RAIN!!!

We are in Naples again today, as this is the very first cruise with a different itinerary. We were just here the day before yesterday. This is going to be a 12 day cruise, with a stop and Katakolon, which is the port for Olympia, Greece. I hope I get to do a tour there. This is also Marie's last cruise, which is going to be hard for me. We've lived together and been each other's best friend on board for 4 months. I can't believe she's leaving - things will be totally different without her.

Today we had an amazing blessing - RAIN! This is the first rainy day of my contract. Marie and I were so excited that we walked around Naples for a couple hours in the rain. At one point we were trying to decide where to walk next, and I said something like, "Lets head back down toward the castle", and it hit me how crazy that is. It has become completely normal to say something like that, but if I was at home, that would never happen. It just stopped me in my tracks for a couple minutes. Anyway, we were so thrilled for the rain that we were whooping and yelling and running around when we got off this ship. I guess I should feel bad since rain is a really bad thing for all the guests, and they were giving us mean looks, but it is such a wonderful change for us, we couldn't help but be happy.

We ate lunch at our favorite place in Naples, and here's a tip: If your ever in a port city and want to figure out if a place has good food and decent/low prices, check the walls for signed pictures of cruise ships. Crews always have time to find the best places to eat, and eat there every time, becoming friends with the owners and leaving signed pictures of their ships in the restaurant. Ha ha. So there's Andrea's travel advice for the day. :-)

Tonight's show is a vocalist named Lindsay Hamilton, who swears she knows me from somewhere. She's actually really awesome to work with and down to earth (unusual for a vocalist). She's a star of London's West End. Yep, another one. We have a new one every cruise. :-) Anyway, I like her and her show is alright (even if we do have to play Don't Cry for Me Argentina and Memory, like we do for almost every vocalist). :-) Alright, I have to be backstage in half an hour, so off I go!

Kusadasi, Turkey

Yesterday we had four jazz sets to play, the first being by the pool. That first set was canceled due to wind. Then the last set was canceled because our pianist was needed at a crew event that conflicted. A few hours later, they canceled the other sets, too. So we had the day off, which was nice. Although it would have been nice to know before that afternoon. Ha ha, funny how things work around here. Since we had the night off, Marie, Ben and I decided to try to eat at casual dining. Usually in order to get in you need to have your manager send an email to the head of your department at lest 24 hours in advance, and then they in turn get permission from the restaurant manager....and so on and so forth.... But, after about an hour of waiting around and going to different people's offices, we were able to squeeze our way in. We were surprised that it actually worked, and enjoyed our dinner very much.

The crew event that required our pianist was called the "Celebrity Idol" competition, and about 8 people competed. The event was held in the theatre, with lights, costumes, fog, and everything. It was really well done. Our cruise director Stewart hosted it, and performed at intermission as well as opening the show by singing while wearing an officer's uniform. Mark Donaghue the really nice guest entertainer volunteered to perform for free as well, and the crew really loved that. A couple of our friends competed, which was fun to see. First prize won $500 dollars, and the winner really deserved it. He is a Filipino man with six kids at home who works in the Food and Beverage Department, and he blew us all away with an amazing voice, plus incredible stage presence. It was funny because he was actually the first to perform. None of the others compared, although one was really entertaining - one guy had dressed up in such a way that when he was facing right, he looked like a man wearing a suit, with a beard and mustache and short hair, but when he faced left he looked like a long-haired woman wearing a formal dress, with jewelry, nailpolish, and completely shaved face. Its a bit hard to explain how he did this - it would take too much time. But anyway, he sang a duet with himself - he would face one direction and sing like a guy, and then face the other way and sing the girl part. It was absolutely hilarious. Marie made a video - I'm making sure to get a copy. So anyway, the crew talent show type thing was really awesome and tons of fun.

Tonight we're doing something new - playing one set of big band music at some exclusive Captain's Club event. It should be interesting - I'm looking forward to doing something different.

