April 19th
Southampton
Today was my first full day sitting in England with nothing to do, so John and I have been trying to think of how to pass our days. The morning was started by going into the city for internet access, followed by a quick lunch bought from a grocery store. We had found a jazz saxophone concert listing in a brochure that was scheduled to take place at the University of Southampton, which after being told it was about 2 miles away, we decided to walk there. We set out around noon and after a lot of wandering around the campus, we arrived at the concert hall at 1:00, just in time for the start.
It was a free concert that the university was putting on, but it was supposed to feature an American saxophonist, someone who’s in the opposite problem of mine: he couldn’t fly to England. Instead, we listened to the saxophone professor do the concert instead, which was still very good. That lasted about an hour, after which we decided to wander through the music school. This culminated in us wandering into a saxophone class with the same rhythm section that we’d just seen at the concert, and we sat in on the lesson, listening to the students go up one at a time to play with the guest artists. We were thus able to kill another 90 minutes of our day, and followed by the walk back to the hotel, it was now almost time for dinner. Dinner was followed by going to a pub that we knew had free internet, and being the only place open at night and the best time to get in contact with the states, we stayed there till about 11:00 before making our way back to the hotel.
And with that, we’ve successfully killed our first day here. Tomorrow is going to be a little harder, and we’re debating a trip to London, but we’ll see where the day takes us. Thanks for reading and I hope to be able to stop writing this blog soon!!!!! Seeya!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Southampton
April 18th
Southampton
I woke up this morning, finished getting my stuff sorted and began the check out process. The first flaw of what I’m expecting to be many, was the mixed messages I was getting about how I’m going to my hotel. I was supposed to get my stuff off the ship by 10, but I couldn’t check into the hotel till 2. I was supposed to provide my own transportation to the hotel, but John (the other sax player who’s in the exact same situation as me) had a taxi arranged for him by the company. Everything was confused and changing every time I asked someone, so I got off the ship with all my stuff at 10 hoping for the best, and got it. I was planning on just taking the shuttle into the city and walking the rest of the way, but I ran into one of my friends who was rejoining the ship, and he had his car with him because he lived in the area, so he drove me to my hotel, nice!
At the hotel, they couldn’t find my reservation, problem two. He found John’s, but I didn’t have a reservation to check in for that day. After 10 minutes we figured out why…I had a reservation for checking in yesterday (while I was sailing out of France). Luckily though, this mistake was in my favor, so I could move all my stuff into my room right then, grab my continental breakfast, and then walk back to the city at my leisure. And the reservation was for two days, so I knew I was covered for tonight. So I returned to the city, found my band, hung out at a café, and then returned to the ship with John on the shuttle to get one last free lunch and grab his bags for his taxi ride to the hotel.
I decided not to hop in the taxi with him and the other 2 guys that he was sharing with, so I went back to the city on the shuttle and walked to the hotel where I waited for John to get settled in before we started trying to figure out what we were going to do during our extended stay on Southampton.
I started out with a trip to a café to make some phone calls and take care of online stuff, hung out till they kicked me out 15 minutes after closing time, and returned to my room to take an amazing bath! Having my own hotel room has some killer advantages over the cabins I’ve been in for the past 2 months. This was followed by dinner with John, and then we headed into the city to find Neil, the drummer in our band, who had also signed off the ship that day to take care of some family things back at home.
Neil was at a different hotel, so we walked in that direction, and in the tradition of any good band member, we knew the best place to find him was at the closest bar to the hotel. Bingo! We sat down for a drink, some last goodbyes, and then he headed to bed so that he could catch an early train.
By the time John and I had left the bar, we noticed a huge line of college kids outside of a night club, something that was too out of character for this city at night to not check out for ourselves. There were literally hundreds of college kids lined up to get into this place, and apparently they’d all just returned from vacation and were about to start a new semester at school. We eventually started talking to one of the bouncers at the door and asked about the club. It was an “American sports bar” aimed at college kids, though I’ve never heard a sports bar blasting dance music in the states quite like that. We told the guy our story, that we were stuck in the city, and I jokingly asked if we could get in free since we’re Americans. And amazingly enough, he was going to let us walk right in, in front of the hundreds of people, so that we could have a beer and check it out. The best part though was the condition that John needed to “lose” his bright yellow, “authentic island wear” baseball cap. Apparently he just wasn’t cool enough for the bar with it on. We thanked the guy for the offer, but not wanted to blow out our eardrums, we made our way back to the hotel joking about how many ways John’s yellow hat was the antithesis of cool.
Anyway, that’s day one of who knows how many. We are set up in the hotel for as long as needed, but I’m hoping this ash cloud problem gets sorted out quickly enough that I can make it home this week. Till then, I’m stuck in a city that I’ve never been in for more than a few hours, living in a hotel, provided with 2 meals a day. But hey, I’ll just try to use this time to relax, cool down after the ship, and get excited about seeing people back at home. And at least I’m not stuck in some third world country, or somewhere that doesn’t speak English, so the situation could definitely be worse. I’ll make the most of it while I await word from P&O for a plane ticket home. So till then, fingers crossed that this ash cloud dissipates quickly and that I’m back in my own country. Thanks!
Southampton
I woke up this morning, finished getting my stuff sorted and began the check out process. The first flaw of what I’m expecting to be many, was the mixed messages I was getting about how I’m going to my hotel. I was supposed to get my stuff off the ship by 10, but I couldn’t check into the hotel till 2. I was supposed to provide my own transportation to the hotel, but John (the other sax player who’s in the exact same situation as me) had a taxi arranged for him by the company. Everything was confused and changing every time I asked someone, so I got off the ship with all my stuff at 10 hoping for the best, and got it. I was planning on just taking the shuttle into the city and walking the rest of the way, but I ran into one of my friends who was rejoining the ship, and he had his car with him because he lived in the area, so he drove me to my hotel, nice!
At the hotel, they couldn’t find my reservation, problem two. He found John’s, but I didn’t have a reservation to check in for that day. After 10 minutes we figured out why…I had a reservation for checking in yesterday (while I was sailing out of France). Luckily though, this mistake was in my favor, so I could move all my stuff into my room right then, grab my continental breakfast, and then walk back to the city at my leisure. And the reservation was for two days, so I knew I was covered for tonight. So I returned to the city, found my band, hung out at a café, and then returned to the ship with John on the shuttle to get one last free lunch and grab his bags for his taxi ride to the hotel.
I decided not to hop in the taxi with him and the other 2 guys that he was sharing with, so I went back to the city on the shuttle and walked to the hotel where I waited for John to get settled in before we started trying to figure out what we were going to do during our extended stay on Southampton.
I started out with a trip to a café to make some phone calls and take care of online stuff, hung out till they kicked me out 15 minutes after closing time, and returned to my room to take an amazing bath! Having my own hotel room has some killer advantages over the cabins I’ve been in for the past 2 months. This was followed by dinner with John, and then we headed into the city to find Neil, the drummer in our band, who had also signed off the ship that day to take care of some family things back at home.
Neil was at a different hotel, so we walked in that direction, and in the tradition of any good band member, we knew the best place to find him was at the closest bar to the hotel. Bingo! We sat down for a drink, some last goodbyes, and then he headed to bed so that he could catch an early train.
By the time John and I had left the bar, we noticed a huge line of college kids outside of a night club, something that was too out of character for this city at night to not check out for ourselves. There were literally hundreds of college kids lined up to get into this place, and apparently they’d all just returned from vacation and were about to start a new semester at school. We eventually started talking to one of the bouncers at the door and asked about the club. It was an “American sports bar” aimed at college kids, though I’ve never heard a sports bar blasting dance music in the states quite like that. We told the guy our story, that we were stuck in the city, and I jokingly asked if we could get in free since we’re Americans. And amazingly enough, he was going to let us walk right in, in front of the hundreds of people, so that we could have a beer and check it out. The best part though was the condition that John needed to “lose” his bright yellow, “authentic island wear” baseball cap. Apparently he just wasn’t cool enough for the bar with it on. We thanked the guy for the offer, but not wanted to blow out our eardrums, we made our way back to the hotel joking about how many ways John’s yellow hat was the antithesis of cool.
