Black Watch and stranded in Antigua! April 2012

I got back from the Balmoral safely and have never been so happy to come home, Sam woke up and jumped in bed with Marie and I, then Marie went and slept in Sam’s bed, then Sam went back to his bed, then Marie came back to our bed, then Sam wanted Marie in his bed, then the cat jumped up on our bed, then it was morning and time to get up, talk about musical beds! We only had 2 days to enjoy, so we went into Cardiff and had a very nice Italian meal then walked around window-shopping, it’s cheaper. Sunday came and that night I performed at St. David’s Hall in Cardiff and what a night, it was in aid of Breast Cancer Care, on the bill was Wynne Evans of “Go Compare” fame, the wonderful Sian Cothi, Wynne’s brother Mark Llewellyn Evans, Jamie Fox, The Rock Tenors which my mate Gareth Richards is one of and they were amazing, Sarah Lark was also amazing, I remember seeing her in panto at Swansea Grand and thought how fab she was then. I opened the second half and walked on stage to a big applause so that settled any unwanted nerves and off I went into a comedy routine and finished off with “What Colour is The Wind” it all went really well! I had to leave before the end as it was over running like mad and I had a flight to catch the next day, a flight to Lima Peru! My alarm went off at 3am and John from www.executivecarswales.com was at the door at 3.30am and we made our way to sunny Gatwick with a little detour on the way to put my son Tom’s birthday cards through the door, we did really well until we hit the notorious M25 where the traffic was really slow and then we hit the M23 where Gatwick was only 7 miles away and there we sat, for nearly 2hrs, the traffic was at a stand still, I was very lucky to make my flight, I got to the check-in desk with 10 mins grace, what stress, well I wasn’t the only one as many were in the same situation, well done John for getting me there, I always use Executive Cars, if ever you need a car to take you anywhere they are the best in the business. I’m now on the flight to Lima and once again I’ve managed to get myself a good seat, well I couldn’t do any better it’s a 747 and I am right up front in first class with enough leg room to seat another 8 people, so I am very grateful for the upgrade! See you later! What a great flight, I slept off and on for a few hours, the food was very good and the legroom was fantastic, I was right up front in the pointy end with 5 windows to my self! We landed in Lima around 5pm local time having flown over the rain forests of Brazil, I could even see the Amazon River which I sailed up the other day, amazing! We got on buses and our luggage went on to the ship before us, fair play to Fred Olsen Cruise Lines it was a very slick operation. Once onboard I was given my cabin key, which turned out to be a beautiful junior suite, so I will be very comfortable here! I had a quick look around the ship, I have worked here before about 7yrs ago and it was strange rediscovering the rooms, the lounge were I will do my show is tiny but very nice. I was welcomed onboard by Ashley the cruise director and his staff and I must say they all seem very nice and couldn’t do enough for you! Today we are still in Callao the port for Lima and it’s a cloudy old day with a high of 27c, I went to bed at 8.45pm last night and woke at 5am this morning, oh no, not another case of jet-lag! My dear old pal Andy James who I worked with a couple of months ago on QM2 has just left this ship and left me a big bag of goodies, 8 beers, 4 J20’s and a pair of comedy glasses, thank you Andy, I did laugh at the random comedy glasses and was very grateful for the drinks! Ok, lets see what today will bring, I say thank you for the day and with in Chico’s words “PMA” positive mental attitude, lets enjoy life! The suns out at last and I have chosen to not get off the ship and venture into Lima as I’m a little tired and so I’m going to rest up and chill onboard the Black Watch!

