So I’ve been a little slack in the blogging department lately, but I think the title of this one should suffice as an excuse – I have spent the last 3 weeks travelling through Europe and the Mediterranean! Stopping in a new port pretty much every day – very few sea days on this voyage, getting to see and experience some wonderful stuff!
Travel wrap up
In the last three weeks I have explored Greece, Italy, Monaco, Spain, Gibraltar and Portugal! Not a bad little list of countries to tick off the bucket list!! I was lucky enough to experience some amazing food (and spend way too much money doing it… When in Rome, right?! – literally!!) and see such sights as the Acropolis in Athens, Trevi Fountain in Rome, Michelangelo’s David (well a replica, anyway!) in Florence and many more amazing sights! So here’s a short summary of my time in Europe.
22/4 – Athens, Greece. Travelled to see the Acropolis with some of the members of the cast, found that there was porn for sale in every second store – definitely not ashamed of it over here!
24/4- Taomina, Italy. Small seaside village in the south of Italy. Port was too small for our ship to dock, so we had to “Tender” (where they use one of the life boats as transportation to shore). Cute city – INCREDIBLE FOOD!! I am half Italian, so I grown up with a lot of Italian food around, but I got Gnocchi, Pizza, Canoli and Gelato and Wow?! Good food, good mood!!
25/4 – Naples, Italy. I was very surprised that some of the passengers had organised an ANZAC day ceremony at 6am on the ship! Being the sole Aussie/kiwi in the crew, I was almost obliged to attend, but I’m really glad I did. It was a really nice ceremony, and so many people there - pushing 150 people in the “Crow’s Nest” where we play most nights – we’ve never had a crowd that big!! I had a safety drill in the morning, so I just got off for a few hours to have some FOOD!! So so so good! Good food, good mood!!
22/4 – Athens, Greece. Travelled to see the Acropolis with some of the members of the cast, found that there was porn for sale in every second store – definitely not ashamed of it over here!
24/4- Taomina, Italy. Small seaside village in the south of Italy. Port was too small for our ship to dock, so we had to “Tender” (where they use one of the life boats as transportation to shore). Cute city – INCREDIBLE FOOD!! I am half Italian, so I grown up with a lot of Italian food around, but I got Gnocchi, Pizza, Canoli and Gelato and Wow?! Good food, good mood!!
25/4 – Naples, Italy. I was very surprised that some of the passengers had organised an ANZAC day ceremony at 6am on the ship! Being the sole Aussie/kiwi in the crew, I was almost obliged to attend, but I’m really glad I did. It was a really nice ceremony, and so many people there - pushing 150 people in the “Crow’s Nest” where we play most nights – we’ve never had a crowd that big!! I had a safety drill in the morning, so I just got off for a few hours to have some FOOD!! So so so good! Good food, good mood!!
26/4 – Rome, Italy. We actually docked in Civitavecchia, which is about 50min drive from Rome. So a group of us got a “Taxi” of sorts to take us into Rome and return us to the ship. When we got to Rome, we notably saw the Spanish steps – widest staircase in Europe and the Trevi Fountain. We then found the most amazing restaurant to eat at, with complimentary champagne, huge wine glasses, and of course incredible food!! The best meatball I have ever had in my life!? I don’t know what they did, but it was amazing! Our driver then took us to see the Colosseum, which was pretty surreal! And back to the Ship. Good food, good mood!! (You might be seeing a pattern here… needless to say, that everything was pretty fine and dandy whilst in Italy!)
27/4 – Livorno, Italy. From this port, we again hired the services of a taxi to get from the port to Florence. It, was so beautiful! Gorgeous cathedrals, incredible sculptures and of course – AMAZING FOOD! We collectively decided that as wonderful as it was getting to see all this great stuff, the best part of Italy was by far the food! And Drink!? The wine was amazing, and we also had “Amaretto’ – a really sweet liquor (I’d never heard of it) but yummy, yummy, yummy!
