We had a wonderful time on our first Irish Cruise. What a fantastic experience.
There was so much to do and eat. There were endless buffets of food.
During the afternoon you could take in the variety of workshops available to the guests of the Irish Cruise. The workshops featured many of the performers on the cruise. You could learn how to dance, play the Irish tin whistle or bodhran and even learn how speak Irish Gaelic. One of my favorites was the How to Spin a Yarn workshop with Mairitn de Cogain. We were on the edge of our seats for the entire 30 minutes.
Then we would all gather in the main dining hall for dinner at 5:30 PM and enjoy not only great food but amazing company. Karen, Mark and I had the honor of sitting at the same table as The Matt Cunningham Band (Larry Cooley, Matt Cunningham and Malachi Murray), and the Captain Mackey’s Goatskin & String Band (Jimmy Crowley and Mairtin de Cogain). We became good friends over some excellent Italian cuisine.
Then every evening, beginning at 8:00 PM, the Irish entertainment began. There were four bands every night. The Emcees, Mike Mazur and John Gleeson, were incredibly interesting and very funny.
We listened attentively as Tommy Sands told the most captivating stories and sang his beautiful original songs. I learned a lot from watching him perform.
We learned how to dance in the traditional Irish way as The Matt Cunningham Band lead the way. Karen had no problem getting up and joining in with whatever dance they were doing. I needed a little coaxing. But Mairtin managed to get Mark and me up and dancing at one point. I even got to enjoy a traditional waltz with Mark. Very rare indeed.
We were completely entertained when Captain Mackey’s Goatskin and String Band had a set.
We thoroughly enjoyed Patsy Whelan & Brian Gaffney.
Eugene and Kevin Byrne were fantastic. However, they did encourage Karen’s joke telling by telling her more jokes, which I will have to suffer through for years to come.
We laughed and sang along to The Odd Couple From Brigid’s Cross. The Two Tap Trio were outstanding and such great folks to get to know.
We danced until our feet hurt when The Elders took to the stage and of course, we were very humbled to be in the presence of The Black Family.
There were two nights when all the performers had a Hootenanny. This was so much fun. During the second one, which was the grand finale, Mary Black sang the Ron Hynes classic, “Sonny’s Dream” and we joined her in the chorus.
From the second I knew we were doing this Irish Cruise with The Black Family, that was the one thing I wanted more than anything.
Mark, while on stage, let Mary in on a little secret of mine…She is the only singer/performer that I have ever met that made me feel a little star stuck.
I couldn’t believe he told her.
I thought I was holding myself together nicely.
Obviously, I wasn’t doing that good a job.
Okay, I admit, I may have stammered a little.
Then when the show was over, the late night jams began… We heard some of the greatest tunes, stories and songs during these late night sessions. Definitely one of the highlights of the cruise for us. That’s my kind of party for sure.
We’re so grateful to have performed on the Irish Cruise. We met so many wonderful people who made us feel so welcomed. There is a very family oriented connection with all of the people on the Irish Cruise and to be accepted into the circle of friends was a gift in itself.
Mary Rowley, our Cruise Director, did a stellar job of keeping everything on schedule. Until you’re there you really do not appreciate how much effort goes into organizing such an event. Mary Rowley truly did on outstanding job.
If you like Irish music you would really enjoy this cruise and you should definitely look into it for next year.
If you love Irish music this is an event you simply have to experience.
Maureen and Karen
February 24th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Wasn’t that great craic on the cruise???!!!
7 days of partying, great music, wonderful people, warm weather, you never have to worry about where you are going to eat, your hotel floats to a new place and you don’t have to pack and unpack each time. Awesome!!!
Our favorite time is the “grand finale” when all the entertainers are on stage and everyone is singing along to all the songs….and then the saddest time immediately follows, because it is all over until next year.
You guys were great, we so enjoyed your music(and Karen’s jokes). Hopefully you will be on the crusie again next year. One of these days we hope to get our old bones to St.John’s and visit George and Water Streets.
Slán go fóill, John & Anne from San Jose, California