July 6, 2011

ST MAARTEN



Well, ask and you shall receive. I wanted a day off the ship, and I got it. A half day in St Maarten. I was a bit nervous as I had never been off the ship before, and didn’t know the procedure. I knew that the performers were going to someplace called Airplane Beach, where the planes fly in so low you can almost touch them. It is supposed to be a beautiful beach, but I had no idea how to get a hold of the cast members in the morning, so I decided to leave it up to Luck as to who I left the ship with.

In the morning with my coffee in hand I was walking down I95 and met with Sabrina, who reminds me of Melody, my cousin-in-law. Sabrina is a beautiful Mexican girl who is engaged to another crew member on the ship. She said hi, and asked if I was excited to get off the ship. I told her yes, but that I didn’t know how, so she asked me to meet her and Andre, her South African fiancé, and that we would all go together. I thought that that would be great.

On the way back to my room I saw Amy and Alison talking with the hotel director, and giving a post-tour debriefing. They were talking about the All Access Tour that I had cajoled the Bradshaws into taking. I asked Alison if they had had a good time, and she said yes, they had really enjoyed it, which made me feel good.
Back in my cabin I changed into t-shirt and shorts and proceeded to the crew gangway to meet Sabrina and Andre.

I have heard a lot about St Maarten and was curious to see what I would find. The port is walking distance to the town, so we all three agreed to walk instead of taking one of the taxis. It was a hot, humid day, and slightly overcast, but the water was still beautiful. We were in the town of Philipsburg, which sits on a half-moon bay with the mountains rising immediately behind. It is a small town, and like most Caribbean cities, rather dirty. Walking into the port I was reminded of Key West. The ubiquitous Little Switzerland jewelry shops are there and Diamonds International. Sabrina and Andre wanted to go to their favorite pizza place, so I said “sure”, and tagged along. The path into town led onto the beach boardwalk, which was lined with restaurants and t-shirt shops. Again, Key West. The restaurant we went to had large stone statues of Hindu gods in the front, and an open seating area overlooking the beach and blue waters. This should have been my first clue. It was a Thai Restaurant. PEANUTS!

My first restaurant at my first port of call, and I have come to the one place where I cannot eat due to my extreme food allergy to peanuts. I decided a glass of coke sounded best and let them eat their pizza. I wasn’t about to touch any food made in that restaurant!

I had not had the chance to sit and talk with either Sabrina or Andre, except greetings in passing, so I enjoyed the chance to get to know my fellow crew members. We talked about how they had met on ship several contracts ago, and their wedding plans for next month when we are in St Thomas. Sabrina is really one of the most beautiful women I have ever met, and Andre is a very handsome Boer from South Africa. I can only imagine what their children will look like. Andre works for the Diving team, but also for the Shore Excursions. After a companionable hour we headed off into town to do some wedding shopping. At every port of call they have something they tick off their list of “things to do”, and St Maarten was for his suit. Eventually we ended up in a back street alley talking to a tailor who was able to sew the white linen suit he wanted, from scratch…for $190 dollars. A tailor-made suit for less than $200! I told them that in the US that would be an easy $1,000. She was thinking her dress was expensive at $600, and again I laughed saying she would be lucky to walk out of a bridal shop for $6,000.

The streets in Philipsburg are very small, and mostly one way. Cobblestones and very small European cars seem to be the theme. It reminded me of a slightly unkempt cousin of the small Italian towns I have seen. What is it about Caribbean towns though that are so dirty? It is not that there is filth on the streets, which there was not, it is just that all the plaster on the buildings is chipped, the metal railings are rusty, and there is a tired air of “I’ll do it tomorrow” everywhere. Maybe it is the heat. I see the same thing in Key West.

I suppose it is a charming town, but I like my charm a bit cleaner. Nevertheless it felt good, no GREAT, to get off the ship and walk on solid land with fresh air and sun.
They needed to do more shopping, and I needed to get back to the ship, so I headed back on my own. As I walked back to the ship, passing the mountain which rose across the street, I spied wild goats feeding and sporting on the vertical hill side. This was a surprise. I was used to free-range chickens in Key West, but the goats reminded me of the goats Ralph had had when I first met him. Free-range goats….who knew…
Back in the ship, and into the fray in a much better state of mind, I got ready for my Dreamworks photo session. I set up the photo area for the Dreamworks Family and stand by talking with guests and taking their Sea Pass cards for the photos. Today was the Madagascar family, Gloria, the Hippo, Alex, the Lion, and King Julien, the Lemur. It is always fun to see the children’s faces as they meet the animals and take their pictures with them.

