**BSB Cruise 2011 - Day 3 - Day At Sea**
If you've missed my previous cruise reviews, check them out:
I know this post is a very long time coming since it has been months (okay two months shy of a year) since we got off of the Carnival Imagination. Sometimes life just happens. This is the last of my BSB Cruise 2011 reviews so I hope you have enjoyed my reviews as much as I enjoyed being on the cruise.
 |
| Ashley and Cortney's Winning Door |
The last day of the cruise began with the phone ringing in our cabin. All I could think about was the fact that it had been another late night the night before and I still had another 30 minutes until the alarm went off. I had no idea who was calling and I thought maybe the clock on my iPod was off and we had overslept and were going to miss the photo. I answered the phone and heard Ashley's excited voice on the other end. She was calling to tell us that her sister and she had won the door decorating contest! Their prize was front row seats to the group A concert that evening...the lucky ducks were going to get to see the concert again! Their door was great and they totally deserved the win.
After Ashley's phone call, all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed and sleep for days. However, we had a full day of photo shoots, karaoke, enjoying the sea, and the pajama deck party. I decided to drink down a 5 hour energy shot to see if that could get me going. Between that and knowing I would be meeting BSB again in a few short hours, my energy was back and I hoped I could make it through another long day and night. We got dressed for our photo and decided to explore some more door decorations. There were some very creative doors and we loved seeing all of them. There were not nearly as many as last year. My guess is that it had something to do with the fact that no official door decorating contest was announced. After we killed some time, we decided it was time to go get in line for our photo with the Backstreet Boys.
 |
| Bottom Row: Jen, Ashley Middle Row: Cory, Chrissy, Laura Top Row: Anne Marie, Cortney |
Fans were supposed to be in groups of 8 for the photo (2 girls for each boy). We had seven and hoped that there would not be an individual to be put into our group (although I would not be the one to be alone with the Backstreet Boy of my choice). However, there was an individual person who needed a group and it just happened that she wanted AJ, who happened to be the Boy with only one person in our group. This fan seemed nice enough and was very grateful we let her into our group. We took some nice photos while waiting to meet the Boys and tried to get over the nervous feelings we were all feeling. Yes, I have gotten several photos with the Boys but still get star struck every time I meet them.
We spent the biggest marjority of the time in line figuring out what kind of pose we wanted to do. It was decided that we would each do "Huggie Pose" and have everyone hugging whichever Boy they were paired with. We had it all planned out but as we got closer and closer, some girls decided to get a bit nervous, especially after the security guard told us "no hugs." They didn't want to get in trouble if we did huggie pose. The rest of us knew that it was going to be okay, it was more that we couldn't give them hugs before or after the photo. As we got closer, we got into the order we needed to make the photo go smoother and faster...we didn't want to be scrambling when it was actually time for the photo. Howie was up first and I told him how much I loved his album and he thanked me for the compliment. Then I asked Nick if he would be coming to Chicago for his tour (he had released some of his tour dates but had announced that there would be more dates added). He told me "probably." That made me happy. By that time we were all next to the person we were going to be standing next to in the photo so we all stayed where we were as we knew we could continue with the rest of the guys as we left the photo. Brian squated down in the front of the group and Cortney and I kneeled down with him and then threw our arms around him. As we did, he giggled and stated, "Oh their holding me." It wasn't until I got the photo that i realized that he had his hand wrapped around mine.
So it appears that two of the girls chickened out on "huggie pose," I guess that is their loss! After the photo we continues on with the rest of our greetings. Brian shook my hand and said, "It's good to see you again Kentucky Girl." I couldn't believe it! He had remembered me three days later, in a different setting, and a different outfit. I simply placed my hands over my heard and exclaimed, "Oh, you remembered?" He smirked and nodded his head as I moved on to shake the hand of the final Backstreet Boy, AJ. I also told AJ that I loved his album. Even with all of the amazing things that happened on that cruise, I think this was my most memorable moment because it was a special personal moment. It made me truly believe that Brian was actually starting to remember me.
After the photo session we knew we had time to kill before karaoke began. We did what we always seemed to do when we had time to kill...we ate. We also took the time to grab some photos around the ship.
 |
After the photo session we knew we had time to kill before karaoke began. We did what we always seemed to do when we had time to kill...we ate. We also took the time to grab some photos around the ship.
As we waited on the Lido Deck for Karaoke to start, we noticed the skies getting darker. Karaoke was a little different during this cruise than the previous. Before the cruise, Rose Tours sent out an e-mail with a sign up for karaoke. Those who could potentially sing, were picked and placed into the VIP area. The guys then had the names of the people and songs in their pockets that they chose from so not everyone who was originally sent an e-mail was chosen. But first, karaoke started with something very special. A fan had tweeted the guys sometime before the cruise explaining that she would be going through chemotherapy and wanted them to shave her head for her. So that is exactly what happened. I thought it was a very cool thing for the guys to do and an experience for the fan to maybe associate something good when she was going through chemo.
BSB Hair Cut - Part I
BSB Hair Cut - Part II
I think that was the shining moment of karaoke on this cruise. I have to say that, overall, I was not impressed with the event for a number of reasons. First, the location of the event was not ideal. The bars on the deck made it difficult to see at times. Second, the guys weren't as into it on this cruise as they were the last. Granted they would sing every now and then with the girls, they didn't do all of the dancing that they did the previous year. They did bring back the "Baby Got Back" fan but if you were on the first cruise, it just wasn't as good because you knew it was coming. It wasn't as spontaneous and surprising as on the first cruise. Karaoke was also cut short when it started to rain. I think that shaving the girls head took them a little longer than they had expected, which also cut into the actual singing. While I think this was my least favorite of the events, it still had its funny and good moments.