29/4 – Monte Carlo, Monaco. What can I say? So, so, so much money in this place?! Wow! They were setting up for the Grand Prix while we were there, so we got to see the F1 track, which was pretty cool. Went for a walk up to some gardens and got an amazing view over the city and bays. Saw the casino, saw some Lamborghini’s and Ferraris?! Very, very rich place!!
1/5 – Barcelona, Spain. Beautiful, beautiful city. I only had a few hours, as I needed to be back on for a rehearsal, but what a few hours! We wondered up the La Rambles, where they had all these markets set up. We were there on “May Day” so some stores and markets were closed, but we still managed to get amazing Tapas! And discover “Cuarenta Tres” (43 in English) Sweet liquor. Very nice!
27/4 – Livorno, Italy. From this port, we again hired the services of a taxi to get from the port to Florence. It, was so beautiful! Gorgeous cathedrals, incredible sculptures and of course – AMAZING FOOD! We collectively decided that as wonderful as it was getting to see all this great stuff, the best part of Italy was by far the food! And Drink!? The wine was amazing, and we also had “Amaretto’ – a really sweet liquor (I’d never heard of it) but yummy, yummy, yummy!
29/4 – Monte Carlo, Monaco. What can I say? So, so, so much money in this place?! Wow! They were setting up for the Grand Prix while we were there, so we got to see the F1 track, which was pretty cool. Went for a walk up to some gardens and got an amazing view over the city and bays. Saw the casino, saw some Lamborghini’s and Ferraris?! Very, very rich place!!
1/5 – Barcelona, Spain. Beautiful, beautiful city. I only had a few hours, as I needed to be back on for a rehearsal, but what a few hours! We wondered up the La Rambles, where they had all these markets set up. We were there on “May Day” so some stores and markets were closed, but we still managed to get amazing Tapas! And discover “Cuarenta Tres” (43 in English) Sweet liquor. Very nice!
2/5 – Alacante, Spain. Gorgeous place! A group of us went to the beach and stayed there most of the day. We drank sangria, swum, lay in the sun… it was a pretty wonderful day!
3/5 – Almeria, Spain. I was on a tour in this port that took us all up through the old town and explored the “Fortress” that stood in the middle of the city. Very interesting tour that delved into both the Islamic and Catholic occupation and rule of both Spain and Almeria specifically. Found out a fun-family-fact too, which is always good – There are 613 seeds in any pomegranate (no matter the size). Mohammed (the prophet) wrote the Quran in 613 verses – hence the Pomegranate is seen as almost a “Holy fruit” to the Islamic people.
4/5 – Gibraltar. I got another tour for Gibraltar entitled “A City under siege”. Very fascinating place! From their military value, the English inquisition of this tiny point of Spain, their role in WWII and the Monkeys that live up the rock. Very cool place! All religions live in harmony, Spain hate them, almost no working class of people who live in Gibraltar – they employ Spanish labourers. Then I met up with some people for lunch and ended up chilling in an Irish pub!
5/5 – Cadiz, Spain. Didn’t do a lot in this port, as stayed on the ship to practice and such, but got off for an hour or so, and explored this beautiful city! Found out this was the port Columbus sailed from when setting off to discover America! Gorgeous trees and parks in Cadiz. Very nice!
6/5 – Lisbon, Portugal. I went a beach about 20min drive from Lisbon, with the art auctioneer; Mandy, and it was amazing! We had a slight confusion with the taxi driver regarding 40 vs. 14… very funny, we won out in the end! So we drank Mojitos on the beach, hired bicycles and cycled along the promenade, drinking a beer at each end and then we went swimming and lay in the sun! Beautiful way to cap off this little Europe chapter! Needless to say – I’ll most definitely be back!!
And I finally received my Seaman’s book, which means I’ll be able to get off in Russia!! YIEW!
3/5 – Almeria, Spain. I was on a tour in this port that took us all up through the old town and explored the “Fortress” that stood in the middle of the city. Very interesting tour that delved into both the Islamic and Catholic occupation and rule of both Spain and Almeria specifically. Found out a fun-family-fact too, which is always good – There are 613 seeds in any pomegranate (no matter the size). Mohammed (the prophet) wrote the Quran in 613 verses – hence the Pomegranate is seen as almost a “Holy fruit” to the Islamic people.
