?" or "Donnie, if you're Clinton, I'll be your Monica." People booed. I covered my face in embarrassment.

Because 2 out of 3 New Kids tend to ramble, we did not get through many questions. Case in point: girl asked about having an annual holiday show and Joe started telling a story about a jukebox he got 20 years ago that broke, so he had to have a guy from Thailand named Boone come to fix it. This story lasted over 4 minutes. At no point during it did he discuss an annual holiday show.

Good questions that I remember:

Q: When are we getting cruise themes? A: Next 2-3 weeks (Danny is a proponent of releasing themes as early as possible so everyone can shop.)
Q: Is the Manila concert official? A: When it's official we'll say it's official.
Q: Can we have an annual holiday show? A: Donnie - sure/probably/maybe/ok Joe - maybe biannual (I don't think he was on board.)
Q (essence): The backrub on the cruise is a cluster****. A: We're working on that. Everyone will get to see the backrub this year.
Q: Can you make another DVD? A: You'll see the footage! (Soon it would turn out.)
Q: Something about merch. I forget, but Amanda held up the "No kiddie merch" sign, which Joe read and clearly did not understand. We think maybe he assumed it meant merchandise intended for children when it meant merchandise intended for adults but better suited for children.
Q: Will Danny make a workout DVD? A: Maybe.
Q: Are you going to continue to tour with BSB? A: We will have other, different balls with us in the future. These balls may in fact be ovaries.
I don't think there was a question, but they did say they are back in the studio and they can only sing Full Service so many times. We need new music. (Lots of cheering!)
Q: What's the most exciting thing they're working on for 2012? A: A very special event. The best of the cruise, but on land. Something that's everything we love about the last four years in one event. There may be Christmas trees. It's in the summer. Sparkly lights. (Things started to go off the rails during the answer.)
Q: Why don't you come to Rhode Island? A: Isn't that like 20 minutes from Boston? Q: It's 45, so are you coming? A: No but this special event this summer will be easily accessible from RI.
Q: Are you going to do Fenway again? A: We've decided to bring Fenway to you.

At that point, the lights went out and we started watching Fenway footage. I think everyone assumed we'd be seeing a trailer or short teaser clip. Somewhere during the second song, I turned to Amanda and said "Are we watching this whole thing?" And, yes, we were. We watched it for an hour. The entire Fenway concert minus the BSB songs. Meanwhile it was 3:00 and I was starving. Luckily I had a Clif bar in my purse. Clevelanders, take note. Bring snacks.

The DVD was fantastic! I am not clear on whether or not the BSB parts will be included in the actual DVD. I assume so but rather hope not. We got no information on when the DVD will be released.

The lights went up, and that was pretty much the end. Donnie gave another speech to the effect of "four more years!" and then they said goodbye.

As the guys tried to leave, they got swarmed from all directions. At first, I thought I would go give Donnie a hug since he was closest to us, but after a few seconds, it got to be a crush and I hightailed it out of there. Future attendees: do not expect any hugs unless you are okay with smashing into people.

Several people asked me if they were letting in non-invitees. It's hard to tell. There was one woman sitting on a bench outside with her two small children who we assumed had not gotten an invite (mostly because she had two children and the invite wasn't good for three people). They did end up inside. I wouldn't have really minded except for one or both of the girls kept talking during the Q&A so that over Donnie's answers you could hear her (them?) whining, "Mooooooooooooom." Very distracting.

Overall I had a great time. It had been way too long! I loved being in a BH group again. However, I think we would have preferred to know up front that we were about to watch a full DVD. Not that we didn't want to watch it, but we kept thinking "Is that going to be it?" and looking around expecting everyone to come back on stage. If we had known from the beginning that we were going to watch it for an hour, I think we would have relaxed. Obviously that is only a problem the first group has. Also, maybe they should screen the questions because we wasted a lot of time on that Monica crap, and there was also a very long interlude about whether or not this couple in the front should get back together. (Answer: no one cares.)

Looking forward to getting more details from the future events! Please let me know if I forgot anything!

Ten ideas for the Town Hall

2012-03-17T19:27:00.004-04:00

I've been thinking about the ideas I would propose at next weekend's Town Hall, and even without knowing the format of the event, I can guarantee I will lose any articulateness if I get to attend. So I wanted to get my thoughts down not just so I can possibly hand over a piece of paper instead of standing at a microphone, but also so I can get input from everyone who doesn't have a chance to go and try to represent more than just myself. So here's what I've come up with. Please let me know what you think and what you would add.

Ideas:

New album. Period. Before any new tour, we need a new, full-length album.
I have a whole host of issues with the usability of the website (e.g., what is the point of adding friends when you can't search them and everyone can send PMs to everyone?), but those would be better addressed to Ground CTRL.
As I have said before, the points system needs an overhaul. A normal person would take about 9 years to earn enough points for anything, and the only other option is to be a lunatic who blogs every time she sneezes. I posted a list of items that could be used to earn points on the forum a while back.
Although I haven't been to one, I love the brunches Jordan has been doing and would like to see those and events like that continue.
More inclusion of non-U.S. fans. This could be done in several ways: live chats (video would be nice!) held at overseas friendly times to start. Maybe restrict them by geography so it's special for Asian fans or European fans, etc. Second, remember when a BN member would randomly get a phone call from a NK? Do more of these, and announce it like the day before so everyone jumps out of their skin each time the phone rings. Spring for the international phone calls.
Random Twitter contests. VIPNation does these. Out of nowhere: who wants to win a poster? I seem to remember one or two of these, but doing one a month or so would keep more people engaged.
More subtle, grown-up looking merch. I'm 32. I can't get away with wearing screen printed t-shirts very often. But a simple black tee (or coffee mug) with a subtle logo would be nice. The umbrella was a step in the right direction.
Annual holiday show. Who doesn't want the chance to hear a live version of Funky Funky Xmas? A charity tie-in would be even better.
Blockstock. Needs to happen. It could be like a shorter, land-based cruise. I'm thinking starts on a Saturday around 1 and ends after Sunday brunch. Fun and games during the day, evening event, all-night party, and then breakfast. This event should take place in Darien, CT. (Kidding! It should be in Boston.)
I know I will get lambasted for even suggesting this, but maybe take a year off from the cruise. I think people need a break to get out-of-their-minds excited about it again. There are so many cancellations, marketing-wise I think it would be a smart move to take it away for a year. Or maybe not even a year; maybe do December 2013 instead of June. (Update: I have heard you loud and clear in the comments and I will not be suggesting this!)

Pre-cruise Hotel Specials

2011-09-23T09:13:00.001-04:00

Rose Tours just posted their annual pre-cruise hotel special for Marriott Biscayne Bay. Their rate is $119/night with the code "rosrosa." But an enterprising BH got an even better rate for the same night at the same hotel. You can get a room for $109/night if you call the hotel directly at 305-374-3900 and ask for the "Crystal Foshee Cruise Group" rate!

The Marriott, previous Rose Tours' favorite Intercontinental, and Holiday Inn are very close to the port, so if you don't plan on doing much Wednesday or the days before we set sail, that's the best location to choose. Lots of cruisers have already booked Holiday Inn and are planning a Wednesday night get-together.

If you plan on going out on the town Wednesday night or if you are going to stay in Miami for a few days, I'd recommend staying in South Beach. Otherwise you'll end up spending $50 in cab fare each time you go back and forth to the shops, clubs, and restaurants.

Many of my friends go back every year to the Casa Grande Suite Hotel in South Beach. Don't let the name throw you off; it's no luxury resort. But it is in a prime location, and all the rooms have full kitchens and free wi-fi.

There are dozens of hotels in South Beach, many of which are boutique and independent hotels, so do a little homework before you book by checking reviews on TripAdvisor or another site. No one wants to start a vacation by staying in a place with a broken shower or no air conditioning.

Cruisers, where are you staying? What rates have you booked? Share in the comments!

My 2012 Cruise Resolutions

2011-08-21T19:31:00.002-04:00

After taking a hiatus this year, 2012 will be my third -- and final -- cruise. (I say final because the third cruise is likely to break five-digits spent on this one activity, and I have to draw the line somewhere.)

