Hiking, Swimming, Playing...Oh My

As seen on the crew bulletin board: ATTENTION ALL JAMAICANS: MEETING TONIGHT TO FINALIZE PLANS FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY PARTY. Have I mentioned that there is a themed party every single night in the crew bar/club? I have gone to Independence Day parties for countries whose independence I didn’t even know had been granted. It’s always a party on the Celebrity Infinity…

Yesterday we had a photo op with a child who was on board with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Make-A-Wish grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises donate cruises to these Make-A-Wish participants and give them an awesome week. Pretty great! He got to visit us during rehearsal and took a picture with the cast and the orchestra. And by all accounts, he seemed to enjoy Boogie Wonderland last night!

Speaking of Boogie Wonderland last night… Tonight, there was nothing I’d have rather done LESS than play round #2 of Boogie Wonderland at 10:45pm. It’s notoriously ill-attended as most of the passengers are out in Juneau until late, and playing to an empty house is no fun. My hands hurt, I was bone tired, and I just want to close my eyes and rest. I also had made up my mind that playing this show would NOT put me in a better mood. (How I came to this conclusion, considering that playing disco music is basically the definition of fun, I’m not quite sure. OBVIOUSLY it would make me feel better). And it did! I love playing that music – Rod Stewart, Elton John, The Village People, etc. The energy from the performers is awesome – last night, during the ‘freestyle’ section, the cast decided to each impersonate a different Olympic sport (you can only imagine…). Plus, I LOVE this cast. Performing with them on stage every night is such a blast, and we have a good time up there. Must remember next time that there is nothing more fun than playing awesome music with a bunch of people you like – no matter how tired you are.
In other news, some of the staff went on a beautiful hike in Skagway to Dewey Lake. The views are just incredible (see pictures). We hiked to a cliff and some people went swimming – in Alaska! I even got some ‘tanning’ time in today. I hope the weather holds out for the rest of my trip! ALSO – pretty positive we caught a glimpse of the Northern Lights late last night! It was terribly cold and freezing, but we braved it to see a really cool light show.