What to Expect: AJs Blackjack Tournament

This past cruise was the first year that AJ hosted a blackjack tournament and I went into that event totally lost and unsure on what to expect. So I wanted to let you know how it works as best I can in case he decides to do this event again. Keep in mind I am not a blackjack expert in any way shape or form.

Overview from Rose Tours

Ever dream of playing blackjack on the High Seas? Ever dream of playing blackjack on the high seas with one Mr. AJ McLean?
 
Well, here is your chance.

On Sunday, Oct. 27th, AJ is hosting his first ever Backstreet Boys Cruise - Blackjack Tournament.

For just $25 dollars (payable to the casino host on-board), you can have a chance to play in the grand finale with AJ. The top six chip winners from the qualifying rounds (starting in the casino at 10am) will test their skills against AJ himself.

The three players with the most chips will win cash prizes. The player with the highest amount of chips will also win a very special BSB Cruise prize! 

Submit your name, email address and dining time below. We will randomly select among all entries. You will receive a schedule with your table time in advance.

Commemorative Poker Chip

Should You Play?
In my opinion there were fans of all different levels of playing experience. Some girls had never played blackjack before, but just wanted to chance to play with AJ. And others who clearly know their way around a blackjack table. But  just because you don't know how to play or don't think you're good enough, I still think you should try it if you'd like. Just don't let the fact that you're less experienced stop you, because I guarantee other fans are just as new to it as you are. Blackjack is pretty easy to learn and a quick youtube video can help teach you. I personally consider myself somewhere in the middle. Going into it, I knew the basics, but I needed a refresher on when to split, double down, etc. 

Signing Up
Once you decide if you want to play, you need to sign up to participate. They first announced the event in the itinerary, which was released about 2 weeks before the cruise. In that email, there was a link to sign up for the tournament. So if this is something you'd like to participate in, keep your eyes peeled for that email from Rose Tours and make sure to sign up.

Notification
I was notified via email from Michelle at Rose Tours about 4 days before the cruise. From what I can tell, I think everyone who entered got picked. Lets face it- its easy money for them so I don't know why they'd turn anyone down. In this email, there was a schedule on what time you would be playing and what table you'd be at. 198 girls were selected to play. They had games being played from 10am-1:55pm on the last day of the cruise.

Checking In
When its time for you to play, make your way to the casino. You'll need to visit the cashier in the casino to check-in and pay for the tournament, which will go on your sail and sign card. It costs $25 to participate. At that point find your assigned table and grab a seat!

Even the tables were BSB themed!

Tournament Rules
Everyone will play 7 hands of blackjack and everyone starts with $1500 in chips. You do not compete with just the girls at your table, you're competing with everyone- so all 198 people who signed up and theoretically might play. Granted at my table only 2 of the 7 people showed up. I think a lot of people last minute changed their mind or were preoccupied because the tournament overlapped with the meet & greet. But don't stress, the dealer will go over all of the tournament rules beforehand. I found our dealer very understanding and patient with less experienced players. With 7 hands and only 2 girls at my table- the whole game couldn't have lasted much more than 5-10 minutes.  

Winning
In order to win a spot to play with AJ later in the day, you need to have the most money in chips at the end of those 7 hands. There was a board up front near the cashier that kept track of the top players throughout the day. Just so you have a sense, here were the final scores from the 2013 cruise.

1. $14,000
2. $10,200
3. $8,400
4. $6,900
5. $6,600
6. $6,200
7. AJ :)

The top 6 contestants got to play with AJ in the finals. The first place prize was $500 and the second place prize won $250. Though I personally think playing blackjack with AJ would be a prize enough!

Commemorative Poker Chip

Finals
Unfortunately I don't have any insight on how the finals that were played with AJ went. That event overlapped with Kevin's cover story and unfortunately I couldn't be in 2 places at once. If any past cruisers have an additional info they'd like to share, please post below. I'm curious too :)

Strategy
I am no blackjack expert, so I'm not going to even go down that path. But I will say that's its important to look at the winning amounts from last year. And definitely take a look at that board before you sit down. You need to know how aggressively to play. You only get 7 hands and $1500 in chips. If you only bet $100 a hand, you can do the math and quickly realize even if you got blackjack all 7 hands, there's no way you could compete. My personal MO was "go big or go home." But that's just me. Clearly it didn't pay off like I was hoping.

Good luck!

What to Expect- Debarkation

Sadly all good things must come to an end. I don’t even like to think about leaving the cruise, but we all know it’s inevitable. Let’s start with the basics. In case you’re new to cruising, debarkation is basically leaving the ship. The process actually starts the night before we arrive back in Miami. Sometimes the cabin steward will deliver special luggage tags to your cabin along with customs forms. Staying organized the night before will help make the process go much smoother in the morning so make sure you take a look at all that stuff.

The morning we arrive back in Miami, expect a very early wakeup call, probably around 7 or so. The captain or cruise director will come on the loudspeaker to start making the announcement that we’ve arrived in Miami and that essentially it’s time for us to leave. Room service is generally not available but breakfast will be served in the main restaurant as well as the buffet. After you eat, there really isn’t much to do but sit around and wait in one of the lounges for your number to be called. Once you’re called to leave the ship, have your custom forms ready. If you’ve chosen the general debarkation, you can pick up your bags which will be organized by color or number. If you’ve chosen self-assist debarkation, just continue on through and make your way home. Which brings me to my next point. It's important to know there are 2 options for debarkation: Self-assist or general debarkation.

Self-Assist Debarkation- You take your own bags off and leave whenever you want.

