Indy!!!!

Hello family and friends!!! I can’t believe it’s already October, and my second week aboard the Independence of the Seas! It feels like just yesterday when I was auditioning in New York and now here I am, flying in aerial shows with Royal Caribbean Productions!! 

I started rehearsals July 28th in the RCCL studios in Hollywood, Florida. We learned four shows before I was flown to Barcelona, Spain on September 24th. I had an overnight before I was to join the ship so I was able to spend the day exploring the beautiful city! It was a gorgeous day; the streets were packed with people celebrating a holiday in honor of their town. I watched the parade of elaborate costumes and enjoyed the festive marching band music. Then I toured around, admiring the brilliant designs on the houses and businesses, stopping at a few street vendors to gaze at the various craftwork. 

I indulged in delicious tapas and white sangria for lunch in the town square. I couldn't stop thinking about how lucky I am to eat, shop, and explore various parts of the world. Sometimes it feels like it’s a movie and I’m trying to soak everything in!!!  

The next day, the six other flyers and I joined the ship. The Independence is MASSIVE!!! It’s the biggest ship I’ve ever been on, and it’s stunning! Over the next week we learned the aerial apparatuses that are used in our shows: velocity stilts, two point harness, trapeze, bungee, hand loop, silk loop, ladders, and Spanish web. I’m so excited that I can now add some of these to my resume for New York auditions!!!! :D That was my goal at the beginning of the year and now I can focus on my singing as well as continuing my aerial and dance training!

The rest of my cast joined us on the 2nd of October in Southampton. I was able to run off the ship for some quick internet and lunch with Joce and Lucky before we started rehearsals. My cast is a lot bigger than I’ve ever had, there’s twenty of us!!! We have six singers-Shawn and Stephanie, Randy and Danielle, and Nick and Michelle. I did my second contract on the Vision with Michelle so I’m really happy I have the chance to work with her again. Allie and Dima are our featured ballroom couple in two of our shows. They are married and from the Ukraine. We have the seven flyers- LeConte, Michael, Luke, Lucky, Melissa, Joce, and me. And the dancers-Elliot, Jacob, Sarah, Chloe, and Meghan. 

We had four days to open Invitation to Dance, our ballroom show. It went pretty smoothly as there’s not a lot of technical elements to deal with. I love the costumes!!! There’s a lot of fun skirts that really help me to feel like a ballroom dancer. I can now add all of the ballroom styles I’ve learned to my resume as well-quick step, cha cha, tango, and jive. Allie and Dima will continue to teach us the technique and give us notes so hopefully by the end of the contract, I will have mastered it all!!! 

Once Upon A Time will open in two days!!!! This is our fairytale show and the first show to incorporate some flying and there’s a lot of scene changes so the process has been slower. Because I have the duet as Sleeping Beauty, my part is pretty simple, just dancing :D Next cruise we will open Center Stage, which is more of a singer show with not a lot of dancing, then we will start working on Under The Big Top. UTBT is our circus show and it’s a beast. Lots of flying, lots of technical elements, LOTS OF FUN!!! I can’t wait to get the costumes on and open that show!!! 

Well folks, I will leave my update here, but keep checking back for more! Pictures will come soon! :D I’m looking forward to when people can come cruise!!!! Miss and love you all!!!

Let The Sun Shine!!!!!

The end of October thru December 8th brought us to East and West Caribbean. Our ports of call were Half Moon Cay (HAL private island), Falmouth (Jamaica), Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Georgetown (Cayman Islands), Key West (Florida), Grand Turk & Caicos, San Juan (Puerto Rico), Saint Thomas (US Virgin Islands), Saint-Martin/ Sint Maarten (French/Dutch owned), and our home port of Ft. Lauderdale (Florida). Erin and I bought a snorkel so we had lots of fun exploring the ocean's hidden treasures. I love discovering fish I've never seen before, and I even found a sunken canon! I hope to someday become scuba certified so I can continue my exploration of the sea, just like Ariel :)

As most of you know, it's long been on my bucket list to swim with dolphins. AND I GOT TO DO IT!!!!! I did some research to make sure we went to a reputable location, somewhere I felt treated the animals well and that our money would go to providing good care for them. I was on the ship when the infamous Black Fish movie came out and I've watched it about a dozen times since. I agree these animals should not be kept in captivity, but I'm very grateful I was able to swim with the dolphins. They had several areas for swimming and the park had sharks, birds, and other native animals. I felt the location was really large and nice, I never got the feeling that the animals were mistreated. After doing the Trainer For A Day program with the Chicago Aquarium, I've learned the difference of trainers that work with the animals to learn from them; studying them to help recover from the disastrous effects humans have had on their environment, verses trainers that brutally force the animals to perform tricks to draw in crowds. Eventually, I want to go into a career where I can put a stop to these vicious acts.

