Good Lord that was fun!!!  I am still in need of some sleep as Brenda and I spent much of yesterday at the Miami International Airport trying to get back to Chicago - gee, it was great to come home to about 8 inches of snow - really shows off my tan! 

I still don't have all of my brain cells functioning in a cohesive manner yet, but did want to post a few of the week's highlights for me -

1.  GBS's Sail Away Show on the Lido Deck as we left Grand Cayman definitely tops my list.  It was truly one of the BEST shows that I have ever seen GBS do - and that's not just the numerous buckets of Happy Hour Coronas talking!   The guys completely nailed that show and looked to be having just as much fun as the audience was.  Since it was the Sail Away show, everyone on the ship was pretty much hanging out on the deck taking it all in.  Based on some conversations I had afterward, I think that it will be a little harder to get tickets to any future GBS shows due to all of the additional demand. 

2.  Carbon Leaf joining GBS on stage for "General Taylor" during their last show the last night of the cruise.  I do have a video clip of that and will get it put up somewhere, just not sure where yet, and will be sure to share the link.  It was AWESOME!

3.  Sprinting from the GBS show om the Lido Deck to the Gaelic Storm gig 4 floors down (first time I used the stairs the whole trip!) and then having GBS and Carbon Leaf join Gaelic Storm for "Tell Me Ma".  I have a clippette of that one as well that I will post when I have a chance.

4.  Song Writers Panel - This was my first one of this type of event and it was absolutely incredible.   Brenda was lucky enough to "win" the raffle for the tickets.  The participants were Kurt Swinghammer (Holy CRAP!  The things that man can do with a guitar are AMAZING!), Jason Plumb, the lead singer from the New Odds (apologies as I cannot recall his name), Ed Robertson, Steve Page, Sarah Harmer (WOW!!), Alan Doyle and Boothby Graffoe, who was absolutely hysterical.  The event was supposed to last for 2 hours, but went close to 3 with 4 rounds.  As already mentioned (I think) Alan did "Straight to Hell", "Tonight", "Not For the Money Alone" and, as requested, "Boston and St John's".  Alan had his guitar tuned and set for "Not for the Money..." when the request came in for "Boston...".  There was a chuckle as Alan had said that he'd hoped it had been requested by a chick, but promised that he would play it later, privately in his cabin dressed in a robe while serving cocktails if necessary, and then continued on with "Not for the Money...".  When Ed called for another round, Alan did play "Boston in St John's", but told the "dude" that that did not mean that he was cancelling their previous arrangement.  And THAT is the story.

I know that all of the above highlights are GBS related, but there were many others as well.  All of the performers were just spectacular and making a whole lot of new friends and having the opportunity to party hearty with some old ones was a complete and total blast!!  Brenda, Tina, Adam, Sheila, Sara, Renata, John, Diana, Nancy...  it is going to be really hard to top this week, and you were all such an integral part of the fun!  Thanks!

I will post a few pics below from the Sail Away show below here, but trust me, there are ALOT more where these came from, I just haven't had enough sleep to get through them yet.

One more thing...  in addition to the Atlantic City and DC gigs in March, Alan did mention (Canadian Lisa, please sit down before reading the rest of this message...  are you sitting?...  good...)  St Patick's Day in Edmonton.

ChiTownKim:

1.  GBS's Sail Away Show on the Lido Deck as we left Grand Cayman definitely tops my list.  It was truly one of the BEST shows that I have ever seen GBS do - and that's not just the numerous buckets of Happy Hour Coronas talking!   The guys completely nailed that show and looked to be having just as much fun as the audience was.  Since it was the Sail Away show, everyone on the ship was pretty much hanging out on the deck taking it all in.  Based on some conversations I had afterward, I think that it will be a little harder to get tickets to any future GBS shows due to all of the additional demand. 

Heh... I don't know if you talked to me, but I'm one of the people who saw GBS for the first time on the sail away and it was friggin' amazing. And then Alan at the Songwriter's Panel was one of my favorites, even with Ed, Steve, Craig Northey (Who is the guy from the Odds, BTW) and Boothby up there.

Got back to Minnesota today from the cruise and it is so depressing to see just gray and white. I'm already missing the green grass and trees of Jamaica and the hot sun beating down on the Lido deck.  Why do I live in Minnesota? 

The cruise was amazing.  All the shows were incredible, just as everyone else posted above.  I just thought how neat it was to see all the band members wandering around being real people.  Sometimes it is easy to think of them as these big rock star gods, but they eat, sleep and poop just like everyone else.

My hubby and I saw Kris and Murray everywhere.  I loved Kris's facial tattoo.  At first I thought it was the real thing and I was a bit shocked, but when he didn't have it the last day, I am assuming it was done with a Sharpie.  We didn't see much of Sean, but Bob and his wife were on our tender back from Grandy Cayman.  Alan was around at different concerts enjoying himself.

 We took over 500 pictures, but many of them will be deleted after we can go through them.  We were never as close as Kim, so I may have to steal a few of her great shots for the scrapbook.