This year, I vow to do a few things differently, partly because I've learned my lesson on some things, and partly because lots has changed since I last cruised. Back then, I went to the gym 6 days a week, spent my weekends reading, and stayed up past 10 p.m. Nowadays, I spend most of my time covered in drool, spit up, poop, or all three.

In 2012, I vow to:

Not even pack high heels. Yes, they look nice for the 20 minutes I keep them on during formal night, but then I end up barefoot while the shoes get kicked around and slopped with pool water. Why waste the space in my suitcase?

Shop less. Between 2009 and 2010, I think I bought something like 7 swimsuits for the cruise. And that's just swimsuits! Nevermind the sundresses, theme outfits, jewelry, purses, shoes, and PJs. What was I thinking? This year, I'm doing a lot more shopping from my own closet. I'd be forced into this resolution anyway, since I can't afford the luxury of leisurely trips to the mall anymore.

Sleep more. I realize this is blasphemy on a New Kids cruise, but I can't pass up the rare chance to nap in the middle of the afternoon or sleep in past 7. In 2010, I slept around 10 hours total the entire trip. 2012 is going to be the year I learn to nap onboard.

Stand with anyone, including a pole if necessary, for the photo op. At this point, I have a photo with each New Kid. I'm more interested now in getting a chance to say hi while avoiding hour after hour in line. Photo ops this year are said to be much improved though.

Leave my phone on. Yup, I'm going to be the doof who comes home to an $800 phone bill. I just don't want to be unreachable. Unfortunately that won't help me on Half Moon Cay, where there are no cell towers, or most of the time at sea, where I never could get a signal.

Fly in the morning of. I'm breaking one of my own rules here, but this year I'm flying in to Miami the morning we depart. I don't recommend this. But with the added day, I just can't be away any longer. Again, don't do this. This is crazy.

Take Tuesday off. I'm finally learning my lesson with this one and taking an extra day off after the trip to recover. The day after the cruise, you'll be hoarse, exhausted, bloated, and seasick tipsy. Best to feel this way at home on the couch.

Repeat cruisers, what are you planning to do differently in 2012?

Your No-Stress (Okay, Low-Stress) Guide to Booking a Cabin

2011-08-15T17:32:00.005-04:00

It's official.

Even for a repeat cruiser, booking week can be rough. You're thrown from a state of anticipation to one of uncertainty and anxiety. Nothing can make it possible for 4,000 people to book 1,000 cabins, but I will do my best to prepare you for booking day.

What I can't do is tell you how much this year's cabins will cost. That info won't be released until Thursday. What we do know, from comcasttix.com, is that inside cabins start at $699, ocean view cabins start at $1099, balcony from $1299, and suites from $2399. This is consistent with 2011 pricing.

Via Rose Tours Terms and Conditions, a $300 per person deposit is payable with your reservation. A second payment of $500 per person will be charged on November 29, 2011. The remaining balance will be charged the week of April 24, 2012. Payments must be made in the form of a credit card. Last year, there was also a $5 booking fee per passenger payable at time of booking.

If you cancel: the $300 deposit is non-refundable. Between November 29 and April 23, you will be charged a cancellation fee of 50% of the total cruise fare. After April 24, you won't get any refund and you'll be responsible for 100% of the fare and taxes.

Before On-Sale

Choose your roommates. Keep in mind that two- and four-person rooms are easier to come by than three-person rooms.
Decide on a budget. Don't forget port fees, taxes, and all the extras.
Using last year's pricing and the Destiny deck plan, create a wish list of cabin types in the order you will try to book. For example, you will first try for an 8D, then 8E, 8M, 8N, 9B, and so forth. I recommend planning at least 10. The deck plan will help you figure out how many of each room type are available. Include cabin category (e.g., "ocean view") in your list.
Decide who will try to book the cabin. BN members will book first, at noon Thursday, followed by past cruisers at 1 p.m. and general sale on Friday.
Choose early or late dining.
Decide if you will purchase travel insurance from Rose Tours. All passengers in the cabin must choose yes or no on travel insurance; you can't choose individually. (My advice is to shop around.) Remember, insurance will not help you if you decide later that you can't afford the trip.
Make sure the person booking has full names, DOB, email addresses, billing addresses, and credit card information for each person in your cabin. If you put in only one credit card, that card will be charged the deposit for everyone in the cabin. Each street address has to match the billing address on the credit card or the system will not process the card or the reservation. (Be smart. Don't email or tweet this information.)
Read the Rose Tours booking procedures and FAQs carefully.
Block off time in your calendar to be near a computer come sale time!

On Sale Day

Make sure the person(s) booking has all of your information plus the wish list of cabin categories and types. It helps to have these in a text file so you can copy and paste during booking. (If possible, have each roommate on the phone together during booking so you can have more than one person trying.)
When you log on to the ComcastTix site, you will see four options. Click the red "Tix" button next to the category of the room you want to book.

Past this screen will be a link to every possible room type and combination available in that category. That means there will be a separate link for 8D Double, 8D Triple, 8D Quad and so forth. The list can get very long. Be careful to click on both the cabin type AND the number of passengers you want to book.
If your first choice is not available, go back to the list and find your second, third, or fourth choice until you find an available room.
Using your text file of passenger info, copy and paste all the fields into the reservation form.
At this point, if more than one of your roommates has made it to the reservation form, make sure only one of you clicks submit! Multiple reservations will cause all of your bookings to get thrown out.
Cheer, dance, do a shot, whatever! You're on cruise 2012! Print your booking confirmation for safe keeping.

If You Don't Make It

First, don't stop trying to book until @NKOTB officially says all cabins are gone. Lots of people "play" with the system and "practice" booking without taking the cabin. They'll open up throughout the day.

Once all cabins are sold out, Rose Tours will open a wait list. Put your name down ASAP. Last year, the entire wait list was called and offered cabins before the cruise. If you are on the wait list, save your pennies! When Rose Tours calls, they'll want whatever payments have been received within a few days. That means if you get the call on December 5, you'll pay $800 at once, or if you get the call in May, you'll pay the full amount.

Do you feel prepared? What did I forget? Add your questions or tips to the comments!

Cruise announcement coming Monday?

2011-08-13T07:02:00.000-04:00

For possibly the first time ever, Ground CTRL gave us something early. Users of their Ground CTRL iPhone app got a surprise yesterday when the news tab released info of the 2012 cruise. As of this morning, the entry is gone.

If the information is accurate, here's what we know:

Cruise will be June 7-11 on the Destiny
Sailing from Miami to Key West and Half Moon Cay (this is very unusual as it does not seem to be an available itinerary)
An official announcement is Monday
Pre-sale for past cruisers and BN members is Thursday 8/18 starting at noon, although it is unclear if this will be all at once or in waves
General sale is Friday 8/19 at noon
Cabins start at $699 (same as last year)
Promised features improved photo op, new themes, more individual and group events, and some sort of evening theater event with NKOTB

Screen shots from the iPhone app below:

So who's in? Don't forget, if you're looking to find a roommate, you can post here.

Need a roommate? Post here!

2011-08-10T12:58:00.000-04:00

By request, this post will create a place to find roommates for the 2012 cruise. Ning is no more, BN is a closed site, and Twitter is hard to keep up with, so hopefully this will help singles in search of the perfect cruise mate.

For reference, here are the cabin types and prices from 2011.

Do your cruise roommates a solid; don't book if you aren't sure you can afford to cruise.

Hope this is helpful!

OMG We're back again

2011-08-05T22:14:00.002-04:00

No, I didn't jump ship. This is still the NKOTB Cruise blog. But those tour mates had an appropriate lyric.

Rumors are afoot. Among hopeful first time cruisers, nerves are starting to set in. So what's a cruiser to do?

How to prepare for a cruise when no cruise has been announced

It is possible. Really, some preparation is necessary, since historically cruise announcements have come merely days before cabins go on sale. And, prices for the cruise aren't revealed until the moment of on-sale.

