Travel blog from a musician on board the Celebrity Reflection!

[librarylady19]

Great! Hopefully I will have a chance to say hello. Love Madison - a great city.

 

 

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[dpryo319]

1st Half of Cruise #2

 

10/17: Vigo, Spain Following a couple morning trainings, headed up to the spa on deck 12 to get a haircut, and took a look outside to a grey, cloudy, overcast with looks of potential rain coming in. Although Vigo looked like a nice port to explore, the weather turned me against my decision (plus I was just getting over a cold and didn’t feel like exposing myself to those conditions again). Tonight in the theatre, we have a yet another new entertainer to Celebrity cruises, violin virtuoso, David Klinkenberg. Having such credentials as recording with Jim Brickman, touring with Lonestar and more, this guy is no stranger to the stage. With his mix of country, bluegrass, and even hints at classical fiddle playing, David has stretched his repertoire and commands his audiences attention. Taking a modern twist on such tunes as Canon in D and Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desire, David has entertained crowds worldwide with his playing-he is a natural. Had a great time working with him and look forward to more to come. 10/18: Sea Day Yes, another sea day-but in the entertainment dept. its not a lethargic one. We were up in Sky in the afternoon for a second Capt.’s club cocktail celebration and then headed down to the theatre for another run thru of the Broadway production show, Center Stage, to be premiering in 2 days and followed it up with a variety show rehearsal, featuring David and Lindsay once again along with a lil’ band feature to highlight us at the start of the show. Shows went great and David and Lindsay came together at the end for an encore presentation of The Prayer, a perfect blend of artistry and emotion on the stage. Very late tonight (possibly early morning), we are expected to be going through the Straits of Gibraltar and apparently it’s supposed to be quite luminous at night, highlighting the Rock of Gibraltar, we’ll see if I’m still up by then to catch a glimpse. 10/19: Malaga, Spain Today in beautiful Malaga, and started the morning off with a boat drill. However, shortly after getting a bite to eat, some of the guys in the band and I went off to explore the city: we stumbled upon an authentic, Spanish bullring, headed over to have some afternoon tapas, moved onto to a Teatro Romano ruins, a beautiful cathedral and finished by walking the main shopping drag (Malaga is widely known for its large shopping district). Came back to the ship for just a brief run of the Center Stage show, and immediately headed back off the ship with more bandolas cuz we had the night off! (Thanks to Adam Trent, the magician in the theatre tonight)! Enjoyed a first stop at a local lawn club outdoor setting down by the marina with some cervezas, then walked a bit until we were pointed in the direction of a local wine vendor with what is comparable to our American Sherry wine (but waaay better!) directly poured from the barrel kegs-your choice of either sweet or dry. Tiny shot-like size servings for only a euro! Ok, so maybe we had a couple of those…  Then we headed off to scout out a dinner place to enjoy some more Spanish tapas and found one just off the shopping streets-it hit home. After the gourmet feast and a few more cervezas, we decided it’d be best to head back to the wine vendor just to sample a few more of the exotic, Spanish wines, then made our way back to the ship before she sailed at midnight. A great night off, which we were able to take full advantage of! 10/20: Sea Day to Barcelona First thing today was a sound check and run thru of Center Stage which will be debuted tonight for its world premiere! A low key day to begin and finished with a bang of the two opening shows of the Broadway revue-and the house was packed, and they loved it! Sadly, our inaugural cruise has come to an end, but I know there will be more great ones to come-and there is only one way to go from here…up! Barcelona tomorrow! The Reflection has officially been “broken in” and we are in full swing! 