I had a wonderful day off and I spent it at home, I played golf first thing at my golf club “Coed Y Mwster” which in English means Whispering Trees, I played with my best pal Ken Whyte and we did have a lovely round, the sun was shining and it was around 24c so it was just perfect, later in the club house I had a good catch up with Sammy the steward of the club and Gareth the Captain and what a fantastic welcome, I am so proud to be a member of this fabulous golf club and one of the finest courses in Wales too! After golf I took my wife Marie to lunch at the Rose and Crown pub in knottage just outside Porthcawl and what a lovely pub it is, it’s a Brains owned pub and a true gastro experience with a fab pint too. We then went and got plants for our hanging baskets and spent an hour planting in the back garden, all this sounds a bit boring to some but for me it was heaven. It was soon time to go and pick Sam up from school and this afternoon we took his scooter so he could ride it back home via the play park of course, he loves a little 30mins in there, we are so lucky where we live as we have a few parks surrounding us. Sam was full of beans when he saw me and when we got back to the house I had a little surprise for him, my mate Ken very kindly gave him some golf clubs that his grandson had grown out of, you should have seen Sam’s face, he loves them, but he did insist in wanting to hit real golf balls in the garden and wasn’t too happy when I said we have to use plastic practice balls, “I’m not playing with baby golf balls” he said.
It was soon time for Sammy to go to bed and I loved reading him his story about aliens, yes I know but he loves it!
Marie made the most beautiful chilli con carne I have ever tasted in my life, we both loved it, I of course had to have two lots of it!
Today its time to pack my case and start my journey to Copenhagen. The car came for me at 12noon and Andrew was my driver, we got to Heathrow Terminal 5 at 2pm. I got myself to the self check-in machine and it didn’t recognize my details so I asked the nice chap from BA and he looked on his computer and he tells me that I am not booked on the 4pm to Copenhagen, panic sets in a bit and I ring my office and it turns out that my flight had been cancelled for some reason and they were trying to get me on another flight, my mobile phone was very low on battery and this was beginning to be a nightmare, the phone rang and all was sorted, I had to get on a train to Terminal 4 as I was to get on a flight to Amsterdam then onto Copenhagen, I met a great guy at T5 and he helped me to get to T4, its funny who you can meet at airports, this mans name was David and he had flown in from the middle east for a meeting and was about to fly back again all in the same day, his meeting was in a pub and he said it was great as they all had a pint and some fish and chips, he’s a lawyer for an oil company, so David if you are reading this for what ever reason I would like to say a big thank you for your help in getting me safely to T4, funny, a Canadian lawyer who lives in the middle east shows me how to get from T5 to T4 on the train!
I was soon in Copenhagen after having a pleasant time in Amsterdam airport which I love by the way, and was then on my way to my hotel, my feet were killing me as I chose to wear a brand new pair of Lacoste shoes which gave me a terrible blister, I have had 4 pairs of the same shoe but these were killing me.
I slept like a baby for around 9hrs and woke up feeling bunged up again, this cold and chest infection is just going on and on and driving me up the wall. Breakfast in the hotel was lovely and I was soon in the ever so expensive, over the top, over priced taxi (50euros) to the ship.
I do love the Jewel of the Seas and I was given a very nice welcome onboard from Dale who is one of the production team, they organized for my suit and shirts to be pressed as I am on tonight. I found a lovely letter in my suit from singer Zoe Tyler, she had not yet left the ship so we had lunch together in the Windjammer Café along with cruise director Clo who is the most wonderful person.
All unpacked now and waiting for my rehearsal at 5pm, my shows tonight are 8.45pm and 10.45pm. See you later.
Just back from rehearsals and it was lovely to see some of the same brilliant musicians in the band, Sasha the musical director is there and is brilliant, the same soundman Chris is there so rehearsal went very smoothly except a hick up with a brand new arrangement of ‘Its Not Unusual’ other than that, great! It really is an amazing theatre to work and I feel ever so comfortable up there, my voice is still shaky but at least I have one, so yes I am up for it tonight!
Both shows went well and the crowd were lovely, it was a good mix 50% British, 40% Americans and the rest were Canadians, Australians, Irish, Middle Eastern and Spanish so what a mix what a melting pot and I loved it, my voice unfortunately got quite dry and in turn sore “AGAIN” I have had enough now and I’m getting a bit depressed with it all, I couldn’t sing What Colour Is The Wind so couldn’t share my charity (RNIB) with everyone and also couldn’t sing Nessun Dorma either, well some would say I have never been able to sing it but it has served me well over the years!
