Blake Shelton & Friends Cruise Day 7

Our last day at port / sea we had breakfast while waiting for the rain to pass before we got off the ship. Just as we were finishing up Neal and his family came and sat down for breakfast at the table right beside us. 

We posed for a picture and he did a little photobombing. 

Funny story before we took the picture we were talking about asking him to photobomb our picture. Once we finally braved up the guts to ask him, he had no clue what it mint. Neither did his son-in-law that was sitting with him. So we explained what it was and he was happy to play along. It was pretty funny, we all got a good laugh out of it. He's a really nice guy, and from Texas you can't go wrong there . 

Looking out over the Bahamas from the ship, the rain had finally cleared up so we headed in to town. 

After the rain let up we ventured off the ship and into the city. No real game plan, other than a stop by Senor Frogs because the Spouse had never been before. As we walk through the side walk we over hear a local guy talking about city bus tours. He called himself "Show Time" or "The King" we stopped to hear him out and see what he had to offer. He was wearing this crazy hat and seemed really energetic. After much discussion and going back and forth on what we were going to do we decided to take him up on it. After all it was only $25 and we'd probably see more this way vs. just walking around. He told us to hang tight while he went and got his van. Shortly after he returned with music blaring, out he came blowing through a sea shell calling for "THE ROYAL FAMILY". We all looked at each other and laughed, what the heck have we got ourselves into. We loaded up along with another family (who had taken his tour in the years past) and were on our way. He drove us all through the town and showed us the most happening spots. It was crazy how many people were fishing and had set up stands to sell their daily catch. The economy was very sad, beautiful in places but very poor in others. We stopped off at a local beach to take a few pictures and look around. Not some were I'd be rushing to go back to, but at least I can say I've been there. 

Our little group with "Mr. Show Time" on our lovely random bus tour around Nassau. 

After the beach stop we made our way through some residential areas. We stopped at a local gas station that sold beers 3 for $5, which apparently is a really good deal for them. Nancy and Steve got something to drink. I myself am not a beer person, a few sips of Nanc's Smirnoff was all I could take. She was going old school. 

We went to a local food truck were Mr. Show Time got out of the van and told us all to hang tight. We were a little nervous about what he was doing. Not sure if he was taking himself a lunch break of what. When all of a sudden he came back with food in hand. I am not one to try new food, I'm not adventurous at all and I don't eat sea food. I couldn't not try it though he was so nice to stop and do that for us and he seemed really excited about it as well. I don't know that we ever got a name out of him on what they were. It seemed like some form of a hush puppies inside was mini shrimp. I picked around the shrimp and ate some of the breading. It was ok, not great but at least I tried it. Back on the road but not for long we stopped off at another place. Once again he told us to wait here and he'd be back. He returned with a tray full of drinks which he passed out along with a bottle of Gold Rum. He poured a decent amount in every ones cup, had to share the goodness. Golly, the mixed frozen like drink tasted good before the alcohol. I wasn't quite ready to start drinking yet, guess I didn't have much of a choice. After mixing it up really well you couldn't taste the alcohol at all, this could either be a good thing or a bad thing if you had a few of them. 

We finally made our way to Senor Frogs. The minute we stepped out of the van we were bombared by locals selling us bracelts for a donation. It was quite the sight, so comical. I think it was Sarah who made the comment on how we got robbed. We really had not choice but to say yes and buy one or two. I mean they had already slipped them on our wrist without us being able to object at all. 

Once inside it was quite the show, with four ships in port it was packed with loads of crazy people. It would have made for some great people watching hands down. Sarah was a super sport and did a jello shot or two. We all enjoyed a drink in their giant "yard" cups before heading back to the ship. Talk about a major brain freeze trying to finish it off before boarding. At least S can finally say she's experienced Senor Frogs. It was more of a mellow one compared to once I've been to in the past. 

There was three other ships along with ours in port. Ours was on the very end, left side of the picture. 

This guitar along with one other one was signed by all of the different artist aboard the ship and auctioned off at the end of the week. All of the money raised went to two different charities. The one that I remember was the "Wounded Warrior" foundation. :) 

Going out with a bang on our last night was Trace Adkins. 

To me he didn't seem very personal, just first impressions though. He does have a really good voice and put on a good show. I knew he was really tall but didn't realize how big his arm muscles were. Not to mention his pants, seriously I don't know that they could have been any tighter. I over heard a few comments about how some people though he might get them custom made. Who knows.....

After dinner we headed to the Spinniker lounge to hear "Her & Kings County" play. We'd met several of the band members through out the week and hadn't had a chance to hear them play yet because we always had something else going on during their show. 

Shot's to top off a fabulous week with two great girls and the new friends we made. It was by far the best cruise I've been on. I don't know that I'll ever be able to go on a regular cruise again. I mean it just wont be the same. 

Group picture with "Her & Kings County" after their show!!! I'd say they were more on the rock / country rock vs. straight country. Still not to bad of a group, they're coming to the South soon so I think I might try and go see them. 

We ended the evening in the atrium listening to some of the different bands and artist. They were having a jam session, were they all got together and snag different songs and sang together.

It was a great week. I couldn't of picked two better people to go on this trip with and all the thanks goes to the Mistress aka Nancy for suggesting it last September. She comes up with the craziest idea and this one by far was a good one. I can't wait to do it again next year. I was so sad to see it come to a end. Having to part from the girls as we went our different ways and say our "see you soon's". I was so excited to get back home though and see my love. Being away from him for so long this time had been tough, it had definelty taken a toll on me. 

