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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 Thursday - February 2, 2017 - Depart – Tampa, Florida 4 pm Friday - February 3, 2017 - Day at Sea 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 today†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 www.MonstersofRockCruise.com