Things do start to get fuzzy. We cleared security no problem. We went to our cabin. Although our luggage
hadn't arrived yet, we did spend some time in our room. The travel agency, King's Cruise Agency of Georgia,
had a bottle of champagne sent to the room. We enjoyed that before we ventured on deck to check out the
festivities.
As of yet, we hadn't set sail, but the party was already started. Well, we actually started our party at 9 am.
This was the first time we were to meet Andrei. He was the full-sized waiter that brought us our drinks when
we were hanging out on the lido deck by the pool. There's one word that will describe him: whoa! It was
somewhere around this time that we saw some of the Wild Bunch walking around scooping out the place.
They seemed to be enjoying themselves already. We definitely seemed to enjoy watching them walk around too.
We were just having so much fun hanging in the sun, especially knowing that it was snowing back in New
York. We were making friends and basically just having a good time. I decided it would be fun to see how
many drinks I could spill or knock over during the course of the day. I lost count, but it was quite a few.
Our first MG function, a cocktail party, was to begin at 6:30 PM and end just in time for dinner at 8:30 PM.
We needed to get showered and changed for the upcoming event. So back to the cabin we headed. Did I
mention that things were getting fuzzy? We made it to the lounge called Puttin on the Ritz promptly at 6:30 PM
in our casual attire for the evening. It was pretty interesting. There were lots of servers walking around with
hors d'oeuvres, and lots more drinks. For almost ten hours drinking nothing but Jim Beam and only a breakfast
buffet and some hors d'oeuvres to eat, which is definitely not a good combination.
Well it's just after 8:30 PM and Vicki wanted to eat. I needed to eat, but didn't really want to leave. I'm glad
Vicki was looking for someone to join her. Food was definitely a good idea. I knew at the time I made a great
impression on the waiters and the other person dinning at our table, but I wouldn't remember exactly why until
the next day. Vicki spent most of Saturday telling me what I did at dinner on Friday and the rest of the night.
Apparently I was very hungry and had two plates of prime rib. Since I didn't believe her, she had the waiter
confirm this at dinner on Saturday. As I was ordering dinner on Saturday, I made a comment as to why I
wouldn't have salad on Friday. Vicki told me I did, and that I ate it with my fingers nice manners Ally. Then
there was the matter of me spilling another drink, mine this time. Those boys were very quick to bring me
another. Gee, I must not have been that bad, since I never did get cut-off (lol Jen). As soon as we were done
with dinner, it was back to the bar.
I had a good time meeting lots of new people. There was one person I wasn't glad to meet. For some stupid
reason he tried picking me up, literally. Then dropped me. I landed right on my head. This was something
that I didn't remember Saturday. Everyone was very concerned about me and my head. My head did hurt, but
I know I didn't have a concussion. I know what that feels like. My biggest problem on Saturday was my
hangover and the lack of good nutrition on Friday.
Everyone went their separate ways by the end of Friday night, I believe. I was still at one of the bars hanging
with some guys, they weren't even part of our group at all. One of them kept playing the piano, and I kept
singing with him. Go figure. I spent the rest of the cruise trying to remember whom it was I was hanging out
with. Anyway, I crawl back to the cabin sometime around 5 am take my long hot shower without passing out
this time. I really needed to sleep in the bed. Somehow I managed climbing the ladder to my upper berth bunk,
and actually slept a few hours.
Everyone started moving around in the cabin pretty early on Saturday. I only slept a few hours. Naturally,
they all asked about my head. I hadn't remembered the fall. right away. Knowing from experience a good way
to deal with a hangover, is to go jogging. So, I got dressed and headed out to the top deck to pound my away
around their jogging track. It was a cold, miserable day in the Bahamas, as that tropical storm we had heard
about went blowing by us. Looking back now, it's amazing that I was able to jog that morning.
After we all showered and got dressed, we took advantage of being docked in the Bahamas. The rain was still
blowing around. It was just basically yucky, but still better than the snow we were getting in New York. I
tried walking around the island, but was starting to feel very sick. I headed back to the ship so that I could get
some sleep, but I realized that food would be a better idea first. Food was what I really needed. I was in really
bad shape at this point. My body was starting to shake. I actually had a hard time getting food, and then it
took me a really long time to eat the little that I managed to take. After putting some good food in my tummy, I
headed to the cabin to try to get some sleep.
