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| Sami, Robyn & Me Psychedelic 60s Dance Party! |
I don't know if you're a nostalgic person, but the older I get, the more enjoyment I find living in the past! Oddly, I've come to realize that I'm much more of a "hippie" now than I was in the 1960s. I guess that's not terribly surprising since I was only 12-14 years old in the days of Flower Power and the "love generation." Lucky for my parents, I guess. So, you might be wondering how I came to this realization... Well it began in March, 2022 when I found out that there was such a thing as a Flower Power cruise and invited two of my closest friends (Lanie, friends since we were 12 and Robyn, since we became sorority sisters when we were 18) to join me for the adventure!
In no time at all, we were booked and paid for a concierge cabin on the Celebrity Summit, leaving Miami on Thursday, March 23 and returning on Thursday, March 29th, 2023! There was much to do in that year, especially since all three of us had been losing weight and needed new clothes, soooo, might as well include suitable clothes and accessories for the cruise in our new wardrobes!
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| "Groovy" accessories for the cruise |
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| "Peace" earrings made by my daughter-in-law from her Etsy shop |
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| Authentic "Peace" pendant made from the fence that surrounded Woodstock; a great birthday present from a dear friend! |
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| The embroidered jeans I ordered didn't arrive in time, so I made my own! |
We were part of a Flower Power Cruise Chat on Facebook and learned that there was a door decorating contest, so I enlisted the creative talents of my daughter, Brooks, to create our door decoration. She went above and beyond, creating a door-size, light up lava lamp with our names in the bubbles!
Sadly, a few months before the cruise, Lanie learned she wasn't going to be able to go and the ticket was non-refundable! What do you do when that happens? You transfer the ticket to someone who CAN go, and before we knew it, my daughter, Sami was getting ready for a cruise with two old ladies! Fortunately, my kids were all raised on "the oldies" and even though Sami couldn't tell you who sang what, she was familiar with a high percentage of the music!
As we began to look for airline tickets to Miami, I thought it might be a great time to get to visit my oldest brother in Fort Lauderdale. He and his wife were happy to arrange our transportation from the airport and to the cruise ship.
March 20, 2023 wasn't a terribly exciting day, but it WAS the beginning of our adventure! I headed over to St Joseph, IL to meet Robyn and we drove on to Indianapolis to spend the night to take a hotel shuttle to the airport the next morning!
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| On our Holiday Inn Express Shuttle to the Indianapolis Airport |
Tuesday, March 21st found us awake early and excited to begin our adventure!
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| At our gate in Indianapolis! |
We flew from Indianapolis to Atlanta, where we had a short layover
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| At the gate in Atlanta for our layover; It's getting real now!!! |
and then on to Fort Lauderdale where Randi, my brother Bill's wife, met us at the airport.
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| Showing off our negative Covid results! Whew! |
With that bit of trauma behind us, I gave Sami the embroidered jeans I had ordered online that were too small for me...
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| Step 1 to becoming "hippified!" |
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The next day, March 22, we spent the day with Bill, Randi & Noel (their adorable fur baby) We had a delightful brunch on the beach in the midst of Spring Break for all the college kids!
Spring break and all the kids didn't affect us much, except for traffic patterns and giving me a burning desire to rewatch the old movie, "Where the Boys Are!" We spent the rest of the day just catching up and reminiscing with Bill, giving Sami an opportunity to get to know her uncle (and Noel) better!
Flower Power Cruise: Day 1
Before we knew it, Thursday March 23rd had arrived and we were ready to head to Miami to board our chartered cruise ship, the Celebrity Summit. Bill had arranged for a driver to take us to the pier.
Considering our driver told us pretty much all he does is drive people to the piers or to the airports, we felt pretty confident as we drove to Miami. After a few wrong turns and circling around the dock a few times, we began to worry we were going to be late for our scheduled time to board the ship! We finally found it though and were treated to VIP boarding, going ahead of the lines, thanks to our "concierge" booking... even though the luggage handlers asked if we had brought enough luggage! Don't most people have two suitcases and a "personal" bag for a week at sea?!?!?
As we boarded the ship we immediately began to see signs that we had left the 21st Century behind us and were revisiting the days of Peace and Love.
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| Lava Lamps EVERYWHERE!!! |
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| Standing in line to spin the wheel for Flower Power Prizes! |
After locating our cabin, we didn't have luggage to unpack yet, so we headed out to explore the ship!
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| The stage on the Pool Deck, my personal favorite place to be. |
We got our collectible pins from Tony Cimorelli (from the Facebook Cruise chat) and spun the wheel to win prizes! Robyn got these adorable cruise earrings and I got... American flag "sunglasses?" (Being modeled by Sami!)
