Alarm went off at 7 am to repack and prepare for boarding the cruise ship! I had a wonderful continental breakfast at the hotel and met the taxi at 8:30 am with the 5 other crew members joining the ship for today's cruise. We drove across the roadway which joins Mestre and Venice to the port that was filled with several megaships and lots of smaller crafts. We were let off at the crew gangway and entered through the security screening there. Once processed through personnel, I finally met my Production Manager, T.J., who gave me the ship tour and basic orientation.
T.J. is one of the 8 dancers on the ship and also serves as P.M.. There are 4 singers who complete the show cast of 12. With the addition of just a few tech staff (lighting, sound, dresser), we've got a show! The show schedule was a HUGE surprise to me - there are three shows that the dancers and singers perform. They only do each of the three ONCE during the week-long cruise. Yes, this means that we all work three nights a week doing full production shows! Wow... there are two other nights of work for the dancers - a "dancing with the stars" sort of show in one of the lounges and shadow dancing in the nightclub. My additional hours are spent cleaning and repairing dancer and singer costumes, attending tech rehearsals for the production shows and accompaning dancers on their special performances.
The theatre is so beautiful! It's huge, seating over a thousand people, and very nice. The stage has a full proscenium and the dressing rooms are above the stage. There is a station in the women's dressing room for the Wardrobe Supervisor - with sewing machine and supplies to maintain all the costumes and wigs. I received another huge suprise during the tour - the existing Ward. Sup. is going to stay on another week to train me! YAY! More on that later!
I got a tour of all the restaurants, sundecks, spa and fitness rooms, and crew mess, bar, and shop. I learned that we are not restricted to the crew mess for meals! We can eat at the main buffet restuarant for free any time they are open and at any of the specialty restuarants (sushi, italian, mexican, french) for a small cover charge. The ship is totally overwhelming and I have so much more access to it's amenities than I thought I would... it's really incredible! (A lot more is described in detail in the video!)
The tour ended at my room, which is a SINGLE!!! I have this room for the first cruise (1 week), because the wardrobe supervisor is still here. I hear it's technically an officer's room, so I'm beyond thrilled! If I have to move, at least I'll have this first week to myself! I got unpacked and set up, but could easily move if needed.
After my tour, I ventured out solo, to see if I could remember the whereabouts of all the different places I had just seen. Needless to say, I got pretty lost quite a bit. I'll have to take walks every day to learn the ship :) I made my little tour video, which was a lot of fun and I look forward to making more for you guys! I came back, took a short nap, called Mom and Dad, and headed to the Safety Office for my first training. It was an hour and a half of touring the safety features of the ship and reviewing my assigned emergency protocol. This was informative.....but really boring. I was wiped afterwards! I knew the ship was leaving at 5 pm, but just could not get myself out of bed to go watch. I figure I'll see it next Saturday. The bed is realy comfortable and it was pretty amazing watching the ship sail away from Venicie out my porthole.
I got up about 9 and got ready to go out with the cast to their gig tonight shadow dancing in Bliss, shows have only been going for a few weeks. the ships ultra lounge/nightclub/bowling alley. T.J. and Scott, the ward. sup. picked me up at my room and went to Bliss. I got to meet the full cast and a few other crew members. Everyone's been very nice and welcoming. They spend a good bit of time together, so I'm sure I'll have ample opportunity to hang out and do things with others. Scott started to give me the scoop on the job and various tasks invovled. He said there are anywhere between 5-10 repairs after each show. His first question to me was if I could actually sew. I was like, uhhhh yeah?! He said the person he replaced actually could NOT, so things were kind of crazy. They also couldn't do wigs (and these are no drag wigs we're talking about - simple upkeep of long ponytail falls, etc.). Our first show isn't until Monday, so I have a chance to really get settled before jumping in to work. Scott also gave me some very valuable advice and tips that will no doubt come in handy as I go forward!
The Gem only arrived in Europe last week from Miami, so the shows have only been going for a few weeks. The dancers are on 6 month contracts and have already been through two ward. sup.'s!
After the show at Bliss, I went to the crew bar with two of the dancers and one singer to check it out. It was a pretty fun atmosphere, very dark and crew getting pretty drunk, lol. There are crew members from all over the world, sort of in cliques according to nationality. One of the dancer's is a Brit and the others were American. I met a photographer from South Africa as well. It was a really fun night - the British dancer I was mostly talking to had just gotten off a contract in Nashville and she had visited Play and seen the drag shows there. Small world!
After the crew bar closed, I ventured up to the 12th deck and went outside to just see the water. It was so windy and sort of scary, so I went back to my room pretty quickly. I found out that I have wifi in my room and can call out from the ship with calling cards. I'll get those in the morning, when the finance office is open and I can exchange my Euros for Dollars to buy the cards.
While everything's pretty overwhelming right now, it is in a pretty amazing way, and I'm so very thankful for this opportunity! Tomorrow we dock in Dubrovnik, Croatia, but I'm not sure I'll be getting off the boat due to safety training! Joy!!! :)
All my love....
Oh how cute are you with your little name tag on?!?
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