Backstreet Boys Cruise 2013

My Backstreet Boys 2013 experience

I came onto vacation not expecting anything. I knew if I did, I’d be disappointed. Because of that, I was surprised by every amazing thing that happened.

Pre Cruise

I took the red eye from Salt Lake City, Utah at 12:45 am with a layover to Atlanta then I arrived in Miami at 9:25 am. I got to my hotel, which was Hotel Shelley. I was exhausted because I was in the wrong place to meet the shuttle and they never came. I was at the airport for 2 hours after I arrived. I finally just found a shuttle to take me to my hotel. I was lucky that the hotel offered me early check in. I did have to wait until a room was ready so right across the street; I had lunch and a drink.

I fell asleep right when I got to my room! I felt incredibly bad because Jaime was supposed to share a room with me and ended up getting her own room because she tried to get ahold of me forever. It was ok. It wasn’t her fault and I wasn’t mad at her at all.

Four of us that were at the hotel went to Mango’s that night. I didn’t realize how incredibly close everything is there! It was literally one block away, facing South Beach. We didn’t stay very long. I forget that nightlife in other places starts much later. It was ok, because all of us had to be up at a decent time.

Day One: Sail away party, Are you Smarter than a Backstreet Boy?, Don’t turn out the Glow deck party

I woke up early the next day because I wanted coffee and to see the beach. I went to 7-Eleven and then headed to South Beach. I wasn't there for very long because I needed to get my stuff together. 

Beautiful South Beach!

We left the hotel as a group and went to the port. While waiting in line, people recognized me from Facebook, the main one was Anna Grace from the Philippines. I was so excited we recognized each other!

I checked into the port and got my sign and sail card, and waited with Anna and another person I’d talked to only a little bit – Sepideh from Canada.

As we were boarding, on the ramp we saw AJ smoking on his deck! Not even ON the boat yet, this was an omen to me! I wave a little bit and I got him to wave back!

Sepideh and Anna, girls I had been talking with on Facebook. Yes, you see the commemorative cup with the drink in it. They got me as soon as I saw the cup!

After that, we sat on the Lido deck and talked for a while because we had to wait on our rooms to be ready. Our rooms were finally ready, so we went in there for a little bit. I put up a little of my door, but needed to go to see the Sail Away Party.

While I was doing this though, someone walked down the hall saying “KEVIN IS ON DECK 7!” I run up there and this idiot forgot her camera. So I stood there for a few moments, and decided to leave. From that moment on, no matter where I was going, I CARRIED my camera!

I went up to the deck to catch the party, and the guys showed up in Captains uniforms. I could literally see 2000+ girls jaws drop, haha! They looked amazing! At that moment, I couldn’t believe I’d be stuck on a boat with these guys from three days! Where could they go? HAHA!

The guys looking awesome in their captains uniforms!

At one point, Kevin, who is my favorite, went off the stage and into the crowd upstairs. Of course I follow him. I stood there for a while and tried to be patient.

I have to say I do NOT deal well with pushy people. I kept getting pushed back by girls, so I finally decided I to go back down. I walked a few seconds, looked up and there was NICK coming towards me with a huge crowd of girls behind him. I was not fast enough to stop him. I should have! I did get him right as he was coming by me, but I learned ASAP if I being lucky happened again, I would seize the moment.

My "Nick" moment. He literally bumped into me passing by!

 I enjoyed the party for a while, and then it was over. It was time for dinner. I lost my two friends, so I just decided to go and get dinner in the dining room. I was in group A, so I was in the Spirit room. I ordered the baked potato, Salmon and shrimp cocktail. It was great!

My door. It didn't win, but that wasn't the point of it. Loved walking around and seeing all the creativity everyone had!

After that, I decided to go change and get a little more work done on my door. I could only do about half of it, because I had the event “Are you smarter than a Backstreet Boy”. My seat wasn’t great, but I could see everything.

Right before it started, the guys did funny “hand puppet moments”. Some were INCREDIBLY dirty! It was hilarious and kept us entertained while they got everything ready.

Kevin was the Captain, AJ was the Bad boy, Brian was the Jock, Nick was the Class Clown and Howie was the Teacher’s pet.

