Rock n Roll Music……
light rock .. Classic Rock …
HEAVY Metal Rock ; variety. Hmmmm. Back in the day (my teens), I didn’t listen to much
of what I do now. I liked Bread, Boston,
Peter Frampton, Styx, Pat Benatar, some Meat Loaf, little of this, little of that. If it was ‘good’ music .. you know. . if it was”
top 40” … generally, I liked it. But was
never that ‘guy.’ hard core into music. Back in my Jr/Sr
years of high school, the stoners hung outside school in the smoking areas, puffing cigarettes, and I always
viewed ‘those guys’ as the hard-core rock guys…. Not me.
I don’t even know how to explain what I liked. I tended to lean towards Pat Benatar, Styx,
Bread, Chicago, John Mellencamp. ….. what ‘genre’ is that exactly? To this day, I don’t ‘know’ my bands …. Band names .. lead singers, lyrics…. I’m
just not that guy. But, the last few
years, I’ve slowly been coming around. I
love ZZ Top. Dig Aerosmith. Little bit of Rush. Led Zeppelin.
Van Halen. Older I get, the more
I’m working towards the ‘real’ rock and roll. Even the 'harder' stuff.
Well, back in November we were hanging with the Fosters
poolside in Mexico when Darla mentioned something about a rock n roll cruise,
where a band member they knew from high school over 40 years ago was playing;
Monsters Of Rock Cruise (MORC).
Initially I laughed it off, but it was evident this meant something to
her. So, got me to thinking and researching it. Sounds like a
reason for a good time/party? Let’s
Roll! Within 24 hrs. I’d booked it, then
got nervous until they’d booked it. We
had a cruise planned for a party on the High Seas!
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| Admirals Club |
Last weekend, we rolled by the Foster’s home around 630ish for a passenger pickup,
and we were headed to the airport. As
always, our license plate tags got us free parking, Lucy's’ placard gets us
front row handicapped parking and we’re soon in the Admirals Club.
It’s a Sunday in Texas so no sipping before the flight. Darla just had
knee surgery a few weeks prior, so she’s got a contraption to help her (walker
of sorts) if needed, we’ve all got carry on luggage, and we’re moving
well. Jump on the plane to Miami, few
hours later, we’ve disembarked and
headed to the Moxy Hotel in South Beach Miami.
I’m really digging this boutique hotel, even though the rooms are tiny.
We’ve got killer bars on the grounds, and an awesome restaurant literally
across the street. Sunday
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| South Beach |
Night and
Monday morning …. Perfect. Then, jump in an Uber Suburban and 30 minutes later we’re in line at the NCL port to get on the
ship. BUT we’ve got a problem. Something has happened to a gang plank,
there’s’ a medical emergency of sorts, and we’ve got an hour delay. But, before long, we’re onboard and looking
for the Fosters to connect. Soon, we’ve
got some cold drinks and into our suites to drop off a few things and…. The cruise is on …… our sixth to date.
Our first cruise was in 2004, with family out of NOLA. Great time with family but I wasn’t a fan of
cruises after that one; in fact sort of 'anti cruise.' It’d be around May of 2013, before Lucy and I got on a Carnival cruise out of Galveston and had a
blast. Then the 2020 ETA motorcyclecruise on Celebrity set the bar high.
Number 4 was this past October on Royal Caribbean for the High Seas Rally
which again, set the bar high. Last
month we sailed out of NOLA with a large group of CVMA for an awesome time, but
the weather didn’t cooperate 100%. Now…. Here we are on number six. Damned.
And to think I didn’t ‘like’ cruises.
How times change?
