Off to the Baltic!

At the top you'll see photos from my birthday dinner at Chops! :)

Well guys, I'm in Miami for the last time! We start our crossing this time so I'll be passing through Bermuda, Portugal, and Belgium before reaching our new home port of Harwich, England. I can't WAIT for all these beautiful European ports again! Please say a prayer for us to have safe a SMOOTH travels across the ocean! I'll be keeping in touch via facebook and email as much as I possibly can, but you know how that goes...hahaha. For now, here's a few more show pictures that one of our headliners took of West End. There's some beautiful ones of all of us, so I hope you enjoy looking at them and please let me know if the links don't work for these things. See you all in about 6 weeks time!! :)

Click the underlined text for photos: WEB PHOTOS

Blessings~ Kristian :)

Ok, I know...it's been waaay too long!

I'm sorry guys. I know I haven't updated this thing in MONTHS. It's just...well, most of the people I know that check this thing have access to my facebook profile so...I just figured you get most of your updates via facebook! I did want to add a few pics and video links so that you can check those out whether you're my friend there or not though.

I have to say, overall this contract has been amazing thus far. My cast is very professional. We're all grown ups and just love having silly fun together. :) The game of Uno has become our claim to fame, and Dan (B1) even got hats made for the winner and loser of each Uno night! hahaha We have the Uno World Champion and the Uno Crap Player....both strong titles, but obviously we all strive for the first one! lol

We've only had to re-block the shows once since we've been on board, and even then we had PLENTY of notice to be prepared for it. Dan decided to go home for his brother's wedding, so Ryan stepped in and covered both the B1 and B2 parts so that we wouldn't have to use a dancer to lip sing. It worked out great and the audience didn't even know the difference.

Other than that, the hardest part of this particular contract was not being home to say goodbye to PawPaw....I'm still dealing with that.... It's times like this, when you know you'd just feel better to be surrounded by family, that you realize how difficult this job is. I love so many aspects of it...singing my heart out week after week...traveling to places I could never afford to see on my own...meeting great friends from all over the globe....but being away from family when something goes wrong is by far the hardest thing I've had to experience. Just please keep my Granny and the rest of the family in your prayers....This is the time when things get the hardest - you know, once the dust settles and everyone else goes back to their regular lives/schedules....I know this is when she'll feel the loneliest. I keep the cross necklace he gave me hung up in my room so that I never forget to pray for her...It helps me remember the best things about him as well. :)

Anyway, enough sad topics.... I have 1 more cruise here in the Caribbean, and then it's off to the Baltic. That will be the best part of this entire contract! I can't wait to see more of the places I didn't get to explore fully. It's SO beautiful over there!

Please keep me in your prayers while I'm here. We've been continuing our church service and it's been really good. Steve leaves after next cruise though, so it'll be up to me to speak and sing from now on. I'm a little nervous about it, but I know it's what God wants from me while I'm here. It's my little contribution on board and the guests seem to really appreciate it.

So, that's my quick update. Here are some links for photos and videos that you should be able to go to whether you're a facebooker or not! I hope you enjoy and thanks for trying to keep up with me while I'm out on the high seas! Love you all!

COD and Tango photos http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070054&id=156800509&l=586294551b

WEB and COD photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066125&id=156800509&l=441bb12af0

Riding ATV's in Aruba: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069848&id=156800509&l=dd563b093a

Here We Go Again!!

Well I'm BACK in Hollywood rehearsing! I can't believe it, but I've decided to do another contract with Royal. I started rehearsals for the Jewel again Nov 11 and will be coming home for Christmas for 2 weeks, then joining ship around Jan. 10.

Photos: top - Rob and Timera - they've been together 5 years and 6 contracts!!!next - Christie, Sabrina (G2), Jessica, and Timera

middle - Dan (B1) and Ryan (B2)

then - Timera, Laura Ann and myself

and bottom - Our Thanksgiving FEAST! haha

So far, I can tell I'm going to like this cast. They're all my age or older accept 1 of our male dancers, therefore they are mature and don't have to go out and be crazy all the time...they just enjoy hanging out, playing cards, movie nights etc. That same guy is the only new hire as well. Everyone else has done at least 2 contracts before this.

The down side of this rehearsal process has just been the organization with the office and our rehearsal schedule. We've had choreographers and vocal directors come and go like breath mints!! It's driving everyone batty!!!! We started rehearsals on what, Wed? Met our vocal director and then found out he would be leaving the next night for NY and therefore we were "study independently" until Monday when he would return. Now he's gone again and we're working with a different director only to discover that he can't make any changes to anything b/c our old director plans to return to finish teaching us in another week.... It's one big mess... I'm just thankful I already know the shows, so I don't have to be stressed out!!

Well I'm running out of battery so I have to cut this one short. Just wanted to add some pictures and drop a quick note anyway!! More to come asap!! Love you all and see you in 3 weeks!!

I can't believe it's almost over!!

The whole cast together at the last Mystery Dinner Theater.
Patrick and I at our last Summer Breeze Set.

I love these guys!! (Patrick & Tait)
The 4 singers just before our bows in the Tango Show.