You should choose this option if you don’t have a lot of bags and you are able to carry them off the ship yourself. Also choose this if you are in a rush to get off the ship to catch a flight.
Pros- You keep all your stuff with you until you leave. Don’t have to worry about packing your luggage before you head off to dinner on that last night.
Cons- Can be burdensome carrying all your own luggage off the ship.

General Debarkation- You put your luggage outside your door the night before you arrive back to your home port, and the cruise line will carry the luggage off for you. You will have an assigned time of when you can leave the ship.

You should choose this option if have bags that you are unable to carry yourself off the ship. Think of this process as checking your luggage on a plane. The cruise line will handle getting your bag off the ship for you and you will pick it up later at the terminal.
Pros- Don’t have to worry about your bags in the morning.
Cons- You are restricted on when you can leave the ship and you are without your luggage the morning that you leave. If you choose this, make sure you think about everything you will need the next morning and don’t pack it! This includes a change of clothes, medicines, toiletries, etc.

Which Method I Prefer

Personally, I ALWAYS choose the self-assist debarkation option. In my mind it’s just so much easier. I just take my bags with me when I leave and can do so at my pace. My concern with the general debarkation is that I always fear that they will lose my luggage. While rare, I’m just paranoid about that. Also, I don’t like waiting around for my number to be called when most everyone else just leaves at their leisure.

Another thing you want to think about when leaving the ship, make sure to say your goodbyes to your friends the night before you leave. I unfortunately made the mistake last year of not doing this, and missed on saying goodbye to a lot of my friends. Trust me, that last morning there is just too much else going on. First you will may to settle your bill from the trip. Though if you setup your account in the beginning with a credit card, it will automatically be charged so you don’t have to do anything. The only reason you might have to go to the purser’s office is if there is a mistake with your bill, or you paid cash and need to reconcile the differences.

I also found myself running around that last morning trying to grab a quick breakfast, attempting to find friends but failing, and of course packing.  You will inevitably be shoving last minute items into your suitcase, and of course they won’t fit as well as they did on the way in. So that becomes stressful in itself. You’re also aware that you have a flight to catch and depending on how early you booked it, you may be rushing to the airport. And most importantly, you’re probably trying to find one of the backstreet boys to steal one last precious glimpse before you leave. Keep in mind, this is all happening around 7 in the morning after you were probably up until 5am the night before (if you were lucky enough to get any sleep). Definitely not my favorite part of the cruise.

So this post is just about as much fun to write as I’m sure it is to read, but when the time comes you’ll be glad you have the info.

What to Expect- Game Shows

This is a tricky entry to do because we had 2 game shows last year, and I presume we will have a different set of game shows for the upcoming cruise as well. I fear that whatever information I could share based on last year’s cruise will not be relevant for the next one. So bear with me on this, and I’ll do my best to make sure I don’t bore you with irrelevant info.

Last year they had 2 different game shows combined into 1 mega session. The entire event lasted about 1.5 hours with a brief intermission to change the set. The first event was a Family Feud game and the second was the She’s a Dream dating game. For those of you who don’t know how to play Family Feud, don’t worry because Nick was up on stage and admitted to not knowing how to play either. So you aren’t alone. But in case  you were never sick as a child and had the chance to watch reruns of Family Feud, the game is basically split into 2 teams where you are given a question and have to guess the most popular answers based on poll of 100 random people. For example: Name the Most Popular BSB Song. Answers might include- I Want it That Way, Quit Playing Games, All I Have to Give, etc. You will most likely not get too many points if you pick a song like Roll With It.

Family Feud BSB Style

The cruise did this game Backstreet style and selected 4 girls from the audience to compete against the 4 Backstreet Boys- with all of the questions pertaining BSB. The part that I enjoyed most about this game was that we were emailed a few weeks before the cruise and we were asked to answer about 20 questions, which were then asked during the game show. This allowed the audience to feel part of the game, even though they were not actually called up on stage.

The second game was the She’s a Dream dating game. This was based on the Dating Game show and for the Backstreet version they had 1 BSB on stage at a time with 3 of his potential dream girls. I actually found this not quite as exciting to watch (unless you had a friend up on stage) because all the Backstreet Boys had to do was ask the girls questions and the fans were the ones who had to come up with the witty responses. They asked the girls various questions or to do their best Backstreet dance. My view of this event would have completely changed if I was actually on stage, but from an audience perspective it was not all that exciting. I’d probably rate this as my least favorite event of the cruise last  year.

Brian taking over Howie's Dating Game

Okay, so I’ve provided a quick rundown of last year’s events. But I’m sure you’ve got to be asking yourself- How do I get up on stage? Good question. Last year there were members of the Rose Tour staff scouring the auditorium before the event started to randomly select girls to go on stage. I noticed even the president of Rose Tours, Hal Roseman, was in the audience and selected a girl 2 rows in front of me. It didn’t seem like they did anything special except be there early and get extremely lucky. I’m always torn if I would actually want to get selected. And it’s not that I don’t want to have the opportunity to play with the Backstreet Boys, but I’m incredibly shy and HATE being up on stage. Let alone with my dream men. I fear that I would be way too nervous.

They have not indicated what the games for the upcoming cruise are. Frankly they still haven’t announced that they would actually do a game, but I’m hopeful they will. AJ has hinted at a few ideas they’ve been kicking around like Whose Line is it Anyway or Pictionary. I think Pictionary wouldn’t be very exciting to watch. They need a game that lets the boys really showcase their personality and give them the freedom to adlib.

What to Expect- Concert

I was debating if I should even do a post on this because there really isn’t that much of a difference between a regular concert and the concert on the ship. But humor me here as I still go ahead and ramble about the cruise concert for another 5 paragraphs.

