Panama Canal day!!

February 21, 2013: Panama Canal
Panama Canal day. It’s a very confusing schedule because basically for us it’s like a sea day, but apparently on the rest of these cruises the kids mostly get off for excursions. Not this cruise. Anyway, we supposeedly got there around 5. I woke up around 8 and watched us go through one of the locks as I got ready, then another while at breakfast. We were in the lake by the time I finished and went to the outside deck where the Loft was supposed to meet and watch us go into the lake. None of the teens showed up this morning (maybe they actually went on excursions). Jacob wanted to work on the xbox and wii in the Loft to get them working (someone came in and cleaned and messed everything up) so we switched rooms for the rest of the day.

I had a short lunch (I was in the Loft until 12 and had to be in Club HAL at 1), then went outside to watch us go back through the locks while waiting for the kids to come. It was a busy afternoon, most of the kids were there, so we did various things until 2 when I put on Happy Feet 2 to watch. They kept getting loud and I almost turned off the movie at one point because I couldn’t hear it, but I hadn’t seen it, so I wanted to finish watching it. After the movie ended, we played hide and seek until time for them to leave. We were only in port for about three hours, so some of the parents were ready to leave when they came to pick the kids up.

I changed and got off the ship, just to walk around and explore. The shops here have lots of pretty earrings, so I’m definitely getting off another time when we’re here! There’s not a whole lot else to do here though, we stop mainly to pick up the people that went on excursions.

I didn’t have much time before dinner so I read for a few minutes, then went up. I sat alone but was joined by Sarah, the stage manager, and Charlotte. That was nice; I feel awkward sitting alone, but I also feel awkward asking to join tables of people I hardly know. I went up to Club HAL to start working on stuff for Spy Night. I didn’t get much done before the family and some of the other kids came; that’s odd since every session I’ve worked this cruise, no one has shown up for at least thirty minutes after I open. That’s kind of what I was expecting tonight, so I had to sneakily put up the clues for the scavenger hunt around the room while eight kids ran around. Talk about being a super secret spy, haha. We did actually manage to get through some of the activities for spy night, which I was rather impressed with! The two girls in the family tried to get me to stop, but I kept on and they eventually had fun. We made spy ID cards, they figured out ‘chinese numbers’ and we did the scavenger hunt, complete with the making of a spy gadget. That’s all we finished before time was up. The family, of course, stayed for after-hours. It was a little bit insane. There was stuff everywhere from when they made the spy gadgets, one girl sat in her masterpiece: a plate covered with glitter glue. We spent half the night trying to walkie-talkie and call her mom so she could bring her new pants. Fun night.