Let the party begin with "Midnight Confessions!"
Now, I want to add an aside here about some of the comments I heard from some of the passengers during the cruise. The comments were usually prefaced with "I'm a musician..." The truth here is that 1) NO live performance ever sounds like the recorded version that became the "hit." 2) When you're in your 70s or 80s, YOU'RE not going to sound like you did in your 20s either! 3) Probably 95% of us on the cruise were there to experience the nostalgia of the music, remember a time when the music was happy and uplifting and have the absolute THRILL of casually meeting famous musicians that we never would have thought we'd have the opportunity to meet in this lifetime, let alone carry on a conversation or get an autograph! So, as you watch these videos, please forgive my skills as a videographer... (it's a phone, we're in a crowd, and, I'm groovin'...) and don't be critical of the entertainers. If they hurt your ears, don't listen. If you want to share our experience and be transported back to your youth, watch on cuz sooner or later, love is gonna getcha!
After the Poolside concert, we headed back to our room to take in our luggage and then made our way to the theater for the Mainstage Show at 6:30, the 5th Dimension!
We were quite impressed with Jim Peterik's rather outlandish outfit (especially his lime green socks!) and the original band members. I had never put it together before, but Jim told us about also being a founding member of the band Survivor and writing the theme song for Rocky III!
After the Welcome Back Party, we decided it was probably time to head back to our room to unpack and skip the Late Night Concert in the Sky Lounge, but in case you've lost track, that was already THREE CONCERTS on the first day and we didn't even BEGIN until 4:00!!!
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| Nightly gifts included an official cruise t-shirt and hat, lanyard, water bottle, beach bag, water-proof pouch (to hold a cellphone) and blue-tooth earbuds! |
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| Special perks of our Concierge Cabin |
Day 2 began with an 8:00 breakfast in the dining room and a selection of pastries and then we were off to the first event of the day: A Q&A session with some of the stars of "The British Invasion."
Surrounded by a sea of official blue & green tie-dyed cruise t-shirts the Q&A began with Peter Asher (Peter & Gordon), Jeremy Clyde (Chad & Jeremy), Tony Young (Gerry & the Pacemakers), Paul Jones (original lead singer of Manfred Mann) and Billy J Kramer (solo artist). My favorite memory of the interview was of Paul Jones talking about recording "Do Wah Diddy." He said that as a proper English bloke he had a horrible time trying to sing the line, "I knew we WAS falling in love..." He wondered who TALKS like that? It definitely wasn't "proper" English! I guess that story stands out to me because ever since 3rd grade when Tommy Dehnert sang that song to me in the lunch room, I've always HATED that line; just because of the improper grammar!
Sure, The Rain, the Park and Other Things is signature Cowsills, but you gotta give me a head with hair!
We grabbed some lunch from the buffet in the Oceanview Cafe and then back out for another Poolside Concert at 2:00 with Gerry's Pacemakers!
The Pacemakers finished up with probably their best known hit, "Ferry 'cross the Mersey"
and then just like "people, they rush everywhere," we rushed back to our room to don our bell-bottomed, embroidered jeans to prepare for The Bell Bottom Ball (aka Groovy Hippie Night)!
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| Us, poolside at the Bell Bottom Ball |
It had indeed been a "Beautiful Morning" and we'd been "Groovin'" all day long!
The three guys in the back are a group themselves, called "Bad A$$ Brass." They played backup for several of the bands on the cruise and were great entertainers.
From the Rascals it was back to the main dining room where our table from the previous night was set with a "Reserved" sign and after dinner, it was back up to the Pool Deck for the Bell Bottom Ball (Groovy Hippie Night) with Chicago's own Buckinghams at 11:00!
Two of the original band members are still performing: Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna.
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| Nick of The Buckinghams |
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| Carl of The Buckinghams |
Carl didn't mention it, but I seem to remember when that song first came out, the DJ playing it said that the song had been inspired by a Sunday night radio show on WLS in Chicago. It was an "all request" show and was called "Hey Baby, They're Playin' Our Song."
I had no idea that Chicago had produced so many great bands or the ties that they had to one another! It was the same with all of the bands/artists that were part of the British Invasion. They were all connected! Not only an entertaining cruise, but an educational one as well!
After the Bell Bottom Ball, Sami was pretty well done for the night and headed back to our cabin, but Robyn and I were still going strong, so we headed up to the Sky Lounge for the Late Night Concert with the Jukebox Beatles. After all, that night we got to turn our clocks back an hour; an extra hour to party!!!
