NCL Dawn Cruise Review!
You know it, you love it, it's Carly's annual cruise review! This year for our 5th cruise we took the Norweigan Dawn out of New York City on a 7 day cruise to Port Canaveral FL., Miami FL., Great Stirrup Cay (NCL's private island) Bahamas, and Nassau Bahamas.
Day 1: We awake after a sleepless night to be ready for the towncar at 11 AM. Dreading the ride into NYC, we become relieved when everything goes smoothly and we arrive at the pier in less than 2 hours (the previous two years we've been held up in gridlock traffic for one reason or another). The line to board the boat, though, was longer than ever before. Usually we get there early, but by arriving on time we pay the price of waiting on line that much longer. Luckily we are now Latitudes members after our cruise on the Norweigan Sea last year, giving us special privelages, one of which is practically being able to cut in line.
After waiting an hour to board the ship, we step into the Grand Atrium, Deck 7 Midship to get our first glimpse of where we are to spend the next 7 days- then we are whisked away to the nearby elevators to ascend 4 floors to Deck 11, where our room is located (room 11166). Peering into the room, I notice the king size bed my parents are to sleep on, and the pull out couch to its left for myself, and right beyond that, the balcony showing the New York pier. Then an announcement came on welcoming the new passengers aboard, made by a fairly young sounding man with an accent- my father and I laughed and said he must be Scottish. Being the Latitudes member that I am, I knew that a Freestyle Daily was lurking about the room somewhere, just waiting to be in my clutches. Sure enough on the coffee table it was there waiting for me. I grabbed it and quickly looked down it, through it, having the words "Pub Team Trivia", "Sailaway Celebration","Party", and "BBQ" catch my eye. Immeadiately I knew I'd be there.
But before that, I knew what was coming- the Mandatory Lifeboat Drill (tm). 3:30, right on schedule, the 7 short blasts and one long blast came, signaling us to go back down to Deck 7 to our muster stations. This is where I met the first of a long line of Hosts and Hostesses I was to spend the week with, her name was Rodica from Romania I believe. Lifeboat drills are horrible in general, hot, long, boring, uncomfortable... But afterwards was the Sailaway Deck Party, so off I headed to the Oasis Pool on Deck 12 to wait for the festivities.
I was amazed when I saw the bandstand located at the head of the main pool on a huge platform, surrounded by 4 hot tubs and another smaller pool to its rear. None of the other ships had looked like this. Around the perimeter of the area were palm trees serving the purpose of supports for Deck 13, and grills were being fired up at the far end of the deck for the barbecue. Whipping off my shirt, I decided to take a seat by the pool and wait for the festivities to begin. It seemed like this was the first time in 5 years that our sailaway date had been sunny, and I was going to take advantage of this sun as much as possible, being the pale Euromutt that I am. I actually felt a little intimidated as I looked around and noticed all of the families and friends talking and having a grand time, and a little lonely, what with being an only child. So I remained quietly by the pool, taking in the atmosphere, knowing that in just a few days I would emerge from my quiet New Jersey slump, and become the outgoing partier I always am.
Eventually the rest of the Hosts came out to get the party started, and the band began to play the Electric Slide. This is where my vacation began. Out I went from the pool to join the Philipino crew, and establish myself as Carly, the girl you won't be able to get out of your ass for the next 7 days, and hopefully after then even. So I'm really starting to get into it, and I notice one of the Hosts, a cute FLIP guy, sliding his way over to me, so I smile once we're side by side, and he says "I like your nails!" and he points to my toes. I grin and smirk out a thanks, mentally thanking myself for choosing lime green, and on my way to becoming one of the familiars with the crew, which is the most important thing on a cruise. The band starts playing generic reggae songs at this point, so still dancing, but loosing my groove, I shy away from the open floor and chill out on the sides of the deck. Eventually a few of the Hostesses try to get me back out and dancing, so I bop my way back out onto the floor, not really dancing, but doing that little swaying and moving in time to the beat thing we all do.
