Fantastic Fjords... cheezy- I know.

We have begun our cruise around Norway and I must say… I am overwhelmed.  It’s the most incredible place I may have ever been.  It’s certainly one of the most naturally beautiful and I have really been enjoying it so far!  We started this cruise 2 days ago and now are officially doing duties, socializing, and performing. 

The first duty I performed was socializing at the “Block Party.”  This is a chance for the guests to come out of their cabins on the first day of the cruise and meet their neighbors, drink champagne and get initial introductions out of the way.  I was basically among a bunch of hilarious, wealthy characters and loved getting to meet some really fantastic people in my particular area.  The next day was a sea day to get us right into Norway and that morning I also ran a ping-pong tournament.  (Mom, Grandaddy- you should be proud!)  It was a lot of fun, especially since an 11-year old kid named Alex showed up and kicked everyone’s butts!  Ha ha! 

Today was the most full and exciting day I have had since leaving the country.  We are now traveling into the fjords of Norway.  A fjord is an inlet of the ocean that is still deep but is surrounded on three sides by very steep mountains that jut right into the water.  It makes for incredibly dramatic scenery in this amazing country.  Now, as performers we have the privilege of getting to escort tours on the ship, which basically includes keeping a head count and being courteous along the way.  It’s an awesome way to get an even more insider’s look at the ports. Today I went on my first excursion as an escort. 

I woke up early to what was described as the best weather you could ever get in this area of Norway.  (Sunny, completely clear skies and hot!)  and the ship was anchored in the middle of a fjord at Hellesylt.  The ship stays anchored out in the middle of the fjord where it is deep and they tender boats to the port.  This means that guests are actually taken to the ports in lifeboats, lowered down into the water from the ship.  Upon arrival to lad we hopped on a bus where I introduced myself, our bus driver, Verner, and our tour guide, Normann.  We spent the next hour or so traveling around lakes and glaciers and taking in the most breath-taking views. Normann is a local and was extremely informative and funny.  We made for a great team.  Next was a 3 hour hike through a valley and around a couple of lakes.  Seeing this water was just unbelievable; it is crystal clear and so calm it reflects everything right off of it.

Here is Normann teaching.  He said it was preaching since it was a Sunday morning.  Hee hee.
Following the hike the bus met us on the other side and took us to a hotel for lunch and then up some incredibly precarious winding roads to the top of Dalsnibba, a peak overlooking the Geiranger fjord.  As we reached the summit we looked down over a huge valley from far above and got to see our ship, now ported in this fjord to meet us.  We traveled down and ended the day tendering back to the ship.  It was quite a sight to see our big ship, completely dwarfed by God’s creation in these fjords.  I couldn’t have asked for a better view.  (Look at my HOME down there!  I have a pretty stellar view from my front porch this morning.)After all passengers were back on the ship we headed out of the fjord.  Normally leaving a port isn’t such a big deal, but because the fjords are so amazing, EVERYONE was gathered on the deck.  I got a spot at the very tip of the bow, a place they especially opened up for the viewing of the fjords today.  Our Captain did a phenomenal job pulling us right up next to the most famous waterfalls in the area and putting on a really great show for passengers and crew alike.  It is just amazing that the water is deep enough for the ships to be able to come within FEET of these cliffs.  It is certainly like NOTHING I have ever (or will ever) see. 

I was thrilled with the day, but then got to go and have dinner in the dining room, Compass Rose with some more guests!  It was so much fun to take part in such a fantastic, fancy meal.  (And I won’t complain about the steak and crème brulee!)  Finally I ended the night with a crew Bible study, which I was thrilled to find.  The crew is made up of a lot of Philippino’s and when I walked in the door they were so generous and announced, “Now we are international!”  Ha ha!  It was amazing to see them all basically sacrificing their own understanding and clarity of the message for me so that it could be in English.  At one point when the teacher wanted to really drive a point home he apologized and read a scripture in their language over again so that they could understand more clearly.  It was really outstanding to hear the word in another tongue and to see such passionate followers of Christ on board the ship.  There were about a dozen of us, but it was a great night. 

Needless to say… I am EXHAUSTED!!! We are in the city of Trondheim tomorrow and I am excited to go exploring.  Love you all!  Miss you tons!!!

