'Scones in the Staff Mess?'

 Welcome to my first update whilst at sea. After my 26 hour travel adventure to Italy, I finally boarded the ship Saturday 8^th at 8am. In fact I nearly missed my taxi ride to the ship, due to jet lag I fell into a sleep coma and was only woken up when the front desk called to say my taxi was here. Me being half asleep replied ‘oh he’s early?’ her response was ‘No, it’s 8:05am. Sir, your late!’ Luckily for me I had rearranged my bags that night and could up and leave within seconds…and that’s what I did!! 30 mins later I was carrying my luggage up the gangway and through security (I am pleased to announce I was cunning enough to smuggle a bottle of HP Brown Sauce/Salad Cream/1Box of Weetabix and a Christmas Pudding!) I was met by the Dance Captain and a blast from the past who goes by the name of Sam Cowens! 

The real thing in Pisa, Italy

For those of you who aren’t familiar with our connection, from the age of 5 we used to compete against each other in many Dance Festivals and have crossed paths twice before on Celebrity Cruise Line. It was good to see at least someone I knew. Having said that the cast are such a friendly bunch and have made me feel very welcome and I’m starting to settle in nicely. Truth be told I think they were just grateful to have their replacement onboard so the show would return to normal!(no just kidding) But as I arrived another one left! Sadly Megan who is a female dancer, had to medically disembark the next day due to a foot injury and had to fly home to the land ‘Down Under’. Fingers crossed she will be back in a few weeks.  So I spent the day getting a tour of the ship and then unpacked my suitcases. I’m sharing a cabin with a dancer from South Africa, his name is Tinis and is a great chap. I’m very pleased to have a room mate like him but I just hope he feels the same way about me!? Time should tell. 

The view of the Santorini, Greece (this isn't my ship) 

So it’s back to sleeping in a bunk bed…the top bunk is always my favorite place to sleep…I think that comes from being a kid who had bunk beds but it was only me in the room. I would often alternate between the two but the top bunk seems to be a magical place to sleep, don’t you agree? Anyway the first night I managed to keep my sleepy eyes open to watch the cast perform ‘Stardust’. I really enjoyed the show and they are a wonderful group to watch. 

So all that aside I do have to mention that being on here isn’t as perfect as it might read. Without my girlfriend here to share this all with, it really does put a damper on it all. I’m trying to not think about it too much but it’s hard to adjust to being on here by yourself. She seems to make my days full and exciting now it’s just sleeping, eating, rehearsals, sleeping, eating and eating! I’m gutted I can’t be there to share her first time experiences onboard a Cruise Ship. I’m not able to protect or encourage her too. Plus if I was onboard with her I’d be sleeping in the same bed in her luxury guest cabin and not in a small shared cabin that’s the size of a garden shed! This will be a huge test to our relationship and I’m sure we will pass with flying colors otherwise I wouldn’t have decided to do it this way but you can’t help but think is this all worth it? Well yeah because life is all about lessons right? (according to Oprah it is) and boy have I had some lessons taught. Its just frustrating that we aren’t able to share this experience together but I know we will in the future.

Mykonos, Greece

My only concern in life right now is if I ever let the social network community know how amazing this ‘Allison’ girl really is, she could be snapped up and taken away from me! So with that said all I’m going to say is…world you must be missing a huge piece of something because she probably took most of what you had to create her and I’m just blessed to have her (and as an added bonus she is a fabulous cook). So Thanks!

 I’ve been slowly adjusting to the showering experience onboard. Those of you who have been a crew member know exactly what I’m talking about! Imagine your bathroom being the size of a restroom cubical… squeezing a sink/toilet and having a shower in there can be a mission! It’s kind of like going to the bathroom on an airplane…a frustrating and difficult task eh! So whilst bending over to apply shampoo the shower curtain decideds to get fresh and wrap its self around you like a Roman Toga! This will be an ongoing relationship I think.   

Mykonos, Greece

Princess Cruise Line are so far the most relaxed company I’ve ever worked for when it comes down to Dress Code, Eating in guest area etc etc. So at the moment I haven’t really taken full advantage of this but once I’ve finished learning all the shows I plan to make this a priority.

So last night was my big opening night on the Ruby Princess! But before the big night I had performed a little deck party routine and two performances of a number from the show (a sneak peak). So with all my first night jitters running around inside of me we had to stop the show after only 1 minuet in!! There was a problem with a set piece so we had to reset the show and start again! I questioned if this was an oman of things to come… I hope not. I also missed an entrance to a number that starts on stage… so my slow ass had to wait until they moved to an easy place for me to acces them on stage. Come the second show it went much smother and I have to say it was nice to finally be dancing on here.

Sunset in Santorini, Greece

Two nights ago I was pleasantly surprised to walk in the staff mess and find delicious looking scones! This was such a treat and after felling like you sometimes do on a ship ( a prisoner) well this just made me feel like a human again… mmmmm it really hit the spot.    

A little something I came across whilst doing some safety training on the ship!

On a side note, whilst I was flying to Italy I started to wondered whatever happened to the complimentary boiled sweets they handed out before take off and landing? As a child I always looked forward to this. It was to help with the pressure change and supposedly sucking on a sweet would help/prevent this!? Did someone realize it never really worked? I wonder how much the airlines saved by cutting this?