Updates

Hi everyone.

I apologize for the lack of blogs over the last week.  I actually have been lazy about writing and we've had a tougher time getting off the ship.  Their are lots of rumors, but in many of the ports, we weren't very close to the town and we didn't have a shuttle for the crew and they (ship's management) was not letting us use the guest shuttles, so not much to report.

Soulac France was very nice however.

Kyle

June 1

June 1

At sea.

WHAT??? June 1???  You’ve got to be kidding me.  In 11 days, I will be back at home in Nashville.  I don’t think I’m ready to go…  I will miss so many of these people that have become friends to me.  Some have become dear friends and will be missed greatly.  Ah, the people that come across our lives.

So, a couple of days ago we were to have a cabin inspection.  It was cancelled, but being that communication around here is VERY poor, we didn’t know about it until later that day.  My room was clean, and for that reason I’m glad I didn’t know it was cancelled.  It was rescheduled for today.  My question is, how does a room that is so small get so cluttered so quickly.  Anyway, I gave it a quick clean and of course our cabins were not chosen for inspection today.  Well, clean cabin for at least today J

I went to go see Verne Lundquist this morning and the theatre was packed.   More so than any of the shows so far this week.  One of the reasons why is that there are about 40-60 mph winds and the ocean is very rough with swells and the wind is pushing us around as well.  I can imagine the doctor on board is fairly busy with seasick patients.  The outdoor activities have been cancelled, so most people don’t have anything to do – can’t lay out, it’s too cold and windy, no golf, ping pong, paddle tennis or mini golf, so…  To the lecture it is.  Anyway, I’m glad there were a lot of folks there as it added energy to the lecture.  He was wonderful and his stories brought back some memories that I had forgotten.

He spoke of his start and the breaks he got to get where he is now as well as some poignant stories about people he has come across in his life.  Went into detail about Terry Bradshaw (his NFL partner for a hand full of years) and Tiger Woods who he has followed as a PGA announcer since the 1980’s (well, Tiger didn’t play in the 80’s, but I hope you know what I mean). 

After the good start to my day, I headed up to the library to do my duty.  This is my first sea day on this ship, but I was warned that the library is always crowded and messy on sea days.  It was messy, but not too bad.  Mia and I finished up in about 20 minutes.  A little lunch followed by Pool side melodies – umm… nope, to windy and cold, but we went up anyway and there were about 7-8 folks braving the cold and wind to get their vitamin D (that is the vitamin right?).  We quickly returned to the warmth on the hallways and back to our cabins – well, I checked the gym first to see if it was busy.  It was not, so back and biceps watch out!!!  It was a good workout, but a bit rushed as I had paddle tennis at 3:20.  I was 10 minutes late, but as I stated earlier, all outdoor activities were cancelled, but just in case someone had shown up, I wanted to explain to them why.  It was extremely windy and walking into it was fine, but after I turned around, it started blowing me to the stairs (I’m on the highest point of the ship at this point).  I guided myself far enough to the side to catch myself on the railing and carefully guided myself down the stairs.  I must have been at a 45 degree angle.  I wish there was a video… J

Now some time to read and record in my diary (blog) until I help with passport distribution.  Then dinner, followed by the rest of my workout (running), then nothing until the night time duties.  You all know what they are now.  Greeting, de-greeting, library and disco.  Hopefully an early night since I am on all day duty tomorrow.

It was not an early night, but it was a good night.  Enjoyed talking with Arthur from Florida via Long Island.  See you tomorrow.

May 31

May 31

Lisbon Portugal.

Yet another country that I can say I have been to.  Today started with me working gangway at 9am and lasted until about 1030.  I sound like to broken record, but the duties we do are basically saying hello, good morning (afternoon, night), have a good day or how was your day?  I’m not saying I don’t like it or it’s pointless, but it does get a bit monotonous after a while.  Went up for some coffee and a muffin, then rehearsal for the singer’s show tonight.  It’s a cabaret style show where we sing songs we like – I think I explained that last time we did this.

The voice is NOT 100% and at this point I’m not sure if it ever will be while on board.  Still the junk in the throat – oh well… Suck it up.