Tripp

Heading to Norway

(First formal night... a few of us on the top deck.)

Well we had a nice wrap up to our chartered Baltic cruise in Sweden and Copenhagen.  I was able to get off the ship and explore Stockholm a little bit, just getting a feeling for the layout of the city and finding a few places I wanted to explore further on later visits.  I’m finding it really key to spread out all of the sights in these cities that we’ll be going back to later. 

That night I was also on duty to work in our late night lounge on Karaoke, which ended up being really fun!  We had people singing and dancing all night long and it was fun to be able to be with the guests some before they all departed the ship.  That morning I was also thankful to get a massage at our spa onboard the ship.  Every once in a while the crew gets really great promos beyond our normal discounts onboard the ship.  I was so excited and it was the perfect thing to wake me up that day!

One thing that has been really hard is getting good internet access.  The ship’s internet is painfully slow and so we are always on the hunt for a good spot.  Thankfully I found a place in Stockholm now!  The Seaman’s mission is a cute little spot with a store, computers, phones, pool table and FREE Wi-Fi!!!  I was so pumped to know that that is one port we will hit each week that will have good internet access.  Also- they had a map where you could place a pin to indicate your hometown and just so everyone knows… I represented well and put the one and ONLY pin in the state of Kentucky proudly on the map.  Now a little piece of you Kentucky readers is out there in Stockholm!  Ha ha! 

The cruise beginning today is especially exciting for us because it is the only time we will be in Norway.  It’s a two week excursion into all the fjords and small towns up and down the coast.  Also it is our first cruise where we will have normal duties and schedules now that the shows are open and everything!  I’m so excited to hopefully get on tours and really get to explore this one-of-a-kind country!  Hope you guys are doing well.  I would love to hear from ya and know what’s going on in your worlds!  Miss everyone tons!

Tripp

Welcome to Helsinki

Every time the ship docks we have to tie it down.  These guys work so hard, but it cracks me up thinking of our huge ship tied down by ropes!  Ha ha!  This all takes a while...
The guests get a big kick out of watching all of this!  Look at them all hanging over their balconies watching this whole process!

Read below....  hee hee!

Living on this ship is so interesting. I hope and pray that I never over these six months forget how amazing it is that my front porch, where I can go relax and read or listen to music, is the bow of the 6-star Seven Seas Voyager.  I was sitting out there today so content after a beautiful day.  Ok- let me go back:

Two nights ago we had Beatles night on the ship and we got perform Beatles hits for an energetic crowd ready for dancing.  I sang “In My Life” and “Hey Jude,” which closed the show.  It was so much fun and it was good to get to meet some of the guests afterward as we sat, slack jawed, gaping at a beautiful sunset.  Later that night we had an exciting (and scary) event.  One of the stewardesses on the ship’s appendix burst so they actually had a helicopter come and pick her up from the ship.  I was so bummed I missed it because it sounded like it was right out of a movie!  Anyway- we certainly hope she’s okay.  (Be praying for Miriam.)

Yesterday we also learned all the games on the ship!  One of our duties as entertainers is to run little sports activities around the ship including shuffleboard, ping pong, bocce and putt-putt.  It’s sort of silly, but if you have the right mindset it can be really fun.  We had a blast reviewing rules and getting to play the games ourselves.  Unfortunately any wild dreams of extreme Frisbee or chipping golf balls across the stairwell for points were quickly shot down.  Ha ha!  Anyway- I’ll let you know when I run games… it should be fun.

Today was one of the best days I’ve had on the trip.  I was able to get off the ship early this morning and head into the adorable town of Helsinki, Finland.  I walked into a harbor and was BEYOND THRILLED to find free, FAST Wi-Fi.  (What did you old people do before internet?...QUICK internet?!)  Anyhow- I headed on to walk around the city, finding a great Food Hall filled with pastries, fresh meats, and one of my favorite European fast foods… the Doner Kebab.

One of my favorite things is finishing a day having done something I was not expecting to do.  To have accomplished something I never could have dreamed of is fun.  Today that happened.  Today I ate a meat in a kebab I have never had.  Today… I ate…reindeer.  I know- what would Santa think?  I couldn’t help it!  How often am I going to have the opportunity to eat reindeer?  And ya know what?  I liked it.  So there.