My favorite featured none other than my favorite Backstreet Boy, Brian Littrell, singing a little country music....and divulging a little information about fellow group member, AJ, regarding a situation with an ex-girlfriend. (I had to take my video of this song off of YouTube because of copyright issues but I'm trying to find a way to get it on here for all of you.)
The Backstreet Boys decided to do a song with just them. Again, not as good as "Bust A Move" from the 2010 cruise, but its still the Backstreet Boys singing. They could sing the alphabet and I'd love it. Now, if only they truly understood how sexy they really were.
BSB Sing "I'm Too Sexy"
After karaoke, my roommates and I decided we needed to grab a quick snack since we still had some time before dinner so we made our way to the sushi bar. There we chatted away about anything and everything we could think of. We also had a Lauren and Nick sighting in the casino as we sat there. Finally, we made our way to dinner....where we totally took advantage of paying for the food with our cruise fees. Several other of my dinner mates and I decided that we wanted two appetizers and two main courses....as well as dessert. And it was all delicious. Dinner just wasn't the same without Ashley and Cortney since they were at the concert because of their door decoration win. Dinner was also very hard because we knew at that moment, the Backstreet Boys were performing a concert and we weren't there to see it. I think we were also getting to the point that we knew the cruise would be ending soon...it was our last night together and with the Backstreet Boys. After dinner, we all went back to our rooms to change for pajama night and attempt to pack so we wouldn't have to do it later, when all of a sudden we heard an announcement that the deck party location would be changed to the Atrium due to the weather. Laura and I bolted out of the room and joined the hundreds of girls running towards the atrium to get a good spot. Apparently, they had made this same announcement at the end of the concert because the atrium was already full of girls. Despite the change, this ended up being the best night on the ship!
First of all, my group had shirts made for PDA Pajama Jam night that said, "I dream of BSB," as well as pants that had "BSB Cruise 2011" down the pant leg. While I purchased these items, I went a different approach with my pajamas...the University of Kentucky approach. This included a Kentucky t-shirt over a long sleeve shirt with UK repeated on the sleeves, UK pajama pants, my UK shoes, and my UK earrings. I also ran into what appeared to be a fellow Wildcat fan (sometimes I don't know if fans wear it because they are truly a fan or because Brian is a fan). The only problem with my ensemble was that it was HOT during the "deck" party and the shirt layers were not helping. I know some of the girls actually went and changed from their pants into their shorts at one point because it was so hot.
As I mentioned earlier, this was, by far, the BEST night of the whole cruise. I was truly grateful at this time that this cruise happened to be a full charter so that they could move the deck party into the atrium. This avoided the disaster that was Black and Blue night on the first cruise. I don't know if this particular night would have been the same if we had been out on the deck so I was perfectly happy with the way things happened to play out. So why was this evening so good? Three little words for you....TRUTH OR DARE. Words cannot really explain this evening in its entirety so I'm just going to have to show you.
Brian crowd surfs and it wasn't even a Dare
Nick shares his marshmallows with some fans
Brian's Dare - The Worm
Howie's Dare - Love the Pillow
AJ's Dare - Tickle Nightmare
Nick's Dare - Massage by Fans
Fan Dare - Booty Dance with Nick and AJ
Fan Dare - Beg to be spanked by Brian and Howie
There....I hope those videos explained to you why exactly this was the best night of the cruise. Because of the lighting, it was difficult to get good photos at times but here are some of my favorites from the evening. I think the two photos with alcohol pretty much sum up that night on the cruise for Nick and Howie...
We left the party sometime after 4am but we weren't quite convinced to go back to the cabin to sleep just yet even though we were tired, our legs and feet hurt, we were starting to get some cold like symptoms, and we really just wanted to do this right where we were...
We thought we would grab one last bite to eat in the 24 hour pizzeria (most brilliant idea by the way) before we went back to our cabin to call it our last night. As we ate, we kept hearing cheering coming from the balcony just behind the pizzeria. We thought that it couldn't really have anything to do with the Backstreet Boys at this hour of the night. We were pretty sure that all of them had gone to bed. However, it piqued our interest. As we stepped onto the balcony there was a large swarm of girls surrounding Nick and AJ. They were having a nice intimate Q&A session...no photos, no videos allowed. It was very hard to hear them at times because they were just talking and there were some very rude fans behind us who wouldn't stop talking and laughing. Because of the nature of this event, I feel like it is my duty to keep what was said private. There may be others that have discussed what was talked about but I don't feel like its right for me to divulge what was discussed. The fact that this happened is one of my top cruise moments because of its intimacy and the fact that we have stumbled upon it by chance.
I honestly don't know what time we finally went to bed that night but I do know that we had to get up early the next morning to debark the ship. It would be the final moments on the Carnival Imagination with the Backstreet Boys and my friends.
I honestly don't know what time we finally went to bed that night but I do know that we had to get up early the next morning to debark the ship. It would be the final moments on the Carnival Imagination with the Backstreet Boys and my friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment