Turning Lemons Into Lemonade 

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the livelihood of entertainers around the entire world. When you look at the growing number of unemployment rates, it easy to get anxious and nervous wondering when and how the entertainment industry will bounce back. None of us feel this concern more than the Cruise industry. Even though everything seems so up in the air, a few of our Norwegian Creative Studios cast members have decided to take lemons and turn them into lemonade.

Natasha Benjamin from the Norwegian Sky dove back into her online business in Network Marketing. Regent and Oceania’s longtime Lead Vocalist, Katie O’Brien has been focusing a lot on gratitude and both her mental and physical health. She’s even training for a marathon in October! AFTER MIDNIGHT’s Martina Gumbs who, along with her sister, owns MM Jazz Company based in Manchester UK has adapted to social distance challenges by offering virtual dance classes to their students to help keep up with their technique. Bradley Gale, most recently on the Regent Splendor, hasn’t skipped a beat and is working on obtaining his real estate license and taking classes to become fluent in Spanish.

Perseverance is defined as persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success and is a word that can be found in the heart of any solid performer. We’ve all been faced with difficulty but never wavered in our pursuit of whatever it was we wanted to achieve.

Lauren Wilkens

During her contract aboard the RSSC Explorer, Lauren Wilkens was given the opportunity to serve as the Company Manager for her team. Anyone who’s ever been given a leadership position within the cast knows the challenges this can bring. Not only are you performing and socializing with your peers, but you’re also managing them alongside the Cruise Director. As soon as she stepped into her new leadership role, Lauren realized her passion didn’t stop at dancing and performing, it was apparent she really enjoyed the management aspect of her job. Now with more time on her hands and while waiting to return to sea, Lauren has been hard at work, obtaining her Leadership and Management Degree to further her skills as a Company Manager. When she’s not studying for her degree, she’s utilizing her Bachelor of Teaching degree to tutor kids due to the major disruption to the school system with the countrywide shut down in Australia. This positive spin on a less than positive time is truly inspiring and we’re excited to see her utilize her education when we resume operations.

Nathaniel Gosselin

Like so many of us, Nathaniel Gosselin was very optimistic that we would return to work sooner than later. However, as the days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, he realized he didn’t want to let the opportunity to make the most of his time go by. This urge to be productive lead him to develop a new health and fitness-based app called 20 Minutes with Nate. “It’s a subscription-based service that provides people with daily-at-home workouts, nutrition strategies, motivation, and accountability,” he says. Perseverance, passion for fitness and career milestones have never been far from Nathaniel’s grasp. Not only has Nathaniel worked with us, he’s had a great career in the dance with movie and tv credits such as Freaky Friday and Once Upon a Time. “I’ve worked as a fitness and nutrition coach for 10 years and this seemed like the perfect time to take everything I’ve learned and put it into an app” states Gosselin. The creation of a fitness app is a true example of turning lemons into lemonade and 20 Minutes with Nate is on schedule to launch in North America in September 2020.

While we don’t know how long this pandemic will last, it’s inspiring to know that our cast members are taking a leap of faith to explore ways to grow their skillsets and enhance their knowledge while we ride out this storm. As Martin Luther King once stated, “ If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” and that’s exactly what we do best.