Afterwards I headed to a couple of famous Cathedrals in Helsinki before finishing up by lounging in a park with locals.  Mainly the day consisted of a great walk in a great new location.  I finished off the evening by doing a show and scheduling a discounted MASSAGE for the morning in the spa on board!  I’m pumped!  I hope you all are soaking in your summers and enjoying sunshine, grass, lemonade, and maybe some ribs, mac and cheese, or fried chicken.  Oh!  Also- Happy Father’s Day to Berry.  He had messages from Uganda and Russia for his big day!  Ha ha!  Love you all!

Tripp

ps- Moments that have taken my breath away the past couple days:

*Walking on wet cobblestone after an afternoon rain shower and seeing a double rainbow over the adorable bobbing sails floating in the harbors in Copenhagen.

*Being on the Baltic Sea has provided us with incredibly long days.  Every night we can run outside at 3:00 in the morning to watch sunrise and see sunset as late as 11:30 in the evening.  It’s amazing.  The sun is relentless up here and the water makes it that much more beautiful.

Come Sail Away

After finishing our first cruise in Copenhagen, we set sail again on a charter cruise going to more Baltic ports.  A charter basically means that a company has bought out the entire ship for the course of a cruise (one week in this case) and they are able to make all the plans of what will happen on the ship.  This particular charter is through a company called NuSkin, a cosmetic company similar to Avon and Mary Kay. 

One major duty we have on the ship is embarkation.  In this process we check in all the passengers to their rooms, collect their passports, take security pictures, etc.  We use a whole computer system that makes it all go fairly quickly, but it is an important job that can be complicated by incorrect information, communication issues, or crashing computers.  Yesterday was an interesting situation because this chartered cruise is 90% Asian.  It was hard because we were speaking only in broken English and trying to keep everything as orderly as possible.  It only makes it more complicated when the last names of the guests were so complicated! Ha ha!  We got through it, though.

Last night we also performed “Listen to the Music,” our 70’s show for the crowd.  It was really a fun show because the theatre was PACKED.  We had people standing at the back even.  It only made it more crazy because all of the Asian passengers had their cameras and video cameras ready!  I have never seen anything like it!  We had flashbulbs and screaming fans the entire show; it was like we were rock stars!  Ha ha!  What a riot.  We may never experience another show quite like that, but boy was it a treat.  They certainly made us all feel very special!

Another bit of news is that we have added a new cast member to the bunch.  Laszlo has joined us from Hungary.  He just completed a 6-month contract on this same ship, but has come back to do ours as well.  He is a great guy and we’ve already had a lot of fun while sticking him in to each of our shows.  We are relieved he is such a nice guy and a very hard worker.  Looking forward to the next 6 months!

Today is a “sea day” meaning we are traveling the entire day and will not be in a port.  I also happen to not have any duties or a show tonight so needless to say… I am BORED out of my mind!!!  Because the ship is chartered at the moment we have been asked to not be in guest areas very much, so we are trying to keep ourselves busy with movies, books, and games throughout the day.  I am crawling up the walls.  Ha ha!  It’s okay, though.  I have gotten to catch up on sleep and it’s fun just getting to hang out with everyone.  Looking forward to getting off the ship in a couple days and going to some new ports!

Love you all!

Tripp

One Cruise Down...

Another busy few days onboard the Regent Seven Seas Voyager!  We have been in Stockholm for two days and are currently sailing to Copenhagen, Denmark, which will be the end of this first cruise.  I can’t believe this is only the first two weeks!  Since I last wrote we opened our last two large shows, “Ballroom Bravo” and “Jazz Legends.” 

“Ballroom” was fun because our new champion ballroom couple, Sasha and Elona from the Ukraine joined us finally!  We’ve been really excited to meet them and they had an excellent opening.  I have a feeling “Jazz Legends” will be one of my favorite shows to perform.  The music is excellent and it features each band member in a solo number.  The whole show is just really laid back and fun.  After a rough dress rehearsal and feeling a bit under-prepared (oops) we had a really successful night.  The audience enjoyed the show a lot and after the opening we decided to try and venture out into the city of Stockholm, Sweden for a couple hours.