Pireaus, Greece

Yesterday I got an email from my friend Jennifer, and she told me she was still stuck at the hospital in Athens because she wasn’t stable enough to fly. Because of port traffic, we changed the order of the ports this cruise, so we were scheduled for Athens today instead of later on in the cruise. I took the opportunity to go and see her again, as she said in her email that she was bored out of her mind. It would have been weird to be here and not go see her. Plus there was some mail for her, so I brought it over. I had an interesting time finding a taxi – all the ones in the port were very expensive, and the drivers told me to walk further from the terminal and they would be cheaper. So I did, and I was in the process of flagging one down when another taxi that already had passengers pulled up nearby and rolled down his window and yelled for me to come over. I was confused, but went over, and he said, “You’re going to the hospital, right?” I couldn’t believe it! I guess he must have helped last time we were here, but I don’t remember him….Even if he was the driver last time, what are the odds that he would be driving by at just the right moment? It was a small miracle. So he took me straight there, charged me only half what the others were asking, and dropped me off before he took the other passengers wherever they were going. God was looking out for me!

So I just had a lovely visit with Jen for a few hours, which was fun for me and great for her. And now I’m sitting in line at a Greek Bank waiting for my number to come up so I can exchange money so I can get a taxi back to the port. Otherwise it’s a pretty long walk. Ha ha. Well, my number’s coming up next, so I’ll be right back….

..And I'm back! I made it back alright. Last night something amazing happened at the broadway show! After it was over, the cruise director had all the cast come back on stage supposedly to acknowledge the fact that we finally have a full cast again since Robyn has returned after some surgery. He told the audience that her absence had been particularly hard on the singer Justin, her boyfriend for several years. Then he took something out of his pocket and gave it to Justin, saying, "I think you wanted me to hold this for you during the show." It was a little box...(can you guess what happened??) Justin took Robyn's hand and went down on one knee and asked her to marry him! In front of everyone! She had no idea he was planning anything, and was so surprised (as were we!!). She said yes, of course, and then some of the activity staff shot off some confetti canons. It was awesome!!! I cried a little. :-) So now they are engaged. Wow!!

Sea day

Tonight is the Broadway Show again, and unfortunately since it is a late show I can’t make it to church tonight. The second show won’t start til after 11pm, maybe not until 11:30. Definitely one of our longest nights.

Marie’s boyfriend Tom was just informed that his contract has been shortened, and they are sending him home tomorrow. They gave him only 2 days notice. Of course, Marie is pretty upset because while she knew he was leaving, it wasn’t supposed to be so soon, and on such short notice. None of us were expecting this. It is hard for me to see Marie so upset. This is a pretty rough transition for her. Pray for her if you get the chance. I hope that she is able to enjoy her last two cruises here even though he is gone, and that she and I will still be able to have a great time together.

Rome was really fun the other day with Marie. We went to St. Peter’s Basilica, and saw the tombs of the popes, including the late Pope John Paul II, and then paid a few euro’s to climb to the top of the dome in the basilica. It was pretty impressive. After that we walked all the way across Rome again, looked inside a bunch of gorgeous churches until Marie was getting tired of it (I’d be like, “There’s another one!” and she would give this big sigh….like, “not again”). We ate lunch at an authentic Irish Pub, and met a French guy who had lived in Ireland for 5 years and then moved to Rome. That was pretty neat. Marie talked to him in French. Anyway, we were exhausted by the time we got to the train station on the other side of Rome and slept the whole train ride back. It was a really good day. At the end of this cruise it will be Marie’s last chance to go to Rome, so we’ll probably go again. Yay!

Napoli

Today I woke up around 9:45 and went upstairs to have breakfast with my friend Donné during her break. Since she is activity staff, every port day one of them stays on board and runs events for those who stay on board. But in Europe hardly anyone stays on board, which means that most of the time she shows up to start an event, no one is there, so she waits 15 minutes and then when still no-one shows, she has a break until the next event, at which point the process begins again. So after we ate breakfast, I followed her around for a bit to these events that didn’t happen. ☺ It was fun, and gave us a great chance to connect and talk about our faith. It is wonderful to have a Christian friend who is my peer to talk with. Unfortunately she leaves in a month, but I really want to take advantage of the time that she is here. She’s very sweet, is actually a professional dancer, and has a neat South African accent. I like her a lot.

