Pictures... Part 2

So, luckily, I am not very prone to sea sickness. I did, however get off the ship today in Amsterdam for a brief walk and got a little "land sick." You get used to slightly swaying constantly so standing on firm stiff land feels very odd. I can't think of a better way to explain it other than the earth felt very hard and unyielding.

About my job...
The most difficult part of my job is wrangling a cast of 17 on an hour-by-hour basis. However, the most time consuming part of my job is scheduling. scheduling. and more scheduling. I am in a constant state of scheduling for the next type of cruise (right now it's the Mediterannean), the next voyage (starting August 14th), the next pay period, the next week, the next day, and mentally the next hour. It's a bit overwhelming. So many departments run on very different time frames. For the most part entertainment runs on a cruise-by-cruise basis. Cycling a 12 day program schedule. Payroll, however, operates on a bimonthly basis for some paperwork, and a weekly basis for others. (Days of the week, by the way, mean NOTHING to me anymore).

Why I felt stupid one day...
During training, we had a basic diversity discussion one day. It was interesting to watch a video breaking down the demographics of Celebrity Cruises (mostly they hire people from all over the world to do all kinds of work on the ships). Sadly, I believe they do this because they can get away with hiring people from other countries at remarkably low salaries. But that is not really my business. The reason I felt stuipid, was at the end of the video, we went around the room, annouced our name, where we were from, and what languages we spoke. I was the only person in the room who did not speak at least three languages. I didn't even try to save my self by trying to pass my broken spanish as a second language. I immediately felt below-par in the international category.

My roughest day...
On July 30th, the show that night was a variety night. It consisted of a feature from our onboard orchestra, a human statues piece by our aerialists, and a long feature from one of our guest entertainers, Craig Dahn, who is a concert pianist (with a twist). Craig's playing is very modern, and his set ended with a video cued to an audio track. For some reason, even though we had rehearsed it about seven times, the video froze about 10 seconds into the 5 minute long piece. It froze on a snapshot of a stormy sky, so I just left it there because - in my opinion - it looked like an intentional backdrop.

Needless to say, the performer did not agree. When his set was over he refused to bow, and ran off the stage screaming at me repeatedly, "You're pathetic! You're pathetic! You're pathetic!" ... more times than that. And more loudly and scarily than I can type. Eventually the activity manager intervened and backed me up on my decision and told the guy, basically, he was being an a-hole. I was entirely stone-faced about the whole thing. About 5 minutes later I almost had a total breakdown backstage in the guys dressingroom talking to the FOH engineer. I managed not to. No crying onboard yet. Thank goodness - not a good impression on my first cruise. But I did realize that NO ONE had ever spoken to me that way in a professional setting before. I was really upset. About an hour later, Craig was oozing with apologies and pomegranate martinis. Which is good considering we still have one more show to do together.

A slight perk...
Guest entertainers (of which there are 4 per cruise), have the option to sell merchandise. When they do, it is the PM's responsibility to be the seller. Well actually, it is the gift shop's responsibility to be the seller, but we do it instead BECAUSE we get TIPPED! A lot! Like, Craig Dahn will sell merchandise 3 times while he is onboard. And he will tip $20 per time. That's $60 for standing at a table for a grand total of 30 minutes. Some artists time as much as $50 per selling. It just depends (then again, some don't tip at all...). But hey, that's my spending money. It will cover my phone cards, which are expensive - and the one I had ran out while I was talking to Brian last night (sorry lovey!).

Fun facts...
There is a major hallway on deck 1 that is nicknamed the "I-95." It's cute when everyone thinks they have to explain to me what that is referring to, since the I-95 has been a part of my everyday life since I fell out of my mom. But basically, since head office is in Miami, that's where the nickname comes from. And I suppose people just get used to explaining it since almost everyone here is from the Philippines.






This is the final picture I took of my first sailaway. The canals in Holland are very industrial for the most part. Not very photogenic.



July 24th was the first day I got off the ship to visit a port. And it was here in Flam, Norway. A very lovely (and VERY small) town. Some very cool nods to viking history. Like the pub Erin and I went to had iron dragon heads on the roof peaks.


I took this picture to get a shot of the adorable bridge in the town.


So pretty!


A view of the bridge (ship control center/brain) and the strangest prenant ape statue I've ever seen. Right now you might be thinking, "wait, you've seen more than one pregnant ape statue?" and my answer would be "what happens in a fjord, stays in a fjord." So there.


A Norwegian Fjord!


Same fjord, different view.


Different fjord.


This is the perch where I call the production shows. It is stage right about 20' off the ground. Allowing me a view of absolutely nothing. Hences the gagillion TV monitors I am observing throughout the performances so I can take my cues off of onstage action.


Geiranger, Norway.


The famous waterfall of Geiranger, Norway. It's hard to tell in the picture but it is absolutely HUGE and runs right through the middle of everything.


Another shot of beautiful Geiranger.


Me in front of the Geiranger waterfall. This picture was shot from deck 10 aft. I had dinner out here the other day on a sea day so no land was in sight. It was a very surreal and awesome experience. And to think I can do that everyday. Very very cool.


My temporary cabin. This shot was taken standing in the entryway. I stayed on deck 5 forward until Erin moved out of her cabin. At which time I moved into 2315!


A shot from the bed looking toward the doorway.


An aerial view of my bathroom layout. The fact that I can take an aerial view should clue you in on how small it is. But at the end of the day it is very functional and I make a HUGE mess when I decide to shave my legs.