Back in the USSR

Well after eating cruise ship food for a couple months I have come to one conclusion; I have to start working out.  I am proud to say that this week I officially got back into the dance studio and will NOT be returning weighing 500 pounds when you see me next in America.  Thank goodness. 

We finished up another 3 days in St. Petersburg and I am glad to report I was able to get out and explore some more of this big city.  Russia definitely gets a bad rap and it’s hard for us to not get tired of it since we are there SO MUCH during this Baltic Season, but this is truly an amazing city.  I was able to take one day and just walk around myself.  I crossed over a few of the city’s 500 bridges (some call it the Venice of the North) and saw some sights around the Neva River.  I headed to Peter and Paul’s Fortress, an island in the city where a cathedral sits that holds the bodies of all the Russian Czars.  Most of the day was spent enjoying lots of sunshine and parks, though.

As I was walking along the beach of the little island, I happened upon a very pleasant surprise: the International Sand Sculpting Festival!  Ha ha!  I paid a small fee and was able to enjoy the work of artists from around the world who created huge pieces from sand surrounding the theme of the Olympic flame.  It was so cool!  To think of these huge pieces to be able to just blow away in the wind was scary, but really fascinating. 

The next day I was on tour with guests and we went for a ride in St. Petersburg’s famous Metro (underground) system!  This public transport is famous because it is the deepest in the world (some parts are around 350 feet below ground) and the stations are all incredibly ornate and beautiful!  We walked in to the stations and they were COVERED in marble, chandeliers, bronze statues, etc.  It was really amazing that this system is still running and working hard to transport so many people around this huge city.

Anyway- we’ve been having a good time still.  Tonight was a PJ party in the crew bar which certainly made for a lot of fun, but mostly we are working and playing very hard!  I’m missing everyone tons and hope all is well as your summers are beginning to come to a close.  Enjoy these weeks and think of me while you’re munching on some corn on the cob and ribs! 

Miss you and love you!

Tripp

Benefits/Drawbacks

We have had an incredibly lucky few weeks already here in the Baltic.  The weather has really been smashing, which can definitely make or break a trip up here.  Who would have thought that in Finland and Russia we would be able to keep a little bit of a tan or see any sunshine?!  We have been so thankful for more sunny days than cloudy, especially considering this repeating itinerary for the next few weeks. 

The last port that I was able to get off the ship in was Helsinki a few days ago.  Because of embarkation and tendering to ports it’s been a little difficult to make it off the ship in the past couple days.  Helsinki is a really nice town, though.  We love porting there because it’s not one big tourist trap like some other ports.  This is a city that has tourists visiting, but makes do in other ways.  The people live and go about their daily lives despite the tourists.  We also love porting there because the city is almost completely covered in Wi-Fi hotspots so we can be on the internet at our leisure.  (A luxury after paying for crappy internet on the ship.)   On my last visit to Helsinki I was especially pleased with my lunch found in the open harbor market.  It was a generous plate of freshly salmon and onion rings cooked up Finnish style!  Ha ha! 

Today was a little bit of a bummer.  We were meant to port in Visby, Sweden, where we usually anchor and have to tender in.  The weather was beautiful outside so I was excited to get up and explore the city, but… no such luck!  The Captain actually announced that the water was too choppy to take tenders in to the dock, so we would have to skip the port for the day!  This was crazy because it also meant the entertainment team would have to keep the guests happy the rest of the day with games, lectures, movies, etc.  Needless to say, it’s been an interesting day of being on call and ready to go… just in case!

These interesting circumstances are a constant reminder that I’m not working in a normal theatre.  I mean- I am not working in a normal situation at all!  Living and working on a cruise ship is COMPLETELY unique to any life experience I think I will ever encounter.  My dear friend Lindsay and I like to analyze cruise ship life with a little game we call “Benefit/Drawback.”  Here are some highlights of the ongoing list of benefits and drawbacks of living/working on a ship:

Benefits:

Seeing the world

Making a living doing what we love

Eating amazing food in passenger areas

Meeting interesting guests from all over

Ample reading time

Performing

Looking forward to world cruise

Wearing our own clothes after 6 pm

Sunsets at 1:00 am

Having a stewardess.  Thank you, Ronalyn.

Getting to know crew members who can help you out.

Living in the same corridor as the whole cast

Norway

 

Drawbacks:

Wearing an ugly uniform

Shower curtains that stick to you because the stall is way to tiny

Shower water that could freeze or scald you with no notice in a second

Eating at scheduled times

Military time

Drills (Crew drill and passenger drill)

Not understanding what other crew are saying…even when they are speaking English

The last 7 weeks of the Baltic

Wearing a name tag

Finding US Dollars

Paying for slow internet

Russia

 

Love you all!!!

