Caribbean Sea
Carnival Cruise Ship Triumph
Carnival Cruise Ship Triumph
Hello all – I've arrived safe and sound in Clearwater, Florida after a week sailing the Caribbean with some rock and roll pirates! I'll start at the end so not to keep everyone in suspense…. Journey Rocked the Boat!
Okay, there are going to be a few lame puns.
Our Journey boys didn't join the cruise until our last port of call – Ochos Rios, Jamaica – on Thursday afternoon, and nearly from the minute they hit the ship, they were the busiest 5 guys on board not working for Carnival Cruise lines! The ship set sail around 4:00 as all the rock and roll cruisers were getting in line for the hour long question and answer session that was to begin at 5. The questions ranged from the familiar – how do you pick which songs to play? To the silly – boxers or briefs? To the entertaining – what was your most embarrassing moment? Throughout the session the fans were very responsive and the band was very relaxed and seemed to be enjoying themselves. A couple of my favorite responses included Neal saying "We're only as good as you are." When asked if the crowd makes a difference in their performances. Neal also said he wants to "get bold" next year and do an extra long set – 90 minutes of new stuff including Arrival and Red 13, take an intermission, then do 90 minutes of the classic Journey.
From there the boys went off to the meet and greet for the platinum package people. I was not among them, but reports from my fellow cruisers say it went fairly well considering the number of people involved. Then it was time for the second formal dinner and my fellow cruisers and I went off to yet another delicious meal. Alas, none of the band was in our dining room. We had hoped we might get lucky since there had been a couple of guys from Styx (Chuck Panazzo and Ricky Phillips) at the Captain's dinner on Monday night, but alas, while we were dining in Paris, the boys were in London.
I did get an opportunity to see Ross, Steve, and Deen after dinner since they were dining a little bit later than we were and we happened to be in the bar outside their dining room when dinner was over. Really quite cool to run in to rock stars at random.
Friday night was waited for in much anticipation by most of the rock and roll cruisers – unlike Styx and REO no members of Journey had been on board, and everyone was eager to see them. (Though Journey's crew got lots of attention in the meantime!) People with the platinum package (the prime seats in the first few rows) had begun lining up as early as 12 noon!! Those of us with the "cheaper" seats would wait to line up around 7:00 – this was for a 10:30 show! Around 3:00 Friday afternoon, I was strolling around the shops on the promenade deck and needed to make a trip to the restroom. Not wanting to go all the way back to my room on the 1st level, I looked for the nearest restroom. It just happened to be in the Rome Lounge, which was were all the concerts were being held. Just as I opened the door to the lounge, I heard the opening notes to "Separate Ways!" Sound check was starting, and the crew was on stage running through a few tunes. A fun little treat.
Back down in the lobby about an hour later, and here comes the whole band marching through on their way to sound check. It was closed to everyone, but the sound bled through the doors pretty well and with the catering crew going in and out setting up for our cocktail party we could hear snips of songs as they ran through them.
After our farewell cocktail party it was off to line up for the access to the better seats. This is probably my only true complaint about the whole trip – the general admission seating was nuts. Cruise ships aren't used to having over 1000 people wanting to get into their shows all at the same time so they don't have a good way of accommodating them or to properly handle the seating. Each show was a different challenge to obtain seats.
Thanks to Jenn and Cat, I was able to squeeze down to the third row off the main aisle on Neal's side (from about the sixth row off the side aisle on Neal's side) so I had a great view of the stage all night long. This was one of the best shows I've ever seen. The Rome Lounge was very small and intimate, seating about 1400 people, and there were few truly bad seats in the house – some in the back corners may not have been optimum, but not awful either. The show was about 2/3 full – as had all the shows. The crowd was on their feet the instant the lights went down and the intro started to play.
It was truly Neal's night – he shone front and center all night long. With the size of the venue and the stage, everyone was very close. People were right at the foot of the stage and the guys would play right up at the edge – it was pretty incredible. At a few points during the show the crowd was so loud as they were singing along, Steve would get drowned out and just let us take it. The first time it happened was during "Lights," which was a highlight for this Bay Area girl! "Open Arms" and "Any Way You Want It" had similar responses. Jon introduced a new solo piece complete with a pre-programmed backing beat. Was quite cool!