I slept for a little while before I realized that I definitely lost something besides my cell phone on Friday. At one
point on Friday night, I had thought I lost my camera, but I didn't. Then there was the time I left my open bar
card on the bar, but some one returned it to me. As I was sleeping, I realized that I didn't have my VIP card
that I needed to go to Saturday evening's MG concert. I looked everywhere for it, but I could not find it. I
decided to go back to the bar where I spent most of the evening and ask if they possibly had it. They didn't,
but the bartender on duty told me where to go to find out. So, I stopped by the purser's desk. Unfortunately,
no one had returned it there either. The young woman assisting me was very helpful. She told me about a
table that our group had set up on one of the decks. Then she also tried calling the lady in charge of our group,
but her phone was busy. So I walked away from the purser's desk with a phone number to call and a table to
stop by.
I went to the table first. There was no one there, but there was a ship phone on the table. So, I dialed the
number I was giving. This time the number wasn't busy. It was at this point that I was informed that it would
cost me $100 to get a new VIP card. I really didn't care about the money. It would really stink if I was on that
boat and couldn't attend the concert. As I'm on the phone, some guy comes over to the table to start setting up
some stuff. I apologize for being in the way. As it turned out, he was the one who later give me my new VIP
card.
At some point in the afternoon I wind up at the bar on the Lido deck with Vicki, I believe. I was being good. I
didn't have my first drink at least until 4pm and I stuck with beer. I was done with Jim. Talk about needing
some hair off the dog that bit you though. I should have had a drink when I was done with my morning jog or
even when I tried eating lunch. After drinking this beer, I instantly started to feel better, finally. While we were
hanging out there, some guy sends over a shot of Jim Beam, like I really needed that. He came over and
mentioned how he was worried about me when I fell on my head last night. So, I did the shot of Beam. It was
good, and also helped me to feel better. We stayed here until it was time to head to the room to get ready for
the formal dinner with the concert not too long after.
Getting ready for dinner was fun. We all cleaned up pretty well. We definitely enjoyed our two hours of being
dressed formally. We all planned on changing before the concert. There was no way I was going to an MG
concert in formal wear. I was wearing my jeans. We stopped and had a portrait, or two, done of everyone
while we were dressed nicely. When we got to the dinning room, the headwaiter, Ivan, had someone bring me
a Jim Beam and Sprite immediately. I really tried staying away from Jim all day, but there was always someone
feeding him to me instead. Although, I had that drink on the table, I never did finish it nor did I spill it. I drank
mostly water that night at dinner.
After dinner we all went back to the room to quickly get into some comfortable clothes for the concert. Then
we immediately headed for the lounge where the show was to be held. We needed to make sure we had a good
seat. The first 200 people who booked the cruise got priority seating. Everyone else got what was left. We
were in the front of the line of what was left. There was no bad seat once inside. Although the pictures didn't
come out that great since my camera doesn't do well in low light. Vicki got some really good ones.
Eventually by the last two songs, I crawled my way to the front of the stage on the right side. Why didn't I do
that earlier?
It was a very good concert. Eddie and Troy always seem to have a lot of fun on stage while they are
performing and their band is the same way. Eddie, and especially Troy, seemed to be so much more relaxed
for this show than I have ever seen them, and I can actually say that since I've seen them a lot. The best parts
of the show was when Troy and Eddie did the Jim Beam toast (little did they know that they would be running
out of that quite soon on the ship) and the band solos. Even their tour manager, Robin, got in on the solos he
played the harmonica. My favorite show from this past year was the Clearfield County Fair in Pennsylvania
because most of the band members got a solo. I was so excited at the time that I really didn't remember
anything specific about it, but this time I knew it was coming and savored every last note.
The concert seemed to end so quickly. Once it was done, we headed to the bar. I had planned on getting to
bed early tonight since I suffered most of the day. I got to bed around 2 am. I really couldn't sleep, but it was
good just lying there. At one point someone came in the room, I thought it was Vicki. I found out the next
morning that it was indeed Vicki and she was looking for the Jim Beam bottle and what was left in it. The ship
had completely run out of Beam and Mr. Montgomery really wanted to have some more. She couldn't find the
bottle since I moved it to the closet so that the steward wouldn't see it when he came into clean the room.