The game was played a few times. It was pretty much Jeopardy and the names were picked out of a “hat”. I think the questions weren’t researched very well because the guys said the things about them weren’t true. Like the drink that Nick would ask for or AJ playing Basketball. I think it was hilarious that Kevin kept getting math questions. They asked for all their ages combined and it took him forever to add it up because they all kept telling him what to do. He said, “I could’ve been faster if everyone hadn’t been helping me!” Also when Brian put chalk on his hands and kept putting them on the announcers butt. And AJ was blamed! A very funny moment that I filmed was Howie doing “MountAnus”. Haha!

After this I went back to my room and got ready for Don’t put out the Glow Party. I got a call in my room from Jerri. I’d talked to her a bunch on Facebook. I was so glad she called me! She was asking for my help to get dressed. I was mid-getting dressed but I hurried and went over there to help her. We ended up hanging out a bit that night. I lost them because they went to their room to put their wigs in their rooms because it was very windy that night. I ended up roaming the boat and running into a few different people I’d talked to on Facebook, the Fan Club and Twitter.

For this night, we had free drinks for a specific time. I did a few. I knew it was probably going to be one of the only nights I would drink a little more heavily since they were free. I met a lot of different people on the boat that night and danced a little bit. The guys were hilarious in their bright clothing. Especially Kevin and Brian’s colored facial hair!

I’m not entirely sure what time I went to bed this night. I was exhausted and a little drunk, and I actually fell asleep on the bed with it completely made and still in full costume.

Day Two: Half Moon Cay Beach Party, Group A concert, Halloween Deck Party
Ok, so I was suffering from effects of being hung over the next day. Word to the wise; don’t drink until AFTER you have gone to the beach. I was pretty sick until we finally got on the small boat to get to Half Moon Cay. Anna and I had found each other earlier in the day and had breakfast together while we waited forever for the boat. It was cloudy and a bit rainy when we got off the boat but the island was gorgeous! Anna and I walked around and took pictures. I’m glad I hit the gift shop before the events, because everyone had went over and gotten everything pretty much!

Anna and I lost each other when the guys got off their boat because she started running and I just wasn’t fast enough to look up and see where she had gone to. I walked around a little but then found a spot before anyone had really gotten there. I picked the right spot too because I’m a huge Kevin fan. Standing right next to me was a lady holding up a Kentucky Wildcats jersey. Perfect? I know he’d be coming our way!

The guys made their own funny entrances. Because I was so far away, I didn’t see Nick jump off the boat before they’d even gotten to shore. I think AJ did too? I’m not sure. I really only saw Kevin get off the boat because he was practically hanging off of it. You couldn’t miss his striped hoodie!

Kevin ready to be on the beach. You can't miss him ...

The guys went up past the stage to the “pirate boat” as I call it, to get some food or drinks. They’d emerge one at a time. Brian was the first one around the crowd, taking pictures with fans. Kevin came around during that time, shaking out the sand in his shoes. He gave hugs and pictures with the fans in the tent. I was lucky to be where I was, because a little bit later he made it to our side. I wasn’t thinking fast enough to ask for a picture. He seemed like he was in a rush and I wanted to be respectful. He got past me and someone asked for his picture! Of course I didn’t speak up! I figured I’d have one with him the next day, so it was ok.

The guys started with the games. I left that area and started walking around, looking for Anna. The guys were spraying the crowd. At one point, Howie emerged with two beers. Double fisting it? HAHA! Good old Howie. I heard this time they were fair and picked names out of those on the cruise. They did do a little bit of crowd picking. They did a wet t-shirt contest where they were spraying the participants, each other, the crowd. I remember Nick saying, “You guys are too quiet! What the hell is wrong with you guys? Shake that hangover off!” I couldn’t stop laughing about that comment because everyone did look a little green!

They did musical chairs, limbo and an obstacle course. I started wandering around. I ate some food at the buffet on the island. Great food! I came back during the end of the limbo and decided to sit a little bit away where I could hear and see the commotion. I will be honest, I fell asleep on one of the chairs! What is better than falling asleep on a beautiful beach? I didn’t think I’d be sleep deprived like everyone else. I wasn’t. I was very relaxed.

