Celebrity Eclipse ~ again!

We had the best time ever on the Celebrity Eclipse, it felt like a holiday to me and my family. It was my first time on this ship and we were totally blown away with the whole set up. My old pal Mark Tomley who used to work for P&O Cruises now works for Celebrity so it was an extra bonus for us to have Mark there. My shows went down really well so I feel more confident going back this time.

I had a busy week at home; I recorded my last two Sunday radio shows and then went onto work at Real Radio with my producer Andy Griffiths on the Trade Centre Wales ads. It was also good to spend some time with my son Tom who came along for the day at Real Radio; we had a great lunch together and a pint at his local too.

There was also a day’s filming for Trade Centre Wales for their website www.thetradecentrewales.co.uk it was extra special as we had my dear friend and brilliant actress Llinos Daniels working on the project.

I am now on the plane en route to Tallinn, it was Heathrow to Munich and now Munich to Tallinn, it was a real rush to get to the gate in Munich as I only had 30mins in-between flights, I’m flying Lufthansa and they are so good, so I knew my case would have made the change at Munich.

I’m staying at a hotel tonight in Tallinn and I join the beautiful Celebrity Eclipse tomorrow morning.

We had a situation last night, I met a delightful lady at Munich airport rushing for the same flight to Tallinn, she told me she was joining the Eclipse too, so when we got to Tallinn airport we were met by the ships agent who was to take us to our hotels, it turned out that this lady who comes from Poland was not joining Eclipse and was not on the list to be picked up by the agent, she was joining another ship the Eurodam for Holland America and her hotel was not booked either, the ships agent and I decided we couldn’t just leave her there at the airport so he booked her into a hotel in the town and rang her company in America, it was her first time working on a cruise ship and was so scared and confused ,it all worked out ok in the end thanks to the very nice Anton the ships agent.

On the ship now and it does feel strange being here without Marie and Sam as they were here last cruise with me. I rang Marie and she has told me that Sam had a bad night last night and had a high temperature, he’s not good today so she has an appointment for him at the hospital later today, please nothing bad for him, I miss him and love the little fella so much.

We sail today at 5pm for Stockholm Sweden another beautiful place. It rained for most of the day in Stockholm but I managed to go for a nice walk into town and enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate for £5.00!

Last night I went to the theatre to see an amazing singer, her name Emily Reed, what a voice and what a star, they loved her.

My rehearsal is in 20mins my shows are 7pm & 9pm tonight, I am worried about the 7pm show tonight as the cruise director Que tells me the 7pm has been tough with not many coming in and those that do are mainly Spanish, what am I going to do, I mean I can’t learn Spanish by 7pm! However, he tells me the 9pm is mainly British and American so that will be the show tonight, heaven knows what my 7pm will be? I am missing Marie and Sam like mad and of course as I say it doesn’t help with them only being here a week ago, it feels empty here without them.

My rehearsal and sound check went great, the sound here on Eclipse is really first class. Well I have 40mins before my first show at 7pm, I am so nervous, what if they are all Spanish, I remember this happening to me a few years ago on Brilliance of the Seas and I got a man from the audience and he translated for me, it was hilarious and a one off so I don’t think I would be lucky enough to get away with that again. Oh well, see you later then!

I can’t flippin believe it, 5% Spanish, 1% Belgian, 5% Middle East and the rest British, American and Canadians and even a few from Broadlands Bridgend and it went really well, again what was I worried about? I have the 9pm to look forward to now and we expecting a full house, my voice isn’t too good but I have enough to work with thank God.

My main show 9pm went better than ever, I ran over 5mins I have to be careful about that as they like you to keep to the time of 45/50mins, I am, as some of you may know used to doing much longer than that, so I found myself looking at my watch during my show allot!

A day at sea and the weather is lovely although a little cold at times but a nice day at sea. Tonight I am eating at the fine dining Tuscan Grill with F&B Manager Mark Tomley so looking forward to that. I have another show tomorrow night but only have 15mins to do as there are two other acts on, the lovely Emily Reed and boogie woogie man Kyle Esplin. Home on Saturday and I can’t wait to see my family.

The meal at the Tuscan Grill was absolutely fantastic and Mark Tomley paid for the lot, what a nice man, we had a quick drink after the meal and it was straight to bed for me as I am working tomorrow in the Eclipse Theatre alongside Emily Reed and Kyle Esplin.

Packing day today and home tomorrow, I do hope Sam is feeling better, poor old Marie she has had a tough week as Sam has not stopped coughing poor thing! On tonight and have only 15mins to do. I hope to be on the 8.10am train in the morning if not an hour later and in Bridgend at 12.20pm.

Celebrity Eclipse 9 - 16 July 2011

I had 3 days off which I worked for one of them at the radio station and that’s the last time I will ever work at Newby House at Neath for the radio as my last two shows will be recorded at the new studios at Culverhouse Cross in Cardiff, funny but that is where I recorded some of my early TV shows!

Marie, Sam and I were picked up at 3am at the house by John from Executive Cars and taken to Heathrow Terminal 5 for a 7am flight to Rome. We all loved T5 and had a very nice breakfast there; next a shuttle train to the new sub terminal 5b and a 3hr flight to Rome, Sam was such a good boy and enjoyed the flight. Once in Rome and what has to be the most chaotic airports in the world we were met by a nice driver who took us to the ship, we also had Richard Gauntlet travelling with us to the ship, he’s a great act and also writes and directs panto every year, oh a good actor too!

