Date: Dec 10, 2002
Submitted By: Emily
This is my review for the cruise. I'll warn you though, it's very long and detailed. If you're interested, this same review and pics from the cruise can also be found on my website: www.outtacontrolhowiesite.cjb.net (yeah, shameless plug!)
In short, the cruise was the best experience of my life! I recommened it for everyone. Although I have to say: do NOT go just for Howie or whatever "special guests" are supposed to be there. If you do, you WILL be disapointed. Do not have high expectations of the "planned" events. Things will go wrong. Nothing is perfect. I seriously can't stress these two things enough. Go on the cruise to have a wonderful vacation and to support the DLF. If you do, you'll have the time of your life. Now, here's my more detailed review:
Day 1 - Miami, Florida - Registration, Welcome Meeting, Meet and Greet
Spent the night in Miami. Amazing city! I'm moving there after I graduate!
Security for getting on the ship was pretty bad. Lots of long lines. I think we went through 3 of them. Then we finally got on the ship.
Okay funny story: We were trying to find out where the Lupus cruise people were meeting up. We asked someone and she told us to go to the 5th deck. We searched around and we saw a group of people in the Rio Club. There was a large guy, a few other guys, and a very short guy wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. Then they all got up and left. My mom walked in and started following them. I just came along not knowing what to do. We got to the elevators. The group of people got on one of the elevators. These 2 girls next to us all of sudden started screaming "Howie!!" Turns out, that short guy with the baseball cap was him! We were following him and we didn't even know it! I felt kinda embarrassed. I'm thinking "Oh no, the poor dude probably thought we were stalking him".
We found the room we were supposed to be in. It was The Big Easy. It had a "private party" sign in front of it. I started talking with some people. Met one person from LD, ineedhowie. She's awesome!! We waited there for a few hours. We all thought Howie would be coming there. This guy Adam came in and explained what would happen. He said they were waiting for Chelsea, Howie's niece, to get through security. They then started brining in a bunch of boxes. Pollyanna came in! She's so cool, she waved at my video camera ! They then had to clear almost everyone out of the room so they could bring these boxes in. It turns out this wasn't the welcome meeting or meet and greet. We had to register. So there was a long line to register. Pollyanna actually got to register me in, I thought that was cool. After we registered, we got these kinda VIP passes so we can attend all the events and a list of events and rules. Then we picked up our giftbags. The gift bags had things from companies that sponsor the DLF. Like Nabisco, we got oreos, cheese nips, and cookies. Some bags had a Steve Maddan bag others had a Hello Kitty bag. There was a pocket radio. They also came with DLF ballons, a DLF pin, and a DLF Lupus Cruise t-shirt. It also came with a video about Lupus.
After dinner was the welcome meeting and meet and greet. It was supposed to start at 7:30, but of course it was delayed a little. We were in the Rio club. That place has like a bunch of dinner tables surrounding a stage. Chelsea came out on the stage and explained what would happen. They gave us a thing that had the list of events and a list of some of the items up for auction. We also got rules for the meet and greet. The rules were things like: "Everyone will get 1 signed poster from Howie. Howie will not sign anything. No more than 3 mins with Howie. You can only get in line once." Howie wasn't there yet. As Chelsea joked, "he's running on Backstreet time". Then they brought out the sign up sheets for Karaoke and the scavenger hunt. You could also get Pollyanna's signature. I went to see Pollyanna cuz I was almost right next to her. She was very nice, and she's very pretty in person. So I got her signature. Right after I met Pollyanna, Howie comes out! Wow...he looked so good! He came out and talked. Alright, now the question everyone has been waiting for: was Nick there? Howie explained that Nicky couldn't make it because he's having family problems. I'm sure people were disappointed, but I hope he's okay . Anyway, the line was already formed to meet Howie, and it was HUGE! So I started waiting. I was beyond nervous at this point cuz, keep in mind, I've never met Howie or any of the BSB for that matter. I had this gift bag ready for him. I made him something in it, and it also had a letter I wrote him, and a letter from my friend Paula. The way it worked was Howie stood up on the stage, if you wanted a pic taken with him you did that. When I was halfway through the line, Chelsea stepped up again and said to hurry it along because we needed to be out of that room by a certain time. That just made me even MORE nervous. A lady came by to take orders for getting pictures with him. It cost $20 to get a professional pic taken with him. Of course, you know I paid it. And just about everyone else paid for it too.
