Original subtitles

Hello, Star Princess!

All aboard...

SHE SINGS

...Star Princess...

It's massive! Shall we explore?

...where a young British... Make some noise!

Big ship, big adventures. ...and international crew...

I'm so busy. There's always adrenaline.

...work... That's one job ticked off my list. On to the next.

...without ever leaving home.

There's a sea view on every shift...

Waking up in a new place every day, that doesn't happen to most people.

Life feels like a big dream at the moment.

...but it's not all plain sailing...

Louise has cancelled.

Who wants to swim back to the ship?

I'm being a grumpy leprechaun.

...for the hundreds of shipmates and thousands of passengers...

Sun is out!

...sailing the stunning Caribbean.

You're getting to see the world for free and getting paid for it.

It's hard work, but it's so rewarding at the same time.

Whoo!

How are you? Good. You good? Hello.

The drinks are waiting. The bar is waiting for you all.

Star Princess is the newest of 17 vessels

in the Princess Cruises Fleet.

Yeah. Just try and mingle with the guests as much as you can. Yeah.

On board, a crew of 1,500 work around the clock...

It is endless. My list never, never ends.

It's one after the other, so it's chop chop, chop chop.

...to keep over 4,000 guests entertained.

So this is the little chaos that ensues right before the shows.

The ship is three weeks into a 28-day voyage,

cruising the Caribbean.

Twice calling at destinations

including the tropical islands in the east...

...and Central America and Mexico in the west.

Each week, the 177,000-ton ship returns to Fort Lauderdale

in Florida to collect a new batch of excited holiday-makers...

Hi, guys, welcome on board.

...to join others already aboard on longer voyages.

Hi. Hello. How are you? Are you all right? We had a good day.

Frequent cruiser Phil and his other half, Erin,

have already been on board for a week.

And last night, he surprised her by popping the question!

We were just on the balcony, just chatting and looking out on to sea.

And I thought, "Right, here we go." And then I just went for it

there and then on the balcony. Hmm. And obviously said, "Yeah."

It was 100,000,000% easiest "Yes" I've ever said.

Yeah! After your tears. After I'd stopped crying, yeah. Yeah.

And while thousands of guests continue to board,

Phil snuck off on a secret mission.

Hiya. Are you Melissa? Yes, I am indeed. How can I help?

Hiya. I've been sent to come and see you. Nice to meet you. I'm Melissa.

At just 22, events and guest services supervisor Melissa

is one of the crew's youngest members.

Whereabouts are you from? I recognise the accent.

It's not Liverpool! Oh, where is it?

Southport. No way! Yeah, yeah. I'm from Southport.

No, you're not! I am! Behave! I am!

Both of them are from Southport. I couldn't believe it!

They literally live, like, five minutes around the corner from me.

And I'm on the other side of the world, so that's pretty exciting.

Definitely a small world.

So, how can I help? Well, I proposed to my girlfriend yesterday, so...

No, you didn't! No way! We're look at something to do,

but I know it's short notice as a surprise for her. Yeah, no worries.

Let's see what we can do. How long have you been together for?

About 18 months now. Oh, bless. I took my mum on a holiday... Go on.

...and she worked in the travel agents and took a liking to me.

She's only human, isn't she? Oi, oi! That's it. Very nice.

And the rest is history, really. Very nice.

I found you online and sent you a message, didn't I? Yeah.

I said, "Have a lovely cruise.

"Don't forget to come back and see me if you want to book another one."

I was thinking, "Well, poor thing, she needs a friend, maybe."

But no, no. Jokes aside, she made the move,

which is the best thing she's ever done, I think. Yeah, I agree.

So what kind of things do you have in mind? I don't know.

I was thinking maybe flowers or a meal

or something special, somewhere nice. Right.

So I would like something quite personal, to be honest.

A personal touch. Yeah. OK.

What about a balcony dinner, just for the two of you?

That sounds really nice. It's... It'll...

We can get you on the balcony. Yeah? And we can maybe get some flowers,

we'll get maybe a little cake delivered. That's beautiful.

And that'll be really nice, just so it's, like,

a nice, intimate moment for the both of you. Yeah.

You can just be in your feels. Yeah. That sounds amazing.

Cruising is meant to be romantic, so just for me to help

make their dreams become reality is really nice.

"A boiled tail of cold water lobster." Now there's a thought.

She MIGHT like that, but I don't want to order that.

Does she eat lobster?

See, I don't know, because we've never had it. Oh!

But she might like that, you see?

It's not just Melissa who's making wishes come true.

The ship's inaugural cast have been wowing guests

for the past five months, performing over 200 shows.

