We had three sea days on this 7-day cruise. On these days, Capital Jazz provided activities and seminars in addition to the music brunches. Some of the activities included workouts with celebrity fitness experts such as Donna Richardson. Traci attended these daily workouts. I went to the AfricanAncestry.com seminar presented by Gina Paige, one of the company's founders. The seminar provided information about tracing your roots through DNA back to the civilization of your ancestors. They also did a live reveal of the ancestry roots of comedian George Wallace and R&B singer Dwele. A few months after returning home from the cruise I ordered a kit so that I could find out my ancestral roots. It turns out that my paternal DNA matches that of the Mossi People in modern-day Burkina Faso and my maternal DNA matches that of the Akan People in modern-day Ghana - interesting stuff. Some of the other events we attended on sea days were Name That Tune (I did okay) and artist Q&A sessions. There was much more happening on the ship than what we were able to attend.
Legends of Hip-Hop Panel: DJ Kid Capri, Naughty by Nature, and Monie Love
The passengers on this cruise appear to be mainly middle-aged and older. I saw a lot of familiar faces from the previous Capital Jazz cruises we have done. Because there were almost 1,000 more passengers on the ship than in previous years, it took a few days before I actually ran in to people I knew from other Capital Jazz cruises, Tom Joyner cruises, or from the DMV area (DC/Maryland/Virginia) where we live.
Saxophonist Walter Beasley
Gospel Artist Smokey Norful
Fitness Guru Donna Richardson
Comedian/Actor Michael Colyar spent a day in his PJs
There were theme nights again this year. We participated in most of them. Traci was too sleepy to go to the 1 AM Costume Night so I had go by myself as half of our Colonial Couple plan. I did not win a prize but had a good time checking out the creative costumes of our fellow cruisers. Here is a list of this year's theme nights.
Black and White Night
my Colonial Man costume for Costume Night