Soap Cruise '09 Recap

My friend Stephanie who went to the Soap Cruise last weekend has allowed me to share with you her recap.
She is someone I have a great deal of respect for. A few months ago she came back from a deployment in Iraq and this woman fixes helicopters. That pretty high on the coolness scale at least in my world.
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Soap Cruise '09 Recap

After going through security and finding our stateroom, we wandered down to the Soap Cruise Registration/Check in and first Meet and Greet with the stars. The crowd was thick but it was a very intimate setting. The room was a small ballroom/bar and all the stars were there except for Ricky Paul Goldin who had to work and would later join us in Key West. Also not there was Alicia Minshew who was filming scenes and was unable to attend.

Bradford was there of course as was his girlfriend Kiera. She is really pretty and was very sweet in the brief second I spoke to her. I mentioned that they looked tired and she said they took the red-eye in. Bradford was a sweetheart and knew who I was when I mentioned that I was the girl that wrote him from Iraq. I didn’t talk to him for too long because there were other people waiting and he seemed tired - sweet, but tired. Basically, he asked if I was glad I was back – I am. Lol. And I got a picture with him.

Then we moved on to Cameron Matheson who was very kind and very good-looking. I got my picture with him and told him my best friend Michele was a huge fan of his from Dancing With the Stars so he said “Well this picture is for Michele then.”

Then we waited for Greg Vaughn. He really was a very sweet guy. And someone truly wupped up on him with the purrty stick. He chatted with G for a minute or so, then he chatted with me – asked me where I was from and I told him that I was from NY but stationed in Kansas. So we talked about the deployment thing – he knows some people that lost relatives. He was really nice. He wanted to know if I wanted an autograph – so I was like “Uh – yeah sure.” But my book was not turned to his picture and so we had to look in it to find him. And he joked that I was not prepared as we both looked in the booklet. Then there were some girls in line waiting that were very rude and making nasty comments about how “yeah – she should have been prepared – that is how it is done.” and how long we were chatting. Then G shot them her special patented combination Mom-slash-Step-theBLEEP-off-

Beyotch look and they shut up. LOL - YAY G – my defender. You could also tell Greg was not too thrilled with their comments because he proceeded to chat longer and sort of pull me back from them. LOL.

All the other stars were there. But we did not talk to any of them at that time.

That evening we were sitting talking to some of the press people (who, by the way were cool and awesome!) and Bradford walked by and waved goodnight.

Later we saw several stars at the tables in the casino. They looked like they were having fun.

We went to Key West the next day and G and I shopped and there was a very pretty Israeli guy in one of the stores that flirted shamelessly with us to try to get us to buy something. LOL. (Later on in the cruise G told me that I am the “United Nations of Flirting.” LOL – I have NO IDEA what she is talking about! ;) )

The next event was the so-called trivia game/meet and greet. The whole thing was ridiculously poorly organized. This was not necessarily the actor’s fault but they did not seem to know what they were supposed to do. They made Bradford do his Bradford/Spinelli/Bradford transformation. Nadia Bjorlin told all the guys to turn around so we could see who had the nicest butt – several of them complied including Bradford. (I have to say, his was nice – lol) But the rest of the event was weird. Bradford said virtually nothing but was talking to Jacob Young and Greg Vaughn on the stage. The only question he was asked was who wrote his lines. He said “oddly enough – the writers.” LOL. He didn’t say it in a mean way – and the asker laughed because she realized it was kinda a silly question after all. But he gave his standard answer like the writers were nerds trying to show how many big words they knew. Christian LeBlanc and Austin Peck were the loudmouths and were very funny. Greg Vaughan mentioned that Lucky and Sam were pretty much done and that Lucky and Liz were probably getting back together. There was much audience reaction to this. He mentioned that he got more airtime with Sam though but seemed resigned.

The meet and greet afterwards was nice. I waited to talk to Bradford and this time, he asked lots of questions about my deployment and the Army. He was really inquisitive actually! I was neglectful and didn’t ask anything about the show. Then there were other people waiting so I said my goodbyes.

That night was formal night and the stars had a private dinner so they weren’t in the dining room but we did see Bradford at the elevators later. He saw G and I and coming down the stairs – he complimented us saying “you look beautiful!” – we blushed and reveled in the glow. But we then bantered that it was formal night and that everyone looked beautiful. ☺

The next day we went to Cozumel – the Mayan ruins were amazing and the tour guide Jesus, was incredibly knowledgeable about history and the site. I want to take my son back there some day.

