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.

Best Cruise Quotes

Acoustic Show

Fan- “What do you want to accomplish?”
Nick- “We haven’t finished this cruise yet, or even started it, that’s a goal baby.” *Said with terror in his voice*

Brian (during Siberia)- “If you want to talk…you can send me an email.”

AJ (Referring to Christmas Time)- “Is that like the official H&M Christmas song because I hear that in every H&M around the world.”
Howie- “At least some places play our songs.”

AJ- “How do you guys know what hotel, floor and what room we’re at before we get there?!”
Brian- “AJ! AJ! I’ve got an answer to that….I put my location on my twitter.”


Family Feud

AJ- “Sorry, they gave me a mic, what do you expect?”

AJ- “Dude, what did you guys think Howie used to look like?”

Brian- “Did you say long and hard?”

Howie (In response to fans thinking he wore a dress)- “It wasn’t me, you got the wrong Backstreet Boy!”

Name something Nick does on tour.
AJ- “Remember this is FAMILY feud”
Howie- “I know the real answer but this is a family show…Be honest Nick”
Nick- “NO, you're not going to get it from me!”

If not a musician, what other career path would AJ have chosen?
Brian- “A porn star.”
Howie- “A driver of the short bus.”

Dating Game

Brian- “What is your favorite position? Awww….It wasn’t me. G-d forgive me”

Fan- “Te Amo Howie”
Brian- “She said I love you Howie for those of you that need a translation”

Howie- “What is your treasured position and why…Possession!”

International Luv Night

AJ- “How many of you guys want to see Nick naked?”

AJ (in Scottish accent)- “I like my ladies thick, and I like my ladies drunk. But most importantly, I love all of y'all."

AJ- “I mean shit, I’m in a fucking kilt”

AJ- “Now Im gonna go to bed….No I’m not going to bed. But I’m going to be naughty with the wifey. Is that OK? Do you wanna see pictures?!”

Q&A

AJ (on forgetting the lyrics)- “For some reason undone, because I started right before the verse comes in What are the words? What are the words? What are the words? What are the words? What are the words?.....Your words but…. Thank G-d”

Howie- “My autopilot is off. I don’t know what happened. It went off somewhere. Off track.”

Brian- “I can never watch extreme home makeover without crying. It’s like being on Oprah.”

Jenn- “If you were drag queens, what would your stage name be?”
Howie- “We need to talk about this, its not a good question.”
Nick- “I would dress like Elvira… I would have some big you know what’s right here”

Howie- “With these tight pants you gotta wear nowadays and everything, I can’t wear no boxers. They don’t feel good anymore. I’ve gone back to briefs. Its crazy. Tighty whities are my friends.”

Brian- “ We walk around with Nick all the time and we’re like say no to crack ”
Nick- “I’ve got a high crack, man”

Brian (referring to buying 2 cars)- “I was like I’ll take it. The guy was looking at me like, is your dad here?”

AJ- “I would love to go to Greece….We should go down there and put on a concert by the Colosseum”
Brian- “She said the Colosseum is in Rome, AJ”

What do you miss more about the early part of the BSB years?
Howie- “I miss Lou Pearlman’s house”
Fan- “Yeah, but you paid for it!”

Brian- “You cannot take AJ anywhere”
AJ- “Yeah, Brian doesn’t like going to the mall with me.”
Brian- “He walks in like ‘Hi im AJ!’”

Howie- “I actually invited Brian and Nick to the Atlanta Falcons Bucs game the other day.” Brian- “And then you were a dog because you were sending me pictures of field side. And he’s going ‘Wish you were here. Thinking of you’ No you're not! And you're rubbing it in”

Howie- “Actually my house payments depend upon on you guys so I can’t live without you guys.”

AJ (on his regrets)- “My hairstyles period. The one that looked like a dog with the braids. What I was thinking, I have no idea. “
Howie- “Chris Kirkpatrick”

AJ- “Is anyone else feeling nauseous right now? Im sitting here trying to listen to you talk. Just go straight man! Straight! Who’s driving the boat?”
Brian- “I think Kevin is.”

Howie (telling us that they will be in NY for the ball dropping but clarifies)- “I’m not saying dropping our balls. In New York city!”

When a Backstreet song comes on the radio do you sing along or change the channel?
AJ- “It depends on what song it is. If its one that we haven’t heard in a while. Like All I have to Give came on the other day. I listened to it. I didn’t sing along. Looking like a dork…Cant pull up next to a car with your windows down and singing your own song”
Nick- “It’s so funny because I don’t ever hear it on the radio. I hear it in an elevator or grocery store. And its freaken elevator music half the time so I have to listen to it while I’m buying milk”
Howie- “I actually get excited when I hear it in the grocery store. I like want to tell people ‘Hey hey, that's me! In LA especially nobody cares there. Whatever dude. Do your thing. You crazy nut.”

Who is your favorite Backstreet Boy?
Nick- “Um, I kinda like Howie man. Howie’s a cool guy. But…”
Howie- “Stop right there. Howie was cool.”

