Countdown to Bermuda

Today we begin our last cruise through the Bahamas, and I will have to say my goodbyes to Nassau, Freeport, Great Stirrup Cay (the private island) and Port Canaveral.  I'm a little bit sad - I especially liked being in Florida, but we are all getting really excited for Bermuda.  Three overnights in a row - we will have so many chances to get off the ship and organize outings.  

But we're not there yet!  I plan to wear myself out this week, doing as much as I possibly can in all the ports and taking all the pictures I've been meaning to take for a while.   

Last cruise I kept myself pretty busy as well.  I helped out in the kids center again, and now have my own NCL kids crew T-shirt, which my favorite kid from last week signed.  Besides helping out Stacey up there, I did something else new - helping with the Park West art auctions.  They always need an assistant to register the bidders and then to record the auction as it happens, writing down sales and such.  It was actually really fun to do - I also learned a lot about art as I was working.  And did I mention it pays?  Yep, ten bucks an hour - a great way to help offset the money I spent shopping in Port Canaveral last Thursday (a lot). :-) 

This next cruise, starting today is also going to be really different than anything we've done before.  We are missing a lounge act (solo guitarist had to go home), so all the scheduling is going to be different than before.  Up until now we have done the same thing on each respective day of the week, and I always knew exactly what my day would consist of on any given Tuesday or Friday or whenever.  This week it will be a surprise day to day, playing in new venues and at different times.  Its nice to have a change, really, despite the fact that it will be a bit more work this week.  

Sea World!

Here's a few photos for you!!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080335&l=dda8d91b82&id=56903845

On Thursday in Orlando five of us took off early in the morning on the way to Sea World!!  We rented a car and Brett drove...actually I should say "hired" a car since I was with four English people and that's how they say it.   I was with Andy, Brett, Francesca (dancer), and Claire (concierge).  We made it to Sea World by 10:15am, and had a really amazing, full day there.  Highlights for me were the two shows we saw, one with dolphins, tropical birds, and aerial acrobats, and another with Shamu and fellow orcas.  It was so nice to get away and do something so remarkable for the day.  But, we did pay for it....we got back to the ship just before sound check, had barely enough time to change before the show, and had a full night of the high-energy show "On the Radio" before finishing at 11pm.   Believe me by then all I felt like doing was snuggling up in bed and watching a little T.V. before falling asleep.  

There have been a few blessings for me this week which I'd like to mention.  Yesterday was the last sea day of the cruise, and this week Andy organized a guest talent show.  We were involved in a couple of the acts, but the best one by far was the final woman, who sang How Great Thou Art with so much passion that it made almost everyone cry.  Seeing her worship with her incredible, huge voice and her face and smile was so encouraging.  Another blessing I had this week was this past Easter Sunday - a pastor came on the ship and gave an Easter morning service, which I really enjoyed.  He also made a point to find me later on in the cruise and encourage me to stay strong here on the ship.  Thank you, God!!

Fifteen Minutes Before Showtime

Five nights a week the showband lives and performs in the Palace Theatre, a smallish cabaret-like venue on Deck Six aft, which seats about four hundred and fifty people.  I start getting ready about 45 minutes before the show, showering and deciding on my black outfit du jour, sometimes taking the time to put on some makeup to avoid 'glowing in the dark' so to speak, in the spotlights.  

Our call time is at least fifteen minutes before showtime, although sometimes a few of us are there a bit early warming up.   The backstage area isn't connected to the stage where we perform, so when we show up for our call, we are already on stage, behind a curtain.  That space is barely big enough for the entire band, and we live together within that oval created by the back wall and the front curtain for fifteen minutes before every show, twice a night, 5 nights a week.   The horn line always stands for every show, so if the curtain ever closes you can bet we've all put our horns down and are crashed out, sitting or laying on the ground for 5 or 10 minutes, however long the break is.  So here's a picture of our typical night:

Andy arrives about 20 minutes before showtime, but after getting set up backstage he goes out front to do "doors" - welcoming guests as they arrive in the theatre.  Alex arrives first, sitting in his back corner running some bass licks.  John Mason might arrive second, usually with Jon Kratzer, who warms up on trumpet while Mason sits at the piano and accompanies himself while singing random songs in a high voice.  I arrive next, and play through a few warmup exercises, before running through any tricky stuff coming up in that night's show.  About halfway through my noise-making, Alejandro and Tim wander in and sit at the guitar and drums, respectively.  I have to take a break in playing to let them squeeze by me.  I finish warming up and running stuff, and sit down on the floor, back leaning against the bingo machine (covered in a bright blue cloth) that is my constant right-hand man on any night in the theatre.  About the same time I sit down, Alejandro starts strumming a rhythmic groove on guitar, or Alex starts playing a funky bassline.  Tim finds an appropriate drumbeat, and the three of them groove together pretty loudly for about 5 or 10 minutes.  Occasionally the rest of us join in and improv along.  Sometimes its an actual song we all know, sometimes its just a fun groove.  About three minutes to showtime, Andy comes backstage.  The first thing he says is "Oh, shut up" in his British accent, which the trio reluctantly do, followed by, "lets do it, guys." Or, "same crap again, guys" for the second show.  I make sure my music is all ready to go, put my headphones on and adjust the volume, and make sure my spit valve is empty one last time.  There's about a 20 second calm before the storm, then the house lights go down, house music fades out, curtain opens, and we're on.   

