Blake Shelton & Friends Cruise Day 4

Day 4 of our 7 day journey, stop / port number 2 was in St. Thomas another Virgin Island. We had a snorkel / scuba dive excursion booked for today. We were looking forward to it and pretty excited but unfortunately that didn't last to long. 

We took a windowless taxi bus across the island to what we were told was a private beach that only local residence come to. (and of course the tour we were on) We were broken down into 4 group and we were number 3 I think. We were able to snorkel around the area were we were while we waited for our turn to scuba dive. After pretty much fully exploring the area around us, we saw the first group of scuba divers coming past us. That's when it accrued to us that we were going to be scuba diving right were we were snorkeling. Which mint we weren't going to be seeing anything different or remotely even worth wild. The sea life was extremely sad, we saw a few colorful fish swimming around and a few random creatures but nothing overly exciting.  

Our tour guide / instructor was so rude and really had no clue what she was doing. She was extremely bossy and talked way to much. This was a first for Nancy & I but Sarah had scuba dived before. She was telling our guide about it her experience in Hawaii and she basically said "yeah well that's there and that's not how we do our beginners course". She was extremely snarky and had way to may rules / policies that she didn't even follow. We enjoyed our time together the 3 of us but it really didn't go much further than that. 

 She had showed us a hand signal to make if we were having problems or if our ears were bothering us. Well unfortunately my ears started giving me problems, I tried fixing them like she showed us but it just didn't help. She told us to tell her (not the others in our group) and she would go with us to the surface. I tried toughing it out for a bit but finally it just became unbearable. I make the hand signal to her twice, while she was looking right at me. Let me tell you she just gave me the "ok" sign and kept going. I was so frustrated, I was almost in tears it hurt so bad. 

I slowly made my way closer to the top of the surface and it kind of helped a little. Only to come back down for a picture with the girls. I couldn't get all the way down though, I blame it on the frustration of my ears and the heavy crap on my back. I think I would have enjoyed it more if we would have had a better instructor and a better place to dive. 

We weren't the only ones complaining about how awful we though she was. The others on our tour were as well. In fact we ended up canceling our excursion for the next day because if it was anything like today we didn't want to waste our money. 

We did have some fun with it, so it wasn't a complete loss. 

 Back on the ship and ready for the evenings show. I absolutely love this picture of Nanc. and I :) 

  Up on the main stage was the all time famous Neal McCoy.

Let me tell you the man can dance, he's got moves like you wouldn't believe and for being as old as he is that's pretty impressive. He completely stole the show and rocked the ship. He by far put on the best show the whole week. Many times we said the cruise should have been called "Neal McCoy and Friends Cruise" I can't wait to see him again next year on the cruise. (fingers crossed all goes well and he's back again)

 The nights not complete with out a bottle of wine and a couple mixed drinks. The bartender outside the show door asked us if we wanted her to go ahead and get the bottles of wine and have them ready for when the doors opened. Is it sad that they know us all to well, not at all.....she got us our wine. :)

 Enjoying the evening with the Spouse & Nick. 

 The guys who ran security at the main stage were awesome. We got to know a few of them and would hang out with them early into the mornings after the last show. They had a tough job keeping all the crazy fans back behind the reserved seats and from coming down front during the show to take pictures. It made for some good laughs and great people watching. 

Matt with the hat is Nicks (above) brother. He was the main stage production assistant. He ran the stage if you will and helped put everything together, so each show went off with out a hitch. He had to manage getting each band / artist's equipment on and off stage and set up. We wanted to show them all some love one night so Sarah made these fabulous signs that we held up through out the show. We got a few laughs and thank you's out of it. These guys worked far to hard with little appreciation. 

 Larry & I from "Her & Kings County", who doesn't love a curly mess of hair. lol Their band was more of a rock-ish-country mix, with 5 guys and a girl. They are actually coming to the South soon and I'm hoping to try and make it out to see them. 

In the Bliss lounge that evening it was a silent night dance party. Pretty much what that mint was everyone wore head phones and the music played through them vs through the speakers in the lounge. So you had people out dancing on the dance floor, in their own little world to the songs played in there head phones. Everyone was listening to the same thing, but standing in there in the moment and its dead silent but you have people on the dance floor makes it pretty comical. Nancy and I got out there and danced to the Cupid Shuffle and did a little country two steppin but that was about it for me. It was hard to keep them on when you were dancing, I kept having to pull them back up. You would see other people kinda head bobbin to the beat and some singing along. It made for some good laughs. Surprisingly enough it was actually a big hit and went over pretty well. Thankfully though they only did it that one night. 

I've never heard of a silent dance party before, have you??? 

MY BOOT!!!!!

Well not mine, but Nancy's......although that's what we heard for about 30 minutes after this catastrophe happened. Us and everyone that we came in contact with on our walk back to our room. 