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| The beautiful sign to welcome us all to Belize The rough waters while tendering from the ship to Belize! |
The winds were really strong and the ocean was really rough as we tendered from the ship to Belize City. They had several men on hand to help the passengers from the boat to the tender and again when we returned to the ship.
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| Strong winds blowing our hair aboard our tender; Sami was the smart one with her ponytail! |
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| In line to board our "train" to tour Belize City. |
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| You know those annoying phone calls we all get??? Most originate right here!!! |
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| Britain's Royal Family Residence (No one has been there for awhile!) |
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| "Granny, Mrs Drysdale & Ellie May" of The Beverly Hillbillies |
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| With Jeanne & Arne Day 7 Mainstage Concert |
The "TV, Movie, Rockstar Costume Party" that night was supposed to be the Grass Roots again, but the show was canceled due to the weather and the fact that it was too dangerous to have the entertainers on the outdoor stage. With the cancellation, combined with the fact that we had to turn our clocks forward an hour, we turned in a bit earlier that night. Well, we went to the cabin, but didn't necessarily go to sleep right away.
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| Approaching Cozumel |
They had been encouraging people to reserve their same cabin for the 2024 cruise all week and it had been announced that the deadline to do so was by 5:00 that day. I barely even began a discussion with Robyn about doing it before she said "Yes! Let's do it!" Turns out, we both had the same thought; none of these performers are getting any younger, too many healthy people have been dying unexpectedly, and if we wait for two years (which is what we had both been thinking we'd do), we might miss seeing some great entertainers in our lifetime. So, we trotted our little behinds to the Sales Desk, put down our deposits and reserved our same concierge cabin for 2024!
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| Sami & I enjoying the pool and exhibiting evidence of the sunburns we received on Day 1! |
I'm not gonna lie... the pool was a bit of a shock. 1) It was COLD! 2) It was OCEAN WATER! (Yeah, yeah... I know. "What did you expect Carol? Did you think they'd pump fresh water onto the ship when the ship is surrounded by OCEAN WATER 24/7?") 3) It was DEEP! As soon as I stepped off the bottom step onto the pool floor, I couldn't touch the bottom and have my whole head above water! Fortunately, I can swim, it was refreshing and I WAS ON A CRUISE with hundreds of great people, surrounded by memories and music!
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| Waiting for Peter in the Sky Lounge! |
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| There he is; as cute as ever... sigh... |
Every one of Peter's shows I've seen (and this was my fourth), has begun with "I'm Into Something Good." What a great attitude to set the tone with the audience! And then, the welcome from Peter himself.
Those moments spent in the audience, interacting directly with his fans, show his ability to find humor in all life has to offer and why, to me, he is a TRUE performer. He knows what his audience wants, what we're there for and he never fails to deliver. Every one of my kids has had the opportunity to attend at least one of his concerts with me over the years.
You always know the show is coming to an end when Herman pulls out the song that started it all for the Hermits and the audience ALWAYS participates enthusiastically! The show came to a close MUCH TOO SOON, we were off to dinner and then back to the Pool Deck for the Mod Night Party with The Cowsills at 11:00pm!
After that great welcome, it was time to FLY!
And then, my personal favorite, probably because it was a hit when I was enjoying my early years of summer at Lake Siskiwit in Wisconsin.
I love the fact that The Cowsills is still a family band. Even though they've lost Bill and Barry and John performs with other bands (most recently The Beach Boys), they've filled in with other family members. Paul's son plays guitar, Bob's son plays keyboard, Susan's husband plays the drums and a cousin also plays guitar. After a fun-filled day, it was back to our cabin to crash and rest up for a day at sea, but maybe we should watch a little TV?!
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| Check out the '60s movies that were available all week, along with the opportunity to watch live interviews or mainstage concerts in our cabin! |
After the matinee show with Peter, there was an opportunity to buy his book, get autographs and take pictures.
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| Peter didn't look too happy about the meet and greet; I think he was tired... |
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| He looked a little happier with Robyn; maybe cuz she bought his book. (I bought it on Amazon...) |
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| With Jeff Alan Ross |
A funny thing happened on the way to the mainstage show though... You see, Sami has these long legs and Robyn is very used to hustling her short, little legs to keep up with people and I was just a few months post-op from my knee replacement, so I was forever falling behind when we needed to get from one end of the ship to the other. I had told them to go on ahead and just save me a spot in line, and away they went.
- Me: You're a Cowsill, aren't you?
- Him: I am
- Me: Are you Bob?
- Him: I am
- Me: Is there any chance I could get an autograph?
