Brilliance of the Seas – Monsters of Rock Cruise Feb. 2-7
Most likely if you have been hanging around Matt’s daily Periscopes lately you have heard me boasting about my wife’s and my annual pilgrimage to sunny Florida or Los Angles for the Monsters of Rock Cruise. This will be number 5 for us. For the first time ever, it will be held on a Royal Caribbean ship, Brilliance of the Seas, and I figured I’d share with everyone for a couple of reason. First of all. it is a RCCL cruise. Second it is a 100% buyout/charter so things are run a little different, and third and most importantly (to me) it is an 80’s rock n’ roll cruise.
Being a charter you will not find any dress code. It’s a sea of black concert t-shirts and hiked up mini shirts in the MDR. BINGO will not be played, port shopping seminars won’t happen and the sexiest man and Belly flop competition are the furthest things from anybody’s mind. We came to rock out! Even the drink package is ‘worked differently’ (more on that later)!
My wife and I will be flying to Tampa from San Antonio the prior like all good and well behaved cruiser should.
The cruise happenings will actually start the night we arrive at a club in downtown Tampa a stone’s throw from the Port. Vince Neil, the front man of the 100 million record selling band Motley Crue will perform this Pre-Cruise Party. He will also perform on the ship.
Our itinerary will be:
Wednesday - February 1, 2017 - Optional Pre-Cruise Party
Saturday- February 4, 2017 - George Town, Grand Cayman - 7 am - 3 pm
Sunday - February 5, 2017 - Cozumel, Mexico - 11 am - 6 pm
Monday - February 6, 2017 - Day at Sea
Tuesday - February 7, 2017 -Arrive – Tampa, Florida -7 am
Who doesn’t love 80’s rock? From the cheesiness of teased hair to the heart pound sound coming from their interments, it’s always ‘nothing but a good time’.
The listing of bands to perform (each at least twice) are… as of todayâ€
Vince Neil
Cinderella’s Tom Keifer
QUEENSRYCHE
NIGHT RANGER
STYPER
TNT
KIX
SLAUGHTER
DANGER DANGER
D*A*D
SOTO (JEFF SCOTT SOTO ~ TSO, MOVIE ROCK STAR, YNGWIE, BRIAN MAY BAND)
Y&T
LYNCHE MOB (GEORGE LYNCHE of DOKKEN)
KILLER DWARFS
SAIGON KICKS
ELECTRIC BOYS
THE ANSWER
BEASTO BLANCO
INGLORIOUS
BLACK N’ BLUE
FASTER PUSSYCAT
TORA TORA
GIRLSCHOOL
JOHN CORABI (MOTLEY CRUE, THE SCREAM, UNION)
KIP WINGER (WINGER)
JOEL HOEKSTRA (FOREIGNER, WHITESNAKE, NIGHT RANGER, TSO, MOVIE ROCK OF AGES)
HEAVEN’S EDGE
PARADISE KITTY (ALL FEMALE GnR TRIBUTE BAND)
Hosted by EDDIE TRUNK (NY DJ AND EX RECORD COMPANY A&R GUYS
COMEDIAN DON JAMISON
COMEDIAN JIM FLORENTINE
& LUC CARL XM RADIO DJ, FITNESS BUFF, AND LADY GA GA’S EX
As usual, we will barely sleep!! Some days the shenanigans start at 10 AM and goes well past midnight…..for 5 days !!
In a way, this is a Super Bowl Cruise! Being that the SB will be played in Houston while we are sailing around the waterways of the Western Hemisphere. We had custom made football jerseys with our name on the back that replicate the logo Monsters of Rock is using this trip.
The MORC folks have set up theme night which we tend to ignore. Themes in the past have been Prom Night, Pajama Night, Pimps and Hoe’s…. Yeah I know…what are we 10 yrs old!!! A few people get into it, but it is not our thing. We are busy watching the musical acts!!
Our stateroom is going to be a junior suite. This category and above are considered VIP staterooms and come with several perks a standard stateroom will not afford you. With VIP you get special check in that is considered different than the Crown & Anchor check in on traditional cruises, but essentially the same thing. You always get a balcony stateroom even with the lower category VIP staterooms. You get Early Access to all theatre shows so you can have first choice of being against the stage or any seat in the theater.
On the Monsters of Rock cruises, there are meet and greets for every band where you can rub elbows with each band member and take pictures and an occasional autograph. VIP lets you get to the head of the line which is great because you can be standing in line for hours to meet your favorite rock star on board without it. We go for the VIP just to make life a little easier.
Many band members will also be very laid-back and hang out in the Windjammei’r, on the pool deck, in the Centrum, or even Casino. Most of them have had their Hay Day and have checked the ego at the door.
Last thing I will talk about in this post is the special drink package that MORC has arranged with Royal Caribbean. For $360 you get 60 drink tickets. These can be split like my wife and I do, or even given away to anyone you wish to buy a drink for. NOT everyone in the stateroom is required to purchase. Each ticket can get you a cocktail or adult beverage up the value of $12. If you go over $12 they will just ask for two drink tickets. I did the math on this one and there is no doubting that it is an excellent deal ...$360.oo/60 tickets is $6 each drink. It’s hard to find a deal like that on land. Almost makes me mad that the regular price a drink package on traditional cruisesare so much more.
Well, that is all for now. I will update as my vision sees fit. I will post more posts and pictures during the trip thanks for reading. @Motleybrue AKA Mike Taylor
Silly question! We purchased our tickets on line thru RC for our excursion. Do we go to the Guest Services desk a day in advance and pick up our ticket and information?
We are staying in a hotel in Galveston the night before our cruise. Does Galveston have a cab service? and/or does it allow Uber or Lyft? (a way to get to the port basically!).
Also - what time do you usually go to the Port in Galveston? (Liberty of the Seas)
Would love to know any places we should eat/see while in Galveston!
My husband & I are hoping to go snorkeling in Belize on our cruise in a few weeks but I can't decide which snorkeling option is the best & the website/reviews very vague & not any help. I've called but no one can tell me anything more either & I'm not getting a response from my e-mail they suggested I sent to the Shore Excursions department.
Have any of you been on the "Barrier reef snorkel & island getaway" or the "Barrier reef snorkeling wonders" excursions? They sound pretty similar other than one has a "complementary" drink. Are they both to the same place, & if not, which would offer a better experience? Since this is literally a once in a lifetime trip, I'd like to go to the best place, but it seems like these are the only options through RCCL & from what I've read, it's best to go with their excursions from Belize because of the tendering schedule.
Any recommendations are much appreciated. Thank you! :-)
We leave on the Liberty of the Seas on 2/28 from Galveston, TX. We had planned on some excursions into the jungles and the Mayan Ruins but with the Zika Virus being prevalent there...we have cancelled the plans for these excursions. I wonder if RCCL is advising cruisers of this danger and if they are doing anything to protect the passengers? I think the cruise and ship itself are safe but excursions may not be.