10/21: Barcelona, Spain Embark of cruise #2! And we’re in beautiful Barcelona! It was legitimately hot out today and was so great to be back in the Med! Tonight’s Welcome Aboard Show is reverting back to how it was on Silhouette with all the Entertainment venues previewing a bit of their talents: Manny Kellough and his Jazz Expressions, the Acapella boys of Uncommon Ground, and the Allegria Strings, who even let me partake in one of their opening numbers of the famous tune, Czardas! The crowd seemed to pile into the theatre for being the first night of the cruise and we pumped it up for them! A whole heck of a lotta fun on that stage tonight! I can truly say music is a unique thing being able to touch so many people in so many different ways and gives that much more enjoyment out of the performers on the stage! Onto some of the French Riviera tomorrow! 10/22: Toulons (Provence), France Today was hopefully my first of many excursions with the guests to come, and we made it into the beautiful Marseille: le capital de la French Riviera. About an hour drive out to the seaside city and our first stop after coming down the beautiful cliffside was at Notre Dame de la Garde Basillica. This cathedral towers over the entire city, high up on a hillside-a very popular attraction and a must see if you have the time! The view from atop is breathtaking in all directions, the city of Marseille below stretching all the way to the sea! We then drove down into the heart of Marseille and had a brief moment to walk around the city where I stumbled upon the Marseille Opera House and the primary municipal courthouse. On our way back out of the city, we winded around the coastline and saw glimpses of some beautiful chateaus, including the famous Chateau d’If from the popular movie, the Count of Monte Cristo. Back on the ship tonight, its Broadway time for Center Stage once again to start out our round of production shows for the guests! Always a favorite with everyone it seems and things are really starting to come together, the cast, the production, the music, etc.. Tomorrow we stay in the French Riviera and travel just over to Cannes, home of the annual Cannes Music Festival! Au revoir mes amis! 10/23: Cannes, France Aujourd’hui, I am off to the land of riches and spoils: Monaco and Monte Carlo whilst traveling alongside the coastline of the French Riviera through such beautiful cities like Nice and Villefranche (beautiful terraced housing and such vibrant colors!) After scenic drive, we finally arrived in the Principality of Monaco and began our walking tour through the old quarter of Monaco. With panoramic views like you wouldn’t believe, the Prince’s Palace Square, and the late 19th cen. cathedral where the famous Grace Kelly is buried, and on top of it all, the weather was simply gorgeous! Mid 70’s with lots of sun! Ahh….during our free break, went through the little walkways and found a small café where I got to try some of the local dishes like barbarjaun-a small pastry baguette like outside with spinach, egg, cheese, and ham on the inside, the perfect midday snack! We then proceeded onto the wealthy district of Monte Carlo where we even got to drive momentarily on the Grand Prix Motor Raceway circuit. Landing upon the Les Jardins du Japonais and the casino district, we realized we were in the land of the elite. Fancy cars, impeccable streets and sidewalks, and of course the grandest casinos one will ever come across. I even got to go inside the Grand Casino before leaving the area and witnessed for myself the beautiful chandeliers and high roller tables. What a great day off the ship! Tonight, back in the theatre we have a new face to Celebrity again-the Scottish star, Nik Page, who actually appeared as Jean Val Jean in the West End hit, Les Miserables. With great music like Frankie Valli and the Jersey Boys, Michael Buble, Pavarotti and Andre Bocelli, he brought the house down at both shows! Great talent and great guy to work with! Tomorrow, we enter the Italian peninsula as we stop first in Livorno, just outside of Florence and Pisa!

