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Browncoat cruise... shiny and new

A great concept, at a wonderful time of the year... December first to 5th, 2007, the Browncoat cruise featuring Ron Glass (Book), Johnathan Woodward (Tracey), Nectrar Rose (Lenore the Lovebot), Michael Fineman (Niska) and the Bedlam Bards and Sonny Rhodes. Fiev days of sun and fun from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada. This was a big one for me. I had to get a passport sooner than I expected, but was proud to use it. The ride itself is smooth with a bit of rocking here and there. The food was great, especially at dinner. However, I made sure I controled my appetite, and held it back until dinner. Still, when you have a chance to have ice cream and pizza at midnight, filet mignion and baked Alaska, not to mention custom made omlets, you take it, and then burn the calories off by taking the stairs to your room or the next panel. Anyway, we all boarded just after noon, where lunch was being served at the Lido Deck (above right). Our rooms were open by one-30. I roomed with a guy named Kevin from upsatte New York. We were lucky to get an oceanview cabin in the Riviera deck, which was just above the gangway. It's quite comfortable, really. The TV channels were also interesting. We had three CNN channels, but ESPN was also accessible at the bars. Also, it was possible to see prime-time TV at six p-m rather than eight p-m because we got network TV from Denver. However, no one gave up dinner or the panels to see Heroes or even a very interesting Monday Night Football game that even got Ron's attention.

We finally set sail at about five p-m, with the sun slowly sinking into the horizon. The ship was decked out for Christmas, including a lounge pianist playing holoday songs with a nice hat. This, and other images are in my Flickr account. This is just the best of the best that I got

After an excellent opening night dinner, we got together at the Cole Porter Room where the guests were introduced. Now, I had some problems with the lighting inside, and "red eye". So while the pictures of Johnathan, the bards and Sonny are mine, I had to borrow some pictures from other guests for this site. I have their OK, and I'll link their pictures to you if you're reading this.

The small pictures of Michael, Nectar and Ron are from isegwdipt, which is the name of the Flickr account. Anyway, the guests sat with the crowd for a while before being introduced. To everyone, they still had to look a teach other to fathom what they accomplished:  an honest-to-goodness Browncoat Cruise. They then went into subejcts like "You might be a Browncoat if"....Some of the sugestsions included having a car named Zoe, or cursing in Chinese and getting tossed out of a restaurant for doing it, or telling anyone in a movie house if he won't turn off is cell phone, he'll go to a special Hell. Fairman was there with his talented wife and daughter. They were also popular on the boat. As you see, the Bards sang that song about Jayne, and another about Kaylee from the BBB. Afterwards, Sonny and the Bards jammed for some blues and good music. This was in a much smaller room, and it was standing room only, Even Johnathan and Nectar had to squeeze in for this, but it was worth it.

Naturally, Sonny sang the theme from Firefly, which he said did more for his career than any other song. Some of the other tunes were basic Texas blues. He also talked about his career at great length. He's been at it for more than 50 years, and says he always works a tbeing th ebest he can be. He's been literally everywhere from Boston to Switzerland. He also talked about how his songs are basic blues themes, and not too fancy. However, he says he's so good are barbecuing meat, pigs wished they were on his grill. The first half of the concert was with a basic electric guitar. His tunes included "Can't Find My Baby" and "Baby Please". Then he brought out the slide guitar, usually heard in country music. He and the Bards made incredible music together, this night and a couple of nights later. He also did "Since I Met You Baby", whcih was actually popular in the 1950's. The Bards also played a tune of their own, a variation of the Fruity Oaty Bars jingle that set off River in Serenity. The Bards added some lyrics that, well, were a bit dark and creepy...but still entertaining. It was a great start to a great cruise.

The top dog tag is what all guests got if they paid for the full ticket, including all events. The lower one was available to anyone. It's a dog tag Mal could have had while in service for the Independents. They had a similar one for Zoe.