Wednesday: We flew to Miami really early, landing at 10:45 AM (which means that none of us slept very much, since we met up at 6:30 AM). As we were waiting at baggage claim, we got a message that the entire port had been closed due to the discovery of a radioactive compass. Somebody had brought a WWII vintage compass on board the previous cruise, and as he came off the boat it set off some sort of detector. I think that delayed us for about an hour, giving us a little time to hang out in the lobby of the Airport Marriott before transferring to the port shuttle.
At the port, there was another big delay to get on the boat because the gangway needed to be reset. More standing around.
Once we got on the boat, there was no time for a nap--we had the "sail away" slot on the deck, so set up for the first show began immediately. Our first set went off without a hitch as the boat left Miami for open water.
Later on the night, we checked out The Shadowboxers (Atlanta based band). Very cool stuff. They're extra awesome.
Thursday: Our first stop on this trip was at Norwegian Cruise Line's private island Great Stirrup Key. They have built up a little resort area with a tender port, a cafeteria, a beach, and a stage. We were supposed to do our second show on the beach stage. Unfortunately, high winds (Robbie reported that they were 37 knots!) cancelled our show. We still got to ride over to the island on the tender. Quite a ride on the high seas.
Our show was rescheduled for that evening in the theatre. Good news for us! The Stardust Theatre is really nice--a good sized stage with a nice sound. We had a pretty good crowd, as our first show had helped to generate a buzz.
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| nice mic placement |
Afterwards, we went to a show by Brian Collins. From there, things got a little wild. I did a couple of shots of Jaegermeister (ugh), drank a few beers, and stayed up late with the Sixthman guys and the sound crew.
Friday: Kind of the same stuff. I slept late, ate, and took a nap--all helpful in curing the common hangover. We played our final show of the cruise once again in the theatre, this time to a full room. Yay! I think this was also our best show. Some particularly excellent playing my all three Marks.
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| "It's probably not even on" |
Saturday: Our second stop on this trip was at Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. I can't think of another port we've ever visited that didn't have something within walking distance. With that in mind (and no cash in my wallet for a taxi), I set out walking. After an hour, the only place I'd found was a gas station. I bought a bottle of water and turned back to the ship. My head is now red like a tomato.
Some dude jumped/fell overboard while we were in port, and the rest of the cruise found out what a "code oscar" is. Once he was safely returned to dry land, he was kicked off the ship and sent to the airport in Freemont. Ouch.
Saturday night, we had a photo shoot with the great Will Byington, who took some really superb pictures of us (he's responsible, for example, for this fantastic shot).
From there, it was dinner at the teppanyaki place (our new cruise tradition).
We then celebrated Ronn Moss' birthday.
Monkeyboy sang Happy Birthday.
Greg Lee crushed me in bowling again.
Later in the evening (early the next morning), we sat in with the Trailer Park Ninjas, a really groovy cover band out of Ohio. Their sax player, Matt Corey, sounds great and is a really cool hang.
Sunday: get off the boat! We had one more big delay when they once again had to reset the gangway before we could walk off (and then walk back and forth and back and forth down to meet customs). Not my favorite thing to do while dragging gear.
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| Greg Lee is not amused |
At Miami International, the dude at the Delta counter wanted to charge me $100 to check my sax case. It weighs 63 lbs. I disagreed about his interpretation of his company's rule for musical instruments. I pointed out that the Delta website says the limit is 100 lbs, and I'd flown probably twenty trips with this case and every other Delta counter guy knew the deal on musical instruments, and I'd researched it and checked with Delta before I'd even bought the case, and oh, by the way, it's also a law as of 2012 (as in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Section 403). None of this mattered. I asked to speak to a supervisor; she declined the opportunity to get it right. Even after all these years, I want to give Miami the finger. Say hello to my little friend.
So…the way everyone else at Delta reads this means that I can check my saxophones without being charged. The way Miami Delta reads this is that they can't refuse to fly my case home (because it's under the musical instrument limits), but they'll still charge me extra money.
Interesting that I got charged for being over weight, but he didn't charge me for being over size (my case is 81 linear inches). I guess when you're reinterpreting the rules, you don't have to follow all of them.
Interesting also that my suitcase was a couple of pounds overweight and didn't get charged. Does that make us even? I guess when you're reinterpreting the rules, you don't have to follow all of them.
I got home and called Delta Customer Service, and the agent agreed with me (and not her colleagues in Miami). She filled out the form to issue me a $100 refund. We'll see how I do with multiple flights in the next two weeks.
Fun. I reserve the right to be mad at Delta for the remainder of my music career.
I made it to my church gig Sunday night. My flute playing was not so good. My face is really out of shape.
