[Ecliptica]

First, thanks to the UMC crew for once again putting on the event of a lifetime. I didn't think anything could personally compare to the first cruise (given my overall lack of enthusiasm for most of the bands) but I will say that this year absolutely topped the maiden voyage. Despite the hit-or-miss performances of the first year, I didn't really see any "bad" sets this year.

Yes, there were some sound problems -- something is just off in The Chorus Line and I can't figure it out; I think it may be that the mix is just too bassy -- and some performances not starting on time and whatnot, but everything was extremely professional and very well put together.


Wanted to make this thread so that we can get a complete recap from everyone's different perspectives on the cruise since we all have different musical tastes and, unfortunately, couldn't be everywhere at once. Plus, making lists is fun!

Number of sets seen: 25ish: Alestorm (2x), Moonsorrow (2x), Nightwish (2x), Edguy (2x), Eluveitie (2x), Orphaned Land (2x), Therion (2x), Hammerfall (1.75x), Kamelot (1.75x), Tristania, Virgin Steele, Venom, Vicious Rumors, Riot, Candlemass (.5x), In Extremo (.5x), Stratovarius (2 songs), Pestilence (1 song), Suffocation (1 song)

Favorite Performance(s): Super tough, I didn't really see any BAD sets this year. Top three are probably: Moonsorrow's first performance in the Spectrum, Orphaned Land in the Spectrum, and Eluveitie in the Chorus Line. Edguy on the pool deck and Riot's first performance in the Spectrum were awesome too.

Least Favorite Performance(s): Virgin Steele in the Chorus Line. Poor David doesn't have a voice anymore -- and the sound mix was horrible. Vicious Rumors second show was wildly mediocre as well.

Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): Suffocation during karaoke. I was laughing so hard I was crying and I hope someone got a video. "PLAY SOME CHICAAAAGO, BRRRRRRRRR PAH POP!!"

Number of Meet-And-Greets/Clinics Attended: 0
(number of autographs/things signed -- 1; got the drummer from Hammerfall to sign my drumsticks. Everyone else I just talked to and said: "Look, I don't need an autograph, I don't need a picture, I just want to talk" -- now I kind of wish I did take pictures).

Total Bill: $868.31. Honestly, mostly from the casino, at one point I was up over $900 too, oops. . .

Other Highlights: Whoever that Dave guy at karaoke was (not electric violinist David Rivera). Karaoke Dave needs to sing every set next year -- give him an hour and a half time slot, I totally have a man-crush. David Rivera was awesome, too; we have some talented people on this boat.

Where Can We See Your Pictures/Videos: Currently uploading

[rwalters]

Number of sets seen: Children of Bodom 2x (Alexi is a diva), Therion 2x, My Dying Bride 2x, Nightwish 2x, Amorphis 1, Kamelot 1.5, Candlemass 1.75 (couldnt finish out second set), Eluveitie 2x, Tristania 1 (sucked), Moonsorrow .5 (hate the spectrum), Edguy .5, Overkill 1, Annihilator 1, Cannibal Corpse 1, Tankard .5 (SO TIRED), Venom .5 (cronos is old), Orphaned Land 1, Samael 1, Grave Digger .5, Dark Funeral .25, Kataklysm .5, Virgin Steele .25, Stratovarius (walked in to get a picture of Timo Tolkii... then remembered he's not in the band (right?) and then walked out)

Favorite Performance(s): Amorphis @ Chorus Line, My Dying Bride @ Chorus Line, or Eluveitie @ Pool Deck (crazy late)

Least Favorite Performance(s): 2nd Therion set at Pool Deck was too similar to first set.

Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): Cayman Islands Submarine Excursion that I sat right next to Christopher from Therion and Eric from Candlemass

Number of Meet-And-Greets/Clinics Attended: 0
Shooks hands with basically every band I came to see. Nothing extravagant. I'm not much into meet and greets.

Total Bill: Not sure.

Other Highlights: Eating next to Germans every night for dinner and having them tell me I'm a poser because I didn't come on this cruise to see Tankard and Pestilence. Gotta love those Germans

Where Can We See Your Pictures/Videos: Nowhere yet.

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I brought my wife on this cruise and basically all I did was watch bands and then hang out with her until she went to bed so I could stay up til 4-5 am..... I did not partake into all this forum love that I saw going on throughout the event as I saw many avatars in attendence. I simply didn't have much time to do the hangout thing. Nothing personal. I'm pretty new anyhow. I just wanted to watch and get into the shows. The only person I introduced myself was Kevin as that dude is a legit as fuck My Dying Bride fan. I think the person I saw the most was I think Laura who was at a fuckton of shows. Definitely saw Wizardbeast cause she had a shirt that said wizardbeast on it at Samael. Wanted to talk to her and say "the new eluveitie is more progressive damnit but it was like 4 fucking am and I was DONE." Saw Dibildox or however you spell it at Orphaned Land with some dude who was either her bf or another forum member.

As far people, there was this energetic as fuck mosh dude that was also AT ALOT of shows. Short blonde curly hair. I personally think he was injecting himself with HGH in his downtime cause his energy was unparallel. Really appreciated that. There was also another dude who had alot of shirts and knew every fucking Candlemass lyric in both sets and was even called out by the singer.

