Transatlantic Cruising

Natalie Brown is a singer in our Production Cast from Australia with a powerhouse voice and a super spunky personality. She has her own show on the longer cruises, and has asked Merrick and I to be her backup dancers. Even though we are only dancing for her in two of her songs, it adds variety and something different to the show to keep the energy up for the audience. Two days ago we learned to first dance to ‘Stuff Like That There’, a Bette Midler song that I have personal attachment to from way back. The moves that we do behind her are very simple, in the style of pin-up girls, but very cute. It is the first time that I have gotten the chance to do something like this, and combined with the costumes and getting the chance to perform an extra night, I’m loving it.

Due to our 7 days at sea and the increased volume of older passengers, we are no longer allowed to eat in the passenger areas for breakfast or lunch. This would normally be fine, but the dance classes I have been teaching with Diego are occurring everyday at 12:15, smack in the middle of lunch at the staff mess. I could get up early to grab breakfast at the mess from 6-8am, but if you know me then you know how important those sleeping hours are in affecting my conduct throughout the day. After class I have to run downstairs to grab something before they close it down, otherwise I can’t eat until 6. As is my body has gotten used to eating something around 5ish so its taking some getting used to.

Last night we ate at the Murano, the ships specialty restaurant for a belated birthday celebratory dinner for Merrick and myself. I have never had such a fancy eating experience before. The waiter pulled my chair out and placed the napkin on my lap for me, and as I ordered my wine he brought the bottle out and described it as I approved the selection before he poured the whole glass. This restaurant serves in 5 courses, so I had the Escargot Torellini, the Goat Cheese Soufle, the Mozzarella salad, and the Venison…followed by the Crepe Ballon Rouge for dessert. The food comma that I slipped into was mind and body numbing, and reminded me of Christmas back home. We were all so full that by the end of the meal we started getting slightly delusional and giggly, and to any stranger you might have thought we were well on our way to drunk, but alas, it was the fullness setting into our stomachs.

We still have 3 more days out of a total of 7 until we reach any land, and these days at sea have been so uneventful, that we all get excited when we have a show to do so that it gives us something to actually look forward to at the end of the day. Our first stop is Ponta Del Gada, in the Azores, and a few of us have signed up for a crew excursion throughout the island to take a tour of pineapple groves, the ribiera grande, and a fire lake. I’m told that it doesn’t really matter where you go or what you do after those 7 days at sea, just that you get off the ship and touch land.

For those of you back home in the northeast, please enjoy this time of the season for me as spring turns into summer. It is my favorite part of the year so bask in the May sun and think of me in the middle of the Atlantic.

Rest=Happy Cast

This particular charter has been an interesting contrast to the age demographic that we are used to performing for. At the Welcome Aboard show, we had a whopping crowd of 15 people and at ‘Dance Around the World’ we had 17. Last night the comedian performed and the theater was full, all 700 seats were filled. Tonight will be our last show, ‘A Touch of Broadway’ at 10pm, and judging by the turn out for the previous shows we are not expecting much. Not to mention the pool party that will be going on from 9-12, which is where most of the guests have been spending their time enjoying the party band and the free wine and beer purchased by Best Buy.

Though slightly annoying and discouraging, this cruise has been a blessing in disguise. On the last 5-day cruise, the seas were particularly rocky, and even though it only took me a day to get used to the feeling my legs had to work overtime while we were performing to stabilize my standings let alone jumps and turns. Because people haven’t found it necessary to leave their pool chairs and free beer, we have been able to treat each show like a dress rehearsal and save ourselves that extra 20% which makes a huge difference in energy reserves when your performing as much as we do.

With each cruise, our cast gets a little closer, and it gets easier to accept our circumstances. Ship life takes some getting used to, but I think I got the next 5 months under control.

And, I'm back

I have neglected you for the past few days and I apologize. The current cruise I am on is a five-day cruise, and these ones are a lot more packed with work then the other ones will be. In addition to the shows and rehearsals, the new cast members still have a list full of training that we need to complete, so our schedules have been pretty tight. My days have been as follows; wake up at 8 or 9 for training (safety or first aid or security), then to the theater for a tech run of the show we will do that night, then I may or may not have time to shower and/or nap before the show. Food is sometimes worked in there, but I have gotten very good at holding off my morning hunger pains until 11ish, mainly because I have no choice in the matter. When we do get the chance to eat, we have to get dressed up to go into guest areas; otherwise we can eat in the staff mess during certain hours. For dancers this food layout isn’t very conducive, because we perform at night from 6-11ish depending on the times of our two shows. By the time we get our costumes off and put them away, everything is closed. The restaurants only offer nuts, and the crew bar sells Pringles, so my timetable of food has become very erratic.

