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Cruise Recap Cont’d – Day Two

Posted on February 7, 2016 by under Travel, Zumba.    

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There were approximately 90 masterclasses offered on day two, our first whole day at sea. Because I’m crazy about Steve, I registered for his classes two days in a row. Even though I’d just dance with him the night before, my first class on Tuesday was with a joint masterclass by Kass Martin and Steve Boedt at 8:00 AM, followed by a masterclass by Zumba creator/legend Beto Perez at 9:30 AM.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind doing Zumba with Steve everyday but I did want to check out some other classes too. After I got my two classes with him out of the way, the rest of the week had more variety as you’ll see.

It was rough getting up at six o’clock that morning, specially when we stayed up past midnight the night before, but Tuesday was a big day for me and I wasn’t going to miss either of these high profile classes. I was also secretly hoping that not many people would be apt to get up for an 8 AM workout after partying all night so the class would be a lot less crowded than the 6 PM class the previous night.

The verdict? There were surprisingly a lot of people. I’m thinking some people didn’t bother going to bed. The pit in front of the stage was really packed but at least there was a little bit more space than the previous night. You could actually use some arm movements and only occasionally hit your neighbors. LOL.

I don’t have any pictures because I didn’t bring my phone for fear that I might lose it in the crowd. I was really disappointed because I got there early enough that I was just a few rows from the front. I would have gotten some really great shots of Steve and Kass. It worked out though because I didn’t have to stop dancing to take photos.

Here are a couple of videos that Brian took before heading back to the room.

It was an amazing class. I’m glad I got up for it. I almost didn’t because we were up so late the night before. I was so out of it that I jacked up our breakfast room service order. I thought that I asked for it to be delivered at 6:30 AM. By 7:00 we were wondering what was going on so we decided to call the number. They told us that we didn’t specify a time so they weren’t sure when to prepare and deliver and breakfast. Apparently I marked everything that we wanted except for the time! Oops!

I think Brian would have liked to have just stayed in bed but he ended up getting up with me and grabbing a quick bite at the breakfast buffet before walking me to my class. I’m glad he did because at least he got a couple of videos. I was hoping that he would return and take a few videos of Beto’s class but he walked back to the room and promptly went back sleep. I couldn’t blame him though, we had a late night.

Beto’s class was also at the main pool deck. I had heard some grumblings about this actually. This area apparently is the biggest and best pool area to hang out on the ship. Well, they covered the two rectangular pools to make dance floors and you couldn’t really use the hot tubs because they’re in the middle of it all.

The main pool is really the only area that can hold hundreds of people at once so it’s where all of the high profile classes were held. It was pretty much shut down all day until late at night when they played movies. There was no sunbathing (or napping) happening at the main pool deck that week.

Steve and Kass are huge celebrities in the Zumba world so my 8 AM class was there. Beto, of course, is the man, so his class was at the main pool deck as well. After the first masterclass ended, they asked everyone to clear out of the area.

“This is where my next session is. Can’t I just stay?” I asked someone.

“No. Everyone has to clear the area and get in line to enter.” Holy crap! By this time everyone was already up and this is Beto that we’re talking about. There were a few designated places to enter but all of the lines were really long already.

“But I’m already here. If I get in line, I’m going to be clear at the back.”

“That’s what we are telling EVERYONE. Sorry.” Whatever. There was no point arguing my case. I obediently exited and got in one of the really, really long lines.

By the time I got in, the main pit was already filled. There was no way that I would be able to see the stage from clear in the back. I ended up finding a vacant spot in one of the upper decks, outside the class area. Yes. Even though I had a sticker and I was legitimately signed up for the class, I was relegated to the observer area beyond the ropes. Stickers are quite pointless unless you’re at the front of the line and can get a good front row spot. For short people, anyway. The tall people probably don’t mind being further back because they can still see.

I would have been bummed except I had a really good view of the stage from where I was and I didn’t have people crowding me so I could actually dance and let loose.