After spending the first part of my day with Donné, Marie and I went to the gym for a while, then woke up Ben (our trumpet player) and the three of us went out for pizza. Naples, or Napoli, is rumored to have the best pizza in Italy (which is saying something), and I think I agree. But I didn’t have any today – I tried a pasta called Gnocchi…which it turns out I really don’t like. Oh well. I’ll probably go back to pizza next time. When we are in Naples we always go to the same restaurant, and the owner knows us well and is a really nice old man, who actually worked on ships for years and years. He always treats us very well, and brings us free bread, along with real olive oil and balsamic vinegar to mix and dip our bread into. Its really good.

After stuffing ourselves there, we decided we wanted to take a walk. We discovered a nice park, plus a yacht harbor and some nice coastline. Ben says he wants to bring a fishing pole out here next time – I think I’ll come with him and bring a book.

So now I’m back on the ship, checking some emails before going to practice a bit. Tonight we have jazz sets – mine is at 10pm. After that, we have a team meeting (Entertainment Department), then I’m going to bed right away so I can wake up early for Rome tomorrow. Marie only has 2 more chances to go, including tomorrow, so she and I are going. Woohoo! I’m excited. Rome is always thrilling because there is so much to see.

Kusadasi

Things have been a bit different from normal the past couple days. On our way to Istanbul right after my last post, one of the engines broke down. They were able to fix it by morning, but as a consequence we arrived several hours late into Istanbul, and all the tours for the first day were cancelled. Marie and I still went out, to a huge mall (bigger than the last one!) and saw a movie. Doing that really makes me feel like I'm back at home. It was really fun. We got back to the ship around midnight, and then I made some phone calls from the calling station right next to the ship and stayed up late. In order to give people time to see Istanbul, we delayed our departure on the second day, which then meant that today we didn't arrive in Kusadasi until after noon (We're usually here by 7am).

For some strange reason, our production manager decided to schedule our rehearsal for the show tonight at 10am, which is very unusual. 2pm is the earliest we've ever rehearsed. And then he slept in and didn't even show up for rehearsal....we were a bit frustrated with him. Anyway, we had rehearsal in the morning, with Jennifer Fair, a vocalist. She is normally a bit of a challenge to work with, and we discovered that in the morning she is even more of a challenge, if you know what I mean. It was a long rehearsal. :-) But the nice thing about that is that we have the whole day in Kusadasi with no rehearsal to come back to the ship for.

Marie's boyfriend was able to get a couple hours off work to come out to lunch with Marie and I (which is amazing - he's only been able to get off the ship with Marie one other time), plus most of the band and a cast member. We went to the same restaurant that I had my birthday lunch at, because it is just so nice there. It was a really nice, relaxing afternoon. And now I'm borrowing free internet from Burger King. I bought a Pepsi, though, so its ok. :-) Anyway, these delayed arrival times are confusing me a bit - I think tomorrow we might still be behind. Its actually a nice change, though - really any change is nice when you are doing exactly the same itinerary for several months.

We had Big Band sets last night, which is the hardest thing that we do, in my opinion. It went alright, but unfortunately they were late sets, so the last one started at the same time as church, so I had to miss it. Instead I went to bed as soon as we finished, around 12:30am, so it would be easier to get up in the morning and be ready for rehearsal.

Robyn, one of our two female vocalists, is coming back tomorrow! She was home for some surgery, and so the cast had to get very creative for about a month in order to cover her parts in the shows. They did a fantastic job, and I'm sure no-one would ever suspect that they were missing a key actress. Oh, and last night one of the male vocalists had laryngitis and couldn't sing, so they had to get even more creative. But they manage each difficulty really professionally. I'm really proud of them - they've made it through a lot. They've got one month left on board before the new cast comes, which will be very strange for me! I've gotten very used to seeing them play these roles- it will be strange to see the same shows with different people. But nice to have some new faces on board as well.

Well, I think I've written too much for this post already...thanks for sticking with me, faithful readers! ;-)

Prayer request!

