Hi All!!

I’ve only 5 weeks left til I leave to come home!!! I miss Chris so much since he left to come home. Nathan comes on in 3 days so I’m looking forward to that at the moment.

So, since I last wrote… which was not long after we visited Greenland… Chris and I then arrived in St Anthony, Newfoundland. There really isn’t too much to the place, but we hiked up a mountain and then all the way back down to the rocks at the bottom where the ocean meets, and all in all had a lovely day together (see photos). Dave was a very happy boy that day as Loren his girl and he were finally together again after being apart for 4 months (there’s a nice photo of Loren and I together that I’ve uploaded).

The next day we remained in Newfoundland, but in Corner Brook. Chris and I did probably the most timid rafting tour known to man. The scenery was beautiful, but it was hardly adventurous…. I reckon if I’d sneezed in the water that would have created more of a rapid than the ones we went through.

In Quebec we had a very wet and foggy day. Quebec is so beautiful. Dave, Loren, Chris & I did tour together that took us around Quebec’s old town, all the around the surrounding areas, to the Basilica (see photo) and to the falls that we were told are taller that Niagara, although they didn’t seem to look it to us.

In Montreal, Chris took me on a big shopping spree and very much spoiled me in an attempt to make me feel better about the fact he had to leave to come home. Later that day we very sadly said goodbye, after a wonderful wonderful 5 and half weeks together seeing the world. I’m so ready to come home now… not too much longer to go!

This cruise, the first of our 11 days cruises through New England down to New York I’ve been trying to lie low. I’ve been doing some tours but trying to save the good ones to do with Nathan.

This time in Quebec, on a much sunnier day we went to a very cool Christmas shop (see photo) and Lorraine took us all out to lunch. You may recall Lorraine is the ships Godmother that lives onboard. Lorraine celebrated her birthday a few days ago and we gave her a surprise birthday party. There are a few group photos of a bunch of us at her party and also a photo to give you an idea of the spread they put on.

There is a lovely couple onboard who I am also quite fond of. They are Milly and Jim (there’s a photo of Chris and I with them). Milly and Jim have cruised regularly for years and aren’t your average passengers. Jim celebrated his 70th a few months ago and Lorraine had promised to throw him a party, which is what she did while Chris was still on.

Many of the ports on this run are starting to blend into one for me at the moment. They seem to be mostly very pretty little towns. We’ve been to Port Saguenay and to Charlottetown, which those of you who are ‘Anne of Green Gables’ fans will have heard of. I’ve been to Sydney in Nova Scotia and to Halifax.

Stacey Sokil our dance captain has her boyfriend’s parents on at the moment. They are from Canada and are really lovely. They invited me to join them for the day in Halifax. They rented a car and we drove to Lunenburg (see photo of Sokil with Barb and Wilf) and to Peggy’s Cove to see the light house (see photo). In St John, New Brunswick I did an amazing photography tour. I so enjoyed it and really learnt a few things, the guide was excellent. Today we are in our first US port, Bar Harbor in Maine. The weather is beautiful and the place is really pretty.

Tomorrow we are in Boston, followed my New London before finally we get to New York!!!! That’s where Nathan will get on. My next blog will tell of our adventures together on the cruise back up to Montreal.

I’ve put some more show photos up for you to see too. Mostly they are from ‘What a Swell Party’, but there are some from the opener of ‘Motorcity’ and one from Happy Days in ‘Music Music Music’ and one from I’ve had the time of my life in ‘Cinematastic’

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!!!!

Lots of love
Jess xx

Hi Everyone!!

Chris and I have nearly completed the Atlantic Crossing to Montreal. Sadly on Monday he will leave me to head home, but thankfully I’ll only have about 6 weeks left to go by then before I’ll be heading home too. Nathan (my bro) comes on very soon which I am looking forward to. He’s meeting the ship in New York and will be on for 11 days for one cruise back up to Montreal.

So, since I last wrote, Chris and I have been continuing to have a fabulous time. On August 29th we celebrated Chris’ birthday in Ronne, Bornholm, an island to the south of Denmark. We went on a bike tour.

Chris’ birthday celebrations however really started the night before. It was a formal night and Chris and I had a lovely dinner up at the Steakhouse. Later, we met up with everyone else for drinks in the Royal Lounge, before we all headed back to our cabin for more drinks and to do the count down til Chris’ birthday at midnight. On Chris’ actual birthday I had a show that night so everyone came around to our cabin after the show for more birthday drinks. The following night we had a lovely dinner party with everyone up at Sabatini’s Restaurant. I have to say everyone is really wonderful at making people feel really special on their birthday whilst onboard.

We visited Copenhagen which is truly one of the most beautiful and super clean cities I’ve ever been to. We had a glorious sunny day there where we went on a canal cruise, followed by a visit and lunch at the famous Tivoli Gardens. See the photo of Chris, Nando and Ann eating giant hot dogs there.

The next day we were in Oslo, Norway…another beautiful city. We had a rainy day there, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying it. There’s a photo of Chris and I outside the palace there and also standing along the harbour. The reason I’m holding up my phone in that photo is because Chris Trimarchi (our dancer that was medically disembarked) and I were texting each other. It sucks he missed out on all these ports.

After a day at sea the next stop was Scrabster, right at the top of Scotland. Chris and I did a tour to John O’Groats the most northern village in the UK and then on to Dunnet’s Head the most northern point. We also stopped off along the way at Canisbay, the little church the Queen Mother would regularly visit while staying at her summer residence, The Castle of Mey. That afternoon we all went into Thurso to a pub for lunch and then Chris and I visited Tesco’s (local supermarket) where Chris could stock up on all his British treats he misses.

The next day we had a very cold day in the Faroe Islands. There’s not a great deal to see there, but the scenery is beautiful. You can kind of get the idea of it through the fog in our photo, where we’re all rugged up at the top of a mountain. We were in with the Sea Princess that day, so that afternoon Chris and I went onboard there to visit Anna the Deputy Cruise Director we used to have on our ship here (there’s a photo of us all in her cabin).

After another day at sea we made it to Reykjavik, Iceland. Here we went swimming in the famous ‘Blue Lagoon’. It was very warm in the lagoon and in places very very hot. We covered ourselves in algae that is supposed to be good for your skin. It was a very cool experience.

Two days at sea then turned into three days at sea on our way to Greenland. Because the weather was so rough the captain was forced to abandon our scheduled stop at Nuuk, which is up north on the west coast of Greenland. Thankfully we made it to our second scheduled stop which was yesterday in Qaqortoq, located on the south west of Greenland. After wet, overcast days and choppy seas we made it there and surprisingly had the most cloudless sunny and glorious day. It was 2 degrees but once rugged up and in the sun it didn’t feel like it was. There were random icebergs in the harbour, the buildings were painted colourfully against the landscape, the people were very friendly and they served whale on the menu and sold fur seal products…. The latter two I couldn’t stomach no matter how much I try to understand that it’s their culture.

Today we are at sea again. Dave is very excited because his girl, Loren gets onboard tomorrow. We have a show tonight ‘What a Swell Party’. We’ve been managing as a cast okay with only 7 of us but thankfully Chris T’s replacement arrives in Montreal which should make things better.

I’ve been a little sick the last few days with a throat infection… damn air conditioning gets me every time onboard…. But I’m nearly over it now.

Chris has been filming the shows for me so maybe if I get organised and have time after he’s gone I’ll be able to upload some video. We’ll see how I go.

Anyway enough from me it’s a long one today.

Missing you all heaps.

Jess xx