Can you believe it, I have got a cold and a very painful sore throat, I know some of you will be saying its manful but I really do have a corker of a cold. I got up early this morning and waited outside the little shop onboard and got some strepsils, lockets, lemsip and some nurofen tablets, my show is tomorrow night, do I go find the cruise director and ask him if I could move my show a few days so to give me a chance to get a little better, I don’t know? I had a bumpy night last night, I just couldn’t swallow as it hurt too much, I hate being ill, I just don’t do ill! Oh dear, moan moan! Sorry! Yes I’m still not feeling well, I have had a bad day with my throat on fire, I couldn’t eat much and all I have wanted to do is sleep. At 6pm I couldn’t stand it any longer and headed down to deck three to the Medical Centre and saw a very nice Doctor, turns out I have a nasty virus but she has given me some antibiotics just in-case. I am now in bed and have been here since 7pm, I’m just aching all over; it looks like I have some kind of flu after all. Ok, I know you must be fed up of me going on about it so I’ll say goodnight and see you in the morning! Good Morning! I had a good sleep last night and I do feel I’m on the mend, I had a nice surprise this morning, I had the doctors bill put through my door a nice £40 invoice, oh well cheap really as I have been given some drugs to get me well again, oh I had to pay for them too, listen I’m not complaining, I’m just typing! It’s a lovely sunny day and I do hope I get to get out there and take in some rays as yesterday was just a down day, but that was yesterday so come Doyle its time for some PMA! I sat in the sun for a couple hours and had a lovely chat with Geoff Taylor who is a fab singer and the girls from Elektra who are a violin act and they are world class! Tonight the very lovely and very funny lady Mandy Muden is onstage for an evening of magic and comedy, God bless here as she is going on in place of me so I can get my voice back on track! It’s such a lovely sunny day and sea is flat calm, its beautiful to see! Good Morning! Today we are in Manta in Ecuador, an interesting place with the smell of tuna everywhere, this is a huge tuna fishing port and they have one of the worlds biggest tuna canning factories here, I haven’t ventured out of the port yet so will take a few pics and see you later! (oh I’m feeling much better but I still have a dry throat, I am on tomorrow night). I went off the ship for a walk; I have been here before years ago on the Cunard Caronia, which is now the Saga Ruby. I went to the beach area and it was packed with locals enjoying their Easter break. It wasn’t the most prettiest place I have ever been to but a warm welcome given to all of us visiting! On a sad note my dear Aunty Beryl from Lampeter passed away and was buried this week, I of course couldn’t be there but my brother Phill did, my thoughts and prayers go out to all the family at this very sad time. Also a dear friend of mine who followed me all over the country to watch my shows, who was a very loyal and sincere lady, Pam Jones from Swansea passed away on the 15th March this year and I have only just been made aware. I am so sad to hear this, as with my dear Aunty Beryl my thoughts and prayers go out to Pam’s family too! Tonight I’m staying in and chilling out and getting ready for my show tomorrow night. Good Morning once again from the Black Watch, we are still sailing northwards to the Panama Canal and at 11.15am this morning we will be crossing the equator. Today is Easter Sunday and I’m off to church in a bit. Church was great and it was packed out too, the keys for the hymns were all in bad keys for singing so we all struggled, but I enjoyed it all the same. I went to my bandcall, rehearsal and sound check at 12.30pm and fair play the band are great and the sound is fab where I was standing but in the house its so quite, they get a lot of complaints if the sound is too loud, well what some say is loud, but this sound is almost not on at all, oh well, I’m on tonight at 8.45pm and 10.30pm and I’m looking forward to it. My voice went on stop for a few nights and the ever so nice cruise director Ashley put me back three nights and that has really helped, so thank you Ashley. I had a lovely lunch with a couple from Wiltshire and we have arranged to meet up in Cartagena for a beer or two. I then spent the afternoon watching the series “Prison Break” which I have seen before but once you start to watch it, you can’t stop, and so what an afternoon of telly I’ve had. I have just less than 2 hours to my show now and I’m getting that nervous feeling in the pit of my tummy, but that’s good nerves and it means I am gearing myself up for a good show, my voice was fine at rehearsal and with a good top end going on, so I feel a Nessun Dorma coming on tonight! I spoke to Marie on the text today and they all went out to the Duke of Wellington in Cowbridge for Easter Sunday lunch and then enjoyed the park with our Sam. I spoke to my son Tom on text too and he was at his Nan’s in Birmingham having lunch and getting ready to go to the Theatre Royal in Bath where his next leg of his tour with Birds of a Feather takes him, he’ll love Bath! Just back from the 8.45pm show, what can I say, put it like this, I worked for my money tonight, they were hard and but do you what, it does you good and stops you getting too comfortable with your act, I even sang Nessun Dorma, but in the end I got them up with Daydream Believer. I have another show in 30mins and that’s the 10.30pm show, I have been told not many attend so I’ll have to work even harder for them, oh well, it stops you getting big headed! Oh yes, a much better 2nd show I played it a bit harder and got stuck into them from the off, yes a great time had by all and they all stood up for me after Nessun Dorma so I was much happier. I have another show on here coming up in a few nights time so round 2 here we