Last cruise the concert formula was:  This is Us show + I Still – Backup Dancers + a Fan Proposal = Fantastic show as always. I thought the boys did a great job seeing as how it was their first performance on the high seas. They tried to warn us if they messed up it was due to the waves.

This is Us Concert On Board the Destiny

What will be different this year is that they will have to do two different concerts. Unless of course they decided to do a mega concert on the beach or lido deck instead. Or perhaps do multiple concerts if we’re uber lucky. The other thing that I think is on everyone’s mind- what concert are they going to do? They just came off the NKOTBSB tour, but I don’t see how they could bring that tour to a ship. Obviously they would be missing 5 guys, but even if they just took their portion of the show, I still think it would take a lot of work to adapt their choreography to a completely different stage setup since there would be no room for a penis stage.

There are rumors flying around that they would do an acoustic show on board. I’m torn on this. I would love an acoustic show because its something you don’t get to see very often. And the last acoustic show I went to in Miami I absolutely loved! But part of the reason I think I enjoyed it so much was due to how intimate it was and the fact that the boys did Q&A throughout.  I doubt they would do that on the cruise if they still have a separate Q&A session. The only reason I would be slightly disappointed with an acoustic show because there is nothing like seeing one of their live high-energy stage shows. I want that adrenaline rush!

There are also rumors that the fans may get to pick some of the songs they sing. I would be so thrilled if they let us do this. We may not all agree on exactly which songs we DO want to hear, but it seems most cruisers agree on which songs they DON’T want to hear- mainly being their singles, which we’ve all heard countless times. As much as I would enjoy this approach, I don’t know how effective it would be because our boys  seem to have a little trouble remembering lyrics to some of their songs.

Just for grins, I decided to come up with my dream set list just in case Rose Tours emails us with some crazy contest that one fan can pick the set list. I know this will never happen, but you’ve been humoring me the whole post, so bear with me a little while longer.

My Dream Set List (In no particular order)

• Poster Girl
• Don’t Want You Back (Millennium version with the poles)
• Shining Star
• Get Another Boyfriend
• The Answer to our Life (I haven’t heard this in a while and would love to hear it in concert again)
• Back to Your Heart (Such a pretty song. Though we’d need to bring Kev back for this performance)
• Climbing the Walls
• Everybody (One of their few classics that I don’t seem to get sick of hearing in concert. Nothing gets me more pumped than when they sing “Backstreets Back Alright!” )
• If I Knew Then
• Incomplete (Love AJs part in this song so I had to put it in there)
• Song for the Unloved (Such a pretty song; I don’t think this needs any further explanation)
• Love Is
• The One (Another one of my all time favorites)
• Set it Off  (I think this would be a fun one live)
• Something that I Already Know (Because I felt jipped they didn’t put it in the Unbreakable tour!)
• Treat me Right
• Solos
• AJ- London (Unless this is your first visit to my blog, you already know that I would  practically give up my first unborn child to hear AJ sing this live. I really have an unhealthy obsession with this song)
• Nick- I Got You & Burning Up (I couldn’t pick my favorite Nick song, maybe he could do some sort of mashup even though those two really don’t go together at all)
• Brian- Welcome Home
• Howie- 100 Kisses

Okay, I got way off track there. But at this point we have nothing confirmed on what concert they will be doing.  But I know I’ll be happy with anything they come up with.

What to Expect- Deck Parties

The deck parties were probably the best part of the cruise for me. Just a great energy with all the fans and the Backstreet Boys themselves. Most of the deck parties started after 11pm so it would allow you plenty of time after dinner to get changed. Each deck party had a different theme, which were just recently announced. As a reminder, the themes this year are 80's night, PJ party, and Prom night. You can definitely expect everyone to be dressed up according to the theme, including the Backstreet Boys. Most everyone participated in some way. Some outfits were a lot more involved than others so you don’t have to feel the need to go all out, but I would highly recommend you do something related to the theme or you will probably feel left out.

The deck parties tended to last about 2 hours (weather pending of course). They take place on the lido deck, but note that the pools and hot tubs are closed at that hour. There was not any food at the party, but the bars were open. If you do get hungry, there is food available at other locations around the ship. Overall think of a deck party as an after party, but like 20 times better. They would play a good mix of current music as well as Backstreet Boys songs. They even played some new stuff for us from their upcoming albums, which was awesome! The Backstreet Boys hosted the events from a private area on a balcony above us. The Imagination is set up a little differently than the Destiny so I don't think it will be quite the same. In between songs they would engage the fans by asking questions or just goofing around amongst themselves. There would occasionally be some lulls in the action, but for the most part they were pretty engaged. They would also sing along to many of the songs or ad lib some dancing. And on Masquerade night they also threw some beads into the audience. Maybe they will have more free little giveaways for us on the upcoming cruise. It was all unscripted and just a lot of fun to watch them and be a part of the excitement.

From day one Nick prefaced the entire cruise by saying that if we just act cool, they would come down and party with us. That clearly did not happen. Some of the guys made attempts to come and interact with the fans, but people were still too intense, in my opinion. I’m really hopeful that by the next cruise, most fans will have gotten out of their system so as a group we can be more relaxed and have the guys chill with us.  Brian tried to come down once and just walked through the deck to see the fans. He was mobbed so I don’t believe he ever came back down. Howie maybe came down once. Nick came down to the bar on both international luv night and masquerade night. He would ‘bartend’ and interact with the fans. AJ also came down the bar several times and made his way through the crowd to get us pumped up. He was arguably the bravest of the bunch.