After all, we weren't supposed to have it there in the room. Just as well she couldn't find it, Amy and I got to
enjoy it as we got ready for dinner on Sunday night.
hadn't arrived yet, we did spend some time in our room. The travel agency, King's Cruise Agency of Georgia,
had a bottle of champagne sent to the room. We enjoyed that before we ventured on deck to check out the
festivities.
As of yet, we hadn't set sail, but the party was already started. Well, we actually started our party at 9 am.
This was the first time we were to meet Andrei. He was the full-sized waiter that brought us our drinks when
we were hanging out on the lido deck by the pool. There's one word that will describe him: whoa! It was
somewhere around this time that we saw some of the Wild Bunch walking around scooping out the place.
They seemed to be enjoying themselves already. We definitely seemed to enjoy watching them walk around too.
We were just having so much fun hanging in the sun, especially knowing that it was snowing back in New
York. We were making friends and basically just having a good time. I decided it would be fun to see how
many drinks I could spill or knock over during the course of the day. I lost count, but it was quite a few.
Our first MG function, a cocktail party, was to begin at 6:30 PM and end just in time for dinner at 8:30 PM.
We needed to get showered and changed for the upcoming event. So back to the cabin we headed. Did I
mention that things were getting fuzzy? We made it to the lounge called Puttin on the Ritz promptly at 6:30 PM
in our casual attire for the evening. It was pretty interesting. There were lots of servers walking around with
hors d'oeuvres, and lots more drinks. For almost ten hours drinking nothing but Jim Beam and only a breakfast
buffet and some hors d'oeuvres to eat, which is definitely not a good combination.
Well it's just after 8:30 PM and Vicki wanted to eat. I needed to eat, but didn't really want to leave. I'm glad
Vicki was looking for someone to join her. Food was definitely a good idea. I knew at the time I made a great
impression on the waiters and the other person dinning at our table, but I wouldn't remember exactly why until
the next day. Vicki spent most of Saturday telling me what I did at dinner on Friday and the rest of the night.
Apparently I was very hungry and had two plates of prime rib. Since I didn't believe her, she had the waiter
confirm this at dinner on Saturday. As I was ordering dinner on Saturday, I made a comment as to why I
wouldn't have salad on Friday. Vicki told me I did, and that I ate it with my fingers nice manners Ally. Then
there was the matter of me spilling another drink, mine this time. Those boys were very quick to bring me
another. Gee, I must not have been that bad, since I never did get cut-off (lol Jen). As soon as we were done
with dinner, it was back to the bar.
I had a good time meeting lots of new people. There was one person I wasn't glad to meet. For some stupid
reason he tried picking me up, literally. Then dropped me. I landed right on my head. This was something
that I didn't remember Saturday. Everyone was very concerned about me and my head. My head did hurt, but
I know I didn't have a concussion. I know what that feels like. My biggest problem on Saturday was my
hangover and the lack of good nutrition on Friday.
Everyone went their separate ways by the end of Friday night, I believe. I was still at one of the bars hanging
with some guys, they weren't even part of our group at all. One of them kept playing the piano, and I kept
singing with him. Go figure. I spent the rest of the cruise trying to remember whom it was I was hanging out
with. Anyway, I crawl back to the cabin sometime around 5 am take my long hot shower without passing out
this time. I really needed to sleep in the bed. Somehow I managed climbing the ladder to my upper berth bunk,
and actually slept a few hours.
Everyone started moving around in the cabin pretty early on Saturday. I only slept a few hours. Naturally,
they all asked about my head. I hadn't remembered the fall. right away. Knowing from experience a good way
to deal with a hangover, is to go jogging. So, I got dressed and headed out to the top deck to pound my away
around their jogging track. It was a cold, miserable day in the Bahamas, as that tropical storm we had heard
about went blowing by us. Looking back now, it's amazing that I was able to jog that morning.
After we all showered and got dressed, we took advantage of being docked in the Bahamas. The rain was still
blowing around. It was just basically yucky, but still better than the snow we were getting in New York. I
tried walking around the island, but was starting to feel very sick. I headed back to the ship so that I could get
some sleep, but I realized that food would be a better idea first. Food was what I really needed. I was in really
bad shape at this point. My body was starting to shake. I actually had a hard time getting food, and then it
took me a really long time to eat the little that I managed to take. After putting some good food in my tummy, I
headed to the cabin to try to get some sleep.
