Humans of Gronk Boat
— -- In our riff on "Humans of New York," we bring you "Humans of Gronk Boat" -- featuring portraits and interviews collected by Sarah Spain while cruising to the Bahamas with the Gronkowskis.
Waka Flocka Flame, rapper, Georgia
Beyond amazing. So far I'm accused of covering up the camera with my shirt and doing $1,000 worth of damage. I did nothing, I was the only black guy in the room. Yeah, I signed a lady when I was drinking a Long Island iced tea. Three hours of sleep every night.
Valerie Robertson, Maine
I love Gronk. I'm 60. I love him in any way I could get a hold of him. It wouldn't matter. Grandmother to cousin, you name it, I wouldn't care. Boyfriend -- I don't think I could keep up with him, but I'd give it a shot for a few hours. I just saw the boat come up on Facebook, I think. I search cruises all the time; I like to go on theme cruises. I've gone on the Rock Legends cruise and Matchbox Twenty's cruise. I came with my girlfriend; she wanted to go more than I did. She's a big Patriots fan, too. It's even better than I thought, I think. Gronk is being just as approachable as can be. We went to a Q&A period and watched him from afar. They were all so cute. The highlight so far was last night when he came up on the stage with the DJ out on the pool deck and most everybody had gone home so we were right up on the stage. We don't like men our age, they're old. The pisser is the first night we went to bed too early but last night we were up 'til 2. Friday night I lost my iPhone and my wallet so I may be stuck in Miami. I was tipsy. I didn't even know they made such a delicious tequila now as that Cabo Wabo that is Sammy Hagar's. Oh my gosh that stuff was delicious!
Theresa Barber, Florida ?
My family has been cruising with Sixthman, this is like their 15th time, and they invited me on. I've been on lots of cruises, but none like this. I didn't know who Gronk was. I'm 49 and married. My husband is at home taking care of the cats and the dog and the kids, who are 18, 20 and 11. They just want me to take a picture with the Gronk. They wanted to come. I loved dancing on the stage with Flo Rida. Partying with my family, having a good time. I've been staying up way too late. I think 3 o'clock last night and the night before was about 4 o'clock. We were dancing with Flo Rida on the beach, too. I didn't know about dabbing, but I just learned about it.
Robbie Rasmussen, Illinois ?
We were at Stretch [bar] in Wrigleyville on my birthday and we love to party so we booked it that night. My buddy had a girlfriend of three years and he said "Can I borrow your credit card?" and she said "OK, sure." She thought he was going to buy drinks but he bought four tickets to this cruise. They're still together.
Rob Hammel, aka 'Underwear Rob,' Massachusetts?
I came for Gronk and all the music and the energy. I heard about it through Gronk Nation and the Sixthman. I'm a Sixthman cruise virgin no more. Highlights have been Redfoo, Flo Rida and, of course, the whole Gronk family. I wanna dance with the Gronk family in their underwear. I'm an underwear boy. I like to be in my underwear. I'm a retired stripper and I wanna dance with the Gronk brothers. My nickname is "Underwear Rob." I'm currently in between jobs, and that's why I'm here right now. I'm using my hardearned leftover money to be here.
Richard and Donna Hiler, Florida ?
It's my 50th birthday and we were looking for some fun. We're not fans of Gronk -- she hates sports and I'm anti-New England Patriots, but we all get along. This is my 30th cruise. We don't do regular cruises anymore, we only do party cruises, like the Groove Cruise, which has house music and electronic dance music 24/7. We're wearing the wigs to get out of character; we're too professional most of the time. We've been married 10 years, and we're trying to up everybody's game. We're gonna stay up late and enjoy. We're not into the fame or the celebrities, we're just having fun. -- Richard
The way he was dancing, that guy [Gronkowski], I laughed for like 10 minutes. -- Donna
Nicole Varner, Georgia
We didn't know Gronkowski was going to be here. It's nice to have celebrities on the boat. We're Falcons fans. My first time on a cruise, we've been hanging out mostly in the regular cruise areas. The [Gronk boaters] haven't bothered us. We've been exploring the boat, finding different things to do on the boat. Eating, relaxing. We've been partying, too. We were just outside at the Gronk party, though. He's a funny dancer.
Mojo Rawley, Florida
Here with all my best friends enjoying a fun weekend, tearing up the town having some fun. I played football at Maryland and the Cardinals and Packers. I had an injury pretty early on, but I was a defensive lineman. I grew up together with the Gronks, played college football with Dan and Chris. Big G is like a second dad to me. I'm with the WWE NXT show. Anytime we've got a free weekend or a couple days off, we always hit up each other see where we're going next. We talked about the cruise awhile back, I think they've been trying to get him to do it for awhile. It's probably a pretty standard weekend for us, just a little different situation. It's been really cool, I'd never met Redfoo from LMFAO and Waka Flocka Flame and Brooke Evers. It's just really cool, 'cause they're all really down to earth people just like us. My role here is to hype up this ship and get people party rockin'. People are gonna be calm and a little reserved and that's where Mojo comes into play, to break people out of their shell. I'm the hype man, of course. Tonight we gotta go support our boy Redfoo and I gave a pregame speech to everybody. Everybody's pretty banged up right now, pretty tired, no one has a voice, everybody's sore.
