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.