October 29, 2013
It’s 6am, I’ve been awake for an hour (gotta love all the time changes I've gone through in the past week, my brain apparently thinks it’s Mid-Atlantic time I think). I’ve spent the last half hour reading, after spending half an hour attempting to go back to sleep and giving it up as a lost cause (again). Of course now is the time when I get nostalgic. Two days ago I was on a ship, more than ready to get off, to get away from the place I’ve been for 4 months straight, surrounded by the same rooms, the same people and always being “on.” It’s only been two days, one full day of being away and I already miss it, I still need this time away though, I need to clear my head.
This contract has felt like one of the longest I’ve had, well it was the longest I’ve had so far, but only by a week. So much has happened that it doesn’t seem like it could have all happened in so short a time. There’s a long list of things that have happened, and of course a long list of things that I wish did, and another of things I wish didn’t. It’s been a summer to remember that’s for sure.
I may have made some lifelong ship-friends, I rode a donkey in Greece, I swam in the Mediterranean, I jumped off a cliff, I fell hard for someone, I attended a crew party in Club HAL, I lost a friend and still don’t know why, I visited Pompeii, I spent a day just lying on the beach in Spain, I wandered the streets of Barcelona at night (with friends of course), I got lost in Venice, I visited the ruins of Ephesus, I walked past mosque after mosque in Istanbul, I visited the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, I danced for 5 hours straight, I went ice skating in France (with rental skates, yikes), I watched more movies than I can count, I introduced one person to the movie UP and another to Doctor Who, I ate more carbs than good for me, I went to the Akropolis in Athens, I bought people-specific souvenirs, I ran out of band-aids, I walked around Old town Dubrovnik holding hands with someone, I hiked a mountain in Montenegro, I had my first real experience with a death of a crew member, I cried at a memorial ceremony for someone I hardly knew but felt rather close to, I had a proper tour of Rome, I went to an aquarium in Monaco, I had a heart-to-heart about breakups, I had a beach day alone in Argostali, I watched a beautiful sunset with no land in sight, I survived 7 days at sea with 10 very different kids, I lay down on a picnic table on the bow and watched a meteor shower, I stayed up until 4:30 am sitting on the bow talking and watching another cruise ship dock in Venice, I sailed past an active volcano (though I didn’t see it, someone told me they saw it shoot some lava), I went three days without setting foot outside, I fought past the language barrier of two great kids from the Ukraine, I befriended some kids and helped them fit in with the others, I played too many games of air hockey and foosball, I helped introduce card games like Skip-Bo and Phase 10 to the OB, I won a game of darts, I lost many games of darts, I bought perfume, I treated a friend and roommate to glasses of wine, I listened to the bands play, I watched a hilarious tech rehearsal of a show, I gave advice to parents, I watched a lightning storm from the safety of Club HAL as a “cloud of doom” stopped over the ship in Greece, I’ve explained numerous times why I don’t curse or set out to get drunk, I stopped two of my friends from stepping out in front of a car, I watched many of my friends walk down the gangway not knowing when we’ll see each other again, I got isolated in a small cabin with no working TV for 24 hours, I was accused of being "addicted to meat," I kept the photo department entertained sometimes on formal nights, I danced alone, I danced with people, I had a week or two of insomnia, I showed up for line dancing, I pet a goat and a newborn kitten on the same day, I never got close to the ship leaving without me (except in a dream), I talked about life and love and God with my roommate, I wore a fake engagement ring in Turkey and still got too much attention for my liking, I had the bartender remember I love goldfish and give me two cups of them, I was called “shady, guacamole, ketchup and preppy” (by different people, but all in 24 hours), I sat on top of a taxicab (in Club HAL), I stopped adults from taking pictures of said taxicab while children were in the room, I acted like I didn’t care when someone hurt me, I met up with an old friend from another ship and wandered around Venice, I found Dr. Pepper in various countries, I ate octopus (and got sick from it), I kept secrets for my friends and for myself, I added more magnets to my collection, I tipped when I didn’t have to, and also forgot to tip when I might should have, I learned how to answer the phone without freaking out (too much), I learned how to tell the truth but say it in a way that doesn’t give