Where to start...?!

I’m sorry it’s been quite so long since my last blog, but it’s for good reason and plenty has happened in that time as you will soon find out! I start with good news, that our inept DJ left us a few weeks back after being put on a plane back to the UK. However in a cruel twist of fate I had to share her last few minutes on Corfu soil as we shared a taxi to the airport!!

Some of you will already know that I have actually been back to the UK this since I last blogged. Unfortunately by Granddad was taken ill around 3 weeks ago. As soon as I found out I arranged flights to try and get back and see him and the rest of the family. However sadly he passed away as I was flying back to Liverpool. My Dad and sister picked me up from the airport and I spent the next few days with my family. Although it was obviously not in the best circumstances it was nice to see the family and it also meant I was able to see my Mum on her birthday! It was also really good to catch up with a few people, sorry that I didn’t get in touch with more people but as I’m sure you can understand it was tough few days and I was rather stretched for time, or so I thought!! After flying back from Corfu on the Friday I was due to catch up with the ship on the following Monday in Venice. This may all sound like the jet set lifestyle, but in reality it just meant hours and hours of hanging around in airports and sitting in uncomfortable plane seats! After checking my bags and myself in at Liverpool airport I got to the departures lounge only to find out my flight had been delayed by 2 hours which would have meant I would arrive after the ship had set sail! I then had to get my luggage back and hang around waiting for a lift back as the family was obviously rather busy sorting arrangements.

With shows and events being juggled around back on the ship until I returned they were trying to get me back onboard as quickly as they could and so new flights were set up, but because the places we visit aren’t always easily accessible apart from by ship I had to wait until Wednesday when I was supposed to fly to Brindisi, near Lecce in Italy. This meant getting to Manchester airport at 4am, flying to Amsterdam, then on to Rome, then to Brinidisi, arriving mid afternoon and having to tech 3 shows that evening! Thanks again to Joe for putting me up at short notice and driving me to the airport at such an unearthly hour! Unfortunately things didn’t quite run to plan, as when I arrived in Brindisi and waited for my luggage to appear, it simply never came! Now obviously this always a problem but when your ship sails in an hour and there is no way they can locate your luggage let alone fly it out in that time it becomes a bit more problematic. Luckily I had a ‘helpful’ Italian taxi driver who had been booked through the port agent who shouted at the girl behind the desk until he marched off and drove me back the ship. Sparing all the boring details I was going to have to wait a while until I got my luggage back, which included lots of new clothes which I had bought while I was back.

Once I got back all the guys here were lovely and really good to me which I really appreciated as I was slightly tired and fed up after the last week’s ordeal! However when I arrived I was told there was a team meeting and I had to be there despite the fact I would much rather have slept for a few hours! Once again cutting all the details for now, we were told that the Cruise Director (head of all entertainment and our boss) was leaving on ‘compassionate leave’. Without being too harsh or getting myself in to trouble on the chance someone may read this, she was given the push and perhaps not in the best way, but this obviously added more problems with work and caused some problems within the team. Being totally selfish it was the last thing I wanted, I had been hoping just to slot back in without much hassle with my thoughts on flying back to England for my Granddads funeral. Like I say everyone on the team have been great and also back in the office in the UK they have sorted all my flights and travel arrangements which has been great. So a quick rundown of my second trip back involved buying a new suit as I still didn’t have my luggage back from my first journey! I flew from Turkey, meaning I had to buy a visa before taking an hour’s taxi ride from Kusadasi to the airport in Izmir. From there I flew to Munich where I had a 3 hour wait before flying on to Manchester. My Granddads funeral service was on the Tuesday so I arrived late Monday night, and was to fly back on the Wednesday although I was still waiting those flight details. I ended up having catch the same flight I had the week before to Amsterdam this time flying on to Athens before meeting up with the ship in Piraeus. I’d made the decision only to take hand luggage this time which made things rather easier to say the least!

I arrived in Athens only to find out a taxi hadnt been arranged to take me the hour long ride to the ship, so I had to quickly organise one through the port agent as I was rather short for time to make the ship on time! Anyway, I made it back and am settling back into the swing of things! My Mum and Dad had been due to come on holiday to the ship but had to cancel, but have re-booked for this coming Friday so I'm looking forward to that! There's plenty more to catch up on I'm sure, but I'll leave it there for now until I have some pics or something to break up all my ramblings.

Thanks to everyone I saw while I was back, sorry if I didnt get in touch but it'd be good to hear from you soon!

...still tired!

