Shangalangadingdong

Rockapella Cruise

Day 2 -- Sunday, January 23, 2011

Port of Miami

Liz and I let everyone know that we would be having breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  Wendy and Jeff met up with us, but since we didn't know exactly how may people would be joining us, and it seemed that the biggest table available was for 4 people, we ate with them.  Karla and Stacey sat a table nearby.  We had all agreed to wear our PellaPosse shirts for the 1st day of the cruise, and Stacey was happy that she had something to wear, since she *still* had not received her luggage.  The breakfast was either made-to-order or buffet, and I chose the latter.  

Jeff, Wendy, and Sher at Breakfast

Afterward, we wanted to actually experience the beautiful beach morning, and I decided that I wanted to get my feet wet.  I did not realize that I would also be getting my calves wet, but that's how waves are!  I laughed and had Jenn join me for pictures.  Unbeknownst to us at the time, Wendy & Jeff were spying us from their room, and saw us taking pictures, giggling that I was taking this picture of Bananaman on the Boardwalk.  

Liz and Jenn took a walk to Walgreens and didn't get my text requesting stamps....because, as I found out later from the beeping in her bag *in our hotel room*, she didn't have her phone with her.  Oops.  Sorry to all of you that thought that they were getting postcards from me.  I texted a bunch of people for addresses and everything!  Oh, well.

The shuttle arrived, so we got on, but without Stacey, because she was still waiting for her bags. For several of us, this was our first cruise, and we were worried about getting motion sickness, so we had obtained patches before the trip.  The patches require that you place them 4 hours prior to boarding, so we decided to put them on while in the shuttle.  "Patch Party on the shuttle!", shouted Wendy.  

We arrived at the port, and met our baggage porter, Clinton.  I couldn't help but tell him, "You're cute!"  That got a nice smile out of him for our pictures, and he made especially sure that our bags would make it onto the ship. 

Clinton & Jenn

 We took pictures of the Glory, and went into the security area. Those of us that brought our free hotel wine in our carry-on bags had a short delay, but since it was only one per bag, we were allowed to keep our wine.  Not that we ever drank it, but more about that later.  At the embarkation area in Terminal D, we signed stuff saying that we weren't sick (which would warrant a visit to the ship's doctor), and checked in.  I had a bit of a snafu with my code, but it turned out fine, and the extra time that we had with Carnival helped us figure out what exactly was supposed to happen next.  Our zone number was 19, so we waited for our number to be called.  My favorite number is 19, so I was happy, knowing that it was a sign of good times to come.  As we waited, we saw Fred, Jeff, John and his wife.  John pointed us out to Dan, our coordinator from Galaxsea Travel, so he came over to us and said hi.  His wife, June, whom we had the most contact with via e-mail prior to the trip, joined us and they told us that they loved our shirts.  :)  I decided that June was loud.  We all decided that perhaps she had already started drinking due to our impressions from the pre-cruise letters we received.  We love you, June!  She's a riot.  June told us to find her when we got on the ship, so that she could give us the itinerary for the Rockapella Group at that time.  Yay!

Back of PellaPosse shirt

Our zone number was called, and we took our first official cruise picture together.  It looks sooo awesome with our PellaPosse shirts!  After our picture was taken, I received a text from Stacey, whom was in a cab (with her bags) with a driver that didn't know where to go.  Oh, geez.  She did arrive in time, just not for our picture.  Our rooms weren't ready yet, so we went to the dining area for the first buffet of the cruise.  It's a good thing, too.  Since Jenn had not eaten breakfast with us, she advised us that she was hungry.  Karla, to me:  "Is Jenn like you when she's hungry?"  Me:  "Yes."  Karla: "We'd better get her some food, then!"  (When Karla first spent some time in my presence, I was very hungry.  I said that I was hungry about 85 times in the span of an hour.  OK, that's exaggerating.  2 hours).  As I searched for Fish and Chips, I found the seafood station, where they were serving Tenderloin of Ahi Tuna on a cube of watermelon.  I'll take 2, please!  YUMMY.  I also had my fish and chips, which almost slid off the plate when I tried to put the tray on the table.  For dessert, I had a Mango Mousse Parfait and a cookie.  I was delighted and full.  

