Hello, hello.

Where does the time go? I'm back from Phoenix and two nights of eating cookie dough blasts and junior banana splits. That was a lot of sugar, even by my standards. Those of you who know me well will be shocked to know that I haven't been able to eat anything sweet since Tuesday night. Hopefully this is only a temporary condition.

So I got back to the ship Wednesday afternoon, in time for our tech rehearsal and shows that night. I was operating on very little sleep, but still stayed out late with the cast afterwards. At this point I'm trying to take advantage of our remaining time here and enjoy the fact that we have so little responsibility other than a few shows and a few workshops. Granted, the new job I'll be starting when I get back isn't exactly factory work, but working six nights a week will definitely be an adjustment.

Yesterday (Thursday) was private island day. Kevin's friend Matt is visiting, and I joined them and Andy over on the island. We walked down a trail that lead to, well, hurricane destruction, as far as I can tell. Parts of structures, a lot of rusted metal parts, but we left before any of us accidently did anything that would require a tetanus shot. While I did put on some sunblock, I'm getting a little cocky about the sun, thinking that at this point my arms couldn't possibly get sunburned. Incorrect! But aren't I cute for thinking that?

I'll be gone again for the first couple of days of next week, doing a radio spot in New York. I'm looking forward to coming back afterwards, not only because there's so little time left, but also because this Sunday marks the return of Colin the Cruise Director! It will be great to have him back.

Have a lovely weekend, Erdmaniacs.

Rule of Threes

Hello, I'm back after a nice (though shortened, thanks to the sea beast) visit from Rich last week. We went to Disneyworld and efficiently maneuvered the crowds, Great Stirrup Cay (Norwegian's private island, where I had not been before), and Nassau (a nighttime trip to Atlantis' aquarium and casino). We also celebrated Andy and Kevin's birthdays on Friday. It was a fun week. I'm now in Phoenix once again for a Sonic shoot.

Three weeks to go. It's hard to believe. On the plane this evening I started getting a little sentimental, mainly about people I would miss. There are some great Norwegian crew folks who I've really come to like, and I'm also realizing that soon the end will come for our cast. These are all people I'll see back in Chicago (although Paul and Sue are signing on for another 4 months), but it's doubtful that we'll work together as a group again. Except for maybe the huge blowout Norwegian Dawn Inaugural Cast Celebration and Barbecue/Reunion in 10 years...look for your invitations in early 2015. On the last hour of the plane ride they were showing trivia on the TV screens, and one question had to do with state capitals. A couple of weeks ago, some of the us were in Star Bar after our show, and we just started naming all the states and capitals...and we got through all of them. I really enjoy being a part of a group that delights in remembering that Augusta is the capital of Maine and Olympia is the capital of Washington. It's the little things.

I don't know if you heard about a Royal Caribbean (I think) ship that ran into a pier in Mexico, resulting in a 42-foot tear through the hull, but I predict one more ship-related incident in the next few weeks, and then various morbid "Cruise Ships: More Dangerous Than We Thought" news pieces. Other title options would include "The Love Boat...If You Love To Die," "Cruisin' for a Bruisin'," "That Sinking Feeling," and "Hell Boat." You heard it here first.

The Truth

Please see my photos to the left to see what really caused last week's rough times for the Norwegian Dawn. Photos courtesy of Sue Salvi.

And I thought the seas were rough...

It has come to my attention that there may be people reading this who don't know me; that's fine, and I welcome you. But please know that this blog was created as a way to keep in touch with friends and family, and by no means represents Norwegian Cruise Line or Second City. It's just me chattin' with the people.

Thanks to all of you who have written and called to express concern and/or amazement at our rough seas debacle. I've seen the article on CNN, and we found a great terror-filled article in the New York Daily News. It included the following quote about what it was like during the storm: "It was dark as night." Maybe because it was night.

Getting off the ship today in NY, there were TV cameras everywhere. And Sue said when she went to Times Square our ship was on the big TV screen along with a picture of our captain, who is gradually somehow being blamed for this. If lawyers were monkeys, Norwegian smells like a nice big banana right now.

