Not so "live" Review from the RSVP Charter of Eurodam 2.9.13

[djhsolara]

Enjoying the review. Thank you!!

 

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

[RuthC]

Loud is an understatement (personally I've never understood the need for such loud music, but that's just me!).

Not "just you", but thanks for answering the question.

 

Is there something terribly wrong when an elderly straight woman is a little sorry she isn't a gay man??? This cruise sounds like a blast!

Love the pics.

[baja mama]

I'm with you Ruth I would of loved to of been on this cruise.

 

Wow, how much fun! What a great review and I love the pictures.

[Northshorecruisers]

Not "just you", but thanks for answering the question.

 

Is there something terribly wrong when an elderly straight woman is a little sorry she isn't a gay man??? This cruise sounds like a blast!

Love the pics.

 

I agree with you Ruth!! Maybe we could go and just say we're in bad drag :eek:

[Boytjie]

You don't have to be gay to go ;)

 

And believe me, there are lots of bad drag already. LOL

[Himself]

I presume there will be more reporting

[Dallas girl]

This report is fabulous and the photos great!!!

 

Thanks so much for going to the trouble to share with us.

 

More, We want more ......... :)

 

You took the words right out! Ditto! More, please. :D

[RuthC]

You don't have to be gay to go ;)

I have been told that, Peter. As a matter of fact, more than once it's been suggested that I come along on an RSVP cruise. I'm just not sure I could keep up anymore!

Besides, I just hate it when a guy in drag looks better than I do. :eek:

[Boytjie]

I have been told that, Peter. As a matter of fact, more than once it's been suggested that I come along on an RSVP cruise. I'm just not sure I could keep up anymore!

 

By Brian? :)

 

Besides, I just hate it when a guy in drag looks better than I do. :eek:

 

I could always dress up and next to me you'd look so much better than me. :D

[buckirj1]

How fun! Enjoying your review very much, and looking forward to the rest.

[MrsMuir]

I haven't enjoyed a review as much as this one since the Chardonnay Sisters. I would love to join Ruth and other Women of a Certain Age on an RSVP Cruise. Happily, DH and I and my recently-widowed sister will be cruising with two gay men in August.

 

Mrs M

[bradpole]

Good morning everyone!

Everyone thank you for the kind words!

 

 

Church Bingo!

(and our second **GERT ALERT**)

 

Prior to the bingo games beginning this year a “Bonnet Parade” was held. Guests were encouraged to wear their Sunday Best! (Sadly during this same time was the Indonesian Tea, we had done that in the past, and would have loved to do it again, but Bingo won out!)

 

Here’s a good video of Sister Helen talking about her rules for Church Bingo from a prior year.

(I didn’t record this)

as you can see from the video it is standing room only!

 

A video I believe from 2010 showing the church lady competition (similar to the Bonnet parade held this year).

 

And some pictures of this year’s bingo and the winner:

Sister Helen Holy

 

The contestants

 

The winner of the Bonnet Parade:

 

Just as we thought Bingo was to be begin...

The theme to the Flying Nun is shown, and Gert makes a quick appearance!

 

 

Bingo was fun! As normal, we didn’t win anything, nor expect to!

 

Off to our next event

The Zoomanity T-Dance!

(this is NOT afternoon tea :-) )

 

Each night, or morning, the cabin attendant would live one of these colorful post cards to remind us of the upcoming party, and the theme!

[Boytjie]

My friend Robert and I make an appearance 6:00 minutes into the 2010 video. LOL

[RuthC]

By Brian? :)

 

Possibly? Probably? I can't recall all the specifics. More than one person has made the suggestion.

 

With all those costumes, I wouldn't be able to haul all that luggage!

[RuthC]

The winner of the Bonnet Parade:

 

I see women in church who can't hope to look half as good.

Love the attention to detail in the outfits!

[Northshorecruisers]

Brad -

 

The pictures are wonderful!! Do you know what all the themes will be for the evenings prior to the cruise? It looks like so much fun!

[bradpole]

I see women in church who can't hope to look half as good.

Love the attention to detail in the outfits!

 

I agree! It blows us away every year! I believe her name was, "Sister Surely Goodness of Heart."

 

Or something along those lines.