Tripp  (with some help from Lindsay Karchawer)

Catching Up...

Being in the Baltic we are able to escort tours and I was excited the other day to get on an excursion while in port in Tallin, Estonia.  Only 10 passengers, myself and our guide, Christian headed out into the Estonian countryside to reach a beach for a SEA-KAYAKING adventure!  Ha!  First of all: Estonian countryside…never thought I’d type that.  Second of all…sea-kayaking!  We reached a somewhat remote beach and met our instructor and second guide, Andres.  He showed us our spray skirts, our paddles, how to get in and out and steer our kayaks with our foot pedals.

I hopped into a kayak with a guest who’s a junior at Univ. S. California and we headed off, around the small, uninhabited island of Pedassaare, and stopped to walk around (barefoot) through the woods for a bit, hearing about the Estonian environment and history from Andres.  After another go around the next bit of the island we stopped and tried wild cucumber leaves and wild peas before being fed lunch on the beach.  Finally we headed back after navigating through about a 5 foot wide opening between two boulders in the ocean. 

We were EXHAUSTED by the end of it, but I was proud to say I had kayaked 5.5 miles that day.  (Proud- until I asked Andres about his longest kayaking excursion.  He told me about a trip he did in a single kayak from Stockholm to Tallin, Estonia.  That is under 400 miles and took him 36 hours straight of paddling open waters!  Talk about a rock star guide!!!)

The next day in St. Petersburg me and Lindsay got to go out exploring for the day.  We had a blast blowing through the Hermitage (one of the most famous art museums in the world) and then headed to the Cathedral of the Spilled Blood.  It is an AMAZING cathedral, with colorful, onion-shaped domes and an interior very reminiscent of St. Mark’s in Venice.  It is covered wall to wall in TINY mosaic tiles, creating intricate Biblical images.  We had such an amazing time and had fantastic weather!

We were so lucky to have a sunny day in St. Petersburg.  It was actually one of about 30 sunny days the city sees each year in the summer.  On a tour a couple weeks ago my guide, Anastasia, knowingly quipped that people in the city have “9 months of expectations and 3 months of disappointment.”  Ha ha!  Anyway- to finish off the day me and Lindsay also had set up to have dinner in the dining room, Compass Rose.  Well- with all the passengers on evening tours, we ended up eating alone!  Ha!  We were worried the staff wouldn’t be too happy, but we had fun.  They all came over and talked with us and joked around while we filled our bellies with great food.  It’s been a fun couple of days on the ship!  Hope to talk to some of you guys soon!

Love ya!

Tripp

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ME!!!!

What can I say- finding good internet traveling all over the world and across seas isn’t the easiest of tasks.  Now that we are in our Baltic Season, though, things are really settling into a routine and we are figuring out just what life is going to be looking like for the next 5 months.  The biggest event for me personally this week was… MY BIRTHDAY!!!  I turned 22 on July 17^th in Stockholm, Sweden. 

Now I wasn’t sure exactly what my day would be like because it was an embarkation day on the ship which is normally VERY busy for us.  I figured I would have to work, but my Assistant Cruise Director, Elda, was so sweet and gave me the day off.  It was the most BEAUTIFUL, sunny day, so I decided, of course, to explore Stockholm.  I took one of the crew bikes off the ship, ripped some pages out of my Europe guidebook, and set off to find an adventure.  First I headed onto the island of Djurgarden where there were lots of fun paths and parks and where I found Skansen.  Skansen is an open-air museum like Colonial Williamsburg, but shows history of Sweden.  There were all sorts of old homes and shops and craftsmen at work. 

Finishing up there I rode through the busy city where there are lots of dedicated bike lanes and began to find my next spot.  The old town area of Galma Stan holds the city’s most beautiful area with a palace, coffee shops, a marina, etc.  It was extremely picturesque and kind of reminded me of Italy.  I headed back to the ship for our sail away through the tiny islands surrounding Stockholm (known as the archipelago) and met some super-nice guests.  That night the cast through a party for me in the crew bar with games, balloons, signs, and even a cake made by the pastry staff on the ship.  We had a blast celebrating all night and I even got into a little trouble.  (It was really hot so I took off my sweater best and unbuttoned my shirt, only to have it taken off by one of the dancers.  Well- security wasn’t too happy.  Ha ha!  How was I supposed to know that a shirt was required in crew bar?!  Oops.)