Well guys, I can't believe it, but I'll be home in 4 days time!!!  Things have been crazy around here, but we've had a blast enjoying our last cruise as a cast. :)  

Let me just go back about a week...Last time we were in Norway, which would've been...around 10 days ago I guess?  Andy, boy 2 (singer), was rushed off the ship and to the emergency room.  He ended up having emergency surgery to have his appendix removed!!  They said that if this pain would've come to him while he was at sea and couldn't get to a hospital, his appendix would've most likely burst.  All I can say is, God was definitely looking out for him on that day!  So, we were without a boy 2 for about 4 days while he recovered in the hospital, and then he flew to Denmark to join the ship again the day of our Tango Show.  I can't believe it, but he actually performed that night after everything he'd been through!  He was more concerned about us getting through our shows without him than anything else.  Thankfully everything went great, and he's been able to perform in both Tango and West End with no problems.  So, for those that knew about this and were praying - THANK YOU!!! Our prayers were answered and he is 100% better now.  

Other than that little bit of drama, things have been wonderful for our last cruise.  The shows have been great so far, and even though it's been a little rainy this time around, the ports are still just as beautiful.  

The cruise director threw us a farewell party last night, which was SO much fun!  We reserved the Travelers Bar that's usually for officers only, so it was non-smoking (YES!) and had a huge sound system. Then it was just musicians, cruise staff and ourselves cutting up and dancing all night! I have to say I'm gonna really miss these guys when we leave.  I've gotten really close to some of them and we have an absolute blast when we're all together.  

So, now the fun part begins.  Beginning the packing process....YUCK...and figuring out what's next once I get home!  I got an offer to come back and do the Jewel again in November.  I'm not sure yet if I'll take it, but I'm considering it.  I just hate that it's so far away!  Honestly, I should probably just be thankful I've gotten anything at all. I talked to one of my friends in the office via email, and she said people that haven't worked for them in like 10 years are starting to call and try to get back in with the company because of the economy right now!  She also said that several people haven't gotten offers and won't get anything until the new year because there's absolutely nothing left.  It made me feel a little better about the situation because I was initially a little disappointed about not getting something different.  I obviously hoped for a new itinerary because seeing new places is 75% of the fun in this job!  There are good things about it too though...I would have a good shot at vocal captain since I already know the shows, the itinerary's the same so I wouldn't be inclined to spend a lot of money, and Tait (from my current cast) is going back as well so I'd have a great friend there with me.  Well, we'll see what happens. Right now, I'm just looking forward to seeing everyone back home!  

4 more days 'till family, friends, my car, my kind of food, MY ANIMALS.... :)  Can't WAIT!!!  See you soon!!

Photo Update :)

I don't really have a lot of news as of yet.  I still haven't heard anything about my next contract, so as of now I'm just looking forward to getting back home and seeing everyone again! I can't believe in 14 days I'll be flying home!!! I got my flight info today and thankfully I got a direct flight to Atl. So, as of 7:10 pm on June 10 I'll be HOME!!!!! :)

Well, I guess the main reason I wanted to update my blog was so that I could post links to more photos that I've added to facebook.  So, here ya go:

Stockholm, Sweden:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050621&id=156800509&l=be91af7c7c

Helsinki, Finland:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050785&id=156800509&l=b399061ddd

St. Petersburg, Russia: ( there are 2 links here!)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050817&id=156800509&l=9b97355f25

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050818&id=156800509&l=e2f3dbf682

I guess that's all I know for now.  I hope you enjoy the pictures!  More to come!~ :)

The Baltic~

Well, it's been an absolutely amazing couple of weeks.  All I can say is that every port I've been to has been beautiful, unique, and amazing!  The people are beautiful...the buildings are architecturally stunning...the trees and flowers have some of the most vibrant colors I've ever seen...oh, and of course the food just rocks my socks off!! hahaha - .it's AWESOME!!  :)  I wish that I could describe everything I'm seeing, but you just have to experience it to really understand how different it is up here.  I LOVE IT!!  I have lots of pictures that I'm trying to post, but you know how the internet can be here...so, be patient and I'll do my best to continue to update them.

Cherbourg, France:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050513&id=156800509&l=86feaff8cd

  

Harwich, England:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050618&id=156800509&l=33fee64126

Copenhagen, Denmark:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050620&id=156800509&l=4ee2e190cb

Here are the pictures that I have been able to post so far.  I only wish the pictures really did these places justice!!

So, right now we just left Russia.  We had an over-night there which would've been great if immigration wasn't CRAZY here.  The only way we could get off the ship was either to have a tour ticket or a pre-paid crew shuttle ticket that specified the exact time you would be leaving and returning.  If you missed that time then you may or may not ever be able to catch the shuttle back.  WELL, we arranged to have a shuttle to take us to the Russian Ballet. We made the arrangements through the crew office and ended up having to pay extra money because the ballet runs later than the crew shuttles would be running....thus why we had to organize our own.  The office never gave us shuttle tickets because they were supposed to have it taken care of with Russian immigration/ the pier coordinator.  