So, here we are ……
figuring out the ship's layout and feels a lil … weird.. wild? Most everyone is in black attire, most
wearing tees with various Rock n Roll bands logos or previous MORC shirts from
over the last decade. Darla has ditched
her ‘walker’ and using the cane she brought so we’re into the mixing figuring
it all out. One thing I’ve got to
mention is we all had the “Deluxe Drink Package’. I believe the majority of folks on the ship did as well. Basically, unlimited (!!) drinks (no cap on qty as Carnival does) as long as
they are under the $15 range…. Which most are unless you’re trying to get high
end scotch or bourbon and even then, just a few bux extra. One thing that will surprise me is .. I was
expecting craziness. BUT I never once
saw anyone stumbling around drunk or acting like an idiot (due to alcohol). Usually there is at least one .. a few… …
… it’s just expected… but nothing. Never say an argument. A fight.
Nothing. Just a few thousand
folks out to have a great time.
This cruise was on Norwegian (NCL) Cruise Line’s JOY, first
for me with NCL. Ship seemed a little
smaller to me but worked for me. The Pool
was tiny, but folks were there for the music, not the suntans for the most
part. You could still find loungers to
get some sun, get in the pool, but most of the time we were looking for more
music to enjoy. Along the way found our
fav ‘spots to hang out, bartenders, restaurants. Must admit, I really liked the layout of the
ship. On Deck 6 and 8 you could almost
walk around the entire ship on the outside enjoying the great views. They had a Cigar Humidor area with ½ dozen
couches and leather chairs to enjoy stogies. Several smoking areas around the ship designated
as smoking areas. Our room on Deck 11 was maybe 60' from the elevators ...perfect. As on most ships, food
was good, and crew were super nice.
First port of call was Great Stirrup Cay which is small island owned
by NCL and the following afternoon at Nassau Bay for 24 hours (!). We skipped the first stop (we should have gone ashore a few hours in retrospect) and on the second, Lucy and I opted for an excursion to Pearl
Island for sunshine and to get the toes in the sand and few dips in the
beautiful blue water. Only gone for five
hours total; perfect amount of time. When we got back, got
cleaned up and ventured around for more tunes. Hardest part was this one or that one? Mid, Aft, or Forward? LOL
Gotta tell you …. Crazy
when there is something like 8+ venues pumping out live music from about 3
dozen bands/singers. There was always
something happening somewhere. At some
level, it could get a lil’ exhausting. But
nothing a good night's sleep and a daily afternoon nap couldn’t fix. I’ve never been a HARD Rock guy but by day
five I was coming around. Not everyone
was like that. A humorous band called
Nerd Halen was doing Van Halen music and dressed like … a bunch of nerds. They were actually pretty good. We got hooked on Sisters Doll from Australia. Great band consisting of 4 brothers ranging
in age from 21-32. Band out of Cali’ is
what got us there since the Foster’s went to HS with the Drummer up in Wyoming:
RhinoBucket. Singer had an awesome
voice, they all rocked, but damned that “heavy metal screaming” was there. Still, after watching them twice, I’d come
around to the music. So much I'm not covering here. Every day/night had a theme that a lot of folks were into. Lot of cool outfits throughout the trip. It was 99% adult, but saw a handful of kids where their parents getting into it all (though the super young ones tended to have ear protection on!). As I type this ..... I'm still decompressing four days later just thinking about the great times to be had on that MORC event.
As always, these trips go by way too quickly. By Saturday, Day 6, we were all ready to go,
but ….. smiling after such as great time. Turned out to be the perfect length. There are a LOT of hardcore returnees on this,
and we were constantly asked by many others if we were returning next year as
most of them do. We didn’t answer
because we didn’t know. Well, not in
the moment of the question. After a lil
discussion, Lucy and I have decided not to attend next years. In fact, pretty sure this was a ‘one and done’. Not because we didn’t enjoy it… but I stated
earlier…. A notch outside of my comfort
zone. Now, give me a diff flavor of Rock
n Roll, I might be in. I listen religiously
to XM channels 25 and 26 ….. that’s my go to type of Rock. There are other cruises, (80s music, etc.)
but for now… going to take a break on this one.
Hell, we’ve got another cruise planned for late ’25. Time to … calm it down a notch and enjoy the
approaching Summer?
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