i'm in paradise

the crossing went well... lots of busy days because we were overloaded with duties to keep the passengers busy, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing for seven sea days while on red level. thankfully we're back to green, which means all our deck privileges are reinstated (horray for the upstairs world with real people!).


i don't really have any words to describe how beautiful it is here... here's some pictures to give you a sneak peek. first is the azores islands in the middle of the atlantic... the town is on a geothermic fault line and there's hot springs everywhere. next is antigua, and then the virgin gorda and tortola.

















today i'm in st. kitts, and i'm taking a day off the beach to give my skin a break (only a little sunburnt so far, thanks to spf 50). my new stepbrother RJ lives here to go to veterenary school, so i'm going to try and meet up with him this afternoon for coffee.



seriously, if anyone expects christmas cards, you'd better get me those addresses! love you!

hi team... not much to update this week, but we start the crossing today and it'll probably be a long while until i have reliable access to the internet again. the party went incredibly well... the whole team pulled together and helped with everything, we laughed our asses off while we were decorating and the bar was packed. a good time had by all.

in less thrilling news, we're on red alert again, and i ended up getting sick early tuesday morning. i was in quarantine in the medical centre (a.k.a. solitary confinement) until thursday evening, and it was, quite possibly, one of the most miserable experiences of my adult life. definitely the worst three days i've spent on the ship so far... the medical staff treated me absolutely horribly. all i had with me was the pyjamas i was wearing and my key to my room, and i was left alone in the hospital ward with no water, blankets, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, towels, tampons, and initially until i asked for it, toilet paper. i eventually got a hold of my friends (the phone only dialed out and wasn't working for several hours) and on the second day they brought me some clean underwear and my toothbrush. the nurses blamed me for starting the outbreak (i was the 26th case), and told me not to count on the fact that i would have a job when i got out of quarantine because i would likely be fired for not following medical protocol (?). when i was released i hadn't eaten in sixteen hours, because we weren't allowed to order any food or drinks outside clinic hours, which is only six hours per day. needless to say, i'm a little upset about it (as are the other 2 members of my cast who were also in quarantine), and we had a meeting today with the personnel manager and the staff captain to make sure something like this doesn't happen again to someone else...


okay, my negative rant is over. i'm healthy and happy again, and being alone with nothing to do gave me an opportunity to remember how lucky i am. i have discovered that living on water can leave you feeling unsettled... partially in a very physical way, because what you walk on is constantly moving and you are forced to adjust your balance, but also in a way that is less tangible...i am discovering that it takes more effort to feel grounded. it's a work in progress.

i've uploaded some pictures that i had a hard time with last week, the signal is better today. other than that, we're all looking forward to going to the caribbean... i'll miss the med, but i'm excited for beaches and warm weather!

this one time i was attacked by a monkey

seriously, though.

pompeii was incredible, in every sense. one of the best day's i've had...i almost got lost about a hundred times, just staring at the frescoes while the rest of the group moved on...

i went to rome again to try and see the sistine chapel, but the line was three hours long and we didn't have enough time... so we went out for lunch instead, and i ate more pizza than is ever acceptable for one person to consume... but t was SO good =).


we finally got a chance to go up the rock in gibraltar and visit the caves. they were so unbelievably beautiful, the pictures do them absolutely no justice. inside, there is a natural ampitheatre created out of the stalactite in the rock, and they've built a seating area for concerts... the acoustics are perfect.

everywhere you look on the rock are monkeys. in all seriousness, there are thousands of them, and because they are so acclimatized to humans they aren't afraid when you come close to them...in fact, they like to play. so perhaps attacked is not entirely accurate, but the picture is only one of many with them climbing all over me.

in terms of our day-to-day-life, we've started to settle into a semblance of a routine. i'm starting to get a little bored with the amount of time off we have (please don't confuse this with complaining, my job rocks... but in fairness, there's not much to do except drink....), so i made a poster and taped it above my bed. it goes like this:

BORED?
do these things.

-write a song
-draw
-play piano
-read a book
-sew something
-take pictures
-practice guitar
-stretch
-write a letter
-play a game
-study: french, spanish, sign, ports
-paint a mug (ceramics)
-work out
-explore
-clean your room
-go for a walk
-write a poem
-colour
-do laundry
-call home
-choreograph something
-write in your journal


now whenever i catch myself bitching about having nothing to do, i can prove myself wrong. i've left space at the bottom of my poster, so if you feel there's anything relevant that i should add, feel free to contribute.

we have a couple of birthdays coming up, so to celebrate we got some money from the crew club to throw a party for all the staff and crew.... we're hosting an 80's prom in the crew bar on monday, so i've been occupying myself with making posters and decorations. i'll post pictures and let you know how it goes...

miss you all...we have one more week cruise here in the med, and then next saturday we're off to the caribbean! my new address will be:

Corrina Keeling
Entertainment Department
mv. Sea Princess
c/o Platinum Port Services inc.
Suite 201 Building #4
Harbour Business Park
Bridgetown
Barbados, W.I.

