Well, here I am, back in IJmuiden, Holland where it all began a whopping 14 days ago, when we embarked the Prinsendam. it feels like three months has gone by!
we've had a really eventful two weeks, bt I am happy to report that we now have all five of our productions shows on their feet (though we've only performed three of them so far), as well as having done our first performance of Dancing With the Stars at Sea, a speciality performance unique to Holland America Line ships.
The cast had a lovely reunion at the hotel in Amsterdam, and by the sound of it, we haodn't seen each other years, though it had only been three weeks. we took a train into the city and had a nice stroll along the canals before settling down for dinner and catching up on all our various shenanigans since Rome.
Oh, the many, many shenanigans. We did ourselves proud. ;-)
We got onto the ship the next moorning bright and early, and after a series of being shuffled around unnecessarily, we finally got all our belongings in the right place and more or less figured out how and when to deed ourselves. so, the basics.
my cabin is teeeeeeeny tiny compared to my cabin fromthe Odyssey, but.it is all mine and that is a luxury that is worth any size cabin. it even has a fold-up top bunk bed for anyone I sign on as a Friend on Board (I'm just saying...)
we hit the ground running and started staging our first show, BRAVO. We are under the supervision of Tash, the female dancer from the previous cast, who has been with Belinda King for many years. She is very organized, energetic, and basically just the perfect person to be at the helm of our install period.
BRAVO went off without a hitch, the band is fantastic, and we diced right in to show #2, AMOUR.
in the meantime, we docked in the beautiful city of Riga, Latvia. Or, I assume it was beautiful, because I only had about 30 minuted to spend there before rehearsals started.but by god, I was determined to at least step foot in the port to stay that I have physically been in Latvia. Bragging rights, and all that. What little I saw was very pretty, hut also very very cold. it felt like early winter!
We docked in Tallinn,Estonia after that, and I braved the howling wind and horizontal.rain to enjoy the medieval cobblestone streets and the conveniently close supernarket to pick up some essentials. We do come back here again, so I'm hoping that the Weather Gods womp show us some mercy next time, because most people claim that this is one of their favorite ports. I can't wait!
We then went through the Kiel Canal,which separates Denmark from Germany. Apparently, the canal is so narrow that the Prinsendam is the largest sea liner to be allowed into it! It was a lovely cruise, and it was pretty magical to watch the sunset from the Lido deck while we toasted Annabel's 25th birthday! The canal is lined on both sides with trees and bike paths and adorable little families out for a stroll in the sunshine...very peaceful.
We got through AMOUR OK, and started to tech for my favorite show, RED HOT AND BLUE, which we would be performing on my birthday!
We docked in StPetersburg, Russia for an overnight, which on the surface sounded like an awesome idea. the reality is that Russian passport officials have no desire to make yourlife easy, and the ccontrol checkpoint was sparsely populated, slow, and aggravating. Most of the gyests couldnt even syep foot in the port unless they had fenagled a Russian visa, or were on an escorted tour. Luckily, our Dutch Seaman's books allowed us crew members to leave the ship, but even that became a hassle if a certain control guard decided to require further documentation. Add to that the relative inability to get a cab from the port (we were docked about 25 min drug ng from the city center, one of the furthest away you can get), and the fact that the one bridge connecting the port to the city closed between 1 and 6am, we were not overly inclined to go party the night away in town. we did, however, have a blast in the OB (Officer's Bar) that night!
We docked in Stockholm shortly thereafter, on a surprise overnight. We were scheduled to dock in the morning on the 2nd, but a little persuasion from our cruise director out us in at around 10pm on the 1st. Sailing through the tiny low island surrounding the city as the sun was going down was absolutely gorgeous, and the cast celebrated with a wee champagne in the Ocean Bar while listening to our fabulous house band. I and a few others went wandering the city that night. and it was really beautiful to see the royal palace all lit up. I did not, however, have enough light to notice the armed guards standing sentinel at the gate, and it scared the ever loving hell out of me. Welcome to Sweden!
We ended up all reconvening at a bar downtown, and a good time was had by all.
the next morning,I rallied and met up with my brother Ubbe, which was an absolute delight. Iconfused many people on the ship, who wondered how iI ended up with a brother in Sweden with a funny name, so I had to explainseveral ttimes that he was an exhmxhange student from when I was about 4 years old, and he has always been, and will always be, my third big brother. it was incredible to see him and get a private guided tour of Stockholm. He introduced me to the wonder of pickled herring, and we lunched at a street side cafe on smoked salmon and shrimp, while the royal guard paraded down the street in their bright blue uniforms. You know, a standard day in Stockholm...
back on the ship, the cast had dinner in the dining room in honor of my upcoming birthday, and we had a toast at midnight to celebrate my big 3-0! it was so wonderful to spend it with such great people.
our two shows of RHAB went well the next da. and then I was surprised and touched to find that the cast had snuck out between shows to decorate the OB in balloons. when o entered the bar after our last show, I was overwhelmed by the sight of all that.color and the siundnfo 30 voices singing Happy Birthday. I was almost in tears. And then my clumsy self knocked over a glass of champagne right into my face as well as Annabel's face, so it's safe to say my birthday party started off on the right foot! EEveryone was dancing to my terrible 90s playlist and shooting darts and generally having a blast, so I couldn't have been happier.
Finally we came to our performance of Dancing With the Stars, which matches guests who have taken the dance classes offered throughout the cruise with our cast members in different styles. the winner of which gets a free cruise and a chance to represent the Orinsendma in the big theme cruise competition on the Oostfdam in December. our winner last night was Mary, who waltzed with Anthony very beautifully. the show was fine, but we were mostly relieved we made it out alive, having learned the whole thing on the fly.
Which brings us to today! I've been a greedy Gus with the WiFi in this port today, answering emails, Skype-ing with Haris, and generally getting as much done as possible before we sail in a few hours.
Our next itinerary is similarports, but i have a feeling I'll be able to enjoy them more., now that our install is almost over. and I've signed up to escort some tours in St P, some of which go to Peterhof, Catherine's Palace, and the Hermitage!!
More fun to come...
No comments:
Post a Comment