too much away or make a guest angry at me or the company, I shelved books to help my roommate out, I blasted music in my room as I got ready in the morning, I went days without a hug and had to settle for a virtual one, I sat on the bow completely alone just to watch the stars and be amazed at God’s creation, I made faces at the cast during a show to see how much they could take before almost messing up, I found out that tourist information desks are my friend, I got off at the wrong metro stop in Barcelona, I made faces at fish and petted animals at a pet store in Athens, I picked up seashells and splashed around an empty beach on a date in Katakolon, I agreed to work for someone so that they could go to a waterpark, I acted like a tourist, I acted like a local, I fell asleep watching "101 Dalmations" twice in one night, I worked tendering and refrained from crying as guests got upset at me, I got a taxi to stop and pick us up when others couldn’t, I never actually saw the sunrise, I attended a raft drill and managed to control my breathing and not faint, I was victim to the rumour mill for the first time ever, I was complimented on my dancing, I had a conversation so long that I missed a meal, I wondered why some parents bring kids on a cruise just to leave them in Club HAL all day every day, I celebrated birthdays with children, their grandparents/parents, and fellow crew members, I considered adopting a bunny and attempting to smuggle it onto the ship for the crossing, I laughed too much, I cried too much, I listened to my friends as they complained and celebrated with them when something good happened,I had really good days and really bad days and days in the middle, I went further from home than I’ve ever been before, I sat on the bow watching the horizon with lights from Ft Lauderdale get closer by the minute.
I took over 3,000 pictures, I realized that my life is anything but normal and that I’m perfectly okay with that. I seem to have written the longest sentence ever just now.
Some of these things are big, not everyone has a chance to do them in their lifetime, others of these things are small and seem insignificant to most of you but they’re all part of my life, they’ve shaped me. I may look mostly the same, I may have the same lack of accent that I’ve always had, but I have changed, I’m not the person who set out to fly to Barcelona and join the largest ship in Holland America’s fleet all those 4 months ago. Oh the adventures I’ve had, and the adventures I have to look forward to!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
on my way home now
October 19, 2013: Ponta Delgada
It feels strange now having two sea days, that’s the most we had in one cruise all season, and now we have two in a row. 7 is going to come as a shock now after that. I’d nearly forgotten what a sea day was like! Anyway, it was a pretty long two sea days; I was on teens for most of the time (which means working on a puzzle and watching movies/Doctor Who and watching them play video games), but the two sessions I had with the kids was a bit crazy. One of them I ended up having everyone show up, and we couldn’t really do the activities because the younger kids and older kids couldn’t get on the same level to do it, the older ones were very impatient with the littles, so the little ones I got to play Legos and the older ones played the game. The next session was an afternoon one, one kid showed up right at 1, and he was the only one until 2:30 when his mom picked him up, she wasn’t the happiest to find out none of the other kids had come, but I had told her when she dropped him off that most afternoons are quiet since swimming is an option. As soon as he left, one other kid came, this is the kid that memorizes the schedule and repeats it to us, then complains when we do what’s on the schedule. He somehow didn’t understand that “ice cream cool down” in the Lido meant we were going to eat ice cream; he thought we would make it. Strange thought process. So, he was the only one for the second hour and half. I started to color a new picture (Bambi this time) while he decorated his Body Tracing once we got back from ice cream. The teens have been good, they’re pretty relaxed, most of what we do when we’re on Loft duty now is work on the puzzle and talk with them when they decide to take a break from their video games. Not bad at all. I’ve made quite a good bit of progress on the puzzle because of afternoons in the Loft.
Last night the crew were invited to the tech run of one of the shows, Garage Band after work. This is one of my favorite shows, cheesy but it involves a lot of talent by the dancers, singers, and techies. The cast and HAL Cats definitely made it interesting for us. They were goofing off and all of us were loving it, laughing hysterically through most of the show. It was a lot of fun, nice to have something different to do at night after work!
