Over recent months we have featured a number of our crew in “day in the life” entries such as the one immediately below. The response to them has been very favorable but I would like to hear a little more about specifically what makes them enjoyable to read and how we might make them even more so. From my standpoint, I find it interesting that the authors of these guest blogs appear to be so schedule driven. Our shipboard colleagues rightfully speak about how flexible and guest-centric they must be because just about everything is happening onboard at all times. Their blog entries indicate that the way they accomplish the seemingly impossible is to inject structure (i.e., a schedule) into their endlessly unique days. When we ask them to tell us about their “typical” day they often respond by reciting their schedule. When I see this I sometimes ask them to give us more “color commentary” to go with the “play by play”. The goal is to give you (and me!) as much insight into their world as we can bring to a blog entry.
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My name is Maryann Delany and I am the Director of Entertainment for Royal Caribbean Productions. My team and I are located in Hollywood, Florida in a 38,000 square foot rehearsal facility. We are approaching our 11th year here where we audition, cast, contract, house, costume, teach and rehearse singers, dancers, actors, flyers, gymnasts, ice skaters, swimmers, divers and DreamWorks® costume characters, to name a few, We create and produce all entertainment and entertainment-related activities for 22 Royal Caribbean International ships, and two Azamara Club Cruises ships. Collectively we have 14 ice shows, 18 Parades, four water shows, 56 theater productions and three Broadway shows, Hairspray, CHICAGO: The Musical and Saturday Night Fever.

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