Toni’s Recap: Danny Gokey Concert Cruise for Sophia’s Heart

1^st Sophia’s Heart cruise with Danny Gokey 2-3 to 2-7-11

I left my home state on Sunday afternoon 1/30/11 as I really wanted to spend some time in a warmer climate and in an area of Florida that I love and have been to before.

Monday and Tuesday I stayed in the Clearwater beach area and the weather was sunny and high 70s. Felt very lucky to be there and I truly enjoyed my two beach days as it gave me a chance to really unwind but I was getting anxious of meeting up with all the Gokey Fans and Ihearties in Tampa. Tuesday came and I had heard that the weather conditions were not good for many of the fans traveling to Tampa and some fans had a real trying time to get to the cruise from their home state, some traveled earlier and changed traveling plans if they were able to.  I prayed and sent positive thoughts to everyone for their safe arrivals.  When there is a Danny event it all tends to work out for the best at the end.

Tuesday and Wednesday spent some really quality time getting to know new fans and ones I already knew.  Did some sightseeing around Tampa and ate lunch at a great restaurant with Ed, Jan, Carrie, Stephanie, Cori, Elaine. Also learned that Danny opened up the meet and greet to all fans that were going on the cruise. Was extremely happy about this news as I would have been one of the ones not having booked early enough to qualify for the VIP M&G although I booked back in July of 2010. Had a great time Wednesday evening having a before cruise toast with some awesome fans and met Elaine (springtweet) who came to Tampa just to meet all of us as she did not go on the cruise .

Thursday came and it was time to go to the port but we were told that due to foggy weather conditions the ship had a 4 hour delay in arriving to Tampa and not to go to the port, I will not give you too much information as you might hear it from others too and I know you want me to get to the anything Danny portion  that 4 hour delay turned out to be an 8 hour delay and our first Danny concert scheduled for 5:30pm was obviously cancelled but we had hope, faith and love for Danny that he would reschedule it.  Our group embarked the ship at around 10:30 pm and ship sailed out at midnight. Some of us went on an exploring mission to check out the ship so we would get to know where the Danny events would take place the next day.  I have no other ship to compare it to but I thought the ship and the staterooms were beautiful everything appeared to be going smoothly once on the ship.

Friday this was my first cruise and had fears I would be seasick but luckily I was OK all days ( until I returned on land) Last time I was on a ship was when my family and I immigrated to the USA about 38 years ago when I was just a kid not yet a teenager. Our M&G was at 9:30AM once in the lounge I got to see all the items available for auction and also got to purchase the new Sophia’s Heart shirts one long sleeves and one short sleeves they should be available for purchase by all keep checking the SH website. We were told all the rules of the bidding and the different types of bidding that would take place the one that appeared to be most of interest to me was to watch the Superbowl with Danny but being that I am not a sports fan I decided that honor should go to the die hard Packers fans,  so my choice would have been either the dinner or the serenade.

Back to M&G my turn came up and I was super excited for this M&G as I had a special gift for Danny from a few of us.  Danny and I hugged and I was shocked to hear him call me by official first name so I guess he does read the tweets.  I told him that I needed a bit of time with him so I could explain the gift.  In mid December I came up with the idea of making a book of recaps, pictures and Josieinseattle was wanting to make a recipe book for him so we decided to combine it all together. I personally invited a few fans to take part in this project mostly people I have personally met and been to concerts with and had them submit recaps, pictures to me and recipes to Josie.  It turned out to be an amazing fan book of 120 pages of heartfelt recaps of their concert experiences, beautiful pictures taken by fans and great recipes as we know he likes to eat and also tries to experiment with some cooking.

We did all this in about 3 weeks I do have to admit when I was putting it together that the last week before it went to print I was working on it until 3-4AM in the morning and then going to work 4 hours later but it was a labor of love just like it was for everyone else that contributed to it and have no complaints as the final product is awesome. I also kept it to a small group of fans as this was my very first time doing something like this and only had a short amount of time to make sure we sent the book to print and for those going on the cruise to receive in time so they could get it autographed.  Finally the day that we had been waiting for was here and you will be able to see the video of when I gave it to him, he appeared to really like it.