Anyway, that’s day one of who knows how many. We are set up in the hotel for as long as needed, but I’m hoping this ash cloud problem gets sorted out quickly enough that I can make it home this week. Till then, I’m stuck in a city that I’ve never been in for more than a few hours, living in a hotel, provided with 2 meals a day. But hey, I’ll just try to use this time to relax, cool down after the ship, and get excited about seeing people back at home. And at least I’m not stuck in some third world country, or somewhere that doesn’t speak English, so the situation could definitely be worse. I’ll make the most of it while I await word from P&O for a plane ticket home. So till then, fingers crossed that this ash cloud dissipates quickly and that I’m back in my own country. Thanks!
Brest
April 17th
Brest, France
Today is the beginning of what I’m sure is going to be an interesting end to my contract. I’m scheduled to return home tomorrow, but thanks to a certain volcano that doesn’t want to stop erupting in my general direction, it doesn’t look like I’m going to fly home any time soon. That in mind, and me not knowing what the ship was going to do about it, I decided to skip my tour that day and go into the city of Brest and find an internet connection to ascertain what my next few days would consist of. I was afraid the ship was going to drive me to the airport and say good luck…the airport every news channel says to stay away from because everything’s cancelled. And when the people on the ship gave me no assurance of being looked after once I signed off, I didn’t have a choice but to find out my options.
So I took my shuttle into the city and walked along the main street till I got to the first café with wireless. One problem though, I don’t speak French to ask about the wireless, ask if it’s free, or what stipulations there are. Actually, I can’t even pronounce the word right: I walked up to the lady behind the counter to ask about Wi-Fi. So, I said Wi-Fi in a question tone. She looked confused. I said it again, same response. I pointed at the sticker on the door and again said Wi-Fi, blank stare. I then went to the window and tapped on the sticker. Well, it’s not pronounced Wi-Fi in France, it somehow became “wee-fee”. Now that she understood what I wanted, she went off in French about it, meaning it was my turn to return those same blank stares. Usually, if I’m trying to talk to someone who doesn’t speak English, I use single words and a lot of hand gestures…she tried to handle my French deficiencies by speaking in really long sentences really quickly. I ended up with a little brochure about how to sign on, which I didn’t need, all I wanted to know was whether it was free. Well, it was, so I sat down, ordered the most amazing croissant and most expensive fruit smoothie ever, and proceeded to figure out my future. I figured a good step one would be to call the emergency travel number the ship gave me, so I did, and found out that they were planning on putting me in a hotel till I could leave. Mission accomplished! Why the ship didn’t know this is beyond me, but I spent a little more time online before packing up and returning to the ship with the confidence that I wouldn’t be thrown off the ship the following day with a cancelled plane ticket and a “good luck”.
I walked back to the shuttle drop off, passing some music stores that I briefly visited, again with my French being the downfall in my plan. And before getting on my shuttle, I came across what seemed to be some sort of fair for kids, but a super active fair. One in which kids were learning how to ride unicycles, fencing, row machines, balance on yoga balls, play basketball, jump on trampolines, and more. It was amazing to see so many people out being that active, and just creepy to see 10 kids trying to ride unicycles. I don’t know if the French culture just trains everyone to be in the circus just for the fun of it or if I just stumbled on a collection of kids who’ve all inspired a strange affinity in their community for trampoline back flips, but regardless, it was neat to see.
And that’s it, I played my final two shows the night, packed my stuff up, and I was done with my contract. Now I get to sit back and see how long I end up being stranded in England, woohoo! Seeya
Brest, France
Today is the beginning of what I’m sure is going to be an interesting end to my contract. I’m scheduled to return home tomorrow, but thanks to a certain volcano that doesn’t want to stop erupting in my general direction, it doesn’t look like I’m going to fly home any time soon. That in mind, and me not knowing what the ship was going to do about it, I decided to skip my tour that day and go into the city of Brest and find an internet connection to ascertain what my next few days would consist of. I was afraid the ship was going to drive me to the airport and say good luck…the airport every news channel says to stay away from because everything’s cancelled. And when the people on the ship gave me no assurance of being looked after once I signed off, I didn’t have a choice but to find out my options.
So I took my shuttle into the city and walked along the main street till I got to the first café with wireless. One problem though, I don’t speak French to ask about the wireless, ask if it’s free, or what stipulations there are. Actually, I can’t even pronounce the word right: I walked up to the lady behind the counter to ask about Wi-Fi. So, I said Wi-Fi in a question tone. She looked confused. I said it again, same response. I pointed at the sticker on the door and again said Wi-Fi, blank stare. I then went to the window and tapped on the sticker. Well, it’s not pronounced Wi-Fi in France, it somehow became “wee-fee”. Now that she understood what I wanted, she went off in French about it, meaning it was my turn to return those same blank stares. Usually, if I’m trying to talk to someone who doesn’t speak English, I use single words and a lot of hand gestures…she tried to handle my French deficiencies by speaking in really long sentences really quickly. I ended up with a little brochure about how to sign on, which I didn’t need, all I wanted to know was whether it was free. Well, it was, so I sat down, ordered the most amazing croissant and most expensive fruit smoothie ever, and proceeded to figure out my future. I figured a good step one would be to call the emergency travel number the ship gave me, so I did, and found out that they were planning on putting me in a hotel till I could leave. Mission accomplished! Why the ship didn’t know this is beyond me, but I spent a little more time online before packing up and returning to the ship with the confidence that I wouldn’t be thrown off the ship the following day with a cancelled plane ticket and a “good luck”.
I walked back to the shuttle drop off, passing some music stores that I briefly visited, again with my French being the downfall in my plan. And before getting on my shuttle, I came across what seemed to be some sort of fair for kids, but a super active fair. One in which kids were learning how to ride unicycles, fencing, row machines, balance on yoga balls, play basketball, jump on trampolines, and more. It was amazing to see so many people out being that active, and just creepy to see 10 kids trying to ride unicycles. I don’t know if the French culture just trains everyone to be in the circus just for the fun of it or if I just stumbled on a collection of kids who’ve all inspired a strange affinity in their community for trampoline back flips, but regardless, it was neat to see.
And that’s it, I played my final two shows the night, packed my stuff up, and I was done with my contract. Now I get to sit back and see how long I end up being stranded in England, woohoo! Seeya
At Sea, Bilbao
April 15th-16th
At Sea/Bilbao, Spain
I have nothing special to report for the sea day.
The 16th was my first trip to Bilbao, something I was excited for seeing as I’ve never been to the port before. The plan for the day was to escort a tour that took my into the historic district of the main city, and then brought my group to a town on the coast, a one time fishing village, now overrun with vacation houses.
The actual city of Bilbao was surprisingly nice. Apparently, it used to be an extremely industrial city, a place no one was interested in visiting, but it’s transformed into a gorgeous city, with lovely parks, sculptures, bridges, and museums. It’s most famous for the Guggenheim Museum, the tour I really wanted to get on, but was for what ever reason unable to. But for a city that most people are completely unfamiliar with, it blew me away with how nice everything was. The tour simply walked through the older district so that we could see the architecture and have a couple different historical sights explained to us. It was nice, nothing too exciting, but the city was so pleasant that it made for a great walking tour.
For whatever reason, people who can’t walk always like to sign up for walking tours. I don’t know what the issue is, whether they’re in denial of their condition, think they’ll like the challenge, or if they’re just simply illiterate and can’t read the warnings in the brochure, but there are always one or two people that really put a burden on the tour by shuffling through the streets with their canes. Please, if you ever go on a tour and think you may have mobility difficulties, please fully consider what you’re getting yourself into. Not only will you terribly annoy the entire group, but you’ll hate the tour because you can’t keep up. And, most importantly, you’ll annoy me, the tour escort, who spends the tour running back and forth between the main group and you stragglers who can’t keep up, just so that you’ll know the group turned left 3 blocks ahead. I’d love to just stay with the main group while you’re slowly consumed by the winding roads we walk through, but I’m afraid that I’d never escort again if I left you in Spain. And not that anyone will probably read my rant and take head, but if it can save one tour escort from an old lady with a cane who just signed up to walk 2 ½ hours, I’ll be happy.
Anyway, the next stop was in a city called Castro…something. We saw a really old church that dated back to 1280, and some other old things…yeah, there’s not really much to describe. The city did have some unbelievably nice cafes, all of which I couldn’t stop in due to time restraints.