But this week, they're coming to the end

of their action-packed contracts...

Give it up for the Star Princess theatrical cast!

...and an entire new cast featuring six Brits

will be stepping into their shoes.

Yeah. OK.

They've been rehearsing for nearly two months,

and today they're finally coming aboard

to kick off a comprehensive handover.

Oh, some of them are on!

Amongst the new cohort are ten cruising rookies.

Oh, my God!

This is HUGE!

23-year-old dancer Zahra from Milton Keynes

has never even been on a cruise ship before.

When we first stepped on the ship, I was very excited, very overwhelmed.

I am literally, like, pinching myself right now.

I don't know if I can believe it, still. But, yeah, we're here.

And definitely a bit in disbelief and a bit in shock

at how beautiful the ship is.

I had no idea how big it was. It's insane.

Back in Britain, Zahra's nan, Mary, played a big part in her upbringing.

I do miss my nan. She has a love for the arts,

but she wasn't a performer herself.

So I think it was just our love of arts and ballet and music

together that I think made me drawn to dancing.

This is Zahra's first professional contract since leaving college.

I'm ready to just be, like, overwhelmed and lost. 100%.

Everyone gets lost on the first day.

The job of heading up the new team falls to South African-born Charles

who grew up in Leicestershire.

It's, like, it's really good to see, like, everyone's excited. Yeah...

Everyone's just like, "Oh, my God!" I've...

I got my first dancing job on a cruise ship

and I fell in love with it ever since. I think it's...

It's such a great way to actually dance

and see the world at the same time.

Let's get going! So, grab your stuff.

We're heading to the dressing room.

You can also make so many friends along the way

from different worlds, different cultures.

Like, you've pretty much got the whole world on a cruise ship.

This is bougie! Are you ready? Yeah.

Helping him get in the groove

is 24-year-old assistant cast manager Mia from Stoke-on-Trent,

who's been performing at sea for four years.

What I love about cruising is that I get to entertain.

I get to put my costumes back on,

I get to put my stage make-up on again

as well as we wake up every day

and we're in a new port, a new country,

and I can then get off the ship and I'm in these gorgeous places.

I absolutely love it.

So this is the backstage...

...and that's how you get on and offstage. Awesome! Yeah.

It's very interesting seeing the perspective of these new hires

in our cast, because I just remember how overwhelmed I was.

Some people are a bit nervous,

but what's really fun is a lot of people are just excited.

They're ready for that next step now, which...

And I can't wait to see how they find it.

- Oh, wow! - Stop! SHE GASPS

When I saw the arena for the first time, I was just...

I was like, "Oh, my God. This is amazing."

I can't wait for this to be full.

SHE EXCLAIMS

I was like, "Wow, I'm really here. This is really magical."

We're going to spend a lot of time in this corridor, aren't we?

While the new cast take in the bigger picture...

Really steep stairs, we have to walk up and down.

...Melissa's drilling into the detail.

Did you want some flowers delivering to the table?

I think that might be quite nice.

If you could do that, that'd be fantastic.

Are you wanting maybe red roses? Yes.

They're a little bit more romantic?

Yeah, that's more than I was hoping for. The cake as well -

I was thinking maybe something shaped like a heart?

With white buttercream on and maybe lemon syrup? Yeah.

What do you think? I'll tell you what. I'll leave it to you. Yeah?

Did you want to write something on the top of the cake? Yeah.

Something like, "The future is ours now." Oh, bless!

That's going to be really nice. Yeah. She'll love it.

This is more than I was expecting, to be honest.

I was just expecting... Excellent!

"Yeah. No problem. We'll sort you a little table."

So, yeah, I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

I'm looking forward to this now.

Hopefully, it's going to be the icing on the cake, as it were.

Erin's got no idea whatsoever. She's going to be...

There's going to need tissues, that's for sure.

I think I've got everything that I need. Yeah? You just need

to make sure you keep her distracted...

Under any circumstances, she cannot come back to that room.

That's it. All right? Otherwise it's going to ruin it.

Phil looks a bit nervous, to be honest.

I hope he can keep it a secret from Erin,

so we'll see how that plays out. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

As Melissa works her magic in the romance department,

down the corridor in the theatre, Head of Entertainment Dan

is leading the charge with his new recruits.

Welcome aboard. We're really looking forward to seeing everything

that you can do. If you'll notice when you come do the shows in here,

every one of them is going to be packed. So then we kind of rely

on you guys to make sure you put on the best show for the guests,

which I absolutely know that you're going to do.

The new cast are going to have a whole feeling of emotions

when they get on this ship.

Firstly, they're replacing the inaugural original cast.

That's HUGE shoes to fill.