I was pretty far back in the line. I figured by the time Howie got to me, he'd be very tired and not really want to talk to me. After waiting FOREVER, it was FINALLY my turn! I got up on the stage with Howie. He said "Hi" then gave me a hug. (OMFG!! HE HUGGED ME! HE HUGGED ME! AHHHHHHHH!!!) I then gave him my gift bag. He said "Aww, thank you" then he winked at me. (OH MY GOOD LORD! HE WINKED AT...ME!! AT *ME*! OMG OMG OMG!) He then put his arm around me to take the pic. (O...M...G...HE PUT HIS ARM AROUND ME!! AHHHHHHH!!) Then he started rubbing my back. (AAHHHHHHHH!! HE RUBBED MY BACK, HOWARD DWAINE DOROUGH RUBBED *MY* BACK!! LORD HELP ME!!) He told me to enjoy the cruise, and that was it.
After I got off the stage, I started sobbing. I have no idea why, I just couldn't help it. It took me forever to recover. I sat in my seat just crying for a while. I was in absolute shock. I couldn't believe it had just happened. I feel like a big dork for crying, but I just couldn't help it. Needles to say, that was the best day of my entire life.
That was pretty much day one. I've met some awesome people so far. Only problem is, I can't find anyone I've talked to online, and I've only found ONE person from LD. Hopefully I'll be able to find more people later.
When I was waiting in line to meet Howie. I glanced over at my mom and I saw her talking to this guy. I didn't get a good look at him or anything. She had talked to him for a while. When I came back, I found out she was talking to Howie's dad, Hoke! Funniest part is, she didn't even know it was him. He had asked her something like, "so did you come with a daughter or friend?" And she said "yeah, I came with my daughter. Did you come with a son or daughter?" Then he replies, "Yeah, that's my boy Howard up there". Then he started talking about how him, Howie, and John all went fishing the day before. He said that Howie just bought them a new house. They still have the old one, but they needed to move somewhere else because of all the fans that always visited them.
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Day 2 - Day at Sea - Celebrity Auction
My mom had a Howie sighting in the morning, and of course, I wasn't there! (damnit!) It was by the pool (*kicks self*) He was in one of the pools where there were less people around. A lot of security was there. Angie, Adam, and these two little girls were with him. Howie came out of the water and was holding hands walking with one the little girls. A few mins later, they went back to their rooms, so my mom didn't have enough time to come and get me.
The celebrity auction was held in the Rome Lounge. This place is the theater. There's a stage, with a balcony and everything. I finally met up with some people I had been talking to on the internet. One of which was a LD peeper (if you read this, hey Jessica!) Anyway, we went in early to the auction. We were right up front by the left of the stage. This event was open for the whole ship. They set out a bunch of tables then set out the items. Chelsea and other DLF people were busy trying to set everything up. Adam was in charge of this. He came out and got everything started. They did the silent auction first. That lasted about 30 mins. I went up and looked, but I don't have any money to bid on anything. After it was done, Adam named off the winners. Then they started the live auction, or whatever you call it. They brought out a lot of signed baseball stuff. Those things didn't go for very much. Poor Adam had a hard time trying to get people to bid on them. They did some other stuff. They had a cruise to the Bahamas you could bid on. They had a signed Faith Hill CD. Get this: they actually had a signed nsync t-shirt. When they announced it, everyone said "ewwww". It went for only $250 I think. Then they had a signed Britey book. That went for only $100. Then they had the soundtrack to the Jimmy Neutron movie. Adam said he'd get Howie to sign it. Then Howie walks out! (I'm not sure if was after that item, or another one) Anyway, everyone went insane. He had on this orange shirt, kinda like the one he had on MTV cribs. They brought out the Offical BSB book, and Adam said Howie would sign it. They also gave out a jersey and vest that he actually wore for photo shoots. Then Howie got to lead an auction. They brought out a BSB book. It was the "On the Road with BSB one". Howie was SO cute when he was calling off the bids. Then they gave out a night to have dinner with Howie and the rest of the Dorough's. This one went for SO much money. I can't even remember how much it was. I think when they reached about $6,000, Howie went over and whispered to Adam. Then Adam said "Howie says he will cut your food and feed it to you". Then people started going crazy and bidding. Then Adam said "I've seen them eat, it's not pretty". I think this one went for the most money. They auctioned off a hug from Howie. That even went for a lot. They auctioned off a chance to sing any song karaoke with Howie. Then they auctioned off these homemade BSB pillow cases. Adam described them saying "You can sleep with Howie every night". Everyone screamed. The final auction was going on a dolphin encounter with Howie in Jamaica. Adam said, "Howie will be wearing a bathing suit". Everyone screamed. Then someone in the audience asked something. Then Adam replied, "NO! He will not be wearing a thong!" Howie started shaking his head. Then Adam said "well, maybe for an extra 5 grand". Howie nodded his head in a way like "yeah, maybe..." All of the things with Howie went for a LOT of money. Sorry I wish I could remember how much. Adam was hilarious! Howie was SO cute and funny! He had so many cute reactions to Adam's jokes and stuff. So even though I didn't bid on anything, it was obviously worth being there. My friends and I kept trying to get Howie to look over at us. After calling him like 3 times we finally got him to wave. Also got a wink out of him. It was SO much fun even though I didn't bid on anything. A little tip to anyone that goes next year: bring LOTS of money!