I slept for a little while before I realized that I definitely lost something besides my cell phone on Friday. At one
point on Friday night, I had thought I lost my camera, but I didn't. Then there was the time I left my open bar
card on the bar, but some one returned it to me. As I was sleeping, I realized that I didn't have my VIP card
that I needed to go to Saturday evening's MG concert. I looked everywhere for it, but I could not find it. I
decided to go back to the bar where I spent most of the evening and ask if they possibly had it. They didn't,
but the bartender on duty told me where to go to find out. So, I stopped by the purser's desk. Unfortunately,
no one had returned it there either. The young woman assisting me was very helpful. She told me about a
table that our group had set up on one of the decks. Then she also tried calling the lady in charge of our group,
but her phone was busy. So I walked away from the purser's desk with a phone number to call and a table to
stop by.
I went to the table first. There was no one there, but there was a ship phone on the table. So, I dialed the
number I was giving. This time the number wasn't busy. It was at this point that I was informed that it would
cost me $100 to get a new VIP card. I really didn't care about the money. It would really stink if I was on that
boat and couldn't attend the concert. As I'm on the phone, some guy comes over to the table to start setting up
some stuff. I apologize for being in the way. As it turned out, he was the one who later give me my new VIP
card.
At some point in the afternoon I wind up at the bar on the Lido deck with Vicki, I believe. I was being good. I
didn't have my first drink at least until 4pm and I stuck with beer. I was done with Jim. Talk about needing
some hair off the dog that bit you though. I should have had a drink when I was done with my morning jog or
even when I tried eating lunch. After drinking this beer, I instantly started to feel better, finally. While we were
hanging out there, some guy sends over a shot of Jim Beam, like I really needed that. He came over and
mentioned how he was worried about me when I fell on my head last night. So, I did the shot of Beam. It was
good, and also helped me to feel better. We stayed here until it was time to head to the room to get ready for
the formal dinner with the concert not too long after.
Getting ready for dinner was fun. We all cleaned up pretty well. We definitely enjoyed our two hours of being
dressed formally. We all planned on changing before the concert. There was no way I was going to an MG
concert in formal wear. I was wearing my jeans. We stopped and had a portrait, or two, done of everyone
while we were dressed nicely. When we got to the dinning room, the headwaiter, Ivan, had someone bring me
a Jim Beam and Sprite immediately. I really tried staying away from Jim all day, but there was always someone
feeding him to me instead. Although, I had that drink on the table, I never did finish it nor did I spill it. I drank
mostly water that night at dinner.
After dinner we all went back to the room to quickly get into some comfortable clothes for the concert. Then
we immediately headed for the lounge where the show was to be held. We needed to make sure we had a good
seat. The first 200 people who booked the cruise got priority seating. Everyone else got what was left. We
were in the front of the line of what was left. There was no bad seat once inside. Although the pictures didn't
come out that great since my camera doesn't do well in low light. Vicki got some really good ones.
Eventually by the last two songs, I crawled my way to the front of the stage on the right side. Why didn't I do
that earlier?
It was a very good concert. Eddie and Troy always seem to have a lot of fun on stage while they are
performing and their band is the same way. Eddie, and especially Troy, seemed to be so much more relaxed
for this show than I have ever seen them, and I can actually say that since I've seen them a lot. The best parts
of the show was when Troy and Eddie did the Jim Beam toast (little did they know that they would be running
out of that quite soon on the ship) and the band solos. Even their tour manager, Robin, got in on the solos he
played the harmonica. My favorite show from this past year was the Clearfield County Fair in Pennsylvania
because most of the band members got a solo. I was so excited at the time that I really didn't remember
anything specific about it, but this time I knew it was coming and savored every last note.
The concert seemed to end so quickly. Once it was done, we headed to the bar. I had planned on getting to
bed early tonight since I suffered most of the day. I got to bed around 2 am. I really couldn't sleep, but it was
good just lying there. At one point someone came in the room, I thought it was Vicki. I found out the next
morning that it was indeed Vicki and she was looking for the Jim Beam bottle and what was left in it. The ship
had completely run out of Beam and Mr. Montgomery really wanted to have some more. She couldn't find the
bottle since I moved it to the closet so that the steward wouldn't see it when he came into clean the room.
After all, we weren't supposed to have it there in the room. Just as well she couldn't find it, Amy and I got to
enjoy it as we got ready for dinner on Sunday night.