After a while the party ends, what to do now? I look back at my Freestyle Daily, but the only thing going on that catches my interest is pub team trivia at 7:30 in the Pearly King's Pub, Deck 7 Aft. 7:30?! What am I to do till then? I figured I'd best just familiarize myself with the ship. It was only about 5:45, so I found my way down to the pub and sat around waiting, checking out all of the British memoribilia hanging on the walls. A friendly bartender came over and began talking to me- I tried to read his nametag but all I could see was where he was from- India. So we got into a pretty good conversation about this and that and do you like the music and where are you from and whatnot, and before I knew it one of the Hosts from upstairs came down to begin trivia. Not that anyone was there but myself and the bartender.
Eventually a few more people came so we could form teams and the trivia began. One thing I noticed, being a Latitudes member, was that these questions were MUCH harder than those of the Norweigan Sea, but no matter, we all won prizes. Yes! My first official prize of the cruise! It had begun. The all famous NCL leather bookmark was now mine... not that I didn't have four at home from last year, but that doesn't matter. I examined the Freestyle Daily once again- ah! 9:30, one show only, the Welcome Aboard Kick Off in the Stardust Theater, Deck 6&7 Fwd.! I would have to get a good seat... I met up with my parents again for dinner and told them my plans for the rest of the night- after the show would be a dance party in the Spinnaker Lounge, Deck 12 Fwd. Since we weren't allowed in the Stardust until 45 minutes before showtime, I decided to give the Spinnaker a good look-over before waiting for the doors to open.
As soon as I walked in I was in amazement of the- of all things- chairs! To my right were the oddest set of chairs that I ever did see, impossible to describe- tall, plush purple with swirly backs, royal blue, a circular loveseat, zebra patterned couches, and a crimson combination chaise lounge/ bed, in addition to the rows of standard club chairs and red 3 seaters. I had to sit on these chairs! So after testing them out, I proceeded back down to the Stardust to wait for the doors to open. I seemed to be the only one except for a couple of two old ladies. We struck up a conversation, where I learned their names were Fran and Dottie, and we talked until the doors opened up, and we sat together fourth row center (first row was a little too close for me, but I wanted to be close enough to be seen from the stage).
The theater was a huge, two leveler, with a full stage complete with curtain, and balcony seats along the sides. 45 minutes later, the theater was packed and the show started. A tall, somewhat odd looking man in a suit came onstage and introduced himself as Colin Kerr, cruise director. It was the man from the announcements earlier! He had the same accent and everything. I don't think anyone knew this was the man who would capture our hearts within the next 7 days. One by one he introduced the people who would be entertaining us for the duration of the cruise, starting with a performance of a few acts by the fabulous Jean Ann Ryan Company, moving to the comedian Dave Heenan who left much to be desired and left me with an irritated headache, and finished with a little bit of his own. One line caught my attention though; "If you need anything let us know, because we are here to make your cruise memorable!" That was it, after the show I was going to hunt this man down and introduce myself. What a better way to establish myself among the crew than to become friends with the head honcho?
Shortly afterwards the show closed, and I said my goodbyes to Fran and Dottie. My heart was pounding for some strange reason as I made my way out of the theater, and there I spotted him, greeting people as they exited. I composed myself and walked up to him. He grabbed at my hand and shook it, as I introduced myself, "Hello, I'm Carly. I figured I'd beter introduce myself now, because you're going to be seeing a lot of me. I love to be involved with everything you have to offer, trivia, games, shows, parties-" "That's absolutely fabulous!" He responded, in the most charming Scottish accent ever. "I wish we had more passengers like you! Will you be upstairs in the Spinnaker later? I would love to have a conversation with you!" I gave a quick yes and he kissed my cheek and promised he'd meet me there. I was awe struck. It- it must have been a Scottish thing, I told myself. Later I learned it was, but at the time, all I cared about was getting to that lounge as fast as possible! That lounge... I don't know what had come over me, but I became a dancing fiend! As long as the band was playing, I was dancing. This was good, because it made the Hosts' jobs much easier- while chilling on the dance floor, I introduced myself to all of them; Joel, Richard, Ron, Frances, Rimarie, and Jeeny, all from the Philipines, Hitomi from Japan, and Erika from Germany, a few of which I had met previously by the pool.
