BSB Cruise 2011!
I’m back from an amazing five-day adventure on the 2011 BSB Cruise!!! I’m completely exhausted, having slept at most 22 hours the last five nights (that comes out to an average of 4 hours a night), but I have to get this review out before I can even think about going to bed and getting up for work in the morning, so here goes!
First off, I think one of the coolest parts of the whole cruise experience was meeting online friends, fellow fanfic writers, and Twitter peeps I’ve been talking to for years, but never met before, especially my ZDR Rose! Long overdue! It was fun to be able to hang out in person in Miami and on a boat for three days!
So I flew into Miami on Thursday and met up with Rose, and we went out to dinner with a big group of girls and then went to the Boys’ pre-cruise event at Cameo. The pre-cruise party was okay. It was basically like an after party, only none of the guys sang, so I guess really not even that good LOL. I would have preferred a concert like last year, but oh well. It was nice to see the guys, and there were some fun moments, like when AJ took off his shirt and danced on the stripper pole in the middle of the club (totally sober, I should add) or when Howie was out in the middle of a group of fans, dancing to “This is How We Do It.” Howie do it!!!
The cruise itself was WAY better than the pre-cruise party. Spending three days on that ship reminded me of living in a dorm at college - you’re surrounded by friends and drunk people, and you have a lot of fun! But of course, add water and Backstreet Boys, and it becomes WAY more epic than anything I experienced in college.
On Day 1, Friday, we boarded the ship, had a sail away party, and watched “In It to Win It,” which was like “Minute to Win It” and was pretty hilarious. Then it was Sphynkter 80s Night!!! Of all the themes for the deck parties, this was the one I was most excited about. The guys did dress up like Sphynkter, some better than others. Nick didn’t look nearly as good as he did in the video, whereas Howie looked just like how he does in the video, and Brian was smokin’ hot in his spandex pants and guyliner. Pretty sure AJ was wearing the same shirt he wore in the wet version of the Drowning video, the black fishnet-type shirt. They sang “Just Want You to Know,” and that was pretty freaking epic. Also, they sold Sphynkter shirts with the merchandise, which pretty much made my life complete!!!
Rose and I went as 80s zombies - I was Michael Jackson, in a full Thriller costume, wig, and zombie makeup, and she was my back-up zombie… because, of course, she is just my follower anyway. I had a t-shirt with a built-in speaker that plays music, and I had it loaded up with three different versions of Thriller, some other MJ songs, BSB songs, and a bunch of other songs Rose and I laugh at. We had fun strutting around the halls with our MJ music playing, and the reactions we got from other people were priceless. I had random people asking to take pictures with me all night! If you were one of them, send me pics, because I don't have any, and I think Rose only has one. We kind of failed at taking pics of ourselves!
We really wanted to get a picture with Howie, since he’s the biggest MJ fan, and we almost did a couple of times because he stayed out partying on the deck until like 6 a.m., but every time we got close, we got trampled by crazy Godzilla fans or Howie stopped taking pictures. Fail!
What made my night, though, was that we happened to go in just as Brian and Leighanne were leaving the deck party, and even though we took the opposite staircase as them, we kept running into them on the landings, and Brian noticed me in my Thriller outfit and pointed at me and smiled and was like, “It’s Michael Jackson!” and then was singing Thriller all down the stairs. Love!!!
On Day 2, Saturday, we had the beach party in the Bahamas, and that was my favorite part of the whole trip. The beach itself wasn’t that great, but it was a beautiful warm day, and all FIVE Backstreet Boys were there!!! I’ve never been a Kevin girl, but having never met him or even seen him up close in person before, I sure was that day!!! I took TONS of pictures of him! He is as handsome as ever, and I loved watching him with the guys; he seemed to really be enjoying himself!
We had a great view of the guys on stage, and I got some good pictures and video of them singing “Safest Place to Hide” a capella. They pulled fans up onstage to play musical chairs, Twister, limbo, and do a wet t-shirt contest (which was Nick’s idea). It was fun to watch, and by the end, we had 3 out of 5 Backstreet Boys shirtless. Of course, Brian did not take his top off, and neither did Kevin, but seeing Nick shirtless in person was enough for me. He looks SO good!!! His long hair is not nearly as bad in person as it looks in pictures, either, though Kevin definitely pulls off the long hair better!
