All Aboard!!

WE MADE IT!!!!

Let me begin this blog post by apologizing for how bad I’ve been so far at updating this thing.... Now that rehearsals are (nearly) over, I expect a lot more free time on my hands to update this thing. Here’s hoping!! Now that means this one is going to be LONG to catch you up to speed (if you care). So bear with me, and I’ll get better.

So for those that don’t know, here’s a quick recap. Since I last posted, I have finished rehearsals in Las Vegas, flown to Freeport Bahamas, installed our shows, and am currently in the middle of our first passenger cruise! We just left George Town, Grand Cayman this afternoon and are now en route to Cozumel. I’ve never been to Mexico before! I can’t wait.

The remainder of the rehearsal process in Vegas went so smoothly! We had a blast. I made some great friends and learned a LOT. We moved so beyond fast, but had the best support team at the same time. 

Our flight itinerary to Freeport was horrible - I’m not gonna lie. We flew out of Las Vegas at 10:50 PM for Miami, FL. However, that day happened to be one of the windiest in recent months in Las Vegas. Some flights were delayed/cancelled the wind was so bad. (The sign in front of the Mirage fell down onto the strip and closed a portion of it, in fact.) Surprisingly, our flight was on time as scheduled - which if anything made me more nervous. As we were loading the chartered bus up with our luggage, trash cans were rolling down the parking lot of our hotel. Great. The flight was great though! It went way better than normal. We flew American Airlines, which charges for both checked bags. Celebrity must have paid for them though, because when we went to check in, we were all granted two free checked bags! It was amazing. And they let us weigh bags and readjust things there. So nobody had to pay an overweight fee!! It was amazing.

We arrived in Miami at 6:00 AM (what we feel like is 3:00 AM in Las Vegas). Our flight for Freeport didn’t leave until 9:45 AM. Sooo we fell asleep in the airport. The flight to Freeport was fun! Smallest plane I’ve ever been on - it had propellers. Scary! But we were only in the air for a half hour. Upon arrival, Celebrity had arranged for vans to pick us up and take us to the shipyard. And there it was! Our beautiful ship!! About 3 feet above sea level!! Ha. It was crazy looking - but beautiful! Here is our first view:

When we got here, we had to walk about a half mile across gravel in the blazing sun carrying all our suitcases!!! At this point - I really regretted the 3 suitcases. Then we had to climb about 4 flights worth of stairs to get up on the boat. When they say Drydock - it’s very literal. This boat is completely out of the water. Fortunately, they threw all our luggage in this (very dirty) construction container and lifted with a crane up onto the pool deck.

Now I’m trying to think of the best way to describe dry dock. Imagine your car being in the shop, but trying to use it at the same time? No fun. The air conditioning was off the first day on board (in the Bahamas, mind you), and then iffy the rest of our stay. (Apparently, the A/C generally runs off of the main engines, which were obviously off since we were not in the water. So once we got in the water and moving, we went from hot to frigid - and I LOVE it. Food was only available during certain hours. The internet was down. It was pretty intense - but we survived!! Phew.

My room is great! I have my own room - yay - which I didn’t really realize how valuable that is on a ship until we got here. Ha! I mean, it’s small, but after 5 years in NYC, I know how to make small work. And there’s more than enough storage! So that’s great. Also - all the walls are magnetic! And the person before me left a ton of magnets. So that made it really easy to hang up pictures and personal items like that. I’ve also got one of the biggest crew cabin TVs and a DVD player.

So after getting settled (still on 1.5 hours of sleep of course) we started to work! We watched a brief “Welcome Aboard” safety training video (I absorbed none of it given how tired I was) and filled out paperwork before heading to the theatre. We installed our opening night “Welcome Aboard” show (10 minutes long) in a very hot theatre and then we finally got to shower. After that, Sue (our amazing Cruise Director) took us all out for a drink. 

Over the next few days we spaced our other three shows out on the stage, we fitted over 400 costumes, and cleaned everything we could. The schedule was rough - but necessary. We got so much done and definitely bonded throughout the process. Ha. On Sunday May 2nd we were setting sail - ready or not! That evening, they threw the entire crew a HUGE party (open bar) up on the passenger pool deck for sail away. They began lowering the boat into the water around 7:30 PM, but it takes over 5 hours to lower the ship into the water and get going. Here's a picture of a few of us at the pool party:

Exhausted from rehearsals, we went to bed fairly early and woke up the next morning in Miami, FL!! Home again in the USA and able to turn my phone back on - phew!

