Guess who’s back?? Back again?? Alex Coleman’s back. Tell a friend. That’s right, pals, I am back with my annual rundown of what the heck happened in the year just past, which let’s face it, I do more for my own benefit than for anyone else. Since 2020 when I began this annual update, things have been up and down like a yo-yo, which is kind of understandable when there was a full-blown pandemic occurring. But 2023 was the first full year since then of living mask-free, test-free, next-to-normality of some sorts, free.
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Go back in time:
January
We kicked off the new year in style, with a hair-raising journey up and down the incredibly steep mountain roads of Dominica, in order to reach Titou Gorge, a beautiful crevasse in the rainforest where a waterfall tumbles into some truly icy cold water. The freezing nature of the water (truly, it was like an actual ice-bath), actually did me wonders. I was feeling extremely groggy to say the least, after ringing in the new year on board German-style, with drinks and donuts.
‘Groggy’ is not my favourite state of being, so this was truly a refreshing way to spend New Year’s Day.
We were sailing on the AIDAPerla, a gargantuan beast of a ship, around the Caribbean. And after six weeks of rehearsals followed by a busy Christmas on board, in January we finally got the chance to get outside and explore properly. The regular itinerary was fourteen days long, and called at Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, St Lucia, St Vincent, Antigua, Dominica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Grenada and Barbados. Aside from the amazing list of destinations covered, the other great thing about a fourteen day itinerary is that as a performer, we get days off! Contracts can vary hugely, but the rule of thumb is that while a four or seven day itinerary can be absolutely exhausting, the longer the route, the more down-time you get.
I swam in the beautiful Annandale Falls in Grenada, had some amazing beach days in Barbados (Carlisle Bay has the most beautiful water I’ve ever seen in my life), wandered the colourful streets of Curaçao, and snorkelled in the stunning underwater world of Bonaire. We went on a brilliant boat trip in Antigua (where I felt more than a little bit seasick, which is ironic when I literally live on an actual boat), and we explored the ports of Fort-de-France and Pointe-a-Pitre in the good old French Caribbean.
Meanwhile on board, we celebrated orthodox Christmas in January with the Ukrainian members of the show ensemble; there’s a very fancy cooking studio on the ship, so the Ukrainians taught us to make all sorts of Ukrainian treats, which we then enjoyed all together. My personal favourites were the syrnyky– which are pancakes made out of curd cheese- and the vareniki, which are dumplings which look similar to ravioli, known in Poland as pierogi.
February
The Caribbean gets a bad rep for being quite boring once you’ve gotten over the beaches, but being there for the whole season was actually brilliant. There are so many adventures to be had, and we were able to explore even more in February.
As well as the shows we’d learnt for this contract, we performed extra performances at various venues around the ship, but overall this was turning out to be a contract with a truly great balance of work and play. (And these contracts really can go either way, pals.)
I went hiking in St Lucia, and enjoyed more beach days in Grenada, the Dominican Republic, Bonaire and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Weirdly, I actually think being in the Caribbean for so long forced me to become a way more confident swimmer. Eastbourne– as beautiful as it is- is not really the place for a prolonged dip in the sea, so it was nice to really build up my strength in the water, ya know!?
We also had a brilliant day at Valley Church Beach in Antigua, when three Aida ships docked in the same port; a grand total of five show ensembles (because two ensembles were rehearsing and three were performing) congregated, creating a true sight to behold as dancers and circus artists began to flip and somersault on the sand and in the sea. (I’m not much of a flipper myself, so I just took up an observational post.)
On board, it was time for Karneval. Because on a German cruise ship, it’s kind of a big deal. Every department on board has a theme for their costumes, and they also each normally have a float constructed out of a trolley and anything they can lay their hands on. The costumes can get rather hilarious but also incredibly inventive, and somehow deck and engine are always the most creative of the bunch.