Eventually I saw Colin from across the room and made my way over, where we had a lovely conversation about the later events in the cruise. He offered me some of his Grasshopper, but I declined, revealing my age of only 17, striking him dumbfounded, making him reveal that he was 20 years my senior, at 37. Realizing it was close to midnight, I made my way back to the dance floor and said my goodbyes to the Hosts in their native languages, which left a lasting impression on them no doubt, because as soon as the "Magandang gabi" left my lips to Joel, he gathered everyone over to have me say it to them, and to have a "Konbanwa" said to Hitomi was the finishing touch. As I was saying my goodbyes to Colin, the Assistant cruise director, Kevin, came over and I introduced myself to him as well. He was Asian, so I asked him if he was Filipino, and when he replied Malasian, I told him I would have said magandang gabi to him, thus impressing them both all the more for my knowledge of Tagalog. Colin kissed both of my cheeks and as I made my way back to cabin 11166 I felt as if I was dancing on air.
End Day 1.
Day 2: Midnight. I had made my way back to our room, one deck down on the other end of the ship, completely awake and giddy, saying my "magandang gabi"s and "paalam"s to every Filipino I ran into. I made my way to my pull out couch in the pitch black of night, only to realize one serious problem; the bed is hard as a rock! After tossing and turning for hours- half because of excitement, half because of lack of comfort- my mother finally agreed to switch beds with me for the night. Three hours later we awake, groggy and tired, swearing that for any of us to get sleep we would have to flag down our room attendant to get more blankets to make a mattress. Fair enough. As my parents got ready for breakfast, I grabbed at the new Freestyle Daily to see just what Colin had in store for us today. Today, being our first day at sea.
Reading down the highlights on the front page, I was somewhat discouraged by the "Casino Opens" and "Tour Presentations" I saw, until midpage- there it was in all of its glory! Bingo! Yes! Our first session of Bingo aboard the Norweigan Dawn, 11:30 AM in the Spinnaker. I would be there, without a doubt. I skimmed over the rest of the events of the day; 9:45 Morning Team Trivia in the pub, French language class with Erika, blah, Bingo- 1:15 Latitudes party in the Spinnaker! Awesome! I'm finally able to go to this party, because thanks to my trip last year aboard the Sea, I am now a member! I didn't really expect it to be great or anything, it just made me feel special- this was like a privelaged meet-the-Captain party. 2:30 pool party, then what's this? Another round of Bingo?! Too awesome!
That was enough for me. I got myself ready and went up for breakfast at the buffet line, which wasn't all that great, consisting of a bagel with cream cheese. Nothing else really grabbed me- is this what I'm going to be living on for the next week? Sighing, I finished my breakfast quickly and made my way down to trivia at the pub... but where was the bartender from last night? I decided to have a seat and wait for the trivia, my mind still buzzing sleepily with visions of the previous night. Not long after, the trivia began, and again I was amazed at the difficulty of the questions. Thankfully I joined a team who knew... well, more than I did, anyway. I tried putting my 2 cents in every now and then, but I knew I would have failed miserably without them. Second place, not bad, producing prize number two of the cruise, a Norweigan tote bag! Wow, what an awesome prize- I definately did NOT get one of these last year. And it couldn't have come at a better time, either, because that day the shorts I was wearing didn't have pockets. So glancing over my Freestyle Daily again- sushi demo? I had missed that before. 10:30, Deck 7 Bamboo Restaurant Midship. I set off.
