So Far....

I have been on the ship for 5 days now, and it has been pretty busy. The first cruise of the contract is always the craziest because of training and adapting to all of the new policies etc. On sign on day we took a shuttle to the ship and had to go through security to join. Then they took us up the gangway and onto the ship. When I stepped foot on the dock I saw Owen, the security officer I knew from the Constellation. I hadn't known that he would be here. We said hey then I followed the other sign on's to a venue where we took care of our contracts and other formalities for signing on. That took maybe an hour and then we met our managers. 

I signed on with the Miami DJ duo (Hector and Mac), which is a DJ and percussionist band. We got along so we hung out until Ramiro, our Band Master came to get us. He is the piano player in the orchestra. I knew that I liked him from the moment I met him. He is very laid back and easy to get along with. He showed us around the ship. This is a bigger ship than my last one, so the layout is pretty different other than 5 things: there's a bow, aft, port, starboard, and an I-95 which is the main hallway in the crew area. I was pretty turned around through the whole tour because I still didn't have my sence of port and starboard, but I did get to see that this ship has some pretty amazing places to go. Right after the tour I was able to get my bags, take them to my room, then go have lunch with Hector and Mac. Then I had plenty of time to get unpacked before I had to go to my next training. 

My room is very small, but is my own! It is a little longer than 6 feet and maybe 5 feet wide. When you walk in on your right is the tv and a desk that goes for the length of the room. Above that is the bed that folds up onto the wall during the day and down at night to sleep. There are some drawers under free desk for clothes and a cabinet with a mini fridge in it. On the left is the door for the bathroom, a sink, then the closet. I had heard stories about these cabins that you can do all things at once in the bathroom...this is very true. That bathroom is just big enough to shower in. It connects to the room next door, so that's the only part I share. 

View from the door

View from inside

I've been settling in pretty well so far. The social atmosphere on this ship is really great. On the second day a few of the guys in the orchestra told me that on sea days they get together in the staff bar for coffee, so at 2 I went to join them. It turned out that it's a big thing with the whole entertainment department and anybody who can come does. It's been very easy to make friends here. It's not a large circle amoung ship employees so most of us have mutual friends too. I had known before that the jazz quartet from my last ship is on board, but I've been surprised to see several familiar faces. I mentioned Owen above, there was another security crew member from the Constellation who I had never gotten to know, then while I was doing some new sign on stuff Mary (an AV) came out of nowhere, I also saw my friend Kunal from the photo department, and the cruise director we have here now is Alejandro. The other night I was talking to the Sound Engineer and we realized that we met one day in Rhodes while he was on another Celebrity ship. 

I started working on day one on the ship. So far we've played the welcome aboard show, a ballroom dance set, our guest Entertainer (Doug Cameron, a violinist), and one production show. I had heard of Doug Cameron before, but never played his show. Everyone that told me about it apsaid that it's a hard show especially for drummers and that he's very hard on drummers. So, I asked for the music on the first day so I could check it out before we played his show. I'm very happy I did because it lived up to it's reputation. There were a lot of very specific things that the drums had to get right. I ran into Doug the day before his show and we started talking. It turns out he's from LA, and used to live about a mile away from where I live now. We got along talking about places around there and of course he used to be a regular customer at Good Neighbor Resturant, which is the restaurant I work at while I'm in town. He said to say hi to Betty and Rick for him. 

The next day we had his rehearsal. We did one run through with just the rhythm section and him, then the horns came and we did another. I was happy that I checked out the music, and everybody else including Doug said I did a good job. His shows went great and were very fun to play. 

Today was the first day I was able to get off the ship. We were in Skagway, Alaska. I didn't do much, but it was nice to be on land for a few hours. Once this cruise is done I'll have more time to go on some adventures, so check back for more posts!

Boarding Tomorrow!