Right before I zonked out on the beach

The boat from Half Moon Cay

I woke up with enough time to see that a little bit of the crowd had thinned. At that point, I found Anna. We went to the gift shop and bought a few things. We got into the line and waited for a while. I didn’t mind it. It was such a beautiful day. We both took a lot of pictures of the island and talked to others standing in the line.

We finally got on the boat. It was raining a little bit, which was alright. It wasn’t cold really. We eventually made it back onto the cruise boat. Anna and I made a plan to meet and went to our rooms to shower the island off of us.

Group A’s concert was this night. Anna and I met up and went to the concert. We had different seating of course. The concert was amazing! It was a full concert from the In a World Like This tour. I was pretty excited. I had to miss the tour to be able to pay for the cruise, so I was super excited! I didn’t have the best seat and people weren’t respectful of staying in their area. It was alright, because I could see more than half of it and hear everything. Security does need to be a bit better in the balcony.

Afterwards, Anna and I went and got changed separately and met to go to the Halloween Party. There were many people already up there that didn’t have the concert that night. I did spend a lot of time on the Lido deck because I am a smoker. It ended up being good spot to be because it was nuts. Anna and I went in different spots. I really had no rhyme or reason to where I was standing. I just wanted to enjoy the night! The guys seemed to be everywhere. Kevin got stuck by the glass stairs taking pictures, so a few of us went on the other side and knocked on the glass a little bit, so he turned around and smiled at us!

Day 3: Meet and Greet Photos, Wylie Fashion Show, Run DMC (Howie), Kevin’s Cover Story and Bachelorette Deck Party
I was up pretty early this day. I think I had the best sleep of my life the night before. The combination of the beach wearing me out and the boat rocking me to sleep plus a wonderful bed, I was pretty happy. I woke up around 7 am. The night before, I had set out a card to get room service.  They delivered it by 8 am. I went up on the Lido deck and hung out with other early risers.  I decided to go back to my cabin and change. I tried to call Anna so we could meet for the group photo. I couldn’t get ahold of her, so I figured she was still asleep or getting ready. I met in one of the rooms for my group. I found Cassie pretty easy. She and I had talked on the Fan Club and then on Facebook. I was hoping I wouldn’t miss having Anna in my group. We had 8 people without Anna, so we decided to get in the very long line.

I was pretty nervous. I know many of the other fans had met the guys before, but I hadn’t. I was SO excited when Anna appeared! Another funny thing was, I recognized a shirt in front of me. Aaron had posted that she was making a shirt for the cruise. I was so excited! I said hello and who I was, and we were instant friends!

The line was getting closer and I could see the guys getting pictures with others. Even now, writing this, I can still feel how nervous and excited I was. The guys were in their captain’s uniforms for the pictures! I was SO excited about that! Dork me realized that I still had my jacket on me! Oh well! When we figured out they were doing 4 people per picture, we split up our groups so we could stand by who we wanted. I remember walking up and shaking hands. I can’t remember everything I said. I do remember that because I was between AJ and Kevin, my arms were in totally the wrong spot. I said OUT LOUD “HOLD ON! My arms are wrong!” I could hear everyone laughing. Leave it to me to say the dumbest thing ever, but at least I can be a goofball like that!

My first official Meet and Greet photo with the Backstreet Boys! 17 years in the making!

I turned and said thank you to Kevin and then started walking away. He said thank you back and I realized that everyone was having conversations. We’re allowed? I wanted a hug but they had said ahead of time, no hugs. Sad L. So I turned back around to Kevin. I said (yes, dumbest thing ever) “I’m so glad you’re back. I’m a Kevin girl, all the way.” He took my hand in both of his and shook it and looked in my eyes and said “Thank you” and smiled. Yep, I was just lost!

I said “You are very welcome!” and smiled.

I turned around and just started walking. Then I heard a “Hey” from someone. What? Someone is talking to me? I felt and arm on my shoulder turning me. Oh, it’s Nick. (Yeah I know, everyone’s favorite LOL). I turned and shook his hand, and said “thank you.” Yep, I forgot Nick. HAHA!

