Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Miami Acoustic Fan Event

Hey Cruisers! It's been an exciting few weeks here with all the new events for the cruise! :) Although I haven't received the email yet I just received the email that the fan club sent out about the Miami Acoustic Fan Event! It's official! :) From the email:

Miami Acoustic Fan Event

The long-awaited Miami Fan Event is finally going to happen on Wednesday, December 8th at the Byron Carlyle Theater in Miami Beach!!! You heard it here first!

For those of you who attended the Napa Fan Event or the NYC Fan Event earlier this year, this Acoustic Fan Event is going to be the Miami equivalent of those shows. There will be an intimate, acoustic performance from the guys, a Q&A, and last but not least, a M&G and group photo taken.

This event will go on sale on Friday, October 1st at 10am PST to Fan Club members only. This is a LIMITED SEATING event, so act fast.

Tickets will be $199 which includes all of the above (performance, Q&A, M&G etc). This is a General Admission Event.

So, what do you guys think? Are you going? :)

Monday, September 20, 2010

Beach Party Details

So, there has been a bit of confusion about the Beach Party, so here's some clarification! :)

Amy C emailed Christi at Rose Tours, and Christi confirmed that the Playa Mia Grand Beach Park will be just for us, even though some have said that Carnival is still offering it as an excursion: "Yes we will have exclusive use of the resort, I am sure that you might have talked to a confused agent..."

April also emailed Rose Tours and received an email back from Michelle:

I honestly feel incredibly bad about this situation – the last thing we would ever do is deliberately mislead any guest. We are very excited about this event and only want for our guests to be equally excited.

Our web site was set up at the time of booking with current cruise information. We try to be very specific with the list of inclusions to avoid confusion. The cruise FAQ covers the cruise & it’s inclusions. The ship is not exclusive to our BSB group and there will be other guests onboard who booked directly through Carnival. We want our guests to know that ONLY THEY GET TO PARTICIPATE in these private events, NOT the main Carnival population. That is the reason we put up the note about the private events.

The cruise fare covers the cruise. Much like the group rate at the hotel in Miami, the beach party is offered for the guests as a non-cruise option. Many guests like having a theme related shore excursion option in addition to the ones that Carnival sells. It’s not mandatory and was not confirmed at the time of booking – so that is why we did not mention it or include it on the site at that time.

I think much of the confusion comes in with the fact that the beach party is included on NKOTB (which is a full ship charter and an entirely different model) If you check out Rick Springfield’s cruise from last year – it was almost identical in terms of the beach party being sold later and at additional cost.

As for Playa Mia – it is normally an excursion that Carnival sells to its regular guests. We have taken sole occupancy of the resort (although, it’s possible that not all of the CCL staff is aware of it yet) and it will not be offered for general sale. We have used this resort before and in our estimation, it would most definitely. NOT be comfortable for 2000 guests. Particularly when you factor in the motor coach transportation over to the resort and back. That is why we have limited the number of participants. We have to figure in our own staff and crew for set up and security.

I hope that helps a little – we want this to be a great event and I am sure that it will be a great cruise.

Thanks to Amy C & April for emailing Rose Tours!! :)

So, hopefully that clears everything up for everybody! If you want to get extra excited, check out where we will be partying with the Boys!! :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Beach Party!

Hey hey Cruisers!!

I'm sure by now most of you have already got the email about the Beach Party in Cozumel, but just in case you didn't, here it is:

Beach Party in Cozumel - Playa Mia Beach Resort

Reservations are now being accepted for the Backstreet Boys Cozumel Beach Party Shore Excursion on Saturday December 11, 2010. All Backstreet Boys Cruise Passengers who booked through Rose Tours are welcome to join.