March
In March we had one of my favourite days, hiking to the Seven Sisters waterfall in Grenada. It was a really stunning hike, and a big group of us headed out there (although it did almost end in tears.) We kayaked over to Îlet du Gosier, which was a downright brilliant way to spend a day, and I went on some solo strolls around Dominica, Curaçao and Barbados.
Rehearsals and planning was well under way for the trans-cruise in April- which is in actual fact not a cruise exclusively for trans passengers, but is actually basically a repositioning cruise, where the ship travels to its new home port. We were going to sail across the Atlantic, back to Europe, but that would be an extra-long cruise which needs a lot of extra entertainment. Each of us six lead vocalists would be putting together a solo show in the theatre, and so during March we were busy working on these solo shows, plus a whole plethora of extra performances and events.
And I’m telling you now: that was hard work and high drama. There were more than a few heated moments during the preparation for this time, so as much as March was filled with fun, it was balanced out with a good dose of stress and drama to accompany it.
April
With only a couple of weeks left in the Caribbean, we made the most of our last days of tropical sunshine as much as we possibly could around rehearsals. It had been an absolutely lovely season, with an amazingly talented bunch of colleagues who I was really really glad to share a stage with.
By the middle of the month, we had begun performing our last shows as we started the journey back across the Atlantic Ocean. The plan was that we would spend six days at sea, before docking for one day on the island of La Palma in the Canaries. But things went slightly wrong when on day one of the journey, a medical disembarkation needed to happen. The ship had to turn around to be within reach of a helicopter- luckily the injured person was fine, but that meant that we would need to have seven days at sea, skipping La Palma and heading straight to Tenerife on day seven instead.
Which was all well and good until about day five, when everyone had begun to go stir crazy and desperately needed to see land. Each day, we sailed into a different time zone, and the clocks would also go forward one hour, which is more than a little bit disorientating, let’s face it. When we finally docked in Tenerife, Slaven and I headed straight to the Palmetum in Santa Cruz, just to hear birds singing and sit somewhere where there was fresh air, no people, and no hum of machinery.
It was actually a glorious moment.
Our final ports were Madeira– which is one of my favourite islands in the whole world- Porto in Portugal, and Vigo in Spain (where we only really had time for a super-speedy coffee), and finally, at long long last, we arrived back in my once-upon-a-second-home of Hamburg, Germany.
Coming to the end of a contract is always a strange feeling, but as sad as I was to say goodbye to everybody, I was also very ready to have a break- and my body was starting to feel the tiredness set in. Not that I gave myself much time to rest.
I flew to London Heathrow, travelled to Gatwick airport with my mum who had very kindly picked me up, and flew the next morning all the way over to Da Nang, Vietnam. What a shocker that was to the system, especially as I was also feeling pretty ill. (Which always, unfortunately, seems to happen at the end of a contract.) Had I flown straight home, I definitely would have had to spend at least a week solidly in bed trying to recover, but the fact that I pushed on through it meant that I didn’t fully recover from this bout of illness for about six weeks.
I met up with my lovely friends Chris and Polis in the beautiful town of Hoi An, conscious of coughing so much they decided to ditch me, but also super excited to see a whole new part of the world. This was my first time in Asia, and despite the illness, I was so happy I’d decided to book the flights and join them. We travelled north by sleeper train to Hanoi, and then on to Ha Long Bay to cruise (I do love a boat, after all) through the magical landscape of the bay and its stone karsts.
(And very massive and scary jellyfish.)
May
After our Ha Long Bay cruise had ended, we spent more time in beautiful Hanoi, and then travelled up to Sa Pa, where we trekked through the rice fields with a lovely guide from the Black Hmong tribe. This was one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and I felt incredibly lucky to be living a life where this was possible; when I was little, travelling anywhere outside of England was something which felt completely out of reach, so although it’s a complete cliche, I do feel grateful to be able to see these incredible places.
