another home port day

March 29, 2013: Ft. Lauderdale
Today was an interesting day. It started at 6:30 when Charlotte, me and a few others had to be in the Vista Lounge to help out with the full crew inspection. We got there on time and realized that we weren’t even docked yet; no one else was there, so we just sat half-asleep until people came to tell us what to do to help. It was about 7 before anyone came to give us instructions. Guess which job I got? I had to scan everyone’s ID cards once they went through customs! After about 15 minutes, Charlotte came out wondering why no one had come to relieve me (she had already finished). She went back in and got August to replace me, then I went through. It took a surprisingly short time, for which I was grateful since I’d gotten up so early. I talked to August for a few minutes after I got through and we decided to get off ship together as soon as crew leave was granted. I guess it’s surprising to me because of how full-crew inspection on the Maasdam went after our Europe trip, but we were off by 9:30!

Anyway, August and I got off and did some shopping for various things, had lunch then found internet until we decided it was time to head back to the ship.
I changed and went upstairs to meet the new Club HAL girls and help out with the remaining bit of open house. It was a bit crazy up there when I arrived. Chrissy wasn’t there and there were tons of families there, filling out the registration paperwork and some just playing around.

The girls walked around with me doing wristbands, then we had an entertainment dept meeting at 4. After the meeting, the three of us went to the bow as the ship pulled out of the port. It was fun because we all waved at the general direction of the webcam that Mom and Dad were watching.

I went to Club HAL for a while at 8 to cover for Michelle and Kassie as they had to do crew office and HR stuff. In the Loft, there were a few teens there hanging out. Most of them have been on cruises before so knew how everything works and where everything was. We pretty much just hung out and got to know one another a bit, introducing ourselves as new people came in. I think about 12 or so showed up, which isn’t bad for a first night. They all left pretty early because they were tired.