After rehearsal, TJ, Danielle and I took a cab into town (we really should have walked, but oh well) and walked around for a couple of hours.  Saw a tall skinny building with people standing on top, so we decided to check it out.  Turns out it was a national landmark and very nice.  TJ and Danielle (Danni) learned of my fear of heights and exploited it a time or two – all in good fun.  I should get tagged in a couple of photos on Facebook.  In the distance you could see a massive castle, a park area with what we think was their national flag (I’ll have to check that one out) and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance past the “downtown” area with other unique buildings, house and businesses.

We explored some more, then found a little outdoor restaurant to have some snacks.   Our snacks included REALLY fresh fruit and French fries.  Interesting combination, but both were very good.  Some local musicians kept walking by and playing and they were all quite good and of course “asked” for some tip money and I obliged.  Now the beggars, gypsys and salesmen (selling crap), we did not give to and they really started annoying us because it was about every two minutes.  The restaurant staff did their best to keep them away, but to no avail.  Oh well… no biggy.

We started heading back thinking we would need a cab, but discovered that it was really that far.  Of course TJ was convinced that we were heading the wrong way even after we saw the ship.  She makes me laugh.  I had to host afternoon tea and clean up the library.

My plan was to work out after dinner, but I was extremely tired, so I laid down and caught a brief nap.  Right now I am typing this in my dressing room waiting for our show to start – 15 minutes to places.  Break a leg.

Well, the show was fine.  I don’t like the word fine as I think it represents the minimum requirement.  Our rehearsal today was a bit laid back and we didn’t run the run as a show, so a few things were missed.  In the grand scheme of things, nothing that happened was a show killer, but it could have been tighter.  I wasn’t able to really open up vocally because my chords felt heavy (you singers out there know what I am talking about) and I didn’t want to crack.  I did have fun though.  All in all I give the show tonight a B-, or “fine”.

We are in the Atlantic Ocean now and for the first time since I’ve been on board the ship, I actually feel like I am on a ship.  It’s rolling side to side, banging up and down; you can hear creeks and crashes and while I don’t feel sick at all from the movement, I definitely feel different.

Tomorrow is sea day, so LOTS of activities are scheduled for the guests.  My day is spread out and not that bad.  I’ll start the day by attending a lecture by hall of fame sports broadcaster Verne Lundquist.

Goodnight.

May 30

May 30

Cadiz Spain

Cabin inspection this morning.  It’s not a big deal and it makes me clean my cabin, so I kind of like it.  I enjoyed a peaceful morning in my cabin watching Sportscenter (would somebody please explain why the Cubs have so much trouble with the Pirates?), catching up on this blog, and recording my hours from the past week. 

Keely, Mia and I headed out into Cadiz.  YES!!!! We are docked in town, so no shuttle bus is needed!  YIPPIE!!!  Mia and I as you have learned are explorers, so we just explored.  BEAUTIFUL statues were located and kind of lead us on our way.  Lush and vibrant parks with happy smiling faces, lots of dogs and the laughter of children filling the air!  Our walk led us to a garden of great magnitude.  I felt like I had left the city of Cadiz and was walking in a place all on its own.  Unique and interesting shrubs, trees, bird sanctuaries and right in the middle an amphitheater.  It looked like it hadn’t been used in quite some time, but I could imagine the music and theatre adding to the brilliance of this magnificent place.

Our walk led us to a beach (topless), so we didn’t stay there long – Europe is very different than the US.  Anyway, it was nice to have my feet on the sand again.  It was rather hot, so we really wanted to take a dip, but we were not prepared – next time J.  We continued our journey to in search of the center of the city where we had heard there was great shopping and restaurants.  After a few wrong turns, we found it and sat down for a coffee.  Just in time because the sky opened up like it was south Florida in the summer.  It rains for about 5 minutes every afternoon in Florida – or at least it feels like it did.  It was very refreshing and was over quickly. 

Continued our journey in search of free Wi-Fi (internet).  Keely decided to stay and shop, but Mia and I found a coffee shop in an alley with a distant view of the Atlantic.  The service was outstanding and after Mia went inside to pay and as we were leaving the server ran out and tried to give the tip back to us.  It’s not customary to tip, but they were so nice we thought it was appropriate.

We headed back to the ship, I worked out before a function that we help host for repeat guests once or twice a cruise.  After this was over I finished my workout and then most of headed to the terrace café for dinner.  Terra Jo (TJ from Omaha) had a lot of pesto and want to share.  I enjoyed a few bites, then had my customary sushi – YUMMY!!!!