- Him: There is
Before approaching Bob, I took a second to holler down the corridor at Robyn and Sami to come back; we had something more important to do!!! They came back with no idea what I was about until they finally made it back around the corner and found this:
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| Me with my new friend, Bob Cowsill! |
Needless to say, I was flying high as we headed for the Mainstage Show of the evening, a Beatles tribute band called The Fab Four. I could almost believe they were the real deal!
The show began just like the Beatles introduction to America with "Ed Sullivan!" (Ed was played by George, who had also done the Mick Jagger tribute)
They took us through The Beatles career, beginning with "She Loves You."
They advanced through a few of The Beatles early songs and then transitioned the music (and their costumes) into the days of Sgt Pepper.
Then the bloke who plays John provided a nice tribute to the musician...
and then did a great rendition of "Imagine."
They performed a few songs to showcase the individual careers of each of the Beatles as well as a few more of the group in their final years together, including one of my favorites: "Revolution"
I enjoyed their performance so much that before the show was over, I had decided that if I found out they were performing anywhere near home, I was going to go see them again. Lanie and I have tickets to see them in Dekalb, IL this fall!
As wonderful as the day had been so far, it wasn't over yet! We still had dinner and then the Dance Party on the Pool Deck. Dinner was becoming increasingly entertaining as each evening Sergio found some other way to provide exceptional service. We always knew our drinks of choice would be waiting for us and that we would always have "extra" of our favorite things; like 2 shrimp cocktails!
After dinner, it was up to the Pool Deck for the Psychedelic '60s Dance Party with the Family Stone. Some people might not enjoy getting up there early, but we found that if you got there plenty early, you'd get to hear the bands running through the set, tuning up, etc. Sometimes we heard the best banter and were best entertained in that time before the crowd began to arrive. When 11:00 arrived, the Family Stone was ready to get the party started!
After everyone was pumped up and dancing to the music, we were ready for some hot fun...
The Family Stone has one original band member who played with Sly, Jerry Martini (saxaphone) and the young woman up front is Phune Stone, the daughter of Sly and Cynthia Robinson, the original female trumpet player.
With the end of the Family Stone concert, we were all ready to call it a day and head back to the cabin for some rest!
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| Sami & I with Sergio |
I looked at Sami, knowing full well she was familiar with the song. She looked at me and said said, "That sounds like that Lollipop Song," just as the word Lollipop came out out of her mouth and we both started laughing. The winning team (of six people) got 31/32 correct! Sami and me? Not so good... we got a whopping 11!
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| Hal Bruce leading the '60s Sing-along |
Other times, maybe we just didn't know all the words...
I don't think you could pay me enough to do THAT job!!! It reminded me of that Twilight Zone episode where William Shatner was looking out the window of a plane and saw a creature on the wing! That show gave me nightmares for days!
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| I bought Sami this beaded, feathered headband just for this night, cuz she's always had hippie-perfect long, straight hair. Who knew she'd cut it right before the cruise?!?! |
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| Lanie would have loved to see this Mike lookalike! |
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| All excited for some Monkee Music! |
Peter Asher introduced Micky (and the Monkees) as the "resistance" to the British Invasion...
As the last remaining band member, Micky has turned his shows into an opportunity to salute all of the people who created the music that made the Monkees famous; artists like Carole King, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart and many others, but he also includes songs written by the guys themselves, especially Mike Nesmith.
Band member Peter Tork wasn't best known for writing music, but he did write the song that became the closing theme song for the show for their second season, "For Pete's Sake.
"Micky always draws his shows to a close with probably their biggest hit, another one by Neil Diamond; a song that taught us all to be believers!
Sami was pretty much done for the day and headed back to our cabin after dinner. She claimed she couldn't keep up with us "old people!" Of course, with only one more day to party, Robyn and I decided we'd head up to the "Return to Woodstock Party" to hear "Strange Days" and their tribute to the music of The Doors.
- Me: Are you a Cowsill?
- Him: I am
- Me: Are you Paul?
- Him: I am
- Me: Is there any way we could bother you for an autograph?
- Him: You can...
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| Sami & Robyn on the pool deck |
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| Waiting for the Q&A in the Sky Lounge |
And then all three groups explained their thoughts about performing on the Flower Power Cruise.
I came across John Klepacki in the Oceanview Cafe. I didn't have the posters with me to get an autograph, but I did have my phone!
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| John Klepacki and me |
Sami and I might have had a little trouble singing along with this Mamas & Papas classic:
But, "for what it's worth," we at least did better on the chorus with this Buffalo Springfield hit...