My only complaints about the cruise is that the Spectrum fucking sucks. It just sucks. There is nothing good about it. It sucks. I can't emphasize enough how much it sucks. Also, the excursion lines getting on and off the boat were bullshit. Other than that... perfect.

Last comment is that the late at night shows were generally much better than the normal hour shows. I guess you really saw who the hardcore fans were at those late ones. The difference in Eluveitie set fan reactions proved that.

Super final last comment: As someone who has been through the rigors of seeing Slayer 10x times, Pantera 3x , Lamb of God 7x, the whole early metalcore movement that had some crazy shows, the crowd was incredibly tame. Kind of nice, just strange. Whole experience felt like a Euro show instead of a US show filled with euro bands.

[Ogre]

Number of sets seen: 28, though not all were full sets as we bounced from gig to gig fairly frequently. 21 bands, in all: My Dying Bride (2), Samael, Suffocation, Kataklysm, Cannibal Corpse, God Dethroned, Massacre, Venom (2), Whiplash (2), Crowbar (1+), Pestilence, Moonsorrow (<1), Coroner (1+), Alestorm (2), Dark Funeral (parts of both), Exciter (<1), Grave Digger, Therion, In Extremo (<1), Amorphis (<1), Tristania (<1).

Favorite Performance(s): MDB in the Chorus Line (front and center), Samael in the Spectrum (a lot of Ceremony of Opposites, just killed), Suffocation Chorus Line (brutal and hilarious), Whiplash Spectrum, Crowbar.

Least Favorite Performance(s): Tristania, In Extremo, just not for me. Only stopped in for a few tracks from Tristania as our sked for day one got rearranged a bit when Overkill was postponed.

Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): Thursday afternoon on the pool deck, Hamish & Lena from MDB were meandering by and ended up spending most of the afternoon hanging out, drinking and BS-ing. However, now Juuno will forever despise Nightwish (even more) because they disclosed that Wed night pool deck MDB had to cut Crown of Sympathy (fucking brilliant song) from their set because Nightwish played over sked. I've always thought Nightwish are awful, but hanging with Hamish & Lena softened the blow for me. Juuno's still MF-ing NW, though, lol, Hell hath no fury, and all.

Number of Meet-And-Greets/Clinics Attended: 3 (Suffocation, nothing for sigs, just to say hello because those guys are the coolest guys you could meet; MDB & Venom)
(number of autographs/things signed -- 3; an MDB book & a couple Venom items, though it's clear Cronos has little appetite for these things, haha).

Total Bill: Don't know, yet. Don't really care, totally worth it.

Other Highlights: The whole fucking thing is a highlight. The beach party the Sunday before departure was a blast. Met some great dudes from Costa Rica & Switzerland and at the beach party and the times we hung out with other folks was usually with them. Formed the new sovereign nation of Switzer-Rica. Got contact info and will keep in touch with those dudes. As for forumites, it was nice to meet and briefly chat with Gnoff, Marlo & Antonio (iirc your name!) as we passed here or there, but we missed the meet up after muster and that was it for meet ups as we were too busy with gigs.

Where Can We See Your Pictures/Videos: Working on it. Between the girls and I we probably snapped 1000 photos, wanted as many memories as we could gather.

I don't dig the merch line (of course, who does?), but perhaps 70K merch could be offered upon registration and delivered to rooms throughout the cruise, as well as available at the merch booth. Is Rob still looking for a job? No other way to handle band merch, though.

Let's get this Barge to Hell thing going!! I'm sure bands will be announced soooooooon. See sig, Andy.

Cheers, all!!

[rwalters]

because they disclosed that Wed night pool deck MDB had to cut Crown of Sympathy (fucking brilliant song) from their set because Nightwish played over sked.

I like Nightwish, but I didn't need to hear that :( At least we got Your River.

[Ecliptica]

My only complaints about the cruise is that the Spectrum fucking sucks. It just sucks. There is nothing good about it. It sucks. I can't emphasize enough how much it sucks. Also, the excursion lines getting on and off the boat were bullshit. Other than that... perfect.

100% disagree. The Spectrum is, in my opinion, the best venue on the boat. The guy who does the sound in there (I think his name is Mike) seems to be the only one who knows what he's doing.

[rwalters]

You can't see anything. It's a smoke filled hole in the wall. Very very inconvienent for those who are travelling amongst stages. I generally don't like paying a few grand for a basement bar venue. Bands like Amorphis and Samael got jobbed playing a set in a venue like that. Chorus Line and the Pool Deck support hundreds of people to see the bands they paid to see. Spectrum supports what? 50? If they raised the stage a bit, it would be absolutely fine. I realize this is impossible in that room. I would MUCH rather them change that stage to the Karaoke Room and let the Karaoke room be the Spectrum.

The pool stage was absolutely fantastic.

[KevinP]

My only complaints about the cruise is that the Spectrum fucking sucks. It just sucks. There is nothing good about it. It sucks. I can't emphasize enough how much it sucks. Also, the excursion lines getting on and off the boat were bullshit. Other than that... perfect.

100% disagree. The Spectrum is, in my opinion, the best venue on the boat. The guy who does the sound in there (I think his name is Mike) seems to be the only one who knows what he's doing.

I loved the sound there last year, this year it seemed to be too muddy. I know a bunch of bands I talked to hated the sound and venue in general. Might have something to do with the low ceiling.

