Cruise Two (I'm Not Punctual Enough For Weeks): ICELAND... And Beyond.

Two cruises down, approximately a dozen more to go.  This is a very fun cruise, but COMPLETELY different than the last one.  For one, I made more crew friends this time.  That might be because there was no one on the ship even close to my age this cruise, but also because I wanted to forge some friendships that would allow me physical access to friends for longer than a week.  But more of that later.

What all did I accomplish this cruise?  Hmm… well, I ate whale… in Iceland… with just J.P. there to witness it.  Yeah, I’m a beast, I ate freaking whale.  To be precise, it was Minke whale (I think that might be how its spelled, but I’m not positive).  No matter, I had a great time doing that.  And the fact that I was in freaking Iceland was AMAZING!!!!  How ballin’ is that alone?  Not many of my banana brethren make it to Iceland, so I TOTALLY feel blessed.

Let’s see… I climbed some mountains, saw some Callandish Stones, saw a Norwegian ski jump, encountered both beautiful and ancient churches, walked through some buildings with grass growing on he roofs… you know, a regular two weeks worth in Europe.  Ya’ll, I LOVE this job.

But even without all the amazing sights, the people I get the opportunity to work with are amazing as well.  I’d love you all to check out a guy named Danny Buckler online.  He’s a comedian, and one of our guest performers on the Marina.  I love this man: he’s such a stud.  I had the grand pleasure of getting to know him and our amazing sound engineer Tim nightly at the bar.  I have such a strong appreciation for the both of them, but sadly Danny will be leaving soon.  I have a feeling that I’ll be seeing him again before the end of my contract, but still the man’s a legend in the making and I greatly appreciate his performance savvy and general existence.

Enough gabbing, on to the pictures!  There’s a lot here; so bear with me, but it’s all good, I promise.  Oh, and just so you all know: Meredith and I hang out A LOT.  Don’t get any ideas that we’re together or anything, but we just gel really well.  More often than not, I serve as her wingman anyway.  So the fact that you’ll probably be seeing her in a lot of these pictures doesn’t mean that we’re “together” by any stretch of the imagination.  J.P. and I just need some estrogen around to even us out.

Week 2: Wrapping Up The First Cruise

It’s been a while since I blogged, hasn’t it?  Last week was such a blur!  But the first cruise has ended and now the routine of things will slowly begin to kick in.  I’m both excited for something consistent, but DREADING getting bored with the same old, same old.  I’m not TOO worried about getting bored though.  I should be able to get off the ship PLENTY!  I got to get off at Dublin, Ireland; Cork, Ireland; AND Dover, UK.  Oh man!  This area of the world is GORGEOUS!!!  I’m loving it full-heartedly.

On the sad side of things, the closing of the first cruise brought many good byes.  For starters, I had to say good-bye to David, my director.  I unfortunately don’t have any pictures of myself with him, but I will sorely miss his direction.  He was not only an amazing director and choreographer, but he consistently nurtured the actor within me through his positive attitude and selfless wisdom.  I loved working with the man, and I truly hope I will get to again in the future.

Then of course there was Mindy, Leanne, and Shelly.  Leanne and Shelly were our wonderful “personal” tailors.  Any costume issue we had, they would not only fix it with utmost haste, but with such an incredible display of skill that makes my peel look like dribble in comparison to my costumes.  And I honestly don’t know what I will do without Mindy.  Her professionalism not only encouraged me, but inspired me as well.  She consistently kept us performers up-to-date and fully prepared for whatever lied ahead.  I’m so grateful she was here.  I will miss David, Leanne, Shelly, and Mindy, but I am very hopeful that we will be working together again.

But there are some people I’m less likely to run into again.  These people I formed special bonds with.  They were “my” first guests, and turned out to be really good friends.  I’ll explain who they are in the pictures, but I might miss them the most because I forged such a strong friendship with them.  But enough of this depressing talk, let’s get to some pictures!

 

Week 1: Getting Onboard

Hey everybody!  Banana here, and life is SO exciting these days!  I left the states about a week ago now.  It seems so long ago… and I LOVE IT!!!!  Packing for the journey across the Atlantic was horrendous… as always.  But fortunately, J.P. wrangled up a troupe of happy helpers to help us get the job done.  Special thanks to Albert (official item finder), Lance (organizing fiend), Megan (clothes folding specialist) and especially Kap (chauffer & “Pushing Daisies” extraordinaire)!  Without these four, I never would have gotten my worldly possessions all packed up, and J.P. would CERTAINLY not be in Europe right now.

