Thursday, August 16, 2007

HUBBARD GLACIER, ALASKA

This has been an amazing week! I just returned from Alaska where I was on the MV "MERCURY" with our new cast and the Mercury/GMC production team. Even the locals were talking about how fantastic the weather was for the entire week. Each day the temp was in the 70's, and NO RAIN...practically unheard of in Alaska! I arrived in Ketchikan last Wednesday and immediately boarded the ship to watch rehearsals. We then sailed to Vancouver where we spent Friday receiving new guests. Kelley Evans, Dale Rutherford and I spent the morning exploring downtown Vancouver, then lunch at a local Thai restaurant. Vancouver is a beautiful, vibrant city with great shopping (Kelley enjoyed that!) and a unique blend of historic and ultra modern architecture.

Here is a shot of a glacier river as it meets the waters of the "Bay of Disenchantment" at the Hubbard Glacier site.

Additional stops on the trip included Skagway, Juneau, and the Hubbard Glacier - probably the highlight of the trip. Our captain maneuvered the ship to within about 100 yards of the face of the glacier. The cracking of the massive river of ice sounded like a thunderstorm! Huge chunks of ice calved (technical term for "fell off") from the face of the ice as guests' cameras snapped to capture the phenomenon. I was lucky enough to catch a series of photos showing a large chunk of ice plunging into the water. Very cool!

One of the countless phenomenal sites you'll see on a trip to Alaska.

We were in port with the SUMMIT in Juneau. Here is a photo taken of the SUMMIT at dusk as it sailed out on its way to Skagway, Alaska.

It was warm enough on a couple of days for guests to swim in the Mercury's pool. A little too chilly for me!

Dale Rutherford and Kelley Evans on the streets of Vancouver. We had a great morning exploring the city!

The cast of the Mercury did a fantastic job of pulling together to stage three great opening nights. The guests on the ship were extremely demonstrative and enjoyed each of the shows. This was our first time to produce the shows on the Mercury, having taken over from FJM Productions, the long-time producers for the Mercury. The outgoing cast was incredibly gracious and helpful during the entire handover. Thanks to the FJM cast for making the transition so smooth! Leigh-Ann Thomasson was on board for several days representing Celebrity's home office in Miami. It was great to see her, too!

Here are several shots from the shows on the MERCURY...

I took a red-eye flight back to Nashville this morning and then spent the afternoon with the casts of the INFINITY, SUMMIT, and GEM. It was awesome to see so many talented performers working on learning and refining the many aspects of their respective shows. I am really pleased with what I saw today. Tomorrow, the casts of the GEM and SUMMIT will be performing complete run throughs of a couple of their shows. This weekend will be filled with more rehearsals and costume fittings for the GEM. A big "shout-out" to the entire GMC team for all the hard work and talent being poured into making these shows so successful - you guys are truly awesome!

I will take shots of the rehearsals tomorrow and post them this weekend. Hope everyone is having a great week! By the way, it was 107 in Nashville again today...and no relief in sight. WOW! What a complete switch from my week in Alaska!