2 to go!!!

We have 30 days left on board!! I know this because my friends Adrian and Christy keep very close tabs on our slowly approaching sign off day. It will get here very quickly, I'm sure, since it breaks down into only 2 voyages. Yikes!! This next one is the one I am most excited about - I finally get to visit Israel!! I'm not sure exactly what I'll be able to see, but whatever tour I manage to get will be wonderful. I hope to see Jerusalem and maybe some other spots as well. I may get a chance to get out to the pyramids in Egypt again too, hopefully. Then our last voyage is one to the warm canary islands. One last bit of sun for me before I head into the winter of home. Last voyage was only 5 days and went by very quickly. We had so many young people that the shows had quite a different atmosphere than usual. Last night we had a special guest come and do one song during the act. His name is Ross King, and he is a TV presenter who works out of LA now, I think he does the weather a lot (Daybreak, Lorraine??). Anyway he sure acted like he thought he was a big deal. We backed him up for one song (Mack the Knife, dad) and he did a few jokes with the comedian who is his buddy and he is travelling with. Anyway I'd never heard of this guy but the crowd reacted like they recognized him. I tried to care....it didn't work too well. He seemed a bit arrogant and full of himself to me, though that could have just been the way his nervousness on stage presented itself. But he has been up to Lake Arrowhead and we chatted about that for a minute which was cool. Always nice to meet someone who's heard of it. Anyway this adds to the list of people I'm met that are famous in the UK but don't mean anything to me. :-) Today we are in Southampton - it is like our little oasis in between voyages, though only for a few hours. Its a nice day, despite the chill. I can't believe I only have one more turnover day here before we sign off. Today I'll be back on board to be the facial demo girl again. Yay!!

I can't remember if I've mentioned anything about my roommate or not. Her name is Naira, and she is a petite, dark and beautiful violinist in the string quartet. The quartet all come from Russian-speaking parts of the Ukraine, I think mainly Kiev. Naira is Armenian by nationality, however, having moved to the Ukraine with her family when she was 13 years old. She is thrilled to have me as a roommate as she gets daily English practice that way, something she works on diligently but is still not confident with yet. I am picking up some Russian along the way from her and her friends, as well as many of the dancers and two in our own band. Yesterday I surprised her - the phone rang, I guessed it was for her and answered the phone in Russian. I was responded to, at which point my laughter along with Naira's gave me away. But I had him fooled for a minute. He said I sounded Russian. :-) Today begins our 5 day little getaway to Amsterdam, Brugge and Le Havre. Since it is such a short voyage, we aren't wasting any time doing our short teaser Welcome Aboard Show, (or WABS as its called by us) we are starting right in with one of the cast's big production shows, Hotel Royale. We aren't in this one, which means our first night will be a dixieland set in the pub. We now have little white waistcoast vests that we stole from the bar department. We wear them over our blacks and hope no one orders a drink from us while we're playing dixieland. As I write New Zealand is about to take on France for the Rugby World Cup, on their own home turf in Auckland. This is such a huge thing for the country - I am supporting my All Blacks and wish I could be there!! If you get a chance you should check out a video of the team doing their "Haka" - its a traditional Maori war chant taken and adapted. They do it before the game to strike fear in the hearts of the opposite team....it gives me goosebumps. Its about to come on tv as the game starts very soon. Exciting!! They had better win. :-) I know all my friends there are watching!!

