Friday, February 6, 2009

Saltfish Days

These cruises are so long or at least they seem long. We’ve been enjoying the excellent ports. Doing a bit of everything - swimming, snorkeling, a little sun, eating, drinking and some aimless wandering.

As I mentioned in my last post, Mike Shreeman decided to leave the ship and we got a new cast member, Ryan Archibald. We rehearsed Ryan into the Stardust show last week. He came very well-prepared and ready to go. His happy demeanor and his obvious desire to be here have been a real breath of fresh air. He did a great job in our Stardust show - funny, sweet and completely charming.

It was Deanna’s Birthday this month. We had a Birthday party for her on her day - we went to a beach (swimming & lunch) then back onboard we went to Jane’s show and then to dinner.

On the ship, the Crew Welfare department throws a party for all of the January babies. So Deanna got an invite to the party and it said she should bring friends so she brought all of us. It was great! Olive, The Crew Welfare Department, organized a great party. A huge spread of food (including these great Philipine sweet rolls), free beer/wine/soda, games with prizes and,of course, cake!

At one point Rance left to go to the restroom, the rest of the cast ended up playing a game called “Dribble, Exhibition, Dance, Shoot.” We were one team with the addition of Joel, former Asst. Cruise Director now Cruise Staff. Basically you get a blown up balloon and you have to listen to the caller and either Dribble, Exhibition...you get it...until she says pass then you give it to the next person. They do the same and you continue until she says Shoot - then you have to sit on the balloon and pop it. Ridiculous fun. Our team won and we all got NCL shirts made of perspiration wicking material! Rance was super jealous of our shirts so he entered into the next game of Musical Chairs....

This wasn’t just any Musical Chairs. There were 6 guys and 7 women playing. The women walked on the inside circle and the guys walked on the outside. When the music stopped the guys had to sit down and the women had to sit in their laps. Yes, that’s right. I’ve never seen so many adults turn into 12 year olds. Everyone was giggling as they had to either sit or be sat on. Rance was super competitive and he has really long legs so he won. He won a normal NCL shirt and a beach towel. Nice work!

We did some snorkeling on St. Thomas. We went to Secret Harbor. We went there two cruises ago but didn’t snorkel. It’s a nice quiet beach with a restaurant and as it turns out some pretty good snorkeling. We saw a barracuda, a flying gurnard, a spiny lobster and a sand diver. Don’t know what these are? Look it up! After snorkeling we drank some rum and had lunch. A great day.

We had a full ship this week but there was a special group onboard. They were a group that brought on 4 different Caribbean/Soca/R&B/Jazz acts. We missed the first one - Calypso Rose - but we got to see the other four - The Might Sparrow, Bill Saxton & Radam Schwartz and Madame Pat Tandy. They were all great. We found out about the group because our cabin neighbors, Jane L. Powell and JJ Jackson, told us. Jane, The Chocolate Goddess of Love, is a performer onboard and JJ is her husband and her drummer. The Mighty Sparrow was vibrant, lively and super dirty. Bill & Radam were very jazzy and for me the least accessible. Madame Pat Tandy was elegant, dynamic and dirty. We bought cd’s from Calypso Rose & the Sparrow.

The party was great and we look forward to the Feb. edition. Why? Because my birthday is on Feb. 28th so I hope they’ll have the party before we leave. We only have 21 days left in this contract.

When we leave the ship, we’re going to visit family and hold auditions in Chicago. Then back home to teach at COA and get ready for the sixth season of ImprovAcadia. We’ll be very happy to be back home in Ellsworth!

~Jen