NKOTB Cruise Day 1

Because I'm cheap and didn't want to get a hotel in Miami before the cruise and was instructed by the travel agency in charge of the cruise that all flights needed to arrive in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale before 1 p.m. on Friday, May 15th, I found this ridiculous red eye flight that left Salt Lake City at 12:50 a.m. Friday. Poor Dave had to stay up late to take me to the airport and then only had a few hours of sleep before he had to be at work the next morning. But, his few hours of sleep were much better than my few minutes of sleep! I arrived in Atlanta around 6 a.m. and found myself an airport restaurant that served some good southern cooking. I had a very non-Weight Watchers breakfast, but enjoyed every minute of it. I had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta so I found a quiet spot and read a book. I really wish I could sleep in airports, but I'm too paranoid that someone will walk off with my stuff so I just can't relax. I then arrived in Miami at 11:30 a.m. There were some storms in the area so our landing was one of the bumpiest landings I've ever experienced, pretty scary. My roommate (Amy), who I'd only met over the internet, was supposed to arrive in Miami at the same time. We had arranged to split the cost of a shuttle from the airport to the Port of Miami. Her flight was delayed because of the storms, but she finally arrived and we made our way to the shuttle pickup location. The Miami airport is a pretty confusing airport! It is under construction too so that did not help! We finally found the shuttle and were off to the boat.

Neither one of us had any problems boarding the ship. We were a little worried because our birth certificates have our maiden names on them and our driver's licenses have our married names, but we were prepared and both had brought our marriage certificates too even though we didn't need them. Once on the ship we decided to head straight for our room. Before the cruise we had been told that there would be a door decorating contest so Amy and I had planned out how we were going to decorate it and spent our first few hours on the boat working on our door. I think it turned out great, but unfortunately we didn't win the contest. The winner not only decorated the door, but also the surrounding walls which we thought was sort of cheating! We were following the rules! We had a mandatory evacuation drill, then freshened up and headed to the Lido Deck for the Sail Away Party.

Sail Away Party:
When we arrived on the Lido Deck we quickly realized people had been sitting out there for several hours holding their "perfect" spot. We found a spot on the second level that overlooked the Lido Deck and headed up there. At first there was an area that was blocked off. It appeared as if that would be where NKOTB made their appearance. We were excited because we would have great views if that were the case. Unfortunately, that was NOT the case and as soon as the guys arrived on the stage they let people fill in that spot. I had to use the zoom on my camera to get good pics. It was a blast though. On my cruise with Dave back in 2002 I remember the cruise staff making a big deal about saying good-bye to Ft. Lauderdale. On this cruise not a word was really mentioned about leaving Miami. While waiting on the guys I looked up and realized we were leaving and got one picture of Miami as we sailed away. Unfortunately the rescue boats blocked most of the views on that specific deck. NKOTB didn't really do any sort of a performance at the Sail Away Party. The DJ played some of their new songs while they sang over the top of them and did some "working of the crowd. "I think one of the main reasons I still love these guys to this day is because they go above and beyond what most bands will do to make their fans happy. During this party each one of the guys walked around and visited with girls that were close to the stage. They also were taking cameras and taking pictures of themselves and then handing them back to the owner. Many many autographs were done as well. They seem very down to earth and very appreciative of us crazy girls!

Joe trying to get a better view

Donnie taking video of the event

Jordan soaking it all in

Even shy Jon did some "working of the crowd"

Danny (he was my favorite when I was a kid)

Jordan giving a fan some love

Joe giving a fan some love

After the Sail Away Party started to wind down we headed to our assigned dining room for dinner. We both were starving because neither of us had eaten since early that morning. As most of you know, I'm a pretty picky eater, but I had a steak that was to die for! I also indulged and had cheesecake for dessert. Weight Watchers was thrown out the window this weekend for sure! After dinner we went back to our room to change and get ready for the Pajama Party. We had several hours to kill before our next scheduled event so we decided to walk around the ship to familiarize ourselves with the layout more. When we walked into the main area of the ship we saw this long line starting to form. We asked the girls at the back of the line what they were lining up for and they said it was for the NKOTB Feud game that wasn't scheduled for another two hours or so. We decided to join the end of the line and wait as well so that we could get decent seats. This was one MAJOR downfall of the entire weekend, we spent so many hours standing in line for decent seats! The plus side was that we met some neat people while hangin' out in line. On this particular night we met Stacy and Melissa who were so much fun!

NKOTB Feud:

A couple of weeks before the cruise the NKOTB staff sent out an email with a list of about 40 questions. They were questions such as "What does Donnie do that the other members of NKOTB cannot do, what is something Jon uses in the morning, how many hats does Joe own, etc.?" I filled out this questionnaire and then submitted it. They then used our responses to play Family Feud New Kids style. I laughed really hard that night! They randomly picked 10 girls out of the audience and formed two teams. These teams competed against each other and then the winning team got to play NKOTB themselves. Donnie was getting frustrated at one point because I guess he didn't understand the concept of Family Feud. He kept thinking the answers on the board should be the correct answers when in reality they were just the answers that we came up with on the questionnaire. The guys were totally helping one team with their answers and it made the other team jealous, but in the end the team with their help ended up losing. The funniest moment(s) of the evening was when the sound guy would randomly play the Family Feud theme song. Joe would run out to the front of the stage and start singing "Family Feud." He did this absolutely every time that theme music came on. It was pretty funny. The question about what can Donnie do that they others can't got a good reaction. The wining team said "Act" as their first guess and Joe got pretty upset. He has been on Broadway and took offense to that. He was a good sport though and walked to the front of the stage and said, "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" Very cute! They had all but one answer left on a question about what do all five members of NKOTB have in common and were struggling to come up with an answer. Finally the guys got in a huddle and then walked to the front of the stage. They said that for this answer they had to demonstrate it. Right at the exact same moment all 5 of them grabbed themselves and said, "Grown Man." These guys are a little bit perverted if you couldn't tell. They actually have a song titled "Grown Man" as well and you can imagine what it is about. It ended up being the wrong answer. Instead the answer was big families and Jordan piped up and said that "Grown Man" was another way of saying big families. In the end the girls who played them won.

Joe dancing

"Family Feud"

Pajama Party:

After NKOTB Feud was over we immediately headed up to the Lido Deck for the PJ Party with NKOTB. Amy wanted to be closer to the stage this time so we pushed our way through the crowd that was already formed around the stage. We only made it about halfway through the crowd, but we definitely were closer than during the Sail Away Party. During NKOTB Feud my camera died so I had to depend on Amy to take pictures the rest of the evening. She got a few of Joe at the PJ Party. He is her favorite New Kid. We danced the night away and finally retired around 3 or 4 a.m. What a day!!! When we returned to our room this little guy was there to greet us. We had a new friend every night, but for some reason we only got a picture of this first one.