Celtic Thunder Cruise

This is not a book related post. I apologize for the extended absence, and I promise that there is a book post coming, soonish. For now, please enjoy the recap of my experience on the inaugural Celtic Thunder Cruise!

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I had a really great time on the Celtic Thunder Cruise - one of my top 5 vacations of all time. I didn’t go to all the shows, but I did get to the one I really ‘needed’ to see – twice, even! The shore excursions were fantastic We had two shore days, one in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and one in Grand Cayman. The accommodations were fairly comfortable, and, for the most part, I enjoyed spending time with other fans. I was underwhelmed by the food and available merchandise, primarily the selection not the quality – for instance, I had anticipated spending much more money on souvenirs than I did. I suppose that’s a good thing, but I was a little disappointed nonetheless.

This was my first cruise, and I was completely stunned by my first sight of the ships. They’re truly massive! We sailed on Carnival Victory, and all the staff I interacted with were very friendly. I did have trouble getting service at shows in the main theatre, which became a bit uncomfortable considering how much cheering I was doing, but that was the only issue I had with staff. The main ship décor looked very dated and tawdry in the full glare of a Miami afternoon, although the gold and glitter looked alright in the low light of the evenings. The Celtic Thunder specific decorations were fantastic and made me grin every time I noticed them – and they were every where, from full size window decals of the singers as we boarded the ship to CT decals on the glass elevators and the barrel-style tables in the “Thunder Pub”! It was a really wonderful touch.

In Jamaica I took the Dunnes River Falls Jeep Safari tour. It was interesting to drive through the smaller towns, and our driver stopped frequently to show us the different edible plants growing by the road. We saw grapefruit (which we also tasted), banana, pimento (the leaves of which smell like gingerbread!), lemon grass, coconut, ackee, papaya, and coffee trees – it was pretty neat! We also had a stop at a coffee farm, which was highly informative, even though I don’t drink coffee! We drove through St. Anne, where a yard full of adorable school children ran up to the fence and chanted “White People” at us, which was surreal. Then we arrived at the Falls themselves, which were gorgeous! I did not climb them – with my luck, I’d have slipped and re-injured my back – but I did walk the length of them. The water is exceedingly clear, and the terraced rocks are white and pink, surrounded by the deep green and brown of the forest. It’s really one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, it is the definition of a tourist trap, and the local sellers are fairly aggressive in their tactics. I found it especially uncomfortable as they kept asking me who I was traveling with, to which I responded that I was traveling alone. The response was invariably a theme on ‘I can be your boyfriend’ (must control fist of death….)! I tried jerk chicken, as well, because “you have to”! It was very tasty, but I’m a bit squeamish about food – I dislike eating sticky foods with my fingers, and the visible marrow was a bit off-putting. The rice and beans were delicious, though! May be one of my new favourite dishes! The worst part of the Jamaican tour was the rain early on. Because it is an open jeep, those of us sitting in the front seats quickly became soaked. I was the only person on my tour who had bothered to bring a jacket!

Dunnes River Falls

Grand Cayman was as different to Jamaica as night to day! Firstly, the weather was gorgeous the whole day, and secondly the island itself – not only is the terrain completely different (Jamaica is mountainous, Grand Cayman is flat) but the economic differences are highly visible. Even though there is evidence of hurricane damage, and there was a fair amount of flooding from a storm the night before, it’s obvious that GC is far wealthier than Jamaica. Not surprising, in retrospect, but seeing the evidence in such stark relief was a bit jarring. I took the Best of Land and Sea tour, which included a short tour on the semi-submersible Nautilus, a visit to the Tortuga Rum Factory, a stop in Hell, and the turtle farm – which was my second favourite part of the whole week! Unfortunately, due to the storm the night before, visibility on the semi-sub tour was not all that great. We were still able to see lots of Bermuda chub, Sgt. Major Fish, yellow-tailed snapper, and even a sting-ray, but it was pretty murky. The guides were fantastic, though! I thoroughly enjoyed the banter, and felt quite comfortable on board. The rum factory was a little disappointing – it was really just a 15 minute shopping stop. Great for souvenirs, not so great for stories. It’s set-up very prettily, with lots of statues of pirates and antique trucks. I’m sure it’s fun if you have more time. Hell was another very quick stop – 20 minutes, I think. Enough time to rush out and take photos, buy & post a couple nearly blank postcards, and then back on the bus. It was gorgeous, though, a really very interesting formation. I’d heard that it glows red at sunset, but I suspect that was a load of…. Any how, I spotted my first iguana in Hell, so that was neat!

eeeeeee-Iguana!

