December 2004: Another Rockin' Roll Report

Somewhere in the Caribbean Sea
Carnival Cruise Ship Triumph

In addition to the "Rockin' Roll Report" I filed, I wrote this piece for JourneyDigest.com using my notes from the cruise diary I kept.
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Come sail away, come sail away…

Okay, Styx had the most popular song on the Rock and Roll Holiday Escape Cruise, but Journey had the biggest group of screaming fans. From the cheers when Journey’s name was mentioned at the first cocktail party, to the lines that formed hours before their show began, it was clear there were lots of Journey fans aboard the Carnival Triumph.

When I first heard about this cruise to the Western Caribbean back in June, my first thought was “What a great opportunity! How can I possibly do it?!” After having spent a considerable amount of my vacation time the past 7 years trotting around the US seeing Journey shows, I could actually go on vacation with Journey! How much better could it get – 7 days in a tropical paradise and three excellent rock bands providing the entertainment!

The Friday after Thanksgiving, I hopped a plane to Miami to meet up with my roommate Janice and a whole slew of Journey pals for a vacation I will never forget. We knew going in that the bands wouldn’t be on the ship the whole time, but a week long party with so many friends was something to enjoy. Once we set sail Saturday afternoon, the “Rock and Rollers” had a private cocktail party to meet the other fans on board. We managed to round up a bunch of Back Talkers for a group photo, despite not being able to find any of the contingent that had traveled from the UK. I felt rather sorry for the poor woman who volunteered to take our picture – she and her husband wound up with about 12 cameras, and we were all blind from the flashes.

Our cocktail party was held in the Rome Lounge – the main showroom for the ship that held about 1,400 people. It was one of the smallest places I’d seen Journey in and the idea of seeing the band perform in such an intimate environment was exciting. It was also unlike any venue I had ever seen any rock concert. Instead of individual seats bolted together, there were rows of soft couches with small cocktail tables every few feet and lots of room between the rows – suitable for waiters to walk through bringing drinks.

We cruised from Miami to Cozumel where Styx and REO Speedwagon boarded the ship on Monday. Styx was the first performer of the trip and their Question & Answer session set the tone for the ones to follow and gave the “Rock and Rollers” a sense of what the week to come would be like. Fans from around the world got the opportunity to ask questions and were greeted with warm and enthusiastic responses. This was something that would occur with each successive band, and made the trip feel like a shared conversation with old friends. This was followed later the same night with our first concert, and finding places for the 1,200 or so people to line up for the general admission seating was an interesting challenge on a cruise ship.

Styx left the ship after their show, which left fans to spot members of REO Speedwagon and Journey’s crew around the ship. Journey’s crew was a lot easier to find and so they became some of the most popular people on the ship! A day just didn’t seem complete with out a Rocko sighting or a chat with Jim (with his one red and one green shoes.) I even had the opportunity to chat with a couple members of the crew on a snorkeling excursion in Grand Cayman!

Journey finally boarded the ship when we docked in Ochos Rios, Jamaica on Thursday. We were scheduled to pull out of port at 3:30, Journey’s Question and Answer session was at 5:00, and people were in line waiting to get in before the ship pulled out of port. Not many people took part in the day-long shore excursions if they wanted to get in line!

Journey entered the Q&A session and sang “hello” as they sat down, and we were off. The questions ranged from the familiar (How do you choose the songs to play in your set list? How did Neal join Santana?) to the curious (Who were your influences? Have you ever had an embarrassing moment on stage?) to the silly (Boxers or briefs? Where did the pissing baby come from?) The guys answered all of the questions with grace and a good sense of humor – there was a lot of laughter on the stage.

When we left the Q&A session, we had to battle getting in the elevators with the crew who was bringing the band’s gear in to the Rome Lounge. It was a bit surreal seeing all of the equipment cases sitting between the elevators and trying to get to the stairs. It felt like we’d all snuck backstage!

Friday was our last day of the cruise, and, finally, Journey would be performing! When we got up Friday morning, after a late night chatting with Neal and Ross in one of the bars, Janice and I headed over to the Rome Lounge for the “debarkation” talk. We arrived in the lounge a little early – just at the end of yet another round of Bingo – and found a seat. Bingo has gotten a lot more sophisticated than the last time I played – these games were played with a computer and the called numbers were projected on a screen. Because of the need for a screen, the curtains on the stage were pulled back, and the screen was lowered most of the way down to the stage. It couldn’t quite reach the stage since there was Jon’s piano blocking its path!

Around 3:00 that afternoon, I stumbled in to the balcony of the Rome Lounge looking for a restroom only to discover that the crew was on stage running through some songs – sound check was starting! Fans were kicked out of the balcony area before the band arrived around 4:00, but there were people coming in and out, so eavesdropping on sound check wasn’t too hard.

Going down to the main floor where eavesdropping would be easier, I discovered that the “platinum package” concertgoers were already in line and waiting for the show – and had been in line since noon! The concert wouldn’t start until 10 p.m., yet there were about 15 people sitting in chairs dragged from the lobby bar waiting outside the Rome Lounge. I hadn’t seen this for Styx or REO Speedwagon – I was amazed. These folks were already the first group allowed in and had access to the seats in the first three rows before anyone else, but they were going to sit in line for hours to get in and get that perfect seat in front.

After a quick check of the line up location for the rest of the concert-goers revealed that, no, there wasn’t a line yet, we were off to enjoy the farewell cocktail party. We had finally found the UK crowd on Thursday before the Q&A session, but alas, never got a chance to re-take the photo of Back Talkers. With the cocktail party, we got a great slide show of pictures from the Styx and REO shows. Since Journey hadn’t performed yet, all we saw of them in the slide show was a group shot taken on the deck of the ship.

The cocktail party ended around 7:00, and it was time to make a decision – get in line or go to dinner?? Janice and I got in line with several of our friends and dined on pizza from the 24-hour pizza bar on the Lido deck rather than eat in the formal dining room. I’m not entirely sure why we bothered to be among the first in line, since we wound up in virtually the same seats for every show, but there’s just something about “general admission” that makes you get in line hours before you ever thought you would.

By the time the concert started, the captain also decided to crank up the speed of the ship, so in addition to rock and roll, we were rocking and rolling! Since I had been asked to take photos, I was able to move up to one of the “platinum” seats next to Caryn (Journeycat) and had a prime seat on the aisle in front of Neal. I only wish I were as good of a photographer as some of our fellow Journey fans!

The two-hour plus show went faster than I could imagine, and soon I found myself balancing on a couch on a moving ship trying to take a picture of the final bow. The show was over, and in a few hours we would be docking in Miami and heading back to reality. We left the Rome Lounge and worked our way past the equipment cases once more as the crew began the load-out. Our wonderful week long vacation was ending. After a couple of drinks at the bar – mobbed with fans chattering about the show and cornering several of the band members for a photo op – it was back to our cabin and reflecting on a wonderful week in the Caribbean.