Where to begin? Well yeah, we made it onto the ship, the Mariner of the Seas. I think we came in on Deck 4. Already people were drinking and unwinding.
Denise and I sat for a moment to figure out where we had to do out muster drill. For those of you who've never cruised before, prior to the ship leaving the shore, you have to complete a safety drill, where they tell you where to go in case you hit an iceberg or something, how to put on your life jacket, etc. I personally never really absorb it, because when I set foot on the ship, I'm pretty much counting on them to find a way not to sink.
The drills used to be long and time consuming, waiting for everyone to show up at once. However, one of the few plusses of the pandemic was that ships had to find a way to do it differently, because you don't want everyone gathering together and standing on top of one another in a close space all at the same time. So now, you go to your muster station and check in, and then watch some videos on your phone.
This was pretty disorganized on Mariner. All of the crew members were wearing masks (although the passengers no longer have to), and they're from all different countries. So between their masks, their accents and my poor hearing, I couldn't understand what they were saying. But they told us we were good, which was nice. Except that for the next few days, Denise and I kept getting messages on our phones saying "You MUST complete your muster drill within the next 30 minutes." Ho boy.
We then checked into our cabin, which had the easily remembered number of 8642. (Get it - 8-6-4-2? Start at 8 and go down by two's. Best cabin number I ever had.)
After that, we went to the Windjammer, which is Royal Caribbean's buffet restaurant, to grab a quick lunch before sail away. Unfortunately, the quality of food they had there wasn't the best. And Denise was still a bit flustered from our travails in getting on the ship. So when she sat down at the table and accidentally spilled her bean salad all over, it didn't help her mood any.
Meanwhile, I started looking around and realized I was surrounded by all sorts of characters in weird, alien-like outfits. This was the '80s Cruise! Denise knew what to expect, and was happy about it, because, as she put it, "These are my people!" I, on the other hand, was wondering just what I'd gotten myself into.
We went back to the cabin to settle in and unpack a little. Now I would have been happy with a little quiet time. We had a balcony (which is the first time I've ever had one of those in my cruise cabin. We usually buy an inside cabin with no balconies and no windows - the cheapest ones you can get.) And I would have been perfectly happy to sit serenely on the balcony and watch us sail away. But Denise really wanted to go to the sail-away party on the pool deck upstairs. And I was still in make-up mode, considering my big mouth had almost made her miss the cruise.
All around us, people in strange costumes were decorating their cabin doors with 80's memorabilia and swag, a tradition on the '80s Cruise (and one that Denise fully intended to participate in).
As sail-away time grew closer, Denise and I made our way to the elevator to go up to the pool deck. We rode to Deck 11 (where all the noise was) and stepped outside. And as I looked around me, I found myself stepping into what seemed to be the arena from the film Gladiator. I looked up and saw wall-to-wall people, not only on our deck, but leaning over the railings for two more decks up. The music was ear-splitting, and as for someplace to sit, forget it. I froze in panic with what must have been a horrified expression on my face. (Don't forget, I've barely been out of the house for two years, since the pandemic hit.)
Denise looked at me and realized I was overwhelmed. She took pity. "OK, you can go back to the cabin if you want," she said over the roar of party people.
"You're OK with that?" I asked sheepishly. I wanted desperately to escape.
She nodded. I was out of there and back down the elevator so fast that Barry Allen would have been impressed.
I made my way back to the cabin, a little shaken and full of sensory overload. It was at this point that I realized that I was going to need to take this cruise at my own pace. This meant being patient with myself and retreating to quiet places when I needed to.
I sat out on my balcony in relative peace and watched us sail away from Orlando. It was nice, and even though I could still hear the bedlam going on on the pool deck three floors away, it was peaceful. And it was good to be cruising again. (Although I definitely wished that I had taken a quiet, regular cruise to get my sea legs back before taking this one.)
Denise joined me a little while later. She spent the rest of the time before dinner decorating our door and chatting with the people who complimented it as they walked by. I hid in our room, out of sight.
At dinner in the Main Dining Room, I again felt a sense of sensory overload at all of the colorful outfits people wore. It was like a 1980s version of Halloween.
For the first night of our cruise, our music schedule was packed tight. It started at 7PM in Studio B, right across from the dining room, where the band I liked best on the cruise, A Flock of Seagulls, was scheduled.
By the time we finished dinner and entered Studio B (which is normally an ice skating arena), the band was already playing, and we thought we'd missed the first song or two. (Later on, I realized I was probably mistaken about that.)