After Hell, we went to my absolute favourite stop – the turtle farm! They are such beautiful creatures, and it was a thrill to just watch them swimming about, but I was over the moon to get to hold one! They’re absolutely gorgeous, and their skin is super soft. It was amazing, and I will never forget it. Plus, having my picture taken holding a turtle was way cooler than the Celtic Thunder photo-op!

My ‘celebrity sightings’ stories are much tamer than any of the others I’ve heard, and can be counted on one hand, but I know you want to know anyway:

1) Day One, lounging in a deck chair, I was trying to knit (FYI, do not try to knit with a silk/wool blend in +30 degrees – you just felt the yarn as you go) when I thought heard Ryan and turned about to see him and Neil 'people watching' from a couple levels above and behind me, overlooking the Lido deck.

2) Day One, Welcome Party – I found a shady spot against the wall with a couple other ladies, and a group of young men & a young lady came and stood in front of us. I commented to my neighbours that the young men looked out of place amongst the sea of women, but that they appeared to be Irish (sometimes, you can just tell at a glance) so they were probably working. Yeah… it was Goitse. Seem like a nice group of people, but I felt like a dolt for not recognizing them!

3) Day Two, I hadn’t slept well, so I was up for breakfast by 8am. It was a cooler day, so I decided to grab some fruit and dry cereal, head up to a deck chair and see what I could salvage of the previous day’s knitting (turned out to be *nothing*. Totally felted!). As I strolled back towards the chairs I had in mind, Ryan came running toward me. I quickly stepped out of the way (a tiny bit farther than I was stepping out of the way for the other runners) and we both continued on our way. I briefly considered abandoning my deck chair knitting plans, since I didn’t want to appear ‘stalkerish’ but dismissed that as ridiculous. So, I settled myself down, and whenever Ryan came around the corner I just kept my eyes on my knitting.

4) Day Two, I staked out a spot at the bar to watch Neil hosting Karaoke. I was also hoping to catch the NHL scores on the TV at the bar, but apparently no one in the US cares about hockey on Sundays, because it was all NFL, all the time. A bit irritating for me, but Ryan did stop by to have a look at the scores, so not a total loss. ;)

5) Day Five, I was rushing upstairs on my way to something or other, when I saw Colm (surrounded by young women) at the stairs. He had been making his way through the halls signing doors, but I was still a little stunned to run into him. I managed a smile & a quick ‘Hi, Colm!’ as I continued on my way – I got a smile & a ‘Hi’ back for my trouble. Such a nice kid! ;)

And that was it for my ‘non-scripted’ sightings. Tame, I know, but the fact of the matter is I’m a fairly shy person, and hanging out in the more popular areas of the ship by myself would have made me intensely uncomfortable. I was quite disappointed when I found out that the guys were doing photos and signing CD’s for people in the bars in the evenings, but in all honesty, even if I had been there I wouldn’t have gone up to them to ask.

All of which is really beside the point, since I didn’t go on the cruise to ‘hang out’ with any of the performers – I went to see them perform! Every show I saw was fantastic, the sound quality was better than it was for the Mythology performance I saw at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in September, and all the performers seemed to be enjoying the shows as much as the audience did. It was wonderful!

The first evening’s main show was Michael Londra and friends. I’ve only listen to snippets of Mr. Londra’s music online, so the show was entirely new for me. He and the Celtic Fire band were fantastic, and the Irish dancers were a lovely surprise, really amazing. It was a great show, very energetic considering it was the second show and the audience appeared to be pooped! Afterwards, I made my way to the Thunder Pub to catch Goitse’s first show. Wow! Really, truly, a brilliant set! The room was packed and the band was on fire! They are such energetic performers, and Colm and Tadhg in particular seem to be in constant motion. I’ve always love trad, and nothing beats a live show. If you get a chance to see them, please go! You will love it!