After the fan games were done, Nick and AJ went to ride jetskis, and most of the mob followed them (followed Nick, I should say), so we went to the volleyball court and got a front row view of Brian, Kevin, and Howie playing beach volleyball, which was amazing! I think I can say I’ve “met” Kevin now because he talked to me. He cut his hand or something falling in the sand, and it was bleeding, so he asked for a tissue, and I was right there and was like, “I’ve got one!” Someone else gave him one before I could rummage through my bag and find one, but he did acknowledge me for the effort, so good enough! Wish I could have gotten a pic with him, but Rose and I discovered we are just not as rude and pushy as some fans. I didn’t want to be an annoying fan and scream the guys’ names and beg them for pictures when they were having fun with their friends, so I didn’t get any individual pics with any of them, even though we ran into Howie and Brian a lot on the boat.
Day 2 was also prom night for the deck party, which sounded better in theory than it turned out to be in reality. It was really cold and windy, so we ended up wearing hoodies over our dresses, and there was no point in trying to do our hair nice because it just got crazy blowing around in the wind anyway. Our group spent the evening sitting down in this great spot on the upper deck where we could look right down onto the stage where the guys were to crown their “prom queens” and slow dance. So much for the money I spent on a dress and accessories, but oh well, it was still fun.
Kevin came to the prom too, so that was awesome, and he was dressed in a black tux like James Bond and looked like Agent K, which was awesome, too. The guys sang “I Still” together, which was amazing, although I couldn’t record it because my camera battery died - I know plenty of people got it, though!
Nick and AJ were dressed up like Dumb & Dumber in the bright orange (Nick) and powder blue (AJ) tuxes. Hilarious! Howie was dressed like Tony Montana from Scarface, and Brian was wearing a bright turquoise tux that matched Leighanne’s turquoise dress. They were adorable in their typical little matchy-matchy way.
The guys each crowned a prom queen and slow danced with them, and that was sweet, but other than that and Kevin’s appearance, prom night was kind of lame, compared to the other deck parties and what I’ve heard about last year’s.
On Day 3, Sunday, we took our group photo with the guys, which was ridiculously rushed, even more so than soundcheck photos. There were just too many people, because we had to do them in groups of 8. I shook hands with Howie and Brian and had my arm around AJ for the picture, but I didn’t even get to talk to Nick. I wasn’t too bummed because I’ve done VIP enough times, but I think if it was my first time meeting them, I would have been disappointed.
Sunday afternoon, we watched karaoke, which was okay. The guys were pretty funny, at least. They did “I’m Too Sexy” by themselves, and the rest of the time, they were just singing along with the fans who got picked. It started raining during karaoke, and we got drenched, and they ended up cutting it shorter than they probably would have otherwise, but that was fine with me because I was wet and freezing cold by the time they stopped.
Our concert was that night, and along with the beach party, it was my favorite part of the cruise. Amazing show!! It was more like the Up Close & Personal Tour, where it was more laidback and intimate than what you get in a usual concert, and it was awesome to hear songs I’ve either never heard them sing live before or haven’t heard in a long time, like If You Want it to Be Good Girl and Don’t Want You Back. I have plenty of video from the concert!
The guys each did a solo, and they were all amazing! AJ did “London,” which I love, and Howie did “Lie to Me,” which I also love, but the highlights were definitely Nick and Brian. Nick sang “Burning Up,” which made my year, and he came into our aisle in the middle of it, which was awesome! It was so hot. But the absolute best part of the whole show was Brian’s solo. He sang “Mary Did You Know,” which I’ve seen YouTube videos of him performing a few years ago that were amazing, so my expectations were high, but he totally exceeded them. It was INCREDIBLE. He moved me so much that I had tears in my eyes, which I think is actually a first in all my BSB concerts, and not only that, but he got all choked up in the middle too. It was one of the coolest BSB concert moments I’ve ever experienced.
The deck party that night was moved inside because of the rain, which made it even better because it was the Pajama Jam, and we were all in pajamas and slippers, so it was nice to be warm and dry inside. This was definitely the best of the three! Nick showed up in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pajamas, complete with hood, mask, slippers, and shell backpack - he was adorable!! Brian had on Elmo jammies, Howie was dressed like Hugh Hefner in old man PJs and a red velvet robe, and AJ had on stripped pajamas with big feet slippers.
The guys were all crazy! Brian went crowd-surfing, and they all did a dare for Truth or Dare. Brian had to do the worm around the bar and take a shot at the end, Howie had to make out/have sex with a pillow on the bar (and take a shot at the end), AJ had to lie on the bar and let fans tickle him for thirty seconds (no shot at the end - AJ stayed sober at all the deck parties this time), and Nick had to lie facedown on the bar and let the fans give him a butt massage. Scary stuff, but credit to the fans up front - no one got too crazy with it!
