I just got in late last night, but I just wanted to say how amazing the Ships And Dip III cruise was !

Seeing Alan Doyle upon boarding the ship, was just awesome, seeing 3 GBS concerts, meeting the boys close up, chatting with Sean at 2 in the morning out on the Lido deck under the stars for a good 40 mins with my wife and friends was amazing, Sean who was drinking a Mojito, offered me a sip of his drink - now that was cool !,  sitting and having a beer with Bob during one of the daytime concerts was amazing also.  It was like winning THE golden ticket, and I was in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory ! ... you had access to everyone on the ship, close up.  By the way, my wife and I lucked out, our room was about 30 feet from Sean's room, which was just totally awesome.  Here I am coming out of my room on day-1 and there is Sean coming out of his room, I went up to him, shook his hand, chatted with him for a maybe a minute or less, and then he told me the ship has lost his luggage.  ( He got it a few hours later though )  Being almost on top of his room, all 4 of us were always bumping into Sean and Alan, Kris.  I bumped into Kris a few times at the buffet lineup, which allowed me to chat with him for a few minutes.

I'm a new fan of Gaelic Storm ! - an awesome group.  Carbon Leaf was amazing also.  Too much to mention in a single post.  I have just over 7 hours of video, including 2 full GBS concerts, ( we watched 3 of them ) , BareNaked Ladies was awesome too, Ed being everywhere on the ship, including showing up in a speedo during one of the Great Big Sea concerts ! ( yup I got that one one tape ! )  The last Great Big Sea concert was out on the Lido deck ( deck 9 ) (open air ) in the Caribbean evening, we all got our chairs, buckets of beer, and got our places at about 6 pm, to ensure we got an amazing spot.  Their 2nd concert, I also did the same thing, and on that one, I was about 10 feet away from the band.  Just too awesome to even describe in words.

By the way, you know you bump into some of the singers VERY often, when they call you by name !!.....  On night 3, Alan was walking by one of the buffets, and walked right past me, I yelled out hey Alan ! and he said "hi Frosty" that was too cool ! LOL 

I met a number of other forum members here, and it was really great to meet everyone !, everyone was super friendly, and there was excitement in the air throughout the cruise. 

By the way, Alan just loved the cruise, he was out everywhere, all the time, chatting with fans, watching all the concerts, and really enjoying himself. 

P.S. - There was a songwriter's event in the huge auditorium where they played their first concert, and I almost didn't go, because I thought it would be all talking ... well I'm glad I went !, it was all music !, they had Steve and Ed from Bare Naked Ladies, Sarah Harmer, and Alan, and all of them took turns singing songs ! ( all of the artists sitting on high stools with just their guitars ), it was just awesome ! 

Hi Frosty,

thanks for the first "few" words about the trip! That's exactly how I pictured it! Although to hear it was as great as expected makes me suffer - sigh - I already had my reservation for the cabin, the flight and everything - and then it turned out, that I couldn't come for some strange reasons ... :-( ... well, anyway: I hope you'll share as much reviews, pics and videos as possible ... as well from Carbon Leaf and Gaelic Storm who belong to my favourite bands as well!

Great the you had such a fantastic time!

Cheers ... Christina 

Hey OKP'ers... yes, the cruise was absolutely amazing,,, I am still exhausted but it was worth it!!  The first day on the boat was amazing, with the Barenaked Ladies playing the sail-away concert. The crowd was wild!!  Everyone was sooo excited and the atmosphere was amazing.  Later that evening I came upon Sean and went up to say hello.  He was there all alone, nobody with him, no fans bothering him, so I had him all to myself for about a half hour and got some great pics taken with him.  Then, not long after, I met Alan Doyle, who was just fabulous.  Full of excitement and energy and eager to talk to everyone!!!! 

The first concert I made it to the second row, got some great video but was so close to  the stage that the bass kind of messed up the audio, but still very good.  I was so excited I was actually stomach sick!!!!  It was amazing...

Second concert was on the Lido Deck, the sail-away party, and I have to say that I have seen GBS many many many times in concert, but this show was the absolute BEST I have ever seen!!!!!!  Something about being right there in front of them, in the middle of the Caribbean, drinking wicked beverages from those "yellow plastic cups" that Sean referred to so much!!  The crowd was PUMPED, and so were the boys!  They put on quite a show! 

By the time their last show came around, I had lost my voice and my throat was so sore, I had to retreat to a higher deck, figured if I went too close I would do some serious damage to my already hurting vocal cords!! 

