Little by little, the details start to wrap themselves up. Got the last work order in for the leak in my cabin ceiling (it’s been there for a month and is edging on no longer being my problem, but I worry about my replacement having to deal with it), all but the barest necessities and the pictures on the walls packed. The last write up for the crew (on Alaska, which I will not even be on this ship for, but the HRM wanted to get it done in advance so her replacement didn’t have to panic), has been researched written and sent off for approval.
We’re gradually winnowing away on the list of remaining entertainers, the onboard cast has finished all of their shows, and the last of the headliners goes up tonight. The biggest of all of them actually, a performer who’s so ‘important’ that he travels with his own entourage of at least 9 other people and we don’t even know who most of them are. Getting to hang out with the San Miguel Five was a coup for me, even getting a ‘hello’ from someone of this calibre would be pretty much unheard of. There are some guest ents out there that you don’t even try for, if their personal assistant thinks they’re above us, then the central figure probably definitely does.
The entertainer in question is Michael Feinstein, a gentleman who pretty much is the Great American Songbook, and is extremely well known in Broadway and Television circles (I had to look him up as the name sounded only vaguely familiar, then promptly fell off my chair and was disgusted with myself for not knowing who he was). We know he’s on board, but none of us have seen him, I can only assume he’s keeping mostly to himself. There’s quite a whisper-current on board as to how we managed to get him at all, but I can’t say I know any more than anyone else. It’s all very secretive – but my best guest? We asked, his agent said yes. Sometimes it really is that simple.
They’ve scheduled his show as a huge formal night event, the second to last one before the Grand Ball – and some people are far more excited about this than they are about the masquerade (it takes all kinds).
But either way, as I said, out of my league.
I like the FedEx workers though, they’re much more on our level 😉
And all around us the horizon remains the same, a blank slate of endless sea and sky. Where it not for the steady whir of the engines and the shifting of the clouds it would be easy to believe we’re not moving at all, just drifting out here in the endless expanse of the ocean. At night there is only the moon and the endless smattering of stars, the same stars that have guided sailors home for generations looking down on us as we make our way home to families and loved ones. Some of us go on, some of us go home, some of us aren’t even sure where we’re going or where home is…either way, we all go on…