On Sunday, January 19, we turned back time to the Retro 80’s themed ShipRocked cruise as it began to sail away from the port of Miami. On the deck stages screen, Cameo videos from 80’s legends wished everyone a happy ShipRocked including: Boy George, Lou Diamond Phillips, Billy Dee Willams, Steve Vai, Belinda Carlisle, Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister and more.
To kickoff the show, our favorite cruise director Jonathan “Cookie” Adams started out on the top deck with a boombox over his head “Say Anything” style and then took the stage for an epic Footloose dance performance joined by the Carnival cast and fun squad.
The big sail away moment brought everyone onboard outside with Hollywood Undead on deck as we all jammed out together, giving day one a great start under blue skies in Miami. The 2000’s era rap rock band played their mega hits like “Comin In Hot” and “Bullet.” They also included a new song that we loved called “Hollywood Forever” and led the crowd in a surprising singalong cover of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.”
Plush, a rock band composed of songwriter and guitarist Moriah Formica, lead guitarist Bella Perron, bassist Ashley Suppa, and drummer Faith Powell played the theater. All of the women are between the ages of 20 and 23. The powerful girl band kicked off with “Athena” and “Sober,” ending their high energy set with the 2021 fan favorite “Hate.”
Metalcore band Atreyu played the deck stage on Sunday evening. The band is composed of clean vocalist Brandon Saller, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, and bassist and unclean vocalist Marc “Porter” McKnight. The band kicked off their set with “Drowning” and played songs that included “Save Us”, “Gone” and finished the set with “Blow.” The group released a new album last November called The Pronoia Sessions and will soon go on tour outside of the U.S. beginning in March. They plan to hit countries like Australia, Switzerland, Mexico, and the UK.
California based rock band P.O.D. (Payable On Death) rocked out on the stage in the theater. The band returned once again as legends on ShipRocked, proving to be a staple of rock music on the high seas. Made up of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, bassist Mark “Traa” Daniels, lead guitarist Marcos Curiel, the group has a lot of talent to bring to the stage and are always a ShipRocked fan favorite. P.O.D. played a setlist full of hits including “Boom” and “Alive.”
To close out day 1, Nothing More performed on the deck stage including some special guests. Vocalist Jonny Hawkins took the stage shirtless with his signature black body paint with their stripped-down stage setup for the cruise ship. The three-time Grammy nominated rock group got guests joining in on the fun, singing along to their powerful rock tunes. For “Angels Song,” the band was joined by Atreyu singer Brandon Saller. During “Don’t Stop” P.O.D’s Sonny joined Jonny to sing about their New Years’ resolution.
Stay tuned for more inside looks into the performances and entertainment on ShipRocked day 2!
Words by Emily Cigan @emily.cigan and Amy Harris @thetraveladdictig