(My title is a play on the title of a BNL song, Wind it Up, from the Barenaked Ladies are Me album.)
Not much to say about the last day, since it was mostly just travel. Our flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Newark was delayed, but we already had a several hour layover between Newark and Portland so we weren’t very concerned about it. It was a very long day of airports and flying, though, and I was so happy to finally be back home.
I can’t say enough about this cruise. This was the first time I’ve ever been on a cruise so I don’t really know what a “normal cruise” is like, but I can’t imagine it would be more fun than this. I was on a ship with my two favorite bands for 4 days. All of the other passengers were also fans, so anywhere you went there were people who shared the same interests as you. Everyone was so nice and so willing to talk about their BNL/Guster experiences.
The band members were all very accessible and friendly. Most of the time they were very willing to stop for photos and autographs, and if they looked like they were having “family time” everyone respected that. I just loved that they were on the ship enjoying the same things that I was. Listening to Ed Robertson laughing so hard as he sat behind me at the Sean Cullen show, watching Kevin Hearn quietly enjoying another band’s performance, or sitting next to Andy Creeggan as he discovered how wonderful Guster is…these were all things that really made the cruise special to me.
I really enjoyed how the bands all seemed to be so connected to each other. Ed Robertson would show up to do a song or two in Jason Plumb’s set. Tyler Stewart played drums for the Brothers Creeggan. It was always a cool surprise to see who would show up where.
Next January 6-10…if I suddenly go missing, look for me on the next Ships and Dip Cruise with Barenaked Ladies. You know I’ll be there!!
