By Fred McFarlin:

It had been exactly twenty years since the last Parrothead Cruise sailed out of the port of Los Angeles and cruised down the Mexican Riviera, with a musical lineup that included Jeff Pike and Hugo Duarte. As a number of our West Coast friends told us, it was “about damn time” to do it again! Parrothead Cruise 2025: Bailar En Mexico returned to the West Coast and by all accounts was another roaring success. As with all Parrothead Cruises, it kicked off with a well-attended (albeit chilly for SoCal) Bon Voyage party, this time at the lovely waterfront Doubletree San Pedro. Trop Rock OG and Parrothead Cruise alum, Jerry Gontang, made the trek down from Northern California to be our headlining entertainer and was later joined onstage by Bob Karwin, Jeff Pike, and Erica Sunshine Lee. We were also joined by contingents from the area's Los Angeles and Orange County Parrot Head Clubs. The next morning, the cruisers all made our way to the Port of Los Angeles and boarded our home for the next seven days, the Norwegian Bliss.

Once onboard it didn’t take long for the festivities to begin and the colorful Parrot-phernalia to come out of fully-loaded suitcases! Our first event was the Welcome Aboard Rendezvous, where everyone picked up their cruise credentials and special event tickets. Cruisers also had a chance to pick up some unique prizes in our basket raffle, the first of a number of fundraising opportunities during the week. The Welcome Aboard party was followed that night by the “Definitely Not a Pub Crawl Pub Crawl” – a chance for our Parrothead Cruisers to discover the places where many of them would be spending a large amount of their free time: the ship’s bars. There wouldn’t be much free time for the next six days, though, with our jam-packed schedule of parties and performances by our fantastic onboard entertainment lineup consisting of Bob Karwin, Erica Sunshine Lee, the Jonas Lorence Band and our very own Jeff Pike performing as a duo with Coral Reefer Robert Greenidge!  In addition to our fun onboard we enjoyed port stops in Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. Speaking of Cabo, a Parrothead Cruise wouldn’t be complete without a rocking In Port party and 2025’s – held at the world-famous Cabo Wabo Cantina - may just have raised the bar. Although transportation issues in the port between NCL and the local tender company unfortunately kept a small number of our cruisers from being able to attend, over 200 Parrothead Cruisers did make it to sing and dance along as all of the cruise’s musicians shared the stage – including the previously mentioned Jeff Pike (back after 20 years), Bob Karwin, and Erica Sunshine Lee, the Jonas Lorence Band, and Robert Greenidge. The cherry on top was a guest appearance from the one and only Nadirah Shakoor, flown in especially for the afternoon. Parrothead Cruise 2025: Bailar en Mexico was definitely a Party, but in true Parrot Head fashion, it was also a Party With a Purpose. When the dust settled and all bills were paid, the cruise netted over $63,000 for several of the top charities working to fight breast cancer. We look forward to seeing everyone on Parrothead Cruise 2026!