SO - we get all dressed up and the whole cast gets off the ship with our passports, copies of passports, visas and a print out of our tickets for the ballet.  Then when we get there the woman at the counter refuses to let us out because we don't have a shuttle ticket or a Royal Caribbean tour ticket.  After several phone calls, one of the guys had to run back on board to get us shuttle tickets and then she finally let us out. By this point we only had 50 min to get to the show and then we find out that the shuttle never came.  Sooooo...5 more phone calls later we find out that the crew office took our money but never actually made the arrangements for the shuttle.  We all paid $75 for the show PLUS $35 for a special shuttle and then there was no shuttle and if we took taxis we could get arrested by Russian officials!!  It was TERRIBLE!!! We were all devastated.  Needless to say, I didn't make it to the ballet last night...All we can hope for now is that they refund us our money.  The crew office will definitely give us the shuttle fees back, but they aren't willing to give us the ballet money. We all feel that they should reimburse us though because it was THEIR fault that we missed the show!!  So disappointing...

On another note, we had a fire on the ship last night!  Now before you freak out too much everything is FINE.  It wasn't a huge fire, but it definitely could've been had it not been controlled very quickly.  The fuel tanker that was filling up our ship caught on fire and we were all up on deck 12 for a crew party when the 1st emergency announcement sounded.  All of the officers and the "Bravo" or fire team took off running! It was pretty scary actually. So, we all waited and prayed, hoping they'd take care of it and we wouldn't have to go into phase 2 which is getting guests to their emergency stations.  The only good thing is that this happened during our over-night in Russia, so it would've been a lot easier if we actually had to evacuate the ship.  Thankfully we never went to an official emergency because our bravo team is amazing and they took care of it before it got bad.  

Crazy story right?  Well, everything's been great since then.  Today was a nice day of rest for me.  I took it upon myself to catch up on some sleep! :)

Ok, that's all my interesting news so far.  I miss everyone! I can't believe I'll be home in a couple of weeks!! I'll see you all soon.  More to come!

Rocky Seas~

80's Party for the crew!! Andy, Lee and I!

Yes 80's!!! Lee, L.A., me, Amber, Andy & Morgan.
Bermuda...
Touching the tip of the Bermuda triangle! :)  

Well, first and foremost let me just say that Lisbon, Portugal and Vigo, Spain were absolutely GORGEOUS!!  My pictures just don't do it justice!!  The architecture was amazing...all of these beautiful old buildings with iron balconies and concrete statues....just great! Both days and just walked with good friends and explored.  We shopped and ate, relaxed and really enjoyed our time off the ship.  After 5 sea days in a row we really needed it!  

Here's a link to an album of a few of the photos I have so far:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050238&id=156800509&l=70cfcc7282

Now onto show drama! haha  - 

During our 5 day stint at sea we were supposed to do a crew only show.  We decided to make it Tango because it's beautiful, and EASY for us!  Because of this, we planned to do our actual Tango show 2nd instead of ending with it like we normally would.  This way we could use our 12 a.m. crew show as a tech run for the show that would be the following day.  WELL - we had no work during the day other than that 12 a.m. run.  All of the sudden I get a phone call at 5:30 p.m.  "Kristian, we've been called in to do Tango tonight.  Our headline act is refusing to perform so we have to step in."  Keep in mind, show time is 7 & 9!  Talk about STRESS.  Shower, hair, makeup, sound check and pre-sets with less than an hour and a half until show time!  For me it wasn't too bad becaus I only have 1 song in the show, but for everyone else it was madness! AND this was the first show we'd done without having a tech run sometime that day.  Thankfully, everything went really well and it worked out just fine because the next night (when we would've been doing the Tango show) was very rocky. 

Well, unfortunately we weren't so lucky with tonight's shows.  We had City of Dreams and it is probably 1 of the rockiest nights we've had on the ship.  The problem is that this is also the most complex show we do - launching girls in the air, lots of lifts, silks (flying), harness flying etc etc.  The first show went well, but people were starting to get nauseated and several people came close to falling hard!  In between shows the waves are crashing so hard that it sounds like boats are hitting us head on or something...costumes are swinging all over the place....it's a mess.  We're all scared to do the show because the last thing we need is another injury with just 2 cruises left!  Then after lots of discussion between the production manager and cruise director, they call the hotel director to find out if we can cancel the show and perform a matinee the following day.  We find out 5 minutes before call time that he won't allow it and the show must go on.  

Let me just say that I'm truly blessed to work with such an incredibly talented cast.  There is NO reason that we should've performed that second show. It was NOT safe for the dancers by any means.  People were running off stage to throw up.  All launches and flying were taken out because it just couldn't be done.  Unfortunately the audience didn't get the very best show that we could've given them because the hotel director was too afraid guests might complain!!  The end result was a CRAZY show with an unbelievable amount of stress and emotion as well as re-blocking from number to number to cover for people who were either getting sick or didn't make their changes because they couldn't keep their balance long enough to make the change!! Over all the show still came off well. I can't believe we were able to pull it off, but lots of prayers were said and whenever anyone was off stage they were constantly screaming words of encouragement to everyone who was out there performing!  It actually brought me to tears in the end - just watching everyone work so hard to take care of each other.  Phil, our dance captain, was overwhelmed with emotion.  He broke down as soon as the curtain went down because he was SO stressed/concerned for everyone's safety. He said he's never worked with such an amazing group who could pull off a show like we did under the amount of pressure that was laid on us.    I am SO thankful for this cast!!! AMAZING!!  