Brian (advice on marriage)- “Its not 50 50. Its 100 and 100. That was the advice given to me by a friend of mine. I gave it to Howie and I was saving it for AJ. Still saving it for AJ…Because some days you’re only going to have 85% and some days hes going to have to have 125. And some days you're going to have 150... Listen I ain’t doing math for ya’ll”

Nick- “My favorite home cooked meal now is dill salmon, in a poached type of salmon with some really cool complex carbohydrate vegetables. Sorry I'm getting scientific with you. With maybe some brown rice on the side instead of 2 high starch type of stuff. I love veggies so I make sure that its about 20% animal protein…”
AJ- “ I don’t want to follow yours because that sounds really weird.

Beach Party

Brian- “OK ladies and gentleman, the Backstreet Boys are starting their twitter game, Uh twitter..Twister game.”

Brian (hosting twister)- “Anything on anything”

In the club

AJ- “I am the only Backstreet Boy that is awake right now.”

AJ- “So do you guys want to hear some naughty music? I mean really freaky. Like seriously I feel like this is girls gone wild. Everyone keep your clothing on.”

AJ- “C’mon ladies, I wanna see all ya’ll work it like you’ve never worked it before. Work it like you stole something.”

Black & Blue Night

Brian- “Howie was coloring back in the back with his little crayons."

Brian- “You hear it here first…..We’ll see you next year on a cruise near you!”

AJ- “This has been an absolutely amazing cruise. We definitely want to do this again and again and again.”

AJ- “It’s really windy out here isn’t it? We just came from Mexico and now we’re in Chicago”

AJ- “I do like my shirt. We are not Backstreet Boys we are Backstreet men!”
Nick- “You reversed that buddy”

Nick- “Hey, everybody seriously be safe. This boat is rocking. Don’t get too close to the edge. I don’t want to be diving in after you all naked and shi…stuff. But if you want to fall in the pool…well they’re empty.”

Concert
Brian- If they mess up “Forgive us, we’ll call it the boat is shifting”

Recap: Day One

I got out of bed this morning from another sleepless night of anticipation for the cruise. Our goal was to get to the terminal early so we would be among the first to board, and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Backstreet Boys. So around 10:00 we made our way to the terminal.


After checking in, we plopped ourselves in front of the VIP check in area. No sooner than we sat down and get settled that I saw Nick sneak into the VIP check in area, followed by girls rushing over. Thus would start the pandemonium of the next 4 days. This poor couple in front of me asked what was going on. They had absolutely no idea that this was a Backstreet Boy cruise and had a look of ‘Oh oh, what did we get ourselves into?’. Though we pointed out to the gentleman that there would be plenty of young ladies on board which cheered him up… his wife, not quite as happy. I still can’t believe they didn’t tell the ‘regular’ cruisers that this was going on.

Anyway, it was nice to see all of the Backstreet Boys along with their family members board.

Howie and his family boarding

My memory is a little fuzzy, but I believe it was around 11:30 that they started to let us board. This was probably the most exciting part of the trip for me- finally to step board the Destiny with the whole vacation to look forward to. However there was no time to enjoy the moment, as we were whisked away to the main dining room to check in and get our wristbands. My assumptions were correct, I was in Row D, which in reality was the 6th row. 6th row sounds great, but I was way off to the side so unfortunately I had an obstructed view for some of the events. But I still can’t complain, just to be anywhere in that lounge was an incredible opportunity.


Once I completed check in, it was time for some much needed lunch. On the way to the buffet, I ran into Nick at the elevator. What a great way to start the trip! He was in a rush somewhere, thus I decided not to bother him. So I continued my journey to the buffet- where I saw Howie and Brian both eating with their families in the corner. I was lucky to have some friends who snagged a table right next to Brian, so I happily decided to join them. The only downside eating next to Howie and Brian is that I was too excited to eat much of anything. Nonetheless, it was nice to catch up with these girls whom I hadn’t seen in a few months. For the most part, people seemed to be pretty respectful of their space, though there were a few girls who were taking pictures and would try to grab a picture with him. I waited patiently for them to finish eating, Howie ran off pretty quickly but Brian stayed for a while and took pictures with the fans. I was one of the lucky few to grab a picture :)

Me and Brian :)

Ok, so I was on the ship for not even 3 hours and I’ve already run into 3 of the guys and was able to take my picture with Brian. I knew this would be the trip of a life time! And with that, I made my way to the lounge for the Family Feud and Dating Game Show.


I absolutely LOVED the family feud event. I thought it was so funny, with quite a few references to porn throughout the show. I could tell you about it, but instead I’ll just show you a few of my favorite clips:

AJs alternative career paths

Name something Brian would bring on tour...

The dating game was also a great time, but I didn’t enjoy this as much as family feud. I just think it would’ve been more entertaining to see the roles reversed where the Backstreet Boys answer the questions, and the girls ask the questions. My favorite part of this show was when Brian asked the girls their favorite position, just because you could see how uncomfortable it made him.

Brian at the dating game...

