- story and pictures by Salvador Magallanes 

SALSACRUISE 2007 -  EL GRAN COMBO DE PUERTO RICO, VICTOR MANUELLE, GILBERTO SANTAROSA, NG2, DOMINGO QUINONEZ, AND MORE ON BOARD! 
 

In spite of the weather and the rocking ship, the trip was off the hook.  The night
before the cruise, the Latin Quarters at City Walk in Orlando opened its doors for
free to everyone from the cruise. The place was moving the whole night with excited
anticipation of the cruise. It was a great opportunity to meet and dance with many
of those who were going to be on it.

The entire ship seemed to be sold just for the Salsa Cruise. The ship's guests were made up almost entirely of Nuyoricans. 
There was a small contingency of salseros from California. There were 11 of us in our group,  but the ship definitely had an East Coast Flavor. I met people from Philly, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, Georgia, Mexico, and from Puerto Rico. 

NG2 opened first night as the ship set sail for the Bahamas. They are a young group of
performers who are very talented and got the crowd going by involving them and
breaking the audience up into sing-alongs. I didn't realize just how good this young
group was.

El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico followed NG2, and they were as they always
are, great...especially with their 'Arroz con Habichuelas'. Despite the rocking boat,
everyone danced the night away. It was a most exciting and festive night.

After spending the next day in Freeport, Victor Manuelle performed in the late afternoon
and he was awesome. He is a great performer with a lot of charisma. The women all
went crazy over him, especially with his 'Dile a Ella,'  In fact, wherever he went on
the ship, he became an instant attraction. It was like Brad Pitt and the paparazzi in
LA.  If he ever gets to LA, he could easily sell out a place like the Gibson
Theater. Imagine this, Victor Manuelle followed by Gilberto Santa Rosa.

Gilberto was, of course, you know how he is, magical. He closed the night with an awesome
improvisation as only he can, about the weather and the rocking boat. Once again,
everyone spent another night of dancing to Gilberto's songs and to the DJ's from New
York City.

The next day, the ship arrived in the port of Nassau where guests split
up into groups. Some going off to the Casino, and others going off, like ourselves,
to a beach party at the Breezes Resort. When we arrived, there was a huge Conga line
going around the entire resort pool. After some rain, the beach party was
incredible. The party was all-inclusive with all the food and drinks one can consume
for the price of $65...there was even some cigar-rolling. The Bahamians were great
hosts as the DJ's played some the best salsa that we have all come to know and love.
It was a great day of swimming (do you know how incredible it is to swim in the
rain?), dancing, and partying (My friend Manolo also happened to run into a couple of buddies
from his high school basketball team in Puerto Rico.)

Everyone was so friendly, and all had such a good time...I guess it is easy to be friendly when free drinks are involved.
After the beach party, everyone returned to the ship for another party on
board featuring NG2, and to everyone's delight a special surprise performer appeared,
Domingo Quinones! Domingo was absolutely amazing. The man sings with so much heart
and delighted the crowd with his perfectly timed improvisations. It was a real treat
to have him show up. I had been wanting to see him perform for some time now. He is
also showed himself to be a very gracious man by taking a considerable amount of
time taking pictures with his fans.

The evening's performances finished with the return of Gilberto Santa Rosa. But, that didn't end the night. 
Inside one of the lounges, DJ Alex Sensation spun his salsa for the dancers and was interrupted by members of NG2 and El Gran Combo with an improvisational Paranda. Cruise guests
joyfully joined in on the singing. Some, like Manolo Delgado and Abraham Perez, both
born and raised in Puerto Rico picked up "panderetas" and joined in on the
singing and playing. A special day it was.

Unfortunately due to Tropical Storm Noel, our Captain decided to leave the Port of Nassau earlier than
scheduled to get ahead of the storm. I don't recall the exact chronological order of all the events,
because time just flowed over itself with all of the partying that took place, and
on the last day, another El Gran Combo performance got cancelled due to the bad
weather and rain. However, the scheduled Halloween party took place on the main deck
despite the wind and rain, and all of the rocking on the ship. A most memorable
cruise it was. We met some wonderful people.

I have a great story involving a singer named Vico C. Michelle Corona gave him
a shot of Tequila and he needed a chaser of some water, but she gave him a bottled
water that had rum in it. Poor guy bolted out of the room. But he was a great sport
about it all.
 
I understand that Salsacruise.com has another one scheduled for July, 2008 featuring
Tito Rojas and another performer to be announced. Despite the bad weather, the music
was tremendous. In addition, Carnival Cruise Lines does an outstanding job with its
food services as well as making all of its guests feel welcomed and comfortable with
its excellent service. I would be willing to do it all over again.