Southampton/Sea day

Nov 5th/6th
Southampton/Sea day

The 5th was our final stop in Southampton before making our crossing, so I had to say my goodbyes to England for the time being. I started out the day by sleeping in, eventually woke up for lunch and got off the ship to walk around the mall. I kind of wanted to buy something, but then at the same time, I have a real hard time paying for something in pounds, making everything about twice what it should be. So after walking around there for a while and a phone call back home, I eventually left to get back to the ship for the passenger drill. I then had a rehearsal for the welcome aboard show because of the new tenor player coming on, and also we got our old sound guy back in the theater. So the new tenor player’s name is Brandon, he’s 44 if I recall correctly, and it’s his first ship. He’s a real nice guy, and not a bad player. He’s not as great as Shawn, but he’ll do fine here. And, he seems to have a good personality and is excited to be here, so it should work out great. We played the show, and then I found out the dancers and skaters were having a party. Someone had a cool idea of turning different people’s rooms into different themed bars. So one room was a gay bar, one was a Saloon, and other rooms had some theme or certain drink that was their responsibility. But, put it all together, and it makes for a fun time “bar hopping” between rooms. And all before our parade, which turned out to be the most fun parade ever… But all the dancers and skaters are signing of the ship after the crossing, so this was the first of many parties I’m sure they’ll be having. And I think that was it for the 5th. For those of you who are familiar with “V for Vendetta” – Remember, Remember, the 5th of November… (and I was in England on the fifth, I’d have never guessed that a year ago).
Also, I changed cabins on the 5th. I took Shawn’s old room, who was roommates with my friend Pieter. Pieter stays with his girlfriend onboard the ship in a different room, meaning I get the room to myself, which is nice. He’s rarely here, I get the bottom bunk, and don’t have to worry about having to deal with someone else’s lifestyle…at least till his GF gets off the ship in 6 weeks. Hopefully this setup will work out fine and I’ll get a nice chunk of time to myself.
Then the 6th was a sea day as we headed towards La Coruna. This was nice day for the band because we only had our captain’s cocktail big band set to play, so it’ll be one of our few light nights this cruise. The set went well, Brandon played alright, and that was most of what happened that day. I spent a lot of time during the day on my computer, and then showed Brandon around for a bit at night, but nothing too exciting. But, I received a call that evening that I’d be signing off January 14th, five days sooner than originally planned. I guess that’s fine, I don’t really care either way. I guess I would have liked to spend an extra 5 days not in Chicago weather, but what cha gonna do.
Also, I just found out a few days ago that I’ll be going on another ship early April for 8 weeks. It’s the Splendour of the Seas, and I’ll be starting in Brazil!! From Brazil, we’ll go up the coast stopping at a number of different ports along the way, and then make a crossing to Morocco and Portugal. Then, after shipping out of Lisbon, we’ll change our home port to Venice! From there, I’ll spend the remaining weeks going to Croatia, Greece, and Turkey. So it’s going to be a really great itinerary, and a short contract! Also, I’m booked to be playing tenor on the gig instead of alto, so that’ll be slightly different. But anyways, that’s the news!