We arrived in Miami on sunday october 28th at 8 PM, 1 day earlier as scheduled. We're so lucky that we could re-booked or flight otherwise we wouldn't have make it, because of the hurricane Sandy.
We checked in to the Holliday Inn, get a snack, spoke to some fans and than relaxed in our room. Early morning we went to the Bayside, find a store who sold Hello KISS Kitty stuff and bought some of it. Later that day we checked out the Port Of Miami.
After dinner we went to the pre-party in our hotel. We meet many friends there and we had a great evening.
On tuesday we went to Miami Beach, a nice place to relax for us with in mind what all was coming up for us. Later that evening we went to the pre-party at the Hard Rock Cafe, only if you were on the guestlist you could come in. The cafe was packed with 600 KISS fans, 2 tribute bands and we had another great night.
On wednesday it was finally time were we came for, the start of the KISS Kruise II. We arrived at the dock around 12 PM and after we checked in, went to our room (very nice) and check the whole place out. The boat is so big, unbelieveble. At 5 PM we had our savety check and right than we run over the stairs to the pooldeck were the KISS Unplugged Show was. We got our spot on the balcony so that we had a good view to the stage, we could see everything.
After a shotglass of Cabo it was time for KISS to hit the stage! It was great to see them unmasked and hear all the great songs, some of them they hadn't played for years like, Only You, A Million To One or Everytime I look At You! The band was in great spirit and they had a lot of fun. They played for 90 minutes or so and we loved every minute of it! This was the setlist:
Hard Luck Woman, Christine Sixteen, Got To Choose, Goin' Blind, Love Her All I Can, Nothin' To Lose, Take Me, Anyway You Want It, A Million To One (Partial) A World Without Heroes, Only You, Comin' Home, Everytime I Look At You, Strutter, Sure Know Something, C'Mon And Love Me, Rock Bottom, Beth, Shandi, She, Do You Love Me, Mr Speed & Shout It Out Loud
After the show it was time to get some food, we watch some of Skid Row and then we headed over to see the Halloween costume contest, hosted by Tommy Thayer. We had another great spot and could see everything. Tommy came on stage, put on his glasses and the contest began, suddenly Eric Singer came also to the stage and watch the contest. After a while Paul Stanley was there too! Was great to see them and they had a lot of fun during the contest.
After the contest was over every member walked by us and we could shake hands with them! Marina was so overwelmed that she finally was so close to Paul...
The next day we did our Wedding Vows Renewal, hosted by Steve from the KISS Wedding Chappel in Las Vegas. He did the whole ceromonie in KISS-style, that was so cool. We thought it was better than our original wedding, except that our daughter wasn't there, lol! After the ceremonie we got our documents, of course in KISS Kruise II style!
Later that day we have our indoor KISS Show and we thought wouldn't it be nice to go in make-up? So we did, before the show a facepainter maked us up as Gene & Paul!
At 8 PM it was time for our show, we headed over to the Stardust Theather, we had great seats and could see everything. Around 9 PM the fun started and KISS took over the place, they started with Psycho Circus and it was amazing to see the band in that kind of theather, so close, that we catch a lot of guitarpics! Again the band was in great shape and had fun to perform there. We had the idea that they didn't want to stop playing! They came back for 2 encores!
They played 5 songs of the new album Monster! That was so cool to hear these for the first time live!
There weren't any pyro's, bombs, blood spitting at all, only confetti during Rock And Roll All Night, But that didn't matter, we loved the show! This was the setlist: Psycho Circus, Shout It Out Loud, Hell Or Hallelujah, Wall Of Sound, Hotter Than Hell, All For The Love Of Rock & Roll, I Love It Loud, Out Of This World, War Machine, Long Way Down, Detroit Rock City, Calling Dr. Love, Love Gun, Black Diamond, Lick It Up, Christine Sixteen, Rock And Roll All Night, Cold Gin, Got To Choose, Nothin' To Lose & Deuce.
Enjoy watching our video of 4 songs during the KISS Kruise II...
On friday we had a stop in Cosumo, Mexico. We walked around, did some sightseeing and went back to the Norwegian Pearl. I tried my luck on the Gene Guitar Throwing Pick Contest, but sadly no points for me.
When we took the elevator, suddenly it went to floor 14 (the floor KISS was staying) and when the doors went open, Shannon Tweed stepped into the elevator! We said hello and shaked hands. Also later that day we saw Doc McGee and took some photo's with him.
Also you had the oppertunity to check out the Monster Book, so we did and it was cool to see this book and yes, it was heavy, lol.
Today it also was our Meet & Greet with the band! Around 7 PM it was time for us and as you all can see our photo turned out amazing! We loved to see the band again and they joked a lot during the photo session! We had a great time!
Later that night we watch the second indoor show on a big screen together with a lot of fans, the place was packed.
On our last day on the KISS Kruise II there where a lot of events going on. First we went to Doc McGee's Q&A and that was so cool. He answered a lot of questions and most great news is that there'll be a European Monster tour in june 2013, there'll be a Kruise III (maybe with Bruce Kulick) a special re-release of the KISS catalog and after his Q&A it was time for the Gene Simmons Guitar Throwing Pick Contest. The Gene & Paul events where on the same time so we choosed for the Gene one. But Mr. Simmons was running a bit late and after a little while he came on stage and did his thing. Gene knows how to throw guitarpics, but all his experience didn't help him, he lost.
When we hit the elevator we saw Shannon & Erin heading over to the gym.
At 5 PM it was time for the KISS Q&A, sitting over a balcony the band asnwered all kind of questions, joked a lot and said that they had a amazing time on this second Kruise. Said that they had signed the contract today for a third Kruise. They hoped that we all came back for that next year. We probely will...
After dinner it was time for the last event on the KISS Kruise II...the Eric Singer Blackjack Night. Before it all started Eric did some signing for fans and we had the luck to got out laminates signed and get a photo with him!
We hanged around after that and got something to eat. When we came into the restaurant we saw a big KISS-logo made from ice, so cool!
Than we headed over to the KISS Lounge, there was a private party and we ran to some members of Skid Row & Adler and took some photo's with them. Around 3 AM it was time for us to take a nap.
On Sunday the boat docked at 6 AM, we packed everything and get some breakfast. After that we said goodbye to a lot of great people who we've meet during this Kruise. We had such a amazing great time while we were on the boat, people came to us all the time, asked are you Rockhead, they even want photo's with us, lol. It all was if we where one big family, a KISS-family and we felt like home! We are one!
So, it was time to leave the Norwegian Pearl, took a cab to our hotel (Holliday Inn again) and went to Bayside and get some coffee at Starbucks (if you don't know why there, think twice, lol) went to the FYE store and my lovely wife find some KISS items for our collection! Later we checked out Wallmart and did some shopping there, lol. After dinner we relaxed in our room.
On monday november 5th it was time for us to leave Miami and go back to The Netherlands. We had a amazing time on the KISS Kruise II All the things we heard from last year was true, this is a special, one of a kind happening! 5 days with KISS and 2000 fans on a boat, a unplugged & indoor show, Meet & Greet with the band, Q&A's, all the special events with each band member and so on and on...
We had a blast and we're so glad that we could be a part of this experience, we'll never forget this!
*(c) 2012. All personal photo's/slideshows/filmed footage may only be used by others if is reference/linked to this site or me and ask me first!