[KevinP]

Number of sets seen: 25.5 - Amorphis 2, Annihilator 0.5, Atheist 2, Cannibal Corpse 0.5, Candlemass 2, Coroner 2, Dark Funeral 1, God Dethroned 2, Grave Digger 1, Kataklysm 0.5, Massacre 0.5, Moonsorrow 1, My Dying Bride 2, Nightwish (3 songs while dancing in the pool ), Pestilence 1.5, Riot 2, Samael 1, Suffocation 1, Tankard 2, Venom 0.5, Whiplash 1.5

Alot of these 0.5 were half paying attention so not really sure how much they actually "count" but oh well.


Favorite Performance(s): SUPER EASY - My Dying Bride. I really had the highest hopes a human brain could possibly imagine and sub consciously probably expected at least to be partially letdown(at least initially, since nothing can usually match my wildest dreams). But both performances exceeded what my meager brain could foresee. And I was thankful I wasn't injured or woke up the next day injured as I let loose like never before in my life. I never really get emotionally blown away or drained from a band/performance. But this was a 18+ year wait for this band and I went through a few hours of "not giving a shit" about anything else after their 2nd performance. It felt like I had accomplished what I needed to and was so at peace with the world.

Coroner - they played DIE BY MY HAND which made me infinitely happy

Riot - both sets were beyond words. Not that I expected a poor performance on their part. But with Mark in critical condition for their 1st set and then knowing he had passed away before their 2nd set, made it extra unbelievable.


Least Favorite Performance(s): didn't really have a bad experience with any bad per say. But I hung around the pool for 3 Nightwish songs and just wasn't my thing. Same for Katakylsm. 1st Samael performance was super high energy but that drm machine makes all the old songs sound like I was at an extreme techno metal dance rave.


Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): Kelly Shaefer of Atheist dedicating a song to Biervulf (Duane). Totally unexpected and just fucking awesome. Mad props to Hector for telling Kelly about this. Duane loved Atheist and I had the pleasure to meet and hang with him last year. I'm sure he would have been just as crazy and fun to hang with this time around.


Number of Meet-And-Greets/Clinics Attended: 0 Autographs and "staged" photos at a meet and greet table are not my thing. I like candid shots when you are around the ship or just "hanging out"


Holy shit I would have never had guessed: I clapped for the Hammerfall and Nightwish singer IN THE SAME DAY. They were guest vocalists for Riot and Amorphis.


Total Bill: $210. $85 of that was merch, most of the rest were drinks I bought for others as "payback"


Other Highlights: Elevator moshing, seeing plenty of other non forumites that I met last year again and talking with them, meeting all the new people and lurkers who know your avatar and stop you at 3:30am on your way back to your room for a photo, thanking/giving my condolences to Don (Riot bassist) for their performance/Mark's passing while leaving the ship. Even though I'm a new fan of the band, it felt like I had known them for years/decades and something about their sets just touched me. He was also very nice and appreciative.

Oh and watching Laura drunk dance during Therion was just the "bees knees". Never saw her so shitfaced before

Watching Hector go wild during Riot's set and seeing him sing all the lyrics to every song. Not that his old school cred was ever in question before, but it was cemented even further. He's the youngest old school mutha fucka I've seen/know and it was a pleasure to see him enjoy the fuck out of himself

The sheer amount of stroopwafels on this ship was insane. And the forum meetup after the muster drill turned into an International Food Show

Organizing a group picture with God Dethroned after their final performance as a band. We had at least 10 of us and the entire band holding up stroopwafels before chowing down (and Henri accidentally burning my arm with his cigarette right before that)

Zeena "rationing" salmiak to me and placing some in a baggy on my door each morning


Where Can We See Your Pictures/Videos: I didn't take my camera out of my bag and relied on everyone else I knew to take photos. Figured I'll get tagged on FB with them anyways, and it gave me that "fun and fancy free" feeling.


I'm going to have to make a list of all the other specific things I enjoyed about this year when I get a chance, but it's hard to remember them all.

[mosquitorat]

Number of sets seen: most of 27: in order day 1; Gravedigger, Coroner, Cannable Corpse, Candlemass; day 2; Whiplash, God Dethroned, Atheist, Kamelot, Kataklsym, Annahilator, Children of Bodom, Venom; day 3; Overkill, Cannable Corpse, Massacre, Children of Bodom, Vicious Rumors, Tankard; day 4; Diamond Plate, Gravedigger, Coroner, Dark Funeral, Whiplash, Venom, Overkill, Candlemass, God Dethroned

Favorite Performance(s): Gotta be the last two of the trip, Candlemass doing Epicus start to finish was fucking amazing, and God Dethroned poured everything they had into there last set ever. It was so full of raw emotion I dont see how they could have ever played a better set in 21 years.

Least Favorite Performance(s): Whiplashes second set just didnt seem to have the same feel and emotion in it, but i dont hold it against him since he had just found out his friend in RIOT had passed.

Least and Most Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): They coincide for me, Least favorite was spending 2 1/2 hours in the fucking merch line and missing Tankards first set when I purposely went to get merch when i had the biggest break, then having the pushed to 4 in the morning the next day so i wasnt fully awake and aware to enjoy the set, but i did stay for it all. The best moment came from just standing around bullshiting for 2 1/2 hours (guess where) with the drummer for Crowbar (who also drums for Soylent Green, hell yah right) then seeing him by his own bands t-shirt.

