End of a busy week

This was my first week as the stage staff “on-duty”.  It was quite busy but good to know that it won’t usually be any worse than that.  Being on duty means that I could not leave the ship for the week and had to carry a wireless phone and pager and so that if anyone needs a stage staff at any time, that’s the phone they’re going to call.  It wasn’t too bad, just difficult hours; Shifts starting as early as 8 and ending as late as 1am.

This week a choreographer is onboard to teach our ice cast the new show we will be doing starting late November, Blades. That was a large contributor to my very early and late working hours as I had to make ice every few hours as the skaters were on it.  It looks like it will be a good show, I’m interested to see what I’m going to be doing for that show.

Another thing that has been keeping me very busy this cruise is learning all the shows that my current room mate, Ryan does in the Palace theatre.  Since there is no “hand-over” period (where the staff leaving teaches their job to the staff signing-on) for stage staff, I need to learn Ryan’s tracks in the Palace in order to teach them to his replacement who will be joining the ship next Bayonne.  It’s a challenge because he does 4 different shows in the Palace and I’ve only just learned my own show in Studio B, so I'm taking  as many notes as I can in case I don’t remember everything.

Yesterday I decided to treat myself to a lobster lunch in Halifax, NS.  I went to McKelvie’s, which after a quick Google search turned out to be the highest rated restaurant in the area for seafood.  I had the crab bisque and a 1.5lb lobster.  It was a great (albeit expensive) meal and I would definitely recommend that restaurant to anyone looking for a great seafood meal in Halifax.  Try the crab bisque, you won’t be disappointed.

Well, today is payday so I need to go down to the financial office very shortly.  Now that I’m not on duty I’ll try to get a few more blog entries in as I know that I’ve gotten a bit behind.

Edit, Oct. 30, 2009: Just want to clarify that Blades is not actually a new show for Explorer of the Seas, but rather new for all of us crew and the ice cast. Blades only runs during the months of the year when we do 12 day cruises (so, for the winter months). Basically that means that although the scenery is all stored backstage year-round, nobody knows what to do with it each fall because there is usually a new set of staff and a new cast that have never done the show before.