Well, I survived the first day aboard ship. The day began at 5:30 am at the Airport Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver, B.C.. Our shuttle was scheduled to leave at 6:30 am. Of course I had to make sure I had time to get coffee before heading out or the day would have been off to a terrible start. There were about 46 people embarking on the ship the same day as our cast. Holland America picked us up in a charter bus and we all rode to the port together. While on the bus I met one of our EMO (an Emergency Medical Officer) her name was Weng, She was so friendly and bubbly that some of my anxious nerves were soothed just by talking to her. This was her third year with Holland America.
Liz and I sat next to each other and talked about all our excitement while driving to the port. She is one of our dancers and is from Orlando, FL. This is her first cruise contract as well. Vancouver is beautiful and the drive to the port was incredible. Downtown Van. has many sky rise apartments on the waterfront. The city as a whole looks very modern and with the mountains framing the city it is quite gorgeous.
Once we reached the port we had to wait around and fill out some paperwork before boarding. Our first meeting on board started at 8:30 am. Like any job, on top of performing and rehearsing, we have to go through orientation for Holland America. It is quite a bit of information overload for those new to the industry. There are rules and safety regulations for everything! Since we are surrounded by water 98% of the time, the captain and crew officers want to make sure that we are keeping the environment clean and putting safety first since our lives kinda depend on working together as a team unit. To put it easy...we have TONS of meetings and drills. After our welcome aboard orientation, I had to report to the theatre for costume fittings for our welcome aboard show, "Let Us Entertain You". This process went really fast since most of us had only one costume for this show. Once fittings were completed, we had to block our show on the stage and then do a full run-through. We finished the run through without and big problems and then we were dismissed for lunch.
Dinning on the ship is nice. We eat the majority of our meals in the Lido, which is the casual dinning area for passengers. There is a lot of variety, but I am sure after a few months the variety won't really seem like "variety" anymore. At the moment it is perfect because it is all so new!
Now instead of boring you with all the small details of the day I will give you the highlights:
I had my first boat drill! I am a traffic director on Deck 6 and I have to tell all passengers to report to Deck 3...EASY!
We did our first tech run of LUEY with lights and sounds. It was a terrible dress for me, but as they say its best to have a bad dress so you have a great opening=)
I met the Captain... his name is Jan, pronounced Yawn. He was very kind and hoped that my time on board would be an excellent one. Everyone I have met has been very friendly for the most part. Some of the crew tend to not like the cast members too much because we work so little on the ship and get treated like gold. What they don't always understand is that we have spent our entire lives training for this and they usually only factor in our time spent working on board.
We had a great opening show at 9:30 pm!!! I was so proud of my cast. The only glitch was a music que cutting out and it came in about 6 counts later. It kinda threw us for a loop onstage but we all recovered. Ironically, it was the first time they had ever had that problem during the show. It figures that it had to be our casts first show! During the opening I sing Signed, Sealed, Delivered, at first I was not to thrilled about this, but after putting it on it's feet onstage I really enjoyed it. The crowd response was excellent! This cruise there are quite a bit of young people aboard, most Holland America cruises cater towards the 50+ market. However, with summer here more families will be around until August!
I experienced my first go around at the late night buffet! I was really good though and only had salad....AND 2 cookies (of course). I felt like I needed the sugar to get through our late night rehearsal.
We started blocking our 1st production show at midnight. We are mounting Souther Nights first. It is a review of old school blues, rock'n roll, and country. Think New Orleans style with a bit of musical theatre thrown in. Thankfully, Gavin let us out at 1:30am.
After an incredibly long day and information overload I retired to my cabin. It is HUGE for a crew cabin. I am really excited about making it feel like home once I have some time to get off the ship and buy a comforter and a few other small items. I will post pics when I get some down time. Internet is not too expensive, I can purchase 460 minutes for 40 dollars. I am finding ways to make the best use of my time on-line, such as writing my blogs in word off-line and then just copying and pasting them once I am signed on. I am doing the same routine for my e-mails too. I think I finally crawled into bed around 2:15am. I was hoping to sleep like a baby, but I think my body is in a little environmental shock. Needless to say I kinda tossed and turned all night. I woke up at 8 am to make it to another safety meeting before heading to rehearsal. And I am currently watching the dancers block there numbers while I type.
Overall, it was a wonderful first day onboard. I am excited about settling in and meeting more of the crew. Plus, Southern Nights is one of my favorite shows! The next 2 days of rehearsals, blocking, and runs will be really fun. We open the show tomorrow night, one at 8 and the later seating at 10pm. I think I have been too busy to really be homesick yet and everything is still too new and exciting. I do miss having my cell phone on and around all the time. It is quite the adjustment, but I am sure it will help me be more creative with my time and communication! Alright, this has become a long entry. More to come later on!
-bradley
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