by Richard Barry
Travel is something enjoyed by almost everyone. Mary Frances and I actually met on a cruise ship while traveling in Alaska. In fact, not only did we meet on a cruise ship, we got married one year later on the Love Boat! This was the beginning of our travel that took us around the world for 15 years. We have traveled by cruise ship to 138 countries and all 7 continents. When we met, I was a Headline Entertainer, and Mary Frances was a Social Hostess, a two and a half stripe officer much like Julie on the Love Boat. I did not know at the time when I first saw her that she worked for Princess and was on vacation traveling with her class reunion.
Having basically lived and worked on a ship so much of our early married life, we would like to share what it was like for us. Mary Frances resigned from Princess Cruises and I put her in my act. She did Minnie Pearl, Dolly Parton, a George Burns and Gracie Allen skit, and several other routines. Because we were Headline Entertainers, we were passengers. We had passenger cabins and all the same privileges as any other passenger. We ate in the main dining room and specialty restaurants. We participated in many of the activities. One of the best features of our job, was that we only performed “one night” per cruise. Yes, I said, one night a week. We did an early show for early dining and a late show for the late seating. The rest of the time we went sightseeing at all the different ports. Life couldn't be better.
All of the major cruise lines gave us celebrity status, and we performed for all of them. We had agents in Miami, England and the Canary Islands that booked us on Princess, Holland America, Regent Seven Seas, Celebrity, Cunard, Norwegian, Silverseas, Orient Line, Crystal, and Oceania.
We have only taken a ship out of the United States two times. Once was the Alaska cruise. The other was on the inauguration of the brand new Sea Princess where I was hired as the specialty act for the first Las Vegas Style show at sea. All of our other contracts started on another continent. All of the lines took really good care of us. They made all of our flight arrangements and had a car waiting to pick us up at the airport.
I must share this funny story....Before I met Mary Frances who was working for Princess Cruises as Social Hostess. When she arrived in Panama the Port Agent was not there to meet her.
She called the main office and they arranged for someone to pick her up and get her to the ship when it went through the locks. What a frantic ride she had to the canal. The ship had already gone through the locks. Fortunately for her, the cruise director was a good friend and convinced the captain to idle the ship for 30 minutes until she arrived. The port agent put her on the pilot boat and they sped off to meet the ship at sea. When they pulled up next to this huge ship, she thought to herself, how am I supposed to get off of this pilot boat and on to that big ship??? She looked up, and saw the rope ladder being lowered! With all of her jewelry, tailor made suit with a skirt, and her high heels, she scurried up the ladder. The cruise team was there to meet her and they couldn't believe how fast she climbed up that rope ladder in those high heels and that tight skirt! Passengers were all hanging over the rails wondering why the ship was just idling and not moving. They were told they were waiting for a dignitary.! Well, that's my Mary Frances!!!!
Having good agents and great reviews with all of the lines, we were able to choose many of the cruises we were booked on, and how long we wanted to stay on the ship. Some entertainers like to fly on and do their show and get off at the next port. We were very much the opposite. We never did what they call the “7 day turn around,” where you just keep visiting the same ports over and over. We only did the “exotic cruises” that continually visited different ports and countries all over the world. We would look at the ships itinerary and contract for months at a time. This is how we got to see the world many times over.
One of the great things about cruising, we met so many interesting people and developed friendships while traveling. We met passengers from all over the world, some who were on the ship for 90 days or more. We have been invited to visit cruise friends in England, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and a few I'm sure that we forgot. We visited many ports along the way. Entertaining and living on cruise ships was a real blessing and we have so many wonderful and exciting memories to dwell on!!!
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