My BSB Cruise 2014 Review: Day One

I'm so happy to finally have some time to write my review of the cruise. Compared to my first BSB cruise last year, I would say they both were so much fun and were wonderful vacations. Last year, I preferred the parties better (maybe that had to do with being able to have all of the parties on the deck because the weather was nicer) but this year I had better luck running into the guys. I will say that it was an emotional roller coaster this year filled with all sorts of high and low moments, but I don't regret any of it at all and overall, had the best time!

BSB Cruise 2014: Day One-Friday, October 24th, 2014

After enjoying the yummy breakfast buffet at the hotel that I desperately needed, I packed up my things as quickly as I could and checked out of the hotel. I had the hotel provide me with a cab and ended up sharing a cab with a fellow BSB fan headed to the port. She was very nice, we split the cab ride, and ended up hanging with each other for awhile. Last year, there were gobs of fans in the lobby waiting for buses to take us to the port. I would say that was more fun just because everyone was a BSB fan and was playing BSB music, but I don't think that many people used the hotel as last year so maybe that's why there wasn't anything like that going on this year.

The gloomy view I had during breakfast.

The potatoes and fruit were delicious!

Bacon and cheese omlet.

Port of Miami

It was nice to make it to the Port of Miami early so I could watch the guys board Carnival Ecstasy. I ended up making it there earlier than last year and it was fun to see everyone cheer for BSB and join in on the screaming lol. I didn't take any pictures of BSB, only video to fully capture the excitement!

The view before getting on the ship.

Boarding the Ship!

I ended up taking the boarding picture Carnival does alone, which kind of sucked, and I ended up not buying it because I didn't like my pose so much for $10.

After that, I quickly made my way inside to Carnival Ecstasy's atrium and started looking around. I enjoyed seeing all the BSB decorations, but I noticed they were behind in putting up some of them and there was a lack of BSB music...either that or it was too low. I looked around some more and was trying to participate in the scavenger hunt, particularly Nick's. I ended up hearing that Nick's and Howie's were the only ones not solved and that fans were taking the clues. After checking out some sports memorabilia, the spa, the golf course, and the game area, I quickly gave up because other fans were taking the clues and I had no way of knowing if someone already won. It was still a fun idea though and a nice way to explore the ship.

Had a little fun with this. Nick and I are twinsies lol.

The lido deck drenched in rain :(



The mini golf course. Wish I could have had some time to play.

Towel elephant!
 

After giving the scavenger hunt a good try, I got a bite to eat and seen Howie walk by my table. He seemed happy, but wasn't interacting with fans then. I think he just wanted to quickly get something to eat. It was so nice to see him and I took it as a good sign.

Shortly after, I put up my door decoration for our door. I decided on a "Make Believe" theme where I told a fairy tale story using the lyrics to the song and made up my own beginning and ending. I owe my idea to my librarian side and I also had to incorporate my humorous side with making Jive a two-headed dragon, Lou Pearlman a money-hungry wizard, and Nsync annoying gnomes.

Of course I had to make Nick and I riding on a magic carpet lol.

Even though I didn't get to see a lot of door decorations and there wasn't as many as last year, there were some really great ones that I just couldn't compete with. This one was my favorite!

Sphynkter!

Can I just take this home? lol

Sail Away with BSB Party

Once I was done looking around and eating on the lido deck, I made my way inside to the atrium for the Sail Away with BSB Party. I was bummed that it had to be inside because of the weather, but it still was a lot of fun. The one plus about the bad weather was that when we did the mandatory emergency boat drill, we didn't have to go outside.

Once inside, I ended up with a spot on the main floor to the right of the bar and by the stairway BSB uses. I thought it was a really good spot and was thankful I got it.

When BSB came out in their sailor outfits it was so exciting and they all looked so good :) Nick was trying to shoot confetti out into the crowd and he shot himself instead, then AJ lol. All the guys looked genuinely just as happy as us fans were. It was a nice moment. Nick and Howie ended up pouring champagne for fans and I was lucky enough to get champagne sprayed on me by Nick! It tasted good too. I would have liked to have been one of the lucky fans that got it poured straight into their mouth, but I can never seem to get that close. There's always at least one or two other fans in front of me, making me too far. Still happy I got sprayed on by Nick lol. I was waiting for Lonely Island's "I'm On a Boat" to be played, but they didn't. I thought it was a tradition and should have been played lol. I'm not tired of it haha!

I remember at one point, Kevin mentioned to Nick that it was a like a P. Diddy party and Nick said a White Party. I thought this was funny because I said the same thing about last year's cruise on my Facebook page. It really does feel like a P. Diddy party! lol

BSB making their entrance!

Love this picture of Nick and Kevin!

Howie getting the champagne started!

 

 

After the initial celebration was over, BSB were taking pictures with the fans. I ended up seeing Nick and made my way by him to try to get a picture with him. Well, the crowd was really pushy and tight but we managed to say a quick "hi" to each other. Nick reached for my camera and was able to touch it, but because it was insanely tight, I couldn't move my hand and neither could he so I wasn't able to get a picture. That literally hurt to be that close to a picture, but not get it. I will still say it was worth the pushy crowd to just be able to smile at Nick and say hi.

BSB Loves the 90's Game Show (Group B)

Because of being inside the atrium, I actually got a little sea sick this time around. I was kind of surprised because last cruise I had no issues at all. Fortunately, I didn't throw up but I did end up taking two Dramamine pills and when it kicked in an hour later I was fine for the whole rest of the trip and didn't have to take anymore. I felt if the parties could have been on the lido deck, I wouldn't have even had that feeling. Damn weather. I also had to miss the delicious dinner that night because I wasn't sure if I could keep the food down. Money wasted.