Aaron told me that Kevin had stopped her to look at her shirt and read it! Yes, her shirt was that awesome!

So after that crazy experience, Anna, Aaron and I went up to the Lido deck and got some food.

Aaron, Anna and I went to each other’s rooms to change or get something they wanted. We went to the gift shop and Aaron bought a shirt there. I really had wanted a hoodie, but I just couldn’t justify paying that much for it.

Me, Anna and Aaron hanging out in the Lido deck with our feet in the pool. It was super hot on Sunday!

They were holding most everything else that day on the Lido deck, so it made sense to find a seat. We sat with our feet in the water after a while. It was great to sit and talk to these girls. We had so much in common! Anna and I had already had a bunch of conversations since we’d been spending a lot of time together. Aaron was also in on the conversations.

We moved back to the table mid the Wylee fashion show. It was pretty funny to watch Brian take that over. He’s such a character!

Wylee Fashion Show and the founder of Rose Tours

After this was the Run DMC, Drinks with Howie. We lost Aaron for a bit because she is a Howie girl. I sat there and enjoyed the music. Howie was pretty good! I had only heard 100 Kisses. The rest of what I heard of his, I liked. I’m going to need to buy his CD.

After this was the BSB Q & A. There were some pretty funny questions asked, well, if you could hear them! It was like the guys were eating their mics! I heard a few funny ones.  Like “Which guy did you get along with least back in the day?” For Kevin it was Nick, for Brian it was Howie. I liked hearing the engagement stories from Kevin and Nick. There was also “If you could pick one song never to sing again, what it would be?” I heard a lot of boos when Kevin said “The One.”

Q&A! Some pretty funny questions and stories came out of it.

There were a ton of really funny questions, stuff I never would’ve thought to ask! I had to watch the YouTube videos when I got back to hear the questions and answers because of their mics!

At one point, Nicole saw me and recognized me from Facebook. She was another great person I’d talked to for a bit. It was so funny because we both had the exact same mindset. We lost Anna somehow; I think she was taking pictures closer during the Q&;A. We had decided to go to dinner after this and went for that. It was some pretty good dinner! Then we all went back to our rooms and decided to meet later. As I was leaving, I realized the huge crowd outside was for Kevin’s Cover Story!

Kevin singing! I didn't have the best pictures of him that night, but he was pretty amazing!

          I stood there for the entire thing! Kevin was pretty amazing. I had heard him sing before, but this was different. He wasn’t part of a group or just doing one song not really good for his voice. He was singing songs by himself. Because he is my favorite, I did make videos of him singing. I wasn’t in the best spot, but that’s ok. I could hear him and that’s all that matters. He is a pretty good story teller. I love how emotional he got about the songs!

After this, I went back to my room. I had plenty of time to get ready for the Bachelorette night. I laid down for a bit and relaxed. I also started packing because I had a feeling I might be staying up late and I didn’t want to be rushed in the morning. I decided to get ready. I had been calling the other girls rooms and couldn’t get ahold of them.

I finally was able to get ahold of Anna. At this point I was fully ready. I did a little makeup on my cute friend. She let me J. We got all ready for the party and went to the Lido deck. I’ll admit, my dress was pretty short! It’s ok, it was definitely not the most scandalous thing I saw that night!

We went up to the deck and waited for a while. While Anna and I were standing there, we finally saw Sepideh again! We went over and said hi. Because it was pretty crowded, Anna and I stood on the other side of the glass. We were getting impatient. Anna decided to go down the stairs to get Nick, so I was standing by myself which was fine with me. Sepideh and I danced across the glass from each other. It was SO funny. I didn’t even care! I was enjoying myself!

FINALLY the guys appeared, and not where everyone thought! They were on the balcony “stage” as I’d call it, wearing all black. Tank tops, tight jeans, bow ties and cuffs. They were our own personal Chippendales! All the girls went nuts over this. The guys sure know how to entertain! They were playing “You can leave your hat on” by Tom Jones. Nothing more fitting than that!

AJ stripping ... I love that all the guys are watching him!