Step One: Honestly determine whether you can afford to cruise. With cabin prices, port fees, transportation, and on board necessities, it's nearly impossible to spend less than $2000 on the trip. In fact, you will probably spend a lot more. Don't count on being able to sell your spot to someone else if you decide later you can't make the payments. Last year some who canceled found themselves selling at a fraction of the cabin cost just to find buyers. And travel insurance won't help if you decide later you can't afford to go. The cruise is a lot of fun, but it's only a few days. It's not worth going into debt.

Step Two: Decide who you will room with. Will you have one roommate or three? If you don't have anyone in mind for a roommate, will you do the single room match program, or will you try to find someone on Twitter or the forums to book with? Keep in mind, only one person can do the booking, so you will either have to share credit card information or arrange payments. If you don't trust the roomie with this information, the match program would be safer.

Step Three: Start to think about what type of cabin you want. Make sure you and your roomies agree on whether you want a suite, a room with premium seating, or something closer to steerage.

Step Four: Along with your roommates, set a budget for how much you will spend on your cabin and commit to it. Check nkotbcruise.com to see prices from last year (don't forget the port fees and taxes!). Since prices aren't released beforehand, many cruisers find themselves grabbing any room available without even looking at the cost. Be prepared by deciding how much you would like to spend and determining an upper limit if your first choice (or three) isn't available.

Step Five: Take a deep breath and wait for the time to arrive. As much as we try to sleuth out information, nothing is certain until it's announced. And nothing is announced until NKOTB is good and ready. But don't worry; we've got at least 10 months to prepare!

Keep up with the latest blogs. Subscribe by email or RSS on the right.

The Cruiser's Guide To the Galaxy

2010-08-09T19:16:00.004-04:00

Okay, maybe not Galaxy. But possibly Destiny! As you may know, I will not be cruising next year, and therefore I will not be updating this blog much. (I won't say never, because I can't stay entirely silent, but updates will be more rare than regular.)

Part of my reason for deciding not to do the blog this year was that so much of the information would be the same as what's already written. While we don't know the exact itinerary or details, the ports are the same as past years, packing will be much the same, cell phones work the same, etc etc. So instead, what I've done is organized past entries by category so that you can (hopefully) find answers to your questions. And if you don't see something listed, try the search bar on the right.

Happy cruising!

General FAQs: includes arriving at the dock, passport requirements, pricing of items on board, booking flights, and much more.

Booking Your Cruise and Travel

Budgeting and Money

How much will you spend?

While On Board

Shopping and Packing

Receiving Cruise Details

Past Cruise Recaps

2009 Friday, Family Feud, Saturday, Sunday
2010 Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
15 little things you'll love about the cruise
Top 5s of 2010

If you have special tips you'd like to share, please do so in the comments. Good luck to everyone booking on Friday!

My Top 12 Moments of the Reunion (Thus Far): Part Two

2010-06-23T22:39:00.008-04:00

I started with moments 12-7, and they really do keep getting better.

6. Radio City weekend: Radio City weekend was like the cruise, but on land. Thousands of BHs converged on one place for three days of New Kids madness. And I almost didn't go to the Thursday show. What was I thinking? Could I really have been sitting at home, an hour away, with nothing pressing to do while there was a NKOTB show going on? Thankfully I wised up.

Thursday I met Amy at Radio City and once in our seats we adopted Lisa, who had come from Scotland by herself for the three shows. When the lights went down and the video screens flickered to life, I got goosebumps. Tears started to flow before the curtain rose. And when we could see smoke and "NKOTB" appear in lasers just like the 2008 tour opener, I had chills from head to feet. The rush of the past two years came back at once.

Since I'm naturally impatient, I typically spoil myself on any concert surprises, but I had no idea Naughty by Nature was going to walk out on stage. It almost made me want to give up trying to find things out ahead of time. Almost.

Friday all of my lovely friends arrived in town. Amazingly they trusted me as our tour guide despite my track record of getting lost within three miles of my own house. That's love. The concerts were of course incredible (and extremely emotional), but it was just as good to have us all together again, and bittersweet since we don't know when we will meet next.

Thinking of this weekend makes me really really want a cupcake.

5. Cruise 2009: I would compare Cruise 2009 to being in Candyland. (Or, if you don't like candy, some other fantasy fairytale location. Rum Runner land?) I was in awe of everything around me, from the banners in the atrium to the daily newsletters. Since we didn't know what to expect, everything was a bonus. When we saw a New Kid around the ship or when they appeared at the deck parties, we could hardly believe our luck. I got on the boat knowing only a handful of friends, and by the time we got back to Miami, that number had grown exponentially.

4. Cruise 2010: If anything can beat three days of sun and palm trees with New Kids, it's four days of sun and palm tress with New Kids. Cruise 2010 ranks above 2009 for the no lines, day on the beach, better deck parties, and 10 times the amount of Jon singing. The biggest difference between 2009 and 2010 was that this year, it felt like everyone on the boat was friends. We were all more relaxed, including the guys we were all there to see. I can't imagine Joe's piano singalong happening in 2009. But this year, it fit the vibe, and I soaked up every minute of it.

3. July 26, 2008 CD Preview Party: Back in June 2008, when I was constantly listening to the radio to hear Summertime several times per day, I'd hear this commercial along with it.

As soon as I had heard it, I was on a mission. I have never been so determined to win a contest in my life. I entered on four local stations and then every national station I could find, knowing full well being out of their listening area made me ineligible. Those stations only allowed one entry, but XM allowed unlimited entries, so long as you hand wrote all your information on a 3x5 index card and then hand wrote the (six-line long) address and your return address on individual envelopes. I did that. 107 times.

On July 17, I was sitting at my desk at work around 6:00 p.m. when I got an email from Clear Channel telling me I was a finalist. Shaking, I got my phone out to call and tell my cousin and saw I had three missed calls from a New York area code. A little bell went off in my head, telling me that was the Z100 promotions number (which I knew since I called them more than once trying to find out when they would draw the winner). I immediately hit redial and the woman who emailed me answered and screamed YOU WON!

So there I am, at my cube, screaming and crying and laughing uncontrollably all at the same time. She was trying to tell me what the prize was and I couldn't hear a word of it. People started coming out of their offices and from the other side of the building to see what was going on. The guy who sat in the office across from me said he had never seen anyone so happy at work.

I called my cousin Nickole, who lives 400 miles away in my hometown, because she and I grew up New Kids together. I said, "Where are you?" She said, "Driving." I said, "Don't drive off the road because I won the New Kids trip to LA!" Then we both screamed some more. It's been almost two years and I still can hardly believe I won.

A week later I was on a plane on my way out to LA. This was the day I met Malina and several other BHs I still talk to.

The day of the party, Nickole and I couldn't eat, hadn't slept, and had a hard time saying more than five words in a row to each other without shrieking. None of the winners had any idea what to expect. I was picturing sitting at tables in a dark room while someone pushed play on the CD. In reality, there were less than 150 people in a small rehearsal studio and I was standing not even 10 feet from the NKs while they were on stage. They sang, they joked, they danced, they surveyed our opinions on "This One's For the Children." During Summertime, Donnie sang to me in my strapless sundress. Seriously, this happened!

Then if that wasn't enough, we got to meet and talk to all the guys in small groups. This is the first time I met any of them other than Joe, but I still went to him first. The first thing Danny said to us was that his balls were sweaty. Donnie hugged me and kissed me and hugged me and kissed me and made it clear he was planning to convert a lot of girls come fall. Jon and Jordan did what they do best: looked gorgeous. And just when I thought it was over, they called us back in the room to get one on one photos. The new album hadn't even come out yet, and all of my New Kids dreams had come true.

(My rarely seen "other" photo, taken when Danny was trying to put my hand on Joe's ass.)

Sidenote: Tara, the girl who won from XM, had entered only once.

2. December 20, 2009 House of Blues: House of Blues almost didn't happen. A Nor'easter was threatening the entire east coast, canceling flights, closing roads, and generally wrecking havoc. But Blockheads with plans to see NKs are hard to stop, even if it means leaving a day early or taking 3 a.m. trains to get to Boston.

