Day 9
Bright and early today despite sleeping late after celebrating last night. Yes celebrating my halfway point with my port manning buddies. Got out, found a starbucks and interneted the entire afternoon. Yes I made internet into a verb.
On my way back to the ship it started raining. Just realised something. Home is probably the one place that has mastered the art of having awnings that stretch out over the walkways in front of shops. I say this because, as of this moment of writing, I am stuck in the middle of Quebec cowering under a bridge with shops all around me and if I were home I could very well continue my walk under the shade of those majestical awnings. Why don't other countries with predictable rain patterns every year do this? Is this technology not readily available to the world? We need to do something about this.
Today down in the crew deck were crates of art. I never realised that purchasing art was part of the cruise business. But it makes sense doesn't it? Within the space of 10 years people do come back to ships again and again so I guess they expect new art to waste time on all around the ship. And this is probably the first paragraph I've ever written in my life where I'm using art as an noun and not in some other form. Not artist or artistic, just art.
I forgot to mention something in Day 7. Weirdness happened that day at payday. I got my envelope and then the doctor from the clinic waved a form in front of my face and before I could read and sign it, he jabbed my arm with a needle and gave me a shot. Apparently it was a free flu shot. For all I know it could've been the 'Celebrity Company Loyalty Serum.' My first flu vaccination and I was completely unaware I was getting one. Interesting.
Also, today was that magical day. It's called a day off. BOOYAH. Gonna miss the day's off. When we get to the caribbean, that can no longer happen. Sad but true.
Day 10
Today was the day of hell. It's two captain's clubs in the day, one rehearsal and then two shows.
It was pianist show again. Mr Classical pianist had another evening show to get through. Drummatically speaking (yes I invented yet another word) it was a piece of cake. But he got us playing classical pieces and it was the first time I've ever played classical tympani on a drumset. It sounded stupid.
This was the exact music I went to contemporary college to escape playing. I guess it came back to haunt me. But the crowd loved it. I had the most boring rehearsal and show. But at the end of the day I was pretty wiped out.
Day 11
We arrived back in Charlottetown, the place where nothing happens. BUT, my roomie discovered on my little map that a brewery exists on this forsaken place. So we went there and discovered probably the most delicious pale ale I have ever tasted.
And we play some jazz tonight so I guess today is a good day.
Day 12
Double sea day so not much activity going on. It's nice to have returning entertainers on board. Easy peasy.
Day 13
The one fantastic thing about sea days is that I don't have anything to motivate me getting up before 4pm - which is when rehearsal is - which means I can stay up super late practicing.
Day 14
Arrived in our final port of call for the Atlantic run which is Newport Rhode Island. Didn't really feel like getting off so I just stayed on the ship.
We were supposed to depart at 5pm but there was something wrong with the anchor so we got kinda stuck there till after the first show. I guess life as a captain aint so easy after all.
Thoughts from the week?
I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but it's a recurring thought. This whole working on a cruise ship thing is a very very very weird way to travel. When you speak to someone who's worked on a cruise ship and they say they've visited this country and that country, it's not in the way in which you'd think. It's not the way a normal tourist experiences a vacation.
I mentioned this in my earlier post, it's a pseudo vacation. Collectively I've probably spent less than a day at every port so far, excluding Bermuda of course. And maybe Quebec because we do have 2 days there. It's 2-4 hours of vacation in a place every two weeks. It's very strange.
Take my example of Portland or Halifax. I only get off the ship in the morning, sometimes later after an early lunch, and then I go off and walk as far as I deem possible, maybe taste a local delicacy, and then back to the ship. Now I don't see this place again for another two weeks. Two weeks later I restart my walk from the ship, same location, same time of the day, same day of the week, for the same amount of time. I never experience the city at any other time of the day, not anytime else in the week, and never any further than where my feet can take me.
So in future, when I say I've been to Canada and Bermuda and the Caribbean, you'll know what I'm talking about.
I guess if the day comes when I'm filthy rich I'll revisit these places for real.
It's like a movie trailer. That's exactly it. I experience only bits of the real thing, leaving me wanting to eventually see the whole of the real thing. It's a vacation teaser.
And so marks the end of yet another chapter. We end the Atlantic run and move on to the caribbean. It's going to be exciting.
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