From Vietnam, we flew to Bangkok to spend a few days in the city. I was surprised by how much I loved Bangkok- the vibes, the food, the temples- and was in my absolute element with my camera, I’m telling you. It’s now a real goal to go back and explore Thailand some more, after not really knowing too much about this wonderful country.
I’m quite the lone ranger solo traveller, me- so even not considering the fact that we were exploring such unique destinations, travelling with pals was also a fairly new experience. Especially as Chris and Polis are the types who like to experience everything. Whereas I’m more of a one-thing-a-day-but-mostly-walk-and-drink-coffee gal. It was a whole different style of travelling than I’m used to, but I was really glad that I’d joined them; I saw and did so much more than I would have if I was alone. It was also just lovely to spend some time with my friends, who I normally only get time to see once or twice a year.
Next up was some time in Croatia visiting my boyfriend Slaven, and instead of road-tripping all over the place like we had last summer, we stuck mostly to Rijeka, with a little trip over to Plitvice to see some waterfalls. (The waterfalls are wonderful but even in May the crowds were insane.)
I finished the month of May back in England and my little Airbnb (it’s not actually mine, I’m just a regular guest), taking in the English weather at last- after avoiding the dregs of winter by refusing to stay in the country. Me and Slaven spent a day pretending to skydive in London- which was actually really fun, although I’m still not sure about doing a real skydive- and we mostly mooched about in the greenery of the South Downs, loving the seaside and the flowers.
June
I spent the month of June sometimes in Eastbourne and sometimes in Kent, trying to get rid of more and more of my possessions that were in storage in my Birminan’s garage. The sentimental things will be held on to, but one thing that living out of a suitcase has taught me is that the majority of ‘stuff’ is completely unnecessary.
It was also the month of suddenly-lots-of-events. Around the middle of June I headed up to London with my ma and two sisters to go and see Peter Gabriel at the O2- what a joy! (Me and my sisters were the youngest people in our block of seating by far, which made me feel super-youthful.) I also discovered what a beaut little place Greenwich is- oh my goodness, the most loveliest part of London, for sure.
I took a trip to Cake and Bubbles in London with my lovely friend Lewis, and enjoyed some of the most delicious cake (and bubbles) I’ve had in a long time. I also headed on over to the theatre to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show with all my sisters. Funny show that, isn’t it? On the same day, my sister’s band did a beaut little launch of their new video- which was awesome to be in the actual country for! The video features some family members, and has even gone on and won some bloomin’ awards, hasn’t it!? Check it out if you fancy.
I started to re-learn my music for my upcoming contract on board, and then flew off to the Greek island of Rhodes for a few solo days away, where I carried on learning music but broke it up with occasional explorations of the island. I spent my birthday in a little traditional house in a village called Archangelos, which was decorated with about 500 plates (the traditional wedding gift to Rhodes’ brides back in the day), and on the last day was surprised by a giant cockroach which planned to move in when I moved out.
Happy birthday, Alex Coleman. Love from your cockroach pal.
July
Until mid-July I mostly just made the most of being in England, being able to cook whatever I want when I want, and seeing my pals. Because after almost three months of vacation, in July it was finally time to head back to the ship. But not the same ship. This time I was off to the AIDAStella, which I embarked on in Palma de Mallorca. Slaven had already been on board for a few weeks, so it was very lovely to get to reunite with him, that’s for sure.
This was about to be a very different contract than the last one, I’ll tell you that for free folks. Ten days in to rehearsals, one dancer quit, and in all honesty that could well have been an omen for how the rest of the contract was about to go. Because our show ensemble was dropping like flies., left right and centre.
I wasn’t able to get off the ship at all this month as it was work work work and all systems go, but at least the sun was shining and the weather was fine, and everyone in our show ensemble was an all round nice person who I appreciated very much!
August
We continued with our rehearsals right the way through August, and continued sailing around the Mediterranean Sea. So far we’d only seen most ports through the ship windows- Sardinia looks like an absolute stunner, although that’s one that I was never able to see- but in August we had a whole day off!