We thought our Assistant Cruise Director, Chris, knew where he was going, but we ended up wandering around for about an hour and then finding that many of the places we wanted to go were only letting in people over 23 years old.  No good for us!  WE ended up heading back to the ship after being exhausted from our attempt to get out!  Ha ha!  Some things we learned about Sweden in our brief visit:

 

*Stereotypes are true: blondes rule over here.

*Swedish people are beautiful and skinny.  Really skinny.

*7/11 convenience stores are taking over Stockholm.  Terrifying.

*Stockholm is one of the cleanest AND most expensive cities in the world. 

 

Alright- I wish I could give a clearer picture also of what living on a ship is like.  There are great things like knowing that everything I need is within a 2-minute walking distance and that all my neighbors are really close.  There are horrible things about living on a ship also.  For instance: you never know when you may lose your balance.  You must know 3 ways to get anywhere just in case a water-tight door is closing.  (And potentially cutting off your appendages while closing.)  Pretty much everyday, though, I have some moment that takes my breath away.  I think I’ll start sharing those.  Today’s moment:

 

While eating a late lunch sailing around the coast of Sweden among tiny islands (no more than 10-20 acres large) I looked next to me.  I saw a man driving up in a boat to his home next to our large ship.  In his backyard was a rough outline for a tennis court he drew in the dirt and his bright yellow house looked happy sitting next to its bright red neighbor.  As I was watching this I realized that a flock of seagulls was flying right alongside the ship.  I was on the top deck and they were flying pretty darn high.  It was like we were racing each other.  There was one that literally looked over at me and was maybe 10 feet away, flying fast and high.  I couldn’t believe I had the privildge of sharing the skies for a second.

Love you all from the high seas!

Tripp  (with a little help from Lindsay Karchawer)

From Russia, with Love

The past few days have been very busy and full of rehearsals.  The ship traveled to Latvia and Lithuania, but I was unable to get off and see either country because we are really working hard to get these shows up and running.  Currently we are ported for an overnight (2 days) in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The biggest news is that we opened our second show, “Listen to the Music.”  What a blast!  We are seriously working our tails off backstage changing costumes and we weren’t sure how the actual show would end up going since our final dress we hardly made any of the changes!  Going from Elton John’s 3 piece suit, leopard print platforms, glasses and hat into a whole different three piece suit, shirt and shoes in 30 seconds isn’t as easy as one may think!  (Lots of Velcro is key!  Ha ha!)  Anyway- the show went off without any problems more than my David Cassidy wig getting in my mouth and other little things.  Overall it was a really fun show and we were so excited because the audience went crazy for the show.  They really had a blast, making it that much more fun for all of us! 

Now that we have performed 2 shows and are getting out from rehearsals a bit more, passengers are starting to recognize us as well!  It’s like being a mini-celebrity. Once you meet someone they really feel connected to you!  I had the pleasure of meeting a great couple through 2 girls in the cast last night actually.  They had met them in a lounge and they sounded fun so we all met up to just visit in the Horizon lounge last night.  Charles and Dinny are an adorable couple living in Connecticut after having moved from England.  The conversation was great and just to hear about all their adventures and stories about being passengers on the Voyager made me that much more thankful for being here.  It feels like we are really getting more and more connected with passengers which is great.  Leaving that conversation I really felt like it was all worth it and starting to really click.

Finally, today we were able to get off the ship for a couple hours in St. Petersburg.  Russia has been very strict about procedures so we are just thankful we’ll get to visit at all.  Lindsay and I hung out with a waiter on the ship, Christian.  He is a really cool guy from Romania and it was nice just getting to have a fresh face to hang out with.  We pretty much just had time to get dinner, though.  It was SO GOOD and we were so satisfied with our visit until it was time to pay.  After handing over our debit card we were able to be told through broken Russian/English that they only accepted cash… in Rubles.  Oops.  After a sunny day I was able to run through the spontaneous rainstorm (of course) to a bank and got money.  (Reminded me of a run I took through Interlaken, Switzerland this time last year to get Francs to pay for some waffles.  Ha ha!)  After we paid, we got back to the ship.

