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.