The Beach in Cannes

We had a very chill day on Friday in Cannes, France. We had a big group from our department just hanging out at the beach all day. We had a giant bottle of vodka, some juices, bread, olives, cheese, and sausage. It was fantastic, and I didn't get too burnt!

That's the Epic way out there. Cannes is a tender port, so the ship sits at anchor and we tender over to land in the life boats.

 My house.

The next day (yesterday) in Marseilles the traffic was awful so they stopped letting crew off the ship because the passengers were cued up waiting for busses and they get priority. Diane and I decided to explore the ship more and went to the arcade. I won the claw machine the first two times I tried it. Then we got pedicures at the spa. Not a total waste of a day.

Trevi Fountain & Spanish Steps

Another Roman adventure! Diane and I went out to find the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps on Wednesday. We got a little lost and detoured to lots of shops (we both have a bit of a shopping problem) but we eventually found both. At the steps we met a very nice old Italian man who recommended a great little restaurant around the corner and we chatted for a bit.

 Trevi Fountain. Yes, we tossed in our coins :-)

It was beautiful, but crowded so we didn't stay long.

Diane, my adventure partner. She's one of the Blue Man Group techs.

Nutella Gelato with fresh whipped cream. Heaven. (Yes we had this before lunch)

The Spanish Steps. Again, super crowded, but this is where we met our Italian friend.

Lunch was delicious. Lasagna Bolognese. Om nom :-)

The Vatican

The only major tourist excursion I've gone on so far was a trip to the Vatican in Rome. It was Al's birthday (one of the Blue Men,) and he wanted to go. My favorite part was that I was told around midnight that this trip was happening the next day and to meet up at 8:45. Anyway, the pope give his weekly address on Wednesdays, which happens to be the day that we port in Civitavecchia and Rome is a 45 minute train ride away. Since this was my first time off the ship, I let everyone else take the lead. One of our wardrobe girls, Katie, goes into Rome all the time and has been on the ship the longest of those of us that went. Elaine, one of the Legends dancers knew how to do everything too. Al, Diane (Blue Man props girl,) Greg (Blue Man music director & zither player,) and I pretty much let them take the lead in getting us on the right train, which we managed.

 Benny is up there under that tent. We were pretty far back because we got there after he had begun and didn't really go to see/hear him speak. We just wanted to go to the museum.

 Nameless mummy. It's ridiculous how perfectly the body is preserved though. 

There were lots of lion statues in the animal statue room, but this was was the coolest.  We named him Aslan.

Even the ceilings were something to look at! It was complete sensory overload, I had no idea where I should look or what I should take pictures of.

Tour groups were awful! The leaders would stop the whole group right in the middle of the corridors and block traffic. We managed to get around most of them though. This entire hallway was just one massive collection of art on the ceiling, it was difficult to walk and look at them and not bump into or step on anyone.

Since the Sistine Chapel is a sacred place, pictures are not allowed, knees and shoulders have to be covered, and you're supposed to be silent. It was crazy being in there, I never thought I'd get the chance, but my second week on the ship I ended up at one of the places I've always wanted to see. It wasn't anything like I expected, the colors were much more vibrant that I thought they'd be. It was really a great experience simply for the art and history there since I have no religious ties to it. Anyway, this spiral staircase was how you left the museum, it was just a cool shot that I liked.

Some castle, not sure what it's significance or story is, but hey it's a castle a few blocks from the Vatican! Al said he thinks they hid a pope there once. That's all I've got. 

We had lunch in a little cafe, it was pretty good nothing extraordinary to report about that. So yeah, that was my trip to the Vatican :-)

The Basics

I'm about 2 and a half weeks into my 6 month contract on the norwegian Epic, cruising around the Mediterranean for the summer. I guess we should do this right and start with the basics. Our cruise itinerary is:
Sunday: Barcelona, Spain
Monday: At Sea
Tuesday: Napoli (Naples,) Italy
Wednesday: Civitavecchia, Italy (Rome is a train ride away from this port)
Thursday: Livorno, Italy
Friday: Cannes, France
Saturday: Marseille, France

My job. My job title is "stage manager" but I also assist the Production Manager with some stuff. Basically I serve as a back up for the department. I'm learning to call all of the shows onboard, which are Legends In Concert (we have Rod Stewart, Madonna, and Elvis) and Blue Man Group on the main stage which is the Epic Theatre. In the Spiegel Tent we have Cirque Dreams & Dinner (which is not a CdS show, just a similar style of circus.) I've been calling Legends since the first week I got here and shadowing a lot on the other two. Cirque is difficult only because almost all the cues are safeties that can't go until the performers are safely set in certain places, so it's really just getting to know the show better. I could probably call that one at this point, I just haven't. Blue Man is very specific and mostly set to counts, so that one is the most difficult, but I'm comfortable with most of the sections. I also oversee the Nickelodeon events, mostly just spot checking them to make sure they are starting their events on time and that they have everything they need. There's also a Motown Cabaret in one of the dining rooms with the ensemble from Legends when they don't have shows in the Epic-so 3 times a week. I just have to get them there and take a few notes for that one though, the show runs itself and the techs know what they're doing--mostly. I don't really work all that much, I have all day to go play in port and then I come in around 5 or so to check e-mails and do a few paperwork type things, and work until about 11:30 or 12:30 depending on which show is happening. For the shows that the Production Stage Managers call, I just watch the shows or wander around the ship checking in with the other guest entertainers in the lounges and stuff like that. It's a pretty cushy job, and I have a "yellow card" which allows me to be in any passenger area and I'm allowed to take my name tag off when I'm outside of crew areas.

There's a lot of drinking onboard, mostly because there's nothing else to do. We usually end up in one of the lounges for a while and then head down to crew bar. On Wednesdays we have movie nights in the Epic theatre on the big projection screen. I've been reading a lot in my downtime too. I don't spend much time in my cabin, which I usually refer to as my shoebox. It's small, but it's a petty officer cabin, so it's not as small as a crew cabin and I have my own bathroom.

I think that covers the basics. I'll try to be good about updating this every few days or so. Eventually I'll put some pictures up too, but right now I'm using ship internet which is slow and expensive, so I'm calling it a post. I also need breakfast--I'm starving!

-Nikki