After such a crazy night and a full day of exploring Spain, I'm EXHAUSTED.  So, I'm off to bed. More to come!! 

Better late than never!! haha

70's Party - Meet Patrick (middle), the new B1!!
Dad trying to get a good picture in Aruba.
ATV's!!  We had a blast!
Mystery Theatre the night of my birthday! :)  From left - L.A., Morgan, Tait, James, me, Lee, Phil and Amber.

I'm sorry it's taken me SO long to update this thing!! WOW! I can't believe it's been a whole month!  

Well, where to begin.  I guess if I haven't had a chance to speak to you in the last month then you may not know some of these things:

I had Dad, Aunt Margaret, Uncle Henry, & Uncle Larry come and visit 2 cruises ago. We had a BLAST! It was wonderful having family on so soon after Mom and Paul were here.  I really enjoy having someone special to perform for each night!  :)  

We also got a new Boy 1 after Dwayne chose to leave us.  Patrick is here now and is wonderful.  He actually came to visit one of his friends in the cast around my first or second cruise, so we met then and got along like peanut butter & jelly.  Since then we've kept in touch via facebook. It was amazing to find out that he was actually going to be our replacement!  So, he's been here almost a month now, we have a blast hanging out, have a lot in common, and have a great chemistry on stage.  We went through a rough patch while he was trying to learn the shows, but things are much much better now.  

I had a birthday about a week ago!! I can't believe I'm actually 25 - 1/4 of a century! Hopefully this next year will be even better than my last - if that's the case then I couldn't ask for more from life! :)  

We began our crossing over to Europe May 4.  We had an overnight in Bermuda, which was AMAZING.  It was SO great just being able to have a nice dinner, after dark, on LAND!  Of course, they scheduled boat drill for 9 AM the next morning so that we weren't able to have a REAL overnight, but it was still great!  After 5 sea days in a row and losing an hour almost every night, we should be in Portugal in another 2 days. CAN'T WAIT!!! :)

By the way - I have videos up from the shows - so click on these links if you'd like to see some!

Here's Fighter from City of Dreams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbwlij7voJE

Every Time We Say Goodbye, also from City:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYQ98dDAzFk

And The Power of Love form City:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJqSCU9eBwE

I only have 2 cruises left.  Can you believe that?? It's crazy that I've already been here that long! And even more so that I'll only be performing the shows 2 more times each. I'm actually a little sad because I really love these shows and this cast is wonderful to work with. I couldn't have asked for a better situation to step into at the last minute.
Well I'm just going to enjoy the time that I have and not take one second of it for granted! I mean, I'm going to EUROPE guys!!!! AAAGGGHHHHH!!!!! Ok, I'm off to bed - this time changing thing is KILLING me. My schedule is one big ol' mess right now! It's actually 7 am here....technically... haha You know me, the night owl!  

More to come - promise! :)

Update Time

Dwayne and I for our final "Summer Breeze" set.
Luna giving me a little kiss!
John and I during my last visit to Labadee!

Hi all!  Sorry I'm a bit behind with my updates.  It's just been a crazy couple of weeks I guess!  Dwayne signed off the ship Mar. 23 and we had our first show of the new cruise Mar. 25. Well, our dance captain was Dwayne's understudy for a couple of songs and ended up going down with an ankle injury in the middle of the first show! Then one of the other dancers, Gemma, hurt her leg in the Tango show from the previous cruise, but was still trying to dance on it despite the pain.  Well, by the end of the shows that night her leg was black and blue from shin to toe.  You could see that blood was filling her foot right below the ankle....SO we were without 2 dancers and a B1 this cruise!  Rehearsals were intense...none of the dancers felt prepared because several of them were doing brand new lifts or songs in order to cover up the 2 empty spots....Andy was singing twice as much to take over all of Dwayne's parts since we couldn't afford to use a dancer in a singer position after losing 2 to injury....it's just been a roller coaster of emotions for everyone.  By rehearsal today the tension was high, everyone was frustrated, and nothing seemed to go right!  Then, after our tech run we knew there were several mistakes that needed to be worked on, so we stayed to fix things.  During one of those new lifts a 3rd dancer went flying into the wing and when she hit the ground all we heard were screams! We all thought she'd broken her foot by the sounds she was making! You could see the tears and frustration in everyone's eyes...no one knew what we would do if a 3rd dancer was out for the show tonight.  Thankfully it wasn't as bad as she thought and once she relaxed she realized she would be ok to dance on it.  We left rehearsal feeling...well just feeling like we should give up and go home I think.  

Emotions were still all over the place when we returned tonight for the first show.  L.A. (one of the dancers) and myself decided that we needed to have a little "come to Jesus" minute back stage before the show could go on.  We gathered everyone together and he gave a great pep talk. Then we said a prayer and you could feel the spirits in the room begin to lift up as soon as we said amen.  Well, the Lord really watched over everyone tonight and gave us 2 amazing shows despite everything that has gone wrong!  No one else was injured, all the changes to the show went really well, and everyone was extremely encouraging through out the whole night.  I am so blessed to work with such a talented and uplifting group of people.  

