Carnival LIVE

Carnival Cruise lines has been rolling out a bunch of new and branded ™ initiatives lately, to mixed reviews from passengers and crew alike. There is one, though, that I recently participated in, and thoroughly enjoyed: Carnival LIVE.

We had REO Speedwagon onboard this week. I got to meet some of them! I did not take pictures with them, but I watched the concert from backstage. It is by no means the best seat in the house, but with two fights out in the house, it wasn’t the worst.

We had banners all over the ship to sell tickets, and some people were given buttons to wear

 

The load in was insane! REO by themselves had 44 road cases, and then there were the ones from the production company

That blur there is me, apparently.

Frank had to run one of the spotlights, but got a couple of pictures of the band

I also got a set list

I forgot how much I love/hate big load ins 🙂 After the concert, we had to load everything out in time to leave Cozumel at 1 am. We made it with about half an hour to spare, I think.

We get to do it all again next month!

Home

Actually, I’ve been home for several days now. I got home on the 1st. And then Frank had to leave on the 3rd. We got like 30 hours together. Anyway….

My last port was Cozumel. And here’s where I spent it.

This is at a place called NoName Bar. It’s For Crew, By Crew since 1999. Apparently, it was opened by someone who worked for cruise ship. It’s under a resort hotel called Barracuda. This is the pier where we jumped into the sea:

 

 

 

 

This is a resort called El Cid.

Here’s El Cid’s pier:

The snorkeling is really good here. The fish are vibrant and plentiful. Unfortunately, I’m too broke/cheap to buy an underwater camera. Ah well. Take my word for it, though. If you go to Cozumel, and you want to snorkel for a short amount of time, go here. It’s cheaper and more fun than an excursion.

Also this:

 

And the night was rounded off with dinner at Three Amigos. It’s a little too party-ish for me, personally. Like people dancing on the  bar.

 

Soooo…..

Now I’m home.

I went from this:

To this…outside my window this morning…

 

 

This is stupid and cold…

Flying high!

Cozumel’s the place to be, man. Seriously, it’s the best place for excursions because we’re there for several hours, and there’s a bunch of cool stuff to do. Remember the dolphins? Cozumel. Ziplining? Cozumel.

Oh, wait…

I haven’t posted about zip line? Let me rectify that right now.

Three Cozumels ago (last week, I was portmanning, and the week before was when Frank came to visit…), my roommate and I went Zip Lining through a mexican jungle.

It was so fun, and we got to go around the tracks twice. They told us it was because we were special because we were the first group of the day…but we’re pretty sure they tell that to all the groups.

Oh and then we went snorkeling:

 

It was neat 🙂 And I don’t know how we jumped in the sea all those times without touching all these fish!

 

New Year’s and Swimming with Dolphins!

So I swam with dolphins today ^_^

And we danced.

And we kissed. My New Year’s kiss!

Her name is Troya, and she’s about 5 years old. She was really cool to swim with.

This was my first excursion and it was awesome. I went with my friend and roommate Jenny. This is us on New Year’s :

 

We had the date right up there on the famous Carnival Funnel:

 

It was supposed to change from 2012 to 2013, but it just ended up looking like this:

These were our guests:

And this was the crew, where we were all invited to the Lido Deck for the countdown:

 

Apparently someone complained about us partying up on deck to ring in the new year. There were drinks, but none being served up there, and there was just music and hugs, mostly. This person wrote that since they paid to be there, they should have been able to party, while we wait on them. They wanted their cruise comped. Fortunately, our Guest Services person is sane, and disregarded it.

Oh, and Frank’s coming to visit on the 11th! So excited!

All in all, it’s been a pretty good year so far 😀

Sick Sickly….

I’ve been pretty sick for the past week and a half. I should have been taken off of duties, but anyone who knows me at all knows that I try to avoid that as much as possible.
It’s tough being sick on a ship. You’re in such close quarters with everyone, especially your roommate. And our vents are covered in dust. Luckily I don’t deal with guests very much. One, because then I don’t give them the plague, and two, they don’t give me anything else.

No shows were cancelled, though my sick brain did check out during one show, and it was really close to having to call a show stop.

I’m better now, and its really nice to get off the ship and breathe some fresh air.

First test

Yesterday was the first time I did one of the shows (almost) by myself. There were a couple moments where I froze, and my (for lack of a better word – he’s the person I’m replacing) boss asked “what’s next?” and I said “I dunno!” and rushed to my cue sheets. There are some times where I tried to rush, but there was nothing to do, and other times where I was caught off guard about what I was supposed to do. Several things went wrong with the show that I could not have prevented, like people getting injured during the show. Luckily we are having a tech rehearsal this week. Just for me!

I’m realising now how much I need paper photographs. My side of the room is woefully bare, while my roomie has many photographs all over. I’m sure I’ll collect post cards and pictures along the way. Pretty much all I have is a photo of Frank and me from our senior prom, and I just bought a tiny painting from Key West, and a Jimmy Buffett magnet…

I had crowd control training today, so not much time for Cozumel. I’m coming here next week to go to the beach and some shops.

I also need some new music. Comment with suggestions?

First Cozumel

My first stop! Cozumel!

I’m not seeing much of it today. I’m really just using the closest restaurant for their internet. It was a shock (though it should really have been unsurprising) to find my Google giving me all Spanish results lol…

My first couple of days have been filled with paperwork and brainwashing. That was the first thing I thought when I heard the soothing female voice in one of the safety videos I had to watch. Most of it common sense stuff.

It’s the theatre stuff that’s melting my newly washed brain…

In Kings Dominion (the theme park where I worked for nearly two season) I had cues enough to keep me busy for a 20 minute show. Ten at the most, probably this year, and looking for things to do during the show. Here, I have four typed pages for just one show, and that’s just what I do! On top of that, I supervise 6 guys who work in other departments, but work as stage hands for the shows.

Probably the most exciting part at this point is that I need pyrotechnical training. We have four pyro cues in the show, and I need to be able to tell when it is safe for each cue to fire.

I am so nervous that I won’t be able to learn everything before my predecessor leaves…

 

Oh, and here’s a photo of my ship I took today:

The Carnival Imagination!

Here’s where I sleep, top bunk!

I get a little curtain for privacy, and a little light over my head for lit up privacy 😀