A lot of the new cast as well are new to cruising.

Some of these have never worked on a ship before.

Some of them have never worked professionally before.

They've come straight out of stage school

and they're going straight into this job.

This is a massive learning curve.

That's it from me. Just wanted to say welcome aboard, everybody.

All right? Thanks, Dan. TOGETHER: Thank you.

They've now got a huge lifestyle change to adapt to

over the next few weeks. So it's going to be very busy for them,

but we're looking forward to helping guide them through that.

Guys, first time onstage in the Princess Arena.

The ship's state-of-the-art theatre spans two decks,

and performing on it will take a bit of getting used to for the newbies.

We've got a big rotating stage.

It's circular as well, so we know there's going to be audience

everywhere you are, so that's really exciting.

That's not something that many dancers have got to experience.

It can go all the way down.

We can go down to the pit, we can go back up again.

So there's a lot we can do with that stage,

which is really interesting and really exciting.

I'm also very nervous because I've got no idea

what to expect, like, at all.

Helping the newcomers get acquainted with their floating home

falls to previous cast manager 28-year-old Emma from New Zealand.

Rule number one...

We do have low fog that comes in

through those pipes on the corners there.

I'm excited to have the new cast coming on board.

Our time on board is definitely coming to its end,

and I know that my team are looking forward to their vacation.

This is your backstage wing area.

That's where a lot of your quick changes will happen, back here.

So to have the new team come in with, you know,

a bright new bunch of energetic personalities,

I think that it'll be really nice to kind of do that handover

and, you know, pass the shows on to them and say goodbye.

And Emma's handing over the cast manager baton

to someone she knows pretty well...

Boyfriend of nine months, Charles.

How are the team feeling?

They're deer in the headlights, just put it that way.

Overwhelming. Overwhelming! That's a lot, though, to just take in. It is.

Charles is super, super lovely. He is so caring and loyal.

And he is... I would say he's one of my best friends.

He's a nerd at heart! SHE LAUGHS

And, yeah, I'm super excited to have him here.

Getting on board is like pouring a can of Coke into a glass.

Like, when you just pour it in and just pour it in

and all the bubbles start coming up and you're like,

"Oh, my God, it's going to go blow over!" Yeah.

And it just settles. It settles. Yeah. That's a good one.

We've been able to see each other on the weekends

because the ship s docked on the weekends.

But we've only been able to see each other for, like, an hour or two.

So it's really nice to be able to hold my beautiful girlfriend.

With all 4,000 guests now on board,

the 177,000-ton ship has set sail once again

and the vibrant shores of Mexico await.

While the guests party... TOGETHER: Cheers!

...Melissa is on a mission.

So, which flowers are we going to use? Is it these ones over here?

Yeah, this one. Wow!

It's so exciting knowing that someone

has just proposed to someone.

Like, they're going to spend the rest of their life with that person.

And to be a part of that is just so nice.

How are you doing? Are you doing well? All right, can't lie.

Oh, my God, that looks so good!

Kevin is the best pastry chef I've ever met in my life.

That looks amazing.

The guests are going to love it.

With the relationships that I've built on board,

I'd like to say I'm in a pretty good position to get a cake very quickly.

What's the message, Melissa? The message is, "The future is ours."

Wow! Let's see how we're going to fit this message inside. Yes.

We might have to do the writing a little bit smaller on the cake.

We're going to make it happen. Perfect. Let's make it happen.

Thank you, Kevin. The team, they pull together when I need it.

And it's really nice to have them, people to rely on as well.

So I'm not just a one-woman show, you know? One team, one dream.

As evening draws in, cruise director Dan

is looking ahead to tomorrow's itinerary.

And we're recording. Three, two...

Hello, seafarers, and welcome to The Wake Show.

I'm Dan, your cruise director, here on Star Princess.

The Wake Show is a TV show that I record every single day,

which the guests can find on their stateroom TV at any point.

It's on demand.

Each show is recorded in advance, ready for the next day.

We have got a fantastic day and evening of entertainment for you,

so let's talk about all of that and more on today's Wake Show!

It's about a 15-20 minute, very light-hearted TV show

where I get to introduce you to different members of the team,

maybe have some guest entertainers on. I always have fun.

I don't take things too seriously. Very light-hearted.

Oh, your dad's on the ship. My dad is on board. Yeah.

That's amazing. Yeah.

Today's main guests are no strangers to taking centre stage.

We've got Charles and we've got Emma. Hello. Hello. Hello.

How are you doing? Wonderful. Good, thanks. Good.

Now we've got we've got two cast managers on board

because we're currently going through a cast handover.