No real surprises in the set list – Neal played a little of "Joy to the World" before the "Star Spangled Banner," Deen took part of the chorus to "Escape," which I hadn't seen him do before, and there was a cool new intro to "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'." Otherwise it was the same set list they'd played most of the summer. I did surprise myself when I nearly came unglued when Deen launched in to "Mother, Father" – I thought I had gotten used to hearing it live to the point where it was just a lump in the throat and a single tear trickling down my cheek. Nope, nearly as sobbing as I was the very first time I heard Journey perform it live! Ah well, it's my favorite song, what can I say? My one little, teeny, tiny gripe about the set list is that it didn't include "The Party's Over" – that would have been the absolute perfect song to end a week of surreal parties!
A few quick notes on the Styx and REO portions of the trip (I'll have more later when I can decompress and reorganize my notes!) Styx was up first – Monday night in Cozumel. Only Ricky Phillips and Chuck Panazzo were on the ship – the rest of the band hopped on in Mexico and played the gig while we were still in port, then they hopped right back off. Their Q&A session was very cool with the whole band launching in to their Christmas tune (alas, I don't know the name) a cappella after someone asked if it would be in the set list. They also sang happy birthday to another one of the folks – in six part harmony. VERY cool.
Their concert was amazing – I enjoy each opportunity I get to see them perform live. They've got such a high energy show, I'm constantly amazed that they can keep it at that level every time.
The guys from REO all got on board in Cozumel as well, and they actually stayed through the end of the cruise – I had thought they might get off in Grand Cayman or Jamaica as they would have finished their responsibilities by then. It was great that they didn't, and I kept running in to Kevin Cronin all over the ship – of course usually with out my camera or if I had my camera it was out of film! Such luck.
Their Q&A session was delayed because sound check ran long, but they graciously allowed everyone in for the last 10 minutes or so of sound check, so that was a nice surprise. Their Q&A went fairly well until one fan got rather rude and obnoxious when they didn't answer her exact question. They were all very gracious, but I know I and several other folks would have helped tie her up and toss her overboard. It was really uncalled for behavior. Perhaps the most surprising part of this was that Kevin Cronin didn't do all the talking. Neil Dougherty displayed a very quick wit and answered a lot of the questions.
Their show was a little more sedate than either Styx or Journey, and unfortunately had a bit of a lull to it when Kevin's monitors blew out 4 songs in to the set. While it was mildly entertaining to see Kevin have his shirt torn off by the roadies to replace the monitor, it meant that Kevin got to talk… and talk… and talk. This time instead of talking about the Playboy mansion, we got to hear him talk about the migration pattern of dolphins! The punch line of this tale was that Kevin's vocal warm-ups were scaring the dolphins. Out of this tale came another tale to introduce a new song they've worked up for an upcoming CD. It was really quite good and got a decent response for a new song. I believe it was called "Hard to Believe."
The show kicked in gear again after a set of Hi Infidelity songs and closed out strongly, despite the fact that the crowd had thinned out considerably as the show had started at 11 p.m.!
Lots of late nights, lots of rock stars, LOADS of fun. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone and would go again myself. There were some pretty major kinks in the whole operation, but for the most part I really think I got my money's worth out of the trip. One thing I would suggest to the Journey boys is to get on the ship earlier. During the course of the whole week I rarely saw any of the musicians on board get mobbed by people unless it was during a related event like the Rock & Roll slot tournament that Dave Amato won. Journey was on board for such a short time and was scheduled so tightly during that time that any time they were seen walking the halls or at one of the bars and restaurants, they would get mobbed by people wanting autographs and pictures. I hope that experience doesn't turn any of them off since I would imagine that would have been one of their biggest concerns.
Set list:
Intro
Be Good To Yourself
Only the Young
Joy to the World/Star Spangled Banner – Neal solo
Stone in Love
Wheel in the Sky
Keep on Runnin' – Deen vox
Higher Place
Suzanne – Deen vox
Lights
Walks Like a Lady – Ross vox
Chain Reaction
Voodoo Chile – Neal vox
-- Jon solo --
Send Her My Love
Open Arms
Mother, Father – Deen vox
Just the Same Way – Jon/Steve vox
Rubicon
Edge of the Blade
Escape
Faithfully
Don't Stop Believin'
Separate Ways
Any Way You Want It
Encore:
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