Great Stirrup Cay and volunteering

Great Stirrup Cay is Norwegian Cruise Line's own private island in the Bahamas, which we visit every week.  Its right next to Royal Caribbean's island, and several others, but its all ours. Its about half a mile wide, 3 miles long, and has enough facilities to make it comfortable for guests, like bathrooms, beach chairs and umbrella's, hammocks, picnic tables, a buffet, a bar, and any kind of water activity you can imagine, from snorkeling to parasailing.   We can't dock there, so we have to use tender boats to get ashore, which are usually crowded.  The trick is to go on the early morning crew tender that is loaded up with all the supplies needed for the day (food, drinks, ice, etc).  That way you have a guaranteed ride over and you beat all the guests there.  Last time we were there I did some exploring on my own around the island, before settling on the beach for a while.  It really has a lot of vegetation and wildlife, and is a neat little place.  Next week I plan to hike to the old lighthouse, which is about 2 miles away on the far end of the island.  

This week there are a lot of younger kids on board, over 500 under 18.  The youth team, led by my wonderful roommate Stacey, find themselves a bit understaffed, needless to say.  Since I don't work a lot of hours, I offered to help here and there, if Stacey needed an extra pair of hands.  Now, all the youth team have nicknames with the kids, summercamp style, to make things easier.  (To give you an idea, some of their names are: Sunshine, Acorn, Jello, Scooter, Cricket, Spacey) They have only these nicknames even on their official NCL nametags, and often just call each other those names all the time, even when off duty.  I was told I needed to pick a nickname to go by with the kids, and that it should start with the same letter as my name.   I am excited to announce that I now have a nametag that says....Abracadabra!  Ha ha....I really get a kick out of hearing the kids call me that, and I've been having a blast helping out this week.  Last night I went to a kid's dinner with them and sat with a couple tables of kids, and they were absolutely tons of fun and so hilarious.  Every five seconds or so one of them would want my attention, and yell, "Hey Abracadabra! Did you know...."  I was just grinning all night.  And I've convinced them that it is my real name, because my parents are actually both magicians with their own magic show and named me after their magic word.  :-)  Its so much fun...I can see why people become kindergarten teachers, mom! :-) 

Andrea goes to the races.

I had absolutely no idea what I was in for when I got off the ship this morning in Charleston.  Almost immediately after leaving I started to see scattered people in running gear, some with numbers pinned to their shirts.  As I got closer to King Street, things got more and more packed with people, to the point where it was almost impossible to move around on the streets.  Unawares, I was heading toward the finish line of the Cooper River Bridge Run, a 10k event that had almost 40,000 people running.  No kidding.  After safely ensconcing myself in Caviar and Bananas (the coffee shop...just to clarify), I looked the race up online. It's here: The 32nd Cooper River Bridge Run and Expo | TheDigitel.com I had no idea it was such a big deal.  Charleston is a bit of an exciting mess today, with so many people everywhere, runners who have finished the race relaxing in every corner and in every café, the streets littered with paper water cups, and more pairs of Nike's than I've ever seen in one place.  I spoke with one middle-aged runner who had just finished the race.  She does it every year since it falls near her birthday, as a celebration of another year of living and good health.  After successfully completing the race today, she plans to go home and drink copious amounts of vodka until she passes out, then sleep the rest of the day.   Hmmm.  

This has been a week of running into the unexpected.  Besides the race today, last Thursday I was walking in Cocoa Beach, Port Canaveral, and turned the corner to find a huge marching band giving an outdoor concert at a Ron Jon surf shop.  I couldn't believe my good luck!! I love marching bands.  They were a high school band from Beaver City, Ohio, on their spring break tour.  This was their last concert after spending the week around Florida at all the Disney Parks and Universal.  What luck to turn the corner and catch them performing!  And I tell you what - they were REALLY good.  Drum corp good.  It gave me warm fuzzies to watch them, made me miss my marching and drum corp daysm and brought back memories of going on that same Disneyworld band trip 6 years ago.  I just loved it....how lucky was that?  

Anyway, today is an absolutely GORGEOUS day in Charleston, and I'm going to head over to a park to sit and soak it in, while making my weekly phone calls.  Today begins another new cruise, with a new pianist I have yet to meet.  Hopefully this will be the last change of band members for the rest of my contract.   His name is John, and I look forward to meeting him later this afternoon.  

Cape Canaveral

Good morning everyone!  Today I decided to spend the day on my own, exploring a bit and running errands.  I had my first payday this week, and today I found a Bank of America that is really easy to get to, which will make depositing my money really easy and safer than it usually is on my contracts. No more mailing money orders or hoarding cash for months at a time.  I'm also hoping to track down a Ross to do a little shopping later today, since we are allowed to wear our own "smart casual" clothes around the ship and I didn't bring very much with me.  

Last night was Brett Cave's main show, and I must admit I just really enjoy doing it.  Its now my third week performing his show, and I still love it.  I think I owe my enjoyment to the fact that you honestly never know what's going to happen during his show. There's a lot of spontaneity involved, despite the fact that he has the show planned out word for word.  We always end up departing from that norm at some point or another.  I also genuinely enjoy the music, and last night was another moment where I just smiled to myself onstage all night thinking how lucky I am.  What a wonderful job I have!