Number of Meet-And-Greets/Clinics Attended: 0
But I did get a Cannable Corpse set list and my girl got a pic from Overkill.

Total Bill: $350ish didnt get to drink as much as i wanted, there wasnt enough time running between shows.

Other Highlights: Headbanging next to CorpseGrinder at Whiplash

Where Can We See Your Pictures/Videos: Edit as soon as there up.

[Castroh]

The Spectrum is, in my opinion, the best venue on the boat. The guy who does the sound in there (I think his name is Mike) seems to be the only one who knows what he's doing.

I know we talked about the sound in the Spectrum while waiting for Orphaned Land, and I completely agree. The Spectrum seemed to have much better sound compared to the Chorus Line and the Pool Deck. If the ceilings were a little higher it would have been perfect.

[Monmisreal]

Number of sets seen: 25ish. Grave Digger (2x), Moonsorrow, Nightwish (2x), Cannibal Corpse (by accident the first set waiting for Candlemass on the pool deck), Candlemass (2x), Elueveitie (2x), Therion (2x), God Dethoned (first half of pool deck), Exciter, Orphaned Land, Kamelot (full second set and last few songs of first), Amorphis, Annihilator, Riot, My Dying Bride (2x), Overkill (2x), Athiest (last half of pool deck set), Alestorm (handfull of songs in the middle of their pool deck set)

Favorite Performance(s): Without a doubt it was My Dying Bride in the Chorus Line.

Least Favorite Performance(s): Musician's Version of rockband during the "Special" Announcement set. Did they ever even announce anything more than the actual dates? After hodgy performed we left to get food instead of waiting for the sooooooon part

Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): All of the random forum people encounters.

Number of Meet-And-Greets/Clinics Attended: 0

Total Bill: About 300ish total since I didnt get nearly as much merch as I hoped and really didnt drink as much as I originally planned. Damn you Candlemass and selling out of the 70k of Doom shirt.

Rant(s): Fuck that merch line haha. I waited about 45minutes to get to the door and then when I saw I had probably another 40 minutes before I could even buy something I just said fuck it and left. Missed out on 1 shirt I really wanted but thats about it.

Screw that douchebag recording sets and taking pictures with the ipad as well, I dont mind seeing a swarm of 4" phones but using a tablet is just a dick move.

[Castroh]

Number of sets seen Around 26: Alestorm 2, Moonsorrow 1.5, Samael 2, Cannibal Corpse 1, Nightwish 1.5, Edguy 1.75, Eluveitie 2, Channel Zero .25, God Dethroned 1, Exciter .5, Orphaned Land 1.5, Tankard .25, Suffocation .5, Pretty Maids .5, Kamelot 1.5, Stratavarius .75, Amorphis 1, In Extremo 1.75, Therion 1.25, Kataklysm .5, Children of Bodom 1.75, Virgin Steele .25, Hammerfall .75, Dark Funeral .1, Coroner .25, Candlemass .25,
Favorite Performance(s): Both of Samael's sets were fucking awesome (and I never even heard of them before they were announced for this cruise). In Extremo impressed the shit out of me, they had the most "fun" set.
Least Favorite Performance(s): Dark Funeral in the Spectrum sounded like complete shit.
Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): Way too many to name, but the funniest moment was talkikng with Christopher Bowes (Alestorm) in the Spectrum. He could not stop talking about crying while "having a wank" and also making robot socks while "doing a poo". Probably the funniest conversation on the whole trip.
Number of Meet-And-Greets/Clinics Attended: 0
Total Bill: $838.63
Where Can We See Your Pictures/Videos: Somewhere SOON...................
Other Highlights: Minus the music, running into a forumite every 10 minutes really made this trip amazing!!! I haven't met a greater group of people in my life. I can't wait to do this again next year!!!!

[ejd715]

Im actually in the process of writing a LONG review of everything 70k

SOOOOOOOOON

[Ogre]

Such a great time...

[Steve110]

Can't think straight yet but Greg, I'm pretty sure the Karaoke Dave guy was Dave Padden from Annihilator. And yeah he could fuckin' sing.

[Ecliptica]

Can't think straight yet but Greg, I'm pretty sure the Karaoke Dave guy was Dave Padden from Annihilator. And yeah he could fuckin' sing.

It was and now I feel dumb about not recognizing him.

Also, I respect the photographers and they're doing their job, but a big 'fuck you' to 75% of them (not Avi or any of the Israeli girls -- they're awesome). Most of the other photographers just stood in the way and, if you were up front (I was only up front for a couple of shows -- Alestorm, Eluveitie, Orphaned Land), it was really difficult to get into it when the photographers kept pushing their backs and elbows into your face.

And huge props to Castroh for one of the funniest exchanges I had with someone I've never met before:

"Are you Ecliptica?"
"Hey man, yeah, that's me"
"Wow, you look way taller online"

[TheBigJankowski]

Number of sets seen: approx. 34 total. Alestorm (2), Grave Digger (1), Tristania (.5), Moonsorrow (2), Cannibal Corpse (1), Nightwish (1.5), Candlemass (2), Eluveitie (2), Orphaned Land (1), Suffocation (1), Athiest (1), Amorphis (2), Therion (2), Children of Bodom (1), Venom (2), Pestilence (1), My Dying Bride (2), Dark Funeral (1), Tankard (1), Massacre (1), God Dethroned (1), Kataklysm (.5), Tankard (1), Virgin Steele (1), Coroner (1), In Extremo (.5), Edguy (1), Crowbar (1). Also caught Whiplash for a couple songs, not really counting that though.