The cruise that I am starting now is a chartered cruise for Best Buy, a younger crowd you can imagine. We have been warned multiple times that the ages are going to be closer to ours, and to remember the boundaries between guests and crew. We docked in Miami for an overnight before we head out tonight for CoCo Cay, Nassau, and Key West.

Last week when we were in Miami I met up with my grandparents and my Aunt Sue, and I was able to take them on the ship and show them the areas that I frequent on a daily basis. After we wandered around the Century for a bit, we met up with my cousin Tiffany for some lunch. It was nice to be able to see my family, because up till now it feels like I am living in an alternate fantasy universe where I get paid to be on a dance vacation. Yesterday a few of us took a bus to South Beach to catch some rays before coming back to the ship for ‘Sizzle’, and the Welcome Aboard show. This is the second to last time we will be porting out of Miami before heading to Europe.

I am starting to get the hang of all this; throwing nautical terms into my everyday vocabulary, telling time military style and rolling with the changes of time zones every few days, and getting to know the people. The dress code rules are still taking some getting used to, and I even went out in Miami today to make some purchases so that my attire will be more suitable for guest areas.

As for my lack of blogging, I will try to not let it happen again. As a first timer of a 5-day cruise I had to devote most of my time dealing with the lack of sleep and food, but things will all turn around after this cruise is over. 5 more days and were off.

Cozumel...No Names

Last night we did groove in the crystal room, which is a lounge with a dance floor in the back of the ship. After we did the dance on the stage, we dispersed into the audience and posed among the people like statues. We aren’t allowed to talk to them, or smile, so it was a little difficult to keep a straight face as people are coming up and posing with you for pictures. I sat down in a both next to a couple and just stared at them, and luckily the big white sunglasses I was wearing allowed me to look just above their heads so I didn’t have to see them laugh at my black short bobbed wig and my tight white dress with holes in the hips. It was really fun to interact with the guests like that, and after teaching a couple dance classes to them with Diego, it was funny when they tried to figure out which one was me.

Diego and I have taught two dance classes so far on this cruise, one two days ago and one this morning. We’ve taught the waltz and the cha-cha. The guests on this ship average to an age of about 60, so it is absolutely adorable to teach them all in class. Most of the older couples know more about the dances then we do, but the class always picks my day up a little, even more so when they say hello to me in the buffet line or after my shows. Most of them want to know my story; where I come from, how long I’ve trained, and so on. Yesterday I chatted with a couple who lived in Marlboro, Ma, so they knew exactly where I have been and where I live.

We also had a boat drill for the crew this morning around noon, which included the announcement and the alarm letting us know that we needed to report to the correct life raft stations. Out on the deck, we stood in our life vests in groups around the outside of the ship for about 15 minutes while they called our numbers for attendance check.

After boat drill and a quick safety training session on how the life rafts open up and get lowered, we changed into our bathing suits and ran as fast as we could off the ship and onto the sandy beach of Cozumel. There is a bar right off the deck called The No Name Bar, and it is a designated spot for crewmembers of ships that dock there. The drinks and items on the menu are named after cruise ship positions, for example; the vegetarian section is called ‘the dancers’, with a garden salad called ‘the dance captain’. We spent a lovely 4 hours or so swimming and drinking frozen rum drinks in the pool with a swim up bar, or out in the ocean on the raft loving the sun and the heat.

Tonight we have a run through of ‘Liverpool Knights’ and then we do Sizzle on the pool deck at 9:15 before we leave Cozumel at 10pm. The small amount of time we spent off the ship today helped me solidify the reasons why I am doing this. I wasn’t having doubts about the job, because the opportunity to dance is really all I ever need, but being able to enjoy Mexico for a little bit was wonderful and we will be doing just that on the beaches of Greece and Croatia about a month. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I am dancing on the Celebrity Century.

