Leads me to writing this blog. Just a little catch up, on Tuesday we did our office run and it was amazing we had a pretty full audience, that went well, and most of all it was a relief to be done with rehearsals. After we cleaned up the studio we decided to celebrate at a near by park that has food trucks everywhere on Tuesday’s which was awesome. There were so many different kinds of food, I wasn’t too adventurous that evening but most of us found things we enjoyed such as grilled cheese, pizza, ice cream, doughnuts. I figured I might as well eat like an American while I’m still here. 

Wednesday, we had off which was perfect I really needed that day to organize my things and re pack. Today has been a pleasant surprise so far! Normally going to the airport can be a bit stressful especially when you are going to be traveling for thirty hours and have over weight bags… I don’t know what happened this morning but somehow the world was giving me good vibes. I got away with only paying for one bag which ended up being $100.00 and really because it was over weight I should have payed $300.00 so that was amazing! I’ve also never traveled with a group of eleven other people and so far it’s been nice. Although we don’t get to sit next to each other on the flights we’re hoping maybe for the last flight that’s fifteen hours someone will be nice and switch seats. 

Looks like I wrote too soon! On my second flight I got lucky enough to sit next to Emily AND Jose in the last row on the plane. Also, because I have my new beautiful Macbook Pro (which I still need to name) I was able to stay awake watching Center Stage and Maleficent, two of my most favorite movies.

Now I’m sitting at the San Fransisco airport charging up while I have a four hour layover before the last and longest flight! Still doesn't seem like I’m on my way to Australia right now! I’m hoping since I’ve been up all day and only slept for three-ish hours last night I’ll be able to pass out on this next flight and wake up in Australia! Oooo yeah, super exciting I just bought a ticket to go see “Anything Goes” at the Sydney Opera House… what is my life right now?! :) Well now I’m even more excited to get there. We should arrive in the morning and check in to a hotel in Sydney, freshen up go watch and show, then sign on the ship the next morning! Install is about to be crazy but like one of my directors said if we ever find ourselves stressed, sad, lonely, or whatever just say fuck it I’m in Australia. 

I’ll end on that note.

Until next time,

XOXO 

Monica 

Rehearsals are coming to an end!

Hello again! 

Exciting news, I got my first Macbook Pro and I am so in love! Not only is this fun for me to write to ya’ll and tell you what’s new with me, but it’s even better writing it out on my Macbook Pro! 

Just to play a little catch up… I’ve been living in North Miami for the last six weeks at Florida International University in dorms with other Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise line performers. The productions studio where I work is about a five minute walk away and it is beautiful! It’s the largest production studio in America, about 130,000 square feet! 

There are twelve of us in the cast and these past six weeks we have learned three production shows. The first is called “City of Dreams” which has been a Royal Caribbean show for the past ten years or so but it’s a love story for the Girl one and Boy one singers. The rest of us paint the picture of the scene which takes you around the world from Atlantis, Bombay, Beijing, and Venice. It’s a roller coaster of colors and emotions, but a beautiful show. The second show we learned was “Piano Man” which i’m sure you’ve guest it is a celebration of music from Elton John, Harold Arlen, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, to Barry Manilow. I think this one is my favorite to do so far… The last show we learned is “Tango Buenos Aires” which is entirely a tango show. The stars of the show are a featured tango couple for Argentina which we have yet to meet, but we hear are amazing! This show was fun to learn because it’s so authentic, the music is beautiful, i’ve never done tango before so I now know so new moves, and we learned how passionate tango can be! 

This upcoming week is kind of a big deal. Monday we get to move to the “Finishing Studio” which is huge and has lights and seats for everyone to come watch us in. We’ll do one of our shows that day as our Unofficial run for the office to check us out and anyone else that can attend. Then Tuesday’s the big day, every cast has an office run to show off what you’ve been working on before you leave for the ship. Somehow our office run has turned into an “Event” as if is wasn't already a big performance, now it’s a BIG deal because people from Royal Caribbean corporate are coming to check Royal Caribbean Productions which just so happens to be us. Which is great, the more the merrier, right? Then we’re done, which is amazing. Wednesday we have off to pack and get ready to fly to Sydney, Australia on Thursday October 29th. 

Once we get to Australia which will take about 25 hours we have an over night in Sydney, then join Radiance of the Seas in the morning of November 1st. From there our first cruise is 15 nights long and we will be installing the shows on the ship getting costumes, wigs, and rehearsing until we can open all three shows! After that we just get to enjoy traveling to places I never thought i’d go to on a beautiful ship with awesome people and every couple of nights perform a few shows. 

It’s been pretty crazy the past six weeks, we are all very ready to get on the ship. There are always days where I've been exhausted mentally and physically, but being able to tell myself it’s worth it because I love to dance and I love my job is really incredible. I’m so proud of our cast for creating a community to perform together and working our asses off when we are so tired. I can’t wait to spend the next six months with them and I am so excited for the memories we’re going to make. 

Now that I have my Macbook I was thinking of making some video blogs. We’ll see how that works out. But thanks for reading, I promise to try to be a good blogger this time around! :) 

Until next time…

XOXO 

Monica 

Welcome!

To whomever actually reads my blog,

I got a second contract with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line! I will be on the Radiance of the Seas which travels to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and more! For now I am headed to Miami for rehearsals for six weeks. Most of you probably know all of this because most of you are my family... (shout out to you guys) and if you're not family than you're pretty awesome too cause you must have thought I was interesting enough to check out so thanks to all of ya'll.

I realized I didn't do a very good job as a blogger my last contract so i'm gonna try to be better and post more often which will be great for me because it will force me to take more pictures (which i'm also not so good at) and for those of you that care or are interested in what I'm doing you can keep up! :) 

I'm super excited for this contract to start and to be able to share it with you!

Cheers,

Monica