So long, Tony

My roommate, Tony signed off on Monday. He is a great trumpet player and all around great guy. Enjoyed my time getting to know him and certainly learned a lot from him as a musician and otherwise. All the best, T. Stay in touch!

Things you can't control (Nassau at Night)

My old friend Mike Robinson came onboard for a cruise this past weekend. His girlfriend, Jessie, came with him and they were pumped for a weekend of relaxing in the sun. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. It rained pretty much steadily for 3 days straight. From Miami to CoCo Cay to Nassau. It's nobody's fault about the weather, but, I still feel bad that their cruise didn't turn out the way they had hoped. We did get to spend some time together, though. That was great fun. I'm really glad they came out.

Also this past weekend was the official celebration of the 20th birthday for the Majesty of the Seas. The "Grand Old Lady" of the Royal Caribbean fleet was the largest cruise ship in the world 20 years ago. She's the smallest ship in the fleet now, but, that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve a big party. In addition to a HUGE birthday cake, professional pictures, live music, and champagne, the Majesty had a killer Hot Hits of the 90's playlist (celebrating the pop music of the time of her launch) during the live musician breaks including:

Mmm Bop by Hansen

If You Wanna Be My Lover by Spice Girls

I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston

I Want It That Way by Back Street Boys

My part of the gig was easy. Short fanfare for the captain followed by a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday. I played 9 different pitches for a total of 28 seconds of performance time and went out to dinner. Nice work if you can get it (and you can get it if you try).

Due to the weather, the Majesty stayed overnight in Nassau which gave me the rare opportunity to get off the ship in the evening. Nassau offers a variety of nightclubs, bars, and restaurants. Tony, Blair and I opted to take the chance to get a nice dinner. Sometimes it's almost imperative to get a break from the crew mess once in a while. It was also a chance for the three of us to get some hang time in before Tony's contract was up.

The restaurant we chose was on Blair's recommendation. It's an Indian place called Taj Mahal about a 10 minute walk from the pier. I started with Potato Bhaji (deep fried potatoes with lime and garlic-type sauce) followed by a main course of Lamb Biryani (lamb mixed with rice and rich spices). The meal was accompanied by Nan (a flat, tortilla-esque bread). Everything was outstanding. We left no leftovers whatsoever.

Lamb Biryani and Nan

Whatever Blair had (can't remember the name)

I also saw this sign in Nassau. A little on the nose, but, good advice.

Lastly, during the overnight Majesty was docked right next to her sister ship the Monarch of the Seas. This is the ship where my friend Ryan Leander is located now. He'll be there for the next 3 weeks or so until he signs off for vacation. Also saw another friend, Michelle, who I met briefly onboard the Majesty. She's in the Cruise Sales and Loyalty division and moved from Majesty to Monarch about a month ago. Tony knows her also from a previous contract. As I understand it, it's rare to see someone twice onboard cruise ships. Three times is almost out of the question. Good to see them again.

Nature Trail

Tony and I checked out the Nature Trail on CoCo Cay this week. It's a rocky (volcanic?) walk through the green brush on the interior of the island. The trail winds through the brush and has several paths that shoot off to the beach. We found one that looked remarkably like those Corona commercials on TV so we tried to recreate that with me sitting and looking out over the water. Plans are in the works to get a 6 pack and some cigars for this location in the future.

While I was searching for the entrance to the trail I found a large lizard. In fact, I almost stepped on him. He was roughly 16 inches long and more than twice that when you add in his tail. He was just chilling out in the sun/shade. Wasn't sure if he was dangerous, but, I didn't want to bother him so I took some pictures with the zoom.

My Polish friend and bass player, Janousz. (Pretty sure that's not spelled correctly. Sorry, dude.)

My lizard friend.

Corona, anyone?

"Find your beach."

Tony was NOT ready for me to take this pic.

On the tender heading back to the Majesty.

All Ships Great And Small

This Tuesday we shared the Nassau port with another Royal Caribbean ship. It's called the Voyager of the Seas and it's significantly bigger than my ship the Majesty. Blair and myself accompanied by one of the Majesty stage techs, Albert, made our way over to check out the digs on the Voyager. 