Anyway- I just want to thank everyone for helping me have an awesome birthday.  It was a little bit bittersweet only because I wished I could be celebrating with more friends and family back home, but I was thankful to be surrounded still by people who love me.  Plus- I still got love from home; through the miracle of the postal system, a little birthday magic and the power of the one and only Donna Hampton, I actually received a birthday package from home ON MY BIRTHDAY!!! Ha ha!  I was happy to find dvd’s of the first two seasons of “Friday Night Lights.”  Already- I’m hooked!...and I’ve got 40 hours to occupy me!  WOO HOO!!!  Love you guys tons.

Tripp

A few Days in St. Petersburg

We have been in St. Petersburg the past 3 days, but there's not much to tell for all three days because we were in training most of the time.  I was still able to get out one day, though, to escort 2 tours.  First I headed to Peterhof, Peter the Great's summer palace.  It was fun, but there's not much to tell.  Honestly- I was exhausted and it reminded me of my frustrating visit to Versailles (see offexploring.blogspot.com) with Laura.  

Anyway- it was beautiful and extravagant, but I was pooped by the end of the tour.  Thankfully that night I was ready to go when Lindsay and I got the opportunity to escort another tour.  We headed to Catherine's Palace for an exclusive look at this beautiful place.  The evening started off with a tour of the carriage house where I was seriously blown away.  Cinderella and that pumpkin have got NOTHING on Catherine.  This lady rode around in STYLE.  

Next we headed in to the actual palace.  Greeted by musicians playing a fanfare as we entered, we got an exclusive, private tour of the palace, normally closed for guests at this time.  Our guide, Anastasia was quite informative and we had a real blast going through the rooms.  

Upon reaching the gigantic ballroom we had champagne and watched a classical quartet give a concert.  It was really special and we couldn't have asked for a better night.  We ended it by having dinner accompanied by a Russian folk band that really got the crowd going with their boisterous music.  SO MUCH FUN!!!  Ha ha!  Besides that, nothing much to report.  Glad to have free internet in the ports off the ship right now in Finland and Stockholm. 

Miss you guys tons and hope to talk to you soon!  Love ya!

Tripp

Beginning the Baltic

Okay- I have to apologize.  Please, forgive the lack of blogs in the past week.  Norway has extremely limited internet access on its seas (who knew?) so it’s been quite hard to get a chance to write.  We finished up the Norway cruise just as strong as we began it, heading through more fjords and to the big ports of Bergen and Oslo.  Along the way Captain Dag pulled another trick and stopped the ship to pick up some homemade waffles and jam one morning for everyone!  Ha ha!  The two largest cities in Norway, Bergen and Oslo were some great ports with a really interesting, artsy sort of feel.  Bergen is famous for its very in tact medieval town.  It’s absolutely amazing to think these tiny little buildings with overlapping roofs have been in that town for so long! 

Oslo was great fun since we were there overnight.  We took a walk and I realized how much I had missed being out at night, walking around parks and past streetlights.  It was a MUCH NEEDED change of scenery.  The following day in Oslo I went exploring with my friend, Rose, one of the dancers in the cast.  We trekked a couple miles around the city to find a famous sculpture garden that is full of pieces depicting different moments in the human experience.  It was very cool and nice to get to spend a day getting to know Rose more and more.  You know, as much as we are together and living every moment on this ship as a team, I find we still have so much to learn about each other. 

Anyway- we also found a local bakery that was really trendy and fun.  We also felt pretty cool because we were the only Americans in the joint.  We felt right at home, though, fitting right in to the sea of beautiful Norwegian blonds!  Ha ha!  They never suspected us, I’m sure!

Also in Oslo I was asked to hold a “piano bar sing-a-long” kind of event.  Basically they wanted me to get together a night in one of the lounges where I would play and sing a bunch of well known, loved songs for the guests to enjoy and join in on.  It proved to be a bit difficult with the lack of sheet music I had with me, but I got a show of about 45 minutes together and the lounge was PACKED!  I was excited to see so many friendly faces and we had a really good time.  It was nice because I felt like I was back to Fierce Follies at NKU, pulling a show together in 2 days and really challenging myself.  I’m going to have a hard time making sure to keep myself learning and growing on the ship, but I’m doing my best. 

Yesterday we started our “Baltic Season” with the first of 7 one-week cruises we will do through the Baltic Sea.  I was excited to get to escort a biking tour in the town of Visby on the island of Gotland, Sweden.  It’s a cool walled city and we explored and biked about 10 miles on the trip with some awesome views and fun trails.  It was good to be on a bike exploring, for sure.  Today I got to walk around Tallin, Estonia, another medieval, walled city.  These towns are SO interesting and have really great history and atmosphere about them.  There are tons of winding, cobblestone streets and lots of kitschy medieval gear to be bought and sold.  So cool!

