Cruising Through Panama -- LA to Dominican Republic

What an absolute fabulous time! My brother and I left on Jan 4, 2009 for a two week cruise. Royal Caribbean hired me to come aboard and do my shows/presentations Bringing History to Life for the various ports of call we would be stopping to visit or countries we would pass through. I did five presentations wearing costumes from the 1500's to early 1900's depending upon the history that was being presented. I also had costumes for three formal nights.

For the first time out of doing this type of venue it went well. Just like any dress rehearsal or opening night of a show there are a few things I will tweak for the next cruise, but overall I was pleased. I was prepared for seven topics. I was to do six, but because of scheduling regarding going through the canal I did five presentations.

My brother, bless his heart, is great when it came to taking a bijillion great pictures of the countryside, but pictures of me doing the presentations well I'll let you be the judge of his expertise of inside shots or night shots. To say the least they ___________ (you fill in the blank)

My thanks to my sister-in-law, Annie, for letting my brother go with me. We laughed and talked like we were kids again! But Annie will have her revenge for her lonely time at home when she travels with me on the Alaska cruise this September and John stays home.

By the way if any of you have a skill, expertise or passion that you could present on a cruise ship, check out this link to Daniel Hall's site. You and a partner can cruise free--yes that word was FREE! This is how I got started and if you follow his directions it's a no brainer!
http://www.speakerscruisefree.com/cmd.php?af=890103

At the airport getting ready to fly to LA. I had to wear part of the pirate costume down, to cut down on overweight charges. I did have to pay for one bag. A couple of people wanted to know if I was German.

So what do you do with your hats in a small cabin? You can't leave them in the trunk as you need the floor space and the trunk is stored under the bed and hard to get to.Thank goodness I had
safety pins with me ( what good costumer does not?) and I pinned them to the valance in the room.

For those of you in the Greater Bay Costumers Guild, these are the only decent pictures I have of the swim suit. The others taken at the pool party at night on board the ship did not turn out. (my brother's photo abilities) By the way getting out of a pool with no steps, just a ladder is a very interesting situation. That suit is HEAVY!

Two of the formal nights on board ship. Everyone loved my brother in his top hat!

The following pictures are of the presentations throughout the two weeks. As you can tell my brother, again bless his little heart, needs some camera lessons. Oh well we had the grandest time and I would take him again camera abilities and all.

The Cruising Edwardian Female

The 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition

Maria Colon or Columbus, daughter-in-law to Christopher Columbus, who lived in the Dominican Republic

Crossing the Isthmus of Panama before the Canal