When we got to the ship the beautiful Celebrity Eclipse we had a minor hitch, Marie and Sam’s names were on the list to board but mine wasn’t, it took a while for the security to sort it out and if it wasn’t for two lovely people Heather the production manager and Nastja from the back office I think I would be still standing on the quayside in Civitavecchia!

We quickly went to our stateroom which was allot smaller than the suite I get on Royal Caribbean but lovely all the same. We were starving so went in search of the Ocean Cafe, wow it was fab with a collection of dishes from around the world, I couldn’t resist the curry!

This ship has to be the most modern and most luxurious ships I have ever seen, the swimming pool area is so nice as is the lawn club, yes it has real grass around the aft end of the top deck with putting, bowls and a hot glass show, it also has a band playing on the lawn and you can sit on check blankets and have a picnic and a pims while listening to the band...amazing!

The public rooms are stunning, it has a 13 deck atrium and a 1300 seat theatre which is beautiful truly beautiful!

(Oh sorry I forgot to say about last cruise on Independence, it was a fab time with my closest friends Hughie & Dee and my shows could not have gone any better, H&D loved the ship so much they didn’t fly home with me from Lisbon as planned they stayed on until Southampton)

Now back to this ship the Celebrity Eclipse. The weather has been hot and sunny so Marie and Sam are very happy as there are so many things to do around the pool; Sam loves the dancing waterfalls, check out the photos.

My show was last night in the Eclipse Theatre and it went great, I really needed it to do so as it is my first time on here, the cruise director Que, I know what a cool name, he was really happy as was the Hotel Director so I am happy too! I’m back here next week and join the ship in beautiful Tallinn Estonia, I seem to go there allot!

We were in Cadiz Spain today; I took a nice pic of the Cathedral as we were docked almost on the town, Cadiz is the oldest town in Spain and is a great place to walk around, they have delicious hams here and fab wine too. It was another around the pool and a game of putting and a bean bag game which Sam thought was brilliant!

Tonight in the theatre it’s Richard Gauntlet’s show, he is a very funny man and we are excited about seeing his show tonight.

Well Richard’s show was absolutely fabulous we really enjoyed it, what a pro! Today we are in Lisbon, I was only here a week ago getting off Independence. Well, it is another glorious day and Sam has gone to his Kids Club called the fun factory so Marie and I are having a peaceful couple of hours in the sun by the pool. I have never spent so much time by the pool, but as Sam is here it’s a great option and he loves it!

Tonight it’s a man called Mark Donahue in the theatre, he’s a multi instrumentalist and a very good one too, so another great night onboard Eclipse! It’s Vigo Spain tomorrow so we may get off and stretch the legs, see you later!

Vigo was lovely, the sun was out and it was around 25degs, we took Sam to a brilliant toy shop on the quay side; it was where we bought him a motor bike which we posted home from Southampton one cruise. We then found a bouncy castle for him to have run around on, seeing that he missed out on one for his birthday party! Later it was a cold beer and back on the ship for another day around and in the pool.



The show that night was amazing it was called “Eclipse” it was a circus theme and it showed off this talented cast brilliantly. We had an hour back on the clock last night so in bed at 10pm and with an hour back we couldn’t believe we were in bed at 9pm!

Up this morning at 8am having had a huge sleep all of us, Sam watched Scooby Doo on the telly, I worked on my show for tonight and Marie potted around the stateroom before we went for breakfast, I really must now start to try and lose some weight.

Home tomorrow from Southampton and the weather looks like it’s going to be shocking!

Rehearsal went great, best sound ever on ships and the stage is huge and the auditorium is big and beautiful, I am looking forward to working tonight!

Independence of the Seas July 3-6th 2011

It’s a case of back from one ship and onto another and they are both beautiful Royal Caribbean ships, off Jewel of the Seas and onto Independence of the Seas. This time I am flying to Palma Mallorca to join the ship with two very dear friends Hughie and Dee Taylor, you may have met them if you have ever cruised with P&O Cruises. They are such great fun to be around and I am so happy to be taking them with me for 4 days as my guest’s onboard Independence. We had a lovely lunch that Marie had prepared for them, we played with Sam in the garden for an hour or so and of course Sam loved that, we kicked the ball and Hughie tried to get into his little tent, very funny but you had to be there I guess! It was soon time to go to the airport and it was a tearful goodbye as poor little Sam didn’t want the fun to stop and it was hard to leave him I tell you!
We flew from Cardiff airport to Palma and we all stayed at a very nice hotel for the night, we found a delightful little tapas bar and really enjoyed the food on offer. The next morning after breakfast we made our way to the ship, now Hughie and Dee had never been on Royal Caribbean and were so knocked out with the welcome we received from Joff Eaton the cruise director who escorted us all onboard and helped us to our rooms, Hughie and Dee stayed in the suite and I had a nice little stateroom down on 2 deck. Dee jumped up and down with excitement when she saw the suite they were going to be staying in. We had a full tour of the mighty Independence with Joff and then a fab lunch, Hughie and Dee are just loving it! What to do next? Climbing Wall, Flow Rider, Golf Course, Ice Show, Johnny Rockets, Theatre, Fine Dining restaurants, so much choice. My show is on the last night and I’m looking forward to it, only a bit nervous, it is because I so want it to go the best it can as H&D are here.
My show tonight, my rehearsal went great and I have a 7pm and a 9pm show so best get ready...oh please let it go well!