Sorry I haven’t blogged until now, but life has been a maelstrom of exciting adventures; rules and regulations to nail down; and practice, practice, practice!!!  We got two shows up on their feet and 4 more to go.  But all in all, I’m just having so much fun!  I haven’t gotten off the ship yet, sadly, but I’m having a ball here.  I am REALLY enjoying my co-workers and the random friends I’m making in both the crew and guests!  I’m trying not to be too descriptive, because otherwise I’d be spending WAY too much time typing and not enough having fun, or even more importantly: SLEEPING.  But trust me, I’m having a blast, and I’ll hopefully get a chance to get off the ship tomorrow in Dublin, Ireland!

If you want to thoroughly follow the path of my boat to see where I’m going and where I’ve been, here’s a link to Oceania’s website.  I’m a proud employee of the Marina, and right now we’re cruising around the UK.  WHAT A DELIGHT!?!  Oh there’s so much to say, but I’ve got so little time to tell.  Just know that I’m doing well and that I’ll post some pictures with descriptions about the past week.  ALSO know that I’m not really allowed to take pictures on my phone in areas that guests are allowed, so there are many mental images that I would LOVE to show you… but can’t… because they’re in my head!  I hope you enjoy these pictures, but I hope even more that you’ll enjoy the captions that accompany them.

This is the chair at work that I'd typically eat my lunch in.
They furnished the studio quite nicely.

If I wasn't being used during rehearsals, I might just take a quick cat nap on the couch in the lobby.

 

This is the studio where we'd conduct all the arduous labor of
learning dance moves and "putting it all together."

Here I am in what was either referred to as the church mission trip or the rape van.  Many lovely memories here.  We used this van to get from place to place in Nashville.  I'm seated between the lovely Mary Ann (left) and the fabulous Meredith (right).  In the next seat are the glamorous Kelly (left) and the stunning Kasey (right).  And last but certainly not least in the back of the van are the gorgeous Jessi (left) and the hypnotic Kendal (right).  Ryan and J.P. were in the front seats.

Kasey, J.P. and I sat together during our dinner with the company.  I LOVE working for Gary Musick Productions.  They are so considerate and nice enough to treat us to a final meal with all the higher-ups!  Gary HIMSELF was there!  What a delight!

This is Jessi, Felix, and I sharing martinis.
Felix taught us the choreography to our bumper shows.
He does magnificent work.

What do you think?  Don't I look good as one of Gary Musick's newest employees?

Ruthie and me!  A large group of my close friends
and I had a final dinner together before
I hopped across the big pond to the UK.

These are all my friends who had the ability to come to Chilies for my last state-side meal.  From left to right, they are Kap, Lance, J.P., Megan, Ruthie, Courtney, Abby, Taylor, and Albert.  I love these guys!  Courtney even made cupcakes!  I'll miss them all a lot, but I'll be sure to visit Nashville again when I get back to the states.

I'm all packed up and READY to go!

Just chillin' in the airport.

Alright!  Let's get a move on!

Can't wait to get to England!
But we first need to make a pit stop to Charlotte North Carolina.
That's where we'll switch planes and head off to the UK!

Oh... my... gosh... they had JAMBA JUICE at the Charlotte airport!  Praise the Lord!!!  Now, I'm no cannibal, but I do enjoy a good fruit smoothie every now and then... provided none of my own kind are in it.

I made it!  I slept almost the whole way, but here I am filling out my landing card!

Just watching out for my luggage.  Kendal's in the background doing something or another....

My best buddy and me excited to be in the UK!

Meredith and Ryan riding the shuttle to our hotel for the night.  We just want to ditch our stuff and get out on the town!

Kendal and Jess are stoked to be arriving at the hotel soon.

Honestly, I haven't the slightest idea what building it was... but my first authentic picture of London!  WOOT!

It doesn't usually look like this, Ryan told me, but because we were in London on the DAY OF THE DIAMOND JUBILEE... things were a bit... special.

For those of you who don't know what the Diamond Jubilee is, it's a celebration for the Queen's 60th day as the British Empire's ruling monarch.  WHAT!?!?!  60 freaking years?!?!?!  And I was there?  I mean, COME ON!!! This is some good stuff here!  We are kicking this gig off GOOD!

People were out in the street celebrating (as you could see in the previous picture).  But here, I wanted to show some of the planes flying overhead.  There were three dispatches, but this one caught my eye the most... probably because of the colored trail they left behind.

If nothing else proved I was in London... this ought to.  No Tardises though, sad to say.

Once again, I don't rightly recall what place this was...
but it LOOKS impressive, doesn't it?

Good ol' Big Ben!  What's a trip to London without seeing him!