Howie is definitely the biggest party animal of the four, which is hilarious because it’s not what you’d expect. He drank the most of all of them, although Nick was pretty drunk on the last night, too. (Not so much that we saw on the first two nights, though he didn’t stay out as late.) Brian drank a little, not a lot, but he doesn’t need alcohol to be crazy. He was constantly climbing on stuff, over stuff, and jumping off stuff and freaking out the bodyguards! We kept waiting for him to break a bone falling off of something, but he’s such an agile little monkey, he never got hurt! AJ didn’t stay out very late, but stayed sober, so good for him!
Most of the guys didn’t bring their families along this time. Lauren was there, but the only time I really saw her was at the beach party. She stayed behind the scenes most of the time. Leighanne, of course, was there and visible the whole time, but no Baylee, and AJ and Howie didn’t have Rochelle/Leigh and James with them.
They hinted HEAVILY on Saturday that Kevin’s going to rejoin the group, although they didn’t officially announce it. We thought they were going to at prom night, but they didn’t. That was disappointing, but I still think it’s going to happen. If you’d asked me last week, I would have said the fans who claim Kevin’s going to come back are just wishful thinking, but they dropped SO many hints. They (and Jen) kept saying things like, “Doesn’t this look good, all five Backstreet Boys together? Would you like to see more of this?” Nick even used the word “foreshadowing” at one point during the beach party. And they sang “I Still.” “I still need you… I still care about you…” !!! And like I said, Kevin looked like he was having a blast, and there was no awkwardness with the way he interacted with the other guys. The dynamic was the same, just right! Kevin interacted a lot with the fans, too; he stayed on stage and signed a bunch of autographs and took pics with some fans for a long time after the other guys got off the stage. It really seemed like he was enjoying being back in the spotlight and would want to come back! So fingers crossed for an announcement someday soon, when the time is right for some publicity…
They also made it sound like the next cruise is going to be in the summer, which would be ideal for me, and they said they’ll be back in the studio recording their next album in January or February… hopefully with Kevin???
I know there are plenty of details I forgot to mention here, but hopefully I got the highlights. All in all, it was an amazing four days in Backstreet paradise!!!
Here are my pictures: http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q289/joolligan/BSB%20Cruise%202011/
and my videos are being uploaded to my YouTube account as I type this: http://www.youtube.com/rokofages75
First off, I think one of the coolest parts of the whole cruise experience was meeting online friends, fellow fanfic writers, and Twitter peeps I’ve been talking to for years, but never met before, especially my ZDR Rose! Long overdue! It was fun to be able to hang out in person in Miami and on a boat for three days!
So I flew into Miami on Thursday and met up with Rose, and we went out to dinner with a big group of girls and then went to the Boys’ pre-cruise event at Cameo. The pre-cruise party was okay. It was basically like an after party, only none of the guys sang, so I guess really not even that good LOL. I would have preferred a concert like last year, but oh well. It was nice to see the guys, and there were some fun moments, like when AJ took off his shirt and danced on the stripper pole in the middle of the club (totally sober, I should add) or when Howie was out in the middle of a group of fans, dancing to “This is How We Do It.” Howie do it!!!
The cruise itself was WAY better than the pre-cruise party. Spending three days on that ship reminded me of living in a dorm at college - you’re surrounded by friends and drunk people, and you have a lot of fun! But of course, add water and Backstreet Boys, and it becomes WAY more epic than anything I experienced in college.
On Day 1, Friday, we boarded the ship, had a sail away party, and watched “In It to Win It,” which was like “Minute to Win It” and was pretty hilarious. Then it was Sphynkter 80s Night!!! Of all the themes for the deck parties, this was the one I was most excited about. The guys did dress up like Sphynkter, some better than others. Nick didn’t look nearly as good as he did in the video, whereas Howie looked just like how he does in the video, and Brian was smokin’ hot in his spandex pants and guyliner. Pretty sure AJ was wearing the same shirt he wore in the wet version of the Drowning video, the black fishnet-type shirt. They sang “Just Want You to Know,” and that was pretty freaking epic. Also, they sold Sphynkter shirts with the merchandise, which pretty much made my life complete!!!