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Day 3 - Cozumel, Mexico
Not too much to say cuz no DLF events were planned this day. We were in Cozumel, Mexico. I had a Howie sighting! I was in a restaurant with my mom in down town Cozumel. All of a sudden, she spots Steve walking by, followed by Howie's body guard, and a bunch of other security. Then comes Howie wearing a blue baseball cap and sunglasses (which he wears when he doesn't want to be seen). So he was just walking in downtown Cozumel. Very cool he was able to do that. Ya know, I don't think anyone would know who he is in that baseball cap and sunglasses. The only thing that makes him stand out is Steve and his body guard.
There were rumors that Nick was going to board the ship in Cozumel, but he never did.
I also spotted Howie's parents at breakfast that morning. They were with the two little girls and this one other DLF person.
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Day 4 - Day at Sea - Howie Madness Scavenger Hunt
You are now looking at one of the winners of the "Howie Madness Scavenger Hunt"!!
This was the day of the scavenger hunt, and I don't even know WHERE to start on this one
We all met in the Oxford bar around 2. We had signed up for teams earlier on. I wasn't signed up, but one team had someone dropping out, so I was able to join. Adam came in and explained things. It ended up that there were over 40 teams, so they combined some of the teams to make 20 groups of 10, (but my group had 11 in it).
Before it started, we had to wait for everything to get prepared. Pollyanna talked about the music trivia she'd be having. She also talked about her website. She talked about herself a little. This is the kinda stuff she said "What's my age? I'm not telling. Do I have any kids? No. I have a dog." Then she talked about her dog, which was cute. Then she said how she prefers to be called Pollyanna, NOT Polly. She said when she was little there were too many jokes about her name. Then she asked everyone Howie questions like his birth date and stuff. Then Adam came back. He explained the rules. They still weren't ready setting things up so he talked so more. He talked about Lupus. He discussed what it was. He shocked me by saying when he was 16 he found out HE had Lupus. They were finally ready with everything so he said he'd talk more about Lupus later. He ended by saying "happy anniversary" to Chelsea.
Then we got with our teams. We were each given an envelope that had the team name they gave us and the first clue. Our team name was "Sweet Ddivers". It was really confusing how they combined the teams. I was with a bunch of people I'd never met before, and we didn't even have time to introduce ourselves. We were just put together, then we had to move. I did like most of my team mates. We had some difficulties, but we managed to work everything out.
The clues were things that led you to different rooms on the ship. When you got to that room, you had to find the DLF representative to give you the next clue. John Dorough was one of the clues. Pollyanna was one too, and so was Adam. The rest I either can't remember or don't know who they were. We were in such a hurry to get everywhere. I thought I was going to pass out. We ran everywhere and not to mention climbing all those stairs. Great workout though! I think it should be suggested on Less of Live Daily, I probably lost a lot of weight through that.
There was some bad stuff that happened. The final DLF representative gave out a clue he wasn't supposed to. This confused everyone. Everyone found Pollyanna and started yelling at her. I felt so bad for her. There was SO many woman just screaming at her. Finally Pollyanna just laughed and said "It's just a game!!" Then Chelsea came out then everyone went after her. Finally, I give props to ever this was, one of the team members screamed at everyone to shut up. I felt bad for both Pollyanna and Chelsea. Neither of them deserved that. It wasn't their fault that clue was given out. And like Pollyanna said, it was only a game.
Our team was one of the first to finish. But the scavenger hunt was only the first part. The first five teams were called down to the Rome Lounge (the room that's like a big theater). The next part was the Howie Madness obstacle course. The first 5 teams to finish the scavenger hunt got to participate in this. Everyone else got to watch. Adam came out on stage first and apologized for all the confusion. Then he announced the 5 teams.