Our tour guide on Voyager was Alberto. He has been doing ships for over 5 years and is on his 8th contract. He's been moved around from ship to ship throughout the fleet. In addition to the Voyager he has been on the Radiance of the Seas as well as the 2 largest and most innovative ships in the fleet, the Oasis and Allure of the Seas. Alberto was aboard the "takeout" launches for Oasis and Allure. This is where the ships go out for months at a time and the test all the equipment onboard before they take on guests. Alberto helped install all of the tech and sound equipment for the theaters onboard those ships. He said it was horrible. Lots of work and they stayed in Finland for 20+ days. Part of the fun of working on a cruise ship is traveling to different places. Staying in one port for almost a month is not that cool.

The Voyager of the Seas was the first ship built in the Voyager class on Royal Caribbean. Maiden voyage in the late 90's, Voyager is among a group of other ships that are the 3rd largest in the fleet. It's very tall with 15 decks. They are based in New Orleans and do 7 day cruises. Well, that's what they used to do. Voyager is being re-deployed to Asia and is in the middle of making the Atlantic crossing. Currently, the ship is on a 16 day cruise. After this one, they will disembark and take on new guests for an 11 day cruise. The itinerary during the crossing includes 6 sea days as well as many ports in Europe and Dubai. Eventually they will arrive in Asia for the season. Alberto said that the itinerary doesn't have a repeat port until mid-June. Quite a change for someone who visits Nassau, Coco Cay and Miami twice a week like me! 

Aboard the Voyager there are several theaters. Their main theatre is twice the stage size of Majesty, but, seats only a few hundred more. Voyager has several more bar areas, an ice rink and an aqua theater called Studio B. Alberto reports that the aqua theater is the most dangerous venue he has ever worked and says there have been some bad accidents on Voyager. Broken legs, compound fractures…I didn't listen very long. He says that he sits there during rehearsals just waiting for something to go wrong. Usually happens to new hires and people who don't know the ship. I don't see what the big deal is. I've spent LOTS of time in theaters. Looks like a normal theater to me. All you need to do is keep your head about you and you're fine. He did say that the casts on Voyager have been very young. Maybe that's the deal. Inexperience, possibly.

Voyager carries a 9 piece band. 2 more players than Majesty (1 extra trumpet and saxophone). The biggest difference I noticed is the sound monitor system. Each musician in the orchestra has their own Avion monitor. Short version? Each musician can control the volume of every other musician in the orchestra. If you're playing trumpet and want to hear less guitar and bass with more of yourself, you can control that from your seat. Pretty nice.

Wasn't able to see Studio B or any of the passenger areas. For one thing, we had to leave after about 45 minutes due to a rehearsal. Additionally, Voyager was in "wet dock" where they were doing some refurbishing of carpets and other interior items on Deck 2 and the Casino. 

Overall, pretty cool being on a much bigger ship. If I'm going to do more contracts, I definitely want to be on a ship like Voyager or bigger. For size comparison here are some numbers:

Majesty: 850+ crew, 2,500+ guests

Voyager: 1200+ crew, 4,000+ guests

Oasis: 2,300+ crew, 6,000+ guests

Some pictures below. I didn't take very many, but, tried to take some video as an experiment to see how it would look on the blog.

Finally, some quotes that I remembered from watching DVDs earlier this past week.

"It's for the same reason anyone does anything. To impress women."

~Sportsnight

"You can't control things. Nobody can. There's only one thing that's certain. Everything changes."

~Six Feet Under

Key West never ceases to amaze

So, you'll never guess what I saw in Key West yesterday on my walk back to the ship. 

Chickens. Unabated. Fearless. Proud. Ridiculously Photogenic.

Key West. A place where you can book a charter fishing trip with strippers and where chickens

walk the streets without fear of repercussion.

Said goodbye to my friend Ryan Leander last night. He worked on Majesty for about 4 weeks in Youth Staff. He loves the ship life and made it his main goal to be extended a full contract. Well, it happened and I'm really happy for him. He's moving to another ship for a month. After a vacation he'll be assigned to a ship for a full 6 month contract. Here's Tony, Ryan and me in my cabin...the site of many a late night card game.

I'll miss ya, Stacks! Hope we can see each other again soon and play some more cards!

