Week 3
Day 1
I'm forgetting if I'm making Sunday day 1 or Monday. I think I did Sunday, but it would make more sense to do Monday since technically it's the first 'day'. First night is on Sunday. First show is on Sunday night. So that would make it day 1. I'm confusing myself.
Opening show without any fuss really. Already blogged about New York. Will go explore it more in the weeks to come while I'm still porting in Bayonne, which I will be for some time until we hit the more carribean run. It's going to be 5 weeks or so more of Bermuda and then up to New England. That should be fun. 2 week cruises. Epic.
I don't think I mentioned this before but my duty as a crewman on board the ship has me do the demo for putting on your lifejacket. Yes you know the whole shindig they do on planes that don't have screens? That's me on the stage of the theatre every first day of the cruise in front of a couple of hundred guests.
Day 2
So yes Monday will be day 2 then. I'm starting to figure out what to do with my spare time on the ship. I've been taking long coffee breaks up in the cafe on deck 10. Sitting outside is usually not an option because the outside area is usually full especially Martin, our solo performer, is playing. I'd like to sit out there and have coffee someday. Or maybe a beer.
Since the time I've been on until a couple of weeks from now there will be people leaving the team each week. My first week ended with the alto player leaving. Then after that the party band changed. And this weekend we lose our bass player and production manager. Then after that the cruise director changes. And then the acapella group, then the cast. On the upside, we're having dinner in one of the restaurants tomorrow night as a sendoff thingy for the bass player. So whoopee.
Day 3
Another simple day at sea. No biggie. Except I did get to check out two new things on the ship. One was dinner at the Cosmopolitan restaurant on board. Now I see why the buffet is usually not full at all. All the fantastic fine dining you can eat for absolutely free!
Well, a 5 dollar tip.
But you can order as many appetizers as you want, as many soups, as many salads, as many desserts. Ridiculously good food. I had a cod fritter with tomato coulis and slaw, a lobster bisque with cream, a fantastic and perfectly cooked sirloin steak with superb herb and butter sauce, a delicious creme brulee and some kiwi sherbert. ALL FOR 5 BUCKS. EPIC MEAL TIME.
And as if the day didn't go well enough a couple of us hit the martini bar for a drink. The bartender is excellent. The dirty martini was perfect. And man those olives are so fresh and delicious.
Life is good.
Day 4
Okay so life was good last night, but I just had the most epicly perfect day in the entire world. Started off with our weekly boat drill, which was fairly dull.
But then I got off the ship and spent the whole day pretty much relaxing in Bermuda. I went to Hamilton which is a fantastic little city. Well, they call it a city, but it really is a town. It's probably the size of ss15 back home. Seriously. But they have some funky looking buildings there and they all sell touristy stuff. Jewelry, liquor. More jewelry. More liquor.
There were some parks around Hamilton that I didn't check out but I will next time. That was because I spent my afternoon at the BEACH.
OH MY HOOPER SMACKS IS IT GORGEOUS.
The beach in Bermuda is on a different scale of beautiful. The sea is so clear and so beautiful. The water stretches out into 3 shades, it has that light brown colour as it mixes with the shore sand, then turns into this light blue and then into a dark shade of blue as it gets deeper. The weather was perfect. Except for the fact that it had this weird spurt of rain the moment I got to the beach. I thought my day was spoiled. I kid you not, the moment I set foot on the beach from the bus stop it started to rain. But it only rained for literally 20 seconds and then it was sun and wind again. Perfect weather.
The sand is so fine and so clean that I can only think of two ways to describe it. Firstly it's so fine and clean that when the water comes in and mixes with it, it actually looks like miso soup. You know how the particles settle and are so fine that they make this milky cloudy mix. Then it settles back down again. The sand is so fine that if a strong wind blows you can actually see some of it lift off the ground in the gust.
Then I reached out and played with some of the wet sand and it's so fine and smooth that the only thing I could think of to describe it was 'ice cream'. Yes it feels like ice cream.
It was such a joy to sit and walk along the beach. Bermuda baby. If ever I were to have a honeymoon, this would be one of my top places to be. Or if I ever get rich enough I'll buy a house here. It's that beautiful.
But the day was not done. After getting back at 7ish, I took a shower and headed up to the buffet where I was delighted to have a delicious meal while watching the sunset on the horizon. I literally sat there and watched the sun dip behind the sea. It was such a beautiful moment. No picture or movie can capture that scene. I tried, but you have to see it to really know what it's like. Watching that perfect circle slowly sink behind the waves. So nice.
And then I get to end the night playing some jazz.
LIFE IS GOOD.
Day 5
The one fantastic thing about guest entertainers is that eventually they come on again and I get to play the same show. It makes the rehearsal way easier and the show way simpler the second time around.
The other fantastic thing is that since we spend 3 nights in Bermuda we can actually get off the ship tonight and go into the dockyard at night and enjoy some time off because the ship doesn't leave until tomorrow. We can get off anytime tonight and get back on anytime later. Lovely way to relax after a show.
Day 6
The boat was rocking quite a fair bit today. It's a very weird sensation playing drums while the boat is rocking. Because my own body is rocking to the music but something is rocking on a completely different rhythm to the music. Very strange sensation.
Day 7
So ends another week. Fantastic farewell show. Nice and short and sweet. And so begins another week tomorrow where we do it again! Whee.
Thoughts from the week?
If ever there was a weapon a gentleman should have it would be a flashy tie. My bright sparkly orange one has been getting loads of attention.
Also, now that I've gotten used to the groove of things of where I can go and what I can do on board the ship, it has become apparent that my life on this boat is more and more like the people who are on vacation on this boat rather than the people who work here. I've been able to enjoy pretty much everything on this ship - the food, the entertainment (when it isn't played be me obviously), the hours off the ship in Bermuda. Man, if I actually sit back and relax, I am on a pretty darn long cruise.
But on the other hand, it's pretty easy to get lost from the world here. It's hard to remain in contact with the rest of the world back home or anywhere else. We're so disconnected from reality on this ship.
And it's not a particularly good way of living to be honest. You might think it privileged, but honestly it's scary. There's no need to clean up anything. A man comes and cleans your sheets every single day. Someone changes your towels every other day. People cook your food, people clean your dishes. People take care of my laundry. People fix my toilet if it's broken. It will be weird returning to reality after 6 months.
And one last thought. It's already the end of my third week. 6 months will be quick I tell you. Then I'll be home. And somewhat richer than I was before. Cheers.
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