In the evening I had my first Rock-a-Rokie event. This is like Karaoke, except with a live band. They provide a list of songs for which they have lyric sheets on the music stand, I leave these sheets on tables, and people sign up for the songs they want to sing with the band. For some reason on this cruise the people are VERY hard to get motivated. They are enjoying themselves, but they remind me of the houses you sometimes get in the theatre where it is so silent you swear that everyone in the audience is dead, or at least comatose, but then at the end they leap to their feet in applause.

There is a family of four that I have had at the last several Trivia Games I hosted and we have struck up an acquaintance. Apparently they know a Judy Zimmer from Key West. I admit the name sounds familiar, but in any event that was the link that provided the connection. The four are from L.A., the parents are celebrating their fortieth anniversary and the daughter and her boyfriend came along. The daughter, Alexa, is an actress in L.A., to which I responded, “Which restaurant?”

The four of them have been a blast to play around with, and when I told them of the Rock-a-Rokie on Deck 8 that I was hosting, they eagerly said they would be there. Sure enough, there they were front and center. Now, knowing that the guests were apt to be shy I was leaning on Alexa to sign up, which she instantly did…so did her Mom, and her Dad, and her boyfriend!

Alexa’s first song was “I Will Survive”, which she knocked out of the park. I was expecting nothing less. Then she and her Mom got up and sang ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”. Another huge hit. I started to joke about the Von Trapp family. Then the Dad got up and sang “Mustang Sally”, the ladies provided harmony and back-up vocals. The crowd loved it and gave him a standing ovation. I decided to break up the quartet and bring in another singer. Adele was Brazilian and spoke very little English, but gamely got up and sang “Moonriver”, one of my favorite songs. I introduced her saying that it was hard enough to get up and sing in front of people in your native language, but we had someone who was going to sing in a language that they did not know. She had that smokey-breathy quality I love in Brazilian women, especially singers. We were all so impressed that the band offered to play “Girl from Ipanema”, though it was not on the song list. She smiled and nodded, and got up and gave us one of the best renditions I have heard. I would have bought her CD.

About 12 singers in all got on stage. Max, Alexa’s boyfriend, I wanted to save for a finale as he wanted to sing “New York, New York”. After I had thanked everyone and introduced the last member of the “Von Trapp Family”, asking if they were going to sing “Lonely Goatherd”, Max sang his heart out, and very well, so, naturally, I felt obliged to get a group together for a kickline at the finish.

An hour later found me hosting the Karaoke Show in the On-Air Bar on Deck 5. Right in front were my “Von Trapps”. Because I knew they could sing I offered them songs from my special CD of tracks that I used. I like to always sing the opening numbers to my hosted musical events, so I tried out a new song that I had always loved when my friend Traci sang it in Key West, “Lead Me Not”, a funny, gospelesque song. I had been rehearsing in my room for the last month, trying to remember all the words, and figured that tonight I felt like premiering it…I gave Alexa my track to “Cabaret”. She was the third singer. Blew it right out of the water! The crowd went wild.

By the end of the night, after a packed house of your general range of singers, (from bad to good), I decided to ask if she wanted to sing the finale with me and do “Suddenly Seymour”. It’s one of my favorites, and I always think of Traci when I sing it. It was “our” song. I had been dying to sing it on ship, and now I had a musical theatre actress whose work I had seen, and knew we would have a blast doing it. Sure enough, no rehearsal, I pulled out my Elton John glasses for Seymour, got on my knees to make myself short, put on my “Seymour” voice, and we proceeded to show our credentials from the Danny Weathers Crate and Barrel school of acting, (lots of mugs!). She was right there throughout, as though we had worked together for years. There is something very true about performers being a “Tribe”. It doesn’t matter if you have never worked together, you just ‘know” when you are working on the same level and can trust your stage-fellow. It reminded me of the first time I worked the stage with Traci.

So ended a really good day. My first day off, great shows…and total exhaustion at the end…but in a good way. I am so thankful for the years I spent in Key West which gave me the skills I am using every day now.