Random thoughts from the ship

Not much to report from the past week. I've been practicing a lot and working on an arrangement or two. Some things occurred to me recently, so, I wrote them down.

There is a main hallway in the crew area of the ship. It's runs along the port side on deck 1 and is where people can walk from completely aft to completely forward in a straight line. It is called "The I-95." This is also the name one of of the main highway that runs through Miami to the port. I-95 is also the name of the photo identification that crew members must display when visiting US Ports. I thought this was interesting. Upon reading the above paragraph…perhaps I was wrong to think that.

I'm able to watch The Masters golf tournament on the ship, but, not the NHL playoffs. No TiVo or DVR for either one. I find commercials excruciating.

My server today in the Key West mexican restaurant/internet cafe is from Kentucky. Very near Harlan County which serves as the setting for "Justified," one of my favorite tv shows/Elmore Leonard creations.

It's important for me to make sure that music doesn't become "just a job" for me. I'm concentrating on finding ways to feed my creative side.

I learned a little bit about the sport of cricket the other day. I feel the same way about cricket now that I do about auto racing. Not my favorite sport in the world, but, I understand the appeal.

My musical goal is to sound like a combination of John Allred and Hank Mobley. Work currently in progress. Check back later for further developments.

Blair said something funny the other day regarding food in the crew mess...

"If you're not gonna eat good, you might as well eat healthy."

Tony says pretty funny things all the time. I wrote some of them down. They're even better when I read them back to him out loud. Here are some highlights:

"That's what I did back then. Everybody was doing it. I didn't really think they were jive, its just that people try to depreciate things that are cool."

Me: "How did you like my arrangement?"

Tony: "Well, during the first half I felt like quitting music entirely"

(After Predator removes mask at end of Aliens v. Predator)

"Now why did he have to yell like that? Doesn't he know that she'll get scared?"

(About movies and tv)

"You don't watch what I watch. I don't watch what you watch. This marriage is over."

(Playing poker)

"Ah HA! Just kidding, I don't have shit. That's not true, I've got something. Just not much…what!?"

"I said all that? That doesn't sound like me."

The other side of Nassau

Tuesday was one of the best days I've had on my Walkabout. I've had some great times so far, to be sure, but this past Tuesday was special. My Aunt and Uncle spend their winters on a sailboat in the Bahamas and this past week we were able to meet up. They have been wintering down here for 12 years now and know the area quite well. They were able to show me a completely different side of Nassau than I was used to.

I guess I'm used to the "tourist" side of Nassau. Hustle and bustle. Shops, trinkets, souvenirs, and pushy street vendors. When cruise ships come into town you have a lot of passengers who are looking to spend money in the port area. I'm not necessarily looking to do that, but, I get treated as if I am. I don't blame the locals at all. I assume that a large part of the economy depends on tourist business. It's nice to have the opportunity to get behind the scenes with experienced guides.

I met up with Fran and Mort at 9:30 am Tuesday. They came over to the dock by the ship in their dinghy to pick me up. The dinghy (sometimes known as a tender, but, I like the word dinghy better) is basically an inflatable raft with a small outboard mounted on the back. Perfect for jetting around calm ports and marinas. Unfortunately, the Nassau port is anything but calm. Due to the concrete docks on either side, the waves ricochet back and forth and the water is typically quite choppy. Not a big deal for a cruise ship, but, it makes for a bumpy dinghy ride. I quickly became familiar with "dinghy butt" a condition where the ass of your pants gets soaked from the waves splashing up underneath where you sit.

We immediately went off the beaten path. Crossing over to the opposite side from Nassau to Paradise Island we stopped first at a Yoga Retreat. There is much more to this place than first meets the eye. I didn't even see the dock until we were right up next to it. After we tied off the dinghy we walked back into the lush Bahamian wilderness (palm trees and more palm trees). It was exactly the opposite of what I'd been accustomed to any other time I've gotten off the ship. Quiet. Shady. Calm. No sales people of any kind. As we walked around the area it became clear to me that this was not just a small clearing on the sand for people to put down yoga mats. Rather, this was a full scale resort for people to enjoy an alternative vacation. Small and understated cabins with small apartments are available for rent. Shared bathrooms, community food (2 meals per day, vegetarian only) and some low key activities for kids (art, board games, crafts, etc) are all provided. There are several yoga classes offered per day and a beach that was almost completely deserted. Very private. Very alternative. A stark contrast to the monstrous Atlantis resort property next door. 