What catapults HOB to #2 on the list was the weekend as a whole, from walking through the blizzard to Shaw's at 1 a.m. to arriving at the after party so late Donnie was ready to leave.

Within a 24 hour period, I/we:

Walked into Hard Rock Cafe, saw flashes, and found out Donnie was there hugging everyone
Met Andrea and then shared a bed with her, from which we tweeted each other at 6 a.m.
Carried 38 cardboard boxes through Lord and Taylor while I looked for a headband that wasn't $34
Almost tripped over Donnie's piano bench before realizing the song he was playing was "I Need You" (Why? I have no idea.)
Were surrounded by tinsel
Were present for several "very serious messages"
Wrapped those 38 boxes with only one paper cutter between us
Heard both Jordan and Joe sing O Holy Night
Ran into Ricky Bell and Johnny Gill
Were attacked with run-by huggings from Donnie
Heard Coming Home performed for the first time
Saw several Christmas songs performed live, Jordan dressed as Santa, and the reappearance of Joe's gold sequined jacket
Watched Andrea dance with Jordan on stage (It's magic!)
Got the Full Service treatment with special guests New Edition (the ones who made it through the blizzard at least)
Got pics with each New Kid except Jordan, because I didn't want the flash to hurt his eyes
Found out Kevin was under the impression Elizabeth was 6'4"
Saw Joe, who not only knew who I was but immediately said "I still have your letter and think about your good ideas." (Me: "What letter?" Sigh.)
Amazed ourselves by leaving for the after party at 1 a.m., a time when we were usually sound asleep
Got hammered on one $11 drink at the after party
Stayed up all night laughing and looking at our photos

And now you know why the four of us refer to HOB as the "Best! Day! Ever!"

1. Getting to know my million sisters. The reason I have this blog, the reason why cruise 2010 was better than 2009, the reason why these memories are as good as they are is because I have shared these past two years with you. There's not one thing on this list I experienced without you, from the day of the May 2008 Today Show when I sent my first tweet to when the curtain closed at Radio City Saturday night. The kindness I have been shown by BHs is incredible. Nothing beats meeting someone in person when it feels like you already know everything about each other. People I've never met have asked me to share their fan passes for the Today Show, given me copies of rare mp3s, and sent me their vintage Joe posters because I'd lost mine.

The most generous kindess is what I was shown last summer, at the end of my mother's illness. In those dark weeks and months, I had a place to go to forget reality and smile. And during my worst times, I felt real love from a group of strangers who shared nothing with me but an affinity for the same band. For that, I cannot thank you enough.

The friends I have made in these last two years are now among the closest I have. They're the people I tell my secrets to. When they're happy I feel their joy and I cry with them when things get bad. If all of this were to end tomorrow, we'd still be a million sisters. You all have a special place in my heart.

Addendum: Thank you Jared : )

My Top 12 Moments of the Reunion (Thus Far): Part One

2010-06-22T20:43:00.011-04:00

I warned you that even though the cruise is over, I was bound to blog from time to time, and don't you know that the time has arrived?

We don't know what's coming next, and I look forward to making more memories, but for now I wanted to capture what I consider my top 12 reunion memories. It was going to be a top 10, but 10 just wasn't enough.

Let's start with 12-7. 6-1 will come in the next post.

12. Long Island DVD Screening: Somewhere on my list of childhood daydreams had to have been going to the movies with NKOTB, and in January 2010, I got to. Better yet, the movie we were watching was about them and I got to see it a week before it hit store shelves.

There was also a thrill in the buildup to the screenings, although I probably appreciate it more now than I did then. I was convinced the closest screening to me would be in West Virginia (read: not in a place I had a hope of getting to) and had resigned myself to waiting for my copy in the mail to watch at home in my New Kids-free living room. When I saw that one of the theaters that had been selected was only 45 minutes away, I could hardly believe it, and when I got the email saying I could attend I was giddy. Being part of such a lucky select group made it even more special.

11. Holmdel Let's Get This Book Drive: June 2009 was a rough month. My mother was very very ill and I was going from Connecticut to Pennsylvania as much as I could. Originally, I was supposed to attend the Mohegan show on June 18 with my friend Myka, who I would be meeting for the first time. But I made a last minute decision to buy a ticket for the Holmdel show the weekend before too, even though I'd have to go by myself. It turned out to be the only Full Service show I saw, as I was called home to PA on June 17.

A week or so before the Holmdel show I was sitting in my mother's hospital room wondering if I would be lucky enough to be chosen as a LGT volunteer, and no sooner did the thought cross my mind than I received the invitation email. (One of my small thrills in life: seeing "Joe McIntyre" in my email inbox.) The day of the show was cold and the rain came down hard, but my co-volunteers and I became fast friends. Holmdel is especially notable because it's the closest I've ever come to having a sensible conversation with Joe, despite the fact that said conversation included me mentioning Shoshanna Bean.

10. Atlantic City Casi-NO tour: Last minute decisions are always the best, aren't they? It never occurred to me to buy tickets for AC when the tour went on sale. I had Miami. I had Radio City. I didn't need to fight Jersey shore traffic on Memorial Day weekend for another show, right? So I thought until the Wednesday before the Saturday show, when Elizabeth, Kim, and I decided to meet in exotic Atlantic CIty for one extra show. We met up with Jo there, and while the concert was good, the after party was better. It was the best show after party I've been to, which may have had something to do with seeing this guy.

9. May 16, 2008 Today Show: Yup, this is really #9. I double checked. They actually get better from here.

I had wanted to go to the very first Today Show on April 4, but I couldn't miss work because I had to teach a class that day. I decided then I wasn't going to miss the next one. Remember when we didn't know BHs were champion queuers? My friend and I had this idea that we were going to take the 5:30 a.m. train FRIDAY morning of the show and get there just before 7. Wednesday of that week I turned on the Today Show and found out people were already lining up. And then my friend had to go away for a family emergency and I was left going by myself, just as I decided Friday morning wasn't going to cut it.

The first Today Show taught me a lot. Like

I could tell my husband I was going to go camp on the streets of New York and he would not think I was crazy.
BHs are instant friends. While I was on the train to the city I saw two girls with camp chairs, introduced myself, and they adopted me immediately.
New Kids attract rain.

This was also the day I opened my Twitter account so I could send updates to other fans.

The enormity of the moment didn't hit me until we were finally allowed into the plaza around 6:15 Friday. I walked around the building and saw all of NKOTB on stage together. It was like someone physically pushed me backwards. All my breath went out of me and it became real.

ktsummer Oh and when I came around the corner & saw them all, I almost fell over. It just hit me - WOW 7:43 AM May 16th, 2008 via txt

Even though it was cold and wet and I could see very little through all of the flags, signs, and umbrellas, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

8. The Today Show That Wasn't. By the time the second Today Show rolled around, we all knew better than to show up the morning of. So for the September 1, 2008 show, I went in the afternoon before. At first, everything was going great. I was with a group of 4 friends. The sun was out. My husband still did not think sleeping on the street was crazy. We were golden. And then, a guy from NBC came out and told us the show had been canceled.

At first we thought he was a heckler. But as he explained Hurricane Gustav was worsening and the show was devoting all its time to news from the area, we knew he was serious. At the time, there were about 100 girls in line. Some had already been there two days. Others had come in by bus or plane and hadn't booked a place to stay, so there was a fair bit of panic in the crowd. (We were also disappointed, but everyone there understood the reason for the cancelation and agreed that story took priority.)

Within 10 minutes of telling us the show was canceled, NBC and the Plaza security started telling us to get out. Guards were removing the barriers and shooing us off the sidewalk. We said, "We can't leave. The New Kids are going to come here and see us." Every non-fan there thought we were bonkers, but personally, it never occurred to me that they wouldn't come. One guy said we had to leave or he was going to call and have us arrested. The NBC rep kept saying, "Girls, they're not coming. They're not coming." But we were insistent that no, the New Kids really were going to come there and see us. Finally the girls who needed time to make hotel or travel arrangements convinced NBC to allow us to stay for an hour while they made alternate plans.

