Quickly now, who wants to vacation with Alabama. Not IN Alabama, but WITH…as in the country super group?
Well, you can.
Alabama hasn't toured for a decade but in October they're doing a mini-tour, of sorts, on the Norwegian Pearl, and can it be coincidence that they chose this ship because of Minnie Pearl, whose humanitarian award they won?
This tour is four nights long — Miami to the Bahamas and back — and Alabama will play on two of the nights. They'll also have some of their favorite bands on the Pearl, a dozen musical friends to participate in four nights of music at sea. including a beach party at Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian's private island.
There will be plenty of time for photos and autographs and all of the trappings of having a private audience with celebrities. Because it's a cruise in which Norwegian is partnering with Sixthman, which specializes in theme cruises, presumably everybody on the ship will have access to everything on the agenda.
Launched four years after Alabama retired, the Pearl carries 2,394 passengers.
In the group's heydey, there were four of them — lead singer Randy Owen, his cousin Teddy Gentry, their distant cousin Jeff Cook and drummer Mark Herndon. A bitter lawsuit filed by Herndon after their farewell tour made Alabama a threesome, one that pops up now and again at awards shows and events like the cruise, and sometimes even in a recording studio.
Alabama produced 41 or 42 or 43 singles that made it to No. 1, depending on your source, and one of the CDs in our collection is entitled: For The Record 41 Number One Hits. Next fall marks the 40th anniversary of the day Alabama launched that career, in South Carolina, and they'll be celebrating it on a cruise ship…off the coast of Florida.
The cost of this vacation with Alabama starts around $1,000 (per person) for an inside stateroom, including taxes and gratuities. A balcony room goes for more than $1,500, and "tickets" go on sale March 20. By then you should know who their "friends" will be.
When you take two concerts and factor in the exclusivity angle, the price shouldn't come as a surprise..
Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas
8 nights
February 10, 2013
Fort Lauderdale (return): St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, Labadee
Inside: $429
Cost per day: $61
www.royalcaribbean.com