What a joy.
We spent our day off work docked in Livorno, a port city in Tuscany, and headed straight on over to Pisa to check out the tower and eat all the gelato. It was absolutely sweltering, and a complete contrast to the last time I visited was here back in January 2019. (Italy in winter is a very different world to the summer months.)
Slaven and I also headed over to Pompeii while we were docked in Naples; it was approximately 39ºC that day but having been mildly obsessed with the Romans as a child, seeing Pompeii was an actual dream come true. (Yes, you read that right. I had a strange obsession with Roman history, which even led me to featuring in a full-page spread in Girl Talk magazine, where I lived my Roman dreams, aged eight.)
I had a few hours off here and there which meant I could have mini-explorations in Lisbon, Sicily and Ibiza; and having never visited this part of the Mediterranean at the height of summer before- it was downright beautiful! (And very very dry, in fact in Sicily there was ash drifting in the sky from all the forest fires.)
Towards the end of the month, disaster struck again when a second dancer left the contract, this time due to injury. We were all sad to see her go, although knew that she’d be back after she’d rested up at home. In the meantime we set to work re-staging each show until we were sent a second replacement dancer; there are no understudies or swings on most cruise ships, so if a singer or dancer is sick or injured, the rest of the cast has to work together to re-stage and re-learn without them.
It’s a great way of testing your brain.
September
This contract was turning out to be the complete opposite to my winter contract of Caribbean dreams, but the show must go on after all. At the beginning of September our cast finally premiered, and we were still in the process of re-staging and re-learning shows around our missing dancers. The sheer number of show run-throughs and sound checks was also taking its toll; to keep vocal fatigue at bay there were very few social times for me on this contract- minimal alcohol, minimal hanging out in loud places where I might have to try and talk/scream over the music, and plenty of sleep and water.
In September Slaven and I began exploring more; with rehearsals out of the way we had a bit more free time to just hop on a vehicle (normally a hired moped), and head on out. Málaga quickly became my favourite city on our itinerary because there are so many interesting little towns and villages to discover in the surrounding countryside. We stumbled across a teeny-tiny bullring in Mijas, ate paella in Valencia and crepes in Cannes, and hiked up to the stunning Moorish castle in Sintra (which was shrouded in mist and looking very spooky.)
And at the very end of the month, my pal Rachel came to stay overnight in Barcelona so we could spend some time hanging out and getting all the free churros. (This is a true story.) In true Rachel and I fashion, we stumbled across a parade.
And we do love a parade.
October
I’m going to be completely honest with you here, pals: it’s always a lovely feeling to be in the sunshine while it’s getting chillier at home.
There, I said it.
We continued sailing around the Mediterranean for most of October, with dancers coming and going all the while, and a whole load more re-stagings to grapple with. We had some gorgeous beach days in Italy and Spain- my favourite beach of all the Mediterranean stops, because it was so outrageously stunning, was Mondello beach just outside of Palermo in Sicily. It’s a busy spot but undeniably pretty, with crystal clear water. Being there felt almost like being back in the Caribbean.
In Spain we explored Cádiz, Cartagena, Alicante, Valencia and Barcelona, plus the islands of Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca, and in Italy we ported in Civitavecchia, Livorno, Naples, Messina and Palermo.
We also headed across to Malta, which is a country I’d never visited before. I don’t know whether you can truly claim to have visited a country if you’ve only actually spent a few hours there, but whatever: I loved wandering around the beautiful stone city of Valletta. The whole centre of town is filled with old advertising and shop signage, which let’s face it, is right up my street.
Just as the weather began to turn a little chillier and a little soggier- our final day in Lisbon was decidedly damp- we said goodbye to mainland Europe and sailed down the coast of Africa towards the Canary Islands. We arrived in Madeira, a Portuguese island which remains firmly towards the top of my list of favourite places, on Halloween. And not satisfied with just one costume, I had two costumes for the night, thanks to the amazing help of my pal Steffi.