Around 45 minutes later, a murmur rippled down the line that we were right, and that NKs really were on their way. I have never seen such fierce primping in my life. Makeup appeared as if by magic. After my last Today Show experience of being half drowned, I hadn't bothered doing a thing with myself, but I did change my pants in the middle of the street.

Danny, Jon, and Joe walked down the line, hugging, taking pics, and signing autographs with each girl. Later, after they had left, a Today Show employee told us that when they had picked the guys up from the airport, they insisted on coming straight down to the line, even before they checked in to their hotels.

"Your fans said you would come and none of us believed them," she said to them. "Our fans know us," she said they responded. "They know we're going to be there."

7. Hearing The Block for the First Time: Do you remember (or should I rewind)? I bet you can picture your first listen through The Block clear as day, just like I can. Diving into each track like it was a piece of chocolate cake and you hadn't eaten in weeks. Squeezing your eyes shut so you could hear each voice, each note. Gasping a little when you heard how the lyrics had changed since the "oh oh oh oh" days. Being overcome when you realized this was real. It was 2008 and you were experiencing a brand new NKOTB album. They were together. It was happening. And it was just beginning.

Top 5s of 2010

2010-06-04T20:34:00.006-04:00

So I've recapped each day of the cruise, but I haven't wrapped up the whole thing. The best way I could think to do that was two lists: most improved between 2009 and 2010 and top five moments overall. Would love to hear what topped your lists too!

Most Improved Since 2009:

5. Overall energy: Was it just me, or did the whole vibe of the fans seem better this year? I chalk it up to the explosion of Twitter. Last cruise, I knew only a handful of people. This year, it was like everyone on the boat was friends. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I did not meet with a single unpleasant person.

4. Photo op: The 2009 photo op was not ideal for several reasons, one being the severe rockiness of the boat, which obviously could not be controlled. Also I was incredibly hungover and worried I may throw up on a New Kid, but that was not a universal problem. This year the line moved more smoothly, it was easier to arrange ourselves without trying to squeeze between five chairs, and the photographer took two shots instead of one. Plus, we got the pictures more than twice as fast and didn't have to pay for a hi-res download.

3. Deck parties: Every NK participated in the deck parties this year, most of them every night. With the change in VIP set up, most people weren't craning their necks to see nothing but a dark party. The guys really put on a show. They also participated in the themes. Helloooooo tuxedos!

2. Beach day: Last year, I had a great time exploring Nassau, but it paled in comparison to beach day at Half Moon Cay. For starters, Joe wasn't walking around with his shirt off all day in Nassau.

1. Assigned seating: Hands down the biggest and best change of cruise 2010. I easily spent half my time in 2009 waiting in line. I missed eating in the dining room, going down the waterslide, and seeing all the doors. Plus, it caused a lot of fights. (The only fight I heard of in 2010 was in the line for the back rub. Coincidence?)

My favorite moments of cruise 2010:

5. Floating in the waters of Half Moon Cay: Is there a better way to spend a day than drifting in crystal clear Caribbean waters? Yes, if you are sharing the waters with New Kids and/or watching other New Kids limbo on shore.

4. The sort of game show: Jordan being endlessly amused by a microphone? Earl and Armando doing the Soul Train line? Jon talking about Tiffany and man pipes? I don't see Alex Trebek doing that.

3. Open bar:

I love c@ruise! 1:24 AM May 15th via twidroid

Yup.

2. Jon's mini concert: I could hardly believe my eyes. And then I couldn't believe them for 20 more minutes. Everyone on the boat had a smile a mile wide the whole time he was singing.

1. Joe's piano bar singalong: Even though I only saw half of it and was in the far back corner of the lounge, this was the ultimate highlight of the cruise for me. It was so relaxed and casual but still amazing. I had tears when I was stuck outside with my ear pressed to the glass, and then I had them again when I actually got inside. I wish every Joe girl on the boat could have been in that room.

Well cruisers, I think that's it for me for cruise blogs. Never say never, maybe I'll find something to write about now and then. And it's very likely I'll write something non-cruise related every once in a while. Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who said hi on the cruise. I hope to see you again on a future NK adventure.

Cruise 2010 Day-by-Day Recap: Sunday

2010-05-27T20:55:00.006-04:00

I was awakened by two things around 8:30 Sunday morning. The first was a god awful stench. My first thought was "Why does my pillow smell so bad?" But it wasn't the pillow; it was the whole section of the ship. (We found out later that a sewer pipe had burst, or leaked, or something. So it smelled like that.) The second thing was a knock at my door. I thought it was our expected room service, but it turned out to be much better: @yikes77 coming to visit with a bag full of chocolate! When I opened my mouth to greet her, I discovered that I had no voice left. The best I could do was a squeaky whisper.

Shortly after our actual room service showed up. Be warned: when you order toast on Carnival, they mean "toast, singular." Malina and I had a lovely picnic on the queen bed we were sharing, then got up to get ready for the 10:30 photo op.

We lined up right at 10:30. Things seemed to go much more smoothly this year. For one, most people had come prepared in groups of 10. We also started a lot closer to the scheduled start time than last year. The boat cooperated by not lurching in all directions as it did Sunday morning 2009, and I wasn't super hung over as I had been the year before, which helped (mostly me). Some people did not like the set up of the pose, but I liked having half sitting and half standing. I especially liked getting to sort of hide in the back by standing.

For the first time ever, I stood next to Jordan in a photo. My reasoning was this: I have about 8 pictures with Joe and 1-2 pics with every other NK, but zero pics with Jordan. I wanted a shot at a croppable one. Here it is (and here are the rest):

It kind of worked out for me that Jordan decided to grab Linda's head in the middle of the photo. I never said a word to him, just stood there dorkily. I probably should have kept my mouth shut entirely, because that would have prevented the conversation I had with Joe.

Me: Hi, can I hug you?
Joe: Ok.
Me: I'm going to stand with Jordan though.
Joe: Ok, Jordan is over there.

Really? REALLY? Sigh.

After the photo, we had a leisurely brunch upstairs, and then we kind of found ourselves at a loss for what to do. We weren't down for the Back Rub (which already had a crazy line anyway). Normally I would have used the afternoon for pool time, but the last thing we wanted to do after a day at Half Moon Cay was spend time in the sun, so we kind of bummed around. First we walked through the halls of a few decks looking at doors and saw some really awesome ones. My vote would have gone to the cruiser who mounted a video player to her door showing a loop of her performing NKs songs in 1991.

Then we checked out the photo gallery of all the pro shots taken during the cruise. This was my first brush of just missing NKs (so much so that by Sunday afternoon I was being called a curse), as we found out Jon had just been by a few minutes earlier.

Eventually we found ourselves on the shaded area of the pool deck. I had (another) plate of cheese fries and managed to get cheese sauce on my dress. I went downstairs for the Tide stick and to change, and who shows up to have a 10 minute chat while sitting in the seat I was just in 30 seconds earlier? Jon. He had gotten up to leave just as I got back to the Lido deck.

And then, the kicker. Around 4:45, Elizabeth and I decided we were going to go down the water slide. We get up to the Sun deck to find Jon having his own personal meet and greet. I tried to get in line for a photo. Nope, they weren't taking any more people. Ok, so I guess I only had a curse with running into Jon, but I was starting to think the curse was real!

Have you ever failed at a water slide? We have. Elizabeth went first, and we could hear her laughing from inside the slide. She had gotten stuck. A lot. Sorry Biff, but I thought "She must be doing it wrong." The operator must have thought so too, because he kept saying "No, put your head down. Your head down!" I got in thinking, "Watch me put my head down. I got this."

I got about 6 feet. Then I stopped completely. The operator helpfully turned up the water, which did nothing except splash past me as if to say, "You're supposed to be sliding down, like this." I went down the entire slide by sticking my legs out and then pulling myself forward with my heels. It was less of a ride and more of an ab workout.