We spotted June, and she gave us our itinerary without us having to find her desk, which would be midship on the Lido deck.  Our itinerary included a trivia contest, cocktail party and two private concerts.  The karaoke party date had not been set yet, but it would happen.  Cool!  We also received a roster of the entire group's cabin rooms so that we could all find each other in case we needed our own Rockapella Lifeboat.  I kid.  The roster listed our hometowns, so that we could know a little bit about our fellow Rockapella fans.  Besides those of us in the PellaPosse, there was one other person from So Cal.  REPRESENT, CALI!  June needed to find more people, so she yelled her sign-off, "Later, Dudes!" and went on her way.  June wasn't even gone 5 minutes when she returned with her son, Robert.  He's done a lot of cruises because he's worked on the cruise lines, so he gave us a few tips.  

It came time to go to our cabins, and Liz and I were happy that our luggage was already waiting for us at our temporary home, Cabin 6435 on the Upper Deck (6th floor).  We looked around our cabin, which was nice because it had a little living room area and a balcony.  We also had a towel in the shape of a seal.  We unpacked our bags, and then participated in the safety drill (without life preservers).  The lifeboats looked much more like they could save our lives than those dinghies that they showed on "Titanic", so we were relieved about that.  They told the families to stay together, so we decided that we were a family.  Our lifeboat was #17 in Muster E.  Thank God we didn't need to know that officially for the rest of the trip.  Even when we got back to our cabin, Liz kept watching the safety video.  That's my 911 operator!  I put our PellaPosse Central collage on our cabin door, as well as the white board that Jenn gave us. 

Sandwich Crew Poster

We received a phone call from Jeff E, so we met up with them at their cabin to marvel at their beautiful poster.  We then moved to Jenn's cabin, since hers was at the forward of the ship.  Karla and Stacey joined us and we all stepped onto he balcony for departure.  SOMEONE shot off their confetti gun even though we had been advised that we were not supposed to throw anything off of the ship, but we didn't get in trouble.  We did advise that person that she/he probably killed a dolphin, though, as the confetti gun fell into the water.   OK, OK.  It was a "she".  Wendy wouldn't let Jeff shoot his gun more than once. Jenn pointed out her view to us:  she could see the Captain's Wheel and we ogled at the crew member standing there in his tight white pants.  When he turned around, we all looked away (I can't remember if Jeff looked away, though).  Jenn got a picture of the crew member's butt.  You know that we get obsessed with butts, especially when Pella is in the vicinity.  Well, at least, I do.  Jenn said that she wants to walk the catwalk (up at the Captain's deck).  Karla said to her: "Don't wear your Pella Posse shirt."  Jenn:  "Like I'm going to be wearing anything."  

Karla's arm, Jenn, and Stacey

On the way to Jeff and Wendy's cabin, Liz and I spotted a table with brochures from the ship's spa, which had a special Traveler's Tension Massage for the day.  We called the spa from Jenn's room to make our reservation, and Karla and Stacey made reservations, too, for another time.  The spa was holding a raffle, so we all went to the fitness center, where we witnessed our friend Ross win a massage. This made MJ very happy, since you know that Ross would have never taken it for himself without MJ having one, too.  We said hi to them, as well as JT and Tim, whom were also there.  JT told us about the Adult Deck, which is nice and quiet, without kids running around everywhere.  It's actually called Serenity, like the Serenity Spa, but I love that he called it Adult, for various reasons.  ;)  We told JT that we'd already made reservations for massage, and told him about it.  He said, "Ooh, fancy!"  I also signed up for Yoga for the next day, and we made note that there would be a morning stretch every day, so Liz and I decided that we'd do that.

Liz and I went to the spa for our massages, which were very nice and relaxing.  The massage focused on the feet, head, neck and shoulders.  My hair was all oily from what was put into my hair, so I needed to take a shower before dinner.

Fred, Geo and Sandra

All of our dinners, unlike the schedules of many other guests not in our group, were planned for the Platinum Upper Level, so that we could all stay together and sit with one of the guys at our table each night.  This first night was quite a treat for us, as we sat with George and his girlfriend Sandra, as well as Fred.  Also sitting with the Pella Posse were Elisa, Jill and Terry, whom Stacey knows from the East Coast shows.  

