I don't quite exist this week...or next, but somehow have carved out a second to make a post.
This cruise and next are a part of what we in the cruise industry call the cast changeover. Last embarkation day (when the old guests leave and new ones come on) in Seattle, I got my 17 new dancers and singers on board. For the last few weeks they have been in rehearsals in England and arrived on board as a whole cast to replace the outgoing group, who will be leaving on the next embarkation day in Seattle.
It's a particularly crazy time... not just in the days leading up to the new cast arriving and the old cast leaving, but the suuuuuper long days wherein we have a full day of normal rehearsals, shows, lectures, and events, and then add on top of that the extra rehearsals we are doing with the new cast members to get them fully accustomed to the theatre, the stage space, the scenery, lighting, sound, costumes, etc. They need to be at 100% with everything when the current cast leave, so needless to say it's a busy week. At the moment my normal brood of 17 cast members has doubled to 34, in addition to my tech team. Supermom am I... yeah, you have to be part mom to do this kind of job, whether it's on ships or on land.
That being said, when we leave Seattle on Friday we'll be heading south instead of north. Alaska season is over, so we'll be doing a repositioning cruise, or "crossing" cruise, to transition to Panama Canal season. Instead of a 7 day cruise this repositioning will be 17 days. Yup. The cast does basically the same amount of work in 17 days as 7 days, but I sure don't. The ship will be doing an overnight in San Francisco on the 23rd of September, so I'm looking forward to the chance to do a little exploring in that city. I've only ever been to the airport, but I saw Alcatraz and Golden Gate as we flew in!
Hope all is well with everyone. I'm just trying to stay sane...and awake...sounds a little like grad school. Once this changeover period is over I'll breath easy and sleep again.
Thinking of my people, wherever you are.
D
