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.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
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!
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