A handful of fans were able to hang out on the deck above us with the Backstreet Boys, if they had a VIP bracelet. As I noted in a previous post, it appeared as if they didn’t get too much VIP treatment except that they were a little closer and did have an open bar. I also noticed that the boys would occasionally go over to them and interact a bit, though they were still roped off. I was perfectly content where I was with the majority of fans because I felt like I had a better view and was actually participating in the deck party rather than watching from above.

Some of you have expressed concerns over the crowds at these events. Personally I was never bothered by the amount of people. I feel like I had enough space and never felt like anyway was on top of me. I could leave my spot to go to the bathroom or grab a drink and return with no issue. The only exception to this was if a Backstreet Boy was nearby. If you get claustrophobic, there are plenty of good spots for you on the upper deck away from the majority of the crowds and you will still have a great view. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate the crazy factor of these events at about a 5. I've been at events far worse than a deck party, but you are still dealing with drunk girls near the Backstreet Boys thus some sort absurdity is inevitable. Lets not forgot about girls diving in the hot tub and revealing their backside to the whole ship in order to grab some masquerade beads from the boys.

It’s hard to actually describe these events because it’s like nothing really happened, but yet so much did happen. It’s one of  those things that you have to experience for yourself to truly appreciate how amazing it was because its tough to capture the vibe in writing. I can't wait for the deck parties this year and am praying that the weather cooperates with us!

What to Expect- Cabins

A cruise cabin is not quite like your average hotel room. It’s very similar but with a few subtle nuances of a difference so I wanted to give you a quick rundown of what to expect with your cabin.

Standard Oceanview Cabin

Most importantly, depending on which deck and which cabin you booked, you will generally find the room to be smaller than your average hotel room. It’s completely livable, but not quite as spacious as you would hope for. The cabins have all your standard hotel items- seating area, tv, storage, desk, beds, etc. Most will have twin beds, which you can push together upon request if you’re traveling with a significant other (or you just like to be cozy with your roommate) If you have any more than 2 people in your room, don’t be alarmed when you only see 2 beds in there upon first walking in. Any remaining beds will actually pull out from the ceiling, to create a sort of bunk bed.  However they are generally not pulled down during the day so the room doesn’t feel as cramped.

Other points of note. There is a safe in the room if you want to lock up your valuables. I’ve never actually used it before but its operated with your credit card or a driver’s license. In the room you should also find bathrobes. If you like them, you can purchase them to take home, but they are free to wear during your stay on the cruise. There is generally 1 or very few outlets in the room. Plan accordingly.

There will be a TV in the room that generally broadcasts a few of the major US networks (ABC, NBC, CBS), several channels with ship information, and 1 or 2 movie channels. I find that they work better when you’re in port, but not as well when you’re at sea. Another nice feature of the TV is that it is interactive. You can now check your shipboard account from the TV, order room service, and order pay per view movies. But when you’re on a Backstreet Boy cruise, the only channel you really need to worry about is the Backstreet Boy channel.

Oh the bathroom….what to say about the bathrooms. Cozy does not even begin to describe the bathrooms. It can only fit 1 person, and I wouldn’t even say 1 person comfortably. You can practically take a shower, brush your teeth at the sink, and go the bathroom all from the same spot in the bathroom. While cozy, it does have everything you need.  If this is your first time on a ship, be warned the toilet flushes different than what you’re used to- remember you are on a ship. Basic toiletries will be provided every day including a shampoo and conditioner dispenser in the shower as well as soap. They may have a few other goodies in there as well. Most bathrooms are also equipped with a hair dryer, though its notorious for being pretty weak. So if you need a heavy duty blow dryer to look your best for the boys, Id suggest bringing one from home. One other tip with the bathroom is that there is generally a clothes line hidden in the wall of the shower that can be pulled out to hang wet clothes.

You will have cabin stewards clean up your room twice a day. Once in the morning to make your bed and replenish toiletries, towels and such. And once again in the evening before you go to bed they will turn down you room, which is where the cabin steward basically gets your bed ready for you, puts a chocolate on your pillow, and turns your towel into a fun sort of animal. In my cruising experience, the cabin stewards are usually fantastic. You rarely see them actually in your room, yet every time you return to your cabin its spotless. My only tip when it comes to cabin stewards is that they will be in your room at least twice a day so just be cognizant about leaving valuables out in the open. And not even just valuables. There job is to keep the cabin clean, so sometimes they will move your things around which may cause some confusion later.

Towel Animal!

While I’m rarely in the cabin, the key times that you will actually find me in there are when I’m sleeping or getting ready. Discuss with your roommates what their shower schedule is. My biggest piece of advice when it comes to the cabin is to coordinate getting ready with your roommates. There really isn’t enough room for more than one person to get ready at the same time, plus there aren’t extra mirrors and outlets. So for example if you all wanted to shower and change before dinner, I would suggest you assign times for people to get ready. 5:00- girl #1 gets the entire cabin. 5:30- girl #2 gets the entire cabin; etc.

My last tip for you interior cabin folks is to take advantage of the cruise channel that is a live feed of the outside of the ship. Otherwise you have no concept the weather outside when you’re getting ready. I like to keep this channel on overnight so I can still wake up to “sunlight” and not oversleep. Otherwise that cabin is pitch black and you have no concept of what time of day.

 Standard Interior Cabin

What to Expect- Downtime

Not every second of the trip will be planned out around a BSB event, though I wish it was ;) Thus there will inevitably be some downtime. I did find that a majority of the time was spent either at a BSB event, or getting ready for a BSB event, which didn’t leave all that much time to relax. But I did have gaps of time that I had to fill with something.

During my downtime I would typically grab some food or a drink and just chat with friends. Another thing you can do if the weather was cooperating was to hit up the pool/hot tubs. Both of these activities had a high likelihood of spotting a BSB, which only made it that much more enjoyable. You could also go to the casino and try your luck at the tables or slots. If you like to shop, the cruise has several little shops onboard. If you enjoy sports, there was a basketball court on board as well, where Brian was seen playing with his son.