Hello, everyone. Last night just before our first show, my friend Jennifer (the A/V technician) took quite a fall, and she has broken her collarbone. The doctors believe that is the only part of her that is very badly injured, but they aren’t completely sure. She’s in pretty bad shape, and I spent the morning with her and helped the nurse bring her to a doctor on shore today. I also packed all of her things, because it is certain that she’ll be going home, and staying there at least a month, hopefully returning after she’s healed. Please pray for her as she’s on her own now, and traveling with that kind of an injury can’t be fun. Also, she wasn’t planning to return home so early, so pray that everything will work out when she gets back – that she will find somewhere to stay, and that the ship’s insurance won’t be a problem. I appreciate your prayers for her healing and her spirits (possibly the worst part about this whole thing is that today is her birthday), and I am going to miss having her here. I’ll let you know when I have more news. It’s a bit scary how quickly things can change.

On a lighter note, right now we’re on our way to Istanbul again for our overnight. I’m pretty excited because this time around not only am I not on in-port manning (1/3 of the crew always have to stay on board – it’s a rotation) but we actually have the night off as a band! Usually we’re playing jazz sets or big band and can’t get off the ship until late, but tomorrow night we have off, so we’re basically free from the time we dock in Istanbul until the time we leave the following day. I’m taking a tour in the afternoon and early evening of the first day, and then I think Marie and I are going to go out and see a movie. Exciting! It will be so nice not to have to rush back to the ship.

Tonight we play for Nicola Loud again, the violinist whose show and whose personality I really like. Our rehearsal went really well, and its always nice to have likeable performers to work with. A lot of the singers can be a bit diva-ish. But not Nicola – she’s wonderful, sweet and down-to-earth. And a darn good violinist. Well, off I go!

I got mail!

Today was a wonderful day! It started out alright - I had planned to go to Rome and spend the day with a girl on Activity Staff named Donné, who I recently discovered is also a Christian. Unfortunately, the ship has been put on Yellow code, and then Red Code (I know, kindof like red alert and yellow alert on Star Trek...I think they stole that idea from real ships) due to people on board getting sick and quarantined. Being on Red Code means that we can't eat anywhere upstairs - we can only eat in our mess hall, and the mess hall gets rid of all tablecloths and sanitizes constantly, and you can't get your own food, someone with sanitized gloves has to serve you (so it takes a long time for everyone to get food). Plus they take away the salad bar completely. Also, teams of people can knock on your door at any time to bleach and sanitize everything in your room. You have to be careful when walking 'round the ship not to rub up against the walls, or the bleach will ruin your clothes. And finally, on embarkation day, no-one is allowed off the ship until everything has been deep-cleaned and sanitized. Since in order to get to Rome it is necessary to leave early in the morning, Donné and I weren't able to go.

So, I slept in a bit, and then got off the ship around 11:30 when things were alright again. Things are now back to normal, and the Red Code has been cancelled. Hooray! Anyway, I ended up going out in Civitavecchia with Jennifer, a girl on A/V. We ate some interesting pizza (potato and mozarella) which was incredibly good, and then wandered around the city for quite some time trying to find the grocery store. We were lost for a while, but I didn't mind at all. It was nice to walk around and explore the town. There's a lot more to it than I realized. We came back to the ship and had a couple hours before boat drill and then dinner. Our call time for the welcome aboard show was at 7:30, and someone called me just before to tell me I had mail!! I could have waited, but I wanted that mail so badly that I ran down there right then and almost made myself late for rehearsal. I got it, and brought it all up with me to the theatre. After the run-through, instead of taking a break I stayed on stage and opened it all. It completely made my night!! So, thank you's go out to my mom, my wonderful family, Grandpa and Lola, Sheena, Chris, and Abraham! Thank you all so much for reminding me that you care and that I am not forgotten! It lifted my spirits more than I can say. I was in a great mood all night, and all those letters came at just the perfect time. I love you all so much, and I am reminded again that I'm not alone out here or forgotten - I have a wonderful family at home praying for me and "counting down the days." Again, thank you all so much for taking the time to send those letters. It means so much to me. I love you! Thank you!