Favorite Performance(s): Candlemass' first set, hands down. Their second set was great, too. Really enjoyed Moonsorrow's sets and My Dying Bride's sets as well. Orphaned Land's pool deck set was really good as well.

Least Favorite Performance(s): Virgin Steele. Just couldn't get into it at all.

Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): The people. From the moment I touched down in Miami, I was already meeting fellow forum people. Hell, even on the flight back, there were 4 of us on the same flight.

Number of Meet-And-Greets/Clinics Attended: 0, didn't get any autographs or photos with bands either. Not my thing, told the guy from Crowbar that I enjoyed their Spectrum Lounge set. He was wasted the entire trip.

Total Bill: $262. $145 of that was merch, $30 was the unlimited soda package. Though I spent around $800. George Town got a nice influx of cash from me.

Other Highlights: I thought the shoutout to Bier by Athiest was very cool.

Where Can We See Your Pictures/Videos: I only have a couple, didn't bring a camera, just had my phone. The waitress at Johnny Rockets put "horns up" signs in ketchup on our plates.

[Warphine]

I had the best time on this cruise! One of the best weeks of my life. Can't wait to do it again sometime in the future.

Number of sets seen: 26.5 sets; Alestorm (1x), Amorphis (.5x), Annihilator (2x), Atheist (1x), Candlemass (1x), Cannibal Corpse (1x), Children of Bodom (1.5x), Coroner (1x), Dark Funeral (1x), Diamond Plate (1x), Eluveitie (.5x), Exciter (1x), God Dethroned (2x), Kamelot (2 half sets), Kataklysm (1.5x), Massacre (1x), Moonsorrow (1x), Overkill (1x), Riot (1x), Samael (1x), Tankard (1x), Venom (1.5x), Vicious Rumors (1x), Whiplash (1x)

Favorite Performance(s): God Dethroned's final set ever. It was the last set of the entire cruise and it was so full of raw emotion and heart it was unbelievable to watch. It was an honor and a privledge to be there.

Least Favorite Performance(s): Dark Funeral in the Spectrum Lounge because it sounded like a muddy mess. I overslept and missed them on the Pool Deck and that would have been the better show to go see. :(

Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): Frank Mullen from Suffocation doing karaoke completely wasted and falling on his ass. Don't worry Ecliptica I got it on video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXvGodNnKKs&hd=1.

Total Bill: Well for the on the cruise expenses it was about $530 (155 for merch and the rest for liquor and photos). Total on the trip I spent over 3000 easily between transportation, tickets, hotel, boarding for my two dogs, etc.

Other Highlights: Meeting lots of forum members. Hearing all the old people on Grand Cayman asking why there were so many people wearing black shirts. Finding Monster Energy for sale in a shop on Grand Cayman. Talking to Steffan of Kataklysm (nicest fucking guy ever). Seeing both God Dethroned sets. Watching bands on the Pool Deck with my feet in the water. All the drunken conversations I had with people from all over the world. Meeting an awesome guy named Joe who has a medical marijuana grow op in Denver (thx buddy! :). Staying up and watching the sunrise Thursday morning from the back of the cruise ship. Jeff Waters was standing with his lady friend ten feet to my right, and ten feet to my left one of the guitar players for Suffocation. Seeing one Riot set and a Moonsorrow set which totally blew me away. Instant fan. Candlemass's first set was incredible as well. Meeting Andy and thanking him for starting this whole adventure.

Where Can We See Your Pictures/Videos: See below for videos:

God Dethroned - No Man's Land (Kevin P will like this, his stroopwafel makes a cameo appearance!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6SrCSnWZFg&hd=1

Cannibal Corpse - Death Walking Terror
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khwaeXyCo6o&hd=1

Massacre - Defeat Remains
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRej3E44cjA&hd=1

Overkill - Bring Me The Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvSpFVEkW7s&hd=1

Candlemass - Anybody know the song title?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fbFAXBloAQ&hd=1

Annihilator - Like Father Like Gun and King of the Kill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPzYejRjZIU&hd=1

Annihilator - Set The World On Fire and Welcome To Your Death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSm3Z_SHIjk&hd=1

Tankard - Alien and Maniac Forces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0gFDa06vKQ&hd=1

Jeff Waters and Dave Padden of Annihilator jamming ACDC's 'Highway to Hell'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGrn_FIZ-qQ&hd=1

Frank Mullen Karaoke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXvGodNnKKs&hd=1

[Ecliptica]

Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): Frank Mullen from Suffocation doing karaoke completely wasted and falling on his ass. Don't worry Ecliptica I got it on video... uploading now actually.

Thank you so much. I've been just going around saying: "BRRRRRRRRRRPAPOP!" non-stop since.

[scyll]

That cruise was so fucking epic, I had the best week of my life! I met so many nice people, saw so many great shows, it's just an unbelievable way to start the year. My girlfriend and I already decided to go next year (if there is another 70K, I'm a bit worried that BtH will diluate the quality of the lineup), since we had so much fun.

So...