By the end, we were all laughing like crazy, including the slide operator, who then decided to tell us that the water gets shut off at 5:00 p.m. and that's why we weren't moving. Thanks buddy!

We went back to our table on the Lido deck to listen to Danny's 5:00 fitness talk, which was another of the mystery events. It probably had an official name. I don't know what that was. I had been picturing the Carnival gym staff on stage demonstrating various exercise techniques under Danny's guidance. Not so much. It was just Danny with a mic taking questions from the audience. I could not hear what any of the questions were, but we could hear his answers. Some of the advice was good (although nothing I hadn't heard before from my trainer), and other parts were. . . odd. Among other things, we learned:

All the NKs like to floss
Jon gets bloated during concerts because he eats too close to showtime
Danny pees several times per day

We had to leave before it was over to pack and get ready for early dinner. Then we changed into our white outfits before our concert started at 9:00 p.m. I'm not going to get into a full review of the concert. It was the same as the Casi-no tour, minus Close To You (anything else missing?). I managed to find enough voice to scream with. Oh, and Joe's solo? No words. I was frozen in place with my hand over my mouth the whole time. This is the only photo I managed to get.

It was about 10:30 when the concert finished, and the deck parties never really got going till after 11, so we went back to our rooms for a bit. I was headed up to the Lido deck around 11:15 in the glass elevators in the atrium when someone said "Is that Joe?" My immediate response was to hit every button in the elevator trying to get it to stop. That didn't work, so I ran down two flights of stairs and then strolled casually over to where the crowd was assembled.

Much like Jon had done earlier, Joe was having his own photo session with a bunch of fans. Yay! I waited my turn, and then made up for my conversation that morning with this genius statement: "Hi, I have 100 extra moxie points because I'm mac pack number 3100-something." Joe: "Ok." SMH. I really should not talk. I'd be much better off just smiling and nodding. Anyway:

I said thank you, walked slowly away for about 10 ft, and then took off at a dead sprint back to my room where Malina, Jaime, and Melissa were still getting ready. Like some kind of sitcom, I burst in the door, screamed that Joe was upstairs taking pics right now, and go go go! Malina ran out with her shoes in her hand.

With those girls taken care of, I finally got up to the Lido deck to meet everyone else. It was pretty empty so we decided to walk around and see if we could find any more NK photo ops. We strolled around for about 20 minutes and ended up at the Atrium bar for a drink. I told the bartender she had gotten a cute pic with Joe earlier.

Bartender: I wish he was performing down here. There would be a big crowd.
Me: Um, yeah, that would be good.
Bartender: But he's in the piano bar.
Me: Hmm (not paying attention)
Bartender: Didn't you want to watch him perform?
Me: I'm sorry, what?
Bartender: Right now, up in the piano bar
Me: (Already running away)

We raced back upstairs to find that Joe had been singing in the piano bar since just after I had gotten my photo. They weren't letting anyone else in, so we had to stand outside, with me pressing my ear to an opening in the partition to try to hear better. Thankfully they let more people in and we were able to get a spot in the very back and saw at least 30 minutes of the performance. This was the highlight of the cruise for me. I was in absolute heaven. My pics didn't come out and I didn't even try to get video, but Malina got some:

He finished around 12:30 or 12:45. I really didn't know how the night was going to get any better, but up we went to the party. The deck seemed extra crowded that night and people were paying more attention to the balcony than other nights. There was barely room to dance. Drank enough Sunday to be level 2 drunk: tipsy but not in danger of falling in the pool.

(You'll notice I haven't said anything about VIP. I never went up there so I don't really have anything TO say. They seem to have changed the set up this year. There was some kind of bracelet system, and the whole VIP area was much bigger. It looked like there were as many people upstairs as downstairs, and that was in a much smaller area. The biggest benefit I can see would be open bar, and lord knows I had had enough of that Friday. However, I have seen a lot of people who have solo pics with NKs in tuxes, and I can't pretend I wouldn't have liked that.)

Highlights of Sunday night included the world's longest (and worst) conga line around the pool, Jon leading a chant of "the roof is on fire," Joe doing Here We Go Again with the other 4 NKs as back up dancers, and Donnie and Jon dancing to La Bamba.

I called 4 a.m. my bedtime again and had my last sleep of the cruise.

Monday

Monday morning I awoke at 8 a.m. to the entirely-too-chipper PA announcer and looked out the window to see we were in port. We had a lovely long breakfast next to the pool and then said our goodbyes.

Andrea and I shared a cab to the airport and just happened to leave at the same time as NKOTB. When our cab driver saw them get escorted to their town cars, he said "Who are those men? Did they get arrested?"

My flight to Boston (for work) was packed with BHs but sadly no NKs. Meeting everyone on the plane was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

I'll miss you all terribly in 2011, but I already have my fingers crossed for a 2012 cruise. If it is within your means to be on the boat in 2011, I cannot recommend it enough.

Cruise 2010 Day-by-Day Recap: Saturday

2010-05-24T18:20:00.004-04:00

When we left off, I had fallen into bed in a drunken stupor around 4 a.m. We had to be in the lounge for the first tenders at 9:00 a.m., so I was planning on getting up at 7:30, but my body decided it did not want to sleep past 6:00. Helpful!

You may remember that one of my favorite things about cruise 2009 was the room service breakfast/coffee delivered after a night of drinking. I was really looking forward to it Saturday morning this year. Too bad it never showed up. I called twice and they just said they were really busy. All I wanted was some coffee and a piece of toast! Yoi.

We eventually made it to the Dynasty Lounge. Wow did I feel awful. My own fault, I realize. All I wanted to do was lay down. Unfortunately there was a delay with . . . something, and we ended up waiting in the theater until after 10:30. From the conversation around me, I could tell that I was not the only one who wanted to curl up in a ball somewhere, which made it even more entertaining when they called for wristbands "red one," and there was a spontaneous, albeit quiet, "red one!" from the crowd.

If I thought waiting in the lounge was rough, it was nothing compared to the tender. This was about the point I was vowing never to drink again. Eventually, though, we made it to Half Moon Cay, which was so gorgeous you could hardly believe it was real.

Our first order of business was to rent clamshells, and I collapsed onto a beach chair for a bit. Eventually the island started to fill up and the fresh air cleared my head, so I walked around on the beach finding all my friends who were on later tenders. There was a stage on the beach set with 5 microphones, and rumor was there was going to be some sort of performance at 1:00 or 1:30, so off we went in search of lunch.

I had been worried about vegetarian food at lunch, but it was for nothing. The Carnival reps on the phone before we left told me there'd be nothing but salad, but there was actually a ton of stuff including veggie burgers, which the cook offered to prepare on a separate grill for me and then delivered to my table fully dressed. Our lunchtime entertainment was a family of chickens scurrying under the table.

After lunch, we went back to the beach where nothing was happening, but a crowd was gathering around the stage anyway. Eventually we were rewarded when the NKs sped up to the beach in their own boat, like something out of Miami Vice.

I thought there was going to be some kind of performance, so we went up to the side of the stage. Standing in the full sun was almost unbearable. It was scorching hot. That worked out for our benefit, because almost as soon as they hit the stage, Joe and Jon declared they were going swimming and ran off toward the ocean.

I decided there was no way I was going to remain sweating my face off near the stage if there were two NKs frolicking 30 ft away in the water, so off I went too. I didn't swim after them or even bring my camera (above photo is courtesy of my roomie Malina), but it was nice to be swimming in an idyllic setting in the vicinity of New Kids.

I went back up near the stage for a bit and enjoyed the view of Joe walking around in his swim trunks (as he did for the whole day), but after 10-15 minutes I was just too hot up there and had to retreat back to the water.

Elizabeth and I watched most of the beach games while neck-deep in the ocean. That meant we couldn't see much. We were aware people were limbo-ing, but that's about it. I missed the races. Not sure what the other games were. I didn't mind not being able to see because where we were was perfect. We decided we'd like to watch all NKs events from the waters of HMC.

