Lori and 9 actors from the 2007 Soap Cruise!
It was a long week of anticipation waiting for the cruise. Christine the editor-in-chief emailed me, and called me to give me all the info on the cruise. Besides the cruise, I had also won the chance to interview any of the stars on the cruise. This was a no-brainer for me because one of my favorite soap stars is Tyler Christopher “Nicholas” on General Hospital. I made up a list of questions and sent them to Christine. All I had to do now was wait for the day of the cruise to arrive.
Finally, the day was here. I worked in the morning teaching my first grade students. Then, at 11:30 I left work and my husband and I were on our way to the boat. We checked in and made our way to the Xandau Lounge for the Meet and Greet with the soap stars. The stars did not disappoint me. They were all standing around and posing as a group with all the fans for pictures. It was great watching them pose and interact with the fans. They seemed to be having as good a time as the fans. I was anxiously standing in line and after a short wait it was my turn. I immediately went up to Tyler and nervously introduced myself. I told him I won the contest and was going to interview him. He was very nice and put me at ease immediately. He shook my hand and told me how nice it was to meet me. I then took a picture between Tyler and Jacob Young, another one of my favorites. My husband got in the next picture, (he was one of the only men there) and I asked Julie Pinson to stand next to him. It was a great start to our cruise. My husband and I left after the pictures and wandered around the ship.
That night we went to our pre-assigned dinner table. Dinner turned out to be a highlight of our trip. We were assigned a table with other soap fans. We all bonded immediately and spent the rest of the trip hanging out at all the events together, and spending our evenings at dinner recapping the day’s events. Even my husband, who has never watched soap in his life, had a great time with everyone.
The next day we spent in Key West. My husband and I walked around and took in the sights. We had a great time. After Key West we went to Celebrity Bingo with the stars. It was blast watching all the stars call numbers. They were very entertaining. During bingo Christine from Soaps.com came up to me and told me Tyler wanted to do his interview after bingo. I was a mess. I wasn’t expecting to do the interview until the next day. I went and got my questions ready and after bingo we went to a corner of the room for the interview. Christine went to introduce my husband and I to Tyler, and he totally impressed me when he told her he had met me yesterday at the Meet and Greet. I thought that was amazing of him to remember. Tyler is so nice and down to earth that he put me immediately at ease. I wasn’t nervous at all sitting next to him. I asked him all the questions on my list and he answered each one. Tyler did not disappoint me at all. I knew I had picked the right star to interview. We talked a little about his fiancée, and when he planned on getting married, and of course about his character Nicholas. Christine and Julie told me I was very professional during the interview and didn’t seem nervous at all. The interview was the highlight of my trip. I felt like Barbara Walters!
Lori Kaplan, Windsor Harmon & Ysaac Kaplan
That night my husband and I were walking around the ship and we saw Tyler and his fiancée sitting and looking at their laptop. Tyler waved to my husband and we just stood around and talked to him and his fiancée for a while. They seemed like regular people so nice and genuine.
Saturday morning we were invited to the VIP breakfast. Only 100 fans got to attend. We sat with the stars and had a great time just asking them questions about themselves and their characters. After breakfast we floated around the ship for a while and then went to catch a cab to Playa de Carmen. Somehow we ended up at the cab stop with Winsor Harmon ”Thorne B&B” and Don Diamont “Brad Y&R” and Don’s wife. We took a cab with them into town.
Don and his wife were very nice and we talked for a while, but Windsor has that Texas charm. Windsor is one of the nicest stars we met. He treats everyone the same, and has no airs at all. Windsor was a real gentleman.
Saturday evening we went to see Cameron Mathieson and Alicia Minishew
They had just arrived on the cruise because of their work schedule. They did a short question and answer session for the fans that was fun. You can tell they have real chemistry between them by the way they interact with one another.
I have to say the highlight of the trip for my husband and I was the fabulous cocktail party on Sunday. We got a lot of one on one time with all the stars.
First of all I spent about 20 minutes talking with Cameron’s mother. Not only is she young looking, (I couldn’t believe she was the mother of a 38 year old) she is just so nice. I even commented to Cameron how much I enjoyed talking with his mom. My husband insisted on taking a picture with her. After talking with her, I went to look for my husband who was taking pictures with Tyler. We then talked to Tyler and his fiancée for a while. She is also very sweet and nice. I was telling her in front of Tyler how I won the contest and just knew that I had to interview Tyler because he is one of my favorites. Tyler then turned to me as we were talking and said, “thank you for picking me.” I was flabbergasted. I thought what a nice thing to say to me. It really made me feel good. I want to thank Tyler for being so gracious and wonderful. I truly had a wonderful time with him. Meeting Tyler was a dream comes true. My husband and I took pictures with all the stars at the cocktail party. Every star was nicer than the next. We even went to take some pictures with Winsor who we just loved. My husband told Winsor what restaurants to eat at the next day on South Beach. Winsor even invited us to come meet him for dinner. We couldn’t go because we had to go back to work. Maybe next time! I made my husband give Winsor his card; I told him if he ever comes back to Miami with his wife to call us. When I went back to work and was telling everyone about how nice the stars were, they didn’t believe me. The cocktail party was so amazing; I could go on and on.
A few more cruise highlights I want to mention, Christian LeBlanc is just as funny as can be. He had everyone laughing all the time. He is great! Every single star that was on the cruise was wonderful. They posed for pictures with fans all the time, and never minded. I want to thank our wonderful dinner table Sandy, Ann and her daughter Jodi, and Renee for everything. You are all great! Also thanks to Christine and Julie from Soaps.Com for the cruise, helping me with my interview, and everything. I have told everyone to read Soaps.com. Also thank you each and every star that attended, you made all of us fans feel very special! This was the trip of a lifetime and my husband I will never forget it!
(Photos courtesy of Lori Kaplan)
Thank you again,
Lori and Ysaac Kaplan
It was great meeting both of you!