As a proud mom of my son‘s accomplishments, I am sure his mom is also very proud so I gave him an extra copy of the book to give it to his mom.

The rescheduled concert was on Friday at 4:15pm and prior to the concert and in between the live auction was done I was sitting in a group of 4 and we all decided that we would join together and  bid on the serenade and so we did and won it.  Another group won the serenade also. We were told the serenade would take place on Saturday night after dinner around 10pm and that it would be televised.

Concert time came and as you have seen Danny was dressed very casual and really down to earth atmosphere.   I heard live for the first time  many songs that he sang on AI and loved them all as you know he introduced Faith, Hope and Love which is beautiful, I need to go back and listen to it a few more times and it did remind me of Its Only.  Danny also said that it might be on the new CD.

Brandon wrote a song to Jamie which is sweet and hilarious at the same time as a way to tell her how much he misses her when she is gone but my video is really dark and I focused solely on Brandon and Jamie during the whole video and I feel it would not be fair to  Brandon to upload it (I was very disappointed that I can’t make it brighter as I did try) I do know someone else might have a better video of it, look for it on you tube! Danny was singing songs by request from the audience (see videos).  It was an awesome concert.

Our formal dinner was on this night and when we were all waiting in line to go into the dining room Danny and the band were also there, he wore a black shirt and jeans although some of us had been wondering how dressed up Danny would be thinking that maybe we would see some of the awesome outfits he has worn at some of the previous events, it didn’t happen,  he wore what was most comfortable to him and don’t have to tell you he still looked great! Danny’s table was only 2 away from where I was sitting.

They seated all the Sophia’s Heart cruisers in the same general area.  Some lucky Ihearties got to sit at Danny’s table and you will find out from other recaps who they were, what he ate, what they talked about. After dinner a group of us went to see a musical/dancing show hosted by entertainers of the cruise.

Saturday : Had to get up really early on this day as 4 of us went on a day long excursion which started at 8AM we decided to go to the Mayan ruins in Tulum MX .  I got to spend the early morning hours having breakfast watching the ship arrive and dock in Cozumel and a beautiful sunrise.   We boarded a ferry for a 45 minute ride to Playa de Carmen and then we took a 1 hr bus ride to Tulum.

We had a tour guide who was very knowledgeable about the history of the Mayan culture and had a great sense of pride sharing it all with us.  He also had a great sense of humor, he was always making jokes about his mother in law.  Got to see some beautiful sites overlooking the ocean, the water was very warm.  Pictures are posted below, with more on my facebook account. We were there a total of  maybe 3-4 hours,  it turned out to be a very warm day in Mexico. Got back to our ship around 4pm.

Took some time to unwind and get ready for dinner at which we learned that our serenade was postponed to Sunday evening after the Superbowl.  I was concerned about what type of mood Danny would be in at the serenade based on the outcome of the Superbowl.  The cruise had a really awesome Latin dance show which we got to go watch and afterwards we went to the Rock and Roll dance club and at one point even Danny and the band were there and was just having fun dancing with the rest of the band.  The ship had different entertainment sections all throughout the ship.

Sunday : The weather was cloudy, windy and cold so could not be outdoors and we sat in the dining room talking during breakfast and lunch and then headed to get ready for the concert at 4pm.  Once again Danny had another super acoustic concert, singing by request and then also got to hear Gimme a Kiss once again it was said that this song might be on the new CD.  This song is one that stays with you and I have not heard it again since the concert and I still have some of the words and the beat in my head.  I can see it being a summer type of song.

