summing up

Saturday 7th February 2009

5:08 p.m. This contract hasn’t been too bad, all things considered. Apart from the weekends it’s been fairly quiet, which has meant that some nights I haven’t sung, which is lighter work and has been good to give my voice a rest.

The soloist who is on board for a few weeks is a chap called Howard who I get on very well with, he was with The Platters for a few years, living and working in Las Vegas, and touring with them. We went into town this afternoon to do some shopping and for a bite to eat.

Talking of food, it is generally pretty good on this ship. Much nicer than on the Dutch ships, and just as good if not better than the York. And unlike the Rotterdam the entertainment team are allowed to eat in the restaurant, so there is always plenty of choice available.

Despite the time of year the sailing conditions have been fine, with only a couple of rough crossings, and fortunately I seem to be a bit more resilient than I used to be.

Getting back to the main focus of my work, the nights have generally been good, when there have actually been a decent number of people there! Last Friday night was amazing, possibly the best I have ever had on the ships. Saturday night was pretty good too. On Friday I ended up playing solidly for an hour and a half at the end, then Saturday night it was more like two and a half hours. I was getting so many requests that I had to announce that I was stopping taking them, which I don’t remember doing before. There were a couple and a group on for a round-trip that I befriended, who were all from Lincoln, and were singing along to most of the songs, and they were even stood around the piano for a few of them.

Tuesday night was pleasant as although it wasn’t particularly busy, the people that were there were mostly sat nearby and were listening intently, the reception was good and they made several requests. There was a camera crew on-board filming a promotional video for P&O Ferries, and they arrived just at the right moment, as I was playing a special request for one group who were in. There is a good chance that some of the picture footage will be used on the web, so I will put the link to it when it appears.

Last night there was a large group of young people in for most of the night who had been in the previous evening, and I played several songs for them, including one they had asked for the night before and I learned for them especially, namely Hero by Enrique Iglesias. Also during my last set there was a group of young Israeli people who were stood around the piano and suggesting songs.

I’ve only got one more round-trip to go of this contract.