Ashley Harrell

Here are the first few days of my new life on the Silver Wind:

Day 1
Well, as promised, here I am sticking to my word and beginning my daily blog as promised. I’m composing this from somewhere in the sky, roughly northeast of New York. The in-flight entertainment just began, but when they announced the name of the movie (“Larry Crowne” with Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks), I knew it was a better use of my time to take out the iPad and do a little bloggy-blog action.  Unfortunately, there’s not wifi on this flight, so I’ll have to post this at some point in the future.

I couldn’t believe it when I finally had everything packed up and by the front door this afternoon.  Of course, my grand plan of action involved a gift to myself of a mani-pedi at my favorite (and super cheap!) nail place, but when I got there this morning, they were closed for no good reason! My theory is that it was really the universe telling me, “Ashley, what the hell are you doing. You need to pack your shit and go to the airport!” Well, the universe was right, because even with the extra time of not getting my nails pampered, I barely made it out the door in time.

I just realized how incredibly dull this is.  After we arrive and board the ship, the fun will begin.  Or madness.  Either one.

Day 2
Exhausted. Still haven’t slept since waking up Thursday morning in NYC, and it’s now 10:45pm here, Friday night.  We flew safely to Greece, took the van to our ship, boarded our new home, and were immediately shuttle between our prison cells, HR, safety training, boarded passenger safety drill, rehearsal and then dinner.  Wait, did I say “prison cells”? Yes, yes I did. This isn’t quite what I had in mind for the next seven months. I hate to complain, because I’m happy to have this opportunity, but Peter and I have been in a constant state of shock all day after we discovered “our new home.”

Again, hate to complain, because I’m grateful we have a porthole window, but the room is TINY and also was littered with stuff from the last performers and not fully cleaned and ready for us.  After some of our cast mates pointed out they didn’t even have sheets or towels, and that there was a blood stain on my bed, our creative team got involved and worked on trying to sort it out. As Peter and I were finally unpacking (about an hour ago), our cast mate Krystle knocked on our door to tell us they had set us up in passenger cabins, just for the night, so they could set up a deep clean of our rooms tomorrow.

Again, hate to complain about this. Yes, life on a ship is expected to be tight, but it’s a lot to process.  Signing out for tonight, will hopefully post these soon.  Also took some videos!

Day 3

Day at sea. Busy busy busy all day. Rehearsals, first formal night, more rehearsals. Then we hit up the crew bar (really just a back room with cigarette butts everywhere, a dart board and $1.50 mixed drinks. The girls that work in the salon are really nice. We seem to be the only American employees on the ship!

Day 4
Woke up this morning at 5am as we pulled into port in Alexandria, Egypt. Got out of bed around 6:30 and got ready for the day, walked around the top deck of the ship to get a glimpse of the area (not really anything to see except for some old ships and what look like high-rise slums. We had meetings set up this morning so it didn’t really work to get off the ship, plus we heard there wasn’t much to do and that a lot of the locals will use at  girls (and spit on you if your arms aren’t covered!). After our meetings went into rehearsal for our Motown show, which opens tomorrow evening. I’m really excited to show the ship what our cast can do, but I gotta say… It is HARD to dance in tall stilettos while the ship is rocking and rolling. We actually have some rough seas right now, luckily I haven’t gotten seasick. Tonight I believe we have rehearsals all evening and hopefully won’t go to bed too too late. Tomorrow we port in Aqaba, Jordan. I would love I be able to see the city, but it seems doubtful as we are pushing the limit in trying to open this show! My brain is turning into a bit of a muddled mess, and I’m definitely missing the comfort of home, coffee, and being able to call people on the phone…