Blog #5 on Cruise

Tuesday September 20^th

Yet another long day! Training for 4 hours in the morning that consisted of 150 crew members getting into a lifeboat as our ship ported in Labadee, Haiti. This was not fun!! Hot, sweaty and uncomfortably in close quarters.

To be able to fit 150 into a lifeboat, there are people literally sitting below you. Pictures below don’t show how crazy it looks!

 

Our training is finally complete! Hallelujah!

PS... it turns out we only had the free wi-fi in our crew cabins that one night:(

Blog #4 on Cruise

Our 2 Year Anniversary!

Monday September 19^th, 2011.

*Rehearsal in the morning

*Relaxing afternoon

*Opened and performed the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception

Song List

1.     Beyond the Sea

2.     I’m in the Mood For Love

3.     I’m Beginning to See the Light/Taking a Chance on Love

4.     I Only Have Eyes For You

5.     The Look of Love

6.     Old Devil Moon

7.     Teach Me Tonight

8.     Sway

It was so special to us that we got to perform on our Anniversary. It’s very crazy how nervous we were though. We perform this every Monday night in the Royal Promenade but the first time is always the most nerve racking. Luckily neither of us messed up.

*Celebrated by eating at Johnny Rockets which is on the top deck.

*Played chinese checkers and regular checkers

*It was extremely windy that night, guest were not even allowed outside

It was an amazing day, and our entire cast gave us a card. We are so blessed!

Shirley and Fred surprised us with a kindle in the mail, can’t wait to start downloading books - the perfect gift for cruise life! Thank you!!! 

 Our Formal Attire for our Captain's Welcome Aboard Reception, Whitney's dress is from her senior highschool prom! 

 Us at Johnny Rockets!

 1 chocolate milkshake with 2 straws

 What a great evening!

Blog #3 on Cruise

Sunday – moving day and also Port day in FL.

We got about 5 hours of sleep and started moving our luggage to our new home for the next 8 months – crew cabins…. not a luxury in the least, not a master bedroom, not a normal size bedroom, not even a dorm room…. picture a parking space. A parking space where a third of it is a bathroom, but yes, the bathroom is enclosed with walls so no smells where we sleep. Oh, and forget about having a window. It is nice when we sleep though, no sunshine to wake us up, complete darknessJ We do have two very small closets and a small tv with the news channel and movies with no commercials! I have NO idea how we fit all our clothes in, but thankfully we did!

We went with our friend Erin and drove around Cape Canaveral to explore and go shopping for necessary bedding. We ate T.G.I.Friday’s and since we work on a ship – we get 25% off! J

Every Sunday we have a boat drill, so when we got back on the ship at 3:15pm we have to lead our specific guest group in a boat drill. After that, Whit and I started to unpack. The night before we had heard that a couple had used a bed extension on their bunk bed to make the lower bunk larger. Since their contract ended we bought it from them.

We were feeling very optimistic and ready to conquer our tiny room. The problem started when we couldn’t get the ladder off of the bunk bed. We’ve been told more than once that there are weird rules on the ship for crew. Including unable to have any sort of tools or electronics that could possibly start a fire.

No irons, blow dryers, etc. Now, to get away with some of these – you need to know the right kind of people and befriend them.

The first thing we knew that we needed was a screwdriver. We work in the theatre, so we decided to ask a stagehand for one. Success! We got back into our cabin and after much sweat I got 5 screws out. However, the last 3 would NOT COME OUT!!!!!

We went back to the theatre and got a power drill. Still screws will not come out.

We went back yet again and Matt, a stagehand, actually came in our cabin and drilled through the screw to bust it off! Amazing! Finally after 3 hours of hard labor it finally came off. We got some interesting stares as we carried all of the necessary tools through the corridor.

Now, feeling very overwhelmed, exhausted, and annoyed, we started to put our room in order.

 This was our guest cabin we stayed in for the first week. 

 We snuck these pictures while the maids were cleaning them... this is a guest cabin with a porthole.

 This guest cabin has a balcony.

 Here I am in our tiny crew cabin trying desperately to get the ladder off.

 Amazing stagehand Matt came to the rescue!

 

I mean look at the mayhem!

 unpacked!

 ALL of our clothes fit in these closets!!

 

It’s definitely nice having everything in place.

