Part 5 – Auckland to Cairns

On February 12th my ship arrived and Auckland and I met up with Mum and Dad. We had a nice day in the city, we had lunch, shopped and travelled up the Sky Tower. In all the ports we have been so lucky with wonderful weather.

It took us four sea days to get to Burnie, Tasmania. The first couple of days were a little choppy but the following two weren’t so bad. Because we are performing so infrequently we were thrilled that the schedule worked out that we performed our third production show ‘Rhythms of the City’ while Mum and Dad were on board. I’ve included a couple of photos of our opening costumes… I’m dressed as Miss Byrd and my finale costume.

In Burnie, we did a tour to the Ashgrove Cheese Factory, Launceston and the Tamar Valley. I’ve uploaded a photo of Mum and I at the vineyard we had lunch at in the Tamar Valley. That afternoon the Captain had invited us up to the bridge for sailaway which was fun. There are photos of Mum and Dad on the wings that are at the side of the bridge and of myself, Amanda and Nicole who is a singer from Melbourne who got on that day to travel with her partner til Cairns.

One sea day later we arrived in Sydney. I had a wonderful day with my wonderful husband and family. My best friend Belle, my uncle, aunties, cousins, brother and nephew came on for the day and the cast and I performed a show for them and their families that had come to visit them too.

Another sea day later we arrived in Brisbane. A lot of the cast had family come on for the day there too and I had my auntie Annette come on board also. We did a show for them all too. That afternoon I had some Australian retail time at a local Westfields stocking up on Aussie munchies for my cabin while I can.

We have just spent two days at sea. Yesterday Mum and I spent 4 hours watching the Oscars live. How awesome is Hugh Jackman!! I was pleased Heath Ledger got the Oscar for the Joker and really enjoyed Kate Winslet’s speech, she’s beautiful.

Today we are in Cairns, and Mum and Dad are leaving the ship which is sad. I’ve only 2 and a half weeks left onboard this ship now. On March 14 the cast and I get off and meet Chris in Hong Kong where we will spend 6 days there while we wait for the Royal Princess to arrive. On the Royal we are doing the second half of their world cruise.

I might get to update again before Hong Kong but I’ll see how I go.

Lots of love,
Jess xx

Part 4 – Papeete to Auckland

After five days at sea, it was great to get off the ship and put our feet on land for a few hours. Dave, Amanda and I wandered around the shops and markets for a while before heading to the Hilton Hotel for a swim… it was so hot there that day. The Hilton was previously the Sheraton when I was last there nearly six years ago on the Pacific Princess.

Papeete is located on the island of Tahiti and is not the most ideal beach island. Hard to believe I know seeing as its Tahiti and all, but the other islands of Moorea and Bora Bora are my favourites which are true tropical clear blue water beach island.

Shortly before we sailed out of Papeete a fire at a local car yard broke out which made for an impressive sight. I’ve put a couple of photos I took of it from the ship.

Two days later we arrived in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. I loved this island and had a wonderful day. The water as you can see from the photos is gorgeous!

That night we had an Island Night Party up on deck. I love island night and every island night is certainly not complete without a ‘long island iced tea’ or two. As usual it was a fun night which you can probable tell from some of my photos.

We have a celebrity guest speaker on at the moment. You may recognise her from my photo with her. Her name is Estelle Harris, better known as George Costanza’s mother in Seinfeld. Her and her husband are lovely. It’s been wonderful to meet her and hear her stories, she’s a real riot.

In the last four sea days we crossed the dateline. For us we went straight from Monday to Wednesday, skipping Tuesday, 10th February all together.

One of the guest entertainers fell sick a couple of nights ago and Dave and I literally had 15 minutes to put a show together and rehearse. Thankfully we had a show we do each contract together ready to go. We just had to shorten it a little as we shared a split bill with another guest ent. Dave and I have done our show many times before but for some reason it was extra enjoyable and fun performing it the other night.

Today we are in Auckland and I am very excited as Mum and Dad are joining the ship today. They’ll be sailing 12 days from Auckland to Cairns, via Burnie, Sydney and Brisbane.