Number of sets seen: 26. Alestorm x 2, Amorphis x 1, Annihilator x 1, Cannibal Corpse x 1, CoB x 1, Coroner x 1, Edguy x 1, Eluveitie x 1, Exicter x 1, God Dethroned x 1, Grave Digger x 2, Hammerfall x 1, In Extremo x 1, Kamelot x 2, Kataklysm x 1, Nightwish x 2, Orphaned Land x 1, Overkill x 1, Stratovarius x 2, Therion x 1, Venom

Favorite Performance(s): If I have to make a top 5, I guess it would be: 1) Nightwish - Both sets: for two absolutely amazing shows. Anette has REALLY improved, the setlist was epic, and Marco was so nice to everyone during the cruise, so they grab the top spot easily for those reasons. 2) Amorphis - Chorus Line: WOW!! I had read Amorphis were slightly boring in show, WTF?! It was an epic performance and I loved every second of it. Loooooots of people were at that show, by the way, I think it's the show the Chorus Line show where I saw the most people. 3) Orphaned Land - Pool Deck: Didn't know them much, but I was blown away by their performance. Absolutely top notch. 4) Kataklysm - Spectrum: Guys from my hometown, and Quebec never disappoints! I had heard they were da bomb during their shows, and they delivered. Bad for the neck, great for the ears! 5) Alestorm - Pool Deck: So many people were there, enjoying Alestorm and also waiting for that epic Belly Flop contest, great atmosphere, and the singer, while always drunk, is a great frontman.

Well that's a top 5, but there were so many great shows, seriously, I really didn't expect that much good music. At most shows, I was like " Wow, this sounds damn good", even if I didn't initially like the band (thinking about CC and Annihilator, among others).

Least Favorite Performance(s): There were two actually. Edguy really disappointed me. Tobias' voice is so annoying during the shows that I left after 5 or 6 songs. Way too many new songs in their setlist, too. Overall disapointment. The other performance I not only disliked, but even HATED was the first CoB show. Man, Alexi Laiho is such a prick on stage, spitting everywhere, puking backstage and leaving the stage as an unclassy asshole at the end of the show because they were kicked out due to the time limit. On a side note, my sister got this GREAT video of him singing Stayin' Alive in his gangsta clothes at the karaoke, for those who missed that! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzRAE9Mry90&feature=share

Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): Belly Flop! The friendly atmosphere and Rab's victory made it an unforgetable moment.

Number of Meet-And-Greets/Clinics Attended: 0 They're not really my thing, and there were way too many people at the meets anyway. Got a great pic with my girlfriend and Marco, though!

Total Bill: Very, very surprisingly: 158.33$ And I feel like like the alcohol I drank will remain in my blood for the next three months, so I guess I'm lucky to have such a cheap bill!

Other Highlights: The cruise was a highlight as a whole. Karaokes were great. We met a couple from St-Louis at the restaurant and chatted for more than 30 minutes about each other, they were so nice. Seeing the 2 or 3 same girls hitting on so many guys (mostly from the bands) in 4 days was funny. They were cute, but damn, I was surprised to see metal girls being such sex-hungry groupies. We also met new friends from Montreal that we'll certainly meet again. All the good time spent near the pool, just listening to the shows without even watching, eyes closed, getting some sun. Special mention to all the artists who spent time with the crowd, many of them were so accessible, really nice to see that. And props to all of you metalheads that made this cruise a fantastic moment!

Where Can We See Your Pictures/Videos: Soon, soon!

[kjaxin]

Props to the promoters for making the running order work for this fan (minus not having Amorphis on the pool deck). Even with the adjustments I saw what I wanted to see and then some without conflict.

20 or so sets. 2 AMORPHIS, 2 Samael, 2 MDB, 1.5 Therion, 1.5 Venom, 1.5 Cannibal, 1.5 Suffocation, 1.75 Moonsorrow, .5 Coroner, .5 Nightwish, .75 God Dethroned, 1 In Extremo, .5 COB, .75 Crowbar, .5 Stratovarius, .75 Dark Funeral, 1 Candlemass, 1 Atheist, 1 Massacre, .5 Pestilence, .75 Exciter, 1 Hammerfall, 2 Orphaned Land ...


To the dude before that said he has seen Amorphis several times and they are "boring", you sir are full of shit. ( I believe in your avatar you were wearing a Meshuggah shirt, Meshuggah sucks by the way) ... I have now seen them 3 times and thoroughly enjoyed every one. My opinion may be biased but it seems as though the people I was around seem to be quite entertained. I can be honest, If their set list only had material post Tuonela it might have been boring. With exception to the song Towards and Against!!!

Anyhow beyond my obvious favorite, MDB - great sets! if they weren't so obscure and depressing I would probably listen to them more @ home, Dark Funeral - so indiscernible on stage I walked away, Therion - played a bunch of my favorites being drunk on the second set helped, God Dethroned - not too memorable, Moonsorrow - fun bunch of young guys first set sounded better, Venom - first set sucked but the second rocked cuz I was a bit smashed, Stratovarius - walked in and wondered why, COB - gave them a shot (Great guitars but not for me), Samael - old favorites could have been better, Crowbar - no thanks, Nightwish - for the life of me I tried parts of both sets but do not see what makes them so great (Therion is better), In Extremo - I was surprised and fucked up a bit (fun set on deck!), Hammerfall - was another surprise in the lounge (again I was a bit mashed), Coroner - see next -> Orphaned Land made my wife's panties wet so I had to miss part of Therion for meet and greet and Coroner for their second set.