It was my team’s night to work, so that entailed greeting and de-greeting at the show, cleaning up the library and socializing at horizons.  The new band was playing, so no disco tonight.   They are all Ukrainians and speak little to no English, but are singing all the popular American English hits from today and all the way back to the big band era.  We like them!

A few of us hung out for a while after horizons in the crew mess, then Danielle and I watched some TV – well really didn’t watch much TV and mostly talked.  Then of course bedtime as tomorrow is another day.  Good night.

May 29

May 29

Casablanca Morocco

Ummm… I’m in Africa – WHAT???  I’ve now been in 4 continents.  Pretty cool. 

I decided to take a tour today as I wasn’t supposed to have any duties today.  I did mention this to our ACD and he assured me that I wouldn’t.  I was scheduled for a couple of things, but thankfully, they would not interfere with the tour I was going on. 

The tour was called highlights of Casablanca.  I think it should have been called highlight and not highlights.  Overall, Casablanca was very dirty and run down, but the Mosque we visited on the tour was simply breathtaking.  The area around the Mosque was vast, wide open and awe-inspiring.  We were not allowed in the Mosque as you must be Muslim to enter, but we didn’t really have the time to visit inside anyway.  The other “highlight” of the tour was the olive market.  Literally thousands of olives sitting out on plates, trays, bins and bowls.  The smell was very strong, but quite lovely at the same time.  I did learn that Morocco is the 4^th largest exporter of olives.

After I returned to the ship in the early afternoon I had to get ready for my “duty” which consisted of standing at the gangway asking each guest returning to sanitize their hands.  The ship does offer free sanitizer throughout the ship.  Apparently the last time the ship went to Casablanca a ship wide sickness spread, so they wanted to make sure not to have that happen again.  I decided to try to make it fun for the guests, so as they would come close to the gangway, I said “Be Wise, Sanitize”.  The phrase is now copyrighted - J Hee hee

I had dinner, watched a movie and went to bed.  Nighty night…

May 28

May 28

Malaga Spain

Show day today, so we had a tech run early on.  We were “allowed” to go into town today, but not on the free shuttle.  It was 3,50 Euro round trip and a few of us went into town for lunch.  I had to be back early for paddle tennis, so it was a short trip for me.   Very busy city on this Saturday.  Marble walkways and gorgeous buildings (I feel like I say that a lot, but it’s true – GORGEOUS.  Many street performers including a person costumed in all newspaper, including the bench he was sitting on.   While eating lunch several solo instrumentalists traded of playing in the background and created a nice ambience.  However, they all came to the foreground after each song they played to “ask” for money.  This was commonplace at each restaurant we passed and even in the street as there were many performers (including mines – yikes ;-)).  I will say that even though it was a bit overwhelming, at least they weren’t simply begging for it.

Paddle tennis was… well… boring.  I had 2 people show up.  We played 3 games (2 out of 3) and the gentleman barely snuck by the lady.  After that, I had nothing until the show, so a long run and dinner ensued.

This was the first of the last performances of all the shows.  Also to mention, this will be only the 4^th show of each of the shows for me as well (except Groovin since I was sick for that one).  The voice feels almost 100%, but I do still have just a bit of drainage and a cough (still – ugh).  I can say this was the best CON MOLTO (name of the show) I’ve done so far.  Keely’s mic didn’t work, so she ended up on a hand held mic while the rest of us were on our headsets.  It was a bit odd visually, but I’m sure it sounded good.

After the show, the entire cast went to the crew mess to play games.  We played until about 2am – so much fun!!!  Zzzzzzzz

May 27

May 27

Valencia Spain

I would say that I am still not 100%.  I STILL have a bit of a cough and runny nose.  It’s been two weeks and I really want this to go away. 

The General Manager has decided that the crew is not allowed to use shuttles into the ports.  Just to let you know, most (or it feels like it) ports are not just off the ship.  You need to walk a bit (or a lot) or take a shuttle into the city center.  That being said, we were not allowed on the shuttle in Valencia AND it was not walkable, so another day on the ship.  I took advantage of the sun and the gym.  Night time duty included greeting at the show which was Vadim Brodsky (look him up!!!), cleaning the library and socializing at the disco.  All in all, not a bad day.