Eric on the Constellation (2)

The wait for my performance was about a week. This gave me plenty of time to get used to the new ship, the way it worked, what I could and couldn’t do and how guest entertainers operated while sailing around Mediterranean Sea. One issue was washing! Previously (as crew) I had access to the crew laundry rooms but on Celebrity I had to get my laundry cleaned in the main guest laundry room. Other lines I had worked for had passenger laundromats but not this time. This caused me a little headache as I didn’t want to send the small paper-bag of laundry down to the laundry for quite a high fee. I felt for passengers who would have to do this! In the end, after finding the crew laundromats and the huge cue for them, I went and bought some hand-washing detergent and washed my clothes in my cabin!! Not quite the experience I was expecting! With this little issue resolved I went on to have a great time whilst on the ship.

I told you I had a mild coffee habit. Celebrity baristas make a delicious cup of coffee!

Our first stop was Portofino and I had always wanted to visit after seeing a concert on TV with Andrea Botticelli. Such a beautiful voice and location. The tender-boat ride was a little bumpy! Many a “oh!” and “oooh-ugh” from passengers as the boat captain tackled the waves and it made me a little queasy however I remembered the trick of looking at the horizon which always stabilises an uneasy stomach. Once on shore, Portofino lived up to its picturesque image. We were greeted by quaint, colourful buildings with some age. The main port area was filled with throngs of people from the ship and hotels taking photos and selfies or frequenting the many restaurants and shops. I headed up a steep staircase to get a better view. At a church which was closed for a local wedding, there was an amazing view out to sea and looking back down into the bay in which Portifino sits so comfortably, I got some great photos.

Portofino - looking down from the church on high

I took a hike up around the bay from Portofino. Great exercise and views! Look! It’s my ride

I spent most of my time on ship practicing the songs for Wonderful Tonight. I’d setup my Helix pedalboard and computer on a desk in my room and got my guitars out of their cases, tuned and ready. The main thing for me was to get the lyrics of White Room embedded in my brain! I seem to be able to remember chords and melodies but lyrics vanish in a flash! Practicing and stopping when I got the lyrics wrong helped me to get the lyrics right. At the time, I was also distracted by an assignment that was due for my Open University course. It needed to be submitted just I after I joined the ship. I was up to the wee hours getting it finished but due to the fact I had no duties to perform between performances - I got it in on time.