No time to rest after the show…we quickly ran to the welcome aboard cocktail party, hosted by the Backstreet Boys and drinks were on them! I had a delightful blue fruity concoction. I probably should have grabbed more of those when I had the chance.


After the cocktail party up on deck, we headed to the Universe dining room to wait for dinner. They opened the doors and at this point it was still unknown if the Backstreet Boys would be eating with us or not. The dining room was empty, but Cory did catch one of the Rose Tours staff in the corner of the room. So we decided to grab a table by her…..just in case. Boy did we luck into the right table! By the time our appetizers had arrived, all of the Backstreet Boys, their family and friends, crew, etc were all just feet away eating dinner from us. We deemed the table “the princess table” since it was literally overlooking the Backstreet Boys. Unfortunately, they decided to reserve that table the following nights for security, so we were the only ones to have the opportunity to eat at that table. I felt so special.

Me and the gals at the princess table

We were very respectful of their space and didn’t take any pictures except for the one above, thus unfortunately I don’t have any better pictures to share. But I had a great view, great company, and a great waiter- Big D. I was still too anxious from all the festivities, and didn’t eat too much at dinner. By the time dessert rolled around, the dining room erupted with the music of T-Pain and Apple Bottom Jeans. Before I knew what was going on, AJ and Nick were rushing past me to join the waiters to dance on the tables. I’m still heartbroken that I wasn’t able to capture that on film, but lucky for me Cory was able to capture a video. Cory, you saved the day!

Not sure why I enjoyed this so much. Just a lot of fun to be a part of

I was too distracted after this to finish my chocolate melting cake, which was probably for the best.

By the time I got back to my room, I was pleased to find a little goody bag on my bed that contained a rubby ducky, masquerade beads, bubbles, a program, a temporary tattoo, glow in the dark bracelets, and a photo of NKOTBSB. Most of the items were pretty cheap, but I suppose it was a nice touch for all the theme parties. I also realized that channel 36 was my dream channel playing Backstreet Boy DVDs and TV show appearances 24/7. As if I already didn't have enough to do! But I thought both of these were really nice extra touches that I enjoyed. Every subsequent time I was in my room, the first thing I would do is turn on the Backstreet Boy channel.


International Luv Night
What a great way to kick off the cruise! Everyone was in high spirits and I think Brian won the best dressed award. He sure as heck beat me on the US costume

Me in my O's gear

Brian showing his US pride

It was great to see what everyone wore. I played it pretty low key and wore my Baltimore Orioles jersey figuring baseball is about as American as you can get. Brian was obviously showing some USA love, AJ representing Scotland with his kilt, Nick decked out in Japan gear, and Howie with his Portugal jacket (ok this one I dont get lol)

There were so many highlights from this night that I cant possible share them all. AJ and Brian had a hilarious dance off trying to do some of their choreography, but failed after numerous attempts. AJ again referenced how much he loved friends by running through each BSB and deciding which Friends character they were most like. They all came down and interacted with the fans on the deck, or at least tried to before getting mobbed. Nick was handing out free shots. The night was just amazing. This is one of my favorite parts when Nick and AJ were on the bar goofing around:

Shot, Shot, Shot

Figuring the night couldn't get much better, I went to bed probably around 4am or so waiting to see what Key West had in store.

Family Feud

Wow, I was so excited to get this email from Rose Tours:

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Backstreet Boys Cruise
2010 Game Show Survey

We are going to have a Family Feud Style Game Show on board with the Backstreet Boys! They will be competing against some lucky fans who will get a chance to prove they know the boys better than they know themselves!

To help us get the best answers to all the questions, please fill out the survey with the first answer that comes to your head! We will tally all the answers, and use them to play during our game show!
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I really enjoyed answering these survey questions. Definitely got me thinking! In case you missed them:

1. Name something that you associate with Howie.
2. Name something Howie might have his initials on.
3. Name something that Howie is embarrassed to admit he has worn.
4. What is Brian's favorite holiday?
5. Name something Brian might bring on tour with him.
6. Name something that Brian can do that the other BSB boys can't.
7. If Nick could live anywhere, where would he live?
8. Besides wash, name something Nick does in the shower.
9. Name something Nick does to pass the time at the venue or on the tour bus.
10. Name one of AJ's tattoos.
11. How many piercings does AJ have?
12. If not a musician, what other career path would AJ have chosen?
13. Name something that you associate with the Backstreet Boys.
14. Name something the band gets annoyed at each other over.
15. Name something that you can always count on happening during a BSB concert.
16. Name the bands favorite National cuisine.
17. What video had the best wardrobe?
18. What video had the best choreography?
19. On average, how many BSB shows has a BSB fan gone to?
20. What is the craziest thing a fan would do to meet the BSB?
21. Where's the best place for a BSB boy to take you on a date?

I don't want to reveal all my answers...but the first thing that I associate with Howie is his winking haha.

While I dont know how they will choose the contestants, I was trying to decide if Id actually like to be a contestant for this. Unfortunately I'm the shy type and I dont like getting on stage. I'd be even more nervous if I was on stage with the Backstreet Boys. But I guess it helps to know the questions they will ask so I could study before hand.