Met several cool people but me and the wife pretty much kept to ourselves. The Suffocation guys were all over the place their second set in the Spectrum was the best opportunity for pit time so I took it. We actually had it going in a circle must not have been too many dip shit metallica and slayer fans there (push and shove = no fun) the cow dude and gumby were also there.

Frank Mullen made me leave karaoke so did the dude from Crowbar. (I have preemptive reservations for karaoke)

Low moments, If any, waiting to get on and off the ship and lines for shirts and the lack of merch. Apparently RC wants a % of shit sold so its not worth it for some/most of the bands? Didn't bother to get off the boat because the other ships in port. One tourist trap is as good as another. Grand Cayman don't need any of my money.

[DrinkMoxie]

I never said Amorphis are boring... I said they are soporific. They DO NOT mean the same thing. I was never bored any of the times they put me to sleep. They play very well.
And your jab at Meshuggah makes you sound fairly ignorant. You can not like them to your heart's content, yet they're still far more talented than you have the ability to deny. I, too, do not enjoy their last few full lengths, but that doesn't make those releases suck. The technical proficiency is staggering despite my disinterest.

So... 1. get a dictionary before you accuse people of saying things they didn't say. 2. Learn the proper way to state opinions subjectively if you cannot be objective. 3. Have a nice day.

[doomguy]

3. Have a nice day.

Nice way to close :-)

[cowboy71]

STATSMAN'S STATS:

Number of sets I saw all or most of: 26 - Bands seen twice (Nightwish, Eluvietie, Stratovarius, Therion, Tristania, Alestorm, Kamelot, Hammerfall, Amorphis, Edguy, My Dying Bride), Bands seen once (Annihilator, Orphaned Land, Grave Digger, Tankard)
Favourites: Nightwish (Anette sang to ME. *dies*), Therion, MDB
Least Fave: None really - Grave Digger didn't really do it for me though
Meet and greets: 3 - Kamelot, Nightwish, Stratovarius. Anette recognising me from being front-and-centre for the previous evening's show was so nice.
Guitar picks: 4 - Annihilator x 2, Kamelot, Edguy
Set lists: 1 - Annihilator (gave it away though)
Lyric sheets: 1 - Nightwish for Over The Hills
Photos taken: 684
Videos taken: 57 (mostly full songs - at least one full song from every set I attended)
Photos with band peeps: not sure - Nightwish, MDB, Snowy Shaw, Edguy, a few others.

Fave non-music: meeting forum peoples - special thanks to Laura for the chat as we lined up for our cab after the cruise!

Fave random encounter: guitarist from My Dying Bride walking up to Helena, Alicia and I and the first thing he says is ...."raaaaaaaaaaah". The ensuing conversation was epic!!

Fave musician: Troy, the instrumentalist for Nightwish. AWESOME guy! Spoke for ages each time we met on any number of topics.

Lowlights:
Spectrum sucked. Scheduling a relatively well known band (Alestorm) there for the first set of the cruise was stupid.
Line for merch sucked. How hard would it have been for them to take a photo of it when it was setup, then post it around the ship?
Some stupid scheduling decisions - Tristania twice in the Spectrum, Therion twice on pooldeck (if any band was suited to the chorus line it was them!!)
Our room attendant on 8 sucked - never around, didn't give us half the stuff he was supposed to.
Person/People recording on their ipads. Seriously, fucking annoying and I'm guessing it will sound shithouse so what's the point?

[kjaxin]

Some of you people need to listen to the entire Elegy album from Amorphis and re-do your lists. I know that was some time ago but most of these bands are well past thier prime.

I used to like them more until I saw them live a few times and put me to sleep each time (their cds never did that)... live performance has a HUGE effect on my opinion (there are some bands I used to LOVE and then seeing them live a couple times made me absolutely hate them)

This was the exact exchange I was referring to....
I don't need big words here.. I did misquote you "sleep" was the word. Which by definition should qualify as boring in my apparently distorted opinion. As for technical merit, Meshuggah can have a thousand points for technical merit right up there with all the other groups that sound like them or they sound like (whatever). Maybe "sucks" is too harsh a word for you so I will retract it and say; despite their technical prowess and accolades, I find their material mediocre in a far too watered down sub-genre of metal.

[Castroh]

Favorite Performance(s): God Dethroned's final set ever. It was the last set of the entire cruise and it was so full of raw emotion and heart it was unbelievable to watch. It was an honor and a privledge to be there.

I can't believe I forgot to mention this, that was by far one of the best moments of the cruise!!!

[KDibildeaux]

I will post properly in this thread once my brain starts working again

[cowboy71]

I will post properly in this thread once my brain starts working again

So we're gonna be waiting weeks, months,...years maybe?

[mooyagi]

I will post properly in this thread once my brain starts working again

So we're gonna be waiting weeks, months,...years maybe?

Considering it hasn't start working properly up to this point in her life, I'd say she'll get you that post done SOON!

Though I'm the same as her. Just don't have the mental capacity to do a proper recap yet

[KDibildeaux]

I will post properly in this thread once my brain starts working again

So we're gonna be waiting weeks, months,...years maybe?

knew someone would jump on that but figured it'd be mooyagi. Kudos for beating him to it! btw, it was great meeting you!