Today, we arrived a bit early, and yet breakfast was still really crowded for some reason, odd because the last few days I’ve gone at the exact same time and it’s been rather quiet in the Lido. After breakfast, I hung out with Ryan in Club HAL for a bit then went down to the room to change and wait on Megan’s drill to be over so we could get off. Turns out that this is a rather boring port. If it was warmer, we could’ve gone swimming, but it was cool so we wandered around town twice, figured out there was nothing to do, so spent the rest of our euros on souvenirs and food and got wifi. There was almost less to do than in Sydney on the Canada/New England run. We came back to the ship for Ryan and the three of us wandered a bit more around town, saving up our last moments on land before the upcoming 7 days at sea (somewhat rough seas too if the last two days are any indication).
I had the teens night session, one of them was there at first and he was content to play video games while I puzzled, then Megan got off work in the kids room and we watched Doctor Who the rest of the night. Easy night, the teens actually all left rather early for curfew which was kind of nice though a bit strange.
It feels strange now having two sea days, that’s the most we had in one cruise all season, and now we have two in a row. 7 is going to come as a shock now after that. I’d nearly forgotten what a sea day was like! Anyway, it was a pretty long two sea days; I was on teens for most of the time (which means working on a puzzle and watching movies/Doctor Who and watching them play video games), but the two sessions I had with the kids was a bit crazy. One of them I ended up having everyone show up, and we couldn’t really do the activities because the younger kids and older kids couldn’t get on the same level to do it, the older ones were very impatient with the littles, so the little ones I got to play Legos and the older ones played the game. The next session was an afternoon one, one kid showed up right at 1, and he was the only one until 2:30 when his mom picked him up, she wasn’t the happiest to find out none of the other kids had come, but I had told her when she dropped him off that most afternoons are quiet since swimming is an option. As soon as he left, one other kid came, this is the kid that memorizes the schedule and repeats it to us, then complains when we do what’s on the schedule. He somehow didn’t understand that “ice cream cool down” in the Lido meant we were going to eat ice cream; he thought we would make it. Strange thought process. So, he was the only one for the second hour and half. I started to color a new picture (Bambi this time) while he decorated his Body Tracing once we got back from ice cream. The teens have been good, they’re pretty relaxed, most of what we do when we’re on Loft duty now is work on the puzzle and talk with them when they decide to take a break from their video games. Not bad at all. I’ve made quite a good bit of progress on the puzzle because of afternoons in the Loft.
Last night the crew were invited to the tech run of one of the shows, Garage Band after work. This is one of my favorite shows, cheesy but it involves a lot of talent by the dancers, singers, and techies. The cast and HAL Cats definitely made it interesting for us. They were goofing off and all of us were loving it, laughing hysterically through most of the show. It was a lot of fun, nice to have something different to do at night after work!
Today, we arrived a bit early, and yet breakfast was still really crowded for some reason, odd because the last few days I’ve gone at the exact same time and it’s been rather quiet in the Lido. After breakfast, I hung out with Ryan in Club HAL for a bit then went down to the room to change and wait on Megan’s drill to be over so we could get off. Turns out that this is a rather boring port. If it was warmer, we could’ve gone swimming, but it was cool so we wandered around town twice, figured out there was nothing to do, so spent the rest of our euros on souvenirs and food and got wifi. There was almost less to do than in Sydney on the Canada/New England run. We came back to the ship for Ryan and the three of us wandered a bit more around town, saving up our last moments on land before the upcoming 7 days at sea (somewhat rough seas too if the last two days are any indication).
I had the teens night session, one of them was there at first and he was content to play video games while I puzzled, then Megan got off work in the kids room and we watched Doctor Who the rest of the night. Easy night, the teens actually all left rather early for curfew which was kind of nice though a bit strange.
last of the Med!
October 16, 2013
I’ve been very busy since I last sat down with my computer to type a blog. We had one day in Barcelona, an embark day. I didn’t want to deal with getting off and back on during the whole embarkation process, so I stayed on the ship and helped Megan with Open House. Our numbers went up to 10, and we ended up meeting ALL of them during Open House, so much for watching Mulan in peace and quiet during that time. Right after that, I had to go to Sailaway party and “mingle.” Luckily Emily had to go as well, so we walked around together chatting and looking pleasant and ready to answer any and all questions put to us (no one noticed us) until our 15 required minutes were up. Then we hung out in the Lido for a few minutes until the full Entertainment Department meeting. Most of it did not apply to Club HAL, especially to me because I’m leaving before Coast Guard and USPH and all that when we get back to the states. Anyway, we went straight from the meeting to dinner, then to work. It was an interesting night at work, one of the kids showed up right at 7 and stayed for an hour, no one was there for the middle hour, and then two kids showed up for the last hour. We have an interesting group for this cruise, it’ll keep us busy at least, with overbearing and constantly worrying parents, kids that have been travelling for the last 10 months with just their family, and of course some of the crazy parents that never can be satisfied that we’re paying enough attention to their child, or upset because their child is the only one to show up. The teens are a bit odd as well, one came in while Megan and I were watching Doctor Who in the tween room (in the middle hour when no kids were there), and he kept asking random questions, saying random things, and wouldn’t take the hint that he really wasn’t supposed to be there because Ryan would open the Loft in less than an hour. The other teen came in at least closer to the time the Loft opened, and he’d brought his own xbox equipment with him, but none of the cords. It’s just going to be a very exhausting/strange two weeks.
I had port day in Cartegena. We didn’t arrive until 11, so I had to be in Club HAL and of course kids came, and stayed all day. So, I was stuck in Club HAL from 9 to 4 even though we can put up the sign and use the phone again on port days. I had an hour after port day, so Megan and I got off and wandered around the harbor area for a bit, just to get some fresh air and enjoy one of the last chances we have on land for a while, that’s kind of the theme for these few remaining port days.
We had a fire drill Malaga morning at 9:30 that I didn’t know about. Strange because the fire drills on this ship have all been at 10:30 until now. Anyway, they had to pause and restart the fire drill, so it didn’t get done with until 11:30. I had lunch with Megan and Emily, then we got off and went to the beach that was in sight of the ship. It was nice, we stayed there for a few hours before we sadly had to head back before all aboard. Despite spending the summer in the sun and heat of the Mediterranean and not needing to wear sunscreen, I have gotten surprisingly pale. It was nice to have a day in the water and on the sand hanging out with the girls.
Cadiz. I had drill this morning, so woke up, had breakfast and hung out for a bit until drill time. After drill, Ryan and I got off, had some lunch and wandered around Cadiz. I was here last year on the Maasdam, but I think I was hanging out with Kayley and some of the cast and they wanted to go shopping, so we didn’t really explore the city. I found out this time that Cadiz is an island. We walked all around it today, lots of exercise. It was a good day, relaxing; our second to last port of this contract, one more port after two sea days, and then starts the long 7 sea days back to the states. I can’t wait!
I’ve been very busy since I last sat down with my computer to type a blog. We had one day in Barcelona, an embark day. I didn’t want to deal with getting off and back on during the whole embarkation process, so I stayed on the ship and helped Megan with Open House. Our numbers went up to 10, and we ended up meeting ALL of them during Open House, so much for watching Mulan in peace and quiet during that time. Right after that, I had to go to Sailaway party and “mingle.” Luckily Emily had to go as well, so we walked around together chatting and looking pleasant and ready to answer any and all questions put to us (no one noticed us) until our 15 required minutes were up. Then we hung out in the Lido for a few minutes until the full Entertainment Department meeting. Most of it did not apply to Club HAL, especially to me because I’m leaving before Coast Guard and USPH and all that when we get back to the states. Anyway, we went straight from the meeting to dinner, then to work. It was an interesting night at work, one of the kids showed up right at 7 and stayed for an hour, no one was there for the middle hour, and then two kids showed up for the last hour. We have an interesting group for this cruise, it’ll keep us busy at least, with overbearing and constantly worrying parents, kids that have been travelling for the last 10 months with just their family, and of course some of the crazy parents that never can be satisfied that we’re paying enough attention to their child, or upset because their child is the only one to show up. The teens are a bit odd as well, one came in while Megan and I were watching Doctor Who in the tween room (in the middle hour when no kids were there), and he kept asking random questions, saying random things, and wouldn’t take the hint that he really wasn’t supposed to be there because Ryan would open the Loft in less than an hour. The other teen came in at least closer to the time the Loft opened, and he’d brought his own xbox equipment with him, but none of the cords. It’s just going to be a very exhausting/strange two weeks.
I had port day in Cartegena. We didn’t arrive until 11, so I had to be in Club HAL and of course kids came, and stayed all day. So, I was stuck in Club HAL from 9 to 4 even though we can put up the sign and use the phone again on port days. I had an hour after port day, so Megan and I got off and wandered around the harbor area for a bit, just to get some fresh air and enjoy one of the last chances we have on land for a while, that’s kind of the theme for these few remaining port days.
We had a fire drill Malaga morning at 9:30 that I didn’t know about. Strange because the fire drills on this ship have all been at 10:30 until now. Anyway, they had to pause and restart the fire drill, so it didn’t get done with until 11:30. I had lunch with Megan and Emily, then we got off and went to the beach that was in sight of the ship. It was nice, we stayed there for a few hours before we sadly had to head back before all aboard. Despite spending the summer in the sun and heat of the Mediterranean and not needing to wear sunscreen, I have gotten surprisingly pale. It was nice to have a day in the water and on the sand hanging out with the girls.
Cadiz. I had drill this morning, so woke up, had breakfast and hung out for a bit until drill time. After drill, Ryan and I got off, had some lunch and wandered around Cadiz. I was here last year on the Maasdam, but I think I was hanging out with Kayley and some of the cast and they wanted to go shopping, so we didn’t really explore the city. I found out this time that Cadiz is an island. We walked all around it today, lots of exercise. It was a good day, relaxing; our second to last port of this contract, one more port after two sea days, and then starts the long 7 sea days back to the states. I can’t wait!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Toulon
October 12, 2013: Toulon
I slept in a bit this morning, still made it to breakfast though. After breakfast, I checked on Megan then went downstairs to change and get off the ship for a while. Emily had mentioned that she might want to go with me, but by the time I made it back to the room, she wasn’t there, and as I was about to leave, she came back. We talked for a bit, and I finally remembered that I’d been just about to leave. I got off the ship, got my bearings straight as to where I was, then set off wandering. Until I got off, I’d had the idea of going back up the mountain, wandering around up there and perhaps re-visiting the zoo Cindy and I had gone to when we had our day trip here. When I got off, I realized that we’d taken a bus to the cable car station before going up, since I only had 4 hours or so, and I was alone, I decided not to go. So, I wandered around the waterfront souvenir shops and restaurants and the market into town. I actually managed to find quite a few things I wanted to have as presents for people, but I then realized that I only had 20 Euros cash left. Of course, when I finally find things I want to buy for people, the ONLY day we’re in this port, I run out of money. If only we’d come to this port a few more times before, I would’ve realized how much cool stuff they had, perfect for presents. Anyway, once I spent all my cash, I slowly made my way back to the ship, soaking in the little bit of warmth the sun was giving me (it was a pretty cold day; I wore shoes). Once back on the ship, I changed and got some lunch before going up to Club HAL to hang out with Megan. One of the teens was there so we played Skip Bo for a while, then attempted to try to finish an episode of Doctor Who we started two days ago. About 5 minutes into it, a parent and child came in; they only had an hour, Megan was not pleased. But, we gave her a coloring sheet, put on Bambi and I left Megan to watch it with her. This was the same parent that came on the first port day and complained that his daughter had been all alone all afternoon.
It was early departure and I still had no money, so I had nothing really to do, so I ended up taking a nap/reading until dinner
I slept in a bit this morning, still made it to breakfast though. After breakfast, I checked on Megan then went downstairs to change and get off the ship for a while. Emily had mentioned that she might want to go with me, but by the time I made it back to the room, she wasn’t there, and as I was about to leave, she came back. We talked for a bit, and I finally remembered that I’d been just about to leave. I got off the ship, got my bearings straight as to where I was, then set off wandering. Until I got off, I’d had the idea of going back up the mountain, wandering around up there and perhaps re-visiting the zoo Cindy and I had gone to when we had our day trip here. When I got off, I realized that we’d taken a bus to the cable car station before going up, since I only had 4 hours or so, and I was alone, I decided not to go. So, I wandered around the waterfront souvenir shops and restaurants and the market into town. I actually managed to find quite a few things I wanted to have as presents for people, but I then realized that I only had 20 Euros cash left. Of course, when I finally find things I want to buy for people, the ONLY day we’re in