No, but really, where does one begin when you begin discussing the greatest cruise of all time?
Me and Nick talking before our picture at the Hard Rock Cafe in Miami.
I guess we begin the night before at Nick Carter’s Sail Away Party at the Hard Rock Cafe in Miami. I’m so glad I got to hang out with Dawn, Andie, Ashley, Katie and Allie and a few more friends that I’ve made because of the Backstreet Boys. It was a little too crowded for me and sometimes, especially when I don’t feel good, I feel kind of claustrophobic. The day before I left for Miami (Wednesday), I had to make an emergency trip to the doctor and so I wasn’t feeling 100 percent, but with the mugginess and everything else, I wasn’t feeling myself to be honest. No matter how much I wanted to be there, I probably didn’t need to stay there and end up passing out.
So I finally got up to Nick for our photo that Justin took and he immediately started going, “I’m so glad you’re here! That you’re cruising!” because back at Walker Stalker, I was debating on canceling and so glad I didn’t. I tell him how that day was the 15th anniversary of meeting him for the first time and he swore up and down that we had met before then (we didn’t.)
And then he asked about my necklace.
I have a trifecta Celtic knot pendant that I’ve worn every day for the past 11 or 12 years. It’s the symbol from the TV show “Charmed.”
He said he always wanted to ask what it meant and I told him that it was the symbol from “Charmed” and that it was one of my favorite television shows and the conversation went:
“Are you a witch?”
“No… I’m interested in Wicca, but no… bitch yes, witch no.”
“You should become one.”
This started the witch thing the entire cruise.
So I tell him that I wasn’t feeling that great and that I didn’t want to miss her performance, but I needed to rest and feel better for the cruise and he told me to go rest and we’d see each other “tomorrow.” So I tell everybody goodbye and we all head back to the hotel and get some rest for what was going to be the greatest weekend ever.
Me, Jake, Teresa and Mara in the parking garage at the port of Miami.
Thursday morning we all wake up, eat breakfast and head to the port and I see so many people again and after leaving Mara, Teresa and Jake over to the side to go see some of the other girls, they put up barriers and we realize the guys are going to come in that way, which was pretty cool.
It was literally the fastest that it’s ever been with getting on the boat and getting in our room. We ate lunch and then went to our room and started working on the door decorations and it did not come out as good as I wanted it to because I was so busy with work, I just didn’t have the time to devote to it like I wanted to. After getting the door done, Mara and I head to Teresa and Jake’s room and Mara left before me when we got alerts that Nick was doing his little secret game.
So as I was getting on the elevator on the sixth floor, I see a bunch of Rose Tour guys head towards the steps and I see something that catches my eye – a leg tattoo.
It was Nick’s.
So I jump out of the elevator and run to the stairs and yell “HELLO SIR!” and Nick baby shh’s me and I follow him all the way to the back of the boat by the slides and it ended up only being about 20 people while I was there, but as I went up to him to take my selfie, he asks me if I’m feeling better.
I mean. <3 <3 <3
That pretty much perked me up because I had just had a stressful conversation with my mother claiming she wasn’t going to dialysis anymore before I saw Nick’s tattoo. She pulls this every time I’m not home.
So we head towards our little briefing with the cruise ship staff and then out to the lido deck for the deck party where there was a sign flying around and it was the first time that I’d ever seen one at one of the BSB cruises. It was pretty damn awesome.
The guys came out dressed as pirates – yes pirates. I had wondered if they were going to do the sailor outfits or the captain outfits agian, but no – they went all Jack Sparrow and my body was here for it! Plus, Nick reminded me of his character in the “Just Want You To Know” music video, so I was loving the wig.
To say the least, it was pretty damn awesome. It was probably one of my favorite sail away parties out of the four cruises I have done. It was just something different about it that made you know that this was going to be a cruise to remember.
After this, we had our game show so we headed to the theatre and our seats weren’t the greatest but they could have been worse. We were the third row on the left side of the stage if you were facing the stage. Thankfully one of the seats in the front row was empty so the people behind the seat were cool with me sitting there and I told them to let me know if I somehow got in their way.
The game show was pretty damn hysterical. It was probably one of the best game shows they have done on one of the cruises, tied with the one in 2014 where it was a 90s game show. That was 2014 right? Not 2016? It’s starting to blend together.
My favorite part was definitely the sumo wrestler outfits. The guys trying to dance in them and then Howie and Kevin’s dramatic fighting just cracked me up and I couldn’t stop laughing. Seriously, it may be one of the greatest moments in BSB history.
After that, we headed back to the room to get ready for the first theme night, “Fast Times at Backstreet High” and headed out to the lido deck where we were like second row from the stage, which was pretty good. It would be the closest we got at a deck party during the entire cruise to be honest besides sitting up in VIP in the little area hovering over the stage on the second night.
Since I graduated in the 90s, I didn’t want the two themes to mix up, so I decided to be an 80s bad girl/Madonna wannabe for high school night.
The deck party for high school night was AMAZING! It reminded me of the last night of the cruise in 2014 which was legendary, so all I could think was – how the hell are they going to top this? Nick as a nerd? Howie as Rico Suave? Brian as a jock?
I mean, NICK. AS. A. NERD!
The guys each came out to their own theme song and Nick’s was by far the best – “Pretty Fly For A White Guy.” (You can see all the intros in the video above). I remember saying how could any other theme get better than this with three more to go?
Boy, I had no clue!
Slowly around 3:30 p.m. or so, I lucked out and was able to get a photo with AJ, even though my makeup and hair was a hot mess, but I was able to talk to him for a quick minute before I finally headed to the room to shower and get ready for bed. I don’t think I went to sleep until after 5 a.m. and I was up at 7:30 a.m. to wash my hair and get ready for our group photo, which will be discussed in the next blog.
Me and AJ after “Fast Times at Backstreet High” night.
Next? The second day of the groups, photo groups and “We’ve Got It Goin’ Con” night!