I will post properly in this thread once my brain starts working again

So we're gonna be waiting weeks, months,...years maybe?

Considering it hasn't start working properly up to this point in her life, I'd say she'll get you that post done SOON!

Though I'm the same as her. Just don't have the mental capacity to do a proper recap yet

Or ever

[mooyagi]

I will post properly in this thread once my brain starts working again

So we're gonna be waiting weeks, months,...years maybe?

knew someone would jump on that but figured I'd be mooyagi. Kudos for beating him to it! btw, it was great meeting you!

You figure'd you'd be me? Your brain really isn't working

[KDibildeaux]

So we're gonna be waiting weeks, months,...years maybe?

knew someone would jump on that but figured it'd be mooyagi. Kudos for beating him to it! btw, it was great meeting you!

You figure'd you'd be me? Your brain really isn't working

Oops

[sageoftruth]

Lessee... Most of my hilights consisted of either learning of a new group I really liked, or seeing a group I already liked a lot. Annihilator and In Extremo had me very pleasantly surprised. Alestorm and Hammerfall proved to be tons of fun, as expected, especially for a power weenie like me.

My biggest disappointment was the second performance by Eluveitie. It actually had nothing to do with their performance. It was just the sound. I could only hear the drums and the death vocals where I was standing. The funniest part was, as I was leaving in disappointment, I was walking out, when I stepped in just the right spot and all the sounds could be heard again. Unfortunately, they were already on their last song. Disappointing.

My hillights also consisted of all the times I met all of you forumites in person for the first time, whereas my lowlights were the times when I couldn't find anyone. I'm pretty shy and have trouble meeting a group when I don't know anyone in it.

[Warphine]

Favorite Moment (Non-Performance): Frank Mullen from Suffocation doing karaoke completely wasted and falling on his ass. Don't worry Ecliptica I got it on video... uploading now actually.

Thank you so much. I've been just going around saying: "BRRRRRRRRRRPAPOP!" non-stop since.

LOL nice! Here ya go:

Frank Mullen Karaoke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXvGodNnKKs&hd=1

I also updated my original post with all the links to the live videos I filmed. Check 'em out everybody!

[vikingbitch]

As far people, there was this energetic as fuck mosh dude that was also AT ALOT of shows. Short blonde curly hair. I personally think he was injecting himself with HGH in his downtime cause his energy was unparallel.

I'm fairly certain that is Eric you are talking about. He actually lives in Calgary too (we went to same college/concerts and have a lot of similar friends but hadn't met before) and had met him as well as a bunch of his friends when they came to my rescue on the Monday night and those guys were a BLAST to hang out with and why I was so completely bombed on the Monday night (for those that remember me apparently stumbling into the Edguy show that I don't really remember ).

Albertan metal heads FTW. Really curious the percentage of cruisers that came from Alberta because I swear I MET more Albertans than Germans this time around.

I'll do a proper review tomorrow. Brain not working well enough yet to properly compose the right sentences to do the past week justice.

[KDibildeaux]

Saw Dibildox or however you spell it at Orphaned Land with some dude who was either her bf or another forum member.

You should have said hi! and that forumite would be mooyagi

[Disaster Area]

Screw that douchebag recording sets and taking pictures with the ipad as well, I dont mind seeing a swarm of 4" phones but using a tablet is just a dick move.

I concur like mad, complete d-baggery

[cowboy71]

...now Juuno will forever despise Nightwish (even more) because they disclosed that Wed night pool deck MDB had to cut Crown of Sympathy (fucking brilliant song) from their set because Nightwish played over sked. I've always thought Nightwish are awful, but hanging with Hamish & Lena softened the blow for me. Juuno's still MF-ing NW, though, lol, Hell hath no fury, and all.

Nightwish are massive massive MDB fans so I'm sure they would have been as upset as you and your friend by that. We were watching Tuomas an and the others rock out to MDB on the pooldeck :)

[Ogre]

Nightwish are massive massive MDB fans so I'm sure they would have been as upset as you and your friend by that. We were watching Tuomas an and the others rock out to MDB on the pooldeck :)

I mentioned this to Juuno and she said, reluctantly, while wrinkling her nose a little bit, "Hmm, maybe I hate them a little less (holding her fingers less than an inch apart). I still don't like them, but I won't set them on fire, now."

[cowboy71]

Thats good to know :)

Funny little story about Nightwish and MDB. I was standing at the top of the stairs near the poolstage with Alicia and Helena, and this very metal looking guy with black hair comes up to us and goes .... "raaaaaaaaaaaaah".

He was hoarse as (from "either a very bad night or a very good night"). We chatted for a bit and he asked if he could see a running order as his band had finished for the cruise. Alicia asked who he was from and he said My Dying Bride (it was the guitarist Hamish):P

We chatted about how we were watching Tuomas watch them and he then went on to tell us a story about how someone had come up to him earlier in the casino and asked "are you from Nightwish?" ... "ummm, no." "Are you sure you don't play keyboards for Nightwish??" "Umm, I should know".

Hamish then told Tuomas about it later and said 'dude, I don't know how you've been looking in photos lately but you must be looking fatter, uglier, and with decidely less makeup on because someone thought I was you!"

It was one of *THE* moments of the cruise for me.