Anyway- now I have at least caught you up with where we are and now that we are sailing the Baltic I will have loads of internet.  (Usually free in the these ports!!!)  I am glad to really get to know all of these ports and find some cool spots to return to over the next few days.  Hope everything is well back home.  Please write and update me with your life.  I would love to hear from you guys.  Let me know who you had lunch with today or the best movie you saw recently.  Have you been having good summers?  Where are you vacationing?  About the only people I know about is my family.  HELLO!!!  Comment or email me: tripphampton@gmail.com

Tripp

Norway or Bust!

Wow!  It has been a while since I last wrote and such a PACKED cruise.  I can’t believe how much I need to catch you all up on, but I’ll do my best.  We have had quite a few ports of call thus far.  First we went to Trondheim, Norway where I got to go exploring and looking around this cute college town.  A group of us also toured the famous Nidaros Cathedral, a beautiful place with an interesting Nordic history.  The tour was especially fun because of our super-enthusiastic tour guide, Wende. 

A highlight of this cruise in particular has been sailing along the Norwegian coast.  With its majestic mountains and dramatic fjords, we have had a great time.  One real treat has been that we have Captain Dag, a famous Norwegian Captain, up on the bridge guiding us through some of his favorite spots and putting on a real show for us.  For instance, one morning this week the Captain saw a small fishing boat nearby and got their attention to come over to the ship.  He went down and offered to buy some fish, but the fisherman was having none of it.  Instead…we bartered Black Label whiskey!  Ha ha!  It wasn’t what we expected, but no complaints!  There was fresh-caught fish in the dining room that night!  Also- we were able to have a big surprise when our itinerary changed slightly.  We found out that because the weather was good enough and Captain Dag was so skilled, we were cleared to sail into the Trollfjord.  This passage is famous around the world for being one of the most narrow and steep fjords in Norway.  Only small ships even attempt to go in, but Captain Dag had no fear.  EVERYONE was out on the decks watching as we barely scraped by with maybe 50 feet on either side of the ship between us and cliffs.  It was one of the most unreal things I have ever seen!  We made history as being the largest ship to ever enter the Trollfjord!  Needless to say, we are THRILLED to have Captain Dag onboard.

Since I wrote last I also have had the pleasure of going on two other tours.  One was around the Lofoten Islands.  This is a really rough landscape that completely reminded me of Jurassic Park.  Ha ha!  These mountains just popped out of the ground.  Anyway- we toured a few fishing villages that day.  Then yesterday we reached Honningsvag and I was able to tour to the North Cape (Nordkapp) of Norway.  This is the northernmost point of all of Europe!  It was really fun… and really cold...being so far up into the Arctic Circle.  The best part was that because there were no tour guides and I was one of the few English speakers, I was actually given a script, sat up in the front of the bus on the mic, and guided passengers on the journey!  My tour guide DEBUT!!!!  Ha ha!!  Amazing.  Anyway- the whole bus got a real kick out of my interesting pronunciation of Norwegian kings and island names.  They were, thankfully, very forgiving and a really good group.  Besides- if it takes me embarrassing myself a little so I can say I’ve been to the northernmost point of Norway- so be it! 

I can’t write without mentioning one more thing.  This cruise has been the first time I’ve gotten a chance to really socialize and eat in the main dining room with guests.  Besides having GORGEOUS food, it is so much fun to meet so many people and really create friendships with passengers.  Some of my favorite guests have to be Judith and Gene.  They are from Connecticut and have adopted me for the cruise.  We ate dinner together and they are practically my agents onboard, making sure everyone they meet comes to see our shows!  They have already said that when I am a starving actor in NYC that their home is open to me!  So amazing and such great people!  I know I will really miss them!  We also have some real characters on board that can’t go without mention.  Sid and Priss are an absolute right dancing and shouting throughout the shows without shame to root us on.  Richard and Lorie, Ed and Mary who are playing EVERY GAME on board to win precious tokens as prizes.  I never expected such fierce competition!  And finally, Polly Wyant, one of the dearest older ladies I’ve ever met; she’s practically a replica of the actress in “Wedding Singer” and “Patch Adams” with an overly-animated face, unabashed personality, and no fear!

As you can see- I’m certainly staying busy and trying to take advantage of everything laid before me on the ship.  It’s an amazing adventure.  Can’t wait to keep going!!!  I love you guys so much.  Celebrating 4ht of July today has been a little underwhelming, but I plan on dreaming of fireworks and hotdogs!  Hope you are all appreciating a country with more opportunity and freedoms than we can imagine!  Love you all.

Tripp