It was amazing how many people turned out for Beto’s masterclass. The main class area was completely packed and there were “observers” everywhere dancing with us. There were people looking down from the jogging track and dancing. There were people from the upper decks. It was quite a sight to behold. I almost wondered if we would sink the ship because right at the moment it seemed like all of the passengers were at the main pool deck jumping and dancing around. There were at least half a dozen other classes going on simultaneously but there were so many people that it really did seem like everyone on the ship was concentrated in the same spot.

Brian was in bed when I got back to our room. I told him he really should have come back for Beto’s class and gotten a video because it was amazing!

Anyway, I was starving after two very energetic back to back classes so after a quick shower we were off to the buffet. This is where we ran into Todd. It was nice to be able to sit and eat with them after they ditched us the previous night. LOL. As it turns out, they didn’t know how to check their room voicemail. I explained how to do it and stressed the importance of this method of communication. None of us had access to texts and Facebook so this was the only way to coordinate dinners and meet up in massive cruise ship filled with thousands of people.

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Oh, we did take a few photos on the way to lunch…

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Here’s me with the gorgeous Richard Gormley. I met him for the first time at the 2014 Zumba Conference in LA when I had Aqua Zumba training. He is so beautiful, inside and out! He greeted me like an old friend and was super nice.

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“Does he know you?” Brian asked me afterward.

“He meets hundreds of people all the time. I’m sure he has no idea who I am.”

“He acted like he did.”

“I think he does that to everyone to make them feel special.”

That’s just one of the many qualities to love about Richard. Besides being an amazing Zumba Education Specialist (ZES), he’s an all-around amazing person. I know it can get tiring when fans want a photo with you all the time but he takes it in stride and always greets everyone with kindness and warmth. He hasn’t let his celebrity status get to his head. What a beautiful person!

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After lunch, we hung out with Missy and Todd at the pool area.

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Gina Grant and Dahrio Wonder were teaching their Hip Hop Turn Up class at the main pool deck. There was a great turn out for that class as well.

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Here’s another class that had a great turnout.

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The Brutez taught a few classes throughout the week at the Royal Promenade, which is this area in the middle of the ship where they have shops and specialty restaurants. This is a picture from one of the classes. Yes, that is Hermann Melo in the foreground.

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Here’s a picture of me with ZES Donna Giffen. We were on our way to dinner and she had just come out of teaching a class.

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We took a few photos while waiting for the rest of our group.

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Here’s a cute one of Missy and Todd. As you’ll see with the rest of the recaps, they wore coordinating outfits to dinner every night.

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I was a little worried about “formal” night because, in an effort to pack light, Brian and I didn’t pack any “formal” wear. They did have a tuxedo rental shop on the ship but that really wouldn’t do any good considering there isn’t an evening gown rental as well. Anyway, Brian and I changed into nicer clothes to have dinner in the dining room the previous night but noticed that people were dining in coverups and workout gear so I figured they probably wouldn’t enforce the “formal” attire recommendation either.

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After my worry that we wouldn’t see these guys until we returned to Wichita, I was so relieved to be sitting at the dinner table with everyone.

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Here’s our group (from left): Todd, Miss, Brian, me, Glynda, Heather, and Rob.

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This is us waiting for the free booze at the meet and greet with the ship’s captain. No offense to the captain because we was a very nice, charming man but I think our group was more interested in the free alcoholic beverages than meeting him. Besides, Brian none of the rest of us purchase the unlimited booze ultimate drink package.

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Everyone thought it would be funny to put our champagne glasses in front of Brian. This pretty much sums up the whole trip for him, actually. Although he did do a bit of dancing (Missy posted a short clip of us dancing merengue at the pool deck on her Facebook), he did not take any of the Zumba classes I signed him up for at all.

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We went cheap on our room to save on costs but we did splurge on the drink package, which cost about $350 for the week, for Brian. I had to give him something to do on the ship since he wasn’t going to any Zumba classes. LOL.

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