Words cannot describe how excited I was to go on the Kid Rock Cruise this summer. We met up with friend’s in Tampa on Wednesday April 28 to stay the night and board the ship on Thursday. The cruise started with a Sail Away concert with Kid Rock featuring Uncle Kracker. We started in the front row and that is where we stayed for the whole cruise. Kid Rock held my hand and sang to me at the Friday night concert and eventually after 3 meetings and signatures, I got him to sign something on me that was permanent that wouldn’t wash off.

I only used my Canon G9 on the cruise but I was still able to get some nice shots during the daytime concerts.

As I reflect on the first day of the cruise, I would like to note that these shots of Jim Beam are what I attribute my severe sickness to and the reason that I ended up in some compromising photos on someone else’s facebook. Lesson learned: I should ALWAYS stick with clear alcohol.

There were over a dozen bands on the boat and we could see live music from Noon until 3 am every day. All the bands were accessible and talked to all the fans. Kathy & I were even able to see Kid Rock everyday and one of the highlights of the cruise was when he woke up the whole boat after his show on Saturday night at 1 am and told everyone to come on deck for a dj pool party that lasted all night long.

We saw several new bands that we really liked including: Ty Stone, John Stone Band, Rehab, Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights, and a lounge singer named Scott Munns who we fell in love with during his nightly sing alongs. He even sang Dixieland Delight to me one night after the show ended. I felt like the bars on Lower Broadway in Nashville had come along with me on the high seas.

No one seemd to care when the boat was diverted from Cayman Islands to the Bahamas (except for that couple that has planned to get married in Cayman.) Everyone was just happy to be along for the ride including Kid Rock who described it as the best place to be.

On Sunday, KR sat down with the whole boat for an intimate Q&A session where he answered all our questions about everything from discussions on musical  influences to the stories behind his tattoos.

I have already signed up for the 2011 Kid Rock Chillin the Most Cruise and cannot wait to spend my birthday weekend with him next year April 8-11, 2011.