The first challenge one team member played. There was a bucket of ice cubes and there were clear marbles inside of it. The person had to find the marbles and pull out as many as they could in a certain amount of time. The team to pull out the most won 25 points. Our team didn't win this one.
The next challenge was one that used 5 members from each team. Everyone stood in a line. The 2nd person in line had to spin the first person around 10 times. After spinning them, the person had to pick up a popsicle stick, then had a nickel placed on it. They had to walk across with the nickel and put it in a bucket. Then they had to pass it to the next person who had just been spun around 10 times. The team with the most won 25 pts. I did this one. It was SO much harder than it sounds. I didn't get any in. Our team also didn't win this one
The next challenge again used 5 members from each team, and everyone stood in a line. They had to pass a balloon to each other with their knees without using their hands. I know that's gotta sound weird, but I don't know any other way to explain it. The final person to get the balloon had to make their way over to the other side of the stage to get the next balloon. The team that passed the most balloons won 25 pts. Our team won!
The final challenge used 2 members from each team. Okay, how do I explain this? LOL, um, you placed a thing with a needle on it on your ass, then you had to try and pop balloons with it, without looking. One person popped the balloons well the other person held the board with the balloons on it. When Adam was explaining this one, he said he should have someone demonstrate. Howie comes out! OMG, now just picture Howie trying to demonstrate what I just explained to you. It was too funny! He also gave Pollyanna a big hug. That was SO cute! Then they did the challenge. Out team won! We had won the whole thing!!!
Next thing that happened was our whole team came up on stage. OMG, we were so excited! Howie then came around to each of us. He gave each us a blue ribbon, then he placed a gold medal around or necks. They were kinda cheesy looking, but it was still cool to have Howie putting them around our necks. Then he gave us each a big hug! (OMG, I GOT TO HUG HIM AGAIN!! AHHHHH!!) After he got to each of us, he gave Adam a big hug! Then we got to take a team picture with him. Then Howie joked "this is like back in high school when we would take team picture!" After that we all got to shake hands with him. I wanted to ask him if he read my letter at all, but then he had to leave. Still a very nice moment. I was so happy I got to hug him again! And this time, I wasn't so terrified, lol.
Overall the scavenger hunt was fun! Things got a little disorganized at times, but it wasn't a big deal. The only downside of it was how insane everyone got when a few problems happened. I still feel for Pollyanna and Chelsea. I wouldn't be surprised if they choose NOT to do this event again next year because of those people. People got so worked up over a stupid game.
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Day 5 - Grand Caymen No DLF events happened on this day, and there were no Howie sightings. Grand Caymen is beautiful though. It was a shame we only had about half a day there.
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Day 6 - Jamaica - DLF special shore excursion “Swim with Dolphins”, Pollyanna’s night
This day was the special DLF shore excursion. It was a swim with dolphins and waterfall climb. We arrived in Jamaica at 8 am I believe. The excursion started at 10 am. We all met at the dock around 10. Chelsea, Adam, Pollyanna, and all the rest of the DLF people were standing outside. Everyone else who was taking part in this excursion was there too. Only person we were waiting for was Howie. Chelsea was on the walkie talkies trying to get a hold of Steve to find out where Howie was. Turns out, Howie overslept. We had to run on "Howie time" as it's now called. I think Chelsea said Howie time is 3 mins times 5.
Howie FINALLY came out. He looked SO dayum good! He apologized to everyone for being late. (Yeah right Howie, like anyone could stay mad at you.) Then we walked out to the buses that would take us to the dolphin thing. I got to walk right next to Howie for a little bit. That was really nice . Only problem is, he looked so good he made me freeze up. Maybe if he didn't look that good I could have at least said "hi" or something. But I just kinda stared at him like a deer caught in headlights, lol. Yes, I am kicking myself now. Then the fan that won at the auction got to walk with him.
We all got on separate buses. I'm pretty sure Howie and his family went in a separate van. We arrived at the dolphin cove. It was SO pretty. Problem was, all the buses kinda went to different places. Some people went to the falls and some people were at dolphin cove. We did this jungle trail thing. That was pretty cool. They showed the different animals in Jamaica, some of the crafts they make, and we got to sample some food. I had a picture taken of me with a snake around my neck. After that, they separated people who were doing just the dolphin swim and the people who were doing the dorsal pull/foot push (I'll explain this more later). I was doing the dorsal pull/foot push, and we had to wait til later to swim with the dolphins. So we went to eat lunch. They had this buffet thing. The other group went right away to swim with the dolphins.
