Phan Cruise!

During the month of August I learned about a phantom of the opera phan cruise being offered through World Yacht Marina in Manhattan. I wanted to go on it and be a part of it so Shawn agreed to buy us two tickets as a first anniversary wedding present to me. Can't argue with any presents that are Phantom related! (Especially when they were at my suggestion.)

Boarding the boat!

The Phan cruise was arranged to be a two hour cruise sailing through Manhattan. The ad for the cruise promised (or at least I thought it promised) Phantom of the Opera music for two hours and a brunch. The cruise took place on September 15, 2013 leaving the world yacht marina from Pier 81. The weather was pretty nice that day, sunny and beautiful! Perfect for sailing a on a yacht. Boarding began at 11:30 and the cruise set sail at 12 PM.

Hanging out and pretending to be rich on the upper level of the yacht

We explored the boat, scrambling to the upper level to get away from everyone for a few minutes after we boarded. A few minutes later we entered the cabin of the ship, we gave our names and waited until our brunch table was ready. Once our names were called we were shown to our table, we ordered some coffee and OJ and got a plate of food each. Normally I do care about the food I'm eating and I yelp the restaurants I go to but my mind wasn't really on the food much more on the phantom aspect of the cruise. I wolfed down one plate because I was hungry and so was Shawn and than once my belly was filled up I focused more on the cruise and phantom part of the trip.

Manhattan Skyline

When we boarded we were given group numbers and raffle tickets. While we were eating and setting sail the cast members of phantom who boarded the ship to set sail with us were introduced. Setting sail with some phans and some random rich people were Mary Michael Patterson (currently Christine on Broadway), Christian Sebek (currently Piangi on Broadway), Tim Jerome (currently Monsieur Firmin on Broadway), and Laird Mackintosh (currently Monsieur Andre on Broadway). Hugh Panaro wasn't there, I kind of figured he might not make it.

our table

 The phantom of the opera music that I thought would be played for 2 hours straight only played for a total of maybe one hour during boarding and during certain parts of the cruise. For the rest of the cruise they played random music. The cruise consisted of half rich people enjoying some time on a yacht and half mediocre and hardcore phans. During the cruise they gave away a few raffle prizes and hosted 6 different group sessions where you could meet the cast members on board. When it came time for my group to go up I stole one of the posters off the ship (they were being taken anyway), ripped off the tape from the back of it and shoved the tape in my camera bag, and pretended I had this poster all along for the cast to autograph. I got my signatures and a photo with Christian Sebek and Mary Michael Patterson. When the ship was docked and we were waiting to get off Shawn and I actually chatted fora  few minutes with Christian Sebek. Shawn predicted he'd be a pretty awesome dude to chill out with for a few minutes and his assumption was correct. Once the ship docked and we were back on land we got complimentary magnets.

Privileged and happy to meet some chill cast members!

Overall it wasn't a bad cruise for the price. Even though they didn't play all phantom music for the 2 hours I still got to cruise on a yacht, drink a glass of champagne with my husband, meet and mingle with a few cast members and obtain an autographed poster that could out value the price of two of the two boarding passes we paid for.