Sadly, by that time, we needed to be starting to pack up our cabin so we could put our luggage out in the hall right after dinner so they could pick it up for us to disembark as soon as we docked the next morning. So sad! It was a LOT more fun to unpack as we anticipated the week ahead of us, but now, we were packing up a lot of GREAT MEMORIES to last a lifetime! Despite the chaos, Robyn did manage to steal a few quiet moments out on our balcony one more time to elevate her swollen feet and little sausage toes.
There was an All Access Pass Live Interview with Micky Dolenz that afternoon at 5:00, but the doors would be opening for our evening concert at 6:00, so Robyn offered to sacrifice the Micky interview to ensure we would have good seats for the concert. As Sami and I were sitting in the Sky Lounge, waiting for the interview to begin, we got a text from Robyn telling us that she had just ridden in the elevator with MICKY! Say WHAT?!?!?
After the interview was over, Sami and I hustled down to the theater entrance to find Robyn and get the details of this elevator ride! Turns out, she was on the elevator alone on her way to the 4th floor, when the doors opened and in walked Micky. The doors closed, they were alone and she was kind of in shock! Finally she found her voice to tell Micky that she really enjoys his music and liked the show the night before. And he said... NOTHING! She was getting a bit peeved; thinking "What a jerk! He's not even going to respond," when suddenly he said, "I'm sorry. Did you say something?" Whether he couldn't hear or was just preoccupied, she cut him some slack and repeated herself. He thanked her and then the elevator doors opened... I asked if she had gotten his autograph. She said she hadn't because I had the posters. I asked her if she got a picture with him and she said no because there wasn't any time and she was in shock... so, zero evidence! Did it really happen? Or was she just trying to top my encounter with Bob?!?!
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| Excited for our FINAL concert of the week! |
Our Mainstage Show that evening was The Zombies. I had talked to a woman by the pool that afternoon who told me that we were in for a major treat. She had seen the Zombies the night before and claimed that it was by far the best concert of the week and that the lead singer's voice was still phenomenal.
Before the final concert began, Jason, our cruise director had a few final words for everyone; the main one... Mutiny!
Maybe the lady by the pool had built up my expectations too much about the Zombies. I enjoyed the concert and the songs I knew, but still preferred Herman's Hermits, Micky Dolenz, the Cowsills and others better than I enjoyed them. Still, now I can say I SAW THEM!
After telling her "no," we heard that "It's the time of the Season" for loving...
I didn't shoot a video of my favorite of their songs for the evening, even though they did play it, so I pulled it off of YouTube:
Many people began leaving The Zombies concert early. It seemed rather rude to me, and like I said it wasn't my favorite concert of the week, but I'm going to give the deserters the benefit of the doubt and assume they were all leaving to go back to their cabins to pack for the next day's disembarkation.
After we left the concert, we went for our final dinner with Sergio and our table companions, Jeanne & Arne. We had gotten to know them all pretty well and were sad to say goodbye, but it was a phenomenal dinner with all the extras; THREE shrimp cocktails that night!!!
With no late concert poolside, it was back to our cabin after dinner to pull together our final things so that we were ready to leave first thing in the morning.
Flower Power Cruise: Day 8- Disembarkation!
Another benefit to our Concierge Cabin is that we were allowed to wait in the lounge with coffee, juice and pastries while we waited for our group to be called for disembarking. Good thing, cuz my travel companions were WORN OUT!
Little did we know at the time though, that they weren't just tired; we were all taking home an extra souvenir that none of us wanted. All three of us, along with a lot of other people on the cruise, went home with Covid. In spite of the fact that we all had to be tested prior to the cruise, somehow, it found its way onto the ship and came home with us. Fortunately, my symptoms were mild and didn't manifest until after I was back home, so I was able to get treatment right away.
Bill had once again arranged for a driver to pick us up and take us back to his place. We visited for a short while and they took Robyn and I to the airport. Sami had a later flight, so she got to stay with Bill and Randi a little longer before they took her to the airport.
Robyn and I didn't get back into Indianapolis until late Thursday evening and still had to drive an hour and a half to her house in Illinois, so I spent another night in her guest room.
Then, one more breakfast together before jumping in my Jeep and heading back to the reality of home... for a few days...
All-in-all, it was a wonderful week. I'd been on three other cruises before this one, but never had the kind of experiences we had on the Flower Power Cruise. Yeah, it's a little pricier than other cruises but where else do you have the opportunity to see six concerts in one day, meet teen idols and heart-throbs from your youth, get pictures & autographs, dress in comfy clothes or swimming suits all day and cruise the Caribbean; all while knowing you can talk to everybody and there's always someone who can answer any question you might have?!?!?!
In closing, just one more video; the song that always brings to mind hippies, flower power, peace and love: Aquarius. Until next year, peace out!