I am anxious to hear everyone's cruise stories!

Truly a good time had by all.

 I never got a chance to say a proper goodbye to the folks who took in a complete stranger and made her feel welcome. Renata, Sheila, Kim, Brenda, John, Fran, Tina, Adam, Sean, Allison it never would have been the same without ya!!  Pleasure meeting all of you and hope we can do it again real soon.

Sar

Wow.  Just Wow.  Being able to see all my favorite bands numerous times in one week was absolutely incredible.  Three GBS concerts in one week!

It was great going to the first GBS concert onboard and seeing the boys realize after the first song or two just how amazing the week was going to be.  They were on the entire week and the banter was great.

One of the highlights was definitely the last concert they did.  I had asked some of the ladies up front if I could sneak a quick photo of the setlist before the concert started.  They of course obliged and I then commented on how I had really hoped to hear Process Man onboard, but with this being the last night and it not on the setlist, my hopes were fading.  I had a nice discussion about the song with one of the women (her name is Kristin, don’t remember if she posts here at all) and she said that maybe they could start a chant going to get the boys to play it.

Well, part way through the set, Alan shouts out that he wants to take requests.  I had moved farther back, but screamed as loud as I could for Process Man, and then heard the girls down front yelling for it too.  Alan immediately heard them and agreed to do the song.  I was completely floored!  Thank you so very, very much ladies!

And the jam session the last night, Alan started out on guitar and was completely rockin' the entire session.  It was amazing!  You could tell by look on his face that he was having a fantastic time.   

Oh yeah, and hey to Barbara, my row mate on the plane home!  At least I think that was your name.  I know you're from Mankato and on this board, but the name did not stay fixed in my brain, as I may have mentioned I got about 1 hour of sleep the night before due to the above mentioned jam session, lol!

I’m slowly sifting through my nearly 900 photos I took during the week and it’ll take me a while to get them up.  Here’s some of the best of the best of the boys.  PLENTY more to come later!

Murray & Kris at the first GBS concert.

Sean at Sail Away Concert

 Sean sans bathrobe.  Loved the shorts!

Bob at Sail Away.

I love this silhouette of Alan.

And I love this one of Alan reacting to the crowd.

There are more on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kj415/sets/72157603842697145/

And like I said, TONS more to be put up, although I might need to rework sets/albums.

You took some fantastic photos! Thanks so much for sharing them with us. SOunds like a great time was had by all. The Carbon Leaf guys look good. Haven't seen them in a dog's age, it seems.

Anne

ChiTownKim:

One more thing...  in addition to the Atlantic City and DC gigs in March, Alan did mention (Canadian Lisa, please sit down before reading the rest of this message...  are you sitting?...  good...)  St Patick's Day in Edmonton.

 

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* Let's hope so... Shannyganock plays on the 15th... out here too... =)... Thanks Kim.. I was sitting down... I think my heart beat has returned to normal. now.. Thanks... =) Gonna be a sweet St. Paddy's day!!!!

I admit . . . I went on S&D III because I love BNL.  I had never heard of GBS until it was announced they would be on the cruise.  I checked out a couple of their albums and decided they pretty much rock, but the Monday night concert truely converted me.  I was able to see them all four times they performed, missing just the end of the Thursday night Lido deck concert (after which they invaded Gaelic Storm) in order to catch my BNL Mainstage show.  For both Lido concerts I was right up on the stage and managed to get some fantastic pics, including an incredible one with Sean looking straight at me.

Sixthman and BNL were surprised at the overwhelming reaction to GBS.  Not only were they surprised at how many people showed up for their first show (especially since Gaelic Storm, whom many BNL fans specifically requested be asked back, was playing opposite them), but they were floored at how many people knew their songs.  I have a good feeling that GBS will be asked back next year for S&D V.

GREAT pics.  Keep 'em coming!!!  Need something to look forward to in February in Virginia. 

Robin

Thank you thank you thank you for all the reviews and great pics so far.

Still crying that I had to cancel all my trip reservations for stupid reasons, I'm so happy that my reliance on the great OKP community has not been disappointed! Please, you kind folks, share myriads of pics and videos ... !!!

I think it's just amazing to hear, which great success the trip was for the boys, apparently! Welcome to all newly convinced music lovers ...

Anxiously waiting for more posts ... cheers ... Christina

All three GBS shows were amazing. It was a blast seeing everyone out & about (it felt like I spotted Alan everytime I turned around).

Trying to think of fun details that haven't already been mentioned...

Explanation about the bathrobes: The barenaked photo was right away on Monday. Yes, it really was show up in nothing but your bathrobe and a smile. It created a culture of folks wandering around in bathrobes at any time, and nobody thinking this was odd. So GBS showing up in robes was paying homage to the photo. Personally I'm convinced that Alan probably participated in the photo, but no verification as to whether this is true!

Crashing the Gaelic Storm gig: It was funny to overhear some girls saying "oh they're just trying to get out of signing aut