The demo was actually very interesting. They showed how to make my favorite type of sushi, as well as some larger rolls and an intrigung looking version of a California roll wrapped like an ice cream cone. The best part was the tasting of the sushi, I must admit, because they had this sauce they put on it that just made the taste all the better. Probably soy sauce, go figure. I asked someone the time, then remembering Bingo at 11:30, I ran back to the Spinnaker to meet my mother and get the boards. Oh my god, I had completely forgot about the Bingo machienes! What a throw back to last year. The whole crew was there, so I got to talk a little before the game. Needless to say I didn't win, so we just stayed there until the Latitudes party. It was just as expected, nothing too exciting, just a welcome aboard and an introduction to Captain Idar Hoydal.
By this time we were all starving, so we made our way to one of the restaurants, the Aqua, which... was nice, but left no lasting impression on me. After lunch we headed back up to the pool deck to wait for the pool party at 2:30. This is where they had their famous Mr. Sexy Legs competiton, only they had about 13 people participate this year, compared to the 5 last year. I arrived too late to actually catch the beginning of the competition, but it was rather entertaining. Afterwards I met my mom back in the Spinnaker for the Power Bingo Special game, where you get double cards on the handset machiene for the same price! Wooow. Didn't win, shocker. Nothing really to do until 5:30 for trivia in the pub, then 7:30 show Music of the Night produced by the Jean Ann Ryan Company, which I must say was fabulous! They opened with Jellicle Songs from Cats and Memory, moved to Jesus Christ Superstar and I Don't Know How to Love Him, included some Phantom of the Opera, as well as the Joseph remix. I was throughly impressed. Fran and Dottie had saved me a seat, right there, fourth row center, so I got to spend more time with them.
Ugh. Dave Heenan. After the show, he had his own show in the Spinnaker... I really didn't want to go, but nothing was going on until the Not-So-Newlywed game after it in the same place. So I stood there, disgusted, until his show ended. The game show was entertaining, though. It was just like the normal Newlywed Game Show, only... not everyone was newly wed. You know. So after that ended, they held the 70's and 80's Disco New Years Party, which contained the Gloria Gaynor and John Travolta contests from the previous year... Colin sang the John Travolta part, hee. Then not much happened until the next day...
Day 1: We awake after a sleepless night to be ready for the towncar at 11 AM. Dreading the ride into NYC, we become relieved when everything goes smoothly and we arrive at the pier in less than 2 hours (the previous two years we've been held up in gridlock traffic for one reason or another). The line to board the boat, though, was longer than ever before. Usually we get there early, but by arriving on time we pay the price of waiting on line that much longer. Luckily we are now Latitudes members after our cruise on the Norweigan Sea last year, giving us special privelages, one of which is practically being able to cut in line.
After waiting an hour to board the ship, we step into the Grand Atrium, Deck 7 Midship to get our first glimpse of where we are to spend the next 7 days- then we are whisked away to the nearby elevators to ascend 4 floors to Deck 11, where our room is located (room 11166). Peering into the room, I notice the king size bed my parents are to sleep on, and the pull out couch to its left for myself, and right beyond that, the balcony showing the New York pier. Then an announcement came on welcoming the new passengers aboard, made by a fairly young sounding man with an accent- my father and I laughed and said he must be Scottish. Being the Latitudes member that I am, I knew that a Freestyle Daily was lurking about the room somewhere, just waiting to be in my clutches. Sure enough on the coffee table it was there waiting for me. I grabbed it and quickly looked down it, through it, having the words "Pub Team Trivia", "Sailaway Celebration","Party", and "BBQ" catch my eye. Immeadiately I knew I'd be there.
But before that, I knew what was coming- the Mandatory Lifeboat Drill (tm). 3:30, right on schedule, the 7 short blasts and one long blast came, signaling us to go back down to Deck 7 to our muster stations. This is where I met the first of a long line of Hosts and Hostesses I was to spend the week with, her name was Rodica from Romania I believe. Lifeboat drills are horrible in general, hot, long, boring, uncomfortable... But afterwards was the Sailaway Deck Party, so off I headed to the Oasis Pool on Deck 12 to wait for the festivities.
