What is your favorite part about this job?
“I love the challenge. It’s the reason I’ve stayed. This is the only job where, in the same week, I get to sing every style of music: jazz, musical theater, pop, rock, and rap—sometimes in the same show. It’s crazy how quickly the styles change.
I came here as a very musical-theater singer. I never considered myself a pop singer, and I hadn’t had many opportunities to sing rock back home. Now I’ve learned pop, rock, and they even have me rapping. I’ve done Salt-N-Pepa, and now I’m doing Eminem. I’ve grown so much, both professionally and as a person.”
What is the most challenging part about working at sea?
“Because the productions are so massive, you have to be a strong mover; that’s what we call singers who dance. I’ve always loved entertaining people, but, oh, my God, I couldn’t coordinate my feet. I didn’t know jazz or tap. I started learning those styles in college, but it wasn’t until I came here that I began to consider myself an actual dancer. Now I can do it.
And, of course, being away from your family can get hard. I have a huge, very close family. Most of my mom’s side, including my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, live in Venezuela. I’m lucky because my dad’s family is in the United States, and my grandmother lives in Florida, so on embarkation days I can sometimes get off the ship and see her. At Christmas, I go to her house and have breakfast. Not everyone working onboard gets that.”
What is the coolest or weirdest thing about living on a ship?
“Living and working with your coworkers 24/7. You have to find a way to coexist with people from many different cultures. It broadens the way you communicate, how you understand people, and your capacity for empathy.
It’s also weird that I can be at work in 30 seconds. My commute is three sets of stairs. The gym is one elevator ride away. Before this, you had to drive to the gym or commute to work. Here, there are no excuses. I don’t think living that close to everything will ever feel normal. I try not to take it for granted.”
What is your favorite place you’ve traveled so far?
“Europe has my heart. One of my favorites is Villefranche-sur-Mer in France. It’s this tiny town by the sea that looks a little like Beauty and the Beast to me. Then you can take a train and, in 10 minutes, you’re in Nice. You can also take the train to Monte Carlo. It’s insane that from this one tiny place, you can travel to all of these bucket-list destinations.
My parents sparked the travel bug in me. My dad is originally from Mozambique, and my mom is Venezuelan, so they made a point of showing us the world. But I didn’t know that I could travel and work at the same time. Cruise ships have taken me beyond the cities everyone knows, like New York and Paris, and into tiny villages I probably never would have visited otherwise.”