[dpryo319]

Orvieto, Italy and Catania, Sicily

 

Orvieto: Talk about an undiscovered city of Italy. We ported in Civitavechia, and drove 2 hours to the little villa of Orvieto. A beautiful medieval and Gothic style town from the 5th or 6th century, founded by the Atruscans. After walking through the town a bit, we stumbled upon the most beautiful cathedral of the area I have ever seen, the town center duomo! So beautiful-the Virgin Mary Cathedral! Such a great day, had a delicious lunch with the guests of a local rabbit dish in pesto and a local dessert as well. Topped it off w/ a glass of limoncello! Can't really beat that! Back at the ship, we have 2 sets of big band tonight! The crowds were great and the band was pumping! A great day followed by a great night with the bands! Today, we're in Catania, Sicily, and it is a beautiful day outside! A bunch of the jazz and orchestra musicians, and even an artist and ShoreEx dispatch are out with us enjoying an authentic Sicilian lunch and a great day off the ship! Back tonight, we have Elton John on the ship! No, not really, but Neil Lockwood is supposed to be as close as you can get to him! So more to come after the shows tonight! Pretty excited though! Ciao!

[dpryo319]

For those interested.... Rory is the one in the top left corner, with the key-tar!!

 

How cool?! :D

 

http://www.depping-design.de/test/displayimage.php?pid=8858

[librarylady19]

Cool! You will be on reflection before us - hope you will report back!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[STLCRUISIN]

DaMara - We've been following Rory's blog and have had the pleasure of meeting him on the Journey earlier this year on a cruise from the caribbean to New York. He is a very cool guy, he enjoys what he does onboard ship and we enjoyed our conversation with him.

[dpryo319]

Cool! You will be on reflection before us - hope you will report back!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I sure will!! I'll write a little review :)

[dpryo319]

DaMara - We've been following Rory's blog and have had the pleasure of meeting him on the Journey earlier this year on a cruise from the caribbean to New York. He is a very cool guy, he enjoys what he does onboard ship and we enjoyed our conversation with him.

 

Great to hear! Glad you enjoy his blog!

 

He sure does love his job, he will be taking a break from cruising after this contract (from what he is thinking) to go to grad school. But...I wouldn't be surprised if he's back afterwards/summers in between... :)

[Waihekean]

Have never followed a blog as yet from someone that works on a cruise ship, so coming along to this different sort of review.

 

As a former dancer it is especially neat to follow a musicians blog.

 

The rock show looks like a lot of fun and it must be interesting to meet so many different entertainers all the time .

No wonder he likes his job:D

[maggie.1008]

We so enjoyed Rory on our March Az. Journey cruise.

[dpryo319]

Have never followed a blog as yet from someone that works on a cruise ship, so coming along to this different sort of review.

 

As a former dancer it is especially neat to follow a musicians blog.

 

The rock show looks like a lot of fun and it must be interesting to meet so many different entertainers all the time .

No wonder he likes his job:D

 

 

Enjoy! :) Thanks for reading!

[dpryo319]

We so enjoyed Rory on our March Az. Journey cruise.

 

 

Great to hear! Thanks for following :)

[maggie.1008]

I really enjoy flamenco dancing. Rory`s Malagana was one of the best I have ever heard.

[dpryo319]

I really enjoy flamenco dancing. Rory`s Malagana was one of the best I have ever heard.

 

 

Oh my! That is so great to hear! I've passed this on the Rory :)

 

Thank you so much!

 

Will you be able to sail on the Reflection this year while Rory is on board?

[dpryo319]

New Updates!

Hello again! Sorry for the distant communications, but to get you caught up in the entertainment world on board-we've had the Irish flutist phenomenon, Gary Arbuthnot once again! Was great to work with him for the short time he was on board, since the last time was on the Silhouette!

 

Also from the Irish country, the Celtic Tenors came aboard and gave 2 blown out shows! With great harmony and a lil' humor on stage, they were so much fun to work with on and off the stage.

 

The previous evening, one woman with 5 superstars brought the house down-the one and only...Katy Setterfield. Again, having worked with her on the Silhouette opening, was great to reunite with her and her crazy costumes of Cher, Dusty Springfield, Bette Midler, Tina Turner, and more!!!!

 

Even a couple evenings have gone up to the Ensemble lounge and gotten the chance to play with Manny Kellough and his jazz expressions! Always great to collaborate with great artists on the ship!

 

Our travels have taken us from Venice on embarkation back to Kusadasi, Turkey and now today in Athens, Greece! Heading back to the Western Med. stopping at Malta, Italy, and France on our journey back through, ultimately ending in Barcelona!