I was amazed when I saw the bandstand located at the head of the main pool on a huge platform, surrounded by 4 hot tubs and another smaller pool to its rear. None of the other ships had looked like this. Around the perimeter of the area were palm trees serving the purpose of supports for Deck 13, and grills were being fired up at the far end of the deck for the barbecue. Whipping off my shirt, I decided to take a seat by the pool and wait for the festivities to begin. It seemed like this was the first time in 5 years that our sailaway date had been sunny, and I was going to take advantage of this sun as much as possible, being the pale Euromutt that I am. I actually felt a little intimidated as I looked around and noticed all of the families and friends talking and having a grand time, and a little lonely, what with being an only child. So I remained quietly by the pool, taking in the atmosphere, knowing that in just a few days I would emerge from my quiet New Jersey slump, and become the outgoing partier I always am.
Eventually the rest of the Hosts came out to get the party started, and the band began to play the Electric Slide. This is where my vacation began. Out I went from the pool to join the Philipino crew, and establish myself as Carly, the girl you won't be able to get out of your ass for the next 7 days, and hopefully after then even. So I'm really starting to get into it, and I notice one of the Hosts, a cute FLIP guy, sliding his way over to me, so I smile once we're side by side, and he says "I like your nails!" and he points to my toes. I grin and smirk out a thanks, mentally thanking myself for choosing lime green, and on my way to becoming one of the familiars with the crew, which is the most important thing on a cruise. The band starts playing generic reggae songs at this point, so still dancing, but loosing my groove, I shy away from the open floor and chill out on the sides of the deck. Eventually a few of the Hostesses try to get me back out and dancing, so I bop my way back out onto the floor, not really dancing, but doing that little swaying and moving in time to the beat thing we all do.
After a while the party ends, what to do now? I look back at my Freestyle Daily, but the only thing going on that catches my interest is pub team trivia at 7:30 in the Pearly King's Pub, Deck 7 Aft. 7:30?! What am I to do till then? I figured I'd best just familiarize myself with the ship. It was only about 5:45, so I found my way down to the pub and sat around waiting, checking out all of the British memoribilia hanging on the walls. A friendly bartender came over and began talking to me- I tried to read his nametag but all I could see was where he was from- India. So we got into a pretty good conversation about this and that and do you like the music and where are you from and whatnot, and before I knew it one of the Hosts from upstairs came down to begin trivia. Not that anyone was there but myself and the bartender.
Eventually a few more people came so we could form teams and the trivia began. One thing I noticed, being a Latitudes member, was that these questions were MUCH harder than those of the Norweigan Sea, but no matter, we all won prizes. Yes! My first official prize of the cruise! It had begun. The all famous NCL leather bookmark was now mine... not that I didn't have four at home from last year, but that doesn't matter. I examined the Freestyle Daily once again- ah! 9:30, one show only, the Welcome Aboard Kick Off in the Stardust Theater, Deck 6&7 Fwd.! I would have to get a good seat... I met up with my parents again for dinner and told them my plans for the rest of the night- after the show would be a dance party in the Spinnaker Lounge, Deck 12 Fwd. Since we weren't allowed in the Stardust until 45 minutes before showtime, I decided to give the Spinnaker a good look-over before waiting for the doors to open.
As soon as I walked in I was in amazement of the- of all things- chairs! To my right were the oddest set of chairs that I ever did see, impossible to describe- tall, plush purple with swirly backs, royal blue, a circular loveseat, zebra patterned couches, and a crimson combination chaise lounge/ bed, in addition to the rows of standard club chairs and red 3 seaters. I had to sit on these chairs! So after testing them out, I proceeded back down to the Stardust to wait for the doors to open. I seemed to be the only one except for a couple of two old ladies. We struck up a conversation, where I learned their names were Fran and Dottie, and we talked until the doors opened up, and we sat together fourth row center (first row was a little too close for me, but I wanted to be close enough to be seen from the stage).