The tour was OK, I got to see what I wanted to see, it was just that nothing was really exciting. We then returned to the ship and I didn’t have enough time to get back to the city to see the museum, so I just hung out on the ship and waited to play my show for the night. Thanks for reading!
At Sea/Bilbao, Spain
I have nothing special to report for the sea day.
The 16th was my first trip to Bilbao, something I was excited for seeing as I’ve never been to the port before. The plan for the day was to escort a tour that took my into the historic district of the main city, and then brought my group to a town on the coast, a one time fishing village, now overrun with vacation houses.
The actual city of Bilbao was surprisingly nice. Apparently, it used to be an extremely industrial city, a place no one was interested in visiting, but it’s transformed into a gorgeous city, with lovely parks, sculptures, bridges, and museums. It’s most famous for the Guggenheim Museum, the tour I really wanted to get on, but was for what ever reason unable to. But for a city that most people are completely unfamiliar with, it blew me away with how nice everything was. The tour simply walked through the older district so that we could see the architecture and have a couple different historical sights explained to us. It was nice, nothing too exciting, but the city was so pleasant that it made for a great walking tour.
For whatever reason, people who can’t walk always like to sign up for walking tours. I don’t know what the issue is, whether they’re in denial of their condition, think they’ll like the challenge, or if they’re just simply illiterate and can’t read the warnings in the brochure, but there are always one or two people that really put a burden on the tour by shuffling through the streets with their canes. Please, if you ever go on a tour and think you may have mobility difficulties, please fully consider what you’re getting yourself into. Not only will you terribly annoy the entire group, but you’ll hate the tour because you can’t keep up. And, most importantly, you’ll annoy me, the tour escort, who spends the tour running back and forth between the main group and you stragglers who can’t keep up, just so that you’ll know the group turned left 3 blocks ahead. I’d love to just stay with the main group while you’re slowly consumed by the winding roads we walk through, but I’m afraid that I’d never escort again if I left you in Spain. And not that anyone will probably read my rant and take head, but if it can save one tour escort from an old lady with a cane who just signed up to walk 2 ½ hours, I’ll be happy.
Anyway, the next stop was in a city called Castro…something. We saw a really old church that dated back to 1280, and some other old things…yeah, there’s not really much to describe. The city did have some unbelievably nice cafes, all of which I couldn’t stop in due to time restraints.
The tour was OK, I got to see what I wanted to see, it was just that nothing was really exciting. We then returned to the ship and I didn’t have enough time to get back to the city to see the museum, so I just hung out on the ship and waited to play my show for the night. Thanks for reading!
Cobh
April 14th
Cobh
Another Irish port today, the same one I’d visited a few years ago to visit Blarney Castle. I couldn’t get on the tour I wanted, so after sleeping in a bit in the morning, I got off the ship just to have a walk around the sea side village on my own. It was cold today, which wasn’t all that bad after you got used to it. And there’s something really charming about these Irish towns that you don’t get other places, so I walked as far as I felt I needed and returned 2 hours later to run into some friends on the street.
There’s nothing much to do in the small town of Cobh, so we ducked into a local pub and passed the rest of the day there. We had a night off tonight, so no one was too worried about having an extra pint of whichever Irish Stout we were drinking (I had Beamish). My only complaint about the city was that I couldn’t buy anything! There were literally no stores, pubs, cafes, or anything that would take my visa, apparently because of the processing costs. I wanted lunch, and after people had been buying me some drinks, I couldn’t let them buy my lunch too, but I ran into the same problem. My friends hung out at the bar while I roamed the streets trying to find someone who would accept my credit card, which ended up being a grocery store where I was able to buy some Chicken cutlets and a bag of chips (called Hunky Dorys). But even there I ran into a problem as they didn’t want to run any cards for less than 10 euro…my bill was 4. I explained my situation, that I had no euro, and the cashier made an exception and I was finally allowed to eat.
But that aside, it was a nice day where I was just able to relax on my walk and then hang out with my friends at a small, quiet pub in town. I guess that was really what the Irish experience should have been, hanging out at a pub and getting food from a “chippy”, as my Irish friend called the fast food place he ordered from. So nothing too exciting, but a nice day to kind of relax before the whole stress of packing up to go home hits. Thanks for reading!
Cobh
Another Irish port today, the same one I’d visited a few years ago to visit Blarney Castle. I couldn’t get on the tour I wanted, so after sleeping in a bit in the morning, I got off the ship just to have a walk around the sea side village on my own. It was cold today, which wasn’t all that bad after you got used to it. And there’s something really charming about these Irish towns that you don’t get other places, so I walked as far as I felt I needed and returned 2 hours later to run into some friends on the street.
There’s nothing much to do in the small town of Cobh, so we ducked into a local pub and passed the rest of the day there. We had a night off tonight, so no one was too worried about having an extra pint of whichever Irish Stout we were drinking (I had Beamish). My only complaint about the city was that I couldn’t buy anything! There were literally no stores, pubs, cafes, or anything that would take my visa, apparently because of the processing costs. I wanted lunch, and after people had been buying me some drinks, I couldn’t let them buy my lunch too, but I ran into the same problem. My friends hung out at the bar while I roamed the streets trying to find someone who would accept my credit card, which ended up being a grocery store where I was able to buy some Chicken cutlets and a bag of chips (called Hunky Dorys). But even there I ran into a problem as they didn’t want to run any cards for less than 10 euro…my bill was 4. I explained my situation, that I had no euro, and the cashier made an exception and I was finally allowed to eat.
But that aside, it was a nice day where I was just able to relax on my walk and then hang out with my friends at a small, quiet pub in town. I guess that was really what the Irish experience should have been, hanging out at a pub and getting food from a “chippy”, as my Irish friend called the fast food place he ordered from. So nothing too exciting, but a nice day to kind of relax before the whole stress of packing up to go home hits. Thanks for reading!
Dublin
April 13th
Dublin
I was scheduled for a tour today, but after finding out that we had a late sail from Dublin, my rehearsal got moved to the morning so that I couldn’t go on my tour to the Guinness Factory, something I was really looking forward to. So the day started with a morning rehearsal, and after a light lunch, I got off the ship with John to go look around Dublin.
After catching our shuttle into town, there was a certain area of town that John wanted to check out because of a Handel Celebration that was going on. Apparantly, we happened to show up on the 278th anniversary of Handel’s Messiah, which was first performed in Dublin on April 13th. It was kind of a strange coincidence, and honestly, a strange holiday to celebrate, but they had music in the streets in certain areas of town with some events being free. So our first stop was at an outdoor concert, which we stayed for 10 minutes before deciding to move on.
The next stop was the one place I actually wanted to see, the Guinness Factory! We walked across the city to get there, I bought a student ticket with my old college ID, and we entered an unbelievable museum dedicated to Guinness Beer. And it really was a well put together museum, spread over 7 floors, including everything from the production to the advertisement of the product, and a pint of “the black stuff” at the end.
I learned three things today. First, I had no idea Guinness Beer and the Guinness Book of Records were one in the same, the latter being started by the former sparked on by a conversation about the fasted game bird. Second, I wanted to figure out why all the old Guinness ads use a toucan, which seems like a strange spokesperson for beer. Guinness had a saying, “Guinness is good for you”, so if one pint is good, imagine what “two-can” do! And third, I learned how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness out of a tap, and was given a certificate to prove it. There is a technique to it, and after learning it, I feel I’m well on my way to becoming a bar tender…or not.
John and I hung out there for a while just taking our time, which in the end would have been a lot better than going on a tour, where I would have been rushed through the place and wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much. So after ample time spent, we left to make our way back towards the main street of the city that we’d missed earlier in the day, planning on stopping at the first bar we found that started with an “O”. We grabbed a Cornish pastry on the way, which was quite good, and just kind of walked through the city. The main street was nothing but shopping, so that didn’t interest us too much. We eventually ended up at a shopping mall where John could by an infant sized shirt for his granddaughter, and where I used my phone to get online. For whatever reason, this shopping center had signs everywhere advertising its free WiFi, yet they made you pay to use their bathrooms…I guess that’s just Ireland for you.
