This piece is dedicated to the late and great Sarah Elizabeth Gewald who loved Jam Cruise just like I do.
Jam Cruise 10…how in the world is it even possible that we just celebrated such a monumental landmark! 10 cruises!!! I remember Jam Cruise 1 like it was yesterday. Not only does time fly, but the life changing experiences that have occurred on board all these years are simply unforgettable.
And this year, on our 10th voyage, we continued to not only blow the minds of our 3000 passengers, but also our own.
The photos I have chosen to tell this year’s story are only just a fraction of what Jam Cruise 10 was all about. I urge you to visit our home page and check out our official photos and press reviews.
So let’s start the fun…I tell this story every year but I never participate in the lifeboat drill because all I do is run around with a camera laughing at the musicians looking super silly. Each place to meet is a called a muster station. So I arrive at each group saying, “YOU MUST MUSTER!!!” Then I jump into some cute photos. Here are some A-listers and I couldn’t help but grab Anders’ wife’s um….
I’ve been a HUGE fan of Chali’s for years. And I’ve been begging him to come on Jam Cruise. The timing was never right. I was at the Ogden in Denver and he was opening up for KDTU and Public Enemy. I watched his whole set and made up my mind. I was going to convince him to come on board. The second he saw me backstage he said, “Annabel, I’m ready, let’s do this.” It was a perfect interaction…and once on board he did an OUTSTANDING job on board with Break Science, Galactic & Ozomatli. He loved the cruise so much more than he could have imagined. In fact, everyone does…
This is an emotional one…the first concert my father took me to was Bruce Hornsby when I was 13. I’ve followed him ever since. My father told me that if I ever booked Bruce on Jam Cruise, that he’d reserve a stateroom. I booked Bruce one month after my father died last March. Bruce not only played White Wheeled Limousine for me and for my dad (his favorite song) but Lebo, my favorite artist, painted during his set so I had to buy it and get a photo with Bruce next to it. Very special…
For the first time on board, we had two PHENOMENTAL Lighting Director’s get together to do an LD workshop – Jeff Waful & Chris Kuroda delivered a riveting account of what it’s like to be behind the board, what inspires them and so much more.
Ah Zebra Night, the unofficial theme night created by the cruisers to match one our venues the Zebra Bar. Big Sam was in costume EVERY time we had a theme. Very flattering to us at Jam Cruise to see the musicians get so behind the essence of what our event is all about.
Toubab Krewe was one the highlights on board this year. We visited Haiti and they performed on the beach with very special guests from Sierra Leone Refugee Allstars and more. Basically they were a perfect fit for a beach set. Luke Quaranta is a beautiful man and a wonderful musician.
The Jam Room is a venue set up with amps, mics, keys and a drum kit (called backline) for any musician to come and jam. It’s the soul of Jam Cruise because never before and never again sit-ins happen. And it’s where you’ll get to see things like Kraz on bass!!!
Cloud 9 Adventures has started a non-profit arm called Leaving a Positive Legacy. The mission is to give back to the communities we visit while on Jam Cruise. Here we are in Labadee, Haiti where the team was able to get over 12,000 pairs of NEW shoes donated. How cool!!! We called this a shoe-shoe train.
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