On the Epic!

Hello all...been awhile!  So, I'm now officially a member of the NCL - Epic until mid-June!  I flew into Miami last Friday, and have been on the ship for 5 days now.  It's been great so far, but the internet service has been spotty at best.  You can get internet on the Epic, but it's $.10/min, and apparently as slow as a 14.4 modem.  To compensate, I've been studying German in my free time on the boat, and every time I hit a port, I get on the internet for free at one of the local shops.  Not only is it free, but it's also normally pretty fast...well, at least faster than a circa-1995 connection....possibly an upgrade to 1999.  Either way, can't complain.

Life on the ship has been interesting.  There has been PLENTY of downtime, so I've been trying to do anything but watch TV (oh, and my TV doesn't work, so it's really not an option...).  There are two gyms, and I have plenty of books/software on German, so I'm keeping myself busy.  On our off days (Tuesday through Thursday), we've been really lucky.  A lot of the crew is either not allowed off the ship, or has a lottery to get off the ship here and there.  Our status allows us to do a lot of the things that the passengers can do.  Let's put it this way...I'm planning on getting my scuba certification (I've never done it yet), within 2 months.  A lot of the guys are doing this, so it's pretty cool to have the opportunity.

I still haven't played the drums really since being on the ship.  I've heard there are opportunities to do so, but I have been so busy with learning my new tasks (I've never run cues during the Blue Man show so that is totally new), and learning where to do this or that.  I love everybody on board and I truly feel lucky to have a show crew like this.  They are a pretty tight family, and I hope to make myself a solid part of it very soon.

So far, my schedule has looked like this:
Friday - flew into Miami
Saturday - first couple of shows, staff party
Sunday - 2nd couple of shows...already doing my own cues
Monday - Costa Maya...got up at 8 and hit the beach for internet, ceviche, and relaxin...2 shows and load out for the other big show to take our theater space for 3 days
Tuesday - Roatan...up early again, tried to go scuba diving with everybody but had to get medical clearance first....it's all good...I start in two weeks
Wednesday - at sea, free day...was up at 6 a.m. and explored the ship at length
Thursday - here we are...Cozumel...free day until tonight...we load the show back in and I am meeting with my new trainer for the first time...gonna be fun either way!

Next week will be the first of the St. Thomas/St. Marten run for me...I plan to do a lot of shopping during that trip as I should have a full list of things necessary to do this for 6 months by then.  Other than that, the "saints" run is supposedly the lesser of the two tours.  Looking forward to it all the same...

Ok...gotta run...more updates (and pics) soon!