Cruise #1, Day 2

Yesterday we woke up at 7:45 to get in line for immigration back to the states. There was a pool party for the crew and staff on the pool deck the night before, so getting less then 5 hours sleep was not the best way to start off the day. After waiting in the cinema for 2 hours. We finally got our passports and joined to line for immigration. Another hour later, we were dressed and getting on a shuttle towards a shopping area in Miami, where we bought some bedding, toiletries, and other things that we would only be able to get in port. Upon arriving back on the ship, we donned our uniforms (navy blazer, tan skirt, blouse, and black flats…yes, super sexy) and headed out for boat drill. My station is the theater, so I assumed my position on stage and like the flight attendant I thought about wanting to be when I grew up, I demonstrated for our passengers the correct way to put on a life jacket. After the boat drill we had an immediate tech run for that evenings performance, which was followed by the show. We did the Bumper last night twice for an audience, and as my first show on this ship I can honestly say that it went very well. After both shows, we had a full tech run of ‘Dance Around the World’. The costumes changes in that dance are so fast, that a few of them needed to be done again to prove that we would be ready for the actual show tonight. We finished rehearsing at 12:45am. This morning we woke up at 7am for some breakfast before getting dressed up to meet the captain and his officers in the bridge for a toast to the new crew. The bridge is the ‘command center’; it looks over the bow of the ship and has a panoramic view of the ocean that we are sailing on. The view was gorgeous, and after we toasted with orange juice we headed down to the staff mess hall for an environmental training session.

Currently we have a break of an hour before I teach my first ballroom dance class with Diego in the theater. We will teach the waltz today, and unfortunately we will only have time for a short half an hour class due to our crammed theater schedule. Following the class we will run ‘Dance Around the World’ again before showing it to the audience twice this evening.

I am tired, and my body is cranky. We are at sea again today, so it is getting a little easier to handle to motion of the ship. I am used to the way that a sail boat feels on the ocean, so the motion of this huge vessel is so much more subtle it is going to take me a while to get some sea legs, though dancing with it isn’t so bad, I don’t really notice it. It’s when I stop dancing that I can feel the motion, and it’s like a very mild hangover all the time. I am also told that things won’t get easier until we get into Europe in June. We have this 7-day cruise, two 5-day cruises, and the 14-day cross over until that happens. Mediterranean, Mediterranean, Mediterranean, Mediterranean.

Day 2

Today is much better than yesterday. I woke up drenched in sweat at 7 so that I could shower and be ready for breakfast by 8. We went to breakfast and then headed to the pursar’s office to get our ID cards. These cards are the way we pay for things on the ship; drinks, coffee, things from the gift shop, internet. They are also how we get on and off the ship. Unfortunately for us the office wasn’t open when we arrived, so we went up to the dressing room to try on some more costumes. We sized the rest of the ‘Dance Around the World’ costumes and got an overhead announcement that we will be assigned guest cabins while the air conditioning if off. With that news we headed to Guest Relations to get a cabin. After eating some lunch, we headed to our guest cabins for an air conditioned nap. Kate and I woke up around 3, in time to change and stretch before running all the shows.

First ‘Dance Around the World’, then ‘Liverpool Knights’, small dinner break, and then ‘A Touch of Broadway’. With some staging notes and a few blocking adjustments, we ran the Bumper one more time and then headed to our cabins. With the air conditioning back on in all the rooms, we went back to our cabins, showered, and threw some better looking clothes on to meet in the crew bar. There we met up with Mike and some others for a few drinks. 12pm rolled around a lot faster then we thought, and so we headed bacl to our rooms for some early sleep.

Today made me feel better about it all. The living situations are going to take some getting used to, but each day gets a little better. To be able to see Europe, and dance while getting paid is more then worth it. I feel better today. Much better. 6 months here I come.

11:07 EST

We landed in Freeport, Bahamas this afternoon a little before noon. We went through immigration and waited by the curb for a few shuttle busses to drive us to the marina. Poor Diego’s bags didn’t arrive with us, but besides his missing luggage, we got to the shipyard without any major glitches. In order to get to the stairs for boarding the ship, we had to drag our super heavy bags through about 2 tenths of a mile of gravel. My bags had enough trouble getting through the dirt and rocks, let alone staying upright. Once I arrived to the group we were informed that our bags would be taken up via elevator, so all that we had to do was climb the remaining 40 stairs to the ship. Once we got to the dock we boarded the ship and went through one last security screening. After meeting our cruise director and the hotel manager we gathered in the cinema to go over our medical forms, our passports, and our proof of employment papers. Once all of these were cleared, we received our room keys and dropped off our bags and headed for some lunch. The rooms are smaller then the smallest dorm room you have ever seen. The small door opens to a narrow hallway about 2 yards long with a door on the left opening to the bathroom. At the end of the hall there is about a 6 by 9 foot area with bunk beds, a wadrobe, a desk with drawers and a night table. It is extremely small for two people. The food at lunch was the food that would typically be served in the crew mess hall, a lot like dining common food served at college.

