Boarding the Tiny Traveler

Day one of the world adventure. We left Los Angeles on January 4 and traveled across the country to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We stayed a night at the luxurious Embassy Suites Hotel on the 17th Street Causeway. I spent many a day here in 2000 making phone calls to get away from the massive influx of crew that would come in off the ships to the call center while I was in port every other day on my first cruise gig. We had our last land supper at the Outback Steakhouse. It was a nice indulgence where I got a lobster tail with my dinner. Afterward we carted over to the hotel to enjoy the complimentary bar drinks at happy hour. It was quite the scene too. There was a guy strumming Caribbean music on his electric guitar and at one point two trashy girls each dropped a penny in his tip jar. This of course in the biz is extremely rude and demeaning. He made a comment, which turned into a huge stink with these trashy people. The mothers got involved and at one point where screaming at the guy trying to make her point over his guitar playing. We all couldn't believe what we were seeing and how embarrassing for them it was. The sad part was they weren't embarrassed. The rest of the evening we just took it easy and absorbed in the great space we were supplied with for the evening. Space that we were denied all crammed up in a 2-bedroom apartment for 7 people for 2 months. Also, it was a nice, clean environment with fresh towels. Oh paradise for a night. Today we were up early for too much hubbub. It was definitely a "hurry up and wait" kind of day. The shuttle came late and then the cruise was overbooked so our choreographers and costumers couldn't get on for a while for lack of cabin space. So a whole day of scurrying around without an ounce of rehearsal. Well, until 9pm that is. That's when the evening of blocking begins. There was a bit of turmoil when we got here. One of our girls is still homeless because of a Seattle mix-up where the inventory list of blocked cabins for crew was lost and the company sold discounted cabins (the blocked ones) and now we have 10 displaced staff. One of girls is displaced. She isn't happy of course and this affair is unacceptable. I hope someone paid for this mistake because it's a pretty big one that inconvenienced a lot of people. Our cabin steward was busy with carting luggage all day so our cabins were in disarray until late in the evening when we could finally move in. These cabins are THE tiniest cabins I've EVER been in on a ship. Just think of a walk-in closet in the literal sense and that's what we have. No joke. The bathroom is as big as a regular household bath and shower. Again no joke. Take your shows/bath and section off a diagonal strip at the end; place the toilet next to that and the sink at the opposing end. That's our bathroom enclosed by 4 walls. The width of the room is the size of a bed (my height) and the length is the size of 1.5 of me. Not kidding!!! Small beans. We still have to deal with a girl being homeless. I hope things look up soon. We're on our way through the Caribbean and into South America to Antarctica on this cruise. I can't wait to see the sights.