Grand Princess July 2012

I flew out of Copenhagen after a successful week on RCI’s beautiful Jewel of the Seas and landed in Gdansk Poland, unfortunately there was no one there to pick me up from the airport, so I took a taxi to my hotel in the port of Gdynia. My hotel was “ok” and as I was so very tired I didn’t care really what it was like, I went for a walk around the town and took some photos, as you can see it has a lovely church.

I ended up in a lovely little bar and as I didn’t have any Polish money on me I had to charm the ever so nice lady behind the bar and she allowed me to pay in euros, they had some very nice beer spelt with a “Z” sorry I can’t remember now, but it was a great pint. Soon tucked up in my hotel bed and feeling a tad homesick I fell asleep. I woke around 7am and was soon in the taxi to the ship, we arrived on the quay side and watched the Grand Princess sail in, a truly magnificent sight, she looked splendid coming into the Harbour. The weather wasn’t kind at all and I stood at the gangway shivering in the rain and cold waiting to board. Once on and in my cabin and the heating turned up I soon recovered. The ever so talented Emily Reed is on in the theatre tonight, I last worked with Emily last year on Celebrity Eclipse, she has a huge voice for such a tiny frame, she tells me she is getting married next year, so congratulations to you and your Husband to be! I saw most of Emily’s show and then went to bed. My day wasn’t great as I got myself down a bit, I’m really missing home and my family at the moment, I’m hardly ever home and sometimes, well, as the Americans would say, it just sucks! Good Morning. It is a good morning too, I slept really well and as we are sailing very close to land with Demark and Copenhagen close by and we sail under the bridge there is a good signal so spoke to Marie for ages, I needed that, I miss her and Sam like mad, and at the moment really hugely miss them. Ha, on my iTunes Westlife has come on singing “Home” now that’s spooky isn’t it, every word in this song I can identify with. I love my home, but to have that home I have to be away from it? My rehearsal is at 5pm and my shows at 8.30pm and 10.30pm in the 900 seat Princess Theater and I am looking forward to working tonight. I had a lovely lunch sat all alone with a beautiful plate of pork and mash and a relaxing afternoon in my cabin working on my show for tonight. My rehearsal went very well, the band are really tight and the sound is fab, so I feel well up for it tonight. My 9pm show was 100% packed and I really enjoyed it, thanks to Mary in the front from the USA and to the rest of the crowd really, the 10.45pm felt a little different and I had to up the pace a bit but it turned out to be another great show. After the show I went to the Officers Wardroom with one of the Entertainments Officers Luke from New Zealand, he’s a great bloke and a great laugh too, we had a couple then had toasted ham and cheese sarnies on the way home, well when I say home, I mean our cabins! We were in Oslo yesterday, I have been there quite a few times and when the sun shines it really is an amazing place to walk around and take in the breath taking views and enjoy the waterfront, but it was quite a mixed bag weather wise, they are getting much the same as us at home with lots of rain, but it didn’t rain much and I was able to get around the town taking some pics, one particular seagull was the perfect subject, it just stood there letting me snap away taking pics of it, have a look! Last night I went to see a brilliant entertainer Gareth Oliver in the Theater, what a show he put on, it was hilarious and he stormed the crowd, he also had his girlfriend in the act with him and it was so clever what they did, if you ever get a chance to see Gareth work you must go, he is a fantastic act! Good Morning. We are at sea today in the North Sea making our way to Southampton. I’m on tonight with the brilliant Emily Reed who is an amazing singer, we have 7pm and 8.45pm shows and there is an hour back on the clock tonight, so that will come in very handy in terms of an extra hours in bed let me tell you! I have my show to work on for tonight now, then sort out some receipts for my VAT accounts, then work on my speech for tomorrow night in Rhoose for Aberthaw Cement, then pack ready for getting off tomorrow, I have to be up by 6.30am to be ready for the Immigration people at 7am, then I hope to be in a taxi and on the 8.10am train back to Bridgend and home to my family!