So, we've all been through some (slight) trauma. What a great day to welcome some visitors on board: my husband, Rich, and Andy's girlfriend, Amy. What a delight to see them as they arrive at the pier at 2pm. How nice it was to pick up their tickets from the desk at the pier. It was a little sad when we had to leave them in line at 3pm to make it back on the ship by the crew deadline. It became mildly frustrating at 3:50 to have not heard from them, knowing the boat drill was beginning. And then the call came from Rich at around 4:20 that no one was able to let them on the ship because they had no record of Andy, me, our cabins - nothing. Rich and Amy were told to wait for someone to come help them, and they waited for about 30 minutes. I called Second City to try to get some help on that end, while Andy happened to run into Rob, the Senior Host on board, and I ran into ACD Mike. Rob took Andy out to the pier, and Mike made some calls. Eventually they were let on, with the gangway literally being taken away from the ship right behind them. I have no idea what went wrong, or why an almost identical problem occured the last time Rich visited. And now, at 6:30pm, both he and Amy are still without ID key cards, since Reception told us we had to get them from Personnel (which I know to be incorrect, from the last time he was here), and Personnel sent us back up to Reception. But Reception is too busy to deal with our problems right now, because no one seemed to consider that people were coming on this cruise and were scheduled to stay in one of the 60 cabins that were flooded. Whoops. So hopefully we can get someone to give them a key card before Wednesday when we'll want to get off the ship.

I normally don't indulge in rants like this, partially because it can be boring and partially because I'm kind of an employee of NCL and feel some loyalty. And the thing is, I've never met a nicer, more helpful group of people than the crew of this ship. But there are some weird things happening somewhere in the chain of command that baffle me. And I've always been the type of person who likes to help solve problems, or to suggest better ways to do things. So the sad thing is that at this point, all I can think is that I'm only here for 4 more weeks, so I just don't care. Sure, there's got to be a solution that will make it easy for our guests to board, but I'm just not interested in finding it anymore.

Waiting

I hope you enjoyed Andy's guest entry. Please note the views expressed by guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views or proofreading skills of Erdmania, inc. Stay tuned for more guest bloggers in the future. Maybe.

By now I've heard reports of our ship on the news, including CNN, which we get on the ship. I haven't seen anything, but other crew have. On the one hand, I don't know that there's much of story: we hit bad weather, a big wave hit us, windows broke, rooms flooded, a few people were hurt (ok, when I put it like that it sounds kinda bad)...but it's over now. Then again, I'm a little relieved that CNN is showing a story that doesn't involve waiting for someone to die. Right now CNN is waiting for the Cardinals to start meeting to select a new Pope. CNN: Waiting For News to Happen. Also, I just heard this said by one of the anchors in an interview with a Vatican correspondent: "I guess sometimes too much information isn't such a good thing. Or is it?"

So last night we did an improv show with all the other headlining entertainers as well as the Cruise Director and Asst. Cruise Director. It was a blast. It was fun just to get to do some improv, to get to do it with people we don't usually work with, and to entertain some people who were grateful for a laugh. We may do it again this coming week on the last night, since it's the last week for our current CD, Paul, and ACD, Mike.

Right now Rich should be about to land at La Guardia, so I'm going to wrap up and go somewhere where I have a phone signal. Have a great week! I plan to.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/04/18/ship.diverted.ap/index.html

Guest blogger

Hey.......it's Andy on Molly's "blog". Whose really reading this is my question? Outside of my mom and Kelly Leonard (hi mom, not you Kelly). Tonight i made up a drink called the VAN DYKE BROWN. You've guys have heard of the famous artist known as Bob Ross right? The white guy with the afro. Anyway, he would use different colors that would make up his painting and the color i remember is "van dyke brown". The entire cruise i've been trying to use VDB as different names or what nots to find a home for "VDB". Eventually Sue's brother and I were talking (Vinny is his name, but Katie, his wife, whose on the VDB board of experts) and we decided that VDB would be a great drink name. Well, as you can tell we decided that VDB is what we would just start ordering and then whatever was given to us we would call a VDB. What's in a VDB you ask.....well i'll tell you. These are the ingredients (spelling doesn't count on this thing.....just go with it) :

- Amerito
-Sloe Gin
-Triple Sec
-Splash of coke (thank you Marcus. Marcus is dancer with the Jean Ryan Company)

That's the drink. It's easy and made for kids. It tastes like a cherry coke. The best part is that other random people (Lala - a nice pretty Brooklyn school teacher starter ordering the drink) just started getting the drink. She wants me to start a VDB "blog". Which i won't do. But it's the thought that counts.