Sunny and cold! That was how we found the mediterranean this week. Our first two ports in Spain and Greece were warm and lovely, but then the cold really caught up with us. In Spain I was lucky enough to get on a tour to Seville, which is about 2 hours drive from our port of Cadiz. It was worth the drive! I loved wandering around the city on my own. I saw three starbucks in one block, but the cathedral and the Giralda was really spectacular. I walked past the famous bullfight arena as well, and had a wonderful lunch. It was fun to wander around the narrow streets of the old Jewish Quarter as well. I went on quite a few tours this voyage, actually, I guess making up for last voyage where I did everything on my own. In Cephalonia, Greece my tour took me to Melissani Lake, and to Fiscardo, a lovely seaside fishing village that was so idyllic. So after two lovely sunny days I stepped off the ship in Dubrovnik, Croatia expecting nice weather, and was shocked to find an icy wind cutting right through me. As I was on tour, I didn't have time to go and change, so I actually ended up taking my guide's advice as she pointed me to a cheap little store where I could buy sweat pants. Which I did. :-) The highlight of the day was taking the cable car to the top of the hill and admiring the view of the old city of Dubrovnik and the coastline. I enjoyed it much more than I would have without my new "trousers" as the English call them. Our second day in Croatia took us to Korcula again, and I had a really great day doing a riviera cruise. Despite the wind, the views were gorgeous, and I was lucky enough to have another friend of mine escorting the same tour on the same boat, plus my Australian friend Gareth who is the videographer happened to be assigned to the same one. We really enjoyed having friends to wander around with, and I got to helped Gareth with a few of his shots. It was such a great day, we all agreed we'd picked the best thing we could have possibly done that day. Venice!! I wandered around the city with my friend Jane, who has informed me that I am her new "port buddy." She is the assistant printer on board, in charge of printing all of the daily programs, as well as the newspapers and menus. She is American, on an internship from RIT university in Connecticut. We took our time wandering and shopping for masks, admiring the workmanship. We knew there was a crew party with a Venetian theme that night, and since I had already mailed my previous mask purchase home I thought I'd just buy a cheap one to wear that night. Well it turns out I like the expensive ones much more than the cheap ones.....I really fell in love with one that was a bit nicer, all turquoise and gold. I had passed it up, but when fate brought us right back past the same shop an hour later (quite a coincidence in Venice!!) I finally gave in and bought it. :-) Today we are in Gibraltar, our last port of call for the voyage. We have quite a different voyage coming up - its only a 5 day cruise, with an overnight in Amsterdam. We expect the guests to be a bit younger, I know the kid count is going up from 5 this week to 135 next week. :-) My friends in the nightclub band are hoping for a great crowd for their venue, and we are hoping our late show (10:30 every night) will be more full than it has been.

Notes on a Transatlantic Crossing

distance since first port of call Southampton: 6987.3 nautical miles
distance from last port of call Corner Brook: 1486.1
distance until end port of call Southampton: 1090.1
latitude: 51.57.19
longitude: 27.45.96
speed: 18.5 knots
wave height: 14.8 feet/4.5 meters
heading: 91.5 degrees

Stretching on the gym floor after a workout, while behind me and in the mirrors the dance captain teaches a routine to the replacement dancer that came last week. Lots of shimmy-ing.

Trying to run on a rocking treadmill.

The cruise director forgetting the name of the guest entertainer whilst introducing her to the stage…..pausing for a very long dramatic effect as he scrambled to find it. The second show she held up her name backstage in bold capital letters for him to read, which nearly caused him to laugh too hard to make the announcement.

Sleeping in until 1pm because the ship is gently rocking and you have no idea what time it is at all, and you don't work til 4:30 anyway.

The satisfaction of knowing I am changing the world - there is now tofu and soy milk in the staff mess for me. As of this morning I had my first bowl of cereal of the contract.

The unwelcome news that we may be passing some icebergs around 2 or 3 am, but don't worry, it shouldn't be a problem….

Reveling in the gloriousness of having all the watertight doors on B deck open 24 hours a day. Instead of going up and over and down, I can just go around the corner. I can even walk all the way to the front of the ship without using Burma Road, and without being stopped by a WTD every 30 feet. Fantastic!

Going to a Russian's birthday party with the naive expectation that you will be able to avoid the vodka. Nope, the birthday boy always makes it their personal responsibility not only to bring enough for everyone, but also to personally double check that everyone is drinking it.

After 3 and a half weeks, guests still can't remember their cabin numbers.

What day is it today?? Nevermind the day of the week, is it day 3? 4? 2? How many sea days do we have left? Where am I?