Nearly finished!

Well what a whirlwind rehearsals have been!

We've just completed our third week of rehearsals. Having officially learned and run all three production shows, the directors gave us this entire weekend off for some well-deserved rest, homework-time, and some fun. Since I'm returning to the same ship that I did last year, the shows are all the same. I am doing some different parts than last time, so there was still plenty of new material to learn - along with changes to the shows along the way. So the past three weeks have been filled with an odd combination of forgetting some old, remembering some old, and learning some new. So my brain was a bit confused for a bit, but I think I've got a handle now on all the material.

Here's some shots of Scarborough - the town in North Yorkshire where we rehearse. Unfortunately, the weather has been the exact opposite from the beautiful spring we had last year. Like much of the US, we've had abnormally cold weather with lots of wind and snow.

 This building is The Spa. We rehearse in music and dance studios inside. The building is stunning.

Warm-up before rehearsal (The dancer girls bought matching pink onesies):

Aside from the work side of life - it's been so great returning here to Scarborough! The nearby Seamer Fisheries is still just amazing as I remember it from last year. I've had their Fish & Chips at least once a week.

The cottages they've built and furnished for us:

We celebrated Jacob's birthday our first weekend here. At the end of a crazy week of rehearsals, we definitely needed a chance to unwind with each other for a bit. A friend from the Infinity contract last year also came to visit from London. We had a big party to celebrate and explored cold-windy Scarborough the next day.

This week we have just three days of rehearsal. We'll run and clean the shows all week until our final run-throughs for company producers on Wednesday. Then a bunch of the cast is going home for a few days. Some of us will be staying here in Scarborough until we head to Manchester, UK on Saturday to fly out Sunday morning to head back to Florida to board the ship! So even though it's just three days of rehearsal this week, they'll be a full-on intense three days. Hope we make it through unscathed!

The men of the Infinity 2013 out in Scarborough this weekend:

Our director organized a discount sweatshirt order for us with Infinity 2013 printed on the sleeve/chest and nicknames on the back. A shot of our full company:

It's been an exhausting but exciting three weeks. Can't wait to spend the next 7 months with everyone. We're going to have a great contract exploring Northern Europe. Hopefully we'll get to explore a bit more before we fly to Florida on Sunday.

Rehearsal Travel

Well - We've made it. Barely.

After spending all week packing and cleaning our apartment to move out, we finally set off Saturday afternoon. We booked a Super Shuttle to transfer us from home to JFK airport. They again showed up early, so we rushed down the stairs with all our bags to keep them from waiting.  Yes - ALL our bags. Jacob and I each have 2 checked bags and a carry-on each. So our hands were FULL. Fortunately, our bags are relatively light this time. As this is our third cruise contract each, we finally have the swing of things when it comes to packing. We've left plenty of room in our bags for shopping and souvenirs - a huge problem here in European itineraries.

After a loooong ride on the Super Shuttle picking up about 5 additional passengers, we still arrived at JFK International Airport about two and a half hours before our flight at 7:20pm. Celebrity booked us both on an American Airlines flight direct from JFK to Manchester, UK. Now - typically I have not had the best experiences flying American. However - they really surprised me this trip. We had such an easy travel experience. We supplied a letter from Celebrity along with our Letters of Employment for the cruise ship in hopes of having our bag fees waived - and it worked!! Baggage fees are ridiculous these days, so that saved us over $60 each! Thank you, Celebrity and American! Our flight left on time, was smooth, and arrived on time. I tried to sleep the whole flight, but didn't have the best of luck with that - I never can sleep on a plane. 

Upon arriving in Manchester by 7:30am, we passed through Customs and then boarded a train from Manchester International Airport to Scarborough, UK. We did have to change trains in York (a tall order with all our luggage), but otherwise, the travel was smooth and carefree. We finally arrived at our housing in Scarborough by 1pm.

We're both excited to be returning to Scarborough, UK. It's such a different feeling from last time when everything was new. This time, we feel like Scarborough is already our home. We unpacked, went to the store, and met all our new cast mates last night. 

Everyone is very nice and super excited to get started with rehearsals. We all hung out last night, but then I had to pass out early. Having so little sleep the night before on the plane, my body had no idea what time it was. So I got a great night's sleep, woke up early this morning, and had time to write these blog posts.

Today's the first day of rehearsal. Nervous! But excited. So lucky and happy to be back here again.

Here we go!! Stay tuned.

- Cameron

Another European Cruise!

For those who aren't aware - I'm back on a European Ship Itinerary! And guess what - I get to share this one with Jacob!

I'm currently rehearsing with Qdos Entertainment to return to the Celebrity Infinity. We're rehearsing for 4 weeks in Scarborough, UK. We'll then join the ship in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. From there, I will repeat 2 Panama Canal cruises that I did last year. Then we head Trans-Atlantic!! Stops include England, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Norway, France, Spain, and Portugal.

I hope to update more like I did last time with such amazing ports. Stay tuned.

- Cameron