Now you can continue to read this boring blog. IF I were you i'd go to espn.com and find out what happenned in this day of sports but maybe that's just me. I love you mom.

andy

The 8th Day of the Week

So what happens when you have an extra day at sea that no one had planned on? 61 people got off in Charleston yesterday and got home on their own; hopefully everyone else has the attitude that their vacation just got extended by a day. Fortunately, it was gorgeous in Charleston when we got there around 3:30 yesterday. People were allowed to get off for a little while, but we chose not to just because it was a short window and it was night time by then, and we had no idea where we would go. Plus, it was nice being on the ship and not having to hold on to things to walk around.

We left just after midnight, and are supposed to get to New York at noon tomorrow (Monday). Beth, our producer at Second City, was helpful and got Rich's and Amy's (Andy's girlfriend) flights moved to Monday, so hopefully all will be ok. With any luck, the passengers boarding tomorrow will be understanding and not too irate that their cruise is a day shorter now.

So to get back to the initial question...tonight Paul the Cruise Director, Mike the Asst. Cruise Director, Ed Alonze the Comedy Magician (of Saved by the Bell fame), Edge the Comedy Juggler, and our cast will do a big "Who's Line Is It Anyway" show in the theatre. I think it'll be a lot of fun, and it's something I'm glad we get to take part in because I think the passengers will really enjoy it and appreciate it. They've been through a lot of crap this week, frankly, and I'd love to give them a great show to leave with.

George Clooney, bring us home!

As I'm writing this, things have calmed down considerably on the good 'ol Norwegian Dawn, but allow me to take you back to yesterday evening. It had been a fairly rough sea day, but nothing too out of the ordinary for this leg of the trip. As the day went on, it got rougher. We went up to Spinnaker to get ready for our improv show, and started hitting waves so big we could see them out the deck 12 windows. Things were falling over: glassed, liquor bottles, speakers, drums, people...very exciting. We did our show, though to a much smaller crowd than usual, and I was actually relieved to be doing the show because it took my mind off the motion. I didn't get seasick really, but I felt generally uneasy.

We finished our show and went up to Star Bar during the break before Liars Club, since Star Bar is mid-ship and generally less turbulent than Spinnaker, at the front of the ship. Lots more shattered glasses. Now, keep in mind that this week has already been a bit of a mess; there was an itinerary change so that we could get to New York by 5am on Sunday to accomodate a special event. Understandably, passengers were unhappy about that, plus the fact that they had to go through a long immigration procedure in Miami. So even though the weather is out of anyone's control, it definitely led to more frustration. To help placate, last night and tonight they're having open bars starting at 5pm.

And then the final punchline is that we now won't get in to NY until Monday. Last night a wave hit deck 9 and broke some cabin windows and flooded much of the floor. A few people were hurt, but nothing serious - more scared than anything else I'm guessing, waking up to the sound of shattering glass and feeling water all over. So now we're on our way to Charleston, SC to repair the damage. The two crew jacuzzis in the front of deck 8 were completely destroyed, but I don't think anyone's as concerned about their repair at this time. But there are chunks of fiberglass laying all over. I think if you go to the bridge cam on the NCL website (ncl.com - click "fleet" and then "Dawn" and the "Bridge cam") you may be able to see what's left of them.

Things have calmed down now, as we head in toward land. I'll have some business to take care of when we get to port, since Rich is supposed to be coming to meet the ship in NY tomorrow, but hopefully he can change his flight and everything will be ok. And hopefully the rest of our trip up to NY will be a little calmer. Last night we were rolling so much that my bed slid a foot away from the wall. And at 8am two security guards came in to close my porthole (along with everyone else's) so prevent further window damage and flooding. It's been a nutty 24 hours.