Goitse during the deck party

On Sunday, I skipped a lot of the morning events, starting my day’s entertainment at 4 with Neil hosting Karaoke, which was a blast! He’s such a charming guy! He joined a few people in singing their songs, including a very entertaining duet of Margaritaville. Solo, Neil sang “Friends in Low Places”, and wrapped up the afternoon with “Piano Man” – which Colm and Emmet joined him for! The crowd went a bit crazy, and the guys seemed to be having a great time. It was a really fun afternoon!

Colm, Neil, and Emmet singing Piano Man

I ended up skipping the main show that evening, which would have been the Gaelic Rhythm Dance show, because there was already a line forming for Ryan and Neil’s first solo show, which didn’t start for over 3 hours! There had been several announcements throughout the day regarding the earlier solo shows being full hours ahead of their scheduled starting time, and even though this show was in the main lounge, which seats 1000 people, I wasn’t sure whether the upper balcony would be opened for seating and no one could tell me. Since this was the only show I knew I would be absolutely crushed to miss, I chose to skip the main show rather than risk not getting in. The line started out quite civilized, two-people deep against the wall, everyone calm and chatting. About an hour before they opened the doors, I left to use the washroom. When I returned, the “line” had swollen to fill the entire hallway, with everyone pushing forward in an attempt to stop people from cutting in. Shortly after, the group directly behind me in line began ‘singing’ and trying to get the entire line up to sing along with them. It was, quite frankly, a nightmare. I’m literally getting light-headed just recalling it. I don’t do particularly well with crowds in the first place, but to be surrounded by people in a hallway with very low ceilings, and then to have everyone around start yelling and shouting… honestly, I can’t think of a worse situation. I needed to plug my ears and kneel down several times just to keep myself from completely freaking out. It was horrible. I get that everyone else was just ‘having a good time’ but for me, it was the worst possible situation. Once the doors opened, I found myself a seat around the middle of the fourth row on the main level. The sight lines on the main floor weren’t nearly as good as the balcony, but the compensation was that we did get (rather poor) drink service.

The show… my goodness, the show! It was everything I hoped an ABC show would be, and more! It was fantastic that Nicole, Declan and Seamus joined them for the set. I didn’t write down the set-list during the first show, but they sang all the songs from Acoustically Irish, Wagon Wheel, Moon Dance, the first-ever live performance of Ryan’s new song American Dream, Rock n’ Roll Kids (I think?? I may be mis-remembering that!) and an absolutely gorgeous version of Ride On. They started with Wagon Wheel and finished up the set with Saints and Sinners, which was perfect. The banter was very sweet – early on in the show, someone shouted out ‘I love you, Ryan’ to which he responded with ‘Thanks’. Later, someone else screamed out ‘I love you, Neil’ and he said ‘I love you, too’ – then a couple seconds later, Ryan stepped up to the mike and said, super quietly, ‘I love you, too’! It was the cutest thing! It was a bit more awkward toward the end of the show when someone (who I referred to in my journal as a “whack job”) yelled out ‘Ryan, can I have you after the show?’ Neil had some fun with it, but Ryan was visibly flustered. There was talk of getting Sharon’s permission, red tape and paper work to be sorted out – they handled it very well, and it was hilarious, but in a really awful way. Boundaries, people!! Ryan also (repeatedly) referred to the ‘back-seat sessions’ as the ‘back-street sessions’ – hilarity! Also, I’m sure everyone’s seen the photo’s of the two of them hugging at the end of the set! Major ‘awww’ moment! It was, truly, a fantastic show. The whole week was worth it for that 2 hours alone! I was so happy I was light-headed by the end… of course, that might have been exhaustion!

Monday’s main show was Mythology which, of course, was fabulous! They did a terrible job of enforcing the No Photos rule, but I know they were trying their best. There were no musical surprises in the show – if you’ve seen/heard Mythology, you know the show. At the end, however, during Ireland’s Call, someone (and I didn’t see it happen, so don’t ask me who!) put a sign on Emmet’s back.. I didn’t even notice until they were leaving the stage, but the guys were absolutely cracking up on stage! It was so great to watch – they hardly ever let down their guard on stage! At first I thought they were laughing because the entire audience had stood up to sing along (which never happens at the Calgary show!) but apparently that’s not too unusual… It was great, though!