The people that went to the falls came back. They were mad because they didn't have enough time to go all the way up. My group then realized we wouldn't have enough time to even go to the falls .
We waited for a LONG time. Finally we got our turn to swim. First they had to go over all the rules and stuff before we went in. Then we finally got to go over. They gave us life jackets and flippers for out feet. They went over some more rules. Then they separated us into 2 groups.
It was split up in 3 sections. I think there were 5 or 6 dolphins in the water. I looked over to the other section and there was Howie! I tried to concentrate on what the dolphin people were saying, but it's hard when Howie is swimming only a few feet away from you. Now I don't want to give you the wrong idea, he wasn't in my group or anything so it wasn't like I was right next to him. Howie, his family, and the auction winner were all in a separate group. Anyway, we got to do things like dancing with the dolphins, having them jump over our heads, and just getting to interact with them. There was one point where you had one dolphin come over to you and you got to pet it and kiss it. I got to watch Howie do that. OMG that was so cute! He kept petting it at first. Then he started kissing it. He kept kissing it then he started pretending to make out with it. That was too funny! Then the dolphin went back under water and he waved goodbye to it. You have no idea how badly I wanted to be that dolphin!!
Then we got to choose to do either the dorsal pull or foot push. We were a little disappointed cuz when we signed up for this, we thought we'd get to do both. But we had to choose. The dorsal pull was where you got to be pulled around the water by 2 dolphins by holding on to their dorsal fin which is the one that sticks out of the water. The foot push is a little harder to explain. You laid on your stomach in the water then the dolphins came over then kinda pushed you on your feet. That looked REALLY cool when they did it. I did the dorsal pull and that was really neat. Only problem is the bottom part of my swimsuit almost came off cuz the dolphins go so fast. Thank God it didn't! lol. Especially since Howie wasn't that far away. Speaking of Howie, he also did the dorsal pull. Only thing was he did it with only one dolphin. That was really cute.
Our dolphin swim ended a little bit before Howie's. So I had just enough time to run and get my camera. I got a few shots of him getting out of the water. Sorry, they're not shirtless, he had his life vest on .
We then found out we were late for the ship. Luckily, they waited for everyone.
Overall, even though my group didn't get to climb the falls, the dolphin experience was amazing! Even if it didn't involve Howie, it would still be well worth doing. If you ever have the opportunity, I recommend doing this. And if you have to pay extra to do the dorsal pull/foot push, do it! You won't regret it afterwards.
Later that night was Pollyanna's night. It took place in the Big Easy Bar. We all had to wait outside at first. There were a LOT of people. Pollyanna stepped out smiling. Then she said "I can't believe some many of you came here just to see little old me!" We had to wait a few more mins for them to set everything up. Howie walked into the room with ALL of his security. They finally let everyone in. I got squished trying to make it through the door way. The room surrounds itself around a circular bar with a piano inside it. I was standing right next to one side of the bar. Adam came out first and talked. He brought out Howie. Howie introduced Pollyanna, it was REALLY sweet . I remember he said something like "she loves to make people laugh, so we'll all be able to laugh at her. And hopefully we'll laugh with her." He laughed then added, "hey I'm her brother, I can say that!" Then he brought out Pollyanna. She explained what would happen. It was originally supposed to be music trivia, but it changed because her piano player got sick. She decided to just sing some of the songs she's been working on. Mr. Dorough controlled the cd player. It was funny cuz the cd started skipping at first. Mr. Dorough tried to fix it. She sang some of her songs. She did an amazing job! You could tell this wasn't planned out at all, so I give her a lot of credit. After that, she wanted to try something different. Only problem was, she needed music. The only musician that was around was a jazz guitar player. He only knew how to play jazz and Pollyanna only knew one jazz song. She decided to try some Christmas songs. There were a lot of problems because she needed to find songs that she knew the words to and songs he knew how to play. When they finally did find a song that worked, she did a great job. Everyone sang along with her and she'd randomly put the microphone up to people to sing.
For something very unplanned, it worked pretty well. Pollyanna is very funny too. She also said some very sweet things to Howie. Like she talked about what a great writer he is. It was cute and everyone responded with an "awww". Then she'd say something like "okay enough with him". It was fun.
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Day 7 - Final Day at Sea - Karaoke Contest - Dancing with special guest DJ “Howie D”
The karaoke contest took place in the Rio Lounge. Before the contest began, Chelsea came on stage and sang a couple songs. One of them was a song Howie wrote. She shocked a lot of us because most of us didn’t know she could sing so well.
