Christmakah in the Caribbean

I was able to celebrate Hannukah in the Caribbean! I usually have to miss the candle lighting cause I’m playing, but on Friday it was cancelled cause of rain. So I was able to go to Shabbat services, lit the Hannukah candles, and ate some free latkes and Manischewitz. It was great, and there were lots of Jews on the ship too! The rabbi that they brought on board is from Ashland, OR!

Before Shabbat, we were in Roatan, an island off of Honduras. I laid out by the beach and played some beach volleyball. It’s been super hot and humid. In Cozumel the day before I sat at a bar by the beach to get some free internet, which is sorely missed when you’re living on a ship.

Christmas Eve was really fun. The officers and entertainment staff had a special dinner with free wine, turkey, and lots of chocolate! It was really good. Then we played two shows and then a special Christmas show which I had to sing more Christmas songs. But it was fine cause everyone was happy and in a good mood.

Christmas was a different story. I got sick with GI symptoms early in the morning. So I had to be isolated in a room for 72 hours. With no window… Luckily I didn’t get sick again. It wasn’t that bad- a comfy bed, TV, room service, and my laptop with lots of movies on it.  It was kind of boring at times. Good thing basketball and football were on TV though. And having all my meals brought to my door was pretty awesome!

Something really cool also happened on this past cruise. The president of a cymbal company was on my cruise. He introduced himself to me and the drummer, and one time he talked to us for a good half an hour about his company, the modern cymbal industry, and other drum and music things. It was nice to get his perspective on the industry since he knows pretty much everything about it.

Have a happy new year!

CODE RED!!! AHHH!!!!

My first week on the ship has been … interesting. Like I said, we were in Code Red, which means a gastro-intestinal virus was spreading across the ship. This continued for the remainder of the first cruise, as well as the first two days of this next cruise. The first day there were 6 cases, the next day 30, then the next day 60. After that it kinda cooled off, but we were still in Code Red. And it was mostly passengers who were getting sick, not really any crew. This is mainly because we know about the virus and they tell us to wash our hands like crazy. They tell the guests the same thing, but they don’t really do it. If you’re taking a cruise soon, wash your hands ALL THE TIME!

This affected us in a few ways. One, we had to sanitize our showroom every night after the shows. It would take about an hour and we’d be done around 12:30am, sometimes 1am. Two, this stuff we were using to sanitize everything is called Virox. It’s horrible! We wear gloves and masks, but the smell just makes you feel sick, and we don’t know if it’s from being so tired or from the virox cause during those late-night cleaning sessions we say some pretty ridiculous things. In one way it’s cool because I get to know everybody in the band better, but it’s also terrible cause we’re working extra and nobody’s happy about it. None of the crew are upbeat either cause we’re all working extra hours and exhausted. And all anyone talks about is passengers with GI, and complaining about sanitizing.

When we finally got back to Tampa, I had to wake up at 6:30am for immigration for new crew members. Then we had to clean the ENTIRE ship. This meant cleaning walls, hand railings, tables, anything in public areas. It was insane. They even hired a cleaning company from land to help us out. Then we had a busy embarkation day again once the new passengers finally came on. Sunday was a looong day.

So morale on the ship is kind of down right now. Hopefully now that we’re FINALLY out of Code Red everyone will forget about it and have more fun! Cause that’s why I’m here!

This cruise we started a couple days ago is the Holiday/Christmas cruise. (We all know nobody’s here to celebrate Hannukah but they have to say it. I probably won’t light a menorah in my room for fear of sinking the ship.) The first night I actually sang a couple Christmas songs at our tree lighting ceremony (mainly because I had to), and there’s a huge gingerbread house in our center Atrium that makes the ship smell really good!

Happy Hannukah and have a good Christmas everybody!

My new ship!

So the first two days on a new ship are the hardest. First, you’re exhausted because of jet lag, so it makes your enthusiasm to meet new people go down. Second, for a musician it’s the busiest day of the cruise because we play 2 sets on the deck, one rehearsal, another set that night, and then play the show. On top of that, they get you on the ship at the crack of dawn to start training and getting used to the new ship. THEN on top of all that, our ship went into Code Red. This means that the GI virus they call Norwalk virus, has spread to a certain percentage of people on the ship. I was nervous at first, but it’s really not that big of a deal. The only bad part about it is every night we have to sanitizing our entire showroom (it’s a big showroom!).

Other than that, this ship is pretty cool. It’s much smaller than my first ship, but that means the staff is closer because there’s less of us. I would compare my last ship as being New York City, and my new ship being Eugene. One is huge and has tons of things going on, and the other one has a small-town feel. The big difference I notice here is that the guests are younger. Since it’s in the Caribbean, and it’s winter break, there are more families, more teenagers, and more people my age. I can’t really hang out with them, but it’s nice to see some people less than 50 years old for a change.

Our first port was Cozumel, and I laid on the beach at this bar that only crew members from ships can go to. There were crew from Royal Caribbean and Carnival ships there. I worked on my tan and grubbed on some awesome nachos. Then I played a set on the top deck while we sailed away. I wasn’t in the show that night, so it was a pretty easy work day. I’m also really lovin the weather- sunny and warm, no snow, and no temperature under 60!

Vacation + My Next ship!

It’s been almost a month since I got off the ship. The last week was a ton of fun, hanging out with all my friends, playing some great music, and just enjoying the ship before I left. To be honest, I totally forgot we were in the middle of the Atlantic I was so busy having fun! However, a couple days before we got to Florida I could feel the humidity and temperature rising.

We got to Florida and it was kind of sad saying goodbye to everybody. It was like summer camp or leaving for summer break in college. Luckily with ships, you never know when you’re going to see someone again. You might be working on another ship, and all of a sudden someone new comes on board who you worked with on another ship. That’s ship life.

I was home for about a week when I got back, mostly catching up on sleep I missed the past 2 months as well as getting over being sick from flying cross country. I then enjoyed Thanksgiving in Pismo Beach, California, where my family and I rented a house 3 blocks from the beach! It was nice to see my brother, who lives down there going to school in Cal Poly, and to enjoy some warm weather! I then visited my friend Ivan for a few days who lives in Los Angeles. I went to Chinatown, In’N’Out, and went to an extravagant Hollywood nightclub, among other things. After getting used to 80 degrees, I hopped on a plane to enjoy 20 degrees in Colorado. I visited with friends in Boulder and Colorado Springs while the temperature kept dropping to 0 before I left. It was great catching up with my friends after being gone and very nice to be in Colorado. The mountains are beautiful and Boulder feels like another home to me. I will definitely be back to visit again soon!

My next stop: the Caribbean! I just got a contract from December 11-January 22 doing 7-day cruises out of Tampa, Florida. I’ll be going to places in Mexico, Belize, Roatan, Jamaica, and the Grand Cayman Islands. I’m excited for warm weather and to experience a new ship. It’s a smaller ship than my last so Ill have to get used to that. I will probably be playing more than the last ship, but it’ll be less hectic than Europe since it’ll be mainly beaches and relaxing. My favorite part is New Years Eve I’ll be docking in the same place as my last ship in Mexico, so I’ll be able to see friends that are still on the ship! I’m very excited and I will continue to update the blog so you can know how it goes!