We eventually started running out of time, and after somehow avoiding every bar that started with an “O”, we returned to the shuttle without ever stopping for another drink. But after the amount of walking we did and our upcoming show that night, we didn’t mind, happily returned to the ship with a good feeling for the city, and finished out the night as usual. It was a nice day and nice to be back in Ireland after about 3 years elsewhere in the world. Thanks for reading, your next pint of Guinness is on me!
Dublin
I was scheduled for a tour today, but after finding out that we had a late sail from Dublin, my rehearsal got moved to the morning so that I couldn’t go on my tour to the Guinness Factory, something I was really looking forward to. So the day started with a morning rehearsal, and after a light lunch, I got off the ship with John to go look around Dublin.
After catching our shuttle into town, there was a certain area of town that John wanted to check out because of a Handel Celebration that was going on. Apparantly, we happened to show up on the 278th anniversary of Handel’s Messiah, which was first performed in Dublin on April 13th. It was kind of a strange coincidence, and honestly, a strange holiday to celebrate, but they had music in the streets in certain areas of town with some events being free. So our first stop was at an outdoor concert, which we stayed for 10 minutes before deciding to move on.
The next stop was the one place I actually wanted to see, the Guinness Factory! We walked across the city to get there, I bought a student ticket with my old college ID, and we entered an unbelievable museum dedicated to Guinness Beer. And it really was a well put together museum, spread over 7 floors, including everything from the production to the advertisement of the product, and a pint of “the black stuff” at the end.
I learned three things today. First, I had no idea Guinness Beer and the Guinness Book of Records were one in the same, the latter being started by the former sparked on by a conversation about the fasted game bird. Second, I wanted to figure out why all the old Guinness ads use a toucan, which seems like a strange spokesperson for beer. Guinness had a saying, “Guinness is good for you”, so if one pint is good, imagine what “two-can” do! And third, I learned how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness out of a tap, and was given a certificate to prove it. There is a technique to it, and after learning it, I feel I’m well on my way to becoming a bar tender…or not.
John and I hung out there for a while just taking our time, which in the end would have been a lot better than going on a tour, where I would have been rushed through the place and wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much. So after ample time spent, we left to make our way back towards the main street of the city that we’d missed earlier in the day, planning on stopping at the first bar we found that started with an “O”. We grabbed a Cornish pastry on the way, which was quite good, and just kind of walked through the city. The main street was nothing but shopping, so that didn’t interest us too much. We eventually ended up at a shopping mall where John could by an infant sized shirt for his granddaughter, and where I used my phone to get online. For whatever reason, this shopping center had signs everywhere advertising its free WiFi, yet they made you pay to use their bathrooms…I guess that’s just Ireland for you.
We eventually started running out of time, and after somehow avoiding every bar that started with an “O”, we returned to the shuttle without ever stopping for another drink. But after the amount of walking we did and our upcoming show that night, we didn’t mind, happily returned to the ship with a good feeling for the city, and finished out the night as usual. It was a nice day and nice to be back in Ireland after about 3 years elsewhere in the world. Thanks for reading, your next pint of Guinness is on me!
At Sea
April 12th
At Sea
Just a sea day on our way to Dublin. In regards to the singer situation, the guy who had to leave due to the death in his family was in fact fired, which is too bad because the entire cast supported his decision and he did his best to handle everything responsibly, the ship simply said no. And then by leaving in spite of the decision made by the company, they just wouldn’t stand for it. It’s ridiculous though that these things can’t be avoided, which would take little more than some paperwork from the company. Instead, they now have more paperwork, have to find a replacement, have to train the replacement, and have to inconvenience the entire cast on the ship for their last couple months aboard. The other singer who was late to the ship has not been fired, so she’ll be meeting up with us in Dublin.
At Sea
Just a sea day on our way to Dublin. In regards to the singer situation, the guy who had to leave due to the death in his family was in fact fired, which is too bad because the entire cast supported his decision and he did his best to handle everything responsibly, the ship simply said no. And then by leaving in spite of the decision made by the company, they just wouldn’t stand for it. It’s ridiculous though that these things can’t be avoided, which would take little more than some paperwork from the company. Instead, they now have more paperwork, have to find a replacement, have to train the replacement, and have to inconvenience the entire cast on the ship for their last couple months aboard. The other singer who was late to the ship has not been fired, so she’ll be meeting up with us in Dublin.
Southampton
April 11th
Southampton
Turn around day today, which only means one thing to me…internet! I had a late breakfast on the ship, got off around noon, and made my way into the city to a café, ordered my cappuccino, and sat down till it was time to catch the last shuttle to the ship at 3:00. Yet as I sit here writing this blog the evening of the 11th, I’m realizing that I neither posted any of my past blogs today nor checked half the things I meant to check online. It’s amazing how you forget about everything you’ve planned to do after you’ve sifted through 10 days worth of garbage emails that serve no purpose.
Interestingly enough, two things happened today that don’t usually happen. First, one of the singers had a death in the family (a grandfather), and even though the ship wouldn’t let him off to go to the funeral, he decided to just jump ship anyway with the intention of rejoining in Cobh Ireland, 3 days later. And on top of that, another singer just happened to miss the ship entirely. Apparently she was on the pier just as the ship started moving away and the captain didn’t want to extend the gangways for her. I have no idea when she gets back on, though there are roomers that she was taken out to the ship in a pilot boat this evening, though I have no idea if that’s true or not. But what this means is that our cast, who have to constantly reschedule shows when someone’s throat hurts, is now missing 2 of the 5 singers that lead the shows, something I’ve never seen happen. And probably what will be the most interesting thing is what the punishment will be. Had this been me, I would probably be fired and sent home as soon as I was able to rejoin the ship, but since these are singers who have been taught the shows by the company and are mini-stars on the ship, they’ll probably both get away with it. Anyway, it’ll be something interesting to watch for in the next couple days.
I’m now one week from home, setting off on my last cruise on this ship, and excited to be nearing the end of the contract! Thanks for reading!
Southampton
Turn around day today, which only means one thing to me…internet! I had a late breakfast on the ship, got off around noon, and made my way into the city to a café, ordered my cappuccino, and sat down till it was time to catch the last shuttle to the ship at 3:00. Yet as I sit here writing this blog the evening of the 11th, I’m realizing that I neither posted any of my past blogs today nor checked half the things I meant to check online. It’s amazing how you forget about everything you’ve planned to do after you’ve sifted through 10 days worth of garbage emails that serve no purpose.
Interestingly enough, two things happened today that don’t usually happen. First, one of the singers had a death in the family (a grandfather), and even though the ship wouldn’t let him off to go to the funeral, he decided to just jump ship anyway with the intention of rejoining in Cobh Ireland, 3 days later. And on top of that, another singer just happened to miss the ship entirely. Apparently she was on the pier just as the ship started moving away and the captain didn’t want to extend the gangways for her. I have no idea when she gets back on, though there are roomers that she was taken out to the ship in a pilot boat this evening, though I have no idea if that’s true or not. But what this means is that our cast, who have to constantly reschedule shows when someone’s throat hurts, is now missing 2 of the 5 singers that lead the shows, something I’ve never seen happen. And probably what will be the most interesting thing is what the punishment will be. Had this been me, I would probably be fired and sent home as soon as I was able to rejoin the ship, but since these are singers who have been taught the shows by the company and are mini-stars on the ship, they’ll probably both get away with it. Anyway, it’ll be something interesting to watch for in the next couple days.
I’m now one week from home, setting off on my last cruise on this ship, and excited to be nearing the end of the contract! Thanks for reading!
Sea Days
April 8th-10th
At Sea
About the same as the previous five sea days, nothing really to report. We have been lucky with days off though, which is really nice. We’ve had 3 days off, 1 every other day, during the last week, which is surprising when on the first 35 day cruise we didn’t have 3 days off the entire cruise. John and I threw the party for the tour ladies, which was a simple wine and cheese night in a cabin, and there’s really not too much more.
There has been one other development, something that has resulted in me taking up a position again the company in order to stand for a principle. I don’t want to say much more than that simply because at this point nothing’s been resolved and I don’t want to tell this story in pieces, but trust me, by the time it’s done, it’ll be an interesting one to read. I guess you’ll just have to keep checking back! Bye!
