ONE LOVE GOSPEL CRUISE

I WAS BORN IN THE USA!! this is the song I got off the plane singing when I returned from the One Love Gospel Cruise. The cruise traveled from Tampa, Florida to the Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico. I arrived early on Saturday evening (March 17), because I had a meeting with the teams that would be working the cruise for the week. I was on the Entertainment Team, so our team were responsible for the artist. In Tampa, most of the artist arrived a day early prior to the passengers arriving on Sunday. After our meeting, I ran into our hometown girl, Kierra Sheard and her brother J.Drew in the lobby. After a great nights rest and reuniting with my homegirl from Dallas, Sandra whom I had not seen in 10 years. We caught up on things, cried, and excited about the trip. Sunday, we were to report at 7am for preparation of boarding the ship. It was noisy, because everyone was hanging in the lobby, Isaac Caree, James Fortune, band members, managers, record execs...and radio one staff.

Working on the Entertainment team, my job for that morning  was to make sure that all of the artist were checked out their rooms and had no outstanding bills. Finally, everyone boarded the charter bus to proceed to the pier to load on the boat. Each day, their were events, concerts, and activities planned for the entire day. Because we were not able to record the shows, because Radio One reserved the right, you would have enjoyed all the shows. I was assigned to the Spinnaker Lounge where we had concerts in our venue Sunday-Wednesday night. The artist that performed in my room were: Ty Tribbett, The Williams Brothers, Earnest Pugh, Troy Sneed, Jessica Reedy, Byron Cage, Joe Ligon & The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Angela Spivey, Kim Burrell, The Neville Sisters, Patrick Dopson, Genita Pugh, Darius Brooks, Vashawn Mitchell, Damon Little, Veronica Petrucci, LeJuene Thompson, and Darlene McCoy song and hosted.

The concerts were standing room only, we had two shows a night a 8pm and 10pm show, and the room was standing room only. Unfortunately, we had to turn people away because the room was at capacity, and I didn't want to sink! Band members, artist, and gospel legends that were not apart of the entertainment supported each other, such as Pastor Shirley Ceasar and Dr. Bobby Jones.

The cruise was an awesome experience and was fun, but a lot of work for me. It is so much to tell, but I don't feel like writing everything, so I will hope to tell the experience one time, because everyone is asking.  I would do it all over again to meet new people and hear some of my favorite songs and visit places I wouldn't have never been. Praise be to God, from whom all blessings flow!

To hear more about the cruise, I will be doing a 30 minute show on my www. blogtalkradio.com/the-sonnie-day-show on Sunday, March 25th @ 11pm. You do not want to miss some of the crazy things that happened on the ship, and with yo cuzins!!..Also, you will be able to view my pictures on my facebook page www.facebook.com/sonnieday