So often in life when you make a decision on something, you are sometimes left wondering if the grass is indeed greener on the other side.

After seeing the amazing talent assembled at this year's BPM Festival in Playa del Carmen, I was skeptical about whether or not I had made the right decision in choosing to explore Miami's 72-hour Groove Cruise instead.

Managed by Whet Travel, the Groove Cruise Miami embarks from the bustling Port of Miami on the last Friday of January, with 2,200 partiers in tow from countries such as Canada, the UK, Australia, Norway and, predominately, the United States.

Similarly to the BPM Festival in Playa del Carmen, the Groove Cruise's draw is the ability to enjoy dance music in the sun, with sparkling white sands and the turquoise Caribbean Ocean as its backdrop. While there are over 40 djs playing music around-the-clock on the Norwegian (Sky), the luxury liner does make two daytime stops at the Norwegian Cruise privately-owned Great Stirrup Cay Island in the Bahamas.




With a cap of 2.200 people, there was room to move on the ship's deck, in its nightclub, its dance hall-transformed theatre and during the raucous private island party - unlike the BPM Festival, where many of its events were heavily congested.

And one cannot say enough about the wonderful service on the Sky. From the plentiful and tasty buffets, to the mouth watering dishes in the restaurants, to the prompt and friendly house keeping/cabin steward from the 800-person crew, one is very well taken care of and attended to from the minute you board the vessel.

So when I was reading the media reports about the extraordinary service provided on the Carnival Cruise "Triumph" vessel, despite it being adrift for five days with mechanical problems, I was not in the slightest bit surprised. The cruise ship industry is big business, with its second-to-none service a big reason for that.

Ferry Corsten, Sander van Doorn, Darude and Funkagenda were the big names on the mostly commercial Groove Cruise. But the floating festival did have some bookings for those who like their music with a bit of an underground grittiness, with djs such as Anthony Attallah, Ivano Bellini, Mind Control and Saeed Younan.

One of more interesting moments for me was when a 'random' saw my Canadian flag during one of the festival's theme parties and then, after a few words, proceeded to ask me if I knew who "Dead Mau Five" was.

Another interesting and rather sobering tidbit was seeing someone sitting about five feet from the dance area on the rear deck having their coffee, sausage and eggs while others were dancing away the early mornings wearing gaudy face paint or areola-covering pasties. Being on this cruise ship with dance music blaring at all hours affords oneself to eat, shower, sleep and dance at the time of his/her choosing, but it also makes for some odd juxtapositions like the aforementioned one.

The refreshing thing about the Groove Cruise is that it isn't only about electronic dance music on a luxury liner, it's about self expression as well. The show isn't only about the djs, it is also about its spirited revellers and their outlandish costumes.

In being a first-timer to this festival, I was anticipating a lot of hysterics .. but this Groove Cruise far surpassed that expectation even.

I was stunned

So at the end of the day, I really cannot say I enjoyed this over the BPM Festival or vice versa for that matter. It seems one festival has something the other one doesn't. The BPM line up is far superior to the Groove Cruise, depending on your personal tastes and at 72-hours, the Groove Cruise is rather brief. Also, it is an allure for couples, and there were many of them, but the guy-to-girl ratio was more even than BPM.

However, once you are on the Norweigan Sky, the whole experience feels very much like a VIP one. It is like staying on a floating five-star hotel but with even better service, better scenery and far more entertainment.

And after hearing about the viruses that swept through BPM and rendered many of its attendees sick during and after the festival, I've come to the conclusion that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

During the Groove Cruise the grass on my side was a very nice shade of turquoise

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Originally posted by Ravemontreal Once I took a piss in front of everybody at Stereo. Put the garbage under the mixer, and did it right there while people were dancing and screaming. people thought I was playing with the mixer but I was playing with my zizi.

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Originally posted by Enjoy a classic from the aria days: me: are you on TA? girl: uhhhh... im on speed

Last edited by Spin Laden on Apr-13-2013 at 16:18