Blog #2 on Cruise

Saturday September 17^th was a big day for Whit and I because that evening we opened our Jazz Set. It started at 10:45pm and lasted until 12:30am. Not only did we perform but also there were two other couples that performed after us. The first week was a cool experience because the old cast was still there doing their shows, as we (the new cast) are learning the same shows in the new space, with costumes etc. So we got to see them perform the shows we know.

Here is the list of the songs we sing every other Saturday night.

1.     I Love Being Here With You

2.     Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

3.     Exactly Like You

4.     Goin’ Out of My Head

5.     I’ve Got the World on a String

6.     Summertime

7.     Orange Colored Sky

8.     Honeysuckle Rose

9.     Alright, Ok You Win

10. One For My Baby

 The evening went so great and we had such a fun time. The next day was a very long day as we were moving into our crew cabins… what an experience that was.

 Practicing our Jazz set in "Olive or Twist" - get it? Named after the character Oliver Twist... so clever.

 As entertainers - we basically have to dress business casual.

[Also... the reason why we are able to blog is because for some reason - our crew cabin is allowing us to have free wi-fi.... ?? Please Jesus continue this blessing!!!]

Blog #1 on Cruise

Where to start… we left very early on Sunday September 11^th and drove 3.5 hours to Cape Canaveral, FL. We were very tired but feeling extremely excited!

Sunday was a long day for us because getting our entire luggage together on the ship was quite a process. Our bags had to go through 2 security checks. For the first week we were put in guest cabins, which was great because they’re much nicer than our crew cabins. We had it pretty good that first week because our director was working on opening ‘Marquee’ with our cast and Whit and I are not in that particular show, so we had a lot of down time. However, we had two Jazz sets to prepare and perform at the end of the week. Since we are new hires we had training on some mornings, as well. This was literal torture because they were always long and boring. But we have learned a lot about the ship and what to do in case of an emergency. 

 Getting all of our bags ready in Hollywood, FL

 Here we are!!

FUN FACTS:

There are close to 6,000 people on the Freedom of the Seas during the cruise week. A little over 4,000 in guests and a little over 1,000 in crew. Crew lives and sleeps on deck 1 – which is the lower part of the ship. The guests sleep in decks 2 – 11.

Each lifeboat fits 150 people. There are enough on the ship in case of an emergency, unlike the Titanic.

Our Theatre where we perform seats around 1,300. 

 There is a suite on the ship called “The Royal Suite” which is rumored to be $4,000 a night! There is a baby grand in their living room and they can request live music and a bartender in their room! CRAZY!!!

This ship has an ice-skating rink, swimming pools, flo-rider (where you can practice your surfing) rock climbing wall, a full gym, spa, casino, basketball court, many restaurants, many bars, the list goes on!

There are around 60 different speaking languages on the ship, each are expected to understand English in case of an emergency.

This ship travels on average at 20 knots (about 25 mph).

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There is still so much to share! If you’re thinking about coming for a vacation… Stop, we’ve decided for you, you’ve got to come! We are excited about Shirley, Fred, Granny and Papa coming in November. Karen, Mark and Beth are probably going to come in January.

 The only bad thing about the Casino is the fact that people can freely smoke while gambling... gross!

 The Lord welcomed us with a beautiful painted sky!

 One of the swimming pools - reminds me of MTV

Stay tuned for more to come!

Talent Show

Hey All!!
This is our last night in Hollywood or as some would say Hollyhood, FL. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning for Port Canaveral which is about a 3 hour drive from here.
Yesterday Royal Caribbean's Production Staff paired up with United Way (Live United) and put on a Talent Show as a charity event. Anyone in the company could participate so Whitney and I decided to sing a duet from Joel Waggoner's Concert in New York. Whitney also sang a duet from Wicked with our roommate Erin. Below are the videos. Enjoy!

Us before the Talent Show. 

Us with some of our dancers (they performed a section from Cabaret, hence their outfits)

 We all went out for Mexican to celebrate our long week!

This is our entire cast on Thursday right before our official run of "Once Upon A Time" for the staff!

Jumping for joy for our last rehearsal in Hollywood, FL.

The Look of Love

We had a little bit too much time on our hands so naturally we decided to make a music video. This song, "The Look of Love" is a song that we are singing in our jazz set on the cruise. The reason behind making this video is the fact of course that we find this song to be very corny - and every time we sing it, Nathan gives this ridiculous face. Anyway we wanted to share this humor with you:)