COZUMEL PREMIER BEACH PARTY:

Enjoy a Four-hour party including a DJ and appearance of the Backstreet Boys at the Playa Mia Beach Resort! The Beach Excursion will include an unlimited domestic open bar including Draft Beer, Purified bottled water, Soft drinks, Tequila, Mezcal, Brandy, Rum, Vodka, Rum Punch, Margaritas, Pina Colada and assorted flavor Daiquiris. You will also enjoy a delicious International Buffet which will include a menu of Grilled Chicken breast, Pork loin in mushroom sauce, Fish Filet, Fettuccine Alfredo, Rice with fried bananas, Cesar Salad, Guacamole, a variety of Desserts and MORE! You can eat, dance, swim and relax on a sun chair enjoying the beautiful beach! We will even have special beach games available in which you can participate. Your beach party will include round trip transportation from the ship to the beach resort, Buffet, Domestic open bar and beach activities.

The price of the Beach Party is $119.00 per person and will be charged at time of booking. This charge will appear as Rose Tours & Travel. If you are interested in attending, please follow the link below and submit your reservation now as space is limited. (RAIN OR SHINE)

Final payment for your cruise will be charged by Carnival Cruise Line the week of 10/1/10. It will be billed to the card you have on file There is nothing that you need to do.

Your Documents will be emailed to the email address on your reservation approximately 2 weeks prior to departure.

You will be able to pick up your beach party tickets on Thursday December 9th at the Hospitality Desk in the Universe Dining Room between 1:00PM - 4:00PM.

*Questions, please call Rose Tours at (888) 491-7673 or (215) 663-8800.

You must be booked on the Backstreet Boys Cruise with Rose Tours to book the Beach Party.

Book early - Space is Limited!

So, what do you guys think? Are you going to the Beach Party?

EDIT:
For those of you who are unsure about the Beach Party and curious about the other excursions offered for Cozumel, there's a list of them here. Hopefully that helps!! :)

Thursday, September 9, 2010

THREE months!!!!!

Wow, cruisers!! Can you believe it?? We are only THREE months away from cruising with our Boys!! :) SO exciting!! I always know when it's the 9th of every month. I can forget to pay my rent on time (Oops!), forget to water my plant for Hort class (Surprisingly, it's still alive!), and forget my nametag at work (Oh well.), but I always know when the 9th is!

I honestly have not shopped for the cruise yet. Haha, hard to believe, huh? It's not to say I haven't looked at clothes or shoes for the cruise (I found a super cute white dress...if we have a white night, which is why I haven't bought it yet!), but I haven't actually bought anything. Now, I know I can't just wait around for the themes (though I wish I could!) since they won't arrive until two weeks before we cruise, but I just wasn't sure what to buy yet. To get a few ideas of what would be safe to buy, I checked out the nKoTb cruise blog and found this wonderful list (Thanks, Katie!! You are too amazing!!):

Safe Bets
  • Bathing suits
  • Beach/day wear
  • Flip flops/sandals
  • Sunglasses, beach bags, other accessories
  • Sail away party outfit (although many wore swimsuits to that)
Somewhat Risky
  • General evening dress - I'm betting on one generic "dress to impress" night, and even if it doesn't happen, you can probably wear such a dress elsewhere.
  • Something to wear for the photo op - Last year I bought a really cute dress before finding out our photo session was at 10 a.m. I felt pretty silly wearing it at that time of day but I did anyway. You don't get the schedule with enough notice to do much.
Don't Do It!
  • More than one evening dress - There were a lot of disgruntled cruisers who bought 3-4 hot dresses last year before themes were announced and were stuck buying more to fit the themes.
  • Anything with a theme in mind - I've come close to buying another white dress now because it was so hard to find white in April, but I figure as soon as I do, they'll decide to do pink night instead.
Most everyone will tell you that they overpacked for 2009. I only brought a carry on, and I STILL had more than I needed. In general, you'll need swimsuits, a cover-up, a couple tank tops and shorts, and your theme outfits.

[Taken from the nKoTb Cruise Blog]

Now, keeping that all in mind, what do you guys think? Have you purchased anything specifically for the cruise yet? If so, what have you bought? Let's discuss!! :)