Erin came with me and we had a lot of fun playing with our young dolphin, Zeus.

At first, I really didn't like Key West. It seemed incredibly trashy to me, much like Las Vegas. It seemed geared towards Americans who wanted a cheap vacation to get smashed and get tattoos, just not my scene at all. However, once I explored further into the city (ALWAYS GET AWAY FROM THE TOURIST TRAPS), I found gorgeous art and really cool  knick knack shops!  I even went to the original Sloppy Joe's shop where I ate.....not a Sloppy Joe haha I ate one of the most amazing cheese quesadillas of my life!!!! 

Half Moon Cay was probably my favorite beach. The sand was so soft and the water was stunning! Even when it was raining, you could stay in the water and it was perfect bliss!!!! I enjoyed playing football on the beach, various dance jams and gymnastic photo shoots, as well as just relaxing; listening to the waves or music and reading. 

                               

Fall In New England

Our New England itinerary included New York City (New York), Boston (Massachusetts), Newport (Rhode Island), and Bar Harbor (Maine). There was so much colonial history to discover in this beautiful area. I fell in love with the seaport living (and delicious seafood) of Newport and Bar Harbor. Boston became one of my favorite cities with its amazing food and live music scene in Quincy Market. Some of my favorite excursions along the Freedom Trail included walking Hanover Street (one of the oldest streets in Boston), touring Paul Revere's house and other aged architectural treasures like The Bell In Hand Tavern; established in 1795, it is America's oldest tavern!

                                                                          Paul Revere's House

Freedom Trail

                                   Jimmy Fallon!

Fall In Canada

September- October was our Canada/ New England itinerary. I wasn't too impressed with our Canadian ports; I definitely want to travel to the other side of the country to see the more mountainous parts rather than the sea towns. But I had a lot of fun exploring the towns with my friends. Some highlights include sightseeing at the citadel in Halifax with Erin's family, and hot yoga and delicious ice cream when Kevin came to cruise. Quebec was the one exception to these unimpressive locations, it was AMAZING.  I loved shopping and discovering the French quarter! We found PHENOMENAL pizza. I'm working on trying to remember the name of the restaurant!!!! I do however remember two great shops that I discovered-Roots and Simmons!!! :D

                               

From Holland To America!

September 8th we were ported in St. Johns, Newfoundland. This was a particularly exciting spot for me because I had chosen Newfoundland as my Canadian Province to study back in elementary school so I was stoked to have the opportunity to visit it! There was even a Newfoundland puppy to greet us on the pier, so I knew I would like Canada! :) We spent our day touring the port, and found George Street, the North Atlantic version of Bourbon Street. It was raining pretty heavily so we did a mini pub crawl, enjoying live music,drinks and food provided by the wonderful Canadian hospitality. After the rain ceased, we window shopped and strolled thru the rows of brightly colored houses that continued all the way down to the harbor.

"Eskimo Bells Up In.....Greenland...Are Ringing!!!"

After Iceland, we spent a day cruising the Prince Christian Sund of Greenland, translated to the Prince Christian Sound. I now know a sound is a large sea or ocean inlet that is larger than a bay, deeper and wider than a fjord. It's cool to sail on a ship thru all these types of bodies of water and landscapes and actually be able see the difference with my own eyes. The Eurodam, and ships of equal size, are the largest cruise ships that can make it on this voyage, if it's not blocked by icebergs.

The following day we docked in Nanortalik, Greenland. Cruise ship tourism to Greenland is still in its infancy so there's not much to take in but I really enjoyed people watching. The locals here reminded me so much of a typical Eskimo in Alaska, dark features and skin. We were told having a ship come to their shores is the highlight of their year, and I could see the excitement in the children’s eyes while they ran around us yelling “HI!!!! HI!!!!” We were all bundled up in giant coats and scarves, and while we walked around the small town, shivering, the natives’ fashioned shorts and t-shirts, apparently it was their summer! Our ship collected used clothes to donate to the Intuits’, since they don’t get a lot of imported goods. It must be a difficult way of living with the harsh weather and having limited resources delivered to help. I’m even more grateful for the convenience of America.

Aurora Borealis

September 1st and 2nd we had an overnight in Reykjavik, Iceland! On the first day we took a crew tour out to the Blue Lagoon, the volcanic hot springs. I felt a bit like the brave (but crazy) people who partake in the Polar Bear Plunge as I ran in my bathing suit thru the freezing wind to get to the water. Although the place smelt of sulfur (that pungent stench of rotten eggs), the water was amazing, warming our bodies from the cold air surrounding us. We even tried the natural mud cream facial scrub as we swam around the springs.