Sax at Sea: Kenny G Hosts Cruise to Alaska

Will the seas be as smooth as the jazz?

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Kenny G performs as part of the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at Fair Grounds Race Course on May 1, 2011 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Just when you thought you’d come as close as possible to partying with Uncle Kenny, the legendary pop saxophonist took it one step further: Kenny G is now the proud host of “The Kenny G Cruise To Alaska.”

While Kenny G most recently spent his time chilling with Katy Perry in her video for “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” where he was credited with a sax-solo appearance as “Uncle Kenny,” he’s into a different kind of chilling for his cruise, which kicks off from Vancouver and travels to several locations in Alaska.

He’s not the first entertainer to do so; indeed, R. Kelly’s “Love Letter Cruise,” a New Kids On The Block cruise and even a Rosie O’Donnell cruise are among Kenny’s antecedents. But he’s one of the first to match freezing temperatures with his cool jazz—most of those other celebrity cruises head to the Caribbean to maximize their party potential.

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From what he describes, the cruise is set to be a classy affair—with”great music, I promise,” he adds—replete with coffee, martini and wine bars as well as various luxury arrangements. Shopping, gambling and relaxing at a spa are all possible on the cruise, as is the ability to view the Hubbard Glacier as his luxury liner sails past it. The musician will also assume hosting duties for the “shore excursions” on the cruise, which at the moment include the towns of Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway, Alaska.

In recent years, Kenny G had been relatively quiet aside from the unnervingly smooth sounds of his instrumental jazz. But in 2009, Weezer dropped him a line and his musical stylings appeared on their album “Raditude.” Aside from his cameo in Katy Perry’s video, he appeared on stage in October with hipster favorite and equally unexpected collaborators Foster the People, playing soprano sax on their song “Houdini” during their performance on Saturday Night Live.

NewsFeed is excited about the cruise, but maybe not as much as Kenny G: the ship actually leaves port on May 17, 2013. He’s hawking an early booking package a year in advance, which expires by January 15, and personally appears in a YouTube video as excited as one suspects the most soothing of jazz musicians can appear to be.

Either way, let’s hope the early excitement (either yours, eager NewsFeed reader and Kenny G fanatic, or the enthusiasm of the man himself) isn’t for naught. Last time we saw that kind of cruise anticipation, Bret Michaels left countless Rock of Love fans extremely unhappy.

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