We are now well into our next cruise. The day after being in Naples, we went back to our home port in Civitavecchia, and got a fresh batch of passengers for our 11 day Southern mediterranean christmas and new years cruise.  The next two days were sea days, and all of our shows were fun because there are 1000 more passengers on board for this cruise than there was for the last one, bringing the total amount of people on board to 4000 - 1200 crew, and 2800 passengers. It has been hectic but fun, with a lot more people of every age group on board.

On christmas eve we played some jazz christmas arrangements in the atrium at one in the afternoon, and then our usual dixieland jazz set at 9:45pm.
Yesterday was christmas, and most of the day was spent learning and preparing for the christmas show. we worked on in from 10-2:30, then had a break until 5:30. During that time I went out and explored Alanya, Turkey, where we were in port. So far, Alanya is without a doubt the most scenic and beautiful port on this itinerary. It has everything you could want from a mediterranean coastal town - lush palm trees and long beaches, large forested hills surrounding the harbour area, sidewalks filled with patios, lots of shopping, and some spectacular ancient architecture. Alanya was apparently a historically strategic location that was held by many different empires, and half of it is lined with castle walls, guarding a castle on the hill. I walked around for nearly two hours, first in the town area and then up the hill with the walls and the castle, where I took many photos of the amazing view. It was especially nice because it was the warmest day since I have been on the ship, around 18 C, plenty warm for shorts and a t-shirt, and so it was good to take in some sunshine.

That evening we played the christmas show at 7:30 and 9:30, and I was quite pleased with it. It had a nice variety of classic and popular material, and even a segment in the middle where several different carols were sung in the different languages of the passengers on board - spanish, italian, french, and german. After the show was over around 11pm, I skyped home, where it was still just lunchtime. I then went and tried to be somewhat social, but was exhausted from the day and not having slept well the night before and called it a (relatively) early night.

This morning I got excused form a boat drill because we and the cast played two numbers from the christmas show for the captain's meeting, a meeting that happens every so often when the captain addresses the crew and talks about various things.
We are in Limassol, Cypres today, and the weather continues to be nice and warm enough for shorts. The actual city itself is not very impressive; it is relatively industrial and lacking variety in the architecture, but there is at least a bit of rocky beachfront, and also a relatively nice patio strip in the central tourist area, where I have been sitting with a carlsburg catching up on wifi usage and writing this blog.

Tonight we play the first of two sets each cruise that I do not enjoy - Italian music in the italian restaurant. It is long, and the charts we read are poorly written. We do however get a free drink afterwards which makes up for some of the discomfort. Tomorrow we arrive in Israel, which I am excited for.