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Some crew members who had lasting effects Hickson: Hickson is from St. Vincent and went to traditions with us. Great guy kinda quiet and his only complaint after 30 days was that he wasn't prepared for the cold weather, could he get another coat. I guess it all comes back to what you're used to. Tom: Tom is Security Officer onboard and he was also with us in traditions. Tom is the coolest. He always has a smile and time to chat for while. Genuine nice guy. His white spikey hair matches his dress white uniform perfectly. His wife Shirley came aboard last week and she's as nice as he is. We'll miss seeing Tom around the ship. Peter: Peter was Assistant Cruise Director until he transfered to the Wonder 2 weeks ago. Our first encounter was on embarkation day when our gear was late making it onboard. Peter was the first one to grab a piece of gear and help make it all just happen. Great guy. Natalie: Natalie is the entertainment manager onboard and her job is like wrangling cats. She keeps all us musicians inline, on schedule and on task, and she's reeeeaaaaly good at it. She works crazy hard out here and must never sleep. Not to mention, she's very nice. Chris Ene: Chris is what is called the floater pianist. In other words, he plays EVERYWHERE. Atrium, lounge, sessions, wedddings, you name it, he's there. Christian started out in a different department and decided he wanted a change. He auditioned, got the gig, and completely deserves it. He's weird in the fact that he gets up very early in the morning and has coffee while working on a piece of music or rehearsing. Nicest guy in the world... Daryl Lockhart: Daryl is the Sessions pianist and he's from Seattle. Sessions is a beautiful piano bar on deck 3 forward and you can always find him in here playing standards, or themed sets of Billy Joel, or even James Taylor. His voice is as wonderful as his playing. Disney said "Own it" and when it comes to Sessions, Daryl Does. He makes that room absolutely his own for an hour at a time. He's a really nice guy and he helped us get through the awkward first week. We'll never forget him and look forward to seeing him again. Andrea and Brian: These guys really helped too. They're not only the leaders of Soul Drive, but they're also married, so they know all about married life onboard a cruise ship. Brian is a lead singing bass player (sound familiar?). Andrea has perky, hot, female vocalist down to a T.. Really nice guys who've been around the cruise ship stages for a long time and have a way of pulling the musical family together out here. True, team players. We'll miss these two a lot. Darren: Darren came onboard as ACD when Peter left. He's been with DCL forever and his knowledge is unequalled. You won't meet a nicer guy. Darren came to us in the middle of a set to drop off some good comment cards that guests had left regarding us. He was worried that he was interrupting. Sheesh, good comments, deliver them anytime. Christian: Our Cruise Director. This guy embodies it 24/7. I asked him if he always wore dress whites because cruise directors I'd met on other lines only did on formal night. His answer blew me away. He said, "This uniform makes me more visible and more approachable. I'm sure there are days when he wants to pull his hair out, but I haven't seen it, and I can bet that nobody else except for close staff does either. He can squat down to say hi to a child and make magic just happen. He and all the cruise director staff here and on the Wonder are top notch. Prince: Prince is one of the Lounge bartenders. Daily chat was more than just "How's the weather". I know that he's from India, has been with DCL for 8 years, has friends in Portsmouth, VA., and he knows just as much about us. Converstions with Prince are always genuine and relaxed. Not that others aren't, Prince just has a comfortable dimeanor that's refreshing and fitting for a place that's all about vacation and fun. Archie: Archie is another lounge guy. Behind the bar or on the floor, Archie is always smiling and happy. Great guy and we won't soon forget him. "Does the Moonlight Shine on Paris, After the Sun Goes Down?" Prakash: Prakash left for 8 weeks vacation after our 3rd week. He was like the first person to leave that we'd had daily contact with. You see, Prakash worked in the crew mess. He always knew what everything was and always took the time to help us with something we weren't familiar with. It's curry. vegetarian. Try it, it's good! It was. He was cool. Chris: Chris is a Trini to da bone! She made her way to the stage after night #1 to say Hi. Pans? You guys? Really? On the Magic? Welcome aboard!!!!! We always say Hi when we see her. She's great. Esther: Esther is from Trinidad as well and it took her a minute or two to figure us out. She knows that we know our pan history and aren't out to steal something that is so very Trini. She's a Trinidadian Patriot and she feels very strongly about pan. She's also very sweet. and very short. Sammie: Sammie is an Officer from Jamaica and he always ends up stopping for a second or two to wave when we're playing. We were always happy if we were doing a Reggae tune when he'd walk by. In our dictionary, Reggae and Jamaica could very well be the same word. Quiet and strong, his presence was always felt. Norman: Norman works in beverage, so he's everwhere. Lynley met him at a crew wine and cheese party and they just clicked. The first person Lynley called a friend. Marc and Jen: These 2! Wow! Marc and Jen are cruise staff and can make you dance. If they show up in the lounge when we're playing, everybody is dancing with them. Electric Slide, Twistin' the Night Away, it doesn't really matter. They're infectious. They could have you dancing to somebody reciting the South Miami phone book. Party Party Party! CRASH! Party Party Party. Love these 2! DJ Mike: If you said every good thing you could say about a cruise ship DJ, you'd basically be giving a desciption of DJ Mike. In the lounge, top deck, Rockin' Bar D, adult games at Quiet Cove pool. Heads out of the gutter people. Chipping golf balls into the pool is where I was going. If Mike plays "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" for the kids, he's right out there on the floor doing it with them. He's aslo been known to get just a little bit nasty in Rockin Bar D late at night. He's truly an asset to the Magic. Brad: Now normally main show performers and musicians don't mix all that well on cruise ships. It's different here. We were playing at Quiet Cove Pool and didn't see a huge black rain cloud that was coming up fst. Brad jumped up, ran over, pointed, grabbed gear and helped us save a lot of headaches and gear. Thanks for that Brad! The Technical Crew: All the techs aboard are worth their weight in Tanzanite. With one guy out because of a death in the family and one medicated with a broken toe due to a falling ( I said falling, not dropped, Rich) TV, this technical family is still managing to set up and run PA, lights, special effects, etc. in multiple venues simultaniously and then strike it all at night's end. When a piece of gear breaks, their answer to the problem is either in their head or at the end of a earpiece. Rich and his crew are to be commended on their level of professionalism and teamwork. We sounded as great as we did because of them. Kisses from Lynley, Hugs from me. Tony: Tony works on I95 in the trash room. Here's the deal, Tony is ALWAYS working. It's his pace. Sometimes he works slow and sometimes he kicks butt in high gear, but you always see Tony on I95. And...he's always smiling and nice or laughing with friends. If that's not disney, I don't know what is. Tony's was important guy in my morale department. .........Ok,
I know what the question is. "Who affected you the
most while you were aboard?" |