[dpryo319]

Valletta, Malta:

 

Today, and only today, we docked in the beautiful island of Malta and the harbor of Valletta. With high stone walls and a large fort guarding the entrance into the harbor, the city was prime target back in World War I and II. To get the most out of my day, I toured around visiting 3 major cities of the island: Marsaxlokk (pronounced “Mar-sa-schlock”), Senglea, Vittoriosa, ending the afternoon with a very nice harbor cruise. Marsaxlokk, Malta’s largest fishing village is a quaint, little picturesque scene, although is in strong need of a clean-up crew. Onto Senglea, a historic city and huge bastions overlooking the harbor in a small little garden area. And finally, Vittoriosa, where we saw from the outside famous buildings and architecture like Fort St. Angelo & St. Lawrence Church. We then boarded the Fernandes Valletta charter boat for our harbor cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following the tour, I proceeded to walk up to the city center, which was slightly further than I had anticipated, but once reaching the top, was amazed with all of its life. Churches, cafes, cinemas, Valletta had it all.

 

Approaching near dinner time, I stopped for a quick snack and found this great little local joint called the Circles Bar & Coffee Shop and the chef prepared for me an authentic Maltese wrap with gbenja, Maltese goat cheese. Paired up with a local shandy (lemonade beer), it was the perfect end to my day.

Back on the ship, it was Big Band for us orchestra guys in the grand foyer and Momentum for the production cast. A great night all around the ship!

[dpryo319]

Naples, Italy:

 

Having been to Italy several times on the Silhouette, I felt as though I had seen it all: the ruins of Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, the island of Capri, Sorento, Positano. After enjoying a delicious lunch at Il Pomodorino (a great place for seafood and real Napoli pizza!), my good friend, Brent the drummer, and I traveled up the funiculare to the waay top of Naples and witnessed a whole new change of scene. It was quiet, not nearly as crowded with tourists and locals, and managed to go inside Castel Saint Elmo-a pretty amazing castle at the very top of the city looking out over everything! Mt. Vesuvius was literally right in front of us! And on top of it, weather was simply gorgeous for being mid-November. Making our final stop on the way down at a local gelateria for some Napoli gelato we made our way back to the ship for a night with the incredible, Nik Page-the Jean Val Jean of our time! Shows were sell outs and it was a blast!

 

(Pictures on actual site...just beautiful!!!)

[dpryo319]

Tarquinia, Italy:

 

Having traveled to Orvieto (a beautiful hole-in-the-wall location) last cruise, I decided to venture off again and found Tarquinia-only about a half hours drive from Civitavechia (the port of Rome). I wanted something different than just Rome and Tarquinia was the perfect solution!

 

With beautiful churches, many ruins still intact throughout the city, a castle-like wall surrounding the city, scenic overlooks into the Italian countryside, and topped off with a stop of gelato once again, all in all it turned out to be a great morning! And no Roman congestion, best part!

 

Tonight in the theatre is the one-man production show, a new artist for me, Antonio Salci. Have heard a lot about his act and massive show and am excited to work with a new face!

 

Arrivederci my friends!

 

(Also..pictures available!!)

[librarylady19]

Great pictures on the blog; I would love to visit these places.

Thanks for posting this for us DaMara:).

[dpryo319]

Great pictures on the blog; I would love to visit these places.

Thanks for posting this for us DaMara:).

 

Always! :)

[dpryo319]

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2012

1st Half of Trans-Atlantic Crossing

Well, although there is no clear sight of land yet, I have to say we have been quite fortunate with this Atlantic crossing thus far. Just the occasional "motion of the ocean" if you know what I mean...some beautiful days here and there too, when I've managed to see some daylight.

 

Stocked up with some food and ration supplies in both Mallorca and Malaga, Spain, our final 2 ports of call before we headed out over the Atlantic.

 

In regards to entertainment on board, they have kept us quite busy entertaining all the guests at all imaginable parts of the day. From VIP Capt.'s Club Celebrations to the main stage shows at night in the theater, and even the occasional big band in the grand foyer, we've had it all!

