The crossing, part three: ship's innards

So, a couple of updates before I get to the crux of this posting....

I just realized that some of you may not know what I mean by F1, M1, ML, FL, and the like.  Well, they are the codes for our voice parts in the show.  For example, you have the F1 and the FL- the 1st female and the female legit voice. The F1 is the voice more tuned for broadway and pop, though in Melodie's case, she could do some classical if she really put her mind to it.  The female legit voice is the voice which is more classically oriented, though in Talia's case, she also takes on some pop and Broadway classics. 

You know, I never understood the title for "legit" voices.  It just implies that other voices are not "legit"- is that
really a fair estimate?  I mean, just because a voice is not classically trained doesn't make it any less, or any more than another voice.  My voice is nice, and it's classically trained, but I make no pretense that classical training makes my voice more important another. Just my two cents.

Back to the subject......

Turnover is a particularly stressful time for us performers- we are getting all of the shows set up for performance well enough that we can sustain ourselves, and the people from the office can go back to LA with big happy smiles on their faces.  It requires three rehearsals a day in some instances- one tech rehearsal during the morning and a dress rehearsal in the afternoon of one show, and a midnight dress rehearsal of another show. Oftentimes during the crossing, we were made to throw in performances, of which there were two, one at 8pm and one at 10pm.  Luckily for me, out of the six shows that are contracted for the ship, I am only part of four of them.  So I did have some breaks which allowed me to become a bit more accustomed to ship life.



So, the ship- it's a biggun!  For a long time, before the advent of the superliners, this ship was the biggest in the world (There is a sign, which is still displayed, in the subway station right outside of the terminal in Rotterdam stating that it still is the biggest).  It's big enough for 1500 passengers, not including the workers.  There's a huge Lido deck where you can get food in four different places, including an Italian restaurant and a pizza place in the back (or the Aft, in ship terms).  A pool also exists for the guests in the mid of the Lido, but there is what I'll politely call a wading pool in the back that all can use, but no one uses, mostly because there is just not enough water in it, and a whole bunch of metal chairs in it- not necessarily the yen of one wanting to escape the heat.  At least it has a hot tub.

The ship also has a cafe, a library, gym which overlooks the ocean (it looks like your running into
INFINITY), and a casino (off limits to employees, for our own good, I'm sure).  There's the Crow's Nest, which is the really nice bar and dance floor at the very top level of the ship, the Showroom at Sea, the lovely golden and burgundy theater which is the performance home of most of the major performances onboard, the Pinnacle Grill- man oh MAN the food at the Pinnacle; Lobster, Filet Mignon, Baked Alaska, heaven by way of food coma- and the Officer's Bar- the place where all the employees get to kick it with some way cheap liquor.  Of course, there is also shopping- and of course, I get a discount- all of it paid for by ship account
which is taken directly out of my check.

DANGER!!  WATCH YA SELF!!

I have a feeling it's gonna be a bit more difficult than I thought to resist spending temptation........