Now, Emma, talk to us about what it's like, then,

to have a second cast come on board and what that feels like

because you guys are getting to the end of your contracts... Yeah.

...the tiredness must be kicking in... Mm-hm.

...somebody else is coming in on your turf.

It's not too bad. It's just busy backstage, you know?

My cast are trying to fix and clean all their costumes.

These guys are trying to rehearse,

so it's a busy time for everyone, but exciting.

And a new cast coming in, taking over

from an existing cast. Taking over. Big shoes to fill as well, right?

Very big shoes, especially that these guys

are the first ones on the ship, right? Inaugurals, yeah.

Inaugural. Inaugural cast. Yeah. So it's very big shoes.

Let's be honest, the main reason I do it is, "Who can I wind up?"

You know, my cast manager, Emma.

I will always bring her on and try and make her just go, "What?"

And my favourite thing recently was I outed them.

And then on top of all of that, ladies and gentlemen,

it's also a bit strange because our two cast managers

are in a relationship together!

I had a feeling that Dan would sort of hard launch

mine and Charles's relationship on The Wake Show.

I mean, look at them! What a beautiful couple.

It makes the handover really easy. Really easy. I bet it does.

He loves to sort of, like,

put it out where he can because the guests do love it. They...

The guests love to see a love story amongst the crew,

so we're happy to....happy to share it.

Why hide it? We're together. We love each other.

We try to keep it professional,

but sometimes other people have different plans for us!

So we're just like, "OK. Cool."

Oh! What I'd like to do for the both of you is to put you through

Dan's ten question speed round challenge.

Texting or phone calls.

BOTH: Phone calls.

Have you made your bed this morning?

Nope. No.

And there's two of you to do it!

Having two cast managers in a handover

who are also dating at the same time

is certainly a unique experience,

but one that's been quite fun to watch.

Our final question - which cast is better?

- Cast one. - Mine. HE GASPS

And there we go. Strife in the relationship begins!

When they ask, "How did it all end?"

They said, "Well, we went on The Wake Show."

For me, it's great because I'll just find ways just to poke them both

that they're in a relationship, and that's the fun part.

But I think, honestly, from a professional point of view,

it's been great which is slightly annoying

because I'd love more material.

After an action-packed start to the voyage,

this morning the sun has risen on another dream-filled day.

The 21-deck Star Princess

has spent the last three weeks sailing the Caribbean,

and today has arrived at the tropical island

of Cozumel in Mexico.

With its sun-soaked streets,

vibrant culture and an endless supply of tacos and tequila,

Mexico's largest Caribbean island

has all the ingredients for a relaxing getaway.

While some of the guests head ashore...

Hello, seafarers, and welcome to The Wake Show.

...there's no time to chill for cruise director Dan,

who's drumming up support for an evening event

that's very close to his heart.

We're going to start in Princess Arena

at 7:30 and 9:30 with some British idiot.

Me, ladies and gentlemen!

I've got my own guest entertainment show.

So it's going to be an emotional one tonight. My dad is on board.

So if you're there tonight, you'll know that I'll be performing it

for the first time in front of my dad.

Also getting ready for their first show is the new entertainment cast.

THEY GASP

Looks like Hannah Montana in here!

The current performers have been on board for the past five months.

But with their departure looming,

they now need to hand over their precious costumes to the newcomers.

TEAM CHATTERS - I know. - That's so cool!

We are currently doing our first round of costume fittings

for the incoming team, ready for the show

that they're going to premiere at the end of the week.

All right, so the first test is, like... This is a little...

You can't do that. Yeah.

The costumes that we have on board, they stay on board

and then they have to get refit for every cast.

So we currently have a team of six wardrobe support people

who are on board who will take the costumes in or out.

In just six days, the newbies will be stepping into the shoes

of the inaugural cast.

And with up to seven costumes per performer,

nothing can be left to chance.

It's very stretchy. Yeah. Oh, brilliant. They're fine.

We've got the whole team of singers and dancers in there,

and six wardrobe supervisors,

plus myself and the dance supervisor and my assistant running around

trying to get zippers and get spare fabric.

And, "Do we have a spare of this?

"Can we make this longer? Can we make this shorter?"

It's, like... There's a lot going on.

As a complete novice to performing on cruise ships...

It's my skirt too short? It's meant to be short. It's a little cheeky.

...Zahra is keen to make sure she's in step with what's wanted.

I love this one. I love it. I know. It's my favourite number, too.

Yeah. Is it? It's so weird that we're meeting you guys because,

like, you guys are like these icons, you know?

You're, like, these, like... Girl, stop!

When I saw them all performing in the videos

they've showed us in the rehearsal room,

and you just look at them and you think, "Wow, they are amazing."