Continue to pray for us if you get the chance. Our battle has only just begun! We still have 2 dancers down with injuries and we have a new B1 signing on April 4th.  All, I can say is I'm so thankful that I have family onboard right now!  I know that God was looking out for me when he made sure that my mama was gonna be here for this drama-filled cruise.  It's been so nice to be able to just run up to Mom's room or give her a call when I needed to vent.  

Anyway, despite all of the rehearsals I've still managed to have time with my family in all of the ports.  We went horseback riding yesterday and that was absolutely wonderful! The weather's been great, so we've gotten lots of sun and enjoyed the beaches as well.  I'll be sad to see them leave, but I have lots to look forward to the next few cruises, so that'll keep my mind off of it hopefully.  Obviously the most exciting thing for next cruise is getting our new singer, but I also get to see John again this Sunday!  I can't wait for that!  Then of course the next cruise Dad and his side of the family sign on!!!!! YES!!   

Well, that's all of the updates I know for now. I'll keep everyone posted on the status of our cast during the healing process. 

P.S. I watched "Sweet Home Alabama" last night and it REALLY made me miss everyone back home!! I just love that movie!  I'll be home soon! 

You're not gonna believe this...

Things have been going so well. I love having my own space, my own room, time for me.  It's great.  The cast is wonderful, and we get along great. The shows are beautiful - I like them better than most of the ones from my last ship (except of course, the country show). 

Of course now, disaster strikes!  ha Well, that may be a bit dramatic. It's not disastrous...but very disappointing, that's for sure.  

We were getting ready to do our tech run for the tango show when our dance captain makes the announcement that Dwayne, the B1, has something to share.  For some reason I knew before he even started talking that he was ready to resign...but I hoped I was wrong.  Then comes the spill..."I've been miserable for a while being back with Royal...don't get me wrong, it's a great job, but I miss promoting my album and singing what I want when I want...blah blah blah...I've thought long and hard and I feel like I need to resign. It's not fair to you guys for me to be this miserable and bringing the rest of you down too...blah blah blah".  

SO - the end result is that Dwayne has given his 2 week notice and will be signing off the ship as of Mar. 23.  What does this mean for us? Well, 1 of 2 things - they'll either find a replacement by then and we'll be in rehearsals to get this person worked into the shows...or we'll be re-blocking the shows and putting a dancer into the things that Andy, B2, can't cover himself. I'm SO DISAPPOINTED!  I really enjoy working with Dwayne. Yes, he sometimes keeps to himself a little too much, but as far as performing...he's great, and we work really well together! Plus, I've just gotten these shows into my body - I'm comfortable with the way Dwayne sings, and I follow his lead well... Now I'm going to have to figure all that out over again with someone completely different.  This person could be equally as talented or...if it's anything like my last contract...he could "leave something to be desired"...to put it nicely. 

The end result? Just pray that we have a smooth transition into our next cast mate.  I guess it's all part of the job, so we just have to take the good with the bad and know that there's a reason for everything.  It's like I was told yesterday: this next guy could be talented as well as having an amazing personality and we could get along like peanut butter and jelly so...we'll see!  It's really worse for the rest of the cast honestly.  They've been re-blocking since they got on the ship! First a girl dancer went down, then the G1 and now B1.  SO, hopefully we'll get a quick learner and rehearsals will run smooth and quick.  That's all we can really pray for.

In other news...I see John this Sunday! AND we have our show Sat. night so that means that I'll have all day on Labadee with him!  YAY!!!  There's nothing else that's really happening right now.  I just wanted to share the latest news.  I hope everything's still going well at home! I miss everyone! 

More soon... Blessings~*

PS - if you tried to open the facebook album in my last blog and couldn't figure out how to see other pictures...you should be able to click on the link...when it opens to 1 picture simply click on the 'previous' or 'next' button which should be at the top right of the picture.  Hope that helps!  

Cartagena Today

I had the best day and just wanted to share a few photos.  We went to a monastery up on a hill that over-looked the entire city as well as the ship. It was absolutely gorgeous!  I was so intrigued by everything I saw...Bibles & song books that were centuries old...statues of different saints and of course Mary. They also had notes (money) from all the different countries that had come through the monastery over the years.  It was amazing to see it all.  Oh, AND I GOT TO HOLD A SLOTH!!!  So neat!  He was really sweet...well I mean, I guess he was...he didn't try to claw me or anything.  He had very course fur and really did move unbelievably slow.  

Ok, I'm done. Just had a good day and wanted to share!!  

Here's the whole album if you want to see all the pictures I took.  You should be able to click on this link and go right to it:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31272375&l=12861&id=156800509

Costume Malfunction Madness! HAHA

Marty Allen, Karen Kate, Tait (dancer) and myself after their amazing show.



Marty as "the wine taster".
Horseback Riding in Costa Rica.
Some of the cast as well as some cruise staff getting ready to ride horses!