come! Today we are again at sea en-route to the Panama Canal which we hit tomorrow morning, I do hope it’ll be nice and sunny like it was in February this year when I was on Queen Elizabeth, it will be nice to take more photos. Tonight its Geoff Taylor’s turn to entertain the guests, Geoff is a lovely man who has sang for years with the BBC Radio 2 Orchestra so I’m looking forward to seeing him tonight! This afternoon I went along to the piano recital with world-class pianist Dominic John, let me tell you, it was the finest classical concert I have ever seen, this man is pure genius! Geoff Taylor was pure class last night, what a pro, I really enjoyed his show! Today we are transiting the Panama Canal; no matter how many times you go through the canal it never ceases to amaze you. It’s a hot day with lovely blue skies and cold drinks on hand all over the ship to cool you down. Today we are in Cartagena in Colombia I was only here a couple of months ago, I found the little garden near the port gates that I went to last time and really enjoyed peace and quite and a nice cold local beer that was only $2. Just like the last time I was here there were animals roaming around the garden and so many parrots, I took loads of photos. Good Morning. Today we are at sea en-route to Curacao and that will be my 3rd time going there this year, I do love it there and this time as Black Watch is a smaller vessel we should be docking right in the town next to the huge blue bridge that dominates Curacao. Last night the hilarious Mandy Muden and the brilliant singer Geoff Taylor were on and they both gave us a brilliant show. I was in bed by 10pm as it was a school night for me as I am on tonight. My rehearsal and bandcall is in 2hrs time; my act has been sorted out and I’m ready to go! A good rehearsal, a lovely lunch and a nice sunbathing afternoon on deck 10! I have my show in 2hrs time and I’ve just put some more photos on my mac, just outside my window there were some gulls diving into the sea for fish so out I went with my trusty canon G12 and took some great pics! I had 2 great shows last night, I worked better than the first show I did a few nights ago, I had the room up and jumping so I am a happy boy. Today we are in beautiful Curacao, I love this place, it’s so colourful with the buildings in every colour under the sun, have a look at some of these photos! Tonight I have been asked to join in a game show called “Call My Bluff” so that should be fun, but I haven’t been given the words yet, so looks like I will have to wing it! Yes, it was just that, winging it, oh well it was good fun! Today is the 14th April and on this day in 1912 the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11.40pm ships time and began sinking, the ship went under two hours and forty minutes later with the loss of 1,514 lives. The Fred Olsen MV Balmoral is now at the Titanic Wreck site for a memorial service. I’m reading the book “A Night To Remember” by Walter Lord and it has been a very interesting read, those poor people who perished on that cold night will never be forgotten! Tonight I am to host the Farewell Concert here onboard MV Black Watch, we have the very funny Mandy Muden, great singer Geoff Taylor and the show stopping violin duo Elektra and yours truly so it should be a great night! Rehearsals in 2hrs time so see you later! Good rehearsal and we are all looking forward to giving our farewell show tonight! I’m just off to listen to classical pianist Dominic John in a few minutes; I think he’s world class! I’m just back from Dominic’s concert, wow x 1000!!! Hello from St. Maarten in the Caribbean, the farewell show went off great last night and we all had a couple of drinks after the show! Today I was invited to a wedding onboard the Black Watch, well when I say wedding it was more of a renewal of wedding vows and it was so nice, two very nice people I’ve met here and they kindly invited me, so my suit was on at 2.30pm and the service was at 3pm, what a lovely couple Graham and Jeanie, thanks guys it was lovely afternoon. Tomorrow I fly home from Antigua to Gatwick arriving the next day and then home! I had the worse sleep ever last night; it was quite rough seas sailing from St. Maarten over to Antigua. I had a wonderful meal last night with Professor Bert and Dominic John, two fine chaps and I thoroughly enjoyed their company, we all fly back tonight and the ship will have a new lot of entertainers to entertain the guests back across the Atlantic, in fact my good friend Adrian Walsh takes over from me as he did on Balmoral so they will be in good hands. Welcome to Antigua! The day didn’t go as well as it should have, I didn’t sleep at all well last night as the sea was so rough, I was up and about at 5am taking photos. I had a text from my agent asking what time the ship sails, there was a big problem at Gatwick and Adrian Walsh had been sat on the tarmac for nearly 5hrs, the reason was a Virgin flight had to make an emergency landing as there was fire coming from the cockpit, it was all over the news. The knock on effect of this was huge and it would have effected allot of people as it has me. After much toing and froing on the phones we were told that we would have to go to the airport and present ourselves to the BA desk, then we were put up in a beach resort for two nights, now all this may sound quite nice but my family and I have a holiday booked on Thursday 19th April and today is Wednesday 18th and I will make this holiday by the skin of my teeth. I’m now at long last on the flight back to Gatwick and will arrive at 8.45pm then I have the 3hr drive back home, then pack my case, sleep for 4hrs then drive us all to Birmingham Airport for our flight to Tenerife. It’s my wife’s birthday and our wedding anniversary while we’re away and I have no cards or gifts. This is a nightmare, but when we get to Tenerife I have promised myself that I will switch off for the week. Who said travel was fun?