[bradpole]

Brad -

 

The pictures are wonderful!! Do you know what all the themes will be for the evenings prior to the cruise? It looks like so much fun!

 

THANKFULLY YES! About a month or so before the cruise RSVP will publish a PDF summary of all the theme parties and some of the entertainers. Some years they have even gone so far as to give us a rough draft of "The Explorer" showing everything that was scheduled for the week.

 

It is always an exciting time to download the party themes and to start brainstorming what we will wear and to think of what others will be wearing as well!

[bradpole]

Still Day 2, at sea...

Zoomanity T-Dance

Incase you are wondering just what a T-Dance is, it is nothing more than an excuse to drink, dance, and party held during what would generally be considered time for afternoon Tea!

 

As you can see the event is quite popular

 

 

 

 

Gert and her friends made an appearance!

Sadly by the time we realized it was “her” I wasn’t able to get close enough to get a good picture, nor did I bring my Nikon DSLR with my zoom lens to get a good picture from deck 10.

 

 

(in the above picture you just see a top hat, that was Gert, she was the lion tamer and her friends were the lions...silly but cute!)

 

We stayed for a bit to mostly wander around and enjoy the costumes. Although the sun was shining it was VERY windy and we had a nice amount of “motion in the ocean” as well!

 

That evening we had a quick dinner in the Lido. Eating in the Lido while there is a themed dance happening at the aft pool is always interesting, you get to watch the parade of costumes come and go!

[bradpole]

After the T-Dance and dinner in the Lido we had a little downtime before a busy night ahead. The biggest event (for us) was Amy Armstrong and Freddy Allen on the Mainstage at 8:30 and 10:30.

 

At 8:30 we went to the Queen’s Room to she Cashetta do her show entitled “Abra-Cashetta” which was a little comedy, magic, and some singing. Before Cashetta took the stage Gert made another appearance onstage to lip synch some The Captain and Tennille. I did try to take a picture, but we were too far from the stage to take a descent picture in the dark room.

 

When that show was over we made our way to the Mainstage and arrived just as the first Amy & Freddy show was ending. YES, we arrived a full hour early but getting there at early allowed us to do two things. First was get a front row seat for the next show, and secondly give us some time to sit, relax, and read our kindles! On a regular cruise I can fly through numerous books during the week. This week I barely got through 2! We didn’t have much opportunity to read as other devoted fans of Amy and Freddy quickly started arriving and our planned time to sit and read was changed to friendly conversation!

 

For those who are wondering, “who on earth is Amy and Freddy?” The quick answer is they are a Cabaret act that’s more than just cabaret. Freddy is a talented piano player, and Amy has an incredible voice, but the main draw for us is the comedy she throws in between songs! Our first RSVP Cruise we remember sitting in the back row of the balcony so we could make a quick escape incase we thought they stunk! How wrong were we! Since that first show we quickly became devoted fans and haven’t missed a show! Typically Amy and Freddy will perform twice on an RSVP cruise. Once on the Mainstage and once in the much smaller Queen’s Room for an actual Cabaret. This year we had an extra treat (for those like her!) she called upon on the last night of the cruise to replace a show that had be cancelled...more on that later!

 

Here are some youtube links of videos of her on stage

many more out there, including some of her just doing her standup comedy between songs. I know some have tired of her, we haven’t!

 

 

 

After an enjoyable performance from Amy and Freddy we went up to the aft Lido pool to check out the dance party for the night...

 

 

 

The Unmentionables Party! (aka the underwear party!)

Sadly the weather just wasn’t cooperating and we didn’t stay long. The vast majority of the partiers were gathered under the canopy to avoid the wind and the salt spray that was being showered all over the deck.

 

The weather and motion of the ship did make for interesting viewing from deck 10. As the ship would shudder and roll to one side the crowd would go that direction until the next roll in the opposite direction. It started to look like drunk line dancing!

 

It was probably close to 12:30 when we finally decided to call it a night and get some much needed sleep!

 

I’ll take this time to mention another difference from a regular HAL cruise. The Lido buffet. For an RSVP cruise they serve a full dinner service until 10pm, and re open at 10:30 until 4am with three “lines” open. The furthest aft is an omelet station, salad bar, and sandwiches. A little forward is the hot grill station serving basically “dinner” all night, and the dessert ice cream station.