By then it was maybe 2:30-3:00. The rest of the day was centered on staying out of the sun. We had been applying super high SPF throughout the day, but Andrea was bright pink. We walked around looking for shade (which was no longer available under our rooted clamshell) and water. Around 4:00 we decided to head back to the boat, not realizing NKOTB had just done the same. This meant we had a nice welcome party upon arriving back at the Imagination.

I intended to nap before dinner. It didn't work. So we went to dinner. Then we tried to nap again, unsuccessfully. Every time I shut my eyes on the boat I worried I was missing something. Group B had their concert that night. We only had to get ready for PJ night. Beach day followed by PJ night was a great idea. The last thing I wanted to do was put on heels.

So, okay, I was a little bit in love with my PJs. Back when I was hoping for an 80s night, I was planning to dress as Lucky Star Madonna. When that didn't work out, my PJs became the next best thing. A t-shirt featuring -- wait for it -- Lucky Star Madonna, along with the giant lace hair bow and 80 jelly bracelets I had bought for the original outfit. (Who says I don't sleep wearing 80 jelly bracelets? I don't, but I could.)

Saturday was the antithesis of Friday. We drank Diet Coke (and one vodka-based drink, but just one!). And the theme ended up being a mashup because we were in PJs, the NKs for some unknown reason wore togas, and the DJ played a lot of 80s music. Loved it!

Sadly, the PJs were a lot tamer this year. Not just tamer, nearly Puritan. In my t-shirt and shorts I was among the least dressed. Not much entertainment people watching, but there were a couple fun ones.

Joe performed, Donnie performed, there was random group + audience singing to Summertime. Keeping in line with the rest of the day, it was disgustingly hot - still - all night. Dancing to the non-stop dance marathon that was DJ Cheapshot had us overheated, so it was nice to cool down with self-serve ice cream.

After 3:00 the crowd started to thin, and it was around 3:30 that one of the most awesome parts of the cruise happened. Jon decided he was tired of watching everyone sing and joined in himself. He did three or four songs. The best was One Song. Here are the others.

Then Donnie took off half his toga and started talking about Cruise 2011. Not too long after that, we decided things couldn't possibly get better so we went to bed. Best deck party ever.

Cruise 2010 Day-by-Day Recap: Friday

2010-05-22T17:46:00.003-04:00

Friday! Cruise day one! How great it was to wake up and already be in Miami. By the time I woke up at 9 a.m., my roomie Malina was already at the port and checked in. Andrea and I were much slower moving. I even went to the hotel gym (for a $15 fee, wth?) and we waited at the world's slowest Starbucks before heading to the port just before noon. And there we hit . . . the line.

Hey Carnival. You know when people are getting on your boats. Maybe you want to have enough staff such that every check-in desk is in use. Just an idea. We were in the check-in line for at least an hour and a half.

And then, suddenly, everything was made right. We were on the Lido deck for 30 full seconds when a nice man brought us drinks with fruit and mini umbrellas. (Note* that this was drink #1. This will come into play later.)

It was disgustingly hot, and luckily our luggage was delivered really quickly, so we were able to change into our swimsuits and take a dip in the pool before the muster drill.

From my Qik stream (sorry I was yelling, the music was quite loud):

Did ANYONE pay attention in the muster drill? I have no clue what they said. As soon as they dismissed us, everyone took off at a full sprint to the Lido Deck for the sail away party. We had a nice spot along the rail above the stage, but I guess we weren't paying enough attention or weren't vicious enough because next thing I knew there were three girls between me and the railing. So Elizabeth and I watched the sail away party sitting on the ground looking between a forest of legs.

Worth it.

Also at this point, another nice man brought us drink #2. I was really starting to like the cruise.

We put up our door decorations, and then off we went to dinner in the dining room. This cruise, thanks to no waiting in line for events, we ate in the dining room every night. After a stop in the merch room for our zip hoodies (and a failed attempt to buy shot glasses that *someone* may have found and opened), we went back to get ready for Casino Royale night. This was a fun theme, like dress to impress but (mostly) classier.

But first, the sort of game show! I say "sort of" game show because the game was "sort of Jeopardy," wherein there would be a question, but you would still have to answer in the form of a question. In other words, at no point were there answers. I freakin love the game show. It was my favorite part of the cruise last year. Can't tell you how nice it was to stroll in 15 minutes before the 10 p.m. show time and sit down in the second row. (And yet from the second row, there was still a pole directly in front of us.) Since it was classy night, I had a glass of champagne, i.e., drink #3.

The game show was a riot, due in no small part to Jon being at least medium drunk. He really stole the show with his comments about singing in bed with Tiffany and man pipes. Here he is calling "the pair of boobs to the stage."

Other highlights:

Danny continually pulling the podium backwards to check his score.
Jordan mimicking the air horn and using the small mic to make drive thru orders.
Joe saying "You drunk bitches better hurry up and get these answers right if you want to see me in my f*cking tux."
Donnie performing the first verse of Ice Ice Baby and then making up his own verse.

By the end, my face hurt from laughing. And that was only the beginning because it was time for open bar! Elizabeth and I, in our brilliance, decided we'd better drink really quickly because open bar was for one hour only, from 12-1 a.m.

Here we are at 12:05.

Then around 12:20.

12:45? Things started to go downhill.

Around 1:00 (I think?) the boys came out all looking like danger in their tuxes. It was great! I tried to tweet about it:

Boys ate tuxedo hot 1:23 AM May 15th via twidroid

Translation: The boys are in tuxedos, looking hot.

My tweets that night also included gems like this:

Malina hads pbeen peeinbg a long tipme. I habbe eliabeyhad shors. 1:21 AM May 15th via twidroid

Translation: It's been a while since Malina said she had to pee. Elizabeth left her shoes here and I'm keeping an eye on them.

I also have video that is unusable due to my narration. Example: "Hi Donnie. Hey, where are the New Kids? There's Donnie. I got the premium. What's that? You ain't gotta be nervous. Hey, there's Donnie." (frantic pointing at him from the side of the screen in case you missed him directly in the middle of the frame.)

Around 2:00 we ate pizza. I didn't go to bed till around 4:00. I don't remember what happened between pizza and bed, but my phone never worked right after that.

Those boys sure did look hot in their tuxes.

*Note: I think the final drink tally was somewhere between 6 and 8. Let's hope it was 6.

Cruise 2010 Day-by-Day Recap: Thursday

2010-05-22T12:24:00.001-04:00

Ten months of anticipation had come down to this. Cruise weekend was finally here. Last year I made the rookie mistake of flying into Miami Friday morning, so I missed Danny's party and was exhausted by Friday night. This year I booked flights for Thursday afternoon (ended up on the plane with @nikkibop!) and landed in Miami around 3:30 p.m.

I made my way to the Intercontinental where I quickly met up with Andrea and Malina. Andrea and I had tickets for the Fillmore show that night, and Malina was able to score some later as they were giving a bunch away near the venue. We got concert-ready and headed over to the venue, where we arrived about 45 minutes before doors opened and met up with Marlene, plus started to see all of our friends and met new people from Twitter. My live Qik stream:

Since some girls had been in line since 4:30 a.m. and we had not, we went straight for the balcony and sat front row center there, which was great except that it was blasted hot. We were having a dance party up there and I was sweating like I had just been to the gym. I loved sitting next to Marlene, who had not seen a NK show since January 2009, so she was ecstatic about everything. You should have seen her face when I pointed out the B-stage right below us and explained the NKs would come out there during the show.

After the show, our plan was to go to South Beach to a club called Bed, where you lay around drinking on giant beds. Best club idea ever, right? But apparently clubs don't open till 11 p.m. and it was maybe 9:45, so we decided to do some pre-drinking before getting into a club that charged $15+ per drink. After stopping in the hotel for a minute, we went to Wet Willies, a bar that has nothing but dozens of liquor-enhanced slushies. OMG so good. We walked with the drinks the 2-3 blocks to Bed, chugging as we went so we'd be done by the time we got there, and chugging a very large rum-based slushie in 10 minutes = somewhat drunk Katie.