Well the past week or so has been wonderful.  I had the best day in Costa Rica last cruise because we got to go horseback riding.  It was absolutely beautiful and we were actually able to get the horses up to a nice gallop! I wouldn't consider myself an experienced rider, but it was definitely great to feel the wind in my hair and have the chance to really play with the horse a bit. To top it all off, it was CHEAP! Sweet!! haha Like $35 for 3 hours and transportation.  Can't beat that with a stick! 

Then, we had a "Mac Party"...about 4 of us from the cast got together and shared info and programs to help us with our Macs (computers).  This was especially helpful for someone like me, who has always been a PC person until Christmas of this year.  So, I learned shortcut commands, how to use some of the basic programs I wasn't 100% sure about, and was also able to re-format my external hard drive to be Mac friendly.  (This may not mean much to some of you, but I know my Dad is right there with me on all of it! So, you can skip a bit if this doesn't interest you...hahahaha) Now I have like...150+ gigs of storage space between my computer and my external drive.  YAY!

Does anyone remember Marty Allen the comedian?  He's been on Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson etc etc...knows all the big performers from back in the day. Well, he and his wife were guest entertainers on our ship this past cruise.  The show was fantastic!  He's 87 and still performing! Can you believe that??? And his wife, Karen Kate, is a singer/pianist who is very talented and a great performer as well.   I took a few pictures because I recognized him from some re-run of an old talk show...I can't even remember which one...but I was just amazed that he's still alive and doing what he loves.

Oh - then the costume malfunction!  This is great.  SO - we did West End to Broadway Wed. night.  The first show I had a few word glitches so I wasn't happy with my performance, but the second show was going great! I felt much more relaxed and focused, the audience was a little more attentive...everything was good.  Well, I have this 40 sec. quick change on side stage into a purple corset top, skirt, gloves, necklace and wig.  It's not impossible, but it is rather fast I must say...then I jump onto one of the set pieces and I'm wheeled onto the stage where I come out of a door for the next number...so usually I'm able to do last minute adjustments from there if need be.  This time just seemed to take longer so I jumped onto the cart with approximately 1 sec. to spare and was still fixing my gloves and wig as fast as possible.  Got it ready and walked out just in time to start singing...sang the first line and all of the sudden I felt the zipper in my top pop wide open!!  Thank GOOODNESS for hooks!! I had a hook in the top of my dress that managed to stay together through the entire song. I pranced around on stage praying that it would hold as I felt it flapping in the wind behind me.  I had to change choreography and blocking so that I never turned my back to the audience. I still have to wonder if people on the far sides saw my flapping dress and panicked right along with me! It was HILARIOUS! Well, at the time I was going crazy in my head!!! BUT looking back now, it's hilarious. :)

Soooo those are my latest stories. Not much has changed. I'm starting to get a little more comfortable with everything as time goes on.  I really love all the shows and the more intimate sets that we get to do in the Centrum and Safari Club.  I can't wait to have family on board to share things with! You are all going to have the time of your lives!!! It'll be here before we know it!  I'm off to bed~  Going to see a monastery in Cartagena tomorrow.  

More soon!  Blessings~*

The best day!!!

This is Labadee - where John lives/works!
The view of the island from the 500 ft tall zip-line.

Riding up to the zip-line...

Ok, I just had the best day I've had in a looong time!! I got to spend about 4 1/2 hours with John today on Labadee!! I can't believe it worked out so perfectly.  Security agreed to let me off the ship on the very first tender at 7:30 (we're not supposed to get off until open tendering, which is usually around 9:30ish) so I was on the island by 7:45 am! Then, John's buddy Tony offered to take his 8 am zip-line tour so that John and I could spend the morning together! I had rehearsal at 10:30, so we were together until then, and I was straight back off the ship by 12 pm to spend the afternoon with him. :)  He did end up having to do a tour at 2:30, but that actually worked out well because there were only 3 people on it so I was able to go too!  I ZIP-LINED from 500 ft up!!!  That's right - ME - who's scared of heights!! It was actually AMAZING. I loved it! I zip-lined the longest line that goes over water in the WORLD! - and it was 500 ft up! Geeeeeez ~  Anyway, it was soooo good to spend some time with John again. Just reminded me of why we care so much about each other.~  

Other than that, the shows went really well tonight.  Tomorrow night is my "summer breeze" set, so once that's out of the way the pressure will die down a little bit!  Finally - it'll be about polishing everything I've learned, and no more learning anything new!  

Let's see, OH - Mrs. S, the Jewel goes to: Miami, Florida; Oranjestad, Aruba; Cartagena, Colombia; Panama Canal (Cruising Canal); Cristobal Pier, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; and George Town, Grand Cayman until May.  Then we transition and go to : Kings Wharf, Bermuda; Lisbon, Portugal; Vigo, Spain; Cherbourg, France; Harwich, England, Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland; St. Petersburg, Russia; Tallinn, Estonia; and Oslo, Norway.  Isn't that amazing?? It's gonna be GREAT that last month!! I mean, it's great now because it's warm, but I can't wait to see some of those places.  

