The Monsters of Rock Cruise 2014: Escape to Monster Island is
fast approaching, but not fast enough for me and many of my fellow
cruisers. This year we set sail from the port of
Miami from March 29 to April 2nd. Co-workers are already reaching their
breaking points as I mutter on all day
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long about cruise related business. I'm often met with blank
stares as I arrive for the shift all excited about the latest band announced, development or travel plan I've concocted.
They've realised that the best way to shut me up is to allow me to don
my headphones and play my playlist peppered with Monsters Of Rock Cruise
artists, which also entertains them quite well as I have been known to randomly start air-drumming with whatever utensils are readily at hand during the cooking of that customers meal, I just have to remember that it's not safe to use knives...lol. The only thing on my Christmas list each year
is to do with my upcoming voyage from the few albums of bands playing that I
don’t already own to gift cards for new cruise wear or hotel vouchers for pre and post parties. This year will be The Meister’s third
experience with MORC as it’s become to be known but surely won’t be my last!
long about cruise related business. I'm often met with blank
stares as I arrive for the shift all excited about the latest band announced, development or travel plan I've concocted.
They've realised that the best way to shut me up is to allow me to don
my headphones and play my playlist peppered with Monsters Of Rock Cruise
artists, which also entertains them quite well as I have been known to randomly start air-drumming with whatever utensils are readily at hand during the cooking of that customers meal, I just have to remember that it's not safe to use knives...lol. The only thing on my Christmas list each year
is to do with my upcoming voyage from the few albums of bands playing that I
don’t already own to gift cards for new cruise wear or hotel vouchers for pre and post parties. This year will be The Meister’s third
experience with MORC as it’s become to be known but surely won’t be my last!
MORC has become so much more than a cruise, vacation or
concert for me and many of the other cruisers…it’s developed into a community and in
more than a few cases a family. The
initial Monsters of Rock Cruise set sail in 2012 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
and sailed to Key West,
Nassau Bahamas and back during three days of pure rock and roll bliss from February 26th to 28th. I was so excited leading up to the cruise, singing songs at work and making it a quest to purchase the discographies of every band aboard. I
left Toronto that night for the first cruise, so timid and shy, even
though I had done a fair bit of solo travelling in the past, this was with goose
bumps to see some of my rock heroes and my first venture on a cruise
ship. I
met a few different folks on board the floating rock party during the first year and
generally had an excellent time….it was everything that I’d hoped for! To read about my adventures from the first year, here’s
the first in my 2013 “Views of the Cruise” series of blog articles: ("Views of the Cruise #1-The 2012 Recap").
Nassau Bahamas and back during three days of pure rock and roll bliss from February 26th to 28th. I was so excited leading up to the cruise, singing songs at work and making it a quest to purchase the discographies of every band aboard. I
left Toronto that night for the first cruise, so timid and shy, even
though I had done a fair bit of solo travelling in the past, this was with goose
bumps to see some of my rock heroes and my first venture on a cruise
ship. I
met a few different folks on board the floating rock party during the first year and
generally had an excellent time….it was everything that I’d hoped for! To read about my adventures from the first year, here’s
the first in my 2013 “Views of the Cruise” series of blog articles: ("Views of the Cruise #1-The 2012 Recap").
I re-booked for the 2013 voyage and adventure before the first
trip was even completed. Now fully
embracing my love of hard rock and heavy metal music that had been suppressed or
lain dormant for so long, I started to travel to see some of these bands that
just don’t come to Canada. In the process I met other "MORC’ers", so when it
came around to 2013's excursion my MORC family had grown exponentially. From there it was like an explosion and I am
proud to say that last year I added to that repertoire and now actually use my Facebook account for more than the friends you see every day or "that person from high
school that you never talked to back then"’s friend requests. Through MORC I have met folks from all over
the USA, Brasil, The UK, Finland and even a surprising number right here in my own backyard in Toronto. I no longer attend concerts here alone as
there’s always a like-minded person, usually from MORC to enjoy a great show
with. Between the 2012 trip and the 2013
excursions I had been fortunate enough to become involved with The Decibel Geek Podcast as a writer for their website submitting concert/album reviews,
interviews and commentaries. I love
discussing this music, introducing people to new bands and Decibel Geek was a
great fit for me, so when it got close to the 2013 voyage I decided to start a
series of articles called “Meister’s Views of the Cruise” about my beloved MORC
vacation. The series swelled to twenty
volumes encompassing personal stories, interviews, band bios and generally anything and everything cruise related with the final instalment being me as a guest on
the live podcast to recap my “top twenty” moments from the 2013 voyage. Listen to the episode here: ("Episode #88-Meister's Morc 2013 Memories"), just click the play arrow in the centre of the graphic at the top of
the page to listen or download through I-Tunes.