If you're feeling particularly healthy, you can hit up the gym or go for a nice walk/run around the promenade deck. Take in some of that lovely ocean air.

As for night life- there will be some sort of lounge or club with music. There will also several bars around the ship. Both of these can be a lot of fun. But just be warned that the ratio of girls to guys will be slightly askew. The Backstreet Boys also made frequent appearances at the club.

Another thing to consider is that we will be docked in Nassau for practically the majority of the trip. Another way to kill some time is to get off the ship and explore Nassau. I'll do a future post on things to do in Nassau.

A less fun, but practical idea- since the Backstreet Boys will be doing every event twice, it also presents a good opportunity to take a quick catnap while the other group has their event. Good way to catch up on some sleep while not missing anything.

BSB Related Activities During your Downtime

If you want to make sure eke out as much Backstreet as possible during your trip, here are a few BSB related activities to do during your down time.

• If you have a few hours to kill, I would definitely recommend taking a friend and a camera down the halls of the cruise ship and look at door decorations. Even if you don’t have a few hours to kill, I would highly suggest making time for this because I really enjoyed it.
  
• Another suggestion if you've got some time to kill- swing by the BSB merchandise store. Even if you don't intend to buy, still fun to look around.
  
• If you’re looking for a more relaxed activity, there’s nothing wrong with chilling in your cabin and putting the Backstreet Boy channel on. Normally I don’t like to sit in the cabin during the day if I can help it, but I can’t think of a better reason to stay there.
  
• Meet other fans. Lots of fun, cool people to meet around the ship. So why not meet some fellow BSB fans during your down-time?

I doubt anyone could ever be bored on a Backstreet cruise, but hopefully these ideas will make sure of that. Definitely not a shortage of things to do!

What to Expect: Q&A Session

I loved this event! I didn’t realize it beforehand, but it turned out to be a comedy hour. There were points I was laughing so hard, there were tears rolling down my eyes. I think this event is for the most part self explanatory but for those who didn’t get a chance to go on the cruise last year, I still wanted to provide a quick rundown of the event so there aren’t any major surprises. I’m also assuming they will do this event again, but of course there are no guarantees.

First thing to note, everyone has an equal opportunity to ask them a question. You will be emailed about a month before the cruise and asked to submit your question. For those who want to be exact, last year we got the email a month and a week out. The email stated “Got a Question for the Backstreet Boys? During the Q & A session with the boys, we will be randomly selecting from among the questions you give to us. PLEASE SUBMIT ONLY ONE QUESTION PER PERSON. MULTIPLE ENTRIES WILL RESULT IN ALL QUESTIONS BEING DISREGARDED.”

There is no need to get to this event early because you have assigned seats and all the questions have already been submitted. That always makes any event more relaxing. When it came time, the boys leisurely strolled out and just sat on 4 big chairs facing the audience. The entire event was very informal, which is another reason I really enjoyed it. I feel like they are more themselves in this type of setting. Plus this type of event is something that I’ve never been before. I’ve done concerts, I’ve done after parties, I’ve done meet and greets, but this was a first for me.

BSB During the Q&A

Back on track… The Backstreet Boys were not the ones who picked the questions, it was their manager Jen reading them aloud. Jen had her big stack of all the questions and she would read them to the boys. She would also make a point to state who asked the question and the person would just stand up while it was being asked. Unfortunately you don’t get the mic to ask them in person or get the opportunity to go on stage or anything of a sort. But I found that I enjoyed this model because they were able to get through more questions. Plus I liked that Jen could pick which questions were being asked. Otherwise I feel that people tend to go a little overboard, declare their love for the guys, and ask what I call ‘throwaway questions’. I guess it’s just a pet peeve of mine when fans ask “When are you coming to insert their country name here?” I like the questions that elicit a more creative response.

Which brings me us to the next subject- what sort of questions did fans ask? Well, I’m glad you asked. I can’t take credit for pouring through youtube to compose this list, so thank you Chrissy for doing the work for me! This list is not comprehensive, but close to it. I'’m also paraphrasing on the questions here.

• Describe your experience of being a Backstreet Boy in one word.
• What do you do during your days off?
• What are the best ways to deal with those forgetting the dance steps/lyrics moments?
• What are your guilty pleasures?
• What do you do when you hear a BSB song on the radio? Do you sing along or change the channel?
• If you were drag queens, what would your stage names be?
• Is there any place in the world that’s on your list to visit that you've never been to?
• We all have our favorite Backstreet Boy, so who is your favorite BSB?
• If the members of New Kids on the Block were hanging off the edge of a cliff and you could only save one, who would you save?
• Do you have any marriage advice? And PS- Nick when is it your turn?
• What is your favorite song to sing?
• What do you miss about the early years of BSB?
• Boxers or Briefs?
• Which female celebrity would be your hall pass/freebie?
• What’s the most rockstar thing you’ve done?
• What is your favorite unreleased song?
• When are you visiting our cabins?
• What are the future plans of BSB?
• Which of the 7 deadly sins are you?
• What is your favorite home cooked meal?
• Are there any unreleased songs that you wished would have made it onto an album?
• If you were to go on a cruise of another artist who would you pick?
• Who would you want to meet dead or alive and what would you ask them?
• Do you have any regrets?
• What could you not live without?
• What is the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked?
• What is one song that you sing that no matter how many times you sing it, its like the first time.

Hopefully this helped give you an idea of what people asked. And hopefully this sparked some clever questions for you to come up with. I’ve been brainstorming but still can’t come up with something I’m happy with. I want it to be unique.