Today I woke up at 6am in Denver, got ready and set out for the airport. I checked my bags, didn't get charged and overweight fee (!!!), got a breakfast burrito, and boarded my flight to Seattle. I was lucky to get an aisle seat for the (full) flight, which made it very easy and uneventful. As I was picking up my bags at baggage claim I noticed a guy across the room holding a Celebrity sign. I was surprised to see him because when I landed in Amsterdam last time I couldn't find anyone and had to figure out how to get to my hotel myself, so I was prepared to do the same this time. I waved at him so he knew that I saw him and he came over to me right as my bags came out. I was surprised again to find out I was the only person he was looking for at the moment even though there will be about 60 crew joining the ship tomorrow. He helped me with my bags and led me to where the hotel van was going to meet me, then headed back to accept the next flight with crew on it. 

I only waited about 7 minutes for the van, threw my things in and we were off. At the next terminal we were waved down by some more people and ended up filling the van. The hotel wasn't far from the airport. I was very happy to see that our rooms were ready when we got there, unlike when I arrived in Amsterdam for the last contract. I got my key and headed up to my room. My roommate (only for tonight) was already there. He works in the food and beverage department and is from Indonisia. Unfortunately I forgot his name almost immediately. He's a. Cool guy though and has done a few contracts, all on the Solstice. I didn't stay in the room for long. I got my stuff situated, changed into cooler clothes neap cause it was very hot out, and set out to go into Seattle. 

To get to town I walked across the street to the light rail station and took it to the last stop. It took about 40 minutes and dropped me off a few blocks from Pike Place. I spent a few hours wandering around there, got some good coffee and a great chicken sandwich and when I got board of that area I started wandering some other streets. I ended up walking up to the Space Needle and by then was pretty tired, so I jumped on the monorail, got back on the light rail and in 40 minutes was back at the hotel. 

I'm excited to join the ship tomorrow, but it should be a long day so I'm taking it easy the rest of the night. It will be a few days before I have internet again, but I'll post back here as soon as I can!

NEW SHIP-NEW PLACES-NEW CONTRACT

I'm getting ready to head out again on a new contract with Celebrity Cruises that will be taking me from Seattle up to Alaska! This time around I will be on the Celebrity Solstice which is the first of Celebrity's biggest class of ships. That means I will have my own room! The ship will take me to:

Seattle, Washington
Ketchikan, Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
Skagway, Alaska
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

And each cruise will pass through the Tracy Arm Fjord.

I fly to Seattle, Washington on May 15th and join the ship there on May 16th. This (short) contract is only two months. I'll be the drummer in the orchestra again which means I'll be playing all of the shows in the theater with the cast and the guest entertainers and playing several jazz and big band sets around the ship.

I'm looking forward to joining the ship and seeing what it's like the second time around. I was able to do a lot of the training online this time as a returning crew member, which will make my first couple weeks on the ship much easier. I'm sure there will be some new things I learn on the bigger ship, but for the most part I'm expecting to just fall right back into the swing of things. A couple weeks ago I found out through facebook that the jazz quartet from my last ship (who actually signed off on the same day as me) has already boarded the Solstice and will still be there when I arrive. It will be really nice to have some friends already there when I join. I'm excited to see them again, but for now I'm just working on getting ready for the contract. I decided to spend some time in Colorado before I went out so I did all of my packing last week in LA.

The hardest parts of packing for a ship contract are deciding what is essential to bring, and how to make it possible to carry everything while navigating crowded airports and small hallways on the ship for sign on and sign off days. The other major things to consider are if everything will fit in the room (especially the luggage you are using, collapsable duffel bags are best), how much "guest area appropriate" clothing you bring, and ensuring that you have everything you need to perform you job on board. On my last contract I used a duffel bag with no wheels which was extremely difficult when traveling, so this time I got a large duffel with wheels, but still making sure that it collapses and will fit under my bed in my cabin.

I mentioned "Guest Area Appropriate" clothing above. What that means is clothing that meets the "smart casual" dress code for off duty time during the day. This would include nice shirts with a collar, slacks or dockers (no jeans), and no tennis shoes/runners etc. Since I'm going to Alaska during the summer I made sure to pack for all kinds of weather conditions, it will be very unpredictable.

GENERAL PACKING

UNIFORM CLOTHES (except the leather jacket...)

MISC

EVERYTHING

So hopefully I have everything I need. I'm excited to get going. I'll keep this blog updated as much as possible so make sure to check back to see what kind of things I get into in the great northwest!