At Sea
About the same as the previous five sea days, nothing really to report. We have been lucky with days off though, which is really nice. We’ve had 3 days off, 1 every other day, during the last week, which is surprising when on the first 35 day cruise we didn’t have 3 days off the entire cruise. John and I threw the party for the tour ladies, which was a simple wine and cheese night in a cabin, and there’s really not too much more.
There has been one other development, something that has resulted in me taking up a position again the company in order to stand for a principle. I don’t want to say much more than that simply because at this point nothing’s been resolved and I don’t want to tell this story in pieces, but trust me, by the time it’s done, it’ll be an interesting one to read. I guess you’ll just have to keep checking back! Bye!
Madeira
April 7th
Madeira
Well, today didn’t go quite as planned. We ended up getting into the port an hour later than scheduled do to some mix up with the port authorities, meaning early morning tours like the one I was on get rescheduled on the fly. Seeing as I’d woken up really early for the tour, only to find we weren’t actually in port yet, I ate a quick breakfast only to return to my room and lay back down while I waited for my tour. I waited a half hour till 9:00am, and we hadn’t yet docked, so I went back to the room. I waited another half hour and went up again, however we still weren’t being allowed off the ship. I went back down stairs for what was another 20 minutes, returned to find the gangway open, and went outside to find my tour bus. The first thing I like to do is check in with the tour ladies, make sure everything is OK, especially on a confusing day like this. So I tried to do so, and the one I tried to talk to was running around like mad, with good reason, and while I stood their waiting for her to free up for a moment, my bus had decided to leave. It was literally driving away next to me when she came back to ask what I wanted and it was too late to stop them. So unfortunately, no tour for today. And what’s even worse is that this was the tobogganing tour where you descend the mountain by being slid down the roads on a wicker bench on wood skis. It’s unique to the island, I’ve tried to get on the tour ever since my first visit there a couple years ago, and it looks as if I’ll have to wait another indefinite amount of time to take go on the tour that just hasn’t been meant to be.
So I returned to the ship and took part in the training session I wasn’t supposed to be missing. That was followed by some practicing as I waited for one of my friend to come back from tour, when I figured we’d get off the ship again.
A few hours later and I was off the ship with John and Jukka (the bassist) getting lunch at some restaurant along side the marina, the Portuguese specialty, pizza. Then we made our way into the city to find the flower and fruit market, something that I vividly remember from past visits to the city, and a place that I really wanted to revisit. The end result was me buying a few bottles of wine from a specialty shop in the market, two bottles of cheap stuff for a wine and cheese party John and I were going to throw for the tour ladies (as a sort of bribe to get better tours), and then one more expensive bottle for me to do who knows what with at a later date. Wine in hand, we all made our way back through the city looking to a shopping center for some food, stopped for a quick coffee, and then went back to the ship for dinner.
I was excited for tonight though because not only did I have the night off, but we had a late sail from Madeira, meaning we didn’t have to be back on the ship till 11:30! So after dinner, my trio got off the ship again in search for a decent bar to hang out at and in search of the band. We had an idea where the band would be eating, so we walked in that direction, only to serendipitously wander by the restaurant where they were at where they were just paying for the bill, perfect. We let them finish up, and after discussing that there didn’t appear to be much open on the walk over, we decided to go to the tiny bar next to the restaurant where they had the football (soccer in the states) game playing. It was apparently a big match going on for the champions cup, which is huge in Europe, unheard of in the US. And that was it, we stayed at this tiny bar the entire time, six of us in total, and there was barely enough room for any one else. But it was the perfect place to hang, no one was really there, it was local and intimate, and a round of drinks cost 6 euro…or about 8 dollars. That’s for 6 people! So apparently, all the drinks were a euro, including my house wine, which you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere in the states for about a dollar (yeah mom, I’m sure you’re jealous).
We left when it was getting close to our departure time and caught the shuttle back to the ship, and that was about it for the night. It was a nice night in the city, nothing to exciting or wild, maybe not entirely what I had in mind, but we happened to find a decent place and stick with it, something that experience has shown me doesn’t always happen. So all in all, a nice day despite the confusion at the start. Now it’s three sea days to England and the beginning of my final cruise, thanks!
Madeira
Well, today didn’t go quite as planned. We ended up getting into the port an hour later than scheduled do to some mix up with the port authorities, meaning early morning tours like the one I was on get rescheduled on the fly. Seeing as I’d woken up really early for the tour, only to find we weren’t actually in port yet, I ate a quick breakfast only to return to my room and lay back down while I waited for my tour. I waited a half hour till 9:00am, and we hadn’t yet docked, so I went back to the room. I waited another half hour and went up again, however we still weren’t being allowed off the ship. I went back down stairs for what was another 20 minutes, returned to find the gangway open, and went outside to find my tour bus. The first thing I like to do is check in with the tour ladies, make sure everything is OK, especially on a confusing day like this. So I tried to do so, and the one I tried to talk to was running around like mad, with good reason, and while I stood their waiting for her to free up for a moment, my bus had decided to leave. It was literally driving away next to me when she came back to ask what I wanted and it was too late to stop them. So unfortunately, no tour for today. And what’s even worse is that this was the tobogganing tour where you descend the mountain by being slid down the roads on a wicker bench on wood skis. It’s unique to the island, I’ve tried to get on the tour ever since my first visit there a couple years ago, and it looks as if I’ll have to wait another indefinite amount of time to take go on the tour that just hasn’t been meant to be.
So I returned to the ship and took part in the training session I wasn’t supposed to be missing. That was followed by some practicing as I waited for one of my friend to come back from tour, when I figured we’d get off the ship again.
A few hours later and I was off the ship with John and Jukka (the bassist) getting lunch at some restaurant along side the marina, the Portuguese specialty, pizza. Then we made our way into the city to find the flower and fruit market, something that I vividly remember from past visits to the city, and a place that I really wanted to revisit. The end result was me buying a few bottles of wine from a specialty shop in the market, two bottles of cheap stuff for a wine and cheese party John and I were going to throw for the tour ladies (as a sort of bribe to get better tours), and then one more expensive bottle for me to do who knows what with at a later date. Wine in hand, we all made our way back through the city looking to a shopping center for some food, stopped for a quick coffee, and then went back to the ship for dinner.
I was excited for tonight though because not only did I have the night off, but we had a late sail from Madeira, meaning we didn’t have to be back on the ship till 11:30! So after dinner, my trio got off the ship again in search for a decent bar to hang out at and in search of the band. We had an idea where the band would be eating, so we walked in that direction, only to serendipitously wander by the restaurant where they were at where they were just paying for the bill, perfect. We let them finish up, and after discussing that there didn’t appear to be much open on the walk over, we decided to go to the tiny bar next to the restaurant where they had the football (soccer in the states) game playing. It was apparently a big match going on for the champions cup, which is huge in Europe, unheard of in the US. And that was it, we stayed at this tiny bar the entire time, six of us in total, and there was barely enough room for any one else. But it was the perfect place to hang, no one was really there, it was local and intimate, and a round of drinks cost 6 euro…or about 8 dollars. That’s for 6 people! So apparently, all the drinks were a euro, including my house wine, which you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere in the states for about a dollar (yeah mom, I’m sure you’re jealous).
We left when it was getting close to our departure time and caught the shuttle back to the ship, and that was about it for the night. It was a nice night in the city, nothing to exciting or wild, maybe not entirely what I had in mind, but we happened to find a decent place and stick with it, something that experience has shown me doesn’t always happen. So all in all, a nice day despite the confusion at the start. Now it’s three sea days to England and the beginning of my final cruise, thanks!
Sea Days
April 2nd-6th
Sea Days
Five straight sea days stood between Barbados and our next port of Madeira. Here’s what I did every day:
9:30 – Wake up, shower, breakfast
12:00 – Practice till Lunch
4:00 – Lunch
5:00 – Rehearsal
6:30 – Gym (every other day)
8:00 – Dinner
8:30/10:30 – Shows
11:30 – Go online, and then back to the room for the rest of the night
The schedule didn’t really change, nothing really exciting happened, and I don’t have anything else to tell you about these 5 days. It’ll be nice to be on land tomorrow, I’m scheduled for the one tour I never had the opportunity to do on my other visits, so I’m hoping to have more to tell you than an hour by hour schedule of my day – thanks!
