Sunday, June 29, 2008

Recap: The White Escape | Spirit of Boston


I made a daring move and flew-solo for The All White Escape promoted by The Twins & Friends. I got there around 10 p.m. I got free street parking, so I was in a good mood as I headed towards the dock. Then I noticed that the boat wasn't there. Now the flyer had said that 1) Boarding would begin at 10 with the boat leaving at 10:30. 2) Those who paid on-line you would be able to pick up your tickets at the ticket office.

Uh...yeah so none of that happened. First of all, for those of us who bought our tickets on-line had to find people who had envelopes to get our tickets. The ticket booth was not open. And it wasn't like these people wore distinguishing outfits or were in a designated spot with signs or something...no...they were walking around, chatting with friends, and they expected you to find them...errr?

Around 10:15 the boat finally arrived at the dock, which meant they had to get the previous group off the boat and get it ready for our group. So that took another twenty to twenty-five minutes to make that happen. All the while, people are still arriving creating a huge mob scene in the street.

Photo: Picture of the Mob on the Street waiting...

Then this dude makes an announcement that there were to be two lines. One for General Admission and one for VIP on opposite sides of the dock. Okay cool whatever. But they just say it. Nobody moved to help people get to the right area. There were no ropes or dividers, just more chaos and confusion.

Then "they" as we weren't sure who was actually working with The Twins, decided that those of who had tickets had to exchange those tickets for a boarding pass which was on the opposite end of the dock. So if you were in the VIP line you had to wade through 600 people to the complete other side to find the person to exchange your ticket for another ticket that said boarding pass. Makes a lot of sense, hun? Uh- no.

To make matters worse on the boarding pass it said 11 o'clock boarding time 11:30 departure...hmmm okay. I understand that "we" have difficulty being on time, but still...to flat out lie to people...that's wrong, plus if they had their ish together, those of us who were actually on time could of been chillin' on the boat, having a good time waiting for the others to show while the boat was still in port.

Photo: Boston Fab! Mad on the inside.

The madness continued as this already super late boat ride from Hades - as the promoters continued to do last minute VIP hook-ups, taking pictures, schmoozing. I was livid! I am a firm believer if I paid you $ you should be hustlin' to earn it. If you are the organizer of an event then ORGANIZE. Dag! And if thing go wrong at least act like you care. I mean I might have some sympathy if this was their 1st time, but it's annual!!

After all of the craziness I finally got on this boat at 12 p.m. Yes, a entire 2 HOURS late. And do you know what they had to say for all the madness, upset and anger they had created- the DJ stopped his set for a moment to say "The organizers wanted to say that they are really Sorry for the inconvenience." Y'all couldn't even apologize for yourselves? Wow... I mean, can a girl get a coupon for $ of your next event, a drink ticket, a refund??? Ima need a bit more than a second-hand apology.

Photo: The VIP area

And because we were so late getting onto the boat, we had less time at the bar, yup -it closed at 12:30 leaving us a just a little over a half an hour to get our drink on...are you kidding me?? And there was no food - just a cash bar. The only saving grace was there was a bar on every floor so the drink lines moved quickly - after they only allowed people to get one drink at a time - and the drink prices were reasonable. My staple was $9.75. And fortunately the bartenders were heavy handed - I saw this guy went up to the bar and asked for more cranberry to be put in his vodka cranberry - so at least you got your money's worth.

They did not have 4 floors of entertainment because of the weather, and one level was VIP so basically it was 2 floors of entertainment. And the first floor was Latin music - so most people were on the 2nd floor doing the old skool thang.

The only thing that made my night was the crowd. Even though it took forever-and-a-day to get on the boat, they still partied and had a grown good time. You had the two tone pink and white weave, the Yaki Nation, sequins and short shorts, with age range averaging around 35+ It was colorful to say the least. But people were very friendly, I met a couple of people who noticed I was by myself in the line and they chatted with me, let me dance with their groups - shout out to Denice!!, let me go before them, or helped me out when I looked lost. Without such a helpful and fun crowd I probably would have grabbed a life jacket and paddled to shore.

Photo: Crowd getting their dance on

So did the crowd make up for the mishaps of the promoters? Uh, that would be a no.

This Fab! first event of the Twins and Friends was probably the worst organized night I have ever experienced in Boston and their nonchalant behavior only added insult to injury.

This event gets a-non-apologetic F.

So unfab!