So, I'm sitting in a six-seat cabin that I have all to myself, on the train from Budapest (Hungary) to Novi Sad (Serbia), eating an apple and watching the Hungarian countryside pass by, when I think to myself, "Self," I say, "you STILL haven't blogged about the last cruise. Your one reader (shout out to you, mom) is probably sorely disappointed."
"Well, Self," myself replies, "you [I] are [am] right. And I've [We've?] got another six hours left in this journey, so let's get on that."
So then I play Candy Crush for another 20 minutes because I am still procrastinating. I run out of lives (damn you, level 437!). I eat another bite of apple.
OK, Self, I'm ready.
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Despite that overly literary intro, I actually don't have a whole lot to say about The Last Cruise Aboard the Prinsendam. For several reasons:
1. It was all the same ports we'd visited last time. *
2. It rained 80% of the time. And not the nice, summer-sprinkle, "it adds character to these beautiful old buildings" kind of rain. I mean "I don't need to do an 'ice bucket challenge' because I am LIVING in one right now" kind of rain.
3. Norway is crazy expensive.
4. I did all the cool stuff last time. **
5. A lot of disembarkation boring stuff was involved (i.e. dry cleaning/packing costumes, laundry, suitcase Tetris, deciding who gets my Magnadoodle, etc)
So, with all that, there wasn't a whole lot to report from the land of the Vikings and overpriced toiletries.
Here's what I did manage to jot down for notes to myself (shout-out to you, Self) during that last itinerary, and I hope you enjoy it.
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Day 1 was a portent for doom.
We left IJmuiden (Holland) and almost immediately hit rocky weather. Apparnetlt, a hurr cane had recently battered the UK, and we were feeling the aftereffects. We had had such smooth sailings for the entire three.months prior (save a few days), that I had almost forgotten what seasickness felt like.
I was quickly reminded.
The weather was so bad, in fact, that the captain chose to turn the ship around and head back toward Holland, with the intention of returning again the next day when the weather had calmed. The line of trajectory for the ship on the real-time GPS channel looks like someone drew a number "4" in the North Sea.
We were supposed to perform our show Bravo the following night, but the seas were still too rocky. We added another sea day (eliminating Leknes) and lurched our way into Bergen a day later than scheduled.
Somewhere in the midst of all that, I apparently noted that I sang with the Station Band, so that must have been a fun night. I assume I sang "Mambo Italiano", because that seems to have become my anthem on this ship. This is an upgrade, since my Seabourn Odyssey anthem was "La Bamba", and that is one of the most boring songs in the world to sing. Rosemary Clooney is always more fun than Richie Valens. Scientific FACT.
Anyway, back to Bergen.
Unlike the last time we docked in Bergen, when it was sunny, very warm, and just delightful, this docking was cold, drizzly, and in a state of political upheaval. The teachers' union was striking, rallying around the pond in the middle of town. My plans to ride the funicular up to the top for the mountain (NO THANK YOU, windchill factor) were dashed, so Matan and I drank coffee and OJ and soaked up WiFi in a cafe somewhere.
--Pay attention, because that's going to be a running theme for this blog post.
Of note was the fact that in this WiFi haze, I booked my very first AirBnB home stay, in Budapest. It was exciting and a little nerve-wracking, as I've never used this program before. Having just left B-pest, i can say it was a great idea!
Geiranger..again, rainy rainy windy rain, so I went to a cafe, ordered mediocre cailiflowrt soup that cost 98 Norwegian Krona (about $16), and used a lot of WiFi.
(See, I told you this would be a theme)
That night, the cast actually got to eat together in the Pinnacle Grill. I should rephrase that...the cast got to sit in the general proximity of each other, I. the Pinnacle Grill. There's a rule about no more than four crew members eating together, but since we were spread across two tables that could have easily sat twice our number, it was a little awkward. But, undaunted, we made do...until the beverage manager sauntered over, wondered aloud why we were separated, and made an executive decision to combine us on one table in time for dessert. (Merci, Thomas!)
Trømso: rain. worst rain so far. Bitterly cold. Bone-chillingly cold. But I was on IPM for this port last time, so I was determined to see it. I was underwhelmed, but I did buy some fun stuff at a discount store downtown: whale-themed decals for my shower, a LED mini Buddah statue, stroopwaffels, and speech bubble magnets that I put over everyone's doors.
We performed our last show of Amour that night. Ciao, Amour. You came in and out with a whimper (though I did really enjoy singing in Spanish).
Honningsvag: It was cold. And raining. I halfheartedly decided I wanted to take the tourist bus to Nordkaap (North Cape), the northernmost point of continental Europe, but it turns out I missed the last bus by five minutes. Mildly upset, the tourist service guy suggested a free classical concert in the church just up the hill. Combining my two favorite things (1. free stuff. 2.not getting rained on), I bought some gummi candies at toothpaste at the market (cost, what, $13? I can't remember) and went to church. It was...as advertised.
It was also Indonesian Independence Day. Apparently the food in the crew mess that night was great.
