Ft. Lauderdale and sea day

November 30, 2012: Ft. Lauderdale
We had full crew inspection this morning; none of the crew could get off the ship until all crew members had gone through. All departments were assigned times that they were going to be called to go out for customs, Entertainment was at 10. I woke up not long after we docked and they called the first department. A few minutes later, they called for Entertainment department to head down. It was 7:50. We went out and stood in line for half an hour before I handed the person my passport, stood there for a second, then got back on the ship. We figured since we were called so early, everyone would get through pretty quickly and we’d be able to get off the ship. No such luck. By 9:30, Blake, Cass and I were ready to go and waiting with all the disembarking crew to get off (they couldn’t leave until everyone had gone through customs too). We waited, and waited, and waited. Finally we went to the OB to use our phones for a few minutes since we figured it wouldn’t be much more of a wait. They were calling people to come down by names by that point. Finally we were able to get off at 11:20.

The HAL Cats had to play at one, which meant they had to be back by 12, so there wasn’t much time. Cass opted out of going and being rushed, so Blake and I joined Sam and LaVance (cast members) going out. Blake left us to go to Walgreens and I went to Publix with Sam and LaVance. We shopped around for a bit, and I got to talk to Mom. We then went to a restaurant for lunch, LaVance had been there before so knew the food was good and that they had good internet. We ended up staying there for a few hours. I really enjoyed the food, especially after ship food only the past 9 days. Sam and I came back to the ship and I went upstairs to meet the new YPC. A few kids had come by and a few more came by while I was there. There are 11 on board!! I actually had to attend the Emergency Drill and walk around to check if all the kids had wristbands. I’m extremely happy that I finally get to go my job. It’s just amazing that the last 6 cruises combined (over two months) have had less kids than this one.

After the drill, Kayley and I watched Harry Potter 7 part 1 until she had to go to a meeting. Hardly anyone was at dinner, just some of the spa people and a few officers. It was really strange how quiet it was while eating. I went up to Club HAL a bit early since there wasn’t much of a reason to hang out at dinner. One of the tweens came up right at 7 so we played foosball until some of the other kids showed up. It was a relaxed night, 7 of the kids were up there at one point. Some came while their parents finished eating dinner, then left for dessert and quite a few left because they’d had long days on planes. We colored, played some video games, played Uno, sorry, connect-4 and foosball. I was happy to have real work for the first time in two months.

December 1, 2012: Sea Day 1
Wow, it’s already December. Six months ago, I didn’t have a job and now I’ve been away from home on a cruise ship for 3 and a half months. I’m starting to feel ready to come home. I love my job, but I do like land for more than 24 hours at a time. I’ll miss my friends here, but I can’t wait to see everyone when I get back, I miss you all!

I got up a little earlier than normal today since starting work at 9 really does mean STARTing work at 9. The tween that was there on time last night was there this morning as well. She started her ship for the drawing contest and two of the younger ones came in and we got them started making memory handprints. Aaron, the new YPC, saw my Club HAL bag on the wall and thought it was a great way to keep track of all the arts/crafts we do over the cruise. So, we spent the next hour with the kids decorating their own Club HAL bags to keep their drawings and stuff in, and to take home at the end of the cruise. That kept most of them busy until the end of the morning session.

I went down to the room for a bit before going back up for lunch. I finally saw Cass today, she had dessert with me because their set was cancelled on account of wind. Edison joined us, then Blake and Glenn. It was a busy lunch.

This afternoon in Club HAL, we made picture frames, colored ships, went out for ice cream, played video games and played games on the Kinect. We’ve been kind of combining the age groups because there haven’t been enough to keep separate, and Aaron’s been running around the ship getting his new-crew stuff done, prepping for Christmas decorating and putting in orders for Club HAL since we’re running low on some supplies like tape.

The afternoon took a long time to go by, but it went quickly at the same time. I’m very confused about how that can happen.

It was movie night in Club HAL so we gave them the choice between three of the movies, they chose Despicable Me. At least it’s one we didn’t watch constantly for three days on the crossing. I don’t think I would be able to handle watching Megamind, Rango, or Zookeeper again any time soon after that.

Aaron let me get off a little bit early because it was formal night and I had mentioned that I would like to go to the show. I made it to the show on time and had my camera so I could take pictures. Some of the pictures turned out really well, others not so much because the lights changed colors too quickly for me to snap the shot when it wasn’t red or purple (people on stage under those colors have weirdly distorted features sometimes in photos).

After the show, I went by the Ocean Bar to listen to the new Neptunes play, then went up for late night where I found the band. I had some fruit and we hung out upstairs for a while before going down to the OB. I seem to spend a lot of time with the photo department because I hung out with Annette again in addition to the band. Fred, one of the officers, joined us as well. He’s a bit sad because the other guys who used to go to the OB with him left yesterday. We had fun talking about music, movies and I learned a little bit about what goes on on the Bridge sometimes.