Rose and I went as 80s zombies - I was Michael Jackson, in a full Thriller costume, wig, and zombie makeup, and she was my back-up zombie… because, of course, she is just my follower anyway. I had a t-shirt with a built-in speaker that plays music, and I had it loaded up with three different versions of Thriller, some other MJ songs, BSB songs, and a bunch of other songs Rose and I laugh at. We had fun strutting around the halls with our MJ music playing, and the reactions we got from other people were priceless. I had random people asking to take pictures with me all night! If you were one of them, send me pics, because I don't have any, and I think Rose only has one. We kind of failed at taking pics of ourselves!
We really wanted to get a picture with Howie, since he’s the biggest MJ fan, and we almost did a couple of times because he stayed out partying on the deck until like 6 a.m., but every time we got close, we got trampled by crazy Godzilla fans or Howie stopped taking pictures. Fail!
What made my night, though, was that we happened to go in just as Brian and Leighanne were leaving the deck party, and even though we took the opposite staircase as them, we kept running into them on the landings, and Brian noticed me in my Thriller outfit and pointed at me and smiled and was like, “It’s Michael Jackson!” and then was singing Thriller all down the stairs. Love!!!
On Day 2, Saturday, we had the beach party in the Bahamas, and that was my favorite part of the whole trip. The beach itself wasn’t that great, but it was a beautiful warm day, and all FIVE Backstreet Boys were there!!! I’ve never been a Kevin girl, but having never met him or even seen him up close in person before, I sure was that day!!! I took TONS of pictures of him! He is as handsome as ever, and I loved watching him with the guys; he seemed to really be enjoying himself!
We had a great view of the guys on stage, and I got some good pictures and video of them singing “Safest Place to Hide” a capella. They pulled fans up onstage to play musical chairs, Twister, limbo, and do a wet t-shirt contest (which was Nick’s idea). It was fun to watch, and by the end, we had 3 out of 5 Backstreet Boys shirtless. Of course, Brian did not take his top off, and neither did Kevin, but seeing Nick shirtless in person was enough for me. He looks SO good!!! His long hair is not nearly as bad in person as it looks in pictures, either, though Kevin definitely pulls off the long hair better!
After the fan games were done, Nick and AJ went to ride jetskis, and most of the mob followed them (followed Nick, I should say), so we went to the volleyball court and got a front row view of Brian, Kevin, and Howie playing beach volleyball, which was amazing! I think I can say I’ve “met” Kevin now because he talked to me. He cut his hand or something falling in the sand, and it was bleeding, so he asked for a tissue, and I was right there and was like, “I’ve got one!” Someone else gave him one before I could rummage through my bag and find one, but he did acknowledge me for the effort, so good enough! Wish I could have gotten a pic with him, but Rose and I discovered we are just not as rude and pushy as some fans. I didn’t want to be an annoying fan and scream the guys’ names and beg them for pictures when they were having fun with their friends, so I didn’t get any individual pics with any of them, even though we ran into Howie and Brian a lot on the boat.
Day 2 was also prom night for the deck party, which sounded better in theory than it turned out to be in reality. It was really cold and windy, so we ended up wearing hoodies over our dresses, and there was no point in trying to do our hair nice because it just got crazy blowing around in the wind anyway. Our group spent the evening sitting down in this great spot on the upper deck where we could look right down onto the stage where the guys were to crown their “prom queens” and slow dance. So much for the money I spent on a dress and accessories, but oh well, it was still fun.
Kevin came to the prom too, so that was awesome, and he was dressed in a black tux like James Bond and looked like Agent K, which was awesome, too. The guys sang “I Still” together, which was amazing, although I couldn’t record it because my camera battery died - I know plenty of people got it, though!
Nick and AJ were dressed up like Dumb & Dumber in the bright orange (Nick) and powder blue (AJ) tuxes. Hilarious! Howie was dressed like Tony Montana from Scarface, and Brian was wearing a bright turquoise tux that matched Leighanne’s turquoise dress. They were adorable in their typical little matchy-matchy way.
The guys each crowned a prom queen and slow danced with them, and that was sweet, but other than that and Kevin’s appearance, prom night was kind of lame, compared to the other deck parties and what I’ve heard about last year’s.
On Day 3, Sunday, we took our group photo with the guys, which was ridiculously rushed, even more so than soundcheck photos. There were just too many people, because we had to do them in groups of 8. I shook hands with Howie and Brian and had my arm around AJ for the picture, but I didn’t even get to talk to Nick. I wasn’t too bummed because I’ve done VIP enough times, but I think if it was my first time meeting them, I would have been disappointed.
Sunday afternoon, we watched karaoke, which was okay. The guys were pretty funny, at least. They did “I’m Too Sexy” by themselves, and the rest of the time, they were just singing along with the fans who got picked. It started raining during karaoke, and we got drenched, and they ended up cutting it shorter than they probably would have otherwise, but that was fine with me because I was wet and freezing cold by the time they stopped.