The karaoke contest started. Howie, Pollyanna, and Chelsea were the judges. The downside of it was that only 15 people could perform because there wasn’t enough time. On the night of the welcome meeting everyone was able to sign up. After everyone signed up they gave each person a raffle ticket. The 15 people with winning raffle tickets got to perform. All of the performances were very good. I was surprised at how many people sang ballads though. My favorite performances were a father and daughter duet singing “I got you babe”, a group of 3 woman who sang “All the small things” but they changed the lyrics to relate it to Howie, and a girl that sang “What’s my age again”.
In the middle of the contest, Pollyanna performed. She sang a song called “Wet”. She did an awesome job! Some funny stuff happened though. She went out into the crowd then started dancing on top of this guy named JR. Then when she started to walk back on stage, she fell flat on her face. I felt bad for her, but she recovered very well. She kept laughing. She started changing the lyrics well she was singing to “You made me fall! He was too small!” It was really funny!
Me and the rest of the people from my team on the scavenger hunt got to go up on stage. We got a gift bag and a plaque for winning. The plaque has Howie and Chelsea’s signature on it. The gift bag came with a Steve Madden t shirt, a Hello Kitty bag, and an I - Zone camera with lots of film. Only sad part was we didn’t get our prizes from Howie. We were a little sad about that. When we were on stage we kept hearing people behind the curtain. We weren’t sure what was going on. We went back to our seats. We would soon find out what those noises were. Chelsea began to explain what would happen next. She explained there were a group of guys coming out. She said they’re not quite Backstreet Boys, they’re more like the Backseat Boys or something. She said she wished she had earplugs for us because they’re not very good. Next thing that happened, all of these guys came out from behind the curtain. Almost all of them had baseball caps on. Howie was up there, so was Adam, Ricky the camera guy, Johnny, Howie’s dad, and a bunch of other guys. They started singing karaoke to “All I Have To Give”. When it got to Howie’s part, he started singing it. It was SO funny!! I guess the karaoke machine uses different vocals from the real ones. At one point you could hear one of the voices, then Howie said “What the Heck?! That aint Brian!” Another point, all the guys started holding a note then Howie plugged his ears. It was really funny!
The contest continued after that. Finally, Howie, Pollyanna, and Chelsea went up on stage and announced the winners. The winners won in 3 different categories. One was most enthusiasm, a girl that sang Celine Dion “That’s the Way it is” won. The other was best performance, a girl that sang Christina “Genie in a Bottle” won. The final was best vocal, a girl that sang Lauryen Hill (can’t remember the song) won.
Howie and Pollyanna finished off by performing “Fly to Heaven”. The performance was so beautiful and it was a great way to end the event.
Me and some other people hung out in the room after the contest for a little while. Howie was re taking pictures with people whose pictures didn’t turn out. He was also signing stuff for the auction winners. At one point, he needed to go to another part of the room. I was standing there, and he started to walk by me. I said “Hey Howie!” to get his attention. He stopped, smiled, winked at me, then he held my hand for a second. It was nice. That was my last encounter with Howie for the trip.
The final event was the dance and having Howie DJ. Everyone met in the dance club on the ship. I waited outside of it for a little bit before I went in. Howie and all of his security started walking by. They stopped at first to talk to some young, blonde women who work on the ship. Then they walked in the club.
They were playing music, but not many people were dancing yet. My friends and I went and started dancing. The person who’s the usual DJ was up there. Howie went in there and started looking at all the DJ stuff. He got on the mic and explained that he couldn’t stay very long, but he’d play some BSB songs for us to dance too. So he found all these BSB remixes and started playing them. He found remixes to “The Call,” “SOMH,” “Everybody”, “LTL”, “IWITW”, “SMTMOBL”, and a few more. On some of the songs, when it would get to a part where he sang, he got on the mic and started singing it. He messed around with the DJ stuff only a little. He’d occasionally stop the music and stuff. He seemed like he was having fun.
Overall, the DJ thing didn’t last long. It wasn’t as big of a deal as I think we all expected it to be. It was the last night and everyone had to have their suitcases ready to be taken. That’s why he needed to leave early because he had to pack. Even though I wish it could have lasted longer, it was LOTS of fun dancing out there!
So this concludes my experience on Lupus Cruise 2001. Overall, the trip was the best!! I can honestly say, it was one of the best weeks of my life. I’m already planning to go on next years. Howie said it will be either Alaska or Hawaii. I recommend the trip to everyone. You’ll have an amazing time, and you get to support a wonderful charity.