After lunch, we went back to the cinema where we watched a small safety video about the major emergency protocols. I fell asleep. From there we went to the theater where we ran the bumper 5 times before trying on all of the costumes for ‘Dance Around the World’ up to the Irish dance.

Gross and tired, we went back to our rooms to change before a drink in the crew bar courtesy of our cruise director, and dinner. For dinner it was the same things that we had for lunch, and after we ate as much as we could without repeating lunch, we headed back to our rooms to finish unpacking.

After suffocating from the lack of air conditioning in our cabins we decided to roam around the boat in search of cooler areas. We met up with some dancers from the previous contract and chatted with some of the crewmembers as we asked for directions. Before returning to our cabins for bed we went down to the 1^st floor for our uniforms. The ladies wear white dress shirts, a blue blazer, and a tan skirt at night and a blue polo with the celebrity logo and tan shorts during the day.

Right now I am laying on my top bunk, typing this into apple Word because the internet isn’t established yet. I’m tired, and cranky, and have been going for more then 24 hours with only an hour and a half of sleep. I have spent the entire day with an allergy attack the won’t quite, and tissues stuffed in my face for all of the introductions I am making on the ship. I miss home, and my bed, and honestly….Ashby weather. I just keep reminding myself that I’m going to the Mediterranean. I’m going to the Mediterranean, I’m going to the Mediterranean.

Tomorrow we don’t have to rehearse until 4. We have the rest of the day off, but for tonight I will go to bed and dream of that unruly Ashby breeze.

8:45 EST

Dinner in Vegas seems like it was two days ago as I wake up on the hard basement floor of the Miami American Eagle terminal. We got on the shuttle at 8pm, Las Vegas time last night, fighting some serious winds as we loaded our baggage. My roommate Kate was literally pulled away from the hotel and the shuttle bus by these winds as the garbage can outside the hotel was demolished along side her. The van dropped us off at baggage check, where all of us managed to check two bags under the weight of 50 lbs each. It was an airport miracle. With two hours before boarding, we sat at a sports bar for a drink before getting ourselves together to board our 5-hour flight. On the plane I sat in the aisle seat of row 24 with my roommate in the window seat and no one in between. As lucky as we were to have this middle seat vacant, it did nothing for my need to snooze. The in-flight movie was ‘Up In the Air’, which I watched about a third of before attempting to sleep with no success. Shifting positions every 6 seconds, I slept for a total of about 5 minutes. A woman a few rows up from us apparently didn’t wake up when nudged by her husband, so there was a period of about 15 minutes where ‘anyone with medical training’ was asked to assist in trying to revive her. She did eventually wake up after causing the whole plane to flutter with curiosity. There was a substantial amount of turbulance throughout the flight, and as we made our decent, the pressure in my head increased to a pain I have never felt before. It felt like someone was trying to pull my temples further and further away from the brain. Popping my ears didn’t help much, and chewing gum was a struggle as we finally touched down. We landed in Miami at 6:10am Eastern Standard Time, and only as I stood to leave did my headache subside. Stumbling off the plane like zombies we made our way down to the basement of the airport to drop our luggage off at our next terminal.

American Eagle Airlines is made up of only the smallest planes left at the airport, and the announcements over the intercom boom in at an unhealthy volume with a very heavy Spanish accent. A few of us shuffled around the terminal in search of food more promising then a news stands, just to settle on the Starbucks that is located in front of our gate. A quarter of a cup of coffee and a croissant later, I stretched out on the floor of the airport for sleep attempt number two. This time I achieved some success with a snooze of around an hour and a half on rock solid airport ground, with a neck pillow as head support. Currently my fellow cast members are littering the floor of our terminal with their own bodies, aiming to also catch some rest before we start the workday.

After we arrive in the Bahamas, we will have to go through customs. Then in order to board the ship with our luggage (since the elevators are not running during dry dock), we will have to haul our baggage up 40 flights or so to get them to our rooms. From there we will start some costume fittings, and blocking for our shows.

So far, I feel like I stayed up all night at a bonfire or sleepover, and now I am ready to go back home and sleep in my bed. Lucky for me, instead of a bed calling to me, it’s 8 hours of rehearsal and drill training in the morning. All in a days work.