This afternoon I’m going to watch TV, maybe take in a couple of movies, I have Warhorse and Sherlock Holmes on DVD so that sounds like a plan.
Tomorrow we dock in Harwich England, I do like this little sea town and it has a beautiful park and seafront so I will probably take some photos, I have taken photos there before but hey lets do it again. There are also some excellent fish and chips there too!
I have just watched War Horse and balled my eyes out all the way through, what a film what a horse, it makes you think doesn’t it what a huge contribution horses made in the 1st world war, those poor animals and what they were put through, a truly amazing film.
It’s clocks back an hour tonight so now its only 10pm and I’m in bed so I think I’ll read for a while and pray my voice comes back, my next show is day after tomorrow. Good Night and thanks for reading my blog!
A very good morning to you…yes we are now in Harwich. I was up at 6.30am breakfast at 8am into Dovercourt by 9am and the photo shoot began, you know how I love to take photos and if you don’t, well, I love to take photos. I went down the seafront took loads, have a look!
Went into Old Harwich which is an old maritime town with oldie worldie houses and lots of old pubs. I also went to church and was given a lovely welcome by the priest and most of the congregation, even had a cuppa after.
After a few more pics of the town I couldn’t resist popping into one of the local pubs for a pint of real ale and what a welcome I had at the Hanover Pub, I even pulled a few pints behind the bar, check out the photo!
Soon time for another £10 taxi back to the ship and managed to get on quite quickly as I know some of the girls working on the check-in desks, so straight through. I’m now sitting on my balcony enjoying the view and watching the ships come in and then watching them go out again…sounds like I’m sitting on the dock of the bay, but no I’m onboard!
We sailed on time at 5.30pm and I took a few more photos, the sun was shining and everything just looked perfect. We are on our way now back to Copenhagen where I will disembark and fly back to Heathrow and stay in a hotel overnight as the next morning I fly to Gibraltar to join the Grand Princess and sail back to Copenhagen via Southampton, I have never worked on Princess Cruises before so it will be back to being the new boy again, I don’t like being the new boy but sometimes you have to grit your teeth and get on with it.
I spoke to my son Tom today and he told me he had been sick and they sent him home from Birds of a Feather last night, it was something he ate, he’s fine today and is now in Salford ready for a week at the theatre there.
I also spoke with my brother Phill today, he was playing golf at the ever so nice Whitchurch Golf Club, he said the weather was fantastic, so we both had the same weather but he, the lucky so and so was playing golf, I love playing golf with my brother Phill we have a good laugh and we enjoy a pint together afterwards.
I of course spoke with my wife Marie and she was having a frustrating day trying to get birthday presents, I think Argos is not in her good books!
There’s a lovely sunset right outside my balcony so yes you’ve guessed it, I took a photo of it, maybe I’m in the wrong job! See you tomorrow, good night!
Good Morning!
Today we are at sea and though its sunny it’s quite windy out there, I slept like a baby last night for about 11hrs and I think it ahs done me good, I have prayed my voice would come back as I really need it now, I have my show tonight in the Coral Theatre and I so want to give my best. Lunch was lovely as it usually is as the food on RCI is always tip top notch, I had a salad then some really tasty Hungarian Goulash, after lunch I went and packed my case once again, as I pack so much I have come quite good at it as indeed all us travelling entertainers are.
It was soon time for my rehearsal and we had a brand new drummer joining us who is amazing and also a new soundman, I was praying he would be good and boy oh boy oh boy what a soundman, the last time I had a soundman that good outside my guys at home from Neath Music was Steffan from Celebrity Cruises, wow this guy was amazing, his name is Regan and he’s from India and he does some big music tours there and loads of other big stuff, I explained to him what I wanted and boom, there it was, my perfect sound, thank you Ragan, thank God for you!
I have 1hr and 30mins to my show which is a 9pm then I have the late show at 10.45pm, after that sound check I have the confidence now and I’m well up for it, please God let there be a voice!
Amen. I had my voice back, although it did start to get a bit sore but its now on the mend, Amen! What a great crowd and packed to the rafters 1100 of them, I do hope the late show will be a good attendance, it won’t be full but if its half to three quarters that would be great, I wish I was taking the door money tonight!
