On Tuesday, February 17th we climbed the gangway and embarked on a 4 day "blues cruise" that was like no other cruise that we had ever been on...the music started out before we left the dock. One of our favorites is pictured below. Robert Randolf and his Family Band.
The cruise was organized by J&R productions which is Joe Bonamassa and his manager Ray to highlight Joe's charity which is called Keeping the Blues Alive. Joe raises funds for music programs and instruments to keep kids playing the blues. Norwegian Cruise lines kicked in $25,000 for the charity. Joe is pictured below with us. We saw him perform 4 times while we were on board and were not disappointed. He was a very gracious host for all 2500 of us cruisers. It was an awesome opportunity to rub shoulders and meet some of the most talented individuals currently playing the blues. They were patient, funny and couldn't have been nicer to everyone!
Below, is blues harp player Brandon Santini. Incredibly nice young man and talented harp player. He was one of the new talents on board and was a crowd favorite. There were so many fantastic groups on this cruise. John Hiatt was amazing as well as Robben Ford, Kirk Fletcher, Josh Smith, JD Simo and two of the hottest female blues guitar players I have ever seen Ana Popovic and Joanne Shaw Taylor. Check out Youtube for videos taken by our fellow cruisers that highlight all the talent and incredible music we experienced while on this cruise.
Below is Bernie Marsden, one of the iconic British guitar players and for all you Whitesnake fans the original guitar player and song writer extraordinaire. He has written some of my favorite songs. He is an incredibly nice guy, whose grin reminds me of a garden gnome.
Close up of Bernie Marsden below. I wish we had taken more pictures, but in some ways it was overwhelming. I am happy that many of the other cruisers have provided us with thousands of pictures taken on this cruise.
Below is me, a break in the action and a wonderful dinner on board ship. The food was fantastic and the service was wonderful.
A toast from Martin to the fantastic music and wonderful new friends we made on this cruise. We heard on Friday night that Joe Bonamassa is willing to do it again next year in February of 2016!
This is just the music portion, follow the next posts for our stops in Key West and Nassau Bahamas.....
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