Talent OnTap
With the blockout curtains pulled tight this morning, Jude and I sweetly slumbered until 10am (not counting our brief interruption from Errol, who burst in with his mop before hastily retreating when he heard we were still snoring.)
The late night shows are taking a bit of a toll. It’s just as well we have a 90kg bag allowance to accommodate the bags under our eyes.
Missing breakfast seemed to be the trend this morning and the brunch crew was out in force. I’m guessing you could have heard a pin drop across this vast ship at 8am. Rock royalty, Daryl, was once again fraternising with more of his adoring fans whilst munching his bacon and eggs and generally endearing himself to everyone onboard.
Anyone who’s cruised will know the thrill of the daily schedule pinned to the door each morning; an activities menu, offering a plethora of choices for how you can spend your day. Today it was just too hard to pick and choose - it was all too good to miss - so we picked it all, resulting in a jam-packed schedule with literally back-to-back shows ALL day. Strap in. It was huge.
George Kapiniaris, from Wogs Out Of Work, had us giggling and brought the house down with his comedy show , which was followed by a Pink Floyd tribute band that took themselves a little too seriously.
Briefly visiting our cabin between shows, we were delighted that Errol had been and spruced it up. We are taking pride in the fact we’re keeping our room ship-shape (see what I did there?) and Jude keeps wondering aloud how we are stacking up against our shipmates. Maybe we should ask him to give us a score out of ten. The freshly folded towel animals are always open to interpretation. Day One was a slightly phallic-looking penguin (we think) that Jude dubbed the “Pecker” and today’s terry-towelling masterpiece was a yoga-loving bunny, engaging in a downward-facing-dog pose any yogi would’ve been proud of.
You really wouldn’t want to come on this ship if you had an aversion to rock music. There is music EVERYWHERE! It’s an incredible atmosphere; with dancing generally replacing walking wherever you are on the boat. People are bopping in the toilet queues, grooving while they wait to be seated for dinner and busting a move in the elevators. There’s great camaraderie and palpable joy abounding onboard.
Sarah McLeod, in a lunchtime show, absolutely rocked the Colonoscopy Room. She had a great sense of humou too. The swell was rolling and she commented how strange it looked with us all standing and swaying together like zombies in broad daylight. Mentioning what a great Saturday crowd we were, Jude heckled and yelled: “it’s Sunday!” to which she replied: “I know what day it is. I catch the lift”.
A guy sitting behind me in the audience, tapped me on the shoulder and showed me a lovely snapshot he’d taken of my back. I thought he was admiring my outfit until I realised it was his not so subtle way of saying I was obscuring his view. Full marks for creativity.
Onboard fashions are second to none. We love that just about anything goes. A bathrobe is as appropriate at any venue as a Versace diamond encrusted gown. Our favourite (very tall) couple go all out, every single day, with over-the-top outfits involving sparkles, sequins, silks, feathers, wigs and fur. They certainly cut a striking pose amongst the sea of co-ordinated Hawaiian shirts. Offering praise and encouragement and assuring them their attention to detail and level of effort had not gone unnoticed, the guy with the fluoro pink beard shrugged it off and told me: “nah it’s nothing. We’d wear this down the club, back home”.
Taxiride entertained us on centre stage, a huge 12 storey void up the middle of the ship with balconies on every floor that look down on it. Daryl calls it Westfield Plaza.
Speaking of our mate Daryl, we got to see him strut his stuff tonight and he didn’t disappoint, singing all his classics, including Summer Love and Howzat. So good! His daily, friendly breakfast banter meant he knew just about everyone in the crowd by name. Threatening there may not be enough time to sing Horses, he had the audience worried, particularly the couple in the front row that had giant foam horse hats adorning their noggins. Obviously he was kidding and the song was his pièce de résistance, the excitable fans bellowing the lyrics along with him and continuing impromptu sing-a-longs as they travelled back to their cabins.
After a quick bite to eat, we were off to see the equally brilliant Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows. They were fantastic and we danced our feet off, before hobbling (we had no feet left) to catch some karaoke in the pub on the top floor. The joint was jumping with the whole bar singing raucously, rollicking along with the karaoke punters, almost drowning them out (which was a good thing on occasion, if you know what I mean).
We will sleep without rocking tonight.