If I recall correctly the entire event lasted about an hour and 20 minutes. And I loved every minute of it! I'm really looking forward to the q&a session this year, should they do it again.

What to Expect- Beach Party

I thought the beach party was so much fun last year and I’m really looking forward to it this year as well. I’m anticipating a much larger crowd because it is included in the cost of the cruise so everyone should theoretically be there, and it will be a full charter. The 2011 beach party will also be taking place at a different beach, thus I’m not sure how similar it will really be to last years. But I will still provide a high level overview of what to expect based on the beach party last year.

Last year if you signed up for the beach party, you were given a ticket upon check in. On the day of the beach party, there were 2 groups and you were assigned a time to congregate in the main lounge at which point you swap your ticket for another wristband. After a little bit of waiting, everyone was escorted out of the main lounge, down through the ship, outside, through the little town, and finally to a batch of buses that was waiting to take us to the beach.

After a 15 minute ride or so to the beach, we arrived and there was a Mexican buffet waiting for us along with an open bar. It took the Backstreet Boys a while to show up, so most people took advantage of the bar, food, and beautiful beaches while they were waiting.

Nice setting to wait for BSB to show up (Especially compared my normal sketchy dark alley after a show or the cold cement while its raining before an open seating concert)

Once the Backstreet Boys showed up, the rest of the afternoon flew by. They had a little stage set up, but no chairs or anything. For the most part you had to stand. It was very informal. It made it slightly difficult to see at points, but the guys seemed to move around quite a bit that even if you didn’t have a great view of the stage, you would've had a great view for other activities.

The guys first got settled and didn't even go to the stage for maybe 20 minutes or so. Once they did get to the stage, they played twister and brought up around 5- 10 fans to play with them. There didn't seem to be any special trick to getting on stage. The only downside to this activity was that it was a little difficult to see because they were all pretty low to the ground playing twister. The most interesting thing about this was that the winner won a platinum VIP. I thought that was just an amazing prize. I don't believe the other events offered anything quite as big.

Brian playing twister

Next Nick and AJ ran off into the ocean, with plenty of screaming girls following. I have to assume that wasn't a planned activity, but that was absolutely enjoyable. While Nick and AJ were in the ocean, Howie and Brian started up a game of limbo on stage. They again brought maybe 10 or so fans up and did a quick limbo game. To be honest this wasn't anything super fun to watch. I'm sure if I was on stage I'd be singing a completely different tune. We were essentially just watching Brian and Howie hold a stick. But you know Brian, he's able to bring life to any event. Plus I'd really be content watching them do just about anything, so I don't know what I'm really complaining about.

Howie and Brian playing limbo. You can also get a sense of the crowd (Though I think the majority of people were chasing a topless Nick and AJ down the beach. Myself included)

After the limbo event, Nick and AJ got back up on stage to pick fans for their tug of war match. I enjoyed watching this more so than the other events because both Nick and AJ got SO into it. They both made pretty funny faces. The limbo event was just about wrapping up when the first group had to leave for the buses. Thus I unfortunately missed the volleyball game that was going on when I left. And fon't even get me started on missing this... I don't think its fair that the second group got to stay longer after we left. I think the Backstreet Boys should have left when the first group did, but nothing I can go back and change. I might somehow try to be in the second group next time or even cab it back.

AJ playing tug of war

Nick playing volleyball

So there you have it. Beach party in a nut shell. Each group had about 4 hours on the beach. Overall just a fun afternoon in the sun with friends and the Backstreet Boys. I'm interested to see if they'll do something similar next time or perhaps switch up the dynamic. But how can you go wrong with the Backstreet Boys on the beach?

What to Expect- Dinner

A Typical Carnival Dining Experience

Dinner was a lot of fun. I should first point out that you have several dining options for dinner. You can eat at the lido buffet, in the main dining room, order room service, or any other place around the ship you choose. I would say the majority of the people eat in the main dining room so that is what I’m mainly going to cover in this post. If you choose the lido buffet to eat, the entire restaurant is usually not open, but there will definitely be a part of it open. Usually they serve very similar to foods as the main dining room, but it is in a much more casual setting.

In the main dining room you can expect a seated 3 course meal that includes an appetizer, main entrée, and dessert. The early seating begins around 6:00pm and the late seating begins around 8:30pm. Dinner typically lasts anywhere from 1.5-2 hours. They typically have 3-6 choices of each course, and they do cater to special dietary restrictions. You just need to inform the maître d beforehand. I’ll most likely do a more in depth post later about the food.

In the dining room, they have tables of all sizes available ranging from 2 seats to around 10 seats. On the past cruise it was open seating, thus you could pick wherever you wanted to sit. I enjoyed sitting at the larger tables so we would have the opportunity to meet new people. This is always a gamble though, but considering we are all Backstreet Boys fans, ideally there should be less of a risk of sitting with a ‘dud’ than on your normal cruise.

Spirit Dining Room

Once you were seated, you can expect a head waiter and assistant waiter to be serving you throughout the evening. Your head waiter will take your order, make recommendations, and serve your food. Your assistant waiter usually does drinks, bread, and clean up. You will also have a few other people stop by the table including a sommelier- who is in the wine steward. You will have a cocktail waitress come around and take any other specialty drink orders. Sometimes the maître d will stop by just to see how things are going. And then you will probably have photographers making their way around the room to take pictures of you individually and/or the table as a group.

