Mayercraft Carrier

When you think of a cruise, normally its hang around the pool, go to a pseudo Broadway style show, eat in the main dining halls and relax. Not here my friends… Fun, Amazing, Sleepless, Musical, Party time and more Music… in short the best damn time one person can have with 2,000 people they don’t know! This is Mayercraft Carrier 2 — 2009!
Carnival’s newest addition to their fleet, the Splendor, was our home for 5 days. Arriving on Thursday we opted to stay on board the night before sailing to attend the VH1-​Save the Music event «One Splendid Evening» being held on the ship. What an incredible show which included Jordan Sparks and John Mayer doing duets! His mad guitar skills and her set of pipes blew everyone away. Two song sets by O.A.R, Sara Bareilles, Gavin Rossdale and Erin McCauley were icing on the cake.
Where to start… yes, John Mayer was the headliner but he was surrounded by 17 other really talented artists. O.A.R and Brendan James are the acts that enticed us the most, and we were NOT disappointed. The entertainment level stayed at an optimum highs when Guster, David Ryan Harris, Erin McCarley, Justin Nozuka and Martin Sexton played on the Lido Deck, Spec Spec, Monaco, the Cool and that little stage outside the Casino. Luke Reynolds, formerly of Blue Merle, gave a great performance with his band Pictures and Sound. Jessie Baylin, Ryan Shaw and Stars Go Dim also kept us rock’n.
Before you get the impression that you just go watch music acts there are plenty of activities, that include artist participation such as: wine tasting, trivia competition, flip cup with OAR and Guster (hilarious), songrwiter workshop and even hangover yoga. There are even some theme nights that really bring out creativity among the masses: Superheros and Villains, PJ Jam and VH1 Rock of Love’esque Charm School Prom (oh my, some of those outfits and big hair were wicked crazy). Let me just share with you that the artists are on vacation too. This means they are hanging on the Lido with family and friends and yes the 2000 fans on vacation. The nice thing is that there is very little gawking or suffocating the «stars» since we’re all there to just have fun and party.
On this trip one port of call — Cabo San Lucas — was all we needed. Can you say «uno mas tequilla Carlos, por favor»…well you can, but should you? Some of us said it too many times, and realized that there was more than one waiter at Cabo Wabo named Carlos… have pics to prove it! The house band at Cabo Wabo revved up the Mayercraft inhabitants with lots of dancing, singing and more beverages!
The last day on board we somehow encountered rolling seas which meant all of us were rock’n roll’n trying to walk the halls, dance without falling over and even the musicians were leaning to and fro during their sets. The nice thing about it was when we finally climbed into bed in the wee hours of the morning we were gently rocked to sleep, and slept like babies!
Who puts this floating music festival together… well, its a small company out of Atlanta that goes by the name of Sixthman (and now we know several iterations of how the name came to be)…these guys are like Jack Russell terriers on high does of caffeine. I swear they are everywhere, all the time, doing everything for everyone!!! My hat’s off to Andy, May, Steve, Carla and the entire team and their volunteers… thank you for a great time, great memories and above all the gift of 5 days of music! Blogs, Twitter, and even Ellen DeGeneres were proclaiming the success of MCC2 ’09 even before we dropped anchor back in LA. Put Mayercraft Carrier, Cayamo, or any of the other Sixthman cruises on your radar for 2010… and hopefully we’ll see you there!