Jewel and Grand Princess

With only the 2 days off this time I had to try and enjoy every minute of it, I loved playing with my little boy Sam and I loved listening to his news of school and his funny jokes he’s had with his pals, I miss my family like mad and I sometimes wonder what on earth is it all about, to have the home and life I have, I have to be away from it, work that out someone please! I also managed to drive up to Nottingham to pick my son Tom up from his digs and bring him home, he has just finished an 18 week tour of the stage play Birds of a Feather with the original cast from the hit TV show, he did a grand job and we are all so very proud of him.

I then flew from Cardiff to Amsterdam where I then had to endure an 8hr wait in-between flights, my next flight to Tallinn in Estonia wasn’t until 8pm and I had landed in Amsterdam at 11am. I have a good friend at the airport who works as a bartender at the Het Pallais Bar his name is Jan, I first met him just over 5 years ago, the reason I can remember how long ago it was is because, when our son Samuel was born I missed the birth as I was on the P&O Arcadia, Sam came early and I missed it, I flew back two days after the birth and missed my flight to Cardiff so ended up at Amsterdam awaiting a late flight back home, so like most people would have been in my situation, I went to find the bar, I walked through the door with tears in my eyes and this wonderful man Jan looked at me and said “now here’s a man who needs a beer” in his thick Dutch accent, I said back to him “I have just missed the birth of my son” he said “ I think we should have two beers” we laughed and we have been good friends ever since. So here I am once again at Amsterdam and as always I made my way to the bar and there was Jan, I had a couple of beers and a lovely meal, I had 8hrs to kill in this airport, I am so glad I have a Priority Pass which means I have access to business lounges all over the world and in cases like this they come in very handy, with free food and drinks and free internet. The time passed and I was soon on the flight back to Tallinn, yes I was only there a few days ago on Celebrity Eclipse, it went quite quick, thanks to my IPad. I was soon at my hotel and the comfiest bed and pillows ever and a jaccusi (sorry can’t spell it and neither can my MacBook Pro) but very nice. I joined the beautiful Jewel of the Seas and was given the loveliest welcome as always and settled into my beautiful suite. I bumped into Susan Foster who is the Stage and Production Manager and a brilliant photographer; she has done most of my publicity, on the way to the ship I also bumped into an old pal and brilliant singer Gary Williams who I am taking over from, I do hope he has left me something in the fridge! I had dinner with the cruise director Clo and her lovely friends who are Airline Hosts one with Virgin and the other with BA, very nice people. My show is day after tomorrow so time to relax a bit…its 10.20pm here and its like daylight out there, we are now on our way to Gothenburg in Sweden, we dock right outside the Volvo Factory…how exciting!!!!! Goodnight! A day at sea and a mix bag of sunshine and showers and an old film on the telly, I felt quite lonely today, so what do you do when you feel lonely, you go to the bar of course, I had a lunchtime pint and met two terrific guys at the bar Mike and Shaun, Mike didn’t drink but still insisted he buys a round and Shaun so it happened turned out to be a Catholic Priest, so his name soon became “Father” what a great man, I enjoyed telling him of my days St. Mary’s RC School in Carmarthen and St. John Lloyd RC Secondary School in Llanelli, he is from Ireland and very proud of that, he is coming to my show tomorrow night and we are meeting afterwards for a pint, it was great to meet the two of them. The sea is calm and the sun is still out and with the cloud formation its making an interesting sky, oh quick where’s my camera! It’s a school night for me tonight as I am on tomorrow night for 7pm and a 9pm shows so its goodnight from me! I had the best shows ever, well it certainly felt that way, 2 shows and they went really quick, especially the 9pm and I ended up doing 1hr and 15mins, I really shouldn’t have over ran like that but it was just one of those nights, I couldn’t do anything wrong, couldn’t put a foot out of place, a great night. It was also a great night as Father Shaun and his party from County Galloway had an impromptu sing song in the Safari Club and what great singers they had in that group, I enjoyed so very much, it was lovely to hear some of the old Irish folk songs I used to hear as a child, wonderful night! I was up early this morning as Father Shaun invited me to go along to Mass, well I made it and very glad I did, it took me back to my days at St. Mary’s RC Church in Carmarthen, the responses came flooding back as did my tears at times, I just couldn’t help crying, nobody noticed so all was well, it was so good to meet Father Shaun and I wish him well and his parishioners as they fly back to Ireland tomorrow. I have been happy here in this beautiful suite and I have just been told that I have to pack my stuff and prepare to move to another suite, which will be the suite I normally get, just when I thought I was settled, oh well never mind, stop moaning Doyle and pack that case. Tomorrow we are in Harwich, I do love Harwich and I’m looking forward to going for a pint in the Hanover Inn and then some traditional fish and chips up the road from there, the weather was stunning the last time I was in Harwich, I do hope its going to be at least dry tomorrow! We sail away tomorrow evening for Copenhagen then I fly to Gdansk in Poland where I shall stay in a hotel and the next morning join the beautiful Grand Princess and sail back to Southampton. I had a great day as always in Old Harwich, firstly breakfast in the “Cuppa Coffee” in Dovercourt and free internet which is great, then jumped on the bus down to Old Harwich, the weather is awful today so haven’t taken too many photos, I have taken loads here before when the sun was out and the skies were lovely and blue, oh well it’s still good here. I popped into my local pub when I’m down here, the “Hanover Inn” and was given a great welcome by the Landlord Baz, he keeps a crackin pint of Thwaites Original Bitter and the locals are great with some sharp banter that keeps you laughing all day long, after that is was fish and chips that taste fantastic. Back on the ship and soon time for the emergency drill, as I have said before, after what happened with Costa O never complain about going now, I used to, but not any more, it’s so important! We are now sailing out of Harwich and on our way to Copenhagen, my show is tomorrow night and then off I go to Poland! I slept well last night and stayed in bed until 10am in-fact if Clo our cruise director hadn’t have rang me to say that her husband and son were up at breakfast waiting to see me I would have stayed in bed for another hour. It was lovely to see Clo’s other half Dave and there beautiful son Connor who has the most lovely long hair, our Sam likes it when Connor is here as he has someone to play with. My voice is very dry today, it’s the air-con, it plays havoc with your throat, my shows are tonight at 9pm and 10.45pm and we have a large Spanish and Mexican contingent so lets hope they can understand me, I do wish I could speak Spanish!