I will include the links to the whole series at the bottom of this
rambling.
with. Between the 2012 trip and the 2013
excursions I had been fortunate enough to become involved with The Decibel Geek Podcast as a writer for their website submitting concert/album reviews,
interviews and commentaries. I love
discussing this music, introducing people to new bands and Decibel Geek was a
great fit for me, so when it got close to the 2013 voyage I decided to start a
series of articles called “Meister’s Views of the Cruise” about my beloved MORC
vacation. The series swelled to twenty
volumes encompassing personal stories, interviews, band bios and generally anything and everything cruise related with the final instalment being me as a guest on
the live podcast to recap my “top twenty” moments from the 2013 voyage. Listen to the episode here: ("Episode #88-Meister's Morc 2013 Memories"), just click the play arrow in the centre of the graphic at the top of
the page to listen or download through I-Tunes.
I will include the links to the whole series at the bottom of this
rambling.
And now we get to the upcoming 2014 voyage. This time the cruise has moved to a larger
ship as it has totally sold out in the past two years and is nearly there again even with the additional approximately 1000 passenger spaces. We depart from the
port of Miami verses the port of Fort Lauderdale and our new vessel is christened the MSC Divina. Here’s one of several You-Tube links for a tour of this floating beauty: (MSC DIVINA), I wonder how different that pool deck will look filled with 3500 long-haired, tattooed metalheads? Part of the excitement is making all the
plans and arrangements in anticipation of seeing old friends again and making new ones. This
time around I had the brilliant idea to contact everyone that I’d met and try
to request that our rooms be close to each other during our booking process. We chose deck 11, seeming to have the style
of cabins that would suit everyone’s price point and requirements, to be our
home after scouring deck plans of the Divina on line. Everyone agreed that
it would be a capital idea and I think in
the end most of us did indeed end up on deck 11, but it doesn't really matter
as long as we’re all aboard. In another
of my brilliant ideas I collected a group of "MORC’ers" that I knew from the
Toronto area in an attempt at a "countdown shot" with Ted Poley/Bang Tango/Enuff Z’nuff
when their 80’s Invasion tour rolled into town
given as they were all MORC
alumni. A "countdown shot" is a photo from a cruiser, usually something creative or with a MORC band, to depict the number of days remaining until we set sail that year. The group grew as people added
other Torontonian Cruisers that they knew and I even had t-shirts made for our
group. The excitement was high between
us all as we prepared for the countdown shot, some of us veterans and some
first-timers to the cruise. The veterans
anxiously answering the questions from the virgins as the Facebook page became
alight with chatter. (STORY OF THE COUNTDOWN PHOTO). I
began to find other Canadians from across the Great White North and our “EH
Team” group has now surpassed forty “Canadian Cruisers”!! My next plan is to attempt to gather us all
(and more Canadians yet to be discovered) for a huge “Canuck Photo” aboard ship…..let’s
see what happens......Hit me up on Facebook if you're a "Canadian Cruiser" and want to join in!
In another exciting turn of events this year……prior to the
2013 cruise experience I had met, at Queensryche’s Toronto concert ("Views of the Cruise #11-Queensryche"), another cruiser
from my area and we became friends meeting several times aboard ship during the
voyage. He was friends
with another young lady who I met at that same Queensryche show and a couple of other times throughout the year. She contacted me after she had seen a concert, wanting to do a review and
subsequently became a writer for The Decibel Geek podcast as well….I’m very
excited to announce that my fellow Decibel Geek, Kate Campbell will also be aboard the MSC Divina for
her very first MORC experience this year! Expect lots
of drinking and general silliness as we bring you our adventures or better still visit the website (Monsters of Rock Cruise) and book yourself a cabin before they're gone!
Thank-you Larry Morand and MORC for creating this absolutely
amazing floating party and bringing us all together to make new friends and see the bands we love, I for one will be a part of MORC as long as I'm able.....at this point I'm not sure I even care if the ship ever leaves port!
"MEISTER'S VIEWS OF THE CRUISE 2013 (links)"
So I invite you to follow along with Kate and I again this year as each week we explore the bands and activities involved in the experience of Monsters of Rock 2014: Escape To Monster Island.
Cheers,
The Meister (The Meister on Facebook)
The Meister (The Meister on Facebook)
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