They do offer a variety of different foods, which change daily. They also have some basics that will be available to you every night. I would say the quality of the food is good, not great. But obviously that is subjective because apparently Brian hated the food. I didn’t mind it, but I’m also not very picky. Carnival is also known to be the fun ship so as they are serving dessert, the waiters will typically to do some sort of song and dance number. That’s always a lot of fun. Another thing to look out for is formal night. They typically have 1 night on every cruise designated to be formal night. You will see people get a little more dressed up than normal. Speaking of getting dressed up…let me quickly provide a quick run-down of what you should wear in the dining room.

Dinner Attire in the Dining Room

From Carnival's Website:
Cruise Casual Dining Dress Code: Gentlemen - Sport slacks, khakis, jeans (no cut-offs), dress shorts (long), collared sport shirts; Ladies - Casual dresses, casual skirts or pants and blouses, summer dresses, Capri pants, dress shorts, jeans (no cut-offs).
Not permitted in the dining room during the Cruise Casual dinner for ladies and gentlemen: shorts, gym shorts, basketball shorts, beach flip-flops, bathing suit attire, cut-off jeans, sleeveless shirts for men and baseball hats.

Cruise Elegant Dining Dress Code: Gentlemen - Dress slacks, dress shirts. We also suggest a sport coat. If you wish to wear suits and ties or tuxedos, by all means we invite you to do so. Ladies - Cocktail dresses, pantsuits, elegant skirts and blouses; if you‘d like to show off your evening gowns, that's great too!
Not permitted in the dining room during the Cruise Elegant dinner for ladies and gentlemen: shorts, gym shorts, T-shirts, beach flip-flops, bathing suit attire, jeans, cut-off jeans, sleeveless shirts for men, sportswear, and baseball hats.

Not so typical Carnival Dining Experience- Dining with BSB

The big question- do the Backstreet Boys dine with us? On the last cruise, yes they did. I honestly don’t expect that for the 2011 cruise, but maybe we will be pleasantly surprised. Since everyone ate at the same time, the Backstreet Boys were able to join us for dinner during the late seating. They had their own private section in the back of the dining room where they ate with their friends, family, and staff. They would typically show up a few minutes late, but stayed for the majority of dinner. They were known to walk through the dining room past fans to get to and from their table, say if they had to use the bathroom or step out for a moment. Though they seemed to take a backdoor, crew entrance to enter and leave. Security blocked off access to the area where they were seating, but for the most part I thought fans were pretty respectful. I did see a few girls try to sneak in, but not much besides that.

Not all Backstreet Boys were present every night. The number of BSB members present at dinner seemed to dwindle as the cruise progressed. By the last night I believe only Brian and Howie came. From what I understand, Nick and AJ ate upstairs at the buffet. However when Nick and AJ were present, they each got involved during the mini performance at dessert that the Carnival waiters put on for us. That was TONS of fun.

AJ dancing with Jessica at dinner (That's me in the lower left)

Since the Backstreet Boys ate with us and it was open seating, you could obviously guess that getting to the dining room early was important. On the first night, my friends and I lucked out picking a great table not knowing what was in store. As the cruise progressed, fans caught onto the fact that the boys were there and where they were seated. Thus in true Backstreet fashion, it did get rather ugly. Fans were lining up earlier and earlier. I’d say by the last night people started lining up 45 min to 1 hour early. That part did not bother me. But what did bother me was that some fans got very pushy and sneaky. They were cutting in line, pushing, cutting off wheelchairs (which really disgusted me), sneaking in to “ask the maitre d a question” then not get back in line, even sending men from their groups in early to go stake out a table and save seats. I personally got very frustrated by the whole experience. I hope that if the Backstreet Boys do eat with us this year, that Rose Tours brings some order to this process. Whether its assigned seats or having security present in line to monitor people.

Overall, great experience dining with my friends and the Backstreet Boys. Should they choose to eat with us again this year, I would be thrilled, but I’m not counting on it. If they choose not to eat with us, I will look forward to a much more relaxed dining experience.

What to Expect- Photo Shoot

I thought it would be a good idea, especially for those new cruisers, to do a series on 'what to expect' for each aspect of the cruise.

So I'm going to start out with the photo shoot because I get really excited thinking about meeting the Backstreet Boys, and you should too! I figure it would be slightly more fun that starting with something like debarkation. I don't even want to think about that because its too depressing.

Okay lets dive right in. Last year they split us up in 2 groups for the photo sessions, and your group was determined by the color of your wristbands. The wristbands were given to you at the time of check in, and they also determined your seating in the main lounge. It's tough to say if that will change this year or not since it will be a full charter. If we want to base it on how New Kids' worked- they also had 2 photo sessions even with the full charter. One for each group. Thus I imagine they'll stick with 2 groups so as not to over-complicate things.

Last year they were supposed to have the first session for black and blue wristbands, and the other session for all other colors. This initially generated some panic because people had already figured out their groups for the pictures, but their friends may have had different color wristbands. Not to worry though. Rose Tours was incredibly flexible switching the time of your photo session, as long as you had your group ready.

The photos were with the 4 Backstreet Boys (obviously) and 8 fans. Lets pray they don't up that number this year. I felt like the constant buzz around the ship was who you were taking your picture with and which BSB you wanted to stand next to. In the end, Im happy that my group turned out perfectly. Everyone was able to stand next to who they wanted. If you don't have a group, or even only have a partial group, Rose Tours was available to assist. As the line of people grew and grew, you would see Rose Tours staff walking through making sure you had a group of 8. If you didn't, they would pluck you out of line and yell for other groups who needed "x" number of people, so as to match you up. So if you care about which BSB you stand next to, I'd recommend going in prepared.