Of course, our resident bad boy AJ had to do something out of this world. I could see him pulling on his top and RIP, off it came! I heard ovaries drop with that! Then you saw him pulling on his pants. I just knew what was going to happen. RIP! Off came his pants. Yep, AJ stripped! He was left with a leopard print bikini! I could see laughter from the other guys! Especially Howie. I could hear all the girls going crazy, AJ girl or not. He knows how to stop the show! After this, they one by one came through the crowd, after AJ put some clothes on.

At one point, I didn’t have a clue where any of the guys were at. Finally, all of them ended up on the stage. They brought out big bras, giant blow up penises, blow up dolls … it was pretty hilarious. I didn’t see it but I heard that at least Nick had a cucumber he pulled out of his pants! He was also feeding girls bananas off of that area. All the guys were giving shots out of the crowd.

I loved this night! They were all cutting loose! I ran into Nicole and we went to stand next Sepideh. Kevin appeared on that side and slowly made his way to our side. I was getting frustrated because girls kept trying to crowd into our side and move in front of me. I had finally had my camera right at Kevin and someone distracted him and he moved. SO … I gave up at that point. I said “I’m sick of this crap.” Turned around and walked out of the crowd. More pushed my way out than anything.

At that point, Nicole came back my way and we sat to have a cigarette, watching the madness in full swing. I saw a HUGE crowd coming towards us to our right. I stood up and saw Q, then I saw AJ. It was now or never! He had barely passed me and I ran up and put my hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked at me.

“AJ, can I get a picture with you?” He said “Yes.” So I stood there and was about to take the picture … security “Watch the cigarette!” WOOPS! Finally took the picture! Finally got a fan picture! Yes! I was done and said thank you.

Then I’m sure he heard me turn around and say (excuse my language) “FUCK YES!”

I was super excited! I finally got a picture with one of the guys! I finally had the nerve to say something. I know if I decide to go again, I won’t hesitate again. After that, the night seemed to be a blur. I was in a bunch of different spots. I ended up at one point where Kevin was. I waited for a little bit. A fan actually moved me up! What a nice girl! I had taken out my Backstreets Back album cover and was holding it up. He was just dancing and signing autographs. It was very funny to watch him do that! A few girls actually handed him their bras. That was also funny to watch. He held one up to his chest. That was so funny! He was so close to me a few times, and then finally he took mine, signed it and handed it back! I think at that point he was pretty tired. You could see he was drained of energy. It was around 3 am at this point. When I finally got my autograph, I moved out of the area. I think it wasn’t very long after this that he left.

Kevin signing items at the end of the night

My autograph from Kevin!

I found Anna and Aaron and we sat down for a bit. I think Howie had left around the time I got the picture with AJ, and then Howie re-emerged upstairs! We decided to go and get pizza, and then we came back out to the Lido deck for a little while. We all finally decided to go to bed around 5 am.

Post Cruise
I slept in a little bit! Of course, we had made a plan for breakfast at 7 am and I slept through my alarm. I got up and got all of my stuff together. Thankfully the day before, I had pre packed most of it. I took a shower and got as ready as I wanted to. I found Anna and Aaron on the lido deck. I went and grabbed food from the buffet before it closed. We waited for a while and then went to get off the boat. It took a while, but it was alright.

Aaron said goodbye and went to the airport. Anna and I went to her hotel. Once she was checked in, we went for coffee for me, haha. It was funny to walk on dry land again! I still felt like the “boat” was moving! We got back to her hotel and hung out. We uploaded some pictures and watched/listened to Backstreet Boys videos. It was funny to sit there and do that.

I finally had to leave to go to the airport. Her hotel was right by the tram system, so she was so sweet to walk me to it. We said goodbye and I got on the tram.

It was a process to get to the airport. I was frustrated at myself because I should’ve left an hour earlier. I got into the security line at the airport and saw there was a HUGE set of people from the school. I asked if I could go on the side for people leaving within an hour. Thankfully I was able to get on my plane!

There are a few things I would do differently, now after going on the cruise. I would make my flight in come in the afternoon. That way I could take a small nap. No red eye flights for me! Also, I would stay an extra day after the cruise and take a flight out midmorning. I would be more outgoing and ask the guys for pictures or hugs. But I wouldn’t be different with who I met. I made friends that will last a lifetime!