VH1 Best Cruise Ever 2 - Day 3

We started the morning bright and early with breakfast and then met up with Tracy & Steph to get to our Cozumel excursion. It was a beautiful day in Mexico and we really couldn’t have asked for better weather the entire cruise.

We went right to the docks to board our catamaran and get the day started. The guys on the crew of our excursion were a blast. There was one named “Nacho” that looked like a Mexican Jack Sparrow. No joke.


Our excursion!


Tracy & Steph with Nacho!

We went out to the reef and jumped in the water for about an hour of snorkeling, seeing lots of colorful fish in what was a great experience. Then it was time for fun in the sun with margaritas when the catamaran took us all to a beautiful beach for some playtime in the ocean. The beach was filled with all kinds of goodies including everything from water slides to trampolines. It was so fun! The slide was the best part, but climbing it was an upper body workout. I did it once and that was enough for me. On the other hand, the water trampoline was awesome. After we got back onto the catamaran, they gave us a ride back to the docks, filled with more drinking and some cheesy line dance music, which was a ton of fun. I’m so glad we did this excursion because it was a blast and worth every penny.


Sun & Fun!

When we headed back to the ship for a quick lunch, we grabbed Chad & Amy and then went back on the island to hang out at Fat Tuesday, where we spent a few hours talking, drinking and laughing. On our way back to the ship, we spotted Jimmy from Train and took a funny picture with him at the bar. After that we saw our buddy Jim Shearer who happened to be filming a segment for the Top 20 Countdown and they ended up putting us in the shot with him, which was really exciting. Hopefully, we should be in the very last segment of the show this weekend when they air the countdown.


Fat Tuesday


The gang with Jimmy from Train


Us with The Inspiration in the background


Getting ready to be on the Top 20 Countdown

Once back onboard, I was feeling pretty worn out from sun, swimming and margaritas. We had took a nap, grabbed some dinner and roamed the ship before getting ready for the night. We headed up to the Paris Lounge to see Mat Kearney and The Script. I can honestly say that I didn’t know much about Mat or his music before the cruise and left vacation a huge fan. He has some great tunes and is a genuinely nice guy. After he went off, it was time for The Script. I’ve been looking forward to seeing these guys for months and they did not disappoint. Danny has an incredible voice and even though they’re considered rock/pop, he has a flow to his singing that almost reminds me of rap/R&B. They really put on a show and Danny’s stage presence kept everyone engaged the entire time.


Me with Jason Wade from Lifehouse


Mat Kearney


The Script

After the show, we headed up to The Candlelight Lounge to find Chad & Amy. We bumped into Ryan Star and chatted with him for a little. He was another very nice, talented artist on the cruise. We caught part of the Civil Twilight show and then went to see the Yacht Rock Revue on the Lido Deck. They were doing covers of U2 songs that night. We stayed for a bit and then went with Tracy and Stephanie to get some late night snacks. The weather was beautiful, so we dined al fresco. It was great to relax and chat awhile with good friends.


Us with Ryan Star

VH1 Best Cruise Ever 2 – Day 1

Hello my lovely blog friends! I’m back from vacation, unpacked and ready to relive the memories through some recaps. I’m hoping this doesn’t bore you to tears, but I always like to relive my vacations through my blog. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone back to read old posts and remember the fun times.

On Thursday, we flew to Tampa and were very worried we wouldn’t get out of here due to some nasty weather headed straight for Philadelphia. Once we were in the air, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. We landed safely in Tampa and shared a cab to the port with two fellow cruisers from Boston that we saw several times on the ship. Great guys!

The second we walked on the Inspiration, we were met with smiles from good friends Amy and Chad that we met on the cruise last year. We’ve keep in touch with them ever since and I was super excited to see them.


Us with Chad and Amy

We all went and had some lunch at the buffet and then headed down to our cabins to get settled in. Lifehouse rocked us out to sea on the Lido Deck and we went to check it out with Amy and Chad. After that, we listened to Crowfield for a little bit play in the Atrium.


I missed those towel animals


Lifehouse rocking us out to sea

We went to the Carnivale Dining Room for dinner and loved our server and host. I asked them if they love these types of cruises, since they don’t have to dance around the dining room and they said I just read their minds because they hate that. It made me laugh…a lot. After going on the Vh1 cruises, I could never go back to a regular one.

After dinner, we went back to our cabin to get ready for the night. We met up with Amy, Chad, Tracy and Steph in the Candlelight Lounge for the SafetySuit show. This was one of the best shows on the cruise and we had a blast. We got to hear 4 new songs off of SafetySuit’s upcoming album and the mood in the audience was awesome. We saw Tate, Dave and Chico from SafetySuit after the show and talked to them for a bit.


Amy and I


Tracy, me & Steph


One of our many self-portraits


Doug from SafetySuit

From SafetySuit, we headed up to the Lido Deck to catch the rest of The Script show and ran into our buddy Jim Shearer from the VH1 Top 20 Countdown. He is awesome, but more on that later. We also got to meet Danny from The Script and he was very nice.


Us with Jim Shearer


The Script


Us with Danny from The Script

To cap off the night, we got some late night pizza with Chad and Amy and then headed back to the Candlelight Lounge to see the Yacht Rock Revue. They were awesome and played hits from the 70’s and 80’s. They’re actually pretty talented and never stayed out of their retro characters the entire cruise. We took a late night stroll of the Promenade, hit the club/disco for a bit and called it a night.


Us with the Yacht Rock Revue

I’m on a boat

Or rather, I’m going to be on a boat! Geof and I booked a cruise and we leave in a few weeks. I cannot wait to get away and this will be something different for us as a couple, since we’ve never been on one together.


Carnival Inspiration

We’re going to the Cayman Islands and I absolutely love it there. The island is beautiful and there are so many things to do. The bonus is that it’s the VH1 Best Cruise Ever and there are going to be a ton of concerts on the ship. Lifehouse, 3 Doors Down, Shinedown, SafetySuit and Carolina Liar (just to name a few) will be rocking the boat!

They’re also going to have 2 theme nights, one 80’s and one formal. It will be fun to put some ridiculous 80’s outfit together.

I went on a cruise to the Cayman’s a long time ago with a bunch of friends and did a tour to Stingray City where they take you out to this sandbar and you get to play and interact with the ray’s. I remember the boat pulling up and looking at this water that was as clear as a pool and then seeing these dark shadows swimming about. I was completely freaked out at first, but it was such an amazing experience. I hope to do it again, explore George Town, visit “Hell”, 7 Mile Beach and maybe even get over to the Turtle Farm. There is so much to do and I really hope to squeeze as much in as possible that day that we’re in port.


Stingray City


Hell - it was fun last time to send postcards to my friends back home postmarked from Hell. It's basically a tourist trap, but still fun.

7 Mile Beach