Well I obviously didn't cross my fingers hard enough for a decent DJ. She is useless and medically insane too so I don't think she'll be with us for long! Unfortunately that sets the tone for the last week or so! As if we didn't have enough to contend with all the equipment breaking we now have someone who forgets to do half her duties leaving more work for me, and who cant even operate a computer when thats the bulk of her job! It's been a rather stressful week but I'm not gonna go on about it now!

I'll add some more photos when I'm next online, but if you're on facebook I'm sure you've seen some already from the Council Party which was a great laugh!

Slightly tired...

Well, what a week. Im so tired now I'm afraid this is only going to be a quick one!

But to summarise, the technical manager has been on board this week, so been pretty busy but gone well enough I think. There was some talk of work for next season so that's a good sign I guess. It was one of the guys birthday this week which resulted in having 2 late night parties. In fact on Tuesday and Wednesday night I didn't get to bed 'til around 6am. I didn't get a good nights sleep last night so I am really feeling the effects now!! I've a few chores to do now I'm in town but then its going to be bed for as long as I can get away with. Last nights show was pretty bad for a whole host of reasons and it felt like I'd managed to persude my boss why not to employ me again in one hour, but he just seemed to laugh when I made a mistake and joked about it afterwards so seems I got away with it!

No other news I can think of at the moment although my brain is working at half power. Not sure when I'll next be online but I'll try and get some party pics on! Oh yeh, the new DJ is joining us today, so fingers crossed she is ok!

Speak soon.

The tan starts here...

Well I've just realised that it's actually quite a while since I posted a decent post on here. I'm not sure I've got a huge amount of time, but I'll have a go at a bit of an update! I'm back in Kusadasi, Turkey at the Internet cafe, and I've just found the button on the site that turns eveything into English - woohoo!! My big boss in on this week along with the choreographer, so the team are busy in rehearsals but I've set up a mini disc player on stage and left them to it!

Things have reaxed as much as they probably will now, and things are running a bit smoother which makes everything so much easier! I've had time to get off in a few places as you'll have seen by the pictures and so I've no major complaints! Unfortunately the cruise director (manager of onboard entertainment) has had to go home for a week for personal reasons but everyone has pulled together and things are running as if nothing is wrong at the moment which is great!

We had a crew party last week which basically means we close off the outside deck bar to the passengers and get served free food and drink all night! Was great, the only downside was that they thought they'd be clever and organise a crew drill for the following morning! There were a few people looking a bit rough I can tell you! Luckily I was fine, although I think the reason for that is I've been to the crew bar almost every night after work since being out here which probably isn't a thing to be proud of! Ah well!

Everyone seems to be getting on really well, and I'm making some good friends which is great. All I need is a proper bit of romantic interest and what could be better! ;-)

I've compressed a few more photos, one of the view from Santorini while we ate some lunch, and from St Marco Square in Venice. Not really been taking many photos of late, not had time to get off and see places properly for some reason, but I'll be sure to post some more pics when they're taken!



Cheers for the comments guys, keep them coming, registering isn't all that bad is it? ;-)

jm

From the 'Seamen's Club'!

Here are a few photos:

I decided to get a hair cut after seing this photo from Venice!



Waiting for our lunch with a view in Santorini

And although its a pain to regisiter, I still want to hear from people!! ;-)


I'll post a bit more on Friday from Corfu.


jm

On Strike!

Due to the fact that no-one is commenting and I'm feeling unloved, and that I'm back in Kusadasi and this website is in Turkish so I don't know what I'm doing, I'm on strike 'til some people post a comment!

I was going to add some photos but I can't get it to work! I dunno if they're too big or it just wont upload them!

Turkish Greetings!

Monday 14^th May

Well here we are, I've finally managed to sit down and try and write down some of the most interesting bits of the last few weeks! I ended my last entry by saying that I felt I had enough to write a novel, and boy if I were to document half of the goings on of the last few weeks then we'd be here all year! I think I should start by saying that despite all the whinging that is likely to follow I am actually having a great time, really enjoying the work, total change of scenery and lifestyle, but it really is hard work!