Well, I started getting sea sick during the 90's game show but managed to pull through. This was such a fun idea and I liked all the 90's stuff they had on stage.

I was kind of disappointed in where my roommate and I's seats were for this and the concert because we were on the balcony, but even worse, we were all the way on the left side so we couldn't see straight on and I had a pole directly in front of me. That sucked and I was surprised because we booked the cruise during the pre-sale as soon as we could. I kept trying to dodge between the person's head in front of me and the pole, but it was still nice to be there and somewhat see what was going on lol. Last time we were on the main floor but had the balcony block our view when we stood up for the concert. I guess we have bad luck with our seating. I knew we weren't going to be right up front because we didn't buy the most expensive rooms, but I thought we would have better of a view.

It was still so much fun to see Nick play video games. His face lit up when he was playing and it was cool to see him enjoy himself. I wish I would have gotten picked to play Mortal Kombat with him because I would have tried to kick his butt! My strategy...pushing on all the buttons and hoping I win lol.

Because the group of fans lost to BSB, BSB was able to throw a pie in each of their faces. That was so funny to watch and Nick's fan dodged the pie. I would take a pie in my face from Nick anytime lol. He ended up getting her anyway!

There was also a part where BSB had to jump rope. That was funny to see and Kevin is really good at it!

I enjoyed hearing all the 90's trivia and seeing BSB play the game. It was also funny to see Nick play with all the 90's stuff on stage. They had one of those pin things that takes the shape of whatever you push next to it and Nick was playing with that. I always used to put my hand on those too because it just feels different.

Another cute thing that happened was when BSB first came out, they posed liked they used to in all their 90's posters! That was so much fun to see!

Get Down Studio 54 Night

After the 90's game show, I hung out in our cabin for a bit and then walked around and made my way to the lido deck to feel better. It did help and I was able to find some food, a corned beef sandwich, even though it tasted bad. I just missed the good dinner so that sucked, but I was just happy I was finally starting to feel better. When I felt back to normal, I made my way back into the atrium for the Studio 54 party. I was disappointed this was inside because it just seems more fun on the lido deck and is cooler and less tight, but it was still a lot of fun. I made sure to be on the same floor BSB is on right where the stairway leads down to because I think that's the best spot. It is also probably the most crowded.

I enjoyed hearing the seventies music during the party and it was great to see BSB all dressed up. I liked all their costumes, but I think AJ and Nick had the best ones. I should have stuck to my gut and did the hippy look, but I ended up doing the glam route since it was Studio 54 and not just a seventies party. I was happy with the glitter on my blouse, and the black dress shorts I was wearing was keeping me cool in the big crowd.

Kevin! He's always so much fun! I liked his British accent throughout the party.

 

 I enjoyed hearing most of the 70's music played and got a purple disco ball necklace that Kevin threw out into the audience.

 

I wasn't able to get a free drink that night because I was close to the action, but I didn't really miss that. It's funny because even though I don't drink, I was planning on having a little something and even had a complimentary free drink coupon but everytime I tried to use it, the Carnival people told me I couldn't use it there or at that specific time. It was like the universe didn't want me to drink lol. That was probably a good thing since I was by myself.

 

What I thought was fun about this party was that Nick had a bubble gun and was blowing bubbles into the audience. This added to the atmosphere and will probably be the closest thing to a foam party with BSB lol.

 

Definitely the highlight of the party was being able to get a picture with Nick! It was so hard to get a picture, but thankfully it happened! I think out of all the picture moments I was able to have, this was definitely the most aggressiveness I felt with the other fans. Maybe they were really pushy because it was the first party of the cruise and they were really excited, but even though I expected this, it was still disappointing.

 

I ended up being on the same deck as Nick and made my way to try to get a picture with him. I was able to get really close and eventually was right behind him. A group of girls behind me were pushing me even closer into Nick so they could get their picture and girls kept cutting in front of me to take their picture with Nick. This kept happening and I must have had like at least ten girls cut in front of me and I was starting to get annoyed and was certainly missing the nice, relaxed environment we had at Nick's dinner the night before. I couldn't believe how tight we all were and I still was getting cut in front of with those pushing behind me.

 

Because of the pushing behind me and girls constantly cutting in front of me, I ended up pushed into Mike, Nick's bodyguard, and he looked at me and said "can you stop that?" Well, Mike was very nice at Nick's dinner and even said hi to me when he seen me by the elevators on the cruise before this happened, but this moment bothered me. I understand that he was just trying to do his job and was probably annoyed with all the pushy behavior, but it still rubbed me the wrong way none-the-less. It just sucked to be the one yelled at when everyone else was pushing behind me and girls kept cutting in front of me and getting away with that. I just felt like he yelled at the wrong person. I still respect him for protecting Nick and I'm sure the crappy situation of everyone acting crazy led to this moment so I tried not to let it get to me.

 

After this happened, I ended up getting out of the crowd without a picture because the whole thing was a let down and I didn't want anything like that to happen again. The pushy girls behind me and the ones cutting in front of me quickly moved in. I ended up going to the other end of the deck and just looking around for a bit. After going through what just happened in my mind, I was kind of ticked how I spent time and didn't get a picture. I ended up seeing where Nick was and this time went around the other side to the direction he was walking towards. By this time, I think most of the girls got their picture so it wasn't as pushy. I ended up getting my picture with Nick after all that and it was worth it and made me feel better!

 

 

Overall, an adventurous day for Day One exploring the ship, the Sail Away with BSB Party, BSB Loves the 90's, and Studio 54 Night!