Speaking of Atlantis, that's the next place we visited. The polar opposite to the Yoga Retreat, Atlantis offers everything you could want in a modern resort vacation. Seemingly modeled after the humongous resorts in Las Vegas, Atlantis offers almost any kind of modern amenity one might desire including: numerous pools, a huge casino, movie theater, restaurants, a gigantic beach with shimmering light blue water, jet ski excursions, parasailing, paddleboat rental, snorkeling, scuba excursions, dolphin encounters, an aquarium, water park (complete with water slide tubes that go through live shark tanks, and so much more I can't remember to mention here. It's truly an amazing monument to modern convenience on vacation. Unbelievably awesome for completely different reasons than the Yoga Retreat. I like them both.

On our way into Atlantis through the marina access we came across some friends of Fran and Mort's from Saugatuck, Michigan. This retired couple also sail in the Bahamas during the winter and were renting a spot in the Atlantis marina for a few days. Normally, marina slips cost roughly $1/foot per day. Atlantis charges $4.50/foot per day. Everything costs more there…just like Vegas. Anyway, it was really cool to see people from Michigan in the Bahamas. Small world.

After our Atlantis visit, we went back to the Alato (my relative's sailboat) for a little rest in the shade. The Alato is only 34' in length, but, is a sturdy ship built in 1988 (I think I remember that right). Built with plywood by the original owner, Alato weighs a total of 7,000 pounds. This is not a large boat. There are still times when I feel a little uncomfortable in the middle of the ocean even on a huge cruise ship like the Majesty. I can't wrap my brain around being relaxed on a 34 footer bobbing up and down. But, as Fran puts it, "Once the water is deep enough to be over your head, it really doesn't matter where you are." That works for them. The jury is still out for me.

Fran and Mort live comfortably and frugally. The purchase very little outside of fresh vegetables and fruit from the locals and catch fish and other sea food for most meals. Mort was shopping for some new fishing tackle as the others had been lost earlier in the week and Fran informed me that fishing tournaments are huge in the Bahamas. People come from Florida all summer long to compete and haul enormous fish out of the ocean. Mort's line is only 100 pound test. Anything bigger than 100 pounds and I assume he would prefer to spear it rather than try to haul it in on fishing line. I love the idea of these two snorkeling and spearing fish for dinner all winter long. So cool.

While shopping for fishing tackle, Fran showed me some other toys that people enjoy in the Bahamas including a stand up paddle board. Fran has one of these already on the Alato and enjoys paddling around on calm days. Even better, she enjoys being pulled behind Mort in the dinghy pretending to surf. She says it's "kinda fun."

Our day finished up with a walk into "old" Nassau. We grabbed a table and had a couple of beers at a local bed and breakfast that has been around since Nassau declared independence from Great Britain in 1973 (I think that date is right). We exchanged laughs, stories and they were kind enough to lend a sympathetic ear to my trials and tribulations of late which are, in large part, responsible for my Walkabout in the first place. All in all it was an amazing day spent with my family. I really appreciate the opportunity I had to spend time with them and to get a sneak peek into their life at sea. As Mort says, "It's just living. We just happen to live on a boat."

Enjoy the pictures. They don't come even CLOSE to doing the scenery justice, but, it's the best I can do.

Beach yoga platform.

Yoga retreat beach (Atlantis in background)

Yoga beach...wow, just wow...

Garden at the Yoga Retreat

Popular photo spot at Atlantis

Fran and Mort. 

One of many HUGE yachts in the Atlantis marina. 

Middle of second deck you can see a bit of the "runabout"

boat that launches from the yacht. 32' Riva speedboat. That

gives you an idea of the relative size of this yacht!

Friends from Michigan.

Posing in Atlantis.

Atlantis beach is somewhat busy. This particular

beach seems to stretch for miles.

The fam.

Fran and Morts trimaran.

My transportation for the day. Dinghy butt!

Beers at the B+B.