The late show was a good ¾ full and a great crowd, thank you Clo and all on the Jewel for looking after me.
Today we are back in Copenhagen and my most dear friend Gary Lovini joined this morning, we had a good catch up and we laughed our heads of, I did my impression of the cow with a sore throat and Gary was hysterical, it was sad to say goodbye. I’m now at the airport waiting to fly to Heathrow where I will stay tonight in a hotel and fly to Gibraltar in the morning.
I had 3 lovely days off at home with Marie and Sam and boy what awful weather, I have never in my life seen such bad weather, 80mph winds and driving rain, oh well it was still good to be home, my bad chest has got a lot better and I am now back on the Grand Princess and back in the same cabin I vacated only 4 days ago. My show is tomorrow night in the Princess Theatre and then another show in the Vista Lounge the next night, then I’m done as I’m flying home the next day from Seville Spain after docking in Cadiz.
My dear old pal Mark O’ Malley is onboard and what a terrific act he is, Mark has a great voice and when we get together we laugh until it hurts!
We had our emergency drill and Mark and I laughed so much at times, he’s a great bloke and has that “always laughing” face, it’s great to see him again!
We sailed away at 4.15pm and the Celebrity Eclipse sailed before us and then we passed the Azura and then the much loved Oriana, my heart skipped a beat as we sailed passed her, our ship the Grand Princess gave her a salute by means of many loud blasts on the ships horn and Oriana sounded hers back to us, I felt like saluting her myself, I owe so much of the success I now enjoy to that wonderful ship, I joined her in October 1996 so have been associated with her all this time, gosh 16yrs, so that’s means Oriana is now 17yrs old, it seems only like yesterday she came out as the brand new kid on the block and making the old QE2 look old and tired, but there again, what an amazing ship QE2 was, I have been so blessed to have travelled on all these magnificent ships.
Ok, it’s a school night for me tonight as I have two shows tomorrow night and two shows the following night, enjoy the photos of all these wonderful ships as we sailed away from Southampton.
A couple with Mark O Malley and a good meal and I was away to my bed.
Good Morning. We are at sea today crossing the Bay of Biscay and the sea isn’t too bad, a bit bumpy but nowhere near as bad as we were all expecting.
My rehearsal went great and tonight I am in the Vista Lounge and felling a tad nervous as I would in all honesty prefer to work the theatre, oh well it’s not like it’s the first time I have ever worked a lounge and it does look fabulous.
Just back from the 8.30pm show in the Vista Lounge, it went great but felt different, I worked different, I worked “the room” more if you know what I mean, I over ran so I must have done a good job, but felt like I was really having to work hard for the laughs, well that is good for you too! I have 30mins to my next show, so now I have done a show in there I now know what to expect and just get on with it and not expect it to happen, I have to make it happen, a lesson learn’t!
Oh yes…I learnt from the first show and really upped the pace. I worked at lightning speed and got great results, everybody happy. After the show I went to the Officers Wardroom with Mark and Chris the Deputy Cruise Director and had a couple of beers then off to bed and slept like a log until 11am next day.
We are still at sea and now sailing closer to Cadiz in Southern Spain and I am on again tonight, this time in the beautiful Princess Theatre, so music to get ready and comedy materiel to look at and then I have to pack my case, I pack and unpack so many times I can do it in around 15mins.
Rehearsal is in 3hrs 30mins and I can hear my old pal Tony Wright saying “yeah but what a lovely 3hrs 30mins” haha!
A very good rehearsal and a lovely 8.30pm show from which I have just come in through the door, the next show in 35mins, I hope the next crowd will be just as good.
Oh the late show crowd were fantastic, thank Sylvia for the dance on stage you were amazing. After the show I headed down to the Officers Wardroom for a pint and then back to my cabin to finish off the packing.
I woke at 8.30am and after a good breakfast it was time to go, my taxi was there waiting for me to take me to Seville Airport and my flight to Madrid where I am right now, my flight for London Heathrow is in an hour and I have been sitting here for that time too, I’ll soon be home and a nice 3 day break and then it’s off to Norway on the RCI Brilliance of the Seas and I’m taking my parents with me, so see you then!
Thank you as always for visiting the website and following me on the blog, I know I write in a day to day way but it really helps me and to think you are reading it gives me a great pleasure! Thank You!