Jenn still didn't have her luggage by dinner time.  We all found out later that her luggage had gone to Luggage Jail because she put her bottle of wine in her regular luggage instead of her carry-on, so she had to go to the very bottom deck to retrieve it.  I think she picked it up after dinner.  (We all had a change of clothes in our carry-ons, since you are not guaranteed that your luggage will be in your stateroom before dinner time).

I tried to stick to the Carnival Spa menu in order to stay semi-good about my nutrition, as I'd been doing before the cruise.  So I ordered Fresh Fruit with Mango Coulis as my appetizer, Tilapia with carrots (which had WAY too much ginger for my taste) for dinner, and a Chocolate Molten Cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  I said semi-good, didn't I?  ;)

Knowing that Geo had gone wine tasting the day after the Napa show, I asked him how it went.  He had such a great time and bought so much wine that he couldn't remember any of the names of the places he went.  He started to make up names.  I offered up one of my favorite words, which another bass in my life used very often back in college: "Shangalangadingdong".   He repeated it.  Several times.  I was ecstatic.  I love George.  

George told Sandra that Joe, Liz's hubby, is his dad.  Liz explained.  We asked them how they met each other.  They met each other on plentyoffish.com.  Sandra didn't know what Rockapella was, and when Geo told her that they sing without instruments, Sandra said, "You guys must suck!"  She eventually changed her mind in Napa.  :)  

Then it was time for Sandra to ask questions.  Since she was still shy with us at the time, George asked us for her.  

1)  How many shows have you been to?  (Me:  Less than 100, but I don't know).

2)  What keeps you coming back?  (Karla:  "5 sexy men."  Fred said:  "5 sexy men and me.")

Geo and I talked about BoyzIIMen no longer having a bass, and my missing it.  It turns out that he was asked to come back to the group after Michael left, but Rockapella was there, and he's happy that he stayed with the Pella. 

Geo asked us, "Have I impressed you guys yet by eating with a knife and fork?"  Yes, George.

Geo talked about writing "No Pressure".  He said that Scott had asked all of the guys to write a song.  Geo didn't know what to write.  He was at a Wal-Mart and a security detector kept going off.  They didn't stop another guy who also got buzzed, but they stopped Geo.  He transformed his "All I want to do is _____" into "All I want to do is dance" and the song was born.  Then we all started dancing in our seats, singing to ourselves, "Excuse me, officer...."  OK, maybe it was just me, Geo and Wendy. 

During dessert, Geo said he was a gentleman because of the way he drinks his tea, pinky up and all.  Have I told you that Geo is hilarious?  

I gave PellaPosse shirts to all of the guys, except for Scott, who was a no show, because, APPARENTLY, he was sleeping.  Thank goodness it wasn't the night that he was supposed to be at our table, or I would have been irritated.  The people at John's table wanted a shirt, but I didn't order that many.  I met John's wife Christina.  

Steve was very excited about the shirt because I had told him about them back in January.  At that time, he asked, "You're *making* shirts?!" incredulously.  I told him, "I'm not *sewing* them."  On this day of the cruise, I had given the shirt to him folded up and taped with his name.  He said, "Is this the shirt or the cape?"  I told him that it was the shirt.  (More on the cape another day).   I met Steve's parents, and told them that I only remember one word in Armenian, even though I have several co-workers who speak the language.  Steve's mom has given me the permission to call her "Achik".  :)  I told Steve's dad, Steve A, that Steve gets his Flirty Flirty Eyes from him.  Steve A said that they're old now from overuse, but doesn't need them for Ginger (Steve's mom) because she's easy.  Cute.

JT told us to go to Bingo and Welcome Aboard and Trivia.  He was going to go all out on the cruise, since it's his first one, too.  We talked about our doors.  Ross said that JT had pictures of us on his door.  I said that JT doesn't even own a camera.  JT asked if the conversation would keep going if he just kept quiet.  Probably.

We went to the "Welcome Aboard" show, which featured dancing, singing (by women with a big opening on their chests showing off their ample cleavage), and an MC whom was also our Cruise Director.  We'd see CD George (or Jorge, if we see him after 5pm) several times during the trip whenever we turned on our cabin TVs.  The show included a guy dressed as "Fun Ship Freddy".  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.  We didn't stay for the whole show.  It was late, and we were tired.

We skipped Bingo and Trivia and went back to our cabin to sleep.  What an exhausting and exciting day!

Next up:  Fun Day At Sea