And, "Wow, you know, I want to be, like, as good as that."

You guys looked so fierce when you did this. Oh, thanks. So fierce.

You're going to look fierce too. Like, so fierce.

So definitely there's that aspect of feeling inspired by them, for sure.

I look so pretty!

When it comes to the shows,

it's assistant cast manager Mia who's replacing Emma,

and there's an added level of pressure

in the form of a costume challenge.

I've heard about the famous skirt.

And I've seen the skirt and I was expecting it to be worse,

but I haven't actually moved around a right lot yet.

So when I get dancing, it could be a whole different story.

In this routine, I'll be taking over from Emma.

She's been amazing in reassuring any little questions of, like,

"Did that work for you? How did this work?"

She's been more than happy to help.

So, yeah, it's been really nice to have that.

We're going to have to have some little adjustments,

maybe on the waistband,

just because there's a lot of that going on

and we don't want any popping skirts off.

So I think we'll just make sure it's extra secure here.

But everywhere else, we're in luck.

Of course, you're going to be nervous, but there's definitely not

that pressure of, like, we have to be them.

Oh, my God... It's not the nervous of, like... "Ooh!"

It's the exciting nervous.

That looks good. Yeah. It's just brushing the floor. Yeah. Perfect.

It's kind of, like, sentimental, but I'm excited to watch her do it.

It's so big, it looks like a cake. Yeah.

Yes! As Mia gets to grips with her costume,

cast manager Charles is having some struggles of his own.

I will probably need this taken in a little bit. You've got it.

It's like... Is it possible also, if I'm being blind,

can I get a popper here?

I don't want it to accidentally flash people.

I've done that in the past where I have done a quick change

and I've forgotten to do the zipper,

and a shirt has popped out right from that zip

and it's been hanging around.

You see every nook and cranny of each other in the changing rooms.

You know... You cannot... There's nowhere to hide,

No. At all. At all. Oh, my God.

So it's all about being social, being friendly. Yeah.

Being there for each other

Although they've got this confidence, this bravado about them,

you can see that that's the nerves kicking in.

Huey, it's all going to be fine.

That's right.

I don't know. We'll see.

OK. You know what? When in doubt...

Never enough hours in the day for any of this.

And the fact that, like, we're just finishing now

and in about two hours' time, we have to grab everyone,

so we show them more around the ship...

Rack!

While the 16 strong-cast are busy getting stage-ready...

First try!

...on the shore, the guests are relaxing.

It's very quaint.

Southport-born Phil is keeping fiancee Erin distracted

from his surprise by exploring the island's capital, San Miguel.

As we said, it reminds us of, like, a Spanish town. Yeah.

And after making new friends on board,

joining them today are best mates Ronan and Alex from Birmingham.

We met probably 15 years ago on an online computer game,

but it's like there's more of a community to it.

And then, sort of... We became good friends And we basically...

We moved in together, didn't we? A few years ago.

And, yeah, I guess we just go on holiday now.

I think it's good to go away as often as possible.

See different places, film our experiences as well

so we can share them with everyone else online.

For a full flavour of the island,

they've swapped comfort for something a little more compact.

But when it comes to cruising the streets, size matters.

They're really small, aren't they, like? Miniature.

I think it very much is like a Mario Kart experience.

Oh, look at that. Vroom, vroom!

They're, like, little scooters.

They look like mini sort of coupe boogie cars.

It was really weird because... They sort of...

It was a moped-slash-car-slash-tricycle.

They were smaller than I was expecting.

A lot smaller than I was expecting.

The pictures had shown the scoot-coupe

but didn't show people in it.

So when I got there, I was like, "Hmm! Cosy..."

You're going to get in it.

As you can see, it's just gas running all the time.

You're a petrolhead and anything with wheels on... Hopefully.

You love driving. If I can get in it!

As the guests ponder their fate...

...back on board, the new entertainment team

are getting to grips with their task.

In less than a week, they'll be bringing their theatrical shows

to thousands of guests.

So the current cast is showing them the ropes.

There's a lot for the new team to be taking in there.

Even the stage itself is probably different

for those who have worked on stages before.

They've also got some aerial work as well,

which is another workout in itself. ALL: Yeah!

I'm really excited. It's really fun to get to watch this team.

But it is overwhelming. So as much information that we can give people,

the better so that they're feeling a little less blindsided

when it gets to their turn.

While Mia has previously performed on other ships,

for many of the team, it's a brand-new experience.

I was absolutely blown away.

It made me go, "Oh, my gosh. I just want to be them." And I AM them.

And I think it was a real treat to be able to watch them,

because I've really got to see from an outside perspective

how incredible we are going to look when we get to be in that show.

