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.