Lisa (left) and Kristen, Massachusetts
I have two kids -- an 18-year-old and a 16-year-old. My son was really jealous. We went to the beach, they had the Flo Rida. He smells delicious. He sat down next to me to play blackjack last night and I'm like, "I've gotta tell you, you smell delicious. You smell so good. Whatever product you use just keep using it." [My husband] thought the boat was going to be a bunch of young single college men, which it really isn't. There's really a wide [age] range. I feel like there's a lot of people my age -- it was expensive. I got my braids done at Atlantis -- half Bo Derek with pink. I work at a body shop as manager of a towing company, with a bunch of men. -- Kristen
Keith, New Jersey
My girlfriend Alexa bought me [this cruise] as a birthday present. She surprised me. I'm a Philadelphia fan for everything, but a Gronk enthusiast. It's been the best thing ever. We partied with Gronk, his dad, his brother and Flo Rida last night. There was no gimmick, it was the best thing ever. He was in with the common people and we had the best time ever. I can't stress how much this has been awesome.
Kevin (left) and Jake, Illinois
I was born on this boat 22 years ago. Like have you ever seen "Pirates of the Caribbean?" I'm basically Bootstrap Bill. We said "Hey Kevin and Jake, us two, we're very committal into our experimental friendship, let's go on this Gronk Boat." I think if possible it would've been better to have more roommates in our cabin but four people is probably enough. We have a bed coming out of the wall. Have you ever heard of the dance move The Rhino Grind? If you're feeling pretty intense you go own hand, basically pepper grinding your forehead. If you're feeling super intense you put the second hand up and double Rhino Grind your forehead. Gronk pulled me up onstage last night in the concert hall and told me he wanted to see my moves so I taught him how to Rhino Grind on stage. It's probably the best thing we've ever done. Officially we don't want to infringe upon his trademark Gronk Smash, spiking the football, but maybe he grabs the football with both hands, pepper grinds it on his head and then spikes it. -- Jake
John Micci, aka 'Diamonds,' Illinois
?[I'm here] 'cause of Gronk. I love people that know actually how to enjoy good people and good friends and good times. I'm here with my best friend. [A highlight so far] is the Jimmy Pack, a fanny pack that has built-in speakers; we were playing music with it all night.
Greg Best, Iowa
I like partying with my buddies, and I'm here with four other guys. The fact that the celebrities are partying with the rest of the people is great. The goal of the party is to remember that I talked to Rob Gronkowski, and that's it!
Brenda, Florida
I live in Florida but I was from Michigan, where Tom Brady played for Michigan and that's why I'm in love with the Patriots. I love Gronk. I fell in love with Waka Flocka Flame. He signed my leg. He's so beautiful. I was amazed, and he was so nice to me. I kissed him on the cheek.
Taylor and Brad Allworth, Massachusetts and New York ?
We're married but we don't live in the same place. For one year. It's great! [laughs]. I get the bed to myself Monday through Friday. We lived in the same place for almost a year, the year before our wedding. We got married and I was like, "Get out!" No, it was a job thing. We were on the presale for the boat months ago. We've been staying up 'til 5. We've seen Waka Flocka walking around with a beer bucket on his head, Gronk's brother and his little girlfriend wife and some guy in a banana suit. -- Taylor
Andrew Gruber, aka 'Boats,' Illinois?
It's better than expected. Brooke Evers and Waka Flocka Flame were on my shoulders last night at different times during the performance. The Gronks have always had their shirts off, and the Dad is way stronger than anybody else is. I ended up at a pool deck at 4 a.m. yesterday with all of the Gronks and Waka and Flo Rida. Flo is very nice, a very nice dude. I stayed up 'til 6 a.m. on Friday and 4 a.m. on Saturday. I wake up around noon every day. No plans for the last night. If you plan it out it's never gonna be fun, you just gotta go with it.
A.J. Barry, Rhode Island
People keep thinking I'm Redfoo [from LMFAO]. Like eight people a day. I've been doing this hair since high school. I'm a musician. I play guitar, drums, bass. No band, just solo right now. I'm on the boat because of the Patriots. I was actually hoping Bill Belichick would be here. I can see Bill dancing a lot. It's been awesome Gronk partying with everybody, even today out on the beach signing autographs, I thought that was really cool of him.