A "Fort"unate Christmas

Cruise #20- This cruise was, of course, all about Christmas. We had the Christmas show, again. Boo! We ate a "special" Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve consisting of dry turkey and rice. There was also mystery dishes numbers 1 and 2. They had free wine and beer in the mess for everyone's merriment. I wasn't able to have any because we had Generations that night. There is a strict no drinking policy when pyro is involved. That night things got a lot more interesting. Greg and I stayed up late and made people macaroni pictures. We stuck them on their door for them to find in the morning. For example, we made the dance captain a macaroni dancing shoe. It was so unrecognizable that we actually to put on it "this is a shoe". I now have a lot of respect for professional macaroni artists. It is hard to be realistic when creating with macaroni. Despite being away from friends, family and all that delicious food, this is the first Christmas in a long time I have actually been able to embrace the spirit of the season. It is amazing what getting away from the main stream and corporate America will to for your spirit. My Christmas spirit grew each day as the day approached. I didn't have three months of Christmas courtesy of Wal-Mart like ya'll had. It was nice to actually feel Christmas again. I missed all of you and look forward to seeing most of you when I get back in January.

The fly-ons for this cruise were Mike Panzeca, Jerry Goodspeed and Carl Guerra. I think by now you know who Mike is. Jerry Goodspeed is more than a ventriloquist he is also a drunk. Before his first show I kept smelling alcohol. I thought for a while that it was a social host but they left right before the show started. I narrowed it down to Jerry just before he went on. For his second show, he showed up with his shirt untucked and his hair all messed up. Literally, he showed up five minutes before he was set to go on. When he did go on stage, he forgot some of his bits and generally struggled through his awful routine. He blamed the audience for having no energy. My thought was that it was the fifth of Vodka he drank before his show but I haven't been in this industry long, so, maybe I'm wrong. Carl Guerra was not amusing at all. He seemed to think that Mike Panzeca had a lot of the same jokes, so that is why he didn't do so well. This is not the case. Mike has funny jokes and Carl does not. That was the difference between the two.

Christmas day was in the port of St. Maarten. My plan was to spend most of the day on the beach but it rained all day. So, I ended up spending most of Christmas day lounging around watching T.V. or playing video games. Which is probably what I would have done if I would have been at home.

The next day we were in St. Lucia. Dave(musical director and huge Georgia fan), Chip(bari sax), Greg and I all went and played golf. We played at the St. Lucia Golf Club. We got a crew discount. It cost us $60 for 18 holes, clubs and a cart. Well worth it! On many holes there were ocean views. There were even a couple mountain views. The course was extremely challenging and none of us are any good. The greens were extremely fast and hilly. There were some professional style breaks, Which, of course, we missed.We all shot over 100. It took us nearly six hours to get the round in. We saw the entire golf course, if you know what I mean. It was great though we all got frustrated at our play but agreed that it was a fun day.

The last port this cruise was St. Kitts. Kim(crew training center), Fede'(drummer), Chip, Greg and I went to Brimstone Hill Fortress. It was a cheap cab ride away and only cost $8 to get in the park. It was a stronghold for the slave trade. It exchanged hands many times. The French and British kept taking it from each other. There cannons and quarters and everything else you would expect from a military establishment. It is located on the top of an inactive volcano. There are buildings all over. Also, the views from up there were spectacular. You could practically see the entire island from there. It was a must see if you go to St. Kitts.

Talk to you soon,

Chris

Picture #1-Ocean/sea view from one of the tee boxes at the St. Lucia Golf Club.

Picture #2-The approach on the 18th at the St. Lucia Golf Club.

Picture #3-Archway and cannons at Brimstone Hill fortress

Picture #4-The Fort from below

Picture #5-Fede', Kim, Me and Chip at Brimstone Hill Fortress

Picture #6-Fort Lauderdale at sunrise. Don't ask why I was up. I won't tell you.