The next day was the Soap Scenes and the Bingo game. We did not attend either – due to getting up kinda late, wanting breakfast (I need my bacon and coffee) and forgetting to set our clocks back. Oh well. We got to the Bingo game towards the end when the guys were playing with the soundboard and goofing off. Then there was another meet and greet.

I spoke briefly with Bradford again – it is weird to me that I was completely comfortable talking to him. He really set me at ease and was interesting to talk to – so much so that I kept forgetting to ask him anything about the show. I asked if they had a chance to go to Cozumel – They went on the horseback trip. I told him about the Talum ruins. G took a picture. Then I left him so he could talk to the other people waiting.

Ricky Paul Goldin showed up on Saturday night and there was a meet and greet with him – it was supposed to be a “dance party” but it really didn’t turn out that way. (Again, I was not really impressed with the organization of the events.) We went because Myrha is a fan of his – by the time we got there, only he and Christian LeBlanc were still there. I spoke very briefly with RPG and then we talked with CL for a bit – he is really funny – then one of the guys covering the event came over with a video camera and wanted us to do a promo – the other girls were shy and CL was hopped up on Sudafed so I did the promo – I cannot wait to see it. (I say that with extreme sarcasm!)

I told CL that he was a charmer and that while I don’t watch his show now, I might have to start.

The cocktail party was incredibly crowded and the room was hot. All the stars were there and so it was really crazy.

I was able to talk to Kiera for quite a while. She was very nice and fun to talk to. We talked about all sorts of things. She told me that she watches GH when Bradford is not there – LOL I guess he gets squidgy about watching it with her there – I don’t know if he watches on his own or not. ☺ Bradford tried to come over to join in the conversation but kept getting pulled away by people wanting pictures, etc. He was quite busy. Then someone wanted a pic with her and Bradford together so I wandered over to talk to some of the people that we had gotten to know including Devin Owens who writes for Soap Opera Digest covering B&B and Y&R – he is a doll and was the most fun to talk to. His story about his interview with one of my idols, Donnie Osmond was fascinating. G and I miss him terribly.

I decided to go and say goodbye to Bradford and was able to have a lovely talk with him. He really is a kind and genuine person. I was happy to get to meet him finally. I finally remembered to talk to him about GH. He was excited about the work he has been doing and the stuff coming up.

I have to say that I am more a fan of Bradford than before – not because of his work on the show – but because he was so great to his fans, interesting to talk to and kind in general.

Our last dinner was bittersweet. We closed down the dining room. Bradford and Kiera waved goodbye as they left.

We will miss the people we met on the ship like Myrha, another fan we met onboard and our wait staff Jorge, Anton and Tipi as well as Cathi who worked at Cova Café and Vincy our cabin concierge.

To G: “Hola Poppy!!”

Random impressions:

The actors were so impossibly beautiful that I am pretty certain George Lucas and Industrial Light and Magic were involved in some way.

Greg Vaughn is very genuine and was so wonderful to all his fans – spending extra time with them, smiling all the time. I am a bigger fan now than before.

The mean girls who were making rude comments while I was trying to talk to Greg showed up at our table the second night (ugh). One was hawking her shoe invention and her friend was “friendly” with anyone she could be. And while I could say a lot of things about them – if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all – so I will leave it at that. ;)

Random sightings:

Rode in elevator with Windsor Harmon and had to tell him where the casino was, though I had seen him there on several occasions.

Leslie Kay and Don Diamante in the Sushi bar/salad bar dining room having dinner with their families. They were a couple tables away. Leslie’s boys are adorable. Several fans stopped to talk to them but we left them alone.

Spotted Cameron Mattheson in Key West with his family.

Jacob Young was getting back on the boat from Cozumel at the same time we were. He and his brother-in-Law were goofing around and yelling “Hey Chloe!! Hey Chloe!!” I think it was alluding to the fact that someone had asked Nadia Bjorlin a question the day before but called her by her character name, Chloe – that is my and G’s impression anyway.

The actors liked the casino and that was the place to be to see them. Greg, Windsor, Jay Johnson, Brandon Beemer, Nadia Bjorlin and Bradford were seen there more than once. We also spoke with Don Diamante and his wife briefly. Very nice people.

Greg Vaughn likes his hat.

And that was about it!

Stephanie (aka Bela)
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Other Soap Cruise 09 recaps (some already posted)
Soaps.com http://www.soapsdev.sheknows.com/coverage/event-17-news

Tv Guide Canada http://tvguide.sympatico.msn.ca/Live+from+the+Soap+Cruise/Soaps/Features/Articles/090123_Soap_Cruise_blog_NB.htm?isfa=1