Dan was 2nd or 3rd row, Stu & myself, with our beloved partners, were so far back, we pretty much had to rely on the big screens to see any action. By now you have all seen the setlist of the unplugged show, so I won't bother listing all the songs played, but it was a great acoustic set, with plenty of humour, and the band were having so much fun up there. Initially, the set was only meant to last for 45 minutes before a Q&A session. The band had other ideas, they were enjoying themselves too much and wanted to carry on playing. This turned into one of the funniest things I have ever seen, as they clearly didn't know what they were going to try and play next, and when they did start playing it, they rarely got to the end of the first verse, let alone a whole song.

The Q&A session started late for obvious reasons. All questions had to be submitted at least a week before the Kruise set off, giving the band time to prepare their answers. This was pretty much a same old, same old scenario, so I left the session in seach of food. The only question I really remember was somebody asking Paul why he had the rose tattooed.
Before Paul could answer, Gene muttered away from his microphone "Because he's gay". Paul obviously heard what he said, and challenged him to say it into the microphones, but he wouldn't. Paul then told the story of there being a tattoo studio over the road from where they reheased in NYC, and it was the cheapest one available.

After food, it was time to hit the merchandise shop. I must admit, I was extremely dissapointed with the selection available. One Kiss Kruise Tshirt, one Kiss Navy, and a Kruise baseball jersey shirt. One cap, one event poster and a bottle opener/dog tag. Everything else was from the previous summer tour, and as we found out after we got back, everything was more expensive on the ship than it is now on Kissonline.

October 14th.
Whilst most people on the boat decided to hit the first island, Half Moon Cay, owned by the cruise company, a few decided to stay onboard. Apart from a beach, a bit of horse riding or paragliding, there was absolutely nothing to do there. We had brunch, then headed off towards the Lido deck to meet Stuart & Dan. As I was walking out of the dining area, I spotted Stuarts wife waving. I headed over to her, and could see her waving at Stu & Dan who were one deck above us trying to get her attention. What I didn't notice at the time, was why they were trying to get her attention. After a few seconds it hit me. They were with Paul Stanley, and were trying to get Mrs Bay to take a photo. Once I realised who it was, I casually strolled up the stairs, as I didn't want to arouse to much attention to those around, and asked Paul if I could get a photo taken with him. He was more than happy to oblige, so Stuart had the task of taking the picture for me. All I can remember was looking at him, and hoping the picture was going to come out OK, as his hands were shaking so much. He might be a scary looking man, but deep down Stu is a big softy and was obviously over emotional with the experience of meeting Paul up close in such a perfect surrounding. Once the photo was taken, Paul went back inside the ship, to escape the attention he was recieving. Both Stu & I walked back down the stairs with shaky legs, not quite believing what had just happened.
I honestly can't remember a great deal about the next few hours, as we just got chatting about what had just happened to us.
Our Kiss photo sessions started at 6.30, so four of us went down for dinner at six, before joining the queue of people who were scheduled for that time. Mr & Mrs Bay were not scheduled to have their photo taken until the Saturday, but we managed to get them into our session, with the plan of getting a picture of the four of us. This changed when we went in to the holding room. Another forum member was in there waiting to, Terry, aka sssikuk and his wife were also there. This was the perfect excuse for six brits to have their photos taken with Kiss at the same time.
The photo session was a bit chaotic. You were pushed into the area, given the quick chance to knock fists with the guys, pose for photo, then pushed back out again. I nearly knocked Tommy over on the way out, as I literally body checked him as I was being pushed out of the way. Still we were each given a nice souvenir plectrum on the way out.

Up to the Lido deck again for soft drinks and cigarettes, and then off to the first indoor show.
I was expecting a few rarities on the night, but not a whole setlist! You will know what tracks were played, so again, I won't bother listing them here, but to see the band so up close and personal was indeed a treat. For those of you who haven't seen the first show, it is up in it's entirity on youtube, check it out, awesome is the only word to describe it. After the show, it was time to meet up on the Lido deck for the UK debriefing session. Stu & Dan managed to get a few picks as they were front row, nothing came our way in the back of the hall.

October 15th.
The day started with a champange breakfast that comprised soley of champagne. Well, it was my birthday.
Another hot and humid day, the only difference was we were now in Nassau. There were plenty of rain clouds around, so it was going to rain at some point during the day. After meeting Stuart on deck for breakfast, we decided to get off the boat and have a look around the island. Not a lot to report here. The place was not the island paradise I had believed it was. I think all the nice places were further inland than we were. maybe we should have done an excursion. Still, there are plenty of shops. Fisrt stop was Hard Rock Cafe, where my better half purchased a few items to go with the ones she bought in Miami. I only bought a HRC cap. It seemed everywhere you went, you were plagued by street traders trying to sell you there wares. After an hour on shore, we decied it was much nicer on the ship, so off we went again. Later on the Lido deck, Dan, Stu and myself started chatting about the next show. I said to Dan that I thought the whole setlist would be different from the previous night, and I really had it in my head they would start with "I Stole Your Love". I think everyone else thought it was going to be the same as it was the night before.

Off to the show. Got the seats on the front row of the balcony (Kiss Army membership did pay off with the presales here). First song, "I Stole Your Love". I was in heaven!! The setlist then returned to the same as the previous night, with the exception of Detroit Rock City being ad-libbed prior to Rock n Roll All Nite. Best show out of the two for me. I returned to the Lido deck a very happy man.
Dan arrived shortly afterwards and told me he spent most of the first song watching me rock out to ISYL instead of watching the band!!

Three days, three shows that I don't think can be equalled again easily.

October 16th.
Day at Sea. There were plenty of things to do aboard the ship, but I just wanted to chill out and take it easy. I had had a great time on the previous days, so just wanted to sit there and think about all that had happened. Dan on the other hand had hardly slept on his trip. He had watched pretty much all of the other bands on board, been to the casino night with Eric Singer, played mini golf with Tommy Thayer, and drunk much JD with Tom Synders teddy Bear. I think Dan was looking forward to his trip back home, so he could grab some sleep on the plane ride home.
The afternoon was spent packing everything back into the suitcases, as we needed to be out of the cabins by 8am in the morning ready for debarkation. The evening was spent in the company of Mr & Mrs Bay, which for me is always a pleasure, having a lovely meal in one of the many restuarants on board this great ship.

October 17th.
Out of room by 8am and up onto Lido deck waiting for our zone munbers to be called out. When the time came, we all headed into the lifts, and promptly got lost again in the maze of corridors and lift shafts. Eventually, we found ourselves where we started, back in the terminal building for the Carnival Destiny, and reday to join another queue for US immigration services. Luckily for us this time, there were not too many non-US citizens, so the queue was pretty quick, unlike the following queue for taxi's.
We shared a cab back to Miami International with Dan, had a quick lunch, then headed off for our respective flights home. Stu still had another week to go on his holidays, and was off to collect a hire car and drive off to Universal Studios.

It is known that Kiss are in talks with the Sixthman company, and are eager to do a deal for another five cruises. All I can say is, I will be there for every damned one if I can, and I hope more of you will join us founder members of the Kiss Navy for more natical travels.

11 Bays out of 10.

 
Karl.