NKOTB Cruise 2017 Recap Part 1 (Wed/Thur)

So I recently went on my first cruise.  But not just any cruise; the biggest, baddest, party-est, most exhausting and most epic cruise in the known universe... THE NKOTB CRUISE!!  I debated whether to blog about it here since this is a running blog and the cruise was, well, not a race.  However, I decided I was justified since I ran a mile for Remember Betty while on the boat (plus I REALLY wanted to blog about it!) so here it goes...

Day 1- Wednesday: Traveling from NC to NOLA and Meeting the First of Many New Friends

Before I get too far into this, Yes I know there was a pre-party, Yes I wanted to go, No I did not make it to said party because I had to work that day and didn't get into New Orleans until about 10:00pm that night.  So there you go, no pre-party for me.  I could moan and groan that I didn't get that extra tiny little bit of crammed-into-a-tiny-space-full-of-pushing-screaming-fans New Kids time but in the grand scheme of things, it really wasn't that big a deal.  I got more than enough New Kids time on the boat!

So anyway, Wednesday evening rolled around and it was time to take my 2 flights to Nashville and then on to New Orleans.  On the second flight, I met up with Amy whom I had met on the cruise Facebook group earlier in the month.  It was fun to chat with a cruise veteran and get some insider tips and I had now met the first of MANY new cruise friends!  I spent the night at The Prince Conti Hotel with my new roomie Kathi and the next morning after breakfast, we headed to the port.

Day 2- Boarding, Embarkation, Sail Away Party, Game Show, and The Blockhead Ball

The boarding process actually went a lot more smoothly and quickly than I had anticipated.  Plus, before we had even boarded, we already had our first New Kids sightings in the form of Jordan (be-still my heart!), Jon (adorable much?!), and Danny (do you even have any body fat?) followed by a bathrobe-and-sunglasses-clad Donnie... because he's just sexy and cool like that.

photo cred: Kathi Alderdice

Once we boarded, Kathi and I ate lunch on the Lido Deck (my first of about 6 meals from Guy's Burgers... what do they put in those burgers to make them so addicting anyway?!).  While dining, I met the amazing Abbie from Remember Betty (the charity I was fundraising/running for) and Danny Wood's dad, who I'm pretty sure had several clones wandering the ship throughout the cruise.  How is it even possible to run into someone so many times?!  Good thing he's so sweet. :) 

Then at last, it was time for the Sail Away Party!  Kathi and I walked onto the Lido Deck and found a wide open spot right away!  How lucky were we?!?  Here we are, cruise virgins, and we've scored a perfect spot for the first party!  Oh right, we're cruise virgins and we don't know what the heck we're doing and our 'perfect' spot is wide open because it's UNDER where the guys are going to be.  Fail.  Luckily, some sweet girls that Kathi had met at the pre-party the night before saw us and pulled us over to where they were.  Thank goodness for Nicole and Jamee and their veteran cruiser knowledge!  And God bless Nicole's epic group selfie skills.. don't we all look so cute?!?  

Photo cred: Nicole Hanner

As the New Kids made their way down the steps onto the Lido Deck after the new love-filled oath, I got a 'hand-hug' from sweet Jon and a hand-squeeze from ridiculously buff Danny.  Then, as if descending from the heavens, Jordan glided down the stairs, stopped and turned to me, took both of my hands, and with a smile on his face, winked at me before moving on.  If nothing else happened for the entire cruise, I was still the happiest girl on the planet!  But then something else DID happen, I got my first New Kids selfie! Well, technically it was a threesome with Kathi and adorable Joe McIntryre, but it still counts in my book... and it sounds funnier that way.

After the sail Away Party came the NKOTB Game Show.  There's not much to say about that really.  Basically, Jordan and Donnie danced together and "out-gayed" Jon (Jon's words), Donnie took off Danny's shirt (cementing Jon's words), Donnie kissed Joe (further cementing Jon's words... is there something you're not telling us Donnie?!?), Joe took over and renamed the game show 'Suck It', and there was an epic fan lip sync battle at the end.  All in all, it was amusing but not what I expected.  Group A apparently had a better experience but hey, you can't win 'em all.  Plus I thoroughly enjoyed watching Jordan dance to 'It's Raining Men' and hearing Joe say, "A tit-mouse is a f**in' bird, I know that much".

After a quick meal in the dining room complete with chocolate lava cake, it was finally time to change and head to the first themed Lido Deck party: The Blockhead Ball!  Now, having never been on a boat before I was worried that I might have to contend with sea-sickness.  Since we were now out on open water, I had my answer: no sea-sickness, Woohoo!  However, what I did have was vertigo.  Basically I looked like I was drunk 24-7 while I was on the ship.  Every time the boat swayed, so did I... dramatically.  And. It. Was. Hilarious.

Anyway, Kathi and I got all dolled up in our finest New Kids gear and headed up to the Lido Deck to stake out our spots.  We ended up with a sweet spot on the first tier right in the corner of the railings by the steps.  An unobstructed view and at least a little bit of wiggle room to dance... perfect!  We made friends with the sweet, sparkly girls next to us (thanks for sharing the dance space Kimberly and Laura) and the New Kids made their entrance.  They danced, I danced.  They sang, I sang.  Donnie smiled at me, I melted.  Jordan took off his shirt, I stopped breathing.  And as the night wore on I realized I was getting less and less range of motion.  As people were dancing and the boat was rocking, I was getting pushed further and further into the corner of the railing!  So I did what any faithful Blockhead on the Lido Deck of an NKOTB cruise would do, and I just kept dancing!  By the time I wiggled my final Wobble, I had significantly fewer sequins on my dress, but I was ludicrously happy... and extremely tired since it was now after 3:00am.

Kathi and I climbed into bed after getting some soft-serve (because we were hungry and why not?), and it was only then that I realized how badly the ship was rocking!  I spent about 2 minutes wondering if I would be able to fall asleep this way before passing out completely... until my alarm went off a whole 2 1/2 hours later.  Friday was another incredible day on the boat, but more on that in the next post.