 

One night, Antonio Salci, pianist extraordinaire, was back thrilling the crowds with his one man production show. Both Steve Caouette (comedian) and Jamie Allan (magician) were back on for the crossing as well, and managed to catch their shows and was both hurting in my stomach from laughing so hard and truly amazed all at the same time. The Broadway production show of Center Stage was just the other night and packed in the houses at both performances. Just recently, we shared the stage with a tribute to Whitney Houston by the lovely Trina Johnson Finn. Wow, what a show! And if you haven't had enough, just this afternoon, it was the late but still great "Nick & Friends Variety Show"...at 4 o'clock in the afternoon! Hope the audience was ready for it, cuz it was rockin'! Some band tunes w/ Nick, a lil' bit of Allegria Strings and even the acapella boys and we filled the stage with high-energy, non-stop, in-your-face musical greatness!

 

We have recently started an afternoon series of mini-concerts for the guests that have been widely accepted. Manny Kellough and his jazz crew did one, the Allegria strings girls had a private afternoon, and in a few days time, I will be joining Elena from the strings to give a duo classical concert: some of your classic favorites and then some perhaps you might not have known but hopefully you will still enjoy.

 

Also coming up, Stephanie, one of the production singers, will be pairing up with me for an early evening in the Ensemble lounge of some music theatre hits along with a life story or two, a very intimate setting that has a great variety to it. So as you can see, no rest for this guy! Still lovin' music and lovin' life even more!

 

A special wish goes out to my American friends on land and aboard for yet another great Thanksgiving holiday. This year was no exception: a night in the Opus dining room with a remarkable Thanksgiving Feast all laid out on the menu just waiting for you. Although I did miss my family home style holiday cooking, I wasn't able to complain too much: Butternut squash risotto, a pumpkin bisque soup, mixed green salad w/ goat cheese and pumpkin vinaigrette dressing, the traditional oven roasted turkey (midwest style with green beans, mashed potatoes and stuffing!), and for dessert, a delicious pumpkin cheesecake! Happy Holidays to all! Mmmm.... :) Follow that evening meal up with some big band, and you've got the holidays, ship-style!

 

We are scheduled to arrive in Miami the morning of Dec. 1st, and land will never look so good to so many of us! Until then, we drift across the giant body of blue!

 

See you all stateside!

[librarylady19]

thanks for posting DeMara. Sounds like some great music onboard...I'm really looking forward to hearing Rory perform, love the idea of the afternoon concerts!

bet you are getting excited about your upcoming cruise:)

[dpryo319]

thanks for posting DeMara. Sounds like some great music onboard...I'm really looking forward to hearing Rory perform, love the idea of the afternoon concerts!

bet you are getting excited about your upcoming cruise:)

 

I am THRILLED!! :)

 

I won $7 in the Powerball tonight...maybe I can buy 1/2 a Martini on board? :D

[dpryo319]

The Naming of Celebrity Reflection and Caribbean!

After our 9 day crossing, we arrived in Miami on Dec. 1st, and land never felt better for all of us! It was a very smooth crossing I must say, though we kept quite busy with shows, afternoon concerts, activities, etc...the last day even got the chance to do a double collaboration with both Elena from the string trio, Alegria Strings, in a classical concert of cello and piano, and then again with Stefanie from the production cast in a late night musical theatre cabaret, both taking place in the Ensemble Lounge. A busy day all in all, but very rewarding for both the performers and the audience!

 

After clearing Immigration and U.S. Coast Guard, the ship was ready to be given its official name, with a grand Celebrity-style procession of guest speakers, important personnel from head office, and only the best in entertainment! 4 days worth of Inaugural cruises with the agents and VIP's aboard, returning to Miami on all occasions, and then it was off to the Bahamas!

 

Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, we weren't able to make our dock in Nassau and had to wave goodbye to the city, but then the following day we tendered just outside of Celebrity's private island of Coco Bay. It was a great day of relaxing and fun in the sun and the water, much needed for many of the crew and cast who had been previously performing 6 days of production shows for the Inaugurals!

 

We are now amidst our 1st Caribbean cruise to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and it feels great! The cities are all getting decorated for the upcoming holidays and keeping the festive spirit fully alive! Today in St. Maarten with the Reflection Show Cirque style tonight back on the ship, so get ready to rock out!

[firemanbobswife]

Congrats to Rory on the birth of his daughter early this morning! Paul Baya announced at tonight's show that he got the phone call around 2AM this morning.