She even put shoulder pads in my clown suit, for goodness sake!
November
At the beginning of November I had some visitors on board! My mum and Birminan came to visit for a week, and they have reassured me that they had a wonderful time. Maybe this is odd, but cruising isn’t my personal idea of a great holiday, so it’s always a relief to hear that other people have enjoyed themselves if they come to visit.
Our new route was mostly in the Canary Islands, calling at Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, Tenerife, La Gomera and Madeira. Having not spent a lot of time exploring these islands before, it was actually really nice to have a couple of months to get to know our way around. While my family were here we had a road trip to Timanfaya National Park in Lanzarote- which feels a little bit like driving around the moon.
And after they’d gone we got to work researching more road trips. We had an amazing day exploring Madeira with our friends Lena and Andrii, and discovered one of the most beautiful cliffside pools I’d ever seen, at Seixal on the north of the island. Not satisfied with just the one epic drive, we headed up with them into the mountains of Tenerife, which were absolutely glorious- until it started raining in a biblical fashion. The drive down was downright mental.
I was ecstatic that we also ported in Morocco for a day, at the city of Agadir. It was an incredible day, and the people here were so friendly (although one man did claim to be taking us to a festival and then deposited us at a shop, so that wasn’t 100% honest on his part.) Even for just a day we had a really lovely snapshot of Morocco, and exploring a souk with a pal who is absolutely terrified of cats, made the whole thing twice as memorable.
Top tip: if you’re afraid of cats, Morocco might not be the destination for you.
We’d had several dancers coming and going, to fill in for the dancers who had left, but it was a really sad day this month when a previously injured dancer, who had returned, was then re-injured! She was sent home again, and I was really sad to see her go. This also meant, of course, that our show ensemble would again be re-staging.
December
After one last Madeira road trip (on a motorbike this time), my boyfriend Slaven finished his contract, so I waved him goodbye at the gangway and then focused on preparing for the final days on board. I was getting that end-of-contract-tiredness start to get its hook in me, so wanting to conserve my energy for work, I avoided having any big adventure days and stuck to the odd coffee outing with my pals, and not much more!
By December, the re-stagings were definitely taking their toll! (As if they hadn’t already taken a toll before.) We’d somehow managed to stay fairly positive throughout the ups and downs, but the majority of us were very much ready to go home, and of course this month we had even more injuries. Even just one week before we left the ship, another dancer left, and so the re-stagings continued right up until the very last performance.
Finally, the day before Christmas Eve, the big day had arrived: disembarkation day.
We were all rather on the exhausted side, but that didn’t stop us from dancing and singing Feliz Navidad at the top of our lungs, while we waited outside the ship for our pickup. What a joyous occasion that was. The world and his wife seemed to be travelling home from Lanzarote that day, and my flight was delayed my several hours, but at long last I finally made it back to England and just about collapsed into my hotel bed.
Glory, glory Hallelujah.
Having arrived in England on Christmas Eve, I was ill by that evening, made it through Christmas day and then missed all consequent celebrations. I re-surfaced for New Years Eve with my pals Alicia and Alex- where I came dangerously close to falling asleep on the sofa, pre-London fireworks display. The next day I realised I was still very much ill, and spent another few weeks mostly in bed.
So there you have it, pals! 2023 in a very brief nutshell, featuring many boat trips, many road trips, and a couple of bouts of complete exhaustion. There’s no use pretending that won’t happen again, but taking care of myself is something I definitely need to get better at. Call it a new year’s resolution, not that those are my normal style.
This year has, for want of a better phrase, been an absolute banger. I’ve crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a ship, completed two very different contracts each with their own challenges, and had an incredible time travelling in South East Asia with my lovely pals. This blog is also growing and growing; which is something I’m pretty bloomin’ proud of! I’ve got 2024 pretty much planned, and both on the page and on the stage, I can’t wait to see what’s around the corner.