The theater was a huge, two leveler, with a full stage complete with curtain, and balcony seats along the sides. 45 minutes later, the theater was packed and the show started. A tall, somewhat odd looking man in a suit came onstage and introduced himself as Colin Kerr, cruise director. It was the man from the announcements earlier! He had the same accent and everything. I don't think anyone knew this was the man who would capture our hearts within the next 7 days. One by one he introduced the people who would be entertaining us for the duration of the cruise, starting with a performance of a few acts by the fabulous Jean Ann Ryan Company, moving to the comedian Dave Heenan who left much to be desired and left me with an irritated headache, and finished with a little bit of his own. One line caught my attention though; "If you need anything let us know, because we are here to make your cruise memorable!" That was it, after the show I was going to hunt this man down and introduce myself. What a better way to establish myself among the crew than to become friends with the head honcho?
Shortly afterwards the show closed, and I said my goodbyes to Fran and Dottie. My heart was pounding for some strange reason as I made my way out of the theater, and there I spotted him, greeting people as they exited. I composed myself and walked up to him. He grabbed at my hand and shook it, as I introduced myself, "Hello, I'm Carly. I figured I'd beter introduce myself now, because you're going to be seeing a lot of me. I love to be involved with everything you have to offer, trivia, games, shows, parties-" "That's absolutely fabulous!" He responded, in the most charming Scottish accent ever. "I wish we had more passengers like you! Will you be upstairs in the Spinnaker later? I would love to have a conversation with you!" I gave a quick yes and he kissed my cheek and promised he'd meet me there. I was awe struck. It- it must have been a Scottish thing, I told myself. Later I learned it was, but at the time, all I cared about was getting to that lounge as fast as possible! That lounge... I don't know what had come over me, but I became a dancing fiend! As long as the band was playing, I was dancing. This was good, because it made the Hosts' jobs much easier- while chilling on the dance floor, I introduced myself to all of them; Joel, Richard, Ron, Frances, Rimarie, and Jeeny, all from the Philipines, Hitomi from Japan, and Erika from Germany, a few of which I had met previously by the pool.
Eventually I saw Colin from across the room and made my way over, where we had a lovely conversation about the later events in the cruise. He offered me some of his Grasshopper, but I declined, revealing my age of only 17, striking him dumbfounded, making him reveal that he was 20 years my senior, at 37. Realizing it was close to midnight, I made my way back to the dance floor and said my goodbyes to the Hosts in their native languages, which left a lasting impression on them no doubt, because as soon as the "Magandang gabi" left my lips to Joel, he gathered everyone over to have me say it to them, and to have a "Konbanwa" said to Hitomi was the finishing touch. As I was saying my goodbyes to Colin, the Assistant cruise director, Kevin, came over and I introduced myself to him as well. He was Asian, so I asked him if he was Filipino, and when he replied Malasian, I told him I would have said magandang gabi to him, thus impressing them both all the more for my knowledge of Tagalog. Colin kissed both of my cheeks and as I made my way back to cabin 11166 I felt as if I was dancing on air.
End Day 1.
Day 2: Midnight. I had made my way back to our room, one deck down on the other end of the ship, completely awake and giddy, saying my "magandang gabi"s and "paalam"s to every Filipino I ran into. I made my way to my pull out couch in the pitch black of night, only to realize one serious problem; the bed is hard as a rock! After tossing and turning for hours- half because of excitement, half because of lack of comfort- my mother finally agreed to switch beds with me for the night. Three hours later we awake, groggy and tired, swearing that for any of us to get sleep we would have to flag down our room attendant to get more blankets to make a mattress. Fair enough. As my parents got ready for breakfast, I grabbed at the new Freestyle Daily to see just what Colin had in store for us today. Today, being our first day at sea.