 

A quick picture showing the late night omelet station available for those needing a snack/meal before heading to bed

 

During the week it would become a tradition of ours to grab a bowl of ice cream and find a seat by the windows to watch the parade of costumes to and from the party.

[bradpole]

Day 3, at sea.

Yet another busy day ahead for us! Thankfully not as busy as the day before, but still busier than most days at sea!

 

Today’s highlights:

10 - noon Line Dancing Lessons

1:30 Pool games

3pm Bingo with Cashetta

5pm “Bear City2” Screening and Q&A with the cast and director

8pm Country Line Dancing

 

Mainstage 8:30 and 10:30 “Well Strung”

10:30 Movie Sing a long, “Mary Poppins”

11:30pm Comedy club with Jonnh McGovern and Peter Bisuito

6pm and 8pm Enjoy with classics with Adagio

 

Plus themed dance party 10:30!

 

We began our morning the same as yesterday, and quick breakfast in the Lido and retired to our favorite location onboard, the Silk Den. At noon we started to head to the Lido for lunch when we stopped in at Tamarind to enquire if they had any openings for lunch, and they said they could seat us immediately, so just like the day before, we had lunch in Tamarind. The lunch was basically the same as the day before, but some of the fried items were different, so it wasn’t a complete photocopy of the day before.

 

At 1:30 we made our way aft for another round of pool games, before the games began we were treated to an appearance by Gert, who dropped by to say hello!

Pictured with Gert is Brad, the RSVP cruise director who runs the RSVP side of the events.

 

After Gert, we were treated to a performance by a current contestant from Ru Paul’s Drag Race

 

 

Note how Brad is wearing a dark jacket and has applied too much bronzer, that would play into theme for the pool games.

 

Today’s Pool Games were called, “Project Drag Race,” A mashup of the two popular reality shows, “Project Runway,” and “Ru Paul’s Drag Race.” Three teams were formed and given 1 minute to scour the pool deck and surrounding areas for items. Using those items and supplied sheets they had 15 minutes to turn one team member into a drag queen and then be judged by three guest judges (Paul J. Williams, Amy Armstrong, and the Ru Paul Contestant who just performed). The reason for the dark jacket and Bronzer on Brad was he was attempting to mock longtime Project Runway judge Michael Kors.

 

 

 

(It was INCREDIBLY windy out on deck, and still a bit bumpy, which didn’t make it easy to take great pictures)

[RuthC]

What? No pics from the Unmentionables Party???

[bradpole]

What? No pics from the Unmentionables Party???

I didn't think those would be appropriate for Cruise Critic :)

[RuthC]

I didn't think those would be appropriate for Cruise Critic :)

I'm sure you thought correctly. Just funnin' ya. ;)

[bradpole]

After the pool games we had a tough decision to make. Royal Dutch High Tea or Bingo with Cashetta both at 3pm.

 

BINGO!

 

This was the first time we have attended Bingo hosted by Cashetta, so we didn’t know what to expect. Lets just saw Bingo was entertaining. I didn’t bring my Nikon with the zoom lens with me, and we sat near the back, so sadly I have no good pictures of the events that took place during Bingo. Needless to say, we didn’t win, but we were throughly entertained, and that alone was worth the price of the Bingo cards! Perhaps someone else who was there, and has pictures, can summarize the events.

 

I’ll give a little teaser, it did involve several Cosmos for Cashetta and HAL person in charge of running the Bingo Machine, Cashetta making mistakes that the HAL Bingo person had to pay for my removing articles of clothing (along with the sign language interpreter). Other than those little tidbits I think I’ll stick with the motto, “what happens at RSVP Bingo, stays at RSVP Bingo!”

 

After Bingo we had some time to sit and relax before heading to the Pinnacle Grill for a wonderful dinner! Our reservation was for 6pm (much earlier than we would normally eat on a cruise) and were quickly seated. I think we had the best seat in the house, it was one of the corner “booths” where the table slides out when you sit down. By the time we left the restaurant was nearly full!

 

amuse-bouche Mushroom Cappuccino

 

 

Spicy Coconut Soup (HEAVENLY! if you like spicy things)

 

Crab and lobster Cakes

 

 

 

Rib Eye

 

Grilled Lobster Tail