Danny did mention that on his new CD there will be more romantic songs. He also mentioned that he is looking for a PYT. Then we got to hear Matt singing and what a great voice he has. See videos of the concerts.  Superbowl time and although the cruise ship had the game being shown all over the ship there was one main theatre  and it was packed full of Steelers and Packer fans together.  I was on the upper level to one side where I could see Danny and those lucky fans that got to sit with him for the whole time and I can tell you his reactions to Packers touchdowns were priceless. So by the time 4^th quarter came around I knew Danny would be in a super great mood for the serenade and this made me very happy.

I am not a sports fan but for many years  this team has been of interest to me just because I liked their team name and go figure that I would be on a cruise ship watching THE game with some true die hard Packers fans. Amazing how things happen sometimes.

The Serenade: The 4 of us (Amy from Maine, Emily from Texas, Carrie from Vermont and myself from New York) rushed to the room suite it would take place in and we thought for sure it would take awhile before Danny would come we weren’t there for more than maybe 10 minutes that we received the call he was on his way to our room and then we heard the knock on the door and there he was.   He came in first and  asked us if we wanted just him or have Matt there accompany him with guitar and it was decided to have Matt there also, Mike was there, the  photographer and a camera man.

I went up to Danny to congratulate him on the Packers win of the SB and one could tell he was still beaming from ear to ear and he was still on a Packers win high.  Danny asked what we wanted to hear and we requested  “Crazy Not To” and then he said he would sing 2 songs and we also requested  “Raining on Sunday”.  To hear Danny singing at such a short distance is something I will treasure forever and I was able to tell him that he has an amazing gift.

After the serenade I also gave him a gift that Darla and I purchased in Mexico which was a cartuche it is a silver pendant which has the initials of DJG in Mayan alphabet symbols which was made by a Mayan artesian (I did not take a picture of it) the day we went on the excursion. He appeared to like it, he gave each of us a hug and the serenade was all over in a matter of about 10-15 minutes.

After the serenade we reunited in a dining room with many in our group to talk about the different Danny experiences we all had and then decided to get in line for some food and must have been at the right time right place as the whole band including Danny had just gotten there and it just so happened that Danny was in between Jan and I .  I told him how my concert pictures didn’t turn out great at all and he was sweet enough to ask if I wanted to take some pictures at that time and I said No. It turned out that the whole band was sitting not too far from where we were sitting and right before Danny sat at his table I had gone over to talk to Mike to ask if I could purchase the full video of the serenade and then Danny heard me say that and he seemed to think it was a good idea hopefully I will be able to.

Then later on don’t know what came over me but I decided to abruptly go over to their table again as we had Mike at our dinner table the night before and he seemed really interested to hear about our Mexico excursion and that he should have done the same one so I thought I would show him some of my pictures.  I did apologize for going to their table abruptly and afterwards  I did ask myself  “what was I thinking?” (actually I am still thinking what a wrong move on my part but all I can say is that I am sorry and blame it on my brain maybe it was still on the serenade high) wished them all to enjoy the rest of the evening and to have a safe flight back home the next day sort of wanted the opportunity to say Goodbye! Later on Mike came and sat at our table for awhile he was very sociable and he said that the cruise had been fun and he enjoyed getting to know the fans more.

Overall summary of the cruise:  I loved it from start to finish !

I forgot to tell Danny how much I loved his two new songs and by the preview of these two songs I think the next CD should be pretty amazing.  It was great to also see Danny in a non-performing way just being Danny and having fun or just walking around the ship either with the band or on his own and besides the fluke of me going to his table twice that last night I didn’t stalk him on the ship really (lol!) and respected all their privacy as there was so much going on the ship it was fun to enjoy  myself with so many other Danny fans.  Danny is already talking about plans for the next cruise, he mentioned having a full band and other artists there on the next one.  It was a very successful way to raise money, and I am so very happy I decided to go to support Sophia’s Heart and Danny.

Danny receives book of recaps, photos & recipes from Toni - video via tonicny
** Contact @tonicny on twitter if you would be interested in purchasing a copy of the book to benefit Sophia’s Heart Foundation.