Sea Days
Five straight sea days stood between Barbados and our next port of Madeira. Here’s what I did every day:
9:30 – Wake up, shower, breakfast
12:00 – Practice till Lunch
4:00 – Lunch
5:00 – Rehearsal
6:30 – Gym (every other day)
8:00 – Dinner
8:30/10:30 – Shows
11:30 – Go online, and then back to the room for the rest of the night
The schedule didn’t really change, nothing really exciting happened, and I don’t have anything else to tell you about these 5 days. It’ll be nice to be on land tomorrow, I’m scheduled for the one tour I never had the opportunity to do on my other visits, so I’m hoping to have more to tell you than an hour by hour schedule of my day – thanks!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Late in posting
Hey Everyone
I've been a little lazy in getting these online, so I'll just update till April. My last post was April 19th, so this gives you about 2 weeks to catch up with, and I'll post the other ones in a few days while I'm stuck in england waiting for a volcano to shut it's pie hole. Seeya!!
I've been a little lazy in getting these online, so I'll just update till April. My last post was April 19th, so this gives you about 2 weeks to catch up with, and I'll post the other ones in a few days while I'm stuck in england waiting for a volcano to shut it's pie hole. Seeya!!
Barbados
April 1st
Barbados
Much better day today! I started out the morning with a quick walk into town and back, nothing really bit a time waster. I was able to stop by a fish market where the local fisherman and merchants were selling/cleaning their catch, which was pretty cool to see in the setting it was in. There was just so much fish everywhere, it’s amazing that there’s such a demand for it. But after 90 minutes or so, I was back at the ship getting ready for my tour where I was scheduled to swim with the turtles!
The tour left around 1, where myself and about 40-50 others were driven to a large catamaran sailboat. We left the pier and made our way along the shore to our first stop, about 100 yards off the coast, where the crew started throwing pieces of fish into the water to bring out the turtles. After a quick explanation of how the snorkel gear worked and how to get on and off the ship, I was in the water pretending I was in Finding Nemo!
There were maybe 3 or 4 turtles swimming around that the crew were able to lure over with their bate. They were all unbelievable to see swimming in their natural environment. And the best part of it all was that no one in my group was actually a strong swimmer, so while they all floated at the top with their required inflatable life jackets, I squeezed all the air out of mine and was able to dive down and actually swim along side the turtles, grab the shell, and not have to wait for them to come to me. My only concern was to make sure that when I needed to go up for air, that I didn’t find myself surfacing directly under one of the many over-inflated fleshy balloons that were splashing around on the surface. We weren’t in the water too long, maybe 20 minutes, before we had to get back on the boat and sail to the next point, but I wished I could have stayed all day.
The next stop just had a lot of fish, a wrecked barge, and a small reef to look at. Again, people managed to just swim along the surface, while I was the only one able to free dive down the 15-20 feet to actually check out what they had brought us to see. And despite there being no turtles here, it was still a nice stop that I can’t imagine any passenger could be upset about.
Then it was back to the ship to sail back to the port, at which time the rum was opened and I had one too many rum punches (making a whopping total of 2 rum punches). It was a gorgeous sail back, the sun was out the entire time and it was a perfect temperature, exactly what you’d hope the Caribbean would be.
Back at the ship I went to rehearsal a little happier than usual, and then played the usual two shows that night.
All in all, one of my favorite days ever in the Caribbean, a great tour, and it made the entire 5 days worth it, even if I wasn’t able to take advantage of every island. And I managed to not get sun burnt too badly, it wasn’t until later that night that I noticed the clearly defined red patches on my back that were just barely out of reach when I was putting on sun block…where’s Mom when you really need her? Now it’s 5 days to Madeira, which I’m sure are going to be little more than a lot of water and a lot of practicing. As always, thanks for reading, and I’m looking forward to being home in just over 2 weeks!
Barbados
Much better day today! I started out the morning with a quick walk into town and back, nothing really bit a time waster. I was able to stop by a fish market where the local fisherman and merchants were selling/cleaning their catch, which was pretty cool to see in the setting it was in. There was just so much fish everywhere, it’s amazing that there’s such a demand for it. But after 90 minutes or so, I was back at the ship getting ready for my tour where I was scheduled to swim with the turtles!
The tour left around 1, where myself and about 40-50 others were driven to a large catamaran sailboat. We left the pier and made our way along the shore to our first stop, about 100 yards off the coast, where the crew started throwing pieces of fish into the water to bring out the turtles. After a quick explanation of how the snorkel gear worked and how to get on and off the ship, I was in the water pretending I was in Finding Nemo!
There were maybe 3 or 4 turtles swimming around that the crew were able to lure over with their bate. They were all unbelievable to see swimming in their natural environment. And the best part of it all was that no one in my group was actually a strong swimmer, so while they all floated at the top with their required inflatable life jackets, I squeezed all the air out of mine and was able to dive down and actually swim along side the turtles, grab the shell, and not have to wait for them to come to me. My only concern was to make sure that when I needed to go up for air, that I didn’t find myself surfacing directly under one of the many over-inflated fleshy balloons that were splashing around on the surface. We weren’t in the water too long, maybe 20 minutes, before we had to get back on the boat and sail to the next point, but I wished I could have stayed all day.
The next stop just had a lot of fish, a wrecked barge, and a small reef to look at. Again, people managed to just swim along the surface, while I was the only one able to free dive down the 15-20 feet to actually check out what they had brought us to see. And despite there being no turtles here, it was still a nice stop that I can’t imagine any passenger could be upset about.
Then it was back to the ship to sail back to the port, at which time the rum was opened and I had one too many rum punches (making a whopping total of 2 rum punches). It was a gorgeous sail back, the sun was out the entire time and it was a perfect temperature, exactly what you’d hope the Caribbean would be.
Back at the ship I went to rehearsal a little happier than usual, and then played the usual two shows that night.
All in all, one of my favorite days ever in the Caribbean, a great tour, and it made the entire 5 days worth it, even if I wasn’t able to take advantage of every island. And I managed to not get sun burnt too badly, it wasn’t until later that night that I noticed the clearly defined red patches on my back that were just barely out of reach when I was putting on sun block…where’s Mom when you really need her? Now it’s 5 days to Madeira, which I’m sure are going to be little more than a lot of water and a lot of practicing. As always, thanks for reading, and I’m looking forward to being home in just over 2 weeks!
St Vincent
March 31st
St. Vincent
Unfortunately, I don’t have all that much to write about today. I was signed up for a nature hike tour, but failed to get excused from the boat drill that was scheduled for today, meaning I couldn’t go on the tour because I was preoccupied standing outside an elevator with a life jacket on. Honestly, I have no one to blame but myself for not trying to get excused earlier, but missing something that seemed really fun for something that is the opposite of fun and exciting has it’s way of bringing the entire day down.
When I was able, I got off the ship for a quick walk around the town, looking at some of the street markets where everyone seemed to be selling the exact same collection of produce. It was just another Caribbean city though, dirty, nothing really to do, and always making you feel just a little more on-guard than usual. There’s really nothing to do in most of the cities unless you go on a tour or go exploring with friends, and with me being in a bad mood from the morning, after 90 minutes of walking I was back on the ship with no further desire to see the city.
But at least I had a fun show that night with a few good jazz sax solos to play. The singer, however, had been given the wrong name and continued to introduce me not as Mike Potts, but as Mike Cotton, which all things considered, is a pretty good jazz saxophonist name. So if anything, I at least picked up a new stage name today! And that’s about it, thanks!
St. Vincent
Unfortunately, I don’t have all that much to write about today. I was signed up for a nature hike tour, but failed to get excused from the boat drill that was scheduled for today, meaning I couldn’t go on the tour because I was preoccupied standing outside an elevator with a life jacket on. Honestly, I have no one to blame but myself for not trying to get excused earlier, but missing something that seemed really fun for something that is the opposite of fun and exciting has it’s way of bringing the entire day down.
When I was able, I got off the ship for a quick walk around the town, looking at some of the street markets where everyone seemed to be selling the exact same collection of produce. It was just another Caribbean city though, dirty, nothing really to do, and always making you feel just a little more on-guard than usual. There’s really nothing to do in most of the cities unless you go on a tour or go exploring with friends, and with me being in a bad mood from the morning, after 90 minutes of walking I was back on the ship with no further desire to see the city.