Turns out, Bed would not let us in because some of our party were wearing flip flops. Boo on them. Didn't matter because we made our own party for free on the beach. We drew in the sand, hugged palm trees, danced like ballerinas, ran in the water, and sang Whitesnake. Beat that Bed!

Called it an early night and left SoBe around 1:00 a.m. We wanted to get one last night's sleep in before the non-stop party of the cruise.

Friday recap coming soon!

NKOTB Cruise 2010 Playlist

2010-05-21T19:18:00.003-04:00

Thanks for all your help remembering songs!

It's just not the same when you hear the full song and there's no WAAAAHHHH WAAAHHHH every 30 seconds. . .

A selection of cruise photos

2010-05-18T18:51:00.002-04:00

Detailed blogs coming soon, but for now, here are some pics!

(Cue music) It's the Final Countdown!

2010-05-11T07:55:00.004-04:00

Have you ever tried to write out the instrumental intro to The Final Countdown? It can't be done. So play this while you read ; )

After months of anticipation, the day is almost here. The suitcases are packed and all that's left is to get to Miami and have a fantastic time!

If you're not cruising but want to keep up with the action, follow my twitter list: http://twitter.com/ktsummer/cruise-2010

Twitter capped the list at 500 so unfortunately I can't add anyone else. But there are several cruise lists out there, so between all of us we should have the boat pretty well covered. If you're not on the list but plan on tweeting extensively, comment below and I'll bump someone for you.

One last note: if you want to reach me during the cruise . . . you pretty much can't. Unfortunately I really didn't get to read my @replies last year and I never got email to load. If you're on the boat with me, leave a post it on my door. If you're not, and for some reason there's big news I need to know right away, DM, comment here, or leave a message on my ning page.

See many of you in Miami! If there's anything I missed or you have last minute questions, please leave a comment!

Itineraries! Yay!

2010-05-07T18:28:00.005-04:00

My brain is overwhelmed by all the cool stuff on the itinerary for this year's cruise.

Have you seen it? NKOTB: Cruise Itinerary & Cabana Rental

Too much to process! Where should I even start? Friday night open bar? A whole day of beach games (with medals!)? "Mystery event" Sunday afternoon? It's like an overdose of awesome.

There was some slight confusion at first because Group A was listed for both photo sessions. However, that has been corrected, with Group B slotted into the 1:30 p.m. session. I also saw some people asking if NKOTB will be on the island with us Saturday. Rest assured, they will be.

Those selected to play in the poker tournament received emails today. If you didn't get one, I think that means you didn't make it, but names will also be posted in the casino.

Not really knowing what "beach games" would entail, I did some research. There are too many options to really guess, but this is the most interesting one I found:

Piranhas: For a lively, heart pumping game, tuck a bandana into the back of everyone's swimsuit. In a predetermined area on the beach, everyone is tasked to "live" as long as possible (keep their bandana) while trying to collect the bandanas from the backs of their opponents' swimsuits. Be sure to clear the area of sharp shells or other objects that could cause harm before beginning. This game is sure to bring out both a competitive spirit and plenty of laughs from all involved.

How many girls would be after the shorts of a New Kid? Ha!

I have one concern and one concern only about the entire schedule: I'm worried about the HMC buffet. Yes, my #1 concern is constant access to food. Really. I called Carnival to inquire about vegetarian options, since the buffet is most often described as "barbecue style." I talked to two reps and both told me the options are burgers, chicken, hot dogs. . . . and fruits/salad. There is a Ben and Jerry's stand on HMC, but from what I've read it's only open about half the time. Somebody watch me and make sure I do not drink 5 pina coladas if all I've eaten for lunch is lettuce and a piece of melon.

For ease of reading, I divided the schedule into Group A only and Group B only, if you want to print yours out.

So what are you most excited about? Any guesses on the "mystery event"? Who's planning to be out for blood in the beach games?

Update: I'm back to researching food. What can I say, I have a one track mind. Here is what I found for the Half Moon Cay buffet menu:

BBQ Lunch Buffet with selection of two salads, grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, fresh island fish, barbecued chicken, brownies and cookies.

Ok, so I'll be eating salad and brownies. And possibly ice cream. So far I've packed three power bars and a handful of ziploc bags that will be filled with items from the breakfast buffet that morning.

How much face time should you expect?

2010-05-04T07:54:00.002-04:00

I got this topic last week when I did the call for stories, and I've been trying to figure out how best to address it. The short answer is: none outside the photo op. Your photo is the only guaranteed New Kids encounter while you're on the boat. It's just enough time to say hi to your favorite Kid and tell him you're having a good time.

Other than that, I guess it's half timing and the other half's luck. You likely will run into at least one NK over the course of the weekend -- in the elevator, near the pool, walking down the hall -- but that doesn't mean they'll be able to stop and chat. When Joe walked past several of us Saturday afternoon, he said he couldn't stop because he was on his way to an interview. Earlier that day, though, girls ran into him next to the pool and got photos.

The other factor is how bad you want it. Each night (and probably during the day), there was a small contingent of girls that followed the guys around like puppies. I wouldn't recommend that.

I saw everyone except Jordan at some point over the weekend, and I did not talk to anyone. If you are more forward than me, I'm sure you could have progressed to some form of conversation. I tended to act the same way passing a NK as I would passing our room porter: just said "hi" and kept walking.

Of course at the other end of the spectrum was the Katie we all saw in the DVD Easter Egg. Which makes the final answer "somewhere between saying hi in the hall and making out in the casino."

2009 cruisers: please post your face time stories!

Wondering what to wear to the photo op? Best of the 2009 photos

2010-05-01T08:05:00.005-04:00

Just a quickie since I get this question a lot. My standard answer is: whatever the heck you want. People wore anything and everything last year.

Don't believe me? Check out the 2009 album.

Some of my favorites from that slideshow (click to enlarge):

Attack of the couch cushions

Jordan blending in with half the men on the ship

Yes, you can wear your bikini for the photo op. Why not?

Everyone wants a lap

I don't even know what's happening here

Anyway . . . what are you planning to wear?

Cruise docs have arrived!

2010-04-30T07:56:00.008-04:00

Just posting this here since it seems not everyone received yesterday's email. (I didn't again and I have no idea why. I confirmed that I'm on the mailing list, and it's not in my spam folder. Very odd.)

CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES/ROSE TOURS INSTRUCTIONS

The booking number and link in the email let you complete all your travel documents and print them, your Fun Pass, and your luggage tags from Carnival's site. Make sure you bring all of them with you when you check in, with a luggage tag attached to every bag you have with you.

If you didn't receive the email but your roommate did, that's all you need since your booking numbers are the same. (Maybe not for roommate match; I'm not sure.) If neither of you received the email, you'll have to contact Rose Tours.

Biggest surprise: all assigned seating this year and the concert has been moved back to the theater. Wooo! Aside from having a New Kid assigned as my room porter, I don't know what better news I could have hoped for. Bye bye lines!

Assigned seating will be determined by the time you booked. To put this into perspective, booking numbers started at 1000. This is the number in the first email confirmation you got way back when, not in yesterday's email. Last year, I want to say we were 1300-something, and that put us on the first level in the round booths on the perimeter. Suites receive the first 5 rows and 6E rooms receive the first 6 rows.

(I've wondered a lot about assigned seating over the last several months, and I had not been expecting it to happen. If you think of the ship theater, it seems not at all conducive to assigning seats, and I'm sure the whole undertaking was a complete pita. So you'll hear me saying thanks for this a lot.)

Concerts in the theater means we will be split into groups after all. This has led us to speculate that the shows will be a bit shorter than the normal set list. Enough to make anyone else rethink attending the Fillmore show?

It seemed there was some initial trouble registering for the poker tournament, but I believe that has been fixed. Some others had trouble logging into the site. If you get a timeout error, you will have to wait an hour before trying again. As for me, I could not get Carnival to recognize me as a past guest, but whatever. Probably not a big deal.

Full itineraries to follow.

Printing out that luggage tag makes it seem real, huh? Two weeks from today!