Trondheim: I really liked this port last time, and the forecasts showed that there would actually be sun and not-freezing weather that day, so i rented a bike from the crew office. Unfoetunateky, the night before, the engineers decided to do work kn the air conditioning system, and cut a/c to ALL the crew cabins on our deck, so i slept fitfully for a grand total of maybe two or three hours (interrupted by having to take a cold shower at about 5am). When the air finally got turned back on, after our department meeting in the morning, i fell right back to sleep. So, I didn't actually make it out to the city until noon-ish, and by that time, all the gorgeous sun had gone away and turned into--you guessed it--cold rain. I biked anyway, bought some cool tank tops from BikBok (a new favorite store), drank coffee, and used WiFi. Standard.
Alesund: I had wanted to go kayaking for a while, and discovered that Alesund was the only place on this itinerary that had availability to do so. I had reserved a bunch of kayaks for a group of us, and had gotten excited until--quelle surprise--cold rain! The ill-fated Prinsendam Kayak Kollective dispersed, so Matan and I went to the aquarium. We were pleased to discover a 50% discount for crew, which made the trip affordable by normal human standards! Success! The aquarium was nice (no Monterey Bay, but nice), and the highlight was the touch tank. I discovered that Matan had a bit of a fear of crabs and things with snappy claws, so of course that fear had to be faced down. He was reticent, so i got things started by picking up a live scallop, something i'd never done before.
Nor will ever do again.
I knew that scallops run (swim?) from predators by clamping their shells open and shut and sort of scooting away in a zig-zag, but let me tell you....when you're HOLDING it out of the water and it starts to do that, it is UNSETTLING. I dropped it quickly, splashing a small boy to my right square in the face. It was not my finest moment. Matan, obviously inspired by my performance (or more likely, "at least i wont look as ridiculous as Barrie"), got a hold of a crab and was the hero of the day. Then we warmed our hands with hot chocolate and warmed our chilled nerves ("ugggh i cant believe i touched it!") with a chocolate cookie.
And then we went to a cafe in town and used WiFi.
(ok, so this was a VARIATION on the theme)
That night was a soecial nitht in yhe spa, just for the cast, since we had a show the last Crew Night (and we're probably their best customers). I got acupuncture, as well as my very first facial treatment. It was divine.
Fläm: Misty, not-terribly-cold rain (improvement?). I walked around a bit in a monument park, then it started to rain harder, so i came back to the ship. (even cafe-and-WiFi was getting boring at this point).
The day greatly improved laster, when I sat in with the orchestra for their 4:30 jazz set. I've gotten better at this gig since the first time I tried it, and I always looked forward to it. I looked forward to it even more that day, because immediately following the set, Matan and I had dinner in the Pinnacle, just the two of us. It was very nice, and probably the only legitimate "date" we ever had. But on a ship, even one legit date is an achievement...coordinating the schedules of cast/musician around a normal dinner time is harder than you might think!
Stavanger: Got WiFi in the lobby of a theater school. It was very cold that day.
Performed our very very very last show that night, Rock at the Opera, to a standing-O crowd. I think they could feel our energy as we threw everything we had at it, as our last hurrah. I think they also heard us screaming with joy after the curtain closed...
We had one last sea day, where we did our final Dancing With the Stars at Sea show. It was a good finale this time, with some good dancers. Dima and his partner Carol won this time, with a sassy jive.
Since Annabel and Anthony basically spearheaded the costume packing ordeal, we had blissfully little to pack up on our last day, which meant we got to enjoy ourselves a bit. Most of us went up to the Ocean Bar to dance with the Station Band, then off to the OB to say goodbye to as many people as possible.
This is the part I don't like.
I don't really want to document the goodbyes, because in all honesty, they left me numb. Three months is a very short time to be on a ship as an entertainer, but despite that, we made some really good friends. But being the seasoned pros that we are, saying goodbye to cruiseship friends is always a little different. There's a very real chance that you will never, ever see this person again....then again (as it was with Matan), you may see them again randomly two years later. So "goodbye" on a ship is an inexplicable mix of "farewell forever" and "see you soon".
That's all I'll say about it.
So the next day was a lot of final paperwork and all that, a bit of drama at the passport check because a Ukrainian masseuse didn't have the proper exit visa, and then we all made it to the airport. I landed in Budapest a few hours later....and that's another blog post.
I'm going to change the name of this blog, omitting the "2013-2014", since I'm taking another contract very shortly. I'll be in far-flung places again, so WiFi may be scarce, but I'll do what I can...from Ghana...and Myanmar...and Jordan...
That's all for now.
I hope you (mom) have enjoyed my posts from this incredible contract, from England, and aboard the Seabourn Odyssey and the Holland America Line Prinsendam. It's been a long journey.
But there's always room for another adventure. ;-)
*Except for Oslo and Kristiansand, which were eliminated from this itinerary. We were also supposed to dock in Leknes--a new port for us--but the weather prohibited it.
**Except kayaking! Dangit, I STILL haven't been kayaking!
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