4/5 – Gibraltar. I got another tour for Gibraltar entitled “A City under siege”. Very fascinating place! From their military value, the English inquisition of this tiny point of Spain, their role in WWII and the Monkeys that live up the rock. Very cool place! All religions live in harmony, Spain hate them, almost no working class of people who live in Gibraltar – they employ Spanish labourers. Then I met up with some people for lunch and ended up chilling in an Irish pub!
5/5 – Cadiz, Spain. Didn’t do a lot in this port, as stayed on the ship to practice and such, but got off for an hour or so, and explored this beautiful city! Found out this was the port Columbus sailed from when setting off to discover America! Gorgeous trees and parks in Cadiz. Very nice!
6/5 – Lisbon, Portugal. I went a beach about 20min drive from Lisbon, with the art auctioneer; Mandy, and it was amazing! We had a slight confusion with the taxi driver regarding 40 vs. 14… very funny, we won out in the end! So we drank Mojitos on the beach, hired bicycles and cycled along the promenade, drinking a beer at each end and then we went swimming and lay in the sun! Beautiful way to cap off this little Europe chapter! Needless to say – I’ll most definitely be back!!
And I finally received my Seaman’s book, which means I’ll be able to get off in Russia!! YIEW!
Music
Musically it’s been a really interesting few weeks. Most prominently, because we’ve had all these really cool ports, I haven’t done nearly as much practice as I would have liked! Actually kind of looking forward to the repetition of Norway coming up, so I can get back into a good routine! I’m really excited about a few different aspects of my playing and just music in general at the moment, and Josh was kind enough to give me his entire music library and a bunch of concert videos, so have got a whole new selection for listening, which is really exciting!
We had a lot of nights in the Crow’s nest these past few weeks, which has been pretty tough on Joanne – singing and “Front-lining” every night. The Guest Entertainers that we have played for have been quite spread out, and a lot of magicians/dancers/acts that don’t require the band have been in the showroom. And Yonae has asked her to essentially put together 3 or 4 Guest Entertainer shows for our sets in the showroom (of which we had 2 these last 3 weeks and now we’re going to have around 1 per week), which although is great experience for her, as she’s looking to try and put a proper show together when she gets home, is most definitely above and beyond her contracted requirements! And on top of that, we were informed by our new cruise director that “Head office” in Seattle stipulates that the Hal Cats sets in the showroom are not meant to be advertised/treated like a show the same as cast shows and guest entertainers, which is absolute bollock, and a complete rip for Joanne, especially seeing as she is putting together proper shows, and not just reading out of the books! So that’s been interesting! But she’s pretty great, so it’s going to be fine! Very glad that she’s going to be here until the end of my contract! We get along very well, and with Josh leaving, will be good to have her still here!
We had a guy from “Corporate” come on the ship for about a week too. He is essentially paid to go around all the Holland America ships and report back on all entertainment happenings – quality of players, equipment requirements etc. Really nice guy, and very interesting to talk to. Quite openly admitted that this industry is pretty screwed up, and having gotten into his current position from being a band leader (he’s a keys player – apparently quite a good one), he said that you’ll get further in the ships business by going along with everything, smiling your way through it all, logging your hours properly, turning up on time and keeping your mouth shut, rather than being a good musician and standing up for musical integrity, professionalism or any of the other stuff that we are essentially employed to do! They are more interested in the fact that you can follow ship protocol and appease their every request, rather than be the best musician you can. Some very interesting conversations with Josh about all this over the past few weeks! But at the end of the day, he was a really nice guy, and was very straight up about everything, including the fact that our sole purpose on this ship as musician is to sell drinks and make the company money!
