My Guitars Debut

Wow, what a cool day!

We were in Brest, France. No particularly exciting (in fact I made a round trip on the shuttle bus!) but got a lot acheived today - including a lot of stuff for the website I'm designing (if you wan tto view the thing it's replacing go to www.mistletones.co.uk so you can see the before and after - when it's finished!)but mainly, I finally got the guts up and played and sang in the PAX and Crew talenmt show this evening! I don't think I've shaken so much in years - not very useful when you're about to play on stage! All the show team watching and they said that I didn't seem nervous at all and that it was good - so I consider that a success and a huge compliment! I performed "Strong Enough" by Sheryl Crow - something a little different but I like it.

It's been an interesting week - what with that hurricane on our day at sea and all - apparently it made the news at home! Didn't really affect us until the afternoon when we had to change the show (which was aready set up and rigged) so to change the set Tony had to wear a harness and 4 of us had to hold the ladder an it was still to dangerous to do all of it! - CRAZINESS!

Zoë, Alana, Lesley Ann and Laura have got family on this week which has added a really cool feeling to this rather interesting week! My Dad should be coming to the ship on Wednesday to have a look at what it's all about which will be cool.

Next week we head down to the Med - ah, the joys of Palam, Majorca again! 6 weeks and counting :( / :)

The Art of Glacier kissing....

I had an absolute blast today - kissed a glacier don't you know! ALso on the tour were Alana, Leo & Laura as well as Johnny (shoppie - leaves on Staurday:() and most of the Thomson staff! Here's a couple of snaps:(click on the smaller one to see a big version!)

Also on our last day in Flåm I did some chillin' and took a pretty cool photo! Big up to God for the timely Flutterby :)

Today as we ere getting back on the ship, who should drive past but the King and Queen of Norway - what a fab way to round off the day!

Stop the world a sec...I need a rest!

Well folks this has been a medically challenged kinda few weeks.

Mac's throat was bad so we did 5 days of shows without one of the male voclists but it all went well.

Zoë developed appendicitis this week and had to be flown off the ship to have an operation. It involved a helicopter and a cute swedish paramedic guy :) She is now in recovery in Scotland so all prayers and mojo sent in her direction for a speedy recovery and return to the fold would be much appreciated!

After a particularly stressful 'day at sea' (which included a 8 1/2 hour stint without a break!) I nearly exploded at the cast and have spent the subsequent days having heart palpatations. Eventually got to see the Dr yesterday and she thinks I may have a thyroid problem!? Both my parents have had them (Mum over and Dad Under) so it wouldn't surprise knowing my luck! - you'd have thought mine should have been fine really!) Anyhoo, she's given me some form of beta blocker to sort my heart out and, when I get home, if she still thinks that's the problem, I guess I'll have to go for the obligatory blood tests....great....

And just generally we seem to have the most accident prone group of passengers ever this week!

Other than that everythings going well. This is our last cruise to Russia and then the last around the Fjords next week and I think it's starting to hit home just how little time we have left - eek.

Missing folks at home lots - if you're reading this guys have a cup of tea and biscuit for me!!!!!

Err.. I think Oz is...THAT way

Well, I've seen a fair few cool things in my almost 2 years on ships - Turtles, Whales, Dolphins, Storms that light the sky purple but today I feel topped the lot.

We had just finished rehearsing the new ending to a show, the cast had exited stage right, when all of a sudden they rushed back on and headed for the port side windows - naturally the entire room followed and there out of the window was.... A TORNADO!!!! how unbelievably cool is that! - Of course there was there fear of it heading straight towards us mingled in with the coolness but still - so amazing! It disappeared after about 4 minutes but added interest to an otherwise grey sea day!

Back to Russia again this week, should be going to the Hermitage and will hopefully get to see some 'great' works of art - can't let that A-Level go to waste :)

Somebody said the other day that we only have 14 weeks left - never has 14 weeks seemed like a small amount of time. I miss people at home a lot, I wish I could pop round for a cup of tea and a chat; but these guys and this season have been outstanding and I'm dreading that final day wehn we all leave :(

On the home front my Mum is getting married, my outfit is being bought for me (as long as it's not pink or frilly that's fine Mum!)and so I guess my house hunting start for real - hmmm....