Early that morning in Miami, we had to take the ship through Crew Immigration. Technically, our ship was entering the U.S. from the Bahamas and not returning from a cruise that departed from the U.S. Because of this, we had to report early in the morning to go through Customs Immigration. Every member of the crew had to do this - from housekeeping, to cooks, to entertainment, to the captain of the ship. I had to wait in a very long line to meet with a customs official, show him my passport, and get my passport stamped. That’s it!! But it took all morning. No passengers are allowed onboard until EVERY crew member on the manifest goes through this process. Bleh..

But after that I was able to finally get off in Miami and get some shopping done! Don’t worry - I didn’t go too crazy. I bought some much-needed toiletries and cleaning supplies - oh the joys. Ha.

When we got back, our ship was filled with passengers!! YAY!! I immediately got changed into passenger-friendly attire and headed upstairs to see the ship in its final glory full of people. Shortly after that, we had our first Passenger Drill. My job during the passenger drill is to demonstrate how to put on a life jacket for a Cinema full of passengers........ HA! Quick and painless. Then we headed to our final final dress rehearsal for our “Welcome Aboard” number that evening. We did the number at two different show times, and it was so fun!! After all this work, we were finally in front of an audience. It was so nice to finally be there again. 

After the two short shows, however, it was back to work. We did a first full dress run of our largest show: Dance Around the World. The costumes in this show are insane - and the dancers have so many quick changes it’s ridiculous. Each dancer has literally about 10 costumes. There’s 13 of them with 10 costumes each all worn in a one hour show. Do the math - that’s a lot of quick changes. Ha. They don’t have long enough of stage to catch their breath it seems. I help where I can. They’re amazing.

The next day was a sea day - meaning we didn’t stop in a port. We spent all day in rehearsal getting ready for our opening night that evening. Woo-hoo! We opened with our Dance Around the World show - and it went SO WELL!! In the show, I do two arias (one in Italian, the other in English about Ireland) and one of the songs in the America section. We singers really don’t do much in this show, but the two arias are a bit outside my comfort range. Fortunately, they both went really well!! I feel so excited to have one show under my belt. And a good one too! I can’t believe we’re on our way.

Today we ported at George Town, Grand Cayman as I mentioned before. Unfortunately, we had rehearsals and safety trainings throughout the day, so we weren’t able to get off the ship. But it looked pretty from the deck! Ha. 

Tonight we’re performing our first “Groove”. It’s not a full production show. Instead, it’s a 20 minute opener to a 60’s Theme Night in one of the lounges. The show ends with the dancers pulling guests onto the dance floor. Then we peace out and they relive their glory days while we head to the bar. Ha! We do songs from Hairspray and Hair, as well as a few pop songs from the era. The dancers do an awesome mod dance too. It should be a chill fun time.

Tomorrow we’re in COZUMEL!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m really so excited. We have rehearsal in the morning at 10:30 AM. We’re going to do a dress rehearsal for our British Invasion rock show. We perform that the day after tomorrow for the passengers!! After that we have a safety training until 2:30, but then we’re done!! I finally get to get off this ship!!! And in Cozumel!!! All I want is a beach (and a margarita....). The dancers perform on the pool deck at 9:15, so they have to be back by 8 to get ready for that. We’ll see how the day unfolds, but I’ll definitely make it to their show to see. Otherwise, I’m at the beach. I can’t wait.

I’m having a BLAST so far.

Dry Dock was rough, I’m not gonna lie. But we made it!! We’re still working real hard getting these shows ready here at the last minute, but it seems to be going smoothly. Our entire team is still here helping us install. They leave after this cruise, though, and then we’re on our own to hope for the best! Ha. We can do it - and I can’t wait to head to Europe. We keep telling ourselves we just have to keep up the hard work until the crossing to Europe. After that, our schedule will ease up a LOT because all our cruises will be longer. I can’t wait!!

For now, I must go get ready for “Groove”. Wish us luck!! It should be a fun time.

Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone!!!

And if you made it the whole way, Congrats!!! I definitely commend you. I promise to be more regular with these so they’re not as long. Oops!