Walking to dinner we ran in to our friend Steve. He told us w just missed him doing the worm. Darn that would have been a sight to see. Some how something came up about a splits competition and Nancy just couldn't say no. We did cheer and encourage her on a bit. I'll have you know the mom of 3 has still got it!!!! Bam she was down with no trouble at all. 

Minutes later she was up and we were headed to the dining room for dinner and that's when the melt down started. Some how her boot broke when she got up or down from the splits and she let us know about it and everyone around. I think the alcohol from the show had a little help on the dramaticness. Needless to say we had a little fun with it. 

If you asked her, she wouldn't think it was all that funny. She was so mad / upset / tipsy add this all together and you get a very teary eyed mistress and overly funny spouse. The complete bottom of the boot came off. Thankfully they weren't knew, she'd had them for a while. Still didn't help the situation any though. 

We parked it on a window seat to kinda help her gather her thoughts. It probably wasn't the best place to sit, with a bar right in front of us. She got some crazy looks, she let them all know really quickly what happen and told them not to do the splits because there boot would break. 

While I tried to help her hold it together and calm down a little Sarah was off on a hunt for help. Super Glue or simply something to attach it back together. It was only day 3 and we were going to have a even bigger mess on our hands if she was bootless, after all it was her idea to bring them. 

I love her so much but seriously how can you not laugh at that face. She was really really sad about it, like I said I think the alcohol had some thing to do with it, at least a little. 

While Sarah was on a search for help we went outside to get some fresh air. She still proceeded to tell everyone we passed about what had happened.  

We met Sarah back in the room, shortly after there was a knock at the door. It was SAM, we don't know Sam. All we know is that he came baring Super Glue and saved the night....the trip really. They had a carpenter on board the ship but he was already off duty for the night so Sam was going to try and fix her boot. I think he used almost the whole bottle and you know what it worked!!! Back together good as new, no more tears. 

She had to get a picture with Sam for coming to the rescue, and thanks to the Spouse for helping save the night. The dramatic madness was over and we could go to dinner!!! 

I love these girls, its never a dull moment with them. We always have so much fun together. 

They did both remind me that I'm now the only one that hasn't had a shoe catastrophe while we've been out some were together. I hope to keep it that way to, at least as long as I'm in my good shoes. 

Blake Shelton & Friends Cruise Day 3

Day 3 on our Blake Shelton & Friends Cruise included our first of four stops.

I've never been to any of the ports we stopped at through out the week, so seeing new places was exciting. Although the excitement ended quickly. The ports weren't all that great, our first stop / port was San Juan, Puerto Rico. We didn't have a excursion booked here, the plan was just to walk the city and check it out. We had lunch at a local joint and did a bunch of window shopping. It was a gloomy kinda day, as it was raining right as we were getting off the ship. The rain cleared up but still the city wasn't that great, it really didn't have much to offer. Some really old buildings, neat architecture and coloring. It seemed run down in some areas, not at all what I would have pictured to be a cruise ship stop. We made the most of our time before heading back to get ready to see Lee Brice later that evening. 

We walked past this neat little hole in the wall coffee shop when we first got off the ship. I was a little hesitant when we walked in because I don't drink coffee but though hey what the heck. The server was super nice and quite funny. The Spouse & Mistress order a coffee and myself I ordered a Hot Chocolate not being a coffee drinker. The guy working behind the bar was so kind enough to offer a PG, PG-13 & R rated picture for our drinks. You all know you've seen those drinks with drawings on top of them. Ya well this guy was a pro and quite funny about it as well. Nancy, checking out the scenery. She's so pretty!!!!! Love her!!!!

 

Our Ship, NCL Peal 

Ready for another night of music, dancing and drinks. Listening to the fabulous Lee Brice, all dressed up with our boots on, ready to rock it. Seriously there's never a dull moment when we are together.

Lee put on a pretty good show!!!! Definitely kept us on our feet through out most of it!!!

He even brought Jerrod Niemann and Tyler Farr (who preformed later in the week) up on stage and a few other people to help him sing a song. 

The Spouse & Mistres!!!!

LOVE THESE GIRLS!!!!!!

The pictures below are of us and some friends we made on board. Top left is us with "Chatty Cathy", I don't remember her name for the life of me. She sat next to us the 2nd night I think it was and chatted the entire time. Like seriously she would not stop talking. She was so sweet but had story after story to tell. Bless her heart, she was there with her Cousin. Her husband of 40 years couldn't come on the trip for whatever reason. She ended up sitting by us every night from here on out. Every time we saw her around the ship she always called us "her army girls". She was a true country music fan and loved loved Trace Adkins. Top Right is Nanc. with Marcus, he was one of the Security guys we ended up getting to know and hang out with. Bottom left is us with Matt, main stage production manager. He had  such a fun personality, we ended up calling him Matt with the Hat. I don't remember the guys name in the bottom right picture but he was one of the guitarists in Lee Brice's band. After the show Sarah wanted to tell him that she liked his hair. She said that normally she doesn't like guys with long hair but that his worked really well. 