Well, that's all I know for now.  I'll keep you posted!  More to come of course~

Creative Jazz~

Can you find me?? :)

Our production manager took these...what do you think?  Susan Foster Photography~

So, I had my debut jazz set last night...the final night of the cruise...saying goodbye to all those people that have become fans throughout the cruise...at least the ones that didn't go to bed at a decent hour.  The one problem I've already figured out about this set is that it's not until 11 pm on the last night! SO, everyone's tired - packing - just doing whatever it may be to get ready to go HOME.  The last thing they're worried about is stopping by the Safari Club to hear the same singers they've been hearing all week long sing a few more songs.  So, we started out with about 40 people - and by 11:15 we'd lost at least half of them...I just have to believe that if it were earlier in the evening, or even on a different night then we would have a packed house! I mean, the ones that stayed seemed to really love it!  But alas, we did not.... :)

Even better than this was the fact that I had to learn 9 songs in about 3 days time...those of you that know me know that I don't have a problem learning music - notes and all that good stuff...it's the words that hang me up every time!  Well, this time was no different! I'm beginning to think that the problem with doing a replacement contract is that you take on so much new material that it all begins to pile on top of each other and there's just no more room in your short term memory to store anything else!  

So my story...I won't say that the set was terrible.  It's like I told my parents - when I was on I was really on, but when I wasn't - oh boy did I crash and burn...haha  I started out doing really well - made it through the first...5 songs with no problems.  Stumbled here and there, but to the average audience member they probably didn't catch my switched up lines or little mistakes...so at that point I'm getting more confident and thinking "Hey, I'm gonna make it through this without a hitch after all!" Well, you know that old saying 'don't count your chickens before they hatch"...yeah - I should've stuck with that mentality because around song number 7 I went completely BLANK.  Now I'm not talking - missing a few words - or even 1 line.  I'm talking - couldn't even get the first line out!!  SO bad - and SO SO obvious that I was clueless!! There I am - on what I would've considered the easiest song in the set because I knew it before I ever began learning the set...and I'm at a loss.  

The song was "Cheek to Cheek" - a classic that most everyone recognizes...of course it had to be one of those...well the first line clicks in - "Heaven, I'm in Heaven and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak" - then NOTHING else.  I just went blank and stopped singing...I couldn't help but laugh out loud because I saw the faces as everyone realized I'd definitely missed my line. SO, I try to joke about it - haha Ok guys lets try this again! Here I go...and yet AGAIN still BLANK!  I've got nothing...so this time my lyrics go from emptiness to "Heaven, I'm in heaven...etc....OHHH that gamblers silly, silly, silly streak"  hahahahahahahahahahahaha  (come on, you know that's funny)  So, then I make a joke about creative improve lyrics and how trying them in front of an audience pushes me as a performer...or something like that.  HA  People laughed at least...but even better I never could remember the most recognized verse of the song which I was supposed to go back to at the end - so I finally popped out the 2nd verse about love vanishing like a gambler's lucky streak and then ended it!  The line should've been "Heaven I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak AND I SEEM TO FIND THE HAPPINESS I SEEK"....so easy - so familiar - came to me on the last chord...a bit too late!!!

So, that's my embarrassing story for this cruise.  Oh well - over all it wasn't a bad set and the audience still cheered...some even stood at the end! I guess it must not've been too terrible. :) Just hilarious to watch! I would love to see a video of it!  Wow...hilarious.  

Other than that, I have a "summer breeze" set in 3 nights...a little nervous about getting that one ready after the last time...I think this time I'll request a music stand for lyrics as a back-up plan.  Then at least I'll feel more confident, even if I don't really need them.  BUT - once that's out of the way I'll be done learning new things, and it will just be a matter of polishing everything up!  YES!  ALMOST THERE!!! 

And - I'm really excited because in less than 30 hours I'll be on Labadee with John!!! Can't wait! We do have a show that day unfortunately....so I have rehearsal from 10:30-12.  BUT I plan on being the first one off the ship at 7am and then I'll get back on for rehearsal, and run right back off again until 3:30!  And, hopefully John will be able to take off in the afternoon so that we can spend some time together away from the water slide or the zip line. :)  

Let's see...I don't really have any other news.  Just wanted to share my funny story! Hope all is well at home! I miss everyone!  XO

Random...

I'm just using free internet in Grand Caymon so I thought I'd add this link. I can't remember who all I've sent my promo video to so here's the link if you haven't seen it!

Kristian's Promo Video  click on this link and there it is!

Almost There!

Valentine's Day  - Britne, Amber (dancers), myself & Andrew (Boy 2) with Steve (cruise staff) and Brian (sound guy) popping his head in at the back.
I love this guy!! Andrew, Amber and I~
Check out my opening costume for City of Dreams!!! Isn't it amazing?? hahahahaha That's Nicki, my girl 2 with me. That's right, we don't wear wigs for this, just that awful hat...in fact I only have 3 wigs for this whole show because I wear so many of those things!!!

Well, I don't really have a lot to add right now. Just wanted to post a few more random pictures from the past week.  

The shows are going GREAT! I absolutely love performing in all of them! I'm finally installed into all 3 shows, which is a huge load off my plate.  Now all I have left are the 2 jazz sets that I'll do with Dwayne (my Boy 1).  It's a good thing I recognize most all of the songs, so hopefully it will be fairly easy to pick up the lyrics because we'll being doing at least one of them at the end of this cruise.  