All kinds a Crazy....

Time is just flying by, we're just sailing out of St. Petersburg again which means it must be a fair ols while since I last posted!

I've added some photo's to my msn community - follow the buttonm in the sidebar. There of last week (when my family was on - yey!) and the tour I took in ST Petersburg yesterday - fantastic! I will add more but that will be when I have transferred them to my SHINY NEW COMPUTER!!! Oh yes - I have the wonder that is an NVidia graphics card and wireless internet!!

The graphics card has been well used as Laura (kids host from Spirit) has come onboard to do the teen activities for the next 5 weeks and is sharing my cabin - she loves the SIMS2 and already has a partner and a baby called Jake (on the game - obv!). I've got to play alittle bit too but am not quite as bored as she is! I didn't know she was coming so was looking forward to relaxing after my family got off when Ricky (ETO - left on Staurday) appeared in my cabin and said "this is Laura's suitcase - she's on the gangway" and promptly left. SO I quickly tisied my stuff out of 1/2 the room and there she's been all week :) It's been great having her here - we can reminisce about the Spirit and she keeps me and the team informed on the goings on of other ships.

The St Petersburg overnighter last night was as eventful as ever - someone manged to get assaultes - at least last time all that happened was that everyone in the teeam fell out....It was all fine the next day when everyone had sobered up though - they're a good bunch!. I stayed in 'cos I was tired and quite frankly was a little scared as to what might happen! - Hopefully next time I won't finish work as late and I can go for a meal.

Alana had a truly horrendous time the other week with stuff happening at home. She went home for a couple of days for a funeral and is safely back now but if you could keep her in your prayers/send her some mojo that would be great:)

My battery is about to fail so need to return to the cabin to juice it up! Hope all is weel. Please leave a comment if you stop by, always interesting to see who's there! Will add some more photo's ASAP :)

Russia

Finally made it to St Petersburg, Russia and our 1st overnighter here. Found ou that I can get off with my British Seamans book, but have decided to wait until we're here next time to make the most of it! Everyone's heading to a club tonight (that's basically the entire crew!) so I may partake, although I am covering for DJSimon this evening so may not actually get there 'til late - still the bus entrance and first drink are only $10 so would still be worth it I feel! Went on a tour in Stockholm, round the city and to the Vasa museum - A big war ship built in the 1600's that sank 25minutes after leaving the dock!

All is going well at the mo. A few interesting illness and injuries going about (an inflamed sweat gland?!?) and the usual soap opera of social chaos that working on a ship provides. I have turned into a bit of a counsellor this week which has been nice - although I may need one after the next few days!! Should be going on self guided bicycle tour of Visby (Sweden) in a few days with Zoe (and anyone else brave enough to come along) - will attempt to see cultural things and not get lost!

New countries visited in the last few weeks include Finland, Russia and Estonia. I'm sure we end up in Germany at one point - chance to test out my language skills!

1 week 'til the family arrive:))))

Where's the Whales???

Sorry about the lack of posting but because we change itineraries all the time it's quite tricky to keep on top of things!

Today we crossed the Arctic Circle - how cool is that! Just when you thought it couldn't get any colder...... this also explains why I am typing this at 1am having just finished work rather than heading to the OB or to bed - it's sill flippin light outside - you'd think it was 4 o'clock on a cloudy afternoon - it is quite the weirdest experience!

The last few weeks have been cool, pretty eventful - what with all the D&V in the news the company (in their wisdom) decided to ban us from getting off the ship last Newcastle - but only decided to tell us at 8:30pm the night before - to late to call and change any previous arrangements (it being a sea day we couldn't contact anyone anyway), and the day we start our first 2 week cruise! It was purely to show that we're doing something - but as we were going to be mixing with both sets of passengers anyway there really was no logical point - apart from causing the staff a lot of grief!