A couple of things about Flock. First, Mike Score, the singer and main songwriter of the band, is the only original member left (at least in this touring rendition). And second, his voice is shot, and has been for some time.
We found some high seats at a cocktail table to the left of the stage (the band's right) and settled in. I even ordered a drink (as did Denise).
Now I enjoyed the hell out of the band (as did most of the crowd, by all indications). The songs sounded great (even if Mike's voice didn't), and this is a band with a bunch of great songs. They made the rather ballsy decision to play several songs off of their fifth album, 1995's The Light at the End of The World, which I've only become familiar with in this last year. It was released way after the height of the band's popularity, but it's actually grown on me as being a pretty good album.
But at some point relatively early in their set, I realized (and the band commented on it) that the boat was rocking pretty good. And if you looked out the side windows, you could see some rough seas. So as we listened, our not-very-comfortable high barstools swirled back and forth, and the combination of that and my strawberry daiquiri made me feel a little nauseous. It made my back sore as well.
Flock finished with a flourish, playing three of their best songs, "Space Age Love Song" (my personal favorite), "Wishing" and "I Ran" all in a row. I was happy.
Next on the schedule was a jog (or a hobble, in my case) across the ship to the Royal Theater (the ship's main stage) to see ABC.
Honesty time here. I'd seen ABC once before, and I hadn't really liked them. And when I saw the original schedule for tonight, I'd planned to skip ABC altogether. But Denise really likes these guys, and part of the idea of this cruise is for us to spend time together. We're both generally comfortable doing our own thing. However, this was the first night, and I was still feeling kind of bad about almost mucking up the cruise for her.
We watch a lot of cruise vloggers on YouTube (most of whom were sailing this week out of Ft. Lauderdale on Royal Caribbean's newest and largest ship, Wonder of the Seas). And probably my favorite, Tony Barnette of La Lido Loca, loves Royal Caribbean ships, but has stated honestly that their main theater isn't the most comfortable for "fluffy" travelers. After this show, I agree.
I'm actually at my lowest weight of the pandemic now. But for me, the seats in the theater were way too tight, to the point that after sitting for this ABC show, my left hip is now all bruised.
Now to their credit, ABC sounded really tight. And unlike my poor friend Mike Score, Martin Frye, their vocalist, has maintained his voice pretty well. But I'm just not impressed with most of their songs. So I sat there for a 90-minute set, uncomfortable, sore and mostly bored. (Although I have to say I think I was the only one in the theater who was feeling this way. Most of the crowd was loving it.)
Finally at the end of their set, the band caught my attention with a 3-song close of "When Smoky Sings" (which is at least OK), "The Look of Love" (my favorite song of theirs) and "Be Near Me" (which I also like).
Next, we scurried across the ship back to Studio B to catch the last third of a set by Gene Loves Jezebel (the set I'd originally planned to see instead of ABC's).
I've done this spiel before, but indulge me. If you ever want to understand why there's war going on right now in Eastern Europe, or why the Arabs and the Jews hate one another, look no further than Gene Loves Jezebel. Here is a band that was founded by identical twin brothers who fell out, sued one another, and now run two different renditions of Gene Love's Jezebel, one in the US and the other in the UK. Here are two guys who have the same set of genes, who look at one another and think, "You're more like me than anyone else in the world. But you still suck, and I hate you!" Human nature dooms us all.
Now I had seen the brother's version of this band (known as Jay Ashton's Gene Love Jezebel in the U.S.) at the Paramount in Huntington back in 2019, and I'd really enjoyed them. And I enjoyed these guys too. When we walked in, they were messing around with an odd version of Patti Smith's "Horses". (Or maybe it was an extended version of their song "Desire" - I'm not really sure.) They played two more songs after that, and then they were gone. I hope I get to see them again later in the week.
At this point, it was after 11. But I was finally in a comfortable seat, and I was starting to relax. So we decided to stay for one of the cruise's 80's cover bands, and I was glad we did.
Trial By Fire is a West Coast band that plays covers of most of the 80's' rockier material. Van Halen, Ozzie, Metallica, Guns 'N Roses, these guys play it all. Four of the band members sing, and they're all decent. (I particularly liked the guy who does the Journey songs - he has an amazing voice.) They played for over an hour, and we stayed for their whole set. I could have done without the Prince covers, but hey, you can't like everything, right?
Finally, we stumbled back to our cabin and turned in for the night. We were scheduled to wake up in Nassau, Bahamas. I was physically sore, still on sensory overload and very tired. Denise was having a wonderful time. I was enjoying a lot of it, but I still wasn't sure if the 80's cruise was for me. With that thought in my head, I fell asleep.