We ended the night in with drinks and dancing in Bliss Lounge of course but before we made it there we ran in to a little catastrophe. It deserves it's own post all together to get the full effect and story!!! Coming Soon ~ the story of Nancy & her Boot!!!! 

Blake Shelton & Friends Cruise Day 2

When you go to bed well after 3am in the morning waking up at 10:30am almost 11:00am still seems early. We made our way up to grab something to eat. Thank goodness the lunch buffet had just opened when we got up there. After that we found a great seat front and center poolside. There was a couple different things going on and it was the perfect time to catch some rays. First up the fabulous RaeLynn from the Voice. I've heard of the show the Voice but I've never watched it. Apparently Blake was the one who ended up voting RaeLynn  off the show, (or however it works). Now she has started her own group and is working her way up in the country music industry. She's written and recorded many songs with Miranda Lambert and Blake himself. She was seriously cute as a button and as sweet as a pea. For 17 years old she's got a lot going for her. Lip Stick covered mic and all. (you would only get that if you watch the show or were on the cruise.) After RaeLynn performed Blake did a Q&A on the pool deck. Some of the questions people asked were pretty funny. It was fun to hang out and hear him joke around and have fun with us all.

Nancy and I decided to give the pool slide a spin, we went together arm and arm. There wasn't a sign that said we couldn't do other wise so we went for it. It was so much fun. I thought we were never going to make it to the end because there was so many curves. This definitely wasn't our only time down, we made good use of the slide. One great thing about this cruise, there went any kids at all. I think we saw total maybe 5 yes FIVE kids all together on the whole ship. 

Love these girls!!!! We've been through so much together and know matter the distance we'll always be  together. Soaking up the sun while cruising the Caribbean sea. This was Sarah's (the spouse's) first cruise but Nancy and I had been on several prior to this one. By far this was the best one!!!!

Tonight was our night to see Blake Shelton, our show that is. Of course we loaded up with drinks and lots of laughs to make for a wonderful evening. I actually got in to a slight argument with Blake while he was on staged. We were sitting in the 2nd row again and when he started talking about how awful Texas was and that he was from Oklahoma. It was pretty funny, and we all got a good laugh about it. Later that evening when we were at dinner most of his band was seated at the table across from us, when they went to leave we were talking to them. That's when one of them said "hey your the girl from Texas, that was in the show tonight". Yup that was me standing up for the Lone Star State. A few other people through out the week mentioned something about it as well. It made for a great story, and lots of laughs. :)

Blake Shelton doing his thing!!!

We got a copy of the set list for tonight's show, it pays to make friends with the production crew and security. 

          

 Just a few of the music artist we met that might and some other friends we made!!!

Top Left: Leah from Brandon & Leah                  Top Right: Chuck Wicks (with the TX hat on)

Bottom Left: Larry from "Her Kings & Counting", Chris (production assistant main stage) & Nick brothers, we met Nick when we were boarding the ship.     Bottom Right: RaeLynn (from the Voice)

Some body had to go to the bathroom, all those drinks were running right through her. Seriously some of the funniest pictures of us all together are the ones taken in the bathroom. Love her!!!!

Girls just wanna have fun!!! Love these two to pieces, no one else I'd rather have gone on this trip with then them!!!!!! Just hanging out having fun after a long day of making memories, dancing our feet off and meeting tons of fabulous people!!!! 

We went and saw Leah and Brandon tonight. Steven (Chris's brother, percussionist) had seats front and center for us to watch the show. She by far hands down has a beautiful voice, and really knows how to work the audience. She would fit right in, in Hawaii. Super sweet with a bit of sass in her personality, cute and perky for sure. I'd defiantly go see them again if they came any were near were I happen to be. 

They were really excited to see the towel animal!!! Sarah was more so, she had waited so long to see them. Sadly he was taken from us the next day when our room was cleaned. We named him and everything. (I don't remember his name though.)

Pajama Party!!!!! Room 559!!!!!!

 I forget why, but for some reason Steve stopped by our room so of course we had to make good use of him being there and had him snap a few pictures. He was pretty bummed he missed the PJ party memo lol. This was well after another 2-3am dinner date at the 24 hour cafe. We turned it in to our nightly routine after we left Bliss. Bliss was a after hour lounge, everyone seemed to gather there to end the evening. Everyone that could stay up that late, that it. Lots of dancing and drinks continued here, lots of  good times and memories!!! 

And that's still just day two of seven, we haven't even made it to our 1st of 4 ports yet. More to come!!!