Ryan having a laugh during his Pub Quiz

Tuesday afternoon I went to Ryan’s Pub Quiz. I didn’t get on a team – damn shyness, again! But it was really fun anyhow. None of the group of women I was sitting with wanted to play, but we were all answering amongst ourselves – I think we would have done pretty well as a team! Everyone bullied Ryan into singing the song clues, which was pretty fun. He was supposed to prepare 30 questions, but ended up with 50, which was great – as if anyone would complain about the quiz running too long! It was a fun afternoon with a lot of laughs. 

The evening show was the Friendly Feud, which was hilarious. My favourite question was ‘what do girls pretend to like in order to catch a guy they’re interested in’ – watching the guys try not to give certain answers was very comical! I was laughing so hard I was crying and my abs ached! But, honestly, ladies, if you’re pretending to like his looks, personality, friends, and sex?! Why do you want to date him in the first place! FIND SOMEONE ELSE! Crazy ladies…

Friendly Feud on Formal Night - before things got out of hand!

Immediately after the Friendly Feud, I got in line for Emmet and Colm’s show, which was in the same theatre. I lucked out and was 3rd in line for the balcony. They did a fantastic show, I was so impressed! My personal highlights were when Rebecca Harkin joined them to sing ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’, Colm absolutely owning Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida', and the epic cover of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” – again, so funny I was crying! The cast of Gaelic Rhythm surprised the guys while they were singing “When I’m Gone” by coming out to dance behind them, which was really awesome. Rebecca was fantastic, too. I’m disappointed that I missed her solo show, but I’m really looking forward to her new album next year. 

This is the first show I thought to write out the set list for, so I’ll post it for you:

• December 1963 (Oh What a Night) (Colm & Emmet) 
• Mrs Robinson/The Boxer (Colm & Emmet) 
• Will You Go, Lassie, Go (Colm & Emmet) 
• Fall Like Me (Rebecca) 
• Stuck in the Middle (Colm, Emmet & Rebecca) 
• Have I Told You Lately (Emmet) 
• Viva La Vida (Colm) 
• Baby (Colm & Emmet) 
• When I’m Gone (Colm, Emmet & Gaelic Rhythm) 
• The Gambler (Colm & Emmet) 
• Beatles Medley (which, as a Beatles fan, I’m ashamed to say I was so excited about I don’t remember which songs they did!! Can anyone help out on that?)

Giving the Biebs a run for his money!

It was a really fantastic show, and I’m so glad I got to see it! By the time it was over, I was exhausted from so much cheering and laughing, and sooo dehydrated! (Did I mention I didn’t get drink service on the balcony?!) It was over too late for me to get to George’s show, and I didn’t want to steal a seat from anyone else hoping to see Ryan and Neil’s second show (which was also in the main theatre) so I planned to go to bed. Really, I honestly did! I ended up going down to my room, then back up to the Lido deck to fill my water bottle, and back down the stairs again, and... well, since I was passing the entrance to the theatre again anyway, I poked my head in to see if there were any seats left... Come on, I couldn’t not stay! The crowd was much quieter for the second ABC show, which was actually helped make the show more enjoyable for me. I was also in the balcony, which felt a lot calmer to me. The set list was pretty much the same as the first show (except that for some reason I was sure they sang Rock n Roll Kids during the first set...):

• Wagon Wheel (Neil & Ryan) 
• Beautiful Affair (Neil & Ryan) 
• Moon Dance (Ryan) 
• California Dreaming (Neil) 
• Ride On (Ryan – again, this was sublime!) 
• Brown Eyed Girl (Neil & Ryan) 
• Water Is Wide (Neil – absolutely stunning live!! So beautiful!) 
• American Dream (Ryan – if you don’t have Ryan’s new album yet…. What are you waiting for?!) 
• Don’t Go (Neil & Ryan) 
• Raglan Road (Neil & Ryan – one of my favourite tracks from Acoustically Irish, and brilliant live) 
• Captured (Neil – again, just stunning! Love this song!) 
• Back Home in Derry (Ryan) 
• Rose of Allendale (Neil & Ryan) 
• No Man’s Land (Ryan) 
• Fields of Athenry (Neil & Ryan) 
• Saints and Sinners (Neil & Ryan) 

The crowd also sang Ryan ‘Happy Birthday’ (I think right before Moon Dance) even though it was still a bit early, and I seem to recall Neil having us sing it again after midnight, although that may be my faulty memory!