It seems a lifetime away since I last tried to write things down and it really isn't an exaggeration to say it doesn't feel like there has been a moment since then that I've had as spare time off. So, where to start? Last time I wrote it was just Adrian and I on board, but a few days later the Peel production and show team arrived and so things obviously started picking up then! Everyone I've had to work with so far have been really great and I think everyone in the team is going to get on really well. It has been total chaos so far for a number of reasons, but as I mentioned the ship was being used by Louis as a replacement to the Sea Diamond which made it really difficult to work as there were passengers around and all the staff for the other cruise. It meant there were constant clashed and confusion with meetings and rehearsals time. Obviously there is a huge amount of equipment, props, scenery and other stuff involved so storing and using all that whilst not having anywhere to keep resulted in lots of problems. On top of that the stage manager was having visa problems, and we didn't have a DJ so I was the only technician until three days after we went live!! The Regency Lounge where the shows happen every night is a really tough room, as are most of the places around the ship to be honest. There have been so many problems with the set-up and equipment it’s untrue and I really couldn't start to tell you what a mess everything has been. We are slowly getting there and now Jhun (the stage manager) as finally arrived we are able to get things in better order, but it's still going to be really busy until all that is done and we have had one run through all the shows so we know what's going on a bit better. So by this time next week I should get a bit more time off.

I'm not going to go on about all the ins and out of everything that has gone wrong as it isn't particularly exciting so I'll try and keep a mental note to talk about at a later date! However as I've spent almost every moment trying to sort out all those issues it does leave me a bit light on the ground of material!! So if there is anything you want to know - ask away! Important things are is that the food is good and I'm eating two big meals a day, the weather is fantastic although the only time I spend in it is setting the band up on deck! However on that note, the band didn’t do too well and they’ve left already! They’re being replaces with a four piece rather than five, so I’m first on the list for my own cabin if the way they share works out!

Wednesday 16^th May

There have been a few moments where it really has got to me and I’m totally exhausted at present and just hoping for a rest bite soon! I’ve written all this in stages, but as I write now I’m sitting on the ship in Venice! However the rehearsal this morning didn’t go well, so although I have a rare hour or two off, no-one else does and Venice sounds like a bit of challenge to navigate so I think I’ll have to wait ‘til the next time we are here, as I’ll have been paid by then too!

The evening shows are really enjoyable, and although the performances still have room to improve, the audiences are giving good feedback and I’m enjoying ‘teching’ them. It does make the stress and exhaustion somewhat bearable when you get to the end of the second show and all has gone well! We have a guest artist each week too, both been comedians so far and that’s been great too, having a 20 minute rehearsal then doing a full show with ques for songs and gags and all sorts, but Maurice Grumbleweed said the show was perfect last night so you can’t ask for more than that!!

Friday 18^th May

Well if today is a sign of what things will eventually be like then there finally seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel! Friday is disembark/embark day so we lose lots of passengers and get a new lot on depending on whether they’ve booked for one or two weeks. It means the schedule is different to any other day and as technicians don’t have any duties like welcoming people at the terminal it’s been quite a relaxed day. Add to that it’s been raining on and off all day so the band haven’t been able to play on deck which was my main daytime duty. So after teching the port showcase this morning I’ve had some free time. It’s around 6pm now and I’m waiting to hear if we are going to set the band up on deck or not!

I moved into my own cabin late last night, so it’s been good to have some time today to sort out, get off ship and get a few groceries in, as I now have a fridge to myself in my cabin to go along with the flat screen TV and DVD player – makes up for the shoe box size!

Unfortunately things are going to take a turn for the worse this week however, as the DJ (who was only ever here short term) is leaving and it’s going to be really tough to get by without his help as he has been doing lots of odd jobs and which Jhun and myself don’t have the time to do! We supposedly have a new person lined up but not sure when he arrives and how good he is. Fingers crossed that we are not too long without as even with him, I didn’t get an evening meal last night and survived on crisps and chocolate!! That was because the new band arrived, 4 middle aged guys from the Ukraine. I think they’ll be a lot better than the last lot once they’ve settled in. They’ve been doing ships for years by the sound of things and reckon we have it good!!!

Monday 21^st May

We are back in ‘real time’ now as I’m writing this from a cafe in Kusadsi, Turkey. I’m at the crew calling centre and logged onto the wireless network sat out in the sun with a cold drink! If this is the sign of things to come when things properly calm down then things are looking up!

Things have settled down a bit more over the weekend and I’ve enjoyed a few more hours off here and there, although not managed to get off the ship until now. We are back to the start of the 2 week show programme now, so we are doing everything for the 2^nd time so fingers crossed it should all run a bit smoother. I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the places I’ve only seen from the boat too. Venice and Santarini look beautiful and i can’t wait to have some time to get off and have a look round. I’ve been paid now so I think I’m going to treat myself to a digital camera as my phone really isn’t cutting it!

Apologies if the formatting is a bit all over the place, the Blogspot site is in Turkish and I can't work out whats goin on!! I hope everyone is well, I’m running out of interesting things to say already, so drop me a message and hopefully I’ll be able to reply soon!