It's going to be a vibe! It's going to be a vibe.

It's crazy, like, being here in the space and actually seeing, like,

almost the reality of what we're going to be doing.

What we're about to be doing very soon.

It's scary to think that we're taking over from them,

and it will be our responsibility to deliver.

Big shoes to fill. Yeah. Very big shoes to fill. Yeah.

But it's exciting. Very cool.

BOTH:Yeah! CHEERING AND WHISTLING

I feel like it will be good for them to be up in the air

with an audience and all the lighting and stuff,

because we haven't had a taste of that yet.

I'm really excited, but soon we'll be the ones up on there.

Over the next few days,

they'll take to the stage in a number of technical rehearsals.

But with less than a week until their debut performance,

the pressure is on.

The 200-foot-high Star Princess

is on a grand month-long voyage sailing around the Caribbean.

It's currently docked at the island of Cozumel in Mexico,

where guests are in a tight spot...

Oh. Oh, my gosh. It's a bit of a tight squeeze. Oh, my gosh.

With couple Phil and Erin and friends Ronan and Alex

squashed into their seats...

Let's go. Wish me luck. Hands in the life.

...now comes the real challenge.

Let's go! Alex, what are you doing?! Well, guess I'll let go. OK.

Got there eventually.

When we were pulling onto the main road, we were a bit like,

"What the hell's happening?" It was a fast bike as well.

So we're a bit like,

"Oh, are we going to be hit by a car or something here?"

HE EXCLAIMS

SHE YELPS

Very nerve-racking. It was... "Got to do this. Sit down. Pray."

We're not going to go over that bump. Steady.

After a slow start...

There goes my tea. Hold it all. It's not breakfast.

...the duos put pedal to the metal.

Give 'em a honk. HORN HONKS

Bonjour! We were driving along and all the locals there

and other tourists and we're like, "Hello! Hello! Hola!"

Everyone was... Everyone was waving... Everyone was just waving.

...beeping and, yeah. Yeah. It was. It was fab.

Well, it's nice there's all the graffiti, like, all up here.

It's not that big of an island, so it was quite good.

You went to, like, the north of the main city,

and then you went down to the south.

It was really nice, seeing different parts.

It was an eye opener. It was a lovely place.

I think, unless you do get out and about,

you can't really say that,

"Oh, yeah, I've been to Cozumel. I've seen this, I've seen that."

Well, that we definitely did, didn't we? We definitely...

We can now.

As evening falls, the 345-metre-long ship

continues its voyage around the Caribbean.

And the guests get set for a fun-filled night.

But on Star Princess, it's not just the high-octane theatrical shows

that keep everyone entertained.

DJs, magicians and musicians all share the spotlight,

and even cruise director Dan struts his stuff!

Well, tonight is my show. I'm very proud of it.

It's the story, kind of, of my life up to this point,

and I've kind of put it all together into one show that I get to perform.

Essex-born Dan's been working at sea for the past 17 months...

...but tonight is a first for him.

His dad, Steve, and Steve's wife, Deborah, are on board

and they've never seen his show before.

I'm normally nervous for these shows anyway.

This one, I'm super nervous!

Thank you. Thank you all so much for coming to the show tonight.

Over the next 40 minutes or so,

I'm going to mark different chapters of my life up to this point.

Really, the story charts how I got here to Star Princess.

When I got on board the ships, I was watching these guest entertainers.

And, you know, I've performed in the West End

in shows like Guys and Dolls and Book of Mormon.

And I'm relatively good at it, I like to think.

And I thought, "Let's try and put a show together."

Well, if we're going to start at the very beginning,

there's no better way to break the ice

with an audience than with a baby photo!

So, let's put baby Dan on the screen, shall we?

CROWD COOS

There he is. Little old chubby cheeks, there. But this is actually

1992 East Anglia Baby Portrait of the Year winner. Yeah.

My parents won a £25 gift voucher for that, so... There we go!

It's a biographical, you know, a light biographical,

story of kind of where my journey went

because it had so many different turns and twists in it

professionally that I thought,

"We can make that into an entertaining way of telling it."

And the reason I bring up my parents, ladies and gentlemen,

is tonight is the first time that my dad will see the show.

He's in the audience somewhere. CROWD CHEERS

And my dad is going to laugh at this one.

When I was young, I wanted to be a pro sports player.

As you can tell, that didn't work out for me...

Then I wanted to be a singer-songwriter.

I wanted to write songs that people would sing all across the world.

I'd sing them in arenas

and women would throw their knickers onto the stage.

I know, not gay. Shock!

As you can tell, that didn't work out for me, either.

