Day 3 on the SS Backstreet 2011

We were scheduled to set sail at 6 o'clock in the morning, so I set my alarm for 5:30am. As soon as my alarm went off, I popped in one of the magical pills I bought the day before. I call them magical, and will continue to do so because for the next 24 hours I was not the least bit seasick. I drastic change from the first day at sea.

The morning of day three was a bit more relaxed. We had the option of sleeping in since our photo session wasn't scheduled to begin until 1 o'clock that afternoon. It also gave us plenty of time to shower and make ourselves presentable. I am not one for dressing up, but I still had to decide what I should wear. All morning the t-shirt that I had made for 80's Spynkter Night was staring me in the face. I finally decided - since I wasn't able to wear my Sphynkter shirt to the deck party, I would wear it for the group photo. I wasn't going to let my hard work and creativity go to waste!

As a group of five, we needed to find three more girls to complete our group of eight. Cortney had tracked down Sarah and her mother before the photo. That made seven, so we only needed one more. While we were lined up outside the lounge, Char and Brandy went on the hunt hoping to find one person who needed a group. As luck would have it, they found someone. All eight of us were ready for our photo!

This may sound silly, after all it was just a photo with seven other girls, but the photo session that morning was one of my personal highlights. Prior to the cruise, I had met the boys twice. Once at the Vancouver, BC NKOTBSB show and for a second time three days later in Calgary, AB. I ended up at the front of our line, so I would be greeting the boys first. During previous encounters I had been pretty flabbergasted, and relatively unable to produce a thought nevermind actually speak. This time I had made a concious effort to say each of their names when I said hello. Seems silly, but it made the moment so much more real for me. After saying hello to Howie.. Brian.. and Nick, I took my spot beside AJ - we had decided well in advance who we would be standing beside. While the other girls said their hellos, one of the greatest moments of my life happened - AJ noticed my Sphynkter shirt! He simply pointed and said, "I love your shirt!" I said thank you, and explained what it's original purpose had been but I had been too seasick to wear it. AJ seemed empathic, and told me he had been quite sick himself. We talked about how nice it would be to have the whole thing at a resort next time. Then it was time for the photo! The conversation couldn't have been more than a handful of seconds, but the memory will stick. It was my first real conversation with AJ McLean. I was a happy, happy girl.

Next up was karaoke! Prior to the cruise, a sign up form had been e-mailed out. I had chosen NOT to sign up because nothing terrifies me more than the thought of singing in front of thousands of girls plus my four favorite men. However, my lovely room mate had signed up and lucky for us -yes, us - she had been chosen as a possible contestant. Charlene dragged me kickin' and screamin' to the karaoke meeting spot where we waited, not sure of what was going to happen. We were lead up top, and seated beside where the boys would be doing karaoke. We eventually figured out that the boys would chose a song from a list and if that was your song then you would sing. I noticed there was a fair amount of girls around, so our chances were slim - thank goodness! As it turns out, our song was not chosen but we did get enjoy the performances from up top which I enjoyed.

When the boys showed up (on Backstreet time), Howie announced that as a group the boys would be shaving a young lady's head. Michelle was a young girl who had just begun chemotherapy, and before her hair began to fall out she had the Backstreet Boys shave it. It was an incredibly touching moment, and I am sure there were not too many dry eyes at that moment. 

The boys then began choosing songs. Every time one of the boys pulled a folded peice of paper from their pocket I prayed it wasn't our song. "It's a once in a lifetime experience!" I heard that A LOT. That's probably what got me up top in the first place, but I wasn't keen on actually participating. I will highlight a few of my personal favorite moments..

"Who wants to get wet with Backstreet?!"

In my opinion, overall it was an enjoyable afternoon. The weather wasn't being kind, so I was glad that the section we were in was covered. That night was group A's concert, so the boys would be occupied which left our evening fairly open until the PDA Pajama Jam. Charlene and I decided to do some exploring and then head to the hot tub. The entire time we'd been on the trip my camera had always been with me. Since the boys were at the concert, and we were going to the hot tub I figured my camera was safer in the room. What a mistake! On our way to the hot tub, we spotted Lauren - Nick's girlfriend - at the Customer Service desk. We wanted to get our picture with her, but we had left our cameras behind. Luckily we ran into Cortney in the elevator, and she saved the day! So thank you to Cortney for the photo.

After our dip in the hot tub and some exploring, we had dinner and put our pajamas on. It was time for our last deck party of the 2011 Backstreet Boys Cruise.