I still haven't really gotten off the ship a lot during port days...I've just been so focused on trying to learn everything, that I've been afraid to really get out and enjoy each place. I really wanted to get the shows under my belt before playing!  But, I will say that I got off for a little while in Aruba and had an amazing day on the beach as well as laying out on the ship.  So, I'm no longer pasty and it gave me a chance to bond a little with the girls in my cast.  

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day.  Mine was nice - we had shows that night, but still hung out afterwards so that no one was alone on V-day!  OH - and I'll be seeing John one week from today! Well...technically yesterday because it's like 2 am here...but I can't wait! I only hope he's able to get a little bit of time away from work so we can spend a little of it together.  We shall see!!!!

Ok, I'm off to bed. Just wanted to write a quick note and post a few pictures. Hope all is well back home! 

Finally settling in!

Dwayne (my B1) and I getting ready to sing "The Power of Love".   P.S. - I LOVE that I'm a brunette again!!!! YES!!!
During the Tango Show - Dwayne sings "Night of a Thousand Stars" - this part is adorable...one of his fans decides not to let go and he drags her across the stage! So well played!! haha
Ahh yes - my costume for "Never Said Goodbye" - I actually change out of this behind a panel ON stage!! 2 of the dancers change me while I'm singing. It's SO much fun! And you've gotta love the head piece...amazing of course!
This one is the dancers before West End - Morgan, Amber, Britne, and Gemma.

Well, I'll be back in Miami tomorrow after 10 days of craziness.  Things have really been great though.  The stress is finally starting to subside and I'm beginning to feel like I fit here! The cast has really been amazing. I can't say that enough. Patient, encouraging, uplifting, and so much more.  They are all wonderful and I can tell I'm going to have even more amazing friendships to take away from this contract.  

The shows are going really well too! I didn't perform in the Tango show this week (Tango Buenos Aires) just because it was so close to West End. They really wanted me to focus more on City of Dreams because they needed me to do as much as possible in that show.  Well, I ended up getting 6/8 songs performance ready!  Not too bad I guess for 5 days preparation.  We were supposed to do the show on Day 8, but the weather has been TERRIBLE here so that wasn't possible. Instead, the shows were last night - still a bit rocky - but we made it through.  

I won't say that my performance was amazing by any means, but I felt really good about everything at the end of the night. The singing part came off without a hitch, and I'm pretty sure I made it to all the right blocking places as well.  It was a lot to think about and I can't say I didn't worry that I wasn't connecting with the audience - but hopefully next week that will all be a little easier.  It will be very interesting to see the videos though and start taking notes on things I'll need to work on.  

Other than that, I'm looking forward to the next cruise. I'll finish the rest of West End this time and they'll put me into the Tango Show as well.  I'm very excited because the two men that wrote the Tango Show, Mario and Danielle, are actually on board with us right now (they are headliners with Royal), and they will be able to really work with me on my spanish so that I get all of it right! On top of that, they are very passionate about the show, so they will make sure I actually know what I'm singing about as well.  

I must say that the best part about being on the ship right now is having my own space. It has been so nice to come to my room and listen to MY music, watch what I want to watch, and put my things wherever I want to!  I'm also able to wear pretty much whatever I want during the day in guest areas, and that is SO wonderful. I mean, jeans and a tank top - or just whatever! I'd forgotten how much I stayed out of guest areas just because I didn't feel like putting on my blues (uniform) or dress clothes.  Now I can go whenever I want and there are no questions asked.  YEA!

Mrs. Stricklin - you crack me up! So many questions - so many comments. I love it!  Let's see, I'm sure you've figured out by now that I am guest status just like I would've been on the Radiance. But they do want me to finish this contract instead of leaving and going to the Radiance in April, so I will just be here until June and then hopefully they'll offer me something else.  It is all very exciting, and I feel very blessed that they haven't started letting go of performers just yet with all the laying off that they had to do at the end of the year.  For now, people are still cruising. Our ship is at least 3/4 booked all the time according to my castmates, so they're still making money - they're just cutting back every way that they can...I even heard that on some ships they've started writing employees up if they catch your lights on when you're not in the cabin and things like that...and of course they're asking for employee's input on anything that they might know of that could save the company money. The funny thing about that is, we just had a meeting about that very thing, and they're offering MONEY for ideas to SAVE money...hilarious...makes a lot of sense don't ya think?  haha  

Anyway, I hope that answered some of your questions.  I'll have to read back through and see if I missed anything!

This next week, will still be pretty busy. Though I'm at least 1/2 through the shows and that learning process, I will also start learning jazz and summer breeze sets for the end of the cruise.  This is really like having a 4th production show on a smaller scale because they set the songs, even the dialogue in between, and you just go out and perform it at least once a cruise.  So, thank you so much for your prayers - I have felt them - trust me! BUT don't stop now! With all this memorizing, I'm bound to start running songs together in one big blur, so just pray that I stay focused and productive!  

I miss you all!  More soon!  :)