1 of the things I got from this guy, Steve, though was that I can put in a request to defer my flight home. This was something that I toyed with before my contract started – spending a few weeks in Europe after my contract, England especially, but I was told by my agency that this privilege was usually reserved for people of a higher standing than sidemen in the band. So I lodged a request to have my flight delayed by a bit over 2 weeks and to see if I could be flown out of London instead, so we will see what come of that! Fingers crossed!!
We had a lot of nights in the Crow’s nest these past few weeks, which has been pretty tough on Joanne – singing and “Front-lining” every night. The Guest Entertainers that we have played for have been quite spread out, and a lot of magicians/dancers/acts that don’t require the band have been in the showroom. And Yonae has asked her to essentially put together 3 or 4 Guest Entertainer shows for our sets in the showroom (of which we had 2 these last 3 weeks and now we’re going to have around 1 per week), which although is great experience for her, as she’s looking to try and put a proper show together when she gets home, is most definitely above and beyond her contracted requirements! And on top of that, we were informed by our new cruise director that “Head office” in Seattle stipulates that the Hal Cats sets in the showroom are not meant to be advertised/treated like a show the same as cast shows and guest entertainers, which is absolute bollock, and a complete rip for Joanne, especially seeing as she is putting together proper shows, and not just reading out of the books! So that’s been interesting! But she’s pretty great, so it’s going to be fine! Very glad that she’s going to be here until the end of my contract! We get along very well, and with Josh leaving, will be good to have her still here!
We had a guy from “Corporate” come on the ship for about a week too. He is essentially paid to go around all the Holland America ships and report back on all entertainment happenings – quality of players, equipment requirements etc. Really nice guy, and very interesting to talk to. Quite openly admitted that this industry is pretty screwed up, and having gotten into his current position from being a band leader (he’s a keys player – apparently quite a good one), he said that you’ll get further in the ships business by going along with everything, smiling your way through it all, logging your hours properly, turning up on time and keeping your mouth shut, rather than being a good musician and standing up for musical integrity, professionalism or any of the other stuff that we are essentially employed to do! They are more interested in the fact that you can follow ship protocol and appease their every request, rather than be the best musician you can. Some very interesting conversations with Josh about all this over the past few weeks! But at the end of the day, he was a really nice guy, and was very straight up about everything, including the fact that our sole purpose on this ship as musician is to sell drinks and make the company money!
1 of the things I got from this guy, Steve, though was that I can put in a request to defer my flight home. This was something that I toyed with before my contract started – spending a few weeks in Europe after my contract, England especially, but I was told by my agency that this privilege was usually reserved for people of a higher standing than sidemen in the band. So I lodged a request to have my flight delayed by a bit over 2 weeks and to see if I could be flown out of London instead, so we will see what come of that! Fingers crossed!!
Ship Life
And as I mentioned before, Josh the drummer is leaving the ship in Rotterdam, which I am really quite sad about. He is such a great guy who I have learned lots and lots from in our 6 weeks playing/hanging together. He’s taught me a lot about music, the industry, life in general and most potently – ego! A lot of chats regarding ego and how unnecessary and destructive it is!! Very interesting philosophies! But life moves on I guess, and looking forward to meeting the new band we’ve got coming on!
Regarding the roommate situation, I’ve been able to line up moving in with Edison who works in the Youth Centre, which is really exciting! Both for the fact that we get along really well, but also because when his contract finishes in 2 weeks, there is a girl coming on to replace him, which means that there’s a possibility that I could have my own room (fingers crossed!)
Regarding the roommate situation, I’ve been able to line up moving in with Edison who works in the Youth Centre, which is really exciting! Both for the fact that we get along really well, but also because when his contract finishes in 2 weeks, there is a girl coming on to replace him, which means that there’s a possibility that I could have my own room (fingers crossed!)
Now if you’ve made it this far, I’m very impressed!! Essentially 3 blog posts in 1, so thank you for staying with me!! All in all, settling into this crazy life style, starting to make some good friends, and looking to get back into a good routine once we hit the Norway circuit! Sailing from Southampton to Rotterdam today! Lots of exciting things to work on! Keep you posted!!
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