OR

Corrina Keeling
Entertainment Department
mv. Sea Princess
c/o Lannaman & Morris Ltd.
2 Seventh Avenue
Newport West
Kingston 15
Jamaica

the first is my embarkation or 'home' port which we're in every second saturday, and the second is in montego bay, which we are in halfway through each two week cruise.

sorry there aren't more pictures... the signal cuts out all the time. i've been told that once we get to the caribbean, it's easy to find wireless at almost every port, so i'm hoping that keeping in touch will be easier. please feel free to send me your addresses so i can send you goodies... snail mail takes longer, but it's way more fun. miss you all!

this is fun

we've had quite a bit of time on our hands lately, since the ship is on red level with noro virus. booooo. luckily, no-one in the cast, crew, or band caught it, and we're hoping they'll lift it to amber come southampton. unfortunately, that means that for the past week, our shore leave and passenger area privilidges were suspended. but i've been finding plenty of things to do...

tim, one of the pianists on board, heard some of my music and asked if he could get some musicians together to record it... i jumped at the opportunity, of course, and now i have a recording of 'new boots' with guitar, piano, drums, horns, and back-up vocals =). we did it at 1am after a show night; it was the only time we were all free and the space was available, and i had the best time ever (as soon as i have a copy, i'll try and put it up somewhere...myspace?). now that i have more free time, i'm writing a lot of music, and i'm also trying to work out some of the rust on my piano technique and sight reading.

cruise staff is going well; since our cruise director used to be a performer and has a good idea of how demanding six shows are, we only ever get duties (ceramics is my favourite) on sea days, which is fabulous because we always get shore leave in ports (before this week, anyway). we've had the opportunity to pick up extra jobs in addition to our cruise staff duties that we get paid for, so i'm now officially the resident seamstress, and i'm teaching a few people how to sew.

i'm also taking class almost every day... everyone in the cast takes turns teaching, so it changes all the time. it feels really good to concentrate on technique and work on choreography that people are passionate about, and to work through something for the sake of dancing it, rather than to get it show ready. we're planning a showcase around the holidays where we can all perform something we created, as well as bits and pieces of the princess shows that we like, for the rest of the staff and crew (they don't usually get a chance to come, because they're working when we're performing). paul and i are also trying to train for the silks as often as we can, and we're getting strong enough that we are trying new tricks that we couldn't do before.


once per cruise is the 'on deck walk for the cure', and even if it's not part of our duties for the day, some of us will usually go up to support everyone who's walking by cheerleading at the finish line every lap.

before we were on level red, i got to go on the bus trips to florence, pisa and rome, and we got off the ship in monte carlo and barcelona as well. rome blew my freakin' mind... it reminded me of being in greece, and feeling humbled to be in the presence of history of that magnitude. pisa was fun, but there's nothing much to see there but the tower. the picture is me refusing to do the cheesy "look, i'm holding up the tower of pisa!" pose. everyone around me looked like a weiner, it's a field full of people with their hands randomly in the air. in hindsight, i should have just taken a picture of that... florence was just as beautiful as i remember it being, and i bought a new journal there to add to my collection. i got a chance to practice my french in monte carlo (another task on the list of things to do while i'm here in order to not suffocate from boredom), and we went swimming in the ocean right off the pier next to the ship.

that's all for now, team... send me e-mails! i would love to know what's going on in your lives. take care of each other, i miss you!

installation is over!

we all survived. courtney left in southampton on saturday, and we all went out to crew bar instead of rehearsing on our last night together. we opened 'piano man', our last show of six, on monday night, and we are officially through install. it's only been a few days, but things have drastically improved. it's incredible what a little time off and a full night of sleep can do.



yesterday was officially our first day off in six weeks, and we were in cadiz, spain... we saw the cathedral, went to play in the tide pools by the fortress at the beach, walked through the gardens and ate at a little moroccan restaurant. i don't know if it's just because i haven't seen daylight in a month, but it felt like one of my favourite days ever. hopefully now that we can get off the ship every time we port, there will be many more to come. as staff, we get to sign up to escort tours and go on them for free, we just have to wear a cruise staff shirt and help herd people on and off the bus. they also offer free/ridiculously cheap tours just for crew at least once or twice a cruise, so this friday i'm going to florence and pisa, and next week i'm going to get to see rome (finally!)

