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Shipping out!

I am happy to report I will be shipping out on Navigator of the Seas with Royal Caribbean in less than 13 days!! My contract is for 7 months - alto/flute/clarinet.

My MD sent me PDFs of the majority of the charts last night for the 2 production shows - totally wasn't expecting that! - So I almost 2 weeks to get them under my fingers.

I'd say about 70% of it is Alto, and 20% flute and about 10% unknown (for the production shows). There's apparently a big band type evening (according to friends that have shipped with Royal) and obviously guest artist material that will also be in the mix, plus who knows what else!

Anyway ... super excited and I can't wait for traveling!

I hope to receive my flight information on Monday or Tuesday.

:eek:)
 
Stay away from the bar...

Yes. I've heard that about ships. Lucky I rarely ever drink because even just one often makes me feel like I ate something rotten ... so I just don't.

I also have an arsenal of writing projects to work on and I want to learn to scuba drive.

Way cool. I'm thinking you'll have a lot of new stories to share from this experience.

Definitely! I've never been on a plane or even SEEN an ocean before! I've seen most of Southern Ontario, some Quebec, and I was in Chicago for 1 day, and in Detroit for 4 hours at the symphony. Other than that I haven't been anywhere!
 
What a great experience. You are going to love the food and the scenery. Be careful not to eat too much. People often get on board as passengers and get off as cargo. : ) Been there and done that many times. Imagine getting paid to vacation for 7 months and served gourmet food to boot. Lucky you.
 
Well, it's a vacation as long as you like the six shows a week, two matinee format of life. The first week will be exciting, the second less so, and by the third you are working a job. The time shift (get up late in the day, stay up into the night) also gets to some.

The food is great. I lived on a huge lobster meal each night after the last set, gleaned from the midnight buffet. It spoiled me so much that I can't bear to order lobster any more, as you never really get enough. (And, as I was young and high energy, I only gained a couple of pounds.)

But, far too many fell into the spending their pay in the crew lounge. Booze is costly, makes you do stupid things, and will fatten you up as well.

And, take along one more full box of new reeds (for every horn that you play) than you think you will need. Things are better now, what with the internet and all, but there was a time I was down to my last baritone reed with no replacements in sight.

Ultimately, I had them Special Delivery delivered (remember Special Delivery? It's gone now...) to the ship's "home port". (The post office at home thought my father was crazy to send something akin to a box of grass by that means.
 
Have fun! Send us some reports on how you're doing!
Will do, Pete. :eek:)

Well, it's a vacation as long as you like the six shows a week, two matinee format of life. The first week will be exciting, the second less so, and by the third you are working a job. The time shift (get up late in the day, stay up into the night) also gets to some.

And, take along one more full box of new reeds (for every horn that you play) than you think you will need. Things are better now, what with the internet and all, but there was a time I was down to my last baritone reed with no replacements in sight.

Ultimately, I had them Special Delivery delivered (remember Special Delivery? It's gone now...) to the ship's "home port". (The post office at home thought my father was crazy to send something akin to a box of grass by that means.

LOL ... I don't remember Special Delivery, but I do remember characters saying that in tv shows when I was little (TEE HEE HEE)

Thanks for the advice, Terry. Luckily for me getting up late and staying up into the night is my idea of fun. My summer jobs the last two years had me working 3:30pm-11pm 5 days a week so I'd stay up to about 3 am and wake up at noon.

I think with that in mind I'm going to go buy some more reeds. I have 4 boxes of alto reeds and 2 of clarinet, but so far nothing my MD has sent me has clarinet on it so I might just go with Legeres if clarinet doesn't do much (I'm bringing 8-10 Legeres)

--

7 Days til I leave!!!
 
I sort of have that feeling when playing a show that runs for a week. The first day is fun, the second less so, the third more like work, and the fourth is dreadful (what with other life activities piling up unaddressed and all of that).

However, by the fifth day (and the approach of the dreaded two-a-day spell), you get in the groove. Unfortunately, I've not played a show that ran more than a week since I was in my twenties (which was a long, long time ago), so I rarely get a chance to feel that "in the groove" feeling any more.

I adjusted to boat life pretty well. I didn't like the fact that you hit the same island on the same day - there was a museum on one that I always wanted to see, but we hit it on Monday, the day it was closed, so I never got in. (When I went back on another ship when I was married, it hit the same island on the same day of the week - I never got to see the place.)

And, the sleeping accommodations can be unpleasant if you are bunked two to a room and the other person snores. And drunken boors exist within the crew as well as the passengers - most of the musicians spent far too much time in the crew pub (and drank up much of their money as a result).

But, you get plenty of experience, you make some contacts, you learn a lot (I learned how to tape arrangements from a crusty old British trumpet player, a talent that has served me well since forming my own group). I got a lot of reading done in my down time - the one bookseller in San Juan with a substantial English inventory at that time got a lot of business from me each week. The food was great (lobster every night from the midnight buffet is the best memory), most of the people great to be around, and the time I spent on the foredeck after last call, watching the heavens rotate overhead with the pitch and send of the ship (but no roll; the ship was stabilized) was priceless.

What I really dread (based upon two prior experiences) is playing in a circus band...
 
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