I however, am now on a Boeing 747 flying to Miami to join Cunard’s beautiful Queen Elizabeth in Fort Lauderdale. I have managed to get myself an emergency seat so I have bags of leg room, I have the seat next to me empty and the next seat is sat Keith, he is a top brass manager for a company called Harding Bros, so I said I know the company well as that is who most of the onboard shops on cruise ships are with, so it is a small world indeed. I have a 9hr flight to Miami so 7hrs to go.
I had a lovely week at home spending time with my family, taking Sam to school, taking Marie shopping and having a delightful lunch at the Duke of Wellington in Cowbridge. I had a good meeting with my accountant and my TAX is now sorted and paid thank the Lord, I hate January as I have Tax and VAT to pay and it comes straight after Christmas.
I have a week now on Queen Elizabeth sailing out of Fort Lauderdale to the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal, I fly home via Miami from San Jose on the 28th January. I am hoping for some nice sunshine and a rest, I also have a re-learn as my tour starts back up on the 24th Feb in Brecon and I haven’t done any of the tour material since, I also have to re-learn some songs from Copacabana and Contender as I am singing some of the songs from them at Swansea Grand 1st March and the Muni Pontypridd on the 3rd March this year. I have also brought with me the DVD of John Steinbeck’s classic “Of Mice and Men” as I have been offered to play the part of Lenny in this brilliant play, which is to tour the country in 2013.
As I sit here in this plane, I can’t help but think of those poor people on that stricken Costa ship, I feel furious about what the Captain did, leaving the ship and what seems to be making up stories of falling into a life boat, I have been at sea since 1982 and I have had safety drilled into me every time I step foot on a ship, if this had been P&O, Cunard, RCCL or Celebrity this would not have happened or any other company for that matter, but at the end of the day, it’s not Costa’s fault is it, it’s that Captains fault simple as that, I have been fortunate enough in my life at sea to know some brilliant Captains and two Commodore’s and they would never have taken such stupid actions, I have always felt 100% safe at sea even when we have been met with horrendous weather like a force 11 off Japan in 1997.
I do hope this incident has not put anyone off cruising, as it really can be the holiday of a lifetime. I have sailed to the four corners of the earth and feel very privileged to do so. I have never been on Costa but I hear they are beautiful ships with very luxurious public rooms, it is such a shame this had to happen.
I’m staying at a hotel tonight and joining the ship tomorrow morning, Queen Elizabeth has the most beautiful theatre, take a look.
I had a great nights sleep at the Regency Hotel in Miami, 8pm to 5am…a rubbish breakfast and a bus to the ship, then to find out I should have stayed at the hotel until 11am as a car was booked for me, I jumped on a crew bus and now it’s a waiting game at the dock side. Loads of ships in today including the 240.000tonne RCCL Oasis of the Seas, it is massive, it makes the Queen Elizabeth look ever so small next to it, it’s more than twice the size, but the Queen is far more beautiful to look at!
Just take a look at these photos of our day in Fort Lauderdale today, so many ships, Oasis of the Seas for one take a look at this.
Also in with us Liberty of the Seas, Grand Princess, Crown Princess, Eurodam, one I don’t know what it is and us Queen Elizabeth the best looking ship in the harbor today.
Inboard an old pal who I haven’t seen for years Stewart Gilles, a great act that once found fame on the original Opp Knocks and had a big hit with a song called “Amanda”, so lovely to see him again.
My show is in 2 nights time so at least I get to relax a bit, poor old Sam my little boy is not feeling so good, he had a temperature of 103f the other night and he’s still not great now, I spoke to Marie earlier and she is nursing him through it bless her and bless him too poor little chap!
Today was a day at sea and it’s Sunday. I love Sunday at sea, it always feels special on Cunard and P&O ships, I always try and go to Church and this mornings service held by Captain Christopher Wells was very good indeed and a good turn out, after church as is customary at sea it was off to the pub, Man Utd was playing Arsenal and they won 2-1, now I’m not a great soccer fan but I enjoyed the game, the pub was packed and had a great atmosphere, I met up with an old mate Albert from the band and Stan who I met on QM2 a couple of years ago and I have remained friends with him and his lovely wife since, so a good time in the pub and an excellent chicken korma too. I had a TV slot with cruise director Amanda Reid at 3pm to promote my show tomorrow night, so that went well and it was lovely to see Amanda again.
Tonight is a formal night and a school night for me, so I am not going out, it’s a night in front of the telly for me. Tomorrow we are in Grand Cayman so I hope to get some rays before my show’s, which are 8.30pm and 10.30pm. See you tomorrow…Good Night!
Good Morning and welcome to Grand Cayman and what a lovely surprise to see P&O Oceana in with us and the Crown Princess, doesn’t Oceana look lovely!
I sat in the sun for a few hours but every time I settled a great big rain cloud kept moving over and putting the lights out, so I thought forget this and had a nice salad and back to the cabin or stateroom as they must be called on here!
I have my rehearsal at 5pm and two shows tonight, oh I do hope they will be a good audience!
I’m just back from rehearsal and the band are just fab with musical direction from Tim Faulkner and sound by a new guy who comes to Cunard from the BBC in London, I got on great with him and he has given me a great sound, please let it be the same tonight.
Just back from the 8.30pm show, well I don’t like to go on about my show but that was just perfect for me, best I have ever gone down on Cunard, now it’s a case of beware the 2nd show and the Captain is coming to see me…help!
Oh yes…the 2nd show went as good as the first, it’s always tougher this time of year as it’s World Cruise time and people see an awful lot of entertainment. This afternoon after a delicious fish and chips in the pub I went to see a play in the Royal Court Theatre, it was farce and it was just fab, so funny, I loved it.
Tonight it’s Indian food for dinner, so I am looking forward to that. Tomorrow we are in South America and Cartagena, they say it’s quite a dangerous place to go, stay onboard that’s what I say. See you tomorrow, good night!
Good Morning and welcome to Cartagena in Columbia South America, it’s a hot and sticky morning, I have been up since 7.30pm and rang Marie almost straight away, poor old Sam my lovely little boy has been ill and is off school, poor thing. My agent emailed me to say Princess Cruises wants to start using me and we have taken three cruises for the summer on Grand Princess which once upon a time was the worlds biggest ship, she is very similar to P&O Ventura and Azura so it wont be too much of a shock when I get on there.
I had a lovely breakfast then went for a walk and I have taken some nice photos of the the area around the ship, we had some lovely local dancers and musicians on the quayside, have a look!
Not far from the ship I walked through a beautiful garden with pink flamingos and parrots roaming around, I love the parrot.
I may go back off the ship as in that garden was a nice little bar and with it so hot today I think a nice cold beer would be very nice.
Tonight it’s my dear old pal Stuart Gilles onstage, he is doing a show tonight of Scottish music and wearing his tartan kilt as it is Burn’s Night, so I’m sure this show will storm them.
What a great show Stuart Gillies put on last night, what a pro and everyone loved him.
Today we were transiting the Panama Canal, a place my dad would love to see, it really is a massive engineering masterpiece, here are some photos I took whilst sailing through.
Amazing isn’t it! The Canal is a 51 mile ship canal that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Work on the canal started in 1880 and was completed in 1914.
Today we are at sea and en route to Costa Rica where I will be flying home to London via Miami. I have my second show to perform tonight again at 8.30pm & 10.30pm.
Just back from a good rehearsal and sound check and am now waiting to perform, to is going to be a very long day and night for me, 2 long flights awaits.
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