Chris' Life at Sea: Here Come Tha Boys From The South

Cruise #23- This cruise was pretty exciting. There was a lot going on. First of all, my handover, Atalargo arrived. He is from India and does things "by the book". I have been teaching him what to do and how to run the shows. He has gotten upset at times saying,"that is not my job". He freaks out about the smallest things. I'm out of here next cruise, so I am trying to take it in stride. The next thing is, Greg and Kim left this cruise and I went out a lot to hang out with them. Early in the cruise we had a corridor party. Kim lives next to Greg and I. We decided to invite everyone we knew for one last big party. Sam(showband pianist) and I both had beards and we decided to shave handle bars and crazy sideburns. We ended up looking like a couple of rednecks. Sam's girlfriend Laura got mad at him and he shaved off that night. I kept mine for about a week before shaving. Anyway, the party was great. There was a bunch of people in our rooms and corridor but not enough to have security stop it. We were up rather late and it was worth every second.

The fly-ons for this cruise were Mike Panzeca, Michael James, Carl Strong and Jerry Goodspeed. Mike was good as usual. Michael James was O.K. His act gets less interesting the more you see it. Carl strong is a diva. He went off the deep end this cruise. During his midnight he got mad that we didn't have the microphone effects that he wanted. He never asked for effects before the show. he just shouted at the lighting tech during the show. Without preparation these things can't be done. He was very unhappy with the techs after the show. That night, he called Scott(Senior Tech) at 4:00 in the morning to complain. Scott hung up on him. Jerry Goodspeed is a bad ventriloquist. I wasn't backstage on duty so I didn't have to work his show. Thank goodness.

In Colon, Panama this cruise Greg and I got off and had sushi at Oishi just off the pier. This was the first time I had been off in Panama. I was excited about trying to see some of the culture of the country. After we finished lunch, Greg and I walked toward the gates of the " tourist area" of the complex. We walked through the gates and looked around to see where we might want to go. I looked left and then to my right. I then looked at Greg and I knew what he wanted to do before I asked. We turned around and went back to the ship. Panama is scary. We knew if we strayed too far from the pier we were going to get mugged. Considering we both had our computers on us, There wasn't much of a choice.

In Limon, Costa Rica I didn't get off due to continued cast change stuff and lack of anywhere to go.

In Belize this cruise, Julianna(dancer) and I went on the River Wallace and Altun Ha tour. The first part of the tour was the River Wallace. We traveled 29 miles on a boat down the river at a rather slow pace. We started in a bay where we saw Manatees coming up for air. As we traveled down the river, we saw all kinds of wildlife. This was especially cool for the two of us. I was a Forestry and Wildlife major in college and she was Bio-chemist in college. We saw Howler monkeys, crocodiles, bats, birds and iguanas. The iguanas are getting close to their mating season and all the males we saw were turning a bright orange color. They were in almost every tree. The more dominant males shared trees with several smaller females. I was five feet away from a crocodile at one point. There was a huge array of aquatic birds. We saw osprey, cranes, gulls and a bunch of other birds we couldn't identify. Even though they were far away, the howler monkeys were cool to see. When we reached the next dock we ate lunch and hopped on a bus to Altun Ha. This is an ancient Mayan ruin. The area that had been excavated was a religious site. It had monuments to all the gods. I learned that they typically didn't do human sacrifices. We didn't have much time there, unfortunately. It kinda felt rushed. I hope I get a chance to go back and see more. Once we got back to our pier, Julianna and I went back to the ship. We contemplated getting a drink on the pier to celebrate a good day but there wasn't enough time. Too bad. I didn't want it to end.

Not much to report in Fort Lauderdale. Chip(bari sax) and I went to eat and shop at Publix. After that, we headed back to the ship to get ready for boat drill.

Talk to you soon,

Chris

Picture #1-Sam and I lookin "Bubbaliscous" at our corridor party.

Picture#2-The mouth of the River Wallace in Belize.

Picture #3-Temple of the Sun God at Altun Ha in Belize.

Picture #4-Julianna and I on the Temple of the Sun God with the Temple of the Earth God in the background in Belize.

Picture #5-Greg and Kim on their last night. See you in June, Greg. Come to the Victory, Kim. I will miss you both.