Now I am headed to a final midnight rehearsal for “Ballroom Bravo,” the last of the really big production shows.  Hope everything is going great!  Miss you guys and hope to hear from all of you soon!

Tripp

Opening Night!!!

I have officially performed on a cruise ship now! Last night was opening night of “Champagne”, the first of 5 shows on the ship. We had so much fun and have really been welcomed into this very tight community on board. We are just hoping to get through these next openings to really start living on the ship!

We were really excited, though, that we did get a few hours off and were in port today. The ship was in Gdansk, Poland and honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t super thrilled and Poland wasn’t a destination I’ve been dying to visit, but boy was I surprised!  

We took a shuttle in to the old main town center and just decided to start wandering. The buildings were so cool in a really whimsical sort of style and ornamentation, not to mention the fun bright colors. Down a tight cobblestone street it opened up into a huge square with a big clock tower and fountain of Neptune. It started to rain so we went into a restaurant and tried our darndest to find Polish foods to try. I ended up with meat dumplings that were fantastic and ended up being SUPER cheap! (Hooray!)  

After dinner the girls decided to head back to the ship to prepare for the show, but the guys stayed in Gdansk, strolling until we found a huge cathedral, St. Mary’s Bascilica. It was very cool to see the service going on and then we had a little surprise. A dog ran into the church and an old Polish man was determined to steer him out while I stood chuckling and taking pictures. The pup must have known I was on his side because even after we headed out of the church and were walking down narrow streets block away, we continued to see the same stray following us! Ha! It was like he wanted to hang out the whole time. We finally left to go perform the show after taking some great pictures.  

Tomorrow night we open the 70’s revue, “Listen to the Music.” It is crazy! I am wearing the most over-the-top outfits including leopard print platform shoes as Elton John and a long David Cassidy wig. Don’t worry- pictures will be coming soon. Ha ha! It’s crazy having to change 8 or so times in a 45-minute show! What a mess.  

Hope everything is well back home. I miss everyone and I would love to hear from people! It’s always nice to stay connected so leave comments letting me know you’re alive and reading!

Love you all! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Tripp

Getting to Know You...

Life on the ship has been extremely scheduled and structured these past couple days.  We have been trained in safety for fires and lifeboats.  We have had training on the “Regent Experience” and prevention of sexual harassment with the Human Resources Manager, also.  Then at nights we have had midnight rehearsals until 3 or 4 in the morning.  It has been crazy around here, but I love it.  We have been given many rules and regulations that are hard to keep up with, but I am quickly catching on with where I can be at what times and what I need to be wearing. 

Tonight is opening night for the cast and we will be performing our first show, “Champagne.”  It is going to be exciting just to get that first show open and really get this whole experience under way.  It’s the most challenging show for me vocally, but I am looking forward to it. 

One thing that has been really fun is meeting all the crew on board the Voyager.  We are only ten of around 400-450 crew on the ship.  I have met stewardesses, fitness instructors, dining room managers and chefs.  It’s so interesting to see so many people from all over the world and seeing how we all landed here on the Voyager.  For instance… I have the great pleasure of having my room cleaned and given fresh towels every few days.  The person who makes all this happen is Ronalyn, my stewardess from the Philippines.  She is always working with a bright smile and is happy to be on the ship.  I was blown away when I found out that Ronalyn, who looks about 18 years old, actually has a 3-year-old daughter at home who she is supporting by working on the ship.  I am so thankful already for her work and our friendship.

Yesterday was really fun because the singers actually had enough time to get off the ship!  When we first arrived we didn’t even get a good look at what this vessel looks like from the outside and we have been on here for the past 3 days non-stop.  Thankfully we were able to get off in the port town of Wernemune, Germany.  We had a fun few hours and I was reminded of the joy of apple streudel and tasted the local beer.  Then we were wandering the cobblestone streets of the town when a Polish man living in Germany came up and decided to be our tour guide, showing us some of his favorite spots!  He was funny… (and ended up being hard to get rid of in the end!).  Anyway- the day was a great little break to these hectic weeks of installing the shows.

Porting in Poland and heading to Lithuania and Latvia!

Love,

Tripp