our non-performance related duties on board is something we were worried about, but they're turning out to be a lot of fun as well. i'm usually assigned to ceramics or scrapbooking, so essentially i get to be crafty and talk to the passengers about the shows. it's actually really nice to have an opportunity to hear feedback from the guests, it makes performing more interesting when you see faces you recognize in the audience.



in other news, my cousin amanda had a baby! (congratulations!!!) his name is jacob douglas whiteman, and he's gigantic (ten pounds eleven ounces) and i haven't even met him yet but i miss him so much. i cried like a big dork in the internet cafe when i found out. =)

i know my last few updates were a little distraught, but now that the misery of install is over i'm really having an incredible time. and now, two short lists that summarize my life:

things that suck
- false eyelashes
- hitting your head on the celing when you wake up every morning
- when there's no good cheese left at the buffet

things that are awesome
- there's almost always good cheese at the buffet
- my uber-cool roommate
- having time to read good books and write music
- the view is always gorgeous
- shore leave
- the beach
- my cast is great
- meeting new people
- jamming with the show band
- free gym membership
- a glass of red wine with every dinner
- saving money to pay off my loan
- taking class with the cast

as you can see, the second list vastly outnumbers the first one, so i'm doing just fine. =)

part three - i live in a bubble

what is going on in the world? still a war going on? how's our dollar? anyone famous do anything worthwhile lately? seriously, i am completely out of touch with reality.



the captain said on the first day that this ship has a tendency to roll through the bay of biscay (we go through it every time we leave southampton), but i have never experienced swells like this... the floor just drops out from under you every eight seconds or so... if you're wearing a dress you float a little. it's pretty, until you throw up all over your fancy shoes.

everyone in the medical centre knows me by name, since i came close to fracturing my leg on a moving set piece, and then had a serious allergic reaction to something in the dressing room three days later. they know pretty much our whole cast... darrius threw up from being seasick between every number on our 'cinematastic' opening night, and maryann broke her nose when the ship hit a huge swell. as dramatic as this sounds, we have so far opened three shows without too much drama, and they were all very well recieved and looked (according to our director) great. we open our fourth show tonight, and then start rehearsals for the fifth at midnight...

we woke up this morning to discover that we had to be out of our rooms by 9am. all our suitcases are re-packed and rammed in the costume storage, and hopefully when we get back on the ship today we'll have a place to sleep.

the issues with contracts are slowly being resolved... short of them misplacing our paycheques for two weeks. hm. they're found, and we're paid, and all is well...

as we keep reminding each other...we're healthy (for the most part) and are in a beautiful part of the world (which, hopelfully, we'll actually get a chance to see once install is over). and we all get along. and we can eat whenever we want. life is good. in all seriousness, despite the chaos and the exhaustion, i am having a wonderful time... we laugh ourselves hysterically into tears at least twice a day, and that makes everything completely worthwhile. and you all know that how much i love being onstage outweighs any drama in the wings.=)




i miss you all. please, please, please feel free to send me updates about your lives... i am completely out of touch with reality, and would love to know what is going on in the real world.

part two - ships are...special

where to start.

we left london at 6:15am with the intention of embarking at eight, but the ship was five hours late because of a medical emergency in france... we sat in the crew cruise terminal for six hours on the cement with our luggage in a big pile. we played a lot of cards.








once we got on the ship, we figured out that somewhere, someone's lines were crossed, and none of us were expected to arrive that day. so far a few of us still don't have rooms. also, my name was caroline kelling on the manifest, and as such, on the program, medical card, and my nametag. which is making it hard to replace since everything went missing from backstage during a run of a show on the second day. as such, i'm not allowed off the ship; not that we have time at the moment.

there was a shipping error, and our costumes, wigs and shoes, we're told, are somewhere on the ship. we're just not sure where. they've bumped back our opening night until thursday, in the hopes that everything will be sorted out by then...

other than that, things are pretty good. i can tell that once things settle down and i have a place to put all my things that i'll be very happy. we're thrilled that courtney (our first director/choreographer) is back to install our shows, and rehearsals are going well, even though they're usually early in the morning from midnight to five am (it's the only time the theatre is available). as entertainment we get almost the same privilidges as guests, short of the uber-fancy restaurants, and we only have to dress up on formal nights (i'm particularly happy about this one!). the cast is still in good spirits, and the food is great, so i'll be just fine. =)