90’s Cruise – Key West, FL

January 28, 2026

Although we weren’t docking in Key West until 12:30 there was still plenty to do. Tom showered and left to get breakfast while I was getting ready so he could make it to “The Session” with Christian James Hand featuring “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine. I grabbed a benedict (which was very good) and then met him at “The Session”. Even though I am not a big Rage Against the Machine fan it was super interesting.

We stayed in the TRL to see an interview with Smash Mouth that was hosted by Downtown Julie Brown of MTV. We found the lead singer, Zach, to be very funny and thoroughly enjoyed the interview even though we didn’t think that Julie Brown was that great. Zach does a pretty good impersonation of Donald Trump that had me giggling. I guess you can tell that I’m not a Smash Mouth superfan because I had not realized their original singer had passed away in 2023 from acute liver failure and that he had been replaced.

By the time the interview was over, the ship had docked in Key West but we still had to wait for our deboarding group to be called. While we waited I had a fruit flavored tea and Tom got a gelato. I was too chilled to eat gelato and preferred the warm tea instead, and the gelato actually wasn’t included with the food and drink package. I’m not sure why the gelato place was special.

Key West was actually pretty chilly and we were both bundled up in jeans and multiple shirts. I was happy that I had a hat and gloves with me too. We didn’t have anything specific planned, but since we had just been there in November of 2024 it felt nice and familiar and we didn’t feel pressure to have to cram anything in. We started out by just walking Duval Street and going down memory lane from our last trip.

The one thing we didn’t do on the last trip was tour the Ernest Hemingway house (even though it was right across the street from where we had stayed). We thought this would be a good thing to do on a grey dreary day in Key West. I’m glad we did. We had an excellent tour guide who was super entertaining and knowledgeable. After the tour we spent some time walking around the property looking for the famous 6-toed cats. We didn’t find any but I did enjoy seeing all the kitties.

When we were done at the Hemmingway House we walked to the same Key Lime place that we ate at after our bike tour last year. I had the key lime pie and Tom had a version of the pie in a cup. I looked to see if there were any geocaches that I hadn’t done the last time I was here. There was one that I considered doing, but it was a long walk around and we wanted to be back on the ship for the Sugar Ray performance at 6:00, so we did not attempt it.

Back on the ship we grabbed a small bite to eat at the buffet since we knew we would be missing our normal dining time in the main dining room due to the Sugar Ray show. Back out on the pool deck we claimed our spots and ran into Missy who we had sat by at dinner the night before. We chatted with her a bit and even though she had told us the previous evening that she was on the cruise with other people (who had chosen to not go to dinner), we were starting to get the feeling she was by herself and that was something she might just tell people. If that was true, that made me sad if she felt like she had to lie. She was so nice and friendly and I don’t think there is anything wrong with cruising by yourself if it is something you like to do. Before long, as the universe would have it, we ran into Matt and Linsay who then hunkered down with us for the Sugar Ray show.

Sugar Ray has a lot of familiar songs so were excited to see him. Unfortunately whoever was doing his mixing must have jacked up the kick drum and bass because it sounded like shit. It was very difficult to hear Mark McGrath’s (lead singer) vocals. The distortion was so loud Tom went back to the cabin to get his ear plugs. I thankfully had mine in my fanny pack. Even though the sound quality was the worse of the entire week, we still enjoyed the show. If we were ranking the bands they would probably be at the bottom, which seems crazy since they were the main headliner for the week, and who Tom was looking forward to seeing the most.

After the show we went back to the buffet with Matt and Linsay since they hadn’t eaten at all, and we grabbed another small bite. We left the buffet with them and headed to the Headbangers Bar to grab some drinks before the Tonic show. Yes we had already seen Tonic at the pool stage on the second day, but they were good the first time we saw them so why not? As they said, “Come see us as we play the same songs in a different order!” The show was very good and the sound quality was amazing. Tom really enjoyed listening to the bands in that theater. After the show we called it a night as it had been a long day and we needed to get some sleep.