Best girls trip for sure!!!! Love you Spouse & Mistress!!!!!!!

Boarding the Ship!!!! 

Getting the party started!!!

Us with Neal 

A little loven with Trace

And some good times with Blake!!! 

Blake Shelton & Friends Cruise Day 6

A day at sea to relax and catch up on some sleep and rays by the pool is pretty much how we spend our day. A couple different people were lined up to perform at the pool so we put our suits on and found a spot right by the stage in the pool. Still feeling a bit sickly from the night before I didn't get any pictures from the day. I was on a water diet for the morning / afternoon as well when it came to liquids. I needed to save myself and fully recover so I could enjoy the night lol. 

On to the evenings so was Easton Corbin, he did a really good job. He was kinda funny because he does this little thing with his eye brows. If you've ever seen him in person, or probably on tv or on line even I'm sure you know. It was kinda cute. He's only 30 years old but looks even younger than that with his little baby face. 

Two of the songs that he sings that I like are "Roll With It"  and "Don't ask me 'bout a woman". Of course there's other's but those are just a few that come to mind. 

Randomly again I didn't get any pictures of us during the show. There were drinks involved, so that might of had us preoccupied. 

After the show we grabbed some dinner, walked through the Chocolate buffet made us a plate to take back to the room for later and changed back into our swim suits. 

Neal McCoy was doing a late night show 11pm pool side, of course we weren't going to miss it. We found a hot tub with a few open seats right near the stage and enjoyed the show from there. He danced around the pool, all the way up the slide (there for a minute we though he was going to go down it). He of course put on a great show. Towel throwing and all. He interacts a lot with his audience which is always fun. He closes every one of his show's with the same song, he told us this tonight. The other night when we saw him in the main theater he sang "I'm Your Biggest Fan" at the every end and I got all choked up, tears rolling down my face and all. I was really missing my husband. So tonight when he sang it again I had a lump in my throat, its different when we choose to be apart from each other vs. when the army separates us. 

After the show and our hot tub adventures we went back to the room to change again so we could go out for the evening. That's when we saw this little guy, another towel animal. 

Meet Randy, another friend we made on the ship. He was going all country tonight for sure, with the short shorts and all. It was quite the sight. He rocked it well though. 

We decided to try our hand out on bowling aboard the ship. Lets just say the lanes might look straight and all but with the slight rock of the ship we kinda sucked. ALOT!!! I do not blame it on the drinks at all. Nope Not doin it. Making Memories with the Mistress, she's such a doll. 

Who makes the hat look better.....ummmmm its a toss up.....I think the faces say it all. Steve, the life of the ship for sure!!! Everyone knew him!!! 

Elevator party, headed to get some yummy food.....well into the morning!!! 

Another fabulous day / night coming to a end!!

Blake Shelton & Friends Cruise Day 5

Day number 5 on our 7 day Caribbean cruise we stopped at Tortola. After a long night last night we sleep in, as we did most mornings. We had just enough time to get off the ship and grab a bite to eat at a local joint and see a little of the city. The city was really run down and honestly not much to it. The stops on our cruise weren't the greatest at all, the music artist made the cruise by far. You could stay on the ship the whole time and never get off and have a blast still. 

When we got off the ship and we asked one of the locals were a good place to grab something to eat at and he suggested Pusser's. Sounded kinda odd but we though we'd give it a try. Walking in what we though was the right direction turned out to be the wrong way. I asked a local if she knew were the place was, totally botching the name I'm sure and she pointed us in the right direction.

It was packed as soon as we walked in, that had to be a good sign right. We were quickly seated and ordered. I will say the service was by far awful, we waited for ever for our food, drink and even refills. When we would ask for something you would think we were being unreasonable, by our waitresses reaction. Come to find out when we got our bill the tip was already included. Yup even for 3 people it was already added in. So they didn't need to go out of their way to serve us, they were getting paid good regardless. It was kinda disappointing in a way. I will say the food was really good, we ordered Nachos as a appetizer. They came out in a huge tin can dish, I think we could have made a meal out of those alone. 

I saw the hubby's all time dream car while walking around the city, of course I had to get a picture for him. It's a Land Rover Defender 90.

Once back on the ship we went and hung out at the pool for the sail away party listening to Brett Eldredge and his band play. I've heard of so many of the artists that played on the ship but I've never seen any of them play in person so this was pretty awesome. He did a great job and had a really good voice. 

We hung out in the pool a bit before heading to our room to get ready for the evening. Trace Adkins was finally on board and we were scheduled to meet him and have our picture taken with him along with all the other main artists on board. Jerrod Niemann, Easton Corbin, Neal McCoy, Lee Brice, Randy Houser.  

Somebody is ready for the evening, don't you think. 

Tonight on the main stage was Jerrod Niemann

Enjoying the show together, the best friends a girl could ask for in this crazy Military Life we live. 

He put on a pretty good show, and was able to get the crowd going. 

Had to share another one of us, considering it the only one we got of the three of us together that night. The Spouse put out a challenge and lets just say I lost early on and spent the rest of the evening passed out in bed. If we weren't super close before this trip (we really were lol) we definitely were after for sure. The things you will do for a friend, or should I say the things they will do for a friend!!! Love you girls!!!

We may or may not have finished off that 4th bottle before the show ended. honestly I don't remember. 

Remember Chatty Cathy aka Grandma that I told you about a few nights ago, well she was lucky enough to sit on the front row this evening. (lucky for her & us) Randy Houser came in towards the end of the show and sat down right beside her. You bet she got some loven in hugs and kisses all the way around. She really was to cute!!!!!

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???