People were lined up pretty early to get their picture. I didn't stress too much about this because I knew I was guaranteed a picture and I didn't want to waste my time in line. It didn't matter to me if I was first or last. The line was crazy long. It started on one end of the ship and went pretty much straight to the other end. Once the doors opened, the line moved very quickly. This is one event that I thought went very smoothly, unlike the acoustic show pictures. Once you approached the door, there was a security guard punching holes in your wristband, on the exact same spot for every person. I thought this was a good way to do it. Otherwise my mind was wandering.what if I just rotate my wristband, or perhaps hide it all together to see if I could sneak in another picture. Not that I would actually do this.but I'm sure Im not the only one who thought that way. I guess more than anything, it reassured me that other people weren't taking advantage of the system by getting multiple pictures.

People Waiting in Line
The line continued...

Anyway, once you're in the door, the line continued to snake around the room so you could see the boys while you waited those last 5 minutes. This allowed me some extra time to calm myself down until we made it up to the front. The staff very clearly indicated that no hugs were allowed, just handshakes. Some girls would still sneak in their hugs, but I respected the rules because I know they had a lot of pictures to take. I hope they still allow us to do handshakes this year. One more thing- They also had a few of the Backstreet Boys kneeling in front, so you just have to make sure that no one is standing in front of you blocking your picture. On the flip side, if you're in front, try to be respectful of those behind you. I definitely saw a few ruined pictures that way. And unfortunately the photographer will not give you a second picture, you only get one shot.

Typical photo shoot.

Once our group finally made our way to the front, it was really all a blur. You really only had like 5 seconds with each BSB. Just enough time for your quick handshake and maybe a few words. Then you quickly have to go stand next to the Backstreet Boy you wanted to stand next to. I just remember so much going through my head at that moment.. "OMG I'm meeting the Backstreet Boys!" "Oh geez, I hope my hand isn't too sweaty as I go to shake their hands" "Don't trip or say anything too stupid" "Make sure I say everything I planned on saying" "Now I changed my mind and want to stand next to Nick" "No, no, I'm standing next to AJ. The other girls would kill me if I changed my mind now" "Oh crap, I need to go run to AJ before they take this picture" "Does my hair look okay?" "I hope I don't seem as nervous as I feel on the inside" "Well, maybe now I want to stand next to Howie" "Oh my gosh, Im standing next to AJ" "Oh no! Brian is in front of us blocking us in the picture" "I can't push Brian out of the way, what do I do?!" "Calm down, AJ is still standing next to me, does it even matter if the picture doesn't come out perfectly?" "Yes, yes it does! I need to get Brian to move!" "Okay good, he finally moved" "Photographer is counting down. Alright, lets make sure I don't screw this picture up" "Make sure not to blink and make sure I'm smiling nice and big" "What, we're done already?" "I don't want to go!" "Let's hope the picture turned out okay" "Phew!"

My photo session and that's me in the back next to AJ!

Oh gosh, I get all anxious just reliving that moment. Hopefully this year will go a bit smoother for me. So after the picture is taken, you are quickly directed out of the room and just left to take it all in.

What to Expect with Embarkation

This list is a collaboration from myself and Chrissy. I think between the 2 of us we covered most everything...I hope!

• Get there early! While the ship will not leave until later that afternoon, often times they will let us on board as early as 11. Today for example, my brother indicated the passengers boarded at 11:15.
  
• Cannot officially begin until ship is clear of departing passengers. The timing we board all depends on this.
  
• Very similar to an airport in terms of security and documentation procedures. Not nearly as strict though with limitations on liquids and such though.
• You'll want to decide whether or not you want to check your luggage or if you'd rather carry them on yourself. You either carry your bags around for a few hours until they let you to the room, or risk not seeing your bags until later that evening. I usually opt for carrying on, but thats just my personal preference.
  
• If you do decide to check your bags, the first people that you will encounter at the pier is baggage handlers or porters to carry your checked luggage to appropriate place. These are not cruise line employees and the do expect a tip ($1-$2 per suitcase). Be sure the ship’s luggage tags are securely fastened before handing them over.
  
• Once inside the terminal you might encounter a check in line.
• You will be asked to produce documents and any forms that were sent to complete ahead of time or a printed copy of those forms filled out online. You'll need proof of citizenship and a credit card or cash deposit for Sign and Sail Card.
• You will be issued your Sign and Sail card - this is your boarding card that doubles as a stateroom key and ship board charge card.
• Health forms-You are required to fill out health forms during the embarkation process before they give you your room key. You will basically have to check a box that says that you haven’t been sick or been near anyone sick in the past week. They take this very seriously, as every once in a while you hear of a cruise that was infected with the norovirus. While I don't want to condone lying on this....I would highly recommend you say you're healthy unless you truly are sick with something contagious. Last cruise I went on, my friend checked the unhealthy box because she had a mild cough the prior week. We ended up waiting a few hours in the port for the nurse come to look at her, while everyone else went on board. Not ideal. My brother also told me that one time their featured comedian indicated he was sick on this form, and after the nurse checked him out they wouldn't let him on the ship. So they didn't have an entertainer that night lol. Im just saying, check that box with caution as they may not let you on the ship. Let’s hope one of the Backstreet Boys isn’t sick!
• You may have to wait in line for all of this....be patient! Which also goes back to tip 1, which is why I recommend getting there early.
  
• Once you’re all checked in, you’re given a group number which is the order in which you will board, and you basically sit in this large room waiting to get on as they call off numbers.

• Finally the anticipated moment has arrived- they call your number and you're ready to board!! You will pose for an embarkation picture taken by cruise photographers - no obligation to purchase.
• One more picture, but this time for the security officer. This is a digital image linked to your Sign and Sail card. That way whenever you enter or leave the ship, they know its you.
  
• There will be restricted access to cabins until a specified time so I refer you to my previous post on 'What to do First on the Ship'