But at least I had a fun show that night with a few good jazz sax solos to play. The singer, however, had been given the wrong name and continued to introduce me not as Mike Potts, but as Mike Cotton, which all things considered, is a pretty good jazz saxophonist name. So if anything, I at least picked up a new stage name today! And that’s about it, thanks!
Grenada
March 30th
Grenada
We were actually scheduled to be in Grenada for the 31st, but due to a double booking for the pier, we switched this stop with St Vincent, where we’ll be tomorrow. The original plan for Grenada was to go SCUBA diving, but our organizer had some emergency come up and our trip didn’t happen, which was a drag, and seeing as I didn’t sign up for a tour because of the planned dive, I was out of luck for the day. So instead, I just got off the ship and walked around the city, half heartedly looking for internet.
At one point, I was approached by a local who was curious as to where I was walking, mentioned a fort, and then suddenly became my tour guide as he walked me towards a fort. I knew from the beginning it was his way of trying to get a tip, and he was actually doing a decent job of pointing out historical markers, so I just went along with it for a while. But he took me into the fort, showed me the tunnels (which was slightly risky…me and some local alone in a dark tunnel…yeah, great idea), and he explained the history. As we went on I did decide that I’d give him some money, something I usually don’t do for these people who force tours upon you, but after finding two 20’s and a single in my wallet, I gave him a buck, apologized for not having smaller bills, and took a different route back into the city so that I wouldn’t run into him again and have him ask me to break my larger bills.
I went back to the terminal, went online for the next couple hours, and then returned to the ship. The show that night was for Jan Lesley, a jazz/big band type singer who has a nice show for the band to play. The charts are fun, a lot of features, and lucky for me, a couple sax solos! The highlight of the show though, was that the name she had for me was wrong, so instead of being Mike Potts playing the sax solos, I was suddenly Mike Cotton on Tenor Sax, which all things considered, is a pretty good jazz sax stage name. No one knows where Cotton came from, but I now have a legitimate stage name. But the shows went well, Jan bought the band drinks afterwards, and we had a good laugh over my new surname. And that’s all, thanks for reading!
Grenada
We were actually scheduled to be in Grenada for the 31st, but due to a double booking for the pier, we switched this stop with St Vincent, where we’ll be tomorrow. The original plan for Grenada was to go SCUBA diving, but our organizer had some emergency come up and our trip didn’t happen, which was a drag, and seeing as I didn’t sign up for a tour because of the planned dive, I was out of luck for the day. So instead, I just got off the ship and walked around the city, half heartedly looking for internet.
At one point, I was approached by a local who was curious as to where I was walking, mentioned a fort, and then suddenly became my tour guide as he walked me towards a fort. I knew from the beginning it was his way of trying to get a tip, and he was actually doing a decent job of pointing out historical markers, so I just went along with it for a while. But he took me into the fort, showed me the tunnels (which was slightly risky…me and some local alone in a dark tunnel…yeah, great idea), and he explained the history. As we went on I did decide that I’d give him some money, something I usually don’t do for these people who force tours upon you, but after finding two 20’s and a single in my wallet, I gave him a buck, apologized for not having smaller bills, and took a different route back into the city so that I wouldn’t run into him again and have him ask me to break my larger bills.
I went back to the terminal, went online for the next couple hours, and then returned to the ship. The show that night was for Jan Lesley, a jazz/big band type singer who has a nice show for the band to play. The charts are fun, a lot of features, and lucky for me, a couple sax solos! The highlight of the show though, was that the name she had for me was wrong, so instead of being Mike Potts playing the sax solos, I was suddenly Mike Cotton on Tenor Sax, which all things considered, is a pretty good jazz sax stage name. No one knows where Cotton came from, but I now have a legitimate stage name. But the shows went well, Jan bought the band drinks afterwards, and we had a good laugh over my new surname. And that’s all, thanks for reading!
St Lucia
March 29th
St. Lucia
Another tour today, however it was not one that I had originally requested. I like to go for the fun active ones, like bike riding, but supposedly those had all been filled and I was left with a run tasting tour…whatever – I’ll take it!
I left the ship early that morning and we made our way to a distillery where we were shown where and how the island makes their world famous rum. I didn’t really get a lot out of the how’s of the process, but I did try to take advantage of the sampling after the presentation, where they had 20 different types of rum products for us to try. I had their usual rum, along with a great peanut flavored rum, and a 160 proof rum! And in case you were unaware, 160 proof is equal to 80% alcohol…which trust me, is hard to swallow. So I “cultured” myself there for a while before returning to the bus to go to all our other destinations, which paled in comparison. There were some lookouts and art studios we went to, but I don’t think half the passengers could be bothered with it after the rum stop. It really wasn’t a strong tour, and the island doesn’t have a ton to offer, but I did get to try something new today. And just for the record, I did not get drunk…though I did need to lay down for a minute as soon as I got back to the ship…oops. And the show that night went fine, despite some of the passengers concerns for my playing as we left the distillery.
And that’s it for the day, 2 islands down, 3 to go, thanks!
St. Lucia
Another tour today, however it was not one that I had originally requested. I like to go for the fun active ones, like bike riding, but supposedly those had all been filled and I was left with a run tasting tour…whatever – I’ll take it!
I left the ship early that morning and we made our way to a distillery where we were shown where and how the island makes their world famous rum. I didn’t really get a lot out of the how’s of the process, but I did try to take advantage of the sampling after the presentation, where they had 20 different types of rum products for us to try. I had their usual rum, along with a great peanut flavored rum, and a 160 proof rum! And in case you were unaware, 160 proof is equal to 80% alcohol…which trust me, is hard to swallow. So I “cultured” myself there for a while before returning to the bus to go to all our other destinations, which paled in comparison. There were some lookouts and art studios we went to, but I don’t think half the passengers could be bothered with it after the rum stop. It really wasn’t a strong tour, and the island doesn’t have a ton to offer, but I did get to try something new today. And just for the record, I did not get drunk…though I did need to lay down for a minute as soon as I got back to the ship…oops. And the show that night went fine, despite some of the passengers concerns for my playing as we left the distillery.
And that’s it for the day, 2 islands down, 3 to go, thanks!
St. Kitts
March 28th
St. Kitts
I was excited for today, not only because it was our first Caribbean port after a lot of sea days, but because I was signed up for a tour. I’d gotten on good terms with the tour people and was on the escorting list, and had been set up with a bike tour of the island today, which went really well!
The tour escorting works the same as all the other ships, I simply hang out with the tour and make sure nothing bad happens, and in return get to do expensive tours totally free. This was a mountain biking tour that covered about 12 miles over the course of 3-4 hours, which considering the age group of the passengers on the ship, I was curious to see who actually was brave enough to sign up, of which there were six, five of which were in good condition for a bike tour. I can’t say the same about the 60 year old obese man that tried to keep up.
The bikes we were given were proper mountain bikes, the nicest I’ve ever seen on this type of tour, which was a nice surprise. We rode around the island with a guide on a bike and a chase truck incase anything happened and to help control traffic at intersections. The highlights of the tour for me were probably the old sugar factories we saw and riding through the sugar cane fields. The guide was great at explaining the history of the island and how sugar cane was key in that role, and being able to bike from place to place was great (for the majority of us). The bigger gentleman was able to keep up, but at the slow pace we were going, it’d be hard not to. I was slightly worried about whether or not he’d actually be able to complete the tour, but the guide really didn’t take us up any terrible hills, except one...
We were given an option half way through the tour of either climbing a really steep, long hill on our bikes, or getting a ride in the truck to the top to see the lookout planned on the itinerary. 5 of the 6 people thought they could take on the hill despite the warnings from our guide. Maybe one of the 5 made it half way, and even myself, who’s been on an exercise routine this contract, failed to reach the top without getting off the bike (however, I did get within 50 yards, then my legs failed and I basically fell of the bike). But after a couple hours of excruciatingly slow bike riding, it was nice to get a challenge thrown at me, despite the hit to my pride at not making it all the way without dismounting once. The lookout was nice, and after a brief recovery period, the group rode back down the hill, which put into perspective what we’d just tried to accomplish, and we made our way to a beach where we were given local fruits, a guava drink, real sugar cane, and time to go swimming. The sugar cane was great, and being a cane, you simply crush the cane between your teeth and drink the juices without actually eating the cane. It was one of those local cultural things I really like about getting on a good tour. We hung out there for a while before riding back to the ship, where we were each given a beer by the tour guide, which was really nice after a hot day on the bikes.
