A Long Flight

The bar at the Spinnaker Lounge
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This was my first trip to the islands of Hawaii and my first cruise ship gig so I excited to get started and my way!  I began by getting up at 5:00 AM which by musician standards is the middle of the night!  I finally arrived at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport)  at 7:00 and (with my fellow musicians who you will meet later) proceeded through check-in and security with little fuss.  Thinking that the worst part of my day was behind me, I prepared myself for the 5.5 hour flight to Honolulu.  Unfortunately the plane that we had boarded was broken and needed some major repairs.  Luckily they notified the passengers of this after having sat on the tarmac for 2.5 hours!!  Eventually a new plane was sequestered from another gate and the journey proceeded forward.

My humble abode
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Figuring in a three hour time zone change, we arrived in Honolulu around 3:00 PM and took a cab to the ship which would be my home for the next week.  To me the ship was huge!  But I later was told that the Pride of Hawaii is actually small compared to the likes of Royal Caribbean.  Anyway, I didn't have much time to explore the ship since we had arrived so late.  We rushed through a sound check, grabbed something to eat, and prepared for our first show that evening for the jet-lagged guests in the Spinnaker Lounge.

...feels like you are in a washing machine.

The Spinnaker Lounge
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The gig that night went very well considering we were all dead tired from our day of travel!  During one of our sets, the ship left Honolulu and began its journey to Hilo.  This presented me with a feeling I had never encountered before while playing drums - an unstable foundation.  Drumming has a lot to do with how you balance yourself behind your drums since you are using all four limbs.  Now with the motion of the boat it felt like my throne (seat, sorry drummer speak) felt like it was balancing on one leg!  But within no time my body had acclimated itself to the new variable and from then on it was hardly noticeable.  The show was over at midnight and I soon found my way into the bowels of the ship where I was allowed to sleep.  My cabin (or should I say closet!)  was very small and I shared  it with the keyboardist.  Sleeping in a crew cabin below sea level on a moving boat  sounds and feels like you are in a washing machine.  You can hear water splashing around the boat and feel the boat rock very slightly back and forth.

Looking down from the sun deck of the ship
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I almost forgot to introduce the band.  Leading the band with his charm and vocal chords is Jon.  On guitar is Eon, the six string master from Long Beach.  Playing both black and whites keys is Steve.  And I will be banging the Yamaha kit provided by the cruise line, thank you very much...