Reading down the highlights on the front page, I was somewhat discouraged by the "Casino Opens" and "Tour Presentations" I saw, until midpage- there it was in all of its glory! Bingo! Yes! Our first session of Bingo aboard the Norweigan Dawn, 11:30 AM in the Spinnaker. I would be there, without a doubt. I skimmed over the rest of the events of the day; 9:45 Morning Team Trivia in the pub, French language class with Erika, blah, Bingo- 1:15 Latitudes party in the Spinnaker! Awesome! I'm finally able to go to this party, because thanks to my trip last year aboard the Sea, I am now a member! I didn't really expect it to be great or anything, it just made me feel special- this was like a privelaged meet-the-Captain party. 2:30 pool party, then what's this? Another round of Bingo?! Too awesome!
That was enough for me. I got myself ready and went up for breakfast at the buffet line, which wasn't all that great, consisting of a bagel with cream cheese. Nothing else really grabbed me- is this what I'm going to be living on for the next week? Sighing, I finished my breakfast quickly and made my way down to trivia at the pub... but where was the bartender from last night? I decided to have a seat and wait for the trivia, my mind still buzzing sleepily with visions of the previous night. Not long after, the trivia began, and again I was amazed at the difficulty of the questions. Thankfully I joined a team who knew... well, more than I did, anyway. I tried putting my 2 cents in every now and then, but I knew I would have failed miserably without them. Second place, not bad, producing prize number two of the cruise, a Norweigan tote bag! Wow, what an awesome prize- I definately did NOT get one of these last year. And it couldn't have come at a better time, either, because that day the shorts I was wearing didn't have pockets. So glancing over my Freestyle Daily again- sushi demo? I had missed that before. 10:30, Deck 7 Bamboo Restaurant Midship. I set off.
The demo was actually very interesting. They showed how to make my favorite type of sushi, as well as some larger rolls and an intrigung looking version of a California roll wrapped like an ice cream cone. The best part was the tasting of the sushi, I must admit, because they had this sauce they put on it that just made the taste all the better. Probably soy sauce, go figure. I asked someone the time, then remembering Bingo at 11:30, I ran back to the Spinnaker to meet my mother and get the boards. Oh my god, I had completely forgot about the Bingo machienes! What a throw back to last year. The whole crew was there, so I got to talk a little before the game. Needless to say I didn't win, so we just stayed there until the Latitudes party. It was just as expected, nothing too exciting, just a welcome aboard and an introduction to Captain Idar Hoydal.
By this time we were all starving, so we made our way to one of the restaurants, the Aqua, which... was nice, but left no lasting impression on me. After lunch we headed back up to the pool deck to wait for the pool party at 2:30. This is where they had their famous Mr. Sexy Legs competiton, only they had about 13 people participate this year, compared to the 5 last year. I arrived too late to actually catch the beginning of the competition, but it was rather entertaining. Afterwards I met my mom back in the Spinnaker for the Power Bingo Special game, where you get double cards on the handset machiene for the same price! Wooow. Didn't win, shocker. Nothing really to do until 5:30 for trivia in the pub, then 7:30 show Music of the Night produced by the Jean Ann Ryan Company, which I must say was fabulous! They opened with Jellicle Songs from Cats and Memory, moved to Jesus Christ Superstar and I Don't Know How to Love Him, included some Phantom of the Opera, as well as the Joseph remix. I was throughly impressed. Fran and Dottie had saved me a seat, right there, fourth row center, so I got to spend more time with them.
Ugh. Dave Heenan. After the show, he had his own show in the Spinnaker... I really didn't want to go, but nothing was going on until the Not-So-Newlywed game after it in the same place. So I stood there, disgusted, until his show ended. The game show was entertaining, though. It was just like the normal Newlywed Game Show, only... not everyone was newly wed. You know. So after that ended, they held the 70's and 80's Disco New Years Party, which contained the Gloria Gaynor and John Travolta contests from the previous year... Colin sang the John Travolta part, hee. Then not much happened until the next day...