I am so looking forward to seeing Chris in Sydney like you wouldn’t believe!!!!

Lots of love to everyone.
Jess x

Part 3 – Lima to Papeete

After four days at sea (and in quarantine) we dropped anchor at Easter Island. It is definitely the highlight of my trip so far. The Moai statues are fascinating. They are scattered all over the island and are amazing to see and marvel over.

There was a crew tour organised that day which I went on with my cast mates. The weather was perfect and over all it was an amazing day. We visited the top of a volcano first before then heading to the quarry where the Moai (or we nicknamed them ‘dum dum heads’ as from ‘a night at the museum’) were carved into being. What a picturesque place to be!! I took so many photos and have put a couple of my favourites up.

Since then we have been at sea for the last five days on our way to Papeete. On one of those days we sailed around Pitcairn Island. Some of the locals were supposed to visit us on board, but because we were still on ‘red level’ because of this virus they weren’t permitted to. I’ve uploaded a picture of Chris and I on deck with the island in the background.

Life onboard has been fun and busy. We performed our second show the other night which was ‘C’est Magnifique’. From the title you can gather it’s a French show which the audience loved. We even got a standing ovation in our first show we did for the first dinner seating passengers. I glided through my ‘Edith Piaf’ section which is mostly in French without a hitch which was a huge relief. Apart from the enormous hats I have to wear in the show (they are so heavy and awkward) I actually enjoyed the show. This is amazing as we all mostly hate the show but I’ve found a new love for it I must admit.

We had a ‘Wild Bunch’ Party onboard the other night which I’ve included a few photos of. In one of the photos I’m with Amanda. Amanda is our Production Manager who is travelling with us throughout the entire course of our contract. She is Canadian and really great, she’s programmed some awesome lighting for our shows.

Another highlight for me apart from Easter Island was getting to perform my ‘Hollywood Diva’s’ show. It’s a show I’ve done on land a number of times but was really written for this kind of audience in mind. To perform it to them was really fun. The band did a great job, the audience enjoyed it and I had a great time too!

Part 2 – Fort Lauderdale to Lima

Our first port on the World Cruise was Grand Cayman. Unfortunately we had a dress rehearsal that day so we weren’t able to get off till lunch time. Even still we made the most of the day and headed straight to the beach.

The following night we performed our first show ‘Shake Rattle and Roll’. This is my third contract that I’ve done this show on and I still love it. It’s a fun, colourful, energetic show based on songs from the 50’s and 60’s. I’ve put some costume photos in for you to see of my opening costume, my pouty “It’s My Party” costume and “Proud Mary”.

A day later we transited south through the Panama Canal… a trip I did a number of times whilst on the Regal Princess back in 2006/07. Two days after that we had crossed the equator and arrived in Manta, Ecuador. I had been to Manta also on the Regal 2 years ago. This time I did a slightly different tour than I had done before and came across these two beautiful little girls (pictured) I really enjoyed my brief time visiting their village. The people there were truly lovely.

Anyone who has crossed the equator on a ship would know it’s a nautical tradition to perform a ‘Crossing the Equator Ceremony’ before King Neptune and his court. I’ve seen and on a couple of occasions participated in this ceremony a number of times in my travels. It’s a rather messy affair. I’ve included a photo from the event.

Two days later we arrived in Lima again for another over nighter. I had also been to Lima before on the Regal, so I chose a very different tour than before. This one took us down south from Lima to Pachacamac, the archaeological site of an ancient temple and complex which was fascinating. We then travelled north east to a home we’re we had a wonderful lunch and later watched a display of Peruvian horses. On our second day in Lima I caught the shuttle into town with Drew and Stacey to visit the markets.

Around the time we visited Grand Cayman a virus started to spread itself around the ship. Unfortunately for me I got on the first of 4 seas days after Lima. This meant I had to be quarantined in my cabin for a few days… it ended being 96 hours in total. Thankfully I didn’t miss out on any ports, I just had to endure my own company for a number of days, which I must admit I coped with quite well. I found it quite easy to amuse myself and was very productive during that time.