Our concert was that night, and along with the beach party, it was my favorite part of the cruise. Amazing show!! It was more like the Up Close & Personal Tour, where it was more laidback and intimate than what you get in a usual concert, and it was awesome to hear songs I’ve either never heard them sing live before or haven’t heard in a long time, like If You Want it to Be Good Girl and Don’t Want You Back. I have plenty of video from the concert!
The guys each did a solo, and they were all amazing! AJ did “London,” which I love, and Howie did “Lie to Me,” which I also love, but the highlights were definitely Nick and Brian. Nick sang “Burning Up,” which made my year, and he came into our aisle in the middle of it, which was awesome! It was so hot. But the absolute best part of the whole show was Brian’s solo. He sang “Mary Did You Know,” which I’ve seen YouTube videos of him performing a few years ago that were amazing, so my expectations were high, but he totally exceeded them. It was INCREDIBLE. He moved me so much that I had tears in my eyes, which I think is actually a first in all my BSB concerts, and not only that, but he got all choked up in the middle too. It was one of the coolest BSB concert moments I’ve ever experienced.
The deck party that night was moved inside because of the rain, which made it even better because it was the Pajama Jam, and we were all in pajamas and slippers, so it was nice to be warm and dry inside. This was definitely the best of the three! Nick showed up in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pajamas, complete with hood, mask, slippers, and shell backpack - he was adorable!! Brian had on Elmo jammies, Howie was dressed like Hugh Hefner in old man PJs and a red velvet robe, and AJ had on stripped pajamas with big feet slippers.
The guys were all crazy! Brian went crowd-surfing, and they all did a dare for Truth or Dare. Brian had to do the worm around the bar and take a shot at the end, Howie had to make out/have sex with a pillow on the bar (and take a shot at the end), AJ had to lie on the bar and let fans tickle him for thirty seconds (no shot at the end - AJ stayed sober at all the deck parties this time), and Nick had to lie facedown on the bar and let the fans give him a butt massage. Scary stuff, but credit to the fans up front - no one got too crazy with it!
Howie is definitely the biggest party animal of the four, which is hilarious because it’s not what you’d expect. He drank the most of all of them, although Nick was pretty drunk on the last night, too. (Not so much that we saw on the first two nights, though he didn’t stay out as late.) Brian drank a little, not a lot, but he doesn’t need alcohol to be crazy. He was constantly climbing on stuff, over stuff, and jumping off stuff and freaking out the bodyguards! We kept waiting for him to break a bone falling off of something, but he’s such an agile little monkey, he never got hurt! AJ didn’t stay out very late, but stayed sober, so good for him!
Most of the guys didn’t bring their families along this time. Lauren was there, but the only time I really saw her was at the beach party. She stayed behind the scenes most of the time. Leighanne, of course, was there and visible the whole time, but no Baylee, and AJ and Howie didn’t have Rochelle/Leigh and James with them.
They hinted HEAVILY on Saturday that Kevin’s going to rejoin the group, although they didn’t officially announce it. We thought they were going to at prom night, but they didn’t. That was disappointing, but I still think it’s going to happen. If you’d asked me last week, I would have said the fans who claim Kevin’s going to come back are just wishful thinking, but they dropped SO many hints. They (and Jen) kept saying things like, “Doesn’t this look good, all five Backstreet Boys together? Would you like to see more of this?” Nick even used the word “foreshadowing” at one point during the beach party. And they sang “I Still.” “I still need you… I still care about you…” !!! And like I said, Kevin looked like he was having a blast, and there was no awkwardness with the way he interacted with the other guys. The dynamic was the same, just right! Kevin interacted a lot with the fans, too; he stayed on stage and signed a bunch of autographs and took pics with some fans for a long time after the other guys got off the stage. It really seemed like he was enjoying being back in the spotlight and would want to come back! So fingers crossed for an announcement someday soon, when the time is right for some publicity…
They also made it sound like the next cruise is going to be in the summer, which would be ideal for me, and they said they’ll be back in the studio recording their next album in January or February… hopefully with Kevin???
I know there are plenty of details I forgot to mention here, but hopefully I got the highlights. All in all, it was an amazing four days in Backstreet paradise!!!
Here are my pictures: http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q289/joolligan/BSB%20Cruise%202011/
and my videos are being uploaded to my YouTube account as I type this: http://www.youtube.com/rokofages75