All in all, it was a dream vacation..... the boys, especially Sean and Alan, were ALWAYS around chatting it up with fans, posing for pics at your beckon call.  WICKED!!  The Barenaked Ladies already said that there will be another S&D next year, but the details have not been released so I don't know if GBS will be there.  If so, I suggest we all start saving!!! 

It was great to meet people from the forum too!!  Frosty and his wife, Tina Mac and Adam, Kim, you guys made the trip so enjoyable... Nice to be around fellow GBS fans...  Frosty, by the way, that mojito that Sean offered you to taste was the mojito that my husband Dave bought for him!!!  SEan got all excited and hugged DAve to thank him for the drink... too funny!!!

Hi Christina,

It's really too bad you didn't make it, it was a great trip, the cruise of a lifetime, will we ever see GBS on a cruise like this again ? who knows, but I am hoping !

By the way, on the last night, at the BareNaked Ladies concert, ED officially announced "Ships an Dip 5 " !

It will be around the same time next year, and they will be once again sailing in the Caribbean.  He also appreciates the fact that it is very expensive for everyone to go, so wants lots of feedback so they can ensure that next year's trip is even better than this one. 

I haven't yet even unloaded my digital cameras, so don't have any images ready to post, but once I do, I'll have a few thousand here at : www.GBSarmy.com , so check back this coming week(s) for lots of images, and video.
 

bouzouki:

<snip> ...and then it turned out, that I couldn't come for some strange reasons ... :-( ... well, anyway: I hope you'll share as much reviews, pics and videos as possible ... as well from Carbon Leaf and Gaelic Storm who belong to my favourite bands as well!

Great the you had such a fantastic time!

Cheers ... Christina 

Hi Poz,

It was a dreamtrip, I wish it was another week, but I don't think my liver would take another week of that kind of partying LOL.  So much booze was flowing on that cruise, it's amazing they had space on board for it.

I'm sure there will be a lot of posts on the trip, and some great stories, which I also look forward to reading. 

Poz:

Wow, Frosty, that sounds amazing. Wish I could have gone. I'm glad that you had such a great time and hope to hear more details from some of the other folks that were lucky enough to go!

Great to meet you also Kelly ! and Dave too !

I'm glad you mentioned that again about Dave buying Sean that drink, I totally forgot you telling me that at the time... urr was I a little bit drunk ? LOL .... nah.... I was just drinking milk the whole cruise.... I swear hehehe.

We spent countless hours with Kelly and Dave, and it was a real BLAST ! , at the GBS show #2 out on the Lido deck we were right behind Kelly and Dave, who were jumping and bouncing for almost 2 hours.  Talk about being close all the boys eh Kelly, a really amazing show !
 

kellymac:

It was great to meet people from the forum too!!  Frosty and his wife, Tina Mac and Adam, Kim, you guys made the trip so enjoyable... Nice to be around fellow GBS fans...  Frosty, by the way, that mojito that Sean offered you to taste was the mojito that my husband Dave bought for him!!!  SEan got all excited and hugged DAve to thank him for the drink... too funny!!!

Frosty, you must have been drinking that same milk I was!!!  Wasn't it awesome???  LOL :-)

I paid for the screaming and jumping and bouncing,,,, my throat is still throbbing, as are my legs... ha ha... God we had a great time, didn't we?????????????????????????  We were watching some of the video I shot, and it was the pre-party, and I was just zooming around the crowd and in the background you can hear you and DAve talking, then you saying, "My name is FROSTY", and then I go crazy... It is pretty funny.

Wow, Frosty, sounds like a dream come true.  I am so...sorry I missed it and so hopeful they do this again next year so I can be aboard.  Thanks for the awesome post.

Cheers! 

Robin

Thanks Frosty for the consolation ... I'll promise, I'm NOT gonna miss it, if this will happen again! To see the shows of course ... but as well to meet you and the great bunch of OKPers!

I'm looking forward to your GBS army to be filled!!!

Cheers ... Christina

frostythebeerman:

  It was like winning THE golden ticket, and I was in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory ! ... you had access to everyone on the ship, close up.  

Wow.  Just...wow. This makes me speechless.  

Hey Kelly - Cheryl here,  it seems like ages since I've seen you.  It was awesome wasn't it.  I can't believe it is over and I have to go back to work tomorrow.  You actually caught the first meeting on tape very cool!!!

We have been slowly going through the pics and are amazed with the people, places and friends we made.

 back to unpacking......

Just a few quick samples 

Trying to not succumb to post-vacation blues... ~Barb