Wednesday afternoon I went to the Celebrity Heads Game with the guys from the CT band – once again, what can I say but ‘it was hilarious’! The guys were brought up on the stage three at a time, a sheet of paper with a person or thing written on it was placed on a music stand behind them and they had to guess “who” they were using yes or no questions. Each set had a theme to get them started. It got a bit naughty ('things you put in your mouth') and a bit silly (like when Declan was trying to guess ‘False Eyelashes’ – he got so far as there are a pair of them on your head, but having guessed eyes, ears, lips, and eyebrows he was at a loss. Poor lad was actually counting bits of himself!) and I wish it could have gone on longer. Some of the audience didn’t seem clear on the Yes or No answers, trying to give them bigger hints, but it was all in good fun. Dave Bakey was quite good at it – to his detriment, since he had to pee and couldn’t leave until he lost a round!

I was sure that between the last 4 shows I had laughed and cheered myself completely out of a voice, but the final show was the Celtic Thunder Best Of and, somehow, I managed to cheer my heart out in that one, too! The guys did some minor harmonic changes from the original recordings, all really gorgeous. It’s one of the best things about seeing a live show, the artist has the ability to try something a bit new and unexpected. It hasn’t been my experience that CT uses that artistic freedom in their live shows, so it was a wonderful surprise. I was a bit worried about the entire cast, because the sea was really rough. The speakers and lights were visibly swaying, and I could see the guys moving with the motion of the ship quite a bit as well. I was afraid someone might lose their balance when moving about, but they are all such pros they took it very well! I don’t think it was my imagination that this was the longest show of the cruise, as you may be able to tell from the set list (and I do apologize for not having the names of the instrumental numbers – I’m terrible at remembering the names of them!):

• Heartland (all) 
• Dutchman (Keith) 
• Ride On (Ryan) 
• Noreen (Neil) 
• Instrumental 
• Kindred Spirits (Emmet) 
• Steal Away (all) 
• Black Velvet Band (Colm) 
• The Old Man (George – absolutely fantastic! There wasn’t one person sitting near me who wasn’t in tears, myself included) 
• Galway Girl (all) 
• Home (Colm) 
• Dulaman (all) 
• Hallelujah (Neil, with Emmet & Ryan) 
• Place in the Choir (all – Ryan and Keith tried to steal Colm’s shoes, and Ryan got him in a headlock and gave him a noogie! Sooooo funny!) 
• Happy Birthday to Ryan (audience) 
• Friends in Low Places (Ryan, with Emmet, Colm, George & Neil) 
• Lauren & I (Keith – stunning! As always) 
• Whisky in the Jar (Keith & Neil) 
• Still Haven’t Found (all – Neil appeared to have forgotten the choreography for this number and entered from the side of the stage instead of the center of the stage with everyone else, which set Colm and Emmet giggling. Then, Emmet forgot the choreography on the first ‘turn’ and stayed facing straight, which started him giggling again) 
• This Is The Moment (Emmet) 
• 500 Miles (George) 
• 7 Drunken Nights (all – so funny, every darn time! During Monday night, David Greene – a member of the CT stage crew – came ‘galloping’ out on stage on a pink hobby horse, and everyone just busted up laughing! It was nearly 30 seconds before they recovered enough to continue. It was so great to see them all smiling and laughing and have a good time on stage!) 
• Instrumental 
• Ireland’s Call (all - In addition to their kilts, the guys were all wearing Captain’s hats, which they threw into the crowd at the end… hope they didn’t get into any trouble for that! The guys were all laughing, George and Keith kept reaching up to check no one had put anything on their backs!)

And then it was the Epic Curtain call, which was incredible. They brought out everyone from all the shows, several brave members of the CT staff, and Sharon came out to thank us all. The ovation went on and on! A complete love fest! It was an amazing end to an epic week. Who's up for going with me next year?