On a brighter note, a very happy belated birthday to my mom and to Heidi. May your seas always be calm.

Leave only footprints, take only foot pain

Right now we're somewhere in the Atlantic, probably parallel with the Carolinas. It's been an incredibly smooth sea day; I woke up this morning and thought we were in a port because I couldn't feel us moving at all. This week begins Visitor Month for us. Sue's brother and sister-in-law are here this week. They were getting settled in their cabin yesterday when the Cruise Director, Paul, made an announcement. Hearing his name, Sue's sister-in-law, Katie, realized that she went to high school with him. Weird. I've often wondered if there would ever be someone on board who randomly knew one of us...this might be as close as we get. In the following weeks, all of us will have a visitor on board: Rich is coming next week, as is Andy's girlfriend Amy. The following week is Kevin's guest, and then Brian's. And then, unbelievably, it will be our final week on board. And it will be an unusual one, since the ship is being chartered for some annual leadership conference. But more on that when the time comes.

Tomorrow we're in Port Canaveral, where Andy, Kevin, and I will venture out on an excursion to Wet 'n Wild. If you're not familiar with it, it's a big water park in Orlando. I haven't been in a water park in at least 10 years I think. I have fond memories, despite the burning hot ground, long climbs up stairs or hills to get to the slides, and pools that are just slightly too warm. I can't wait.

A special note to my Dad, Helen, Emily, & Brent: today I was in the gym and heard that "Hands Up" song we always heard at Club Med. I think I still remember the dance.


********************

Just got back from Wet 'n Wild, which lived up to its name. I did all the slides except the big one that essentially drops stright down; Andy and Kevin did it twice, but their survival still didn't inspire me. I know my limits. That being said, for the last thing of the day we went to this pond where they had knee boarding (like water skiing but kneeling on a mini-surfboard type thing), and we all tried it. Instead of being pulled by a boat, you're led around by a cable...it's hard to explain, I'm afraid. Anyway, Andy made it all the way around the pond. Kevin had a tough first start and then on the do-over made it about 1/4 of the way. I made it exactly half way, meaning I fell off my board at the furthest possible point from the start. I thought I was going to have to swim all the way back - wearing a life vest and a helmet - but an employee on a jet ski came to get me. So I got a fun jet ski ride, if nothing else. We left exhausted and with very sore feet. Not only is the ground hot, but it's textured to prevent slipping. We never slipped, but I think I'm missing a layer of skin.

Miami Living

Ok, I know my updates have been a little sparse of late, but as the routine of the 7-day cruises sets in, things have become fairly...routine. But today was a little different.

Today we were in Miami. Edge, the juggler/comedian on board, had planned to rent a car to facilitate the purchase of a new printer, and Andy and I decided to join him (upon his invitation). We left the ship around 11am and headed to the airport to get a car. After settling on a mid-size sedan, we got in the car and it wouldn't start. Perhaps playing up the inconvenience a bit, we were upgraded to a convertible, and we hit the town. And by town I mean various strip malls. But it's amazing how in a covertible, in Miami, going to two Best Buys and a Home Depot is a lot of fun and even a bit exotic. It was a really good day.

We made it back to the ship around 4:20pm, just in time for our 4:30 tech rehearsal. We worked out a few kinks in the show...and then had two really great shows this evening. The first audience seemed fairly typical for a 7:30 show: appreciative, but not overly excitable. But then we got our first mass standing ovation at the end. It felt great. The second show was also fairly typical for a 9:30 show: louder, more response to individual scenes, but not as big a reaction at the end. But still a terrific crowd and a terrific show. It was a great night because everything felt solid.

It's now 1:35am; I just got back to my cabin after hanging out at Star Bar and Spinnaker for a little while. Tomorrow we're at the private island, a day I usually spend poolside since it's fairly empty. But I got a little too much sun in the convertible today, so I may enjoy some inside time instead.