And then I started singing, and suddenly I realised

when I was singing, people would take notice of me.

I was very blessed and fortunate to go and live my dream

and go perform in the West End.

And then suddenly, in my mid '20s, I made the inexplicable decision

that I was going to start producing musicals in the West End.

So I was producing a number of West End shows.

I did OK. And then we had that thing called a pandemic.

And overnight, I lost what I thought was my career

and I lost the girl that I was about to propose to.

A big culmination of the show was, you know, the lows in my life

and the times that I found really difficult

and the depression that I've gone through...

...you know, a few years ago. And I...I had this opportunity to go,

"Actually, I can tell a story and a show where I can open myself up...

"..be vulnerable, talk about the fact that

"I've not done everything right in my life."

You learn from your mistakes and you pick yourself up

and you find a way to get out of the low spots.

I was on the ground and I'm very, very open about saying

that I was this close to not getting out of it, ladies and gentlemen.

And I couldn't see what way was up. And two-and-a-half years later,

I was the inaugural cruise director on a brand-new, billion-dollar ship.

So I thought, "Well, if I can do it, then anyone can do it.

"Anyone can dig themselves out of that hole."

I've been able to pick myself up and put it into a positive spin

that has now started to allow other people to deal with

their issues, experiences, problems and negatives.

And I think that's been a really wonderful thing that I've...

That I'm so, so very proud of.

Thank you all so much for coming tonight.

You have no idea what it means to me. Thank you.

A lot of pride. That's all I can tell you.

Just... Lots of pride. Can't believe he's...

You all right? Better than I thought it was.

I just loved it. I can't say much any more.

And to see that he's come through it, you know,

working for Princess and all that. Yeah. Though he's still disappointed

that I didn't make it as a singer songwriter, aren't you? So...

Well, yeah, you know. But you've been a disappointment, son,

all throughout it.

I love you, Dad. Thank you.

Now I got to go do a game show and be funny! Ah...

Make a change.

I really resent that!

Fresh from their adventures on shore,

Phil and Erin are embracing the evening vibe.

I love you. Love you.

But unbeknown to Erin,

Phil has plans for a romantic balcony dinner...

...which is currently being set up by Melissa and her team in their cabin.

Just decorating, just so it's nice for when they come in.

I mean, this is like a monumental moment in someone's life,

so it's really nice that we get to be a part of it.

So, yeah.

It has to be perfect.

T-minus half an hour, so we gotta go.

Where you wanna go for tea?

Do you want to go anywhere in particular?

No.

As long as there's food and as long as I'm with you, I'm all right.

Perhaps I've already sorted something out for us.

Where are we going?

Somewhere nice.

Where? Just me and you.

Where are we going?

You'll have to follow me, won't you?

It's a surprise?

A little one.

Ooh!

Yay!

We got the last touches going on now,

and then I need to get going,

cos they're literally going to be here in a couple of minutes.

After a hectic handover day for lovebirds Emma and Charles,

they're grabbing the opportunity for some time alone

in the plush surroundings of one of the ship's lavish restaurants.

Hello. Hello. How are you? Good evening.

Dinner for two? Yes, thank you. Dinner for two, yes.

I'm really excited to be able to have a night out

with Charles tonight.

Thank you.

It's been so busy.

It's so nice to kind of get an evening together

and just relax and be away from the chaos

that is the handover period.

Cheers, love. Cheers.

It's so good to have you back.

I've missed you, babe. I've missed you.

It's really great to be with Emma

and to actually get a date night with her and be able to sit down,

grab a meal together, and actually just,

like, just chat it out.

So how do you feel about opening your first show?

I feel excited. Yeah?

Yeah, I feel excited.

I feel nervous, like there's good nerves. Yeah.

I've got a lot to learn, got big shoes to fill.

Yeah. You'll be OK.

Do you think I've got good in heels?

You fit my shoes anyway. We're the same size.

THEY LAUGH

Yum!

Oh, my gosh.

This beats the crew mess for sure.

Oh, my gosh. Yes! SHE LAUGHS

How is it?

Mm. Mm?

Oh, my gosh. That's so good.

Do you remember that first day that we properly hung out?

You were looking for sports bras,

and I was just... Yeah.

...I was just with you,

watching, uh...

...watching you buy sports bras.

THEY GIGGLE

We met each other in LA, California in rehearsals for different ships.

And we just, we hung out.

We just chatted.

Maybe a kiss was passed, no, actually, I'll lie.

I will start that one again, cos that is...

...that is... that's not what happened.

We made out.

I remember you walking me home, actually,

walking back to my apartment. Mm-hm.

And that was the last time I thought I was going to see you.

