RVers on Cruise Control?
We came, We cruised, We connected!
This was obviously a first for The Riveted Fox Community. An event where we came together as RVing friends without our RV’s! That’s right, we all took a Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean! 4 days aboard the Carnival Liberty from Port Canaveral FL with stops in Nassau & Bimini Bahamas. Almost 50 community members plus another 15 or so family members set sail on Feb 5th for a few days relaxing, eating, drinking and connecting!
Enjoy the thoughts and pictures below to recap this fun filled week.
The Sail Away Party!
Carnival is known for its amazing party atmosphere and they threw a big one as we sailed away from Port Canaveral.
Fortunately, we had the best views from our secured private VIP area on an upper deck overlooking the party as we left dock.
It was the perfect mix of staying connected as a group while still having a great vantage point of the crazy party
and watching the ship slip out of port into the open Atlantic Ocean. Bon Voyage!
During this first gathering, we gave everyone a Riveted Fox “Thank You” gift bag with their
Official T-shirt, sticker, custom drink Koosie, and a few other gifts and surprises.
The bags & koosies were printed by our wonderful daughter, Kiya! Thank You Kiya!
The event schedule, door decoration contest score sheet and door prize tickets were also
included to get everyone set up for a great cruise!
Stateroom Surprises!
Yes, we love surprises! When our Cruisers made it to their staterooms, they were welcomed again
with another Riveted Fox Surprise! We had Champagne and Chocolates awaiting their arrival.
This was just another way for us to welcome everyone and let them know
we feel so honored they chose to cruise with us!
We don’t do shared food at our events!
Really, we don’t…it’s kinda gross. BUT, enjoying a deliciously prepared dinner from professional chefs,
while enjoying great conversation and amazing views of the ocean is something
we could definitely get the hang of! Our evening dinner gatherings were the perfect way for us all to reconnect
after a fun filled day! Each evening, we rotated tables and seatings so that everyone had the opportunity
to dine with a different friend and share their “Cruise Out” experiences.
This turned out to be really fun and helped further friendships and connections even more!
Bon Appétit!
Tuesday evenings dinner entertainment consisted of the dining room staff singing “My Girl”.
One of our favorite songs, so we took the opportunity to Shag between courses!
Do you know how hard it is to dance on a moving floor? So much FUN!
No nightly Campfires, but everyone had nightly F U N!
There wasn’t any shortage of FUN things to do in the evenings on board the Liberty. Everyone chose to do what they wanted from the nightly list of activities, but we always seemed to ended up finding each other easily. Enjoying shows, Live music, cocktail bars, casino, deck parties, you name it The Riveted Fox Community . . . KNOWS HOW TO HAVE A GOOD TIME!!!
Group Event Gatherings = even more FUN
Tuesday morning we had another private room ~ aka The Fox Den ~ to gather in as a group.
Just like our regular Coffee Chats we hold at campouts, it was a great start to the day for everyone
and a designed time to make sure everyone visited before venturing out into the Port of Nassau!
Mandatory FUN at Sea!
Wednesday was our day at sea! With the many fun activities to be had on board the ship, we chose to limit our mandatory fun group time to just awarding a few door prizes. It’s hard to believe, but we smuggled on board the ship 10 of the worst door prizes you would ever want to win. Hmmm, no surprise right? We’re known for being good at giving shitty door prizes! As the winning tickets were drawn, the winners got to pick a speciality wrapped random door prize placed individually in a line of chairs.
Each winner had the option to keep the one they chose or trade with someone else before opening.
It was funny to watch them open their chosen prize and see their reactions when they realized what they had won!
The shitty prizes included Flamingo salt & pepper shakers, 1/2 of a wine glass, hot sauce, a shot glass,
wooden cutting board, ceramic owl and a treasure chest with .69 cents in it just to name a few!
Many prizes were acquired from the World Famous Gay Dolphin Gift Store in Myrtle Beach SC.!
A few trades occurred after the fact, but we think everyone left feeling like winners!
If not, there is always the next shitty door prize drawing!
Cabin Door Decoration Contest
When you’ve had a few too many, and the ship is rocking a bit, it’s sometimes hard to find your cabin! It was recommended by Anna that we all decorate our doors to show our RVing & Riveted Fox Community pride as well as being able not get lost! We decided to turn that into a contest for the best decorated cabin door. All cabin occupants remained anonymous and everyone toured the doors at their leisure. The winner was pretty amazing and second place was super special! Congratulations to our daughter Kiya, her girlfriend Tiffany and our grand daughter Fiora for being voted best door! They won a $25 coupon to our online Merch Store, which they graciously gave to the close second place winners, Charles and Jan!
FIRST PLACE – Kiya, Tiffany & Fiora
SECOND PLACE – Charles & Jan
THIS WAS OUR DOOR – Chaos Coordinators!
The Cruise “Character” Cocktail Party!
We’ve all known each other for some time, so why not pretend to act like strangers meeting for the first time? Now, adding a drink or two combined with a little imagination can make for one really Exciting Happy Hour! We encouraged everyone to create their own fictional character and be that person during the whole Cocktail Party. This turned out amazingly and everyone seemed to get such a kick out of chatting with each other as “total strangers”. Oh the characters this group came up with are hilarious.
There hippie drug pushers, cattle ranchers, retired porn starts, a pastor, used car salesman, private investigator
of an on board murder, blackmailers, a few different crazy ladies, a match maker for millionaires,
a National Park Service advocate who gave everyone a custom Riveted Fox event stamp,
the stunt double for actress Emma Watson, Thurston Howell III and his wife Lovey,
a cruise director and many other unique individuals.
As owners of a Wellness Retreat in western NC, we shared how wonderful our place is and how once there one
would never want to leave. In fact, once you arrived inside our fenced property and became
devoted to “Donovan & Morgan Stone” forever, you would never want to leave?!?
Some people thought it sounded like a cult, but we just didn’t feel that way…it’s just a “wellness” retreat!
Congratulations to Anna for being awarded the most tickets for her character, A Cruise Director!
However, she graciously chose to pass the prize over to 2nd place Charles and Jan
who won a $50 coupon to The Riveted Fox Merch Store!
The Caribbean in February, it will do nicely!
Even though we had all types of weather during the week, it was great when it counted! Temperatures were mild, sun and clouds mixed, a stiff wind a few times but overall it was great! We’re sure everyone has their own beautiful pictures
of the Caribbean, but these are just a few shots we took. It’s a long way from the closest full hookup campsite that’s for sure!
So much fun, I am so glad I chose to do this! It was great meeting people in person, after staring at them in a little box on screen for 4 years. Thanks to Anna for putting this together in package I could afford, and Chris and Gina for being awesome Chaos Coordinators. A special thanks to Lucy, Dean and Angelina, Deb and “Joe Smith” (Randy) for looking out for me!
That does look like an amazing time. I know everyone had a blast. I’m jealous and one of these days I’m going to have to get out of my sheltered comfort zone and GO for something like that. Are you doing one next year?
It was a fun time, Mark! Yes, break through and join us next time! Not sure of our plans, but we might do a BIG one next time . . . Alaska keeps coming up for 2yrs! LOL. But hopefully we will see you waaayyyy before then!