The weather has been fantastic - so hot in the Fjords. We were back around Geiranger and Flam a couple of days ago and all the snow is melting so the waterfalls are just amazing! I played football again in Flam - I should go and see if I made the team for tomorrow - go CELEBRATION! - but I doubt it as I was the only the girl! There's a kit and a medic and everything :)

Some stuff going on back home which needs dome thinking about, but I'd already started down that path - it just means some adjustments to various plans - mainly financial!

My mum, her friend and my SISTERS!!! are on soon - yeyeyeyey! I can't wait for them to experience this :)

Fjordland Splediferous!

Oh my word....

I can't believe more people don't visit the Norweigian Fjords. They are (except for possibly the Grand Canyon SUnset & Sunrise) the most awe inspiring thing I have seen. The best way to see them is definitely on a ship - and somebody pays me to be here!!!!

Tony (SM) saw his first ever snow last week and next cruise we're hoping to get on a tour in Geiranger that will mean he can see and (play with!) loads of it! We all stood up on deck with blankets and cameras and watched the huge mountains, waterfalls and greenery go past. It got so cold we looked like huddled blanket creatures but we still stayed there so we didn't miss anything. At one point the wind was so strong (we came to what can only be described as a T-Junction!) that if you jumped up you got blown backwards! They really are spectacular. I took loads of photo's - hopefully will have some up soon when I find land based internet.

This week has been a little more sedate. Today we are in Copenhagen. Got off and went for a wander - had my photo taken with 'the mermaid' - not at all how you expect it to be! Also we've had 2 birthdays in the team this week so we had a fantastic 'Guys and Dolls' themed party (from which I have about 200 photo's - narrowed down to about 80!) for which I had my hair and makeup done by Laura and then was persuaded to wear the Red Dress and Red Shoes that Dom picked out for me on the 'Spirit'. There were people who didn't recognise me, hehe!

There's been quite a bit of illness. All the girls except me and Alana have had colds, Danni and Leo still have bad throats and some of the lads have been in a bad way as well. All are now on the way to recovery but it has meant that we haven't known which shows we are doing until the afternoon of the same day - a little unerving fram a techie point of view! Still keeps us on our toes:)

Daylight reignd forever!

Just a quickie. Now started on the Fjord cruises.

We've just finished the second show for the evening - it's 11:45pm - and it's still LIGHT outside - vvvvvery weird!!! I suppose I'd better get used to it - but it's pretty cool :)

Also - saw my first oil rig today - interesting.......

urrr...there's a blip in the space/time continuum....

From many angles this cruise could quite easily be regarded as the most eventful yet (not that there's much to compare it too!), however there's still an overwhelming sense of well being and chilled-ness about the place.

So far this itinerary:
The House Tabs failed to go up in Guys and Dolls so we had to restart the show after calling the ETO and openeing about every power box backstage.

We had a major (and I mean MAJOR!!) problem with a power distributor and voltage regulator in the middle of Abigail's party which meant 10 minutes of the show was done without sound (it would be the bit with all the music cues!) and when we did get it working again we still had to cancel the second show for saftey reasons. At one point Tony and I were backed into the corners of the booth afraid to touch anything with one hand on the fire extinguisher!

Last night in the Swing show we had the 'band' silhouettes for the first time. 2 of them fell over as the House Tabs went up so muggins had to go from the back, up on stage and reset them - it was so fiddly that I only did one - shoved a stage weight in fornt of it to stop it happening again!- and then just 'put' the other iin the storage space ('threw' being too strong a word), took a bow - and all the passing comments off the passengers - and headed for the secrity of the booth.

All this has had the interesting result of all the passengers talking to Me and Tony more than they talk to the showteam - even if their questions run along the lines of "Any chance of being blown up tonight..?" after the 10th time, it's just not that funny!! Nice that they're interested though :) I'm not really looking forward to backstage tour tomorrow though :S

There's been a few tears and tantrums on the social scene but nothing that wasn't sorted out by the next morning so all in all things are sailing along nicely....'scuse the pun.

Have had some great times ashore and some even better nights onboard so am pretty cool :)

Have also just finished a VCD to send home for the folks back there to watch and see what I'm up to. Have missed some big personal events being on here and sometimes it really gets me, but at least with the job going ds well I can't get too down :)