All in all, it was a great tour, the overweight man somehow managed to not die and ruin my day as tour escort, and we all had a great time. I finished up the day in port by walking through the city and trying to find some internet, where I did manage to get a weak signal and attempt a skype call back into the states. Then it was back to the ship for the usual couple shows that night.
But it’s great to be back on land doing tours! I’m hoping for a few more great ones this cruise! Thanks for reading!
St. Kitts
I was excited for today, not only because it was our first Caribbean port after a lot of sea days, but because I was signed up for a tour. I’d gotten on good terms with the tour people and was on the escorting list, and had been set up with a bike tour of the island today, which went really well!
The tour escorting works the same as all the other ships, I simply hang out with the tour and make sure nothing bad happens, and in return get to do expensive tours totally free. This was a mountain biking tour that covered about 12 miles over the course of 3-4 hours, which considering the age group of the passengers on the ship, I was curious to see who actually was brave enough to sign up, of which there were six, five of which were in good condition for a bike tour. I can’t say the same about the 60 year old obese man that tried to keep up.
The bikes we were given were proper mountain bikes, the nicest I’ve ever seen on this type of tour, which was a nice surprise. We rode around the island with a guide on a bike and a chase truck incase anything happened and to help control traffic at intersections. The highlights of the tour for me were probably the old sugar factories we saw and riding through the sugar cane fields. The guide was great at explaining the history of the island and how sugar cane was key in that role, and being able to bike from place to place was great (for the majority of us). The bigger gentleman was able to keep up, but at the slow pace we were going, it’d be hard not to. I was slightly worried about whether or not he’d actually be able to complete the tour, but the guide really didn’t take us up any terrible hills, except one...
We were given an option half way through the tour of either climbing a really steep, long hill on our bikes, or getting a ride in the truck to the top to see the lookout planned on the itinerary. 5 of the 6 people thought they could take on the hill despite the warnings from our guide. Maybe one of the 5 made it half way, and even myself, who’s been on an exercise routine this contract, failed to reach the top without getting off the bike (however, I did get within 50 yards, then my legs failed and I basically fell of the bike). But after a couple hours of excruciatingly slow bike riding, it was nice to get a challenge thrown at me, despite the hit to my pride at not making it all the way without dismounting once. The lookout was nice, and after a brief recovery period, the group rode back down the hill, which put into perspective what we’d just tried to accomplish, and we made our way to a beach where we were given local fruits, a guava drink, real sugar cane, and time to go swimming. The sugar cane was great, and being a cane, you simply crush the cane between your teeth and drink the juices without actually eating the cane. It was one of those local cultural things I really like about getting on a good tour. We hung out there for a while before riding back to the ship, where we were each given a beer by the tour guide, which was really nice after a hot day on the bikes.
All in all, it was a great tour, the overweight man somehow managed to not die and ruin my day as tour escort, and we all had a great time. I finished up the day in port by walking through the city and trying to find some internet, where I did manage to get a weak signal and attempt a skype call back into the states. Then it was back to the ship for the usual couple shows that night.
But it’s great to be back on land doing tours! I’m hoping for a few more great ones this cruise! Thanks for reading!
At Sea
March 24th-27th
At Sea
Nothing to write home about, just four sea days where I spent the majority of my time practicing. The crossing couldn’t have been nicer, the ocean was as close to flat as anyone could expect for four consecutive days. Otherwise, I really don’t have anything else to write about, thanks!
At Sea
Nothing to write home about, just four sea days where I spent the majority of my time practicing. The crossing couldn’t have been nicer, the ocean was as close to flat as anyone could expect for four consecutive days. Otherwise, I really don’t have anything else to write about, thanks!
Ponta Delgada
March 23rd
Ponta Delgada
Don’t worry, I didn’t go swimming today. Instead, I got off the ship with the same group of photographers in the hopes of getting a cab to the top of a mountain, but we had a late arrival with a regular departure time, meaning I had 3 hours in port, not enough time to get where I wanted. Instead, I grabbed a quick lunch in town and then headed out with my group to a military fort that had a decent museum set up, granted all the displays were written in Portuguese, but it’s always cool to look at big guns and cannonballs, right? So I wandered around the museum for a while, making sure not to get myself in too much trouble because it was still an active base with military personnel doing whatever the Portuguese Military does.
That was followed by a trip to the supermarket where I bought some wine, some cheese I know nothing about, a strange circular hard bread thing, and two beautiful boxes of Oreos. I don’t even really eat Oreos, but it just seemed too good to pass up at the time.
I then came back to the ship to restock my refrigerator, rehearsal, gym, and shows. Now it’s 4 days to the sunny Caribbean – thanks for reading!
Ponta Delgada
Don’t worry, I didn’t go swimming today. Instead, I got off the ship with the same group of photographers in the hopes of getting a cab to the top of a mountain, but we had a late arrival with a regular departure time, meaning I had 3 hours in port, not enough time to get where I wanted. Instead, I grabbed a quick lunch in town and then headed out with my group to a military fort that had a decent museum set up, granted all the displays were written in Portuguese, but it’s always cool to look at big guns and cannonballs, right? So I wandered around the museum for a while, making sure not to get myself in too much trouble because it was still an active base with military personnel doing whatever the Portuguese Military does.
That was followed by a trip to the supermarket where I bought some wine, some cheese I know nothing about, a strange circular hard bread thing, and two beautiful boxes of Oreos. I don’t even really eat Oreos, but it just seemed too good to pass up at the time.
I then came back to the ship to restock my refrigerator, rehearsal, gym, and shows. Now it’s 4 days to the sunny Caribbean – thanks for reading!
At Sea
March 21st-22nd
At Sea
Nothing special for these couple days. New cruise, and this one has more kids than the last one, of which 0 isn’t hard to beat. But it’s a slightly younger cruise, still a high concentration of walkers and wheelchairs, but at least 50% of this cruise is comprised of people who can still walk. But that aside, it was just the usual sea days with a lot of practicing and reading. Seeya!
At Sea
Nothing special for these couple days. New cruise, and this one has more kids than the last one, of which 0 isn’t hard to beat. But it’s a slightly younger cruise, still a high concentration of walkers and wheelchairs, but at least 50% of this cruise is comprised of people who can still walk. But that aside, it was just the usual sea days with a lot of practicing and reading. Seeya!
Southampton
March 20th
Southampton
Today was my usual internet day in England. I got off the ship around noon, took a shuttle into the city, made a stop at the Apple Store, and then went to a café for my internet connection. A few hours later I had just about everything taken care of for another crossing of the Atlantic. I did, however, not clearly understand the shuttle bus directions correctly and missed the final shuttle, meaning I had to split a cab with some Indian guys from the ship who also didn’t know the shuttles stopped as soon as they did. Not exactly the best scenario in the world, missing your shuttle, but the port is small enough that a cab isn’t a huge problem. Regardless, I got back on the ship with just enough time to get set up for the welcome aboard drill.
And that’s about it for the day, aside from the usual welcome aboard show. We did get a new Cruise Director though, who seems nice, so we’ll see how that changes the entertainment. Now it’s two days to Ponta Delgada, and then another 4 to the Caribbean. Thanks!
Southampton
Today was my usual internet day in England. I got off the ship around noon, took a shuttle into the city, made a stop at the Apple Store, and then went to a café for my internet connection. A few hours later I had just about everything taken care of for another crossing of the Atlantic. I did, however, not clearly understand the shuttle bus directions correctly and missed the final shuttle, meaning I had to split a cab with some Indian guys from the ship who also didn’t know the shuttles stopped as soon as they did. Not exactly the best scenario in the world, missing your shuttle, but the port is small enough that a cab isn’t a huge problem. Regardless, I got back on the ship with just enough time to get set up for the welcome aboard drill.
And that’s about it for the day, aside from the usual welcome aboard show. We did get a new Cruise Director though, who seems nice, so we’ll see how that changes the entertainment. Now it’s two days to Ponta Delgada, and then another 4 to the Caribbean. Thanks!
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