You just finished rehearsals. Yeah, you were ready to go.

We split ways.

Yeah. Cos...

...we knew that it wasn't going to happen.

I didn't think I'd ever see you again after you left on your ship,

and then I went to mine.

Often when you are dating somebody on board,

you might get a couple of months together before

one of you has to go into another contract,

and then you have to try and fight to sort of line your schedules up.

It is... it's quite sad,

and it really doesn't get easier.

Separation isn't an issue for newly engaged sweethearts Phil and Erin.

Even though they're joined at the hip,

Phil still managed to organise a big surprise.

Oh!

Oh!

SHE GASPS Oh, so we're having dinner?!

Yeah.

And this cruise wouldn't have been possible without you.

Oh!

Mm! Love you.

Oh...

Crying, again.

- Do you want a tissue? - Yeah. SHE CHUCKLES

Oh, it's lovely.

You deserve it. Thank you, baby.

It was just amazing.

Her reaction was priceless.

Absolutely over the moon.

I don't think it could've gone any better.

Oh! It's gorgeous!

CORK POPS Oh, that's a good sound.

Oh, this is so beautiful.

Cheers. Cheers.

I don't even know how you hid everything from me.

Cos I'm good. Can you tell?

Very sneaky. Yeah.

In a good way. Exactly.

Thank you.

More than welcome.

I remember when you said that you also got offered this contract

after I had told you I got it.

Yeah! That day, I remember being in my room being like this,

WHISPERING: "Please, please, please, please, please, please.

"I need to get this contract. I need to get this contract"

For work purposes, obviously. Obviously.

But bonus would be like,

"I need to do this because I really want..."

What a twist of fate...

Twist of fate! ...that we ended up here.

I definitely think it's fate that we ended up on the Star together.

I don't think things like that just happened by chance.

The stars aligned on the Star Princess.

After that day of seeing you again...

Just not being apart.

And it's, what, coming up to nine months?

Nine months. HE GASPS

Nine months of being together.

I feel really lucky

to know that I can spend

as much time with him as I have, and as I will get to as well.

We've now got this handover period,

where we can spend a lot of time together.

And I'm really excited to have him on board

and have him part of my day to day,

even if it's just for a little bit.

I haven't even started packing yet.

You haven't even started packing yet? No.

No. That's all right!

I don't think you need to even pack,

cos you're gonna... you're gonna go away back home,

back to New Zealand... Yeah.

...and then you're just gonna be back next week.

I'm just gonna have you sign back on.

Maybe not next week, but...

I don't know about that.

I'm gonna go home and spend some time

with my family and my friends.

A week. Yeah, yeah, 100%.

And I've got to book my flights, cos I'm gonna come see you.

Yeah, in a week's time.

SHE GIGGLES

Unfortunately, we're going to be apart from each other.

It's gonna be sad. I'm not gonna lie.

I'm gonna miss her very much.

But luckily, with my job, I get a little perks,

and I get to sign her on for a sort of vacation.

So she gets to be what's called a "passenger princess",

uh, for maybe a month or two.

So I'm excited for her to come back and just have a vacation.

Let's see your contract out, and then who knows?

Australia.

Move to Australia? Yeah.

Let's move. Let's start our life together.

Let's start our life together.

Start our life finally together, right?

It's always a tough one when your time on board comes to an end,

because there's always that burning question of,

"What do I do next?

"Do I come back on board again? "Do I do something else?"

I'm looking to probably settle my feet on land for a little bit.

So, planning on making some roots at home,

and I've convinced Charles to join me.

Hi!

Congratulations.

Oh!

Thank you. No worries.

So nice to meet you.

You too!

Oh, thank you so much.

Thank you. Oh! Thank you.

"The future is ours."

Oh, brilliant.

You are a big softie.

You're a sneaky little sausage, too.

Everyone's pulled all the stops out.

You know, I feel privileged.

Feel overwhelmed and, yeah.

Little man cry later, probably.

What a way to celebrate. What a holiday.

It's just been absolutely phenomenal.

I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect.

I felt like a princess. Yeah. So you should.

It was absolutely amazing.

Magical. Yeah. Absolutely magical.

It's so rewarding knowing that someone has chosen this ship

and myself to be a big part of their day.

And just to know that

they're going to leave here happy with a massive smile on their face,

and they're going to remember that for the rest of their lives.

Cheers, baby. Cheers.

Next time, Star Princess docks in Belize...

So what are we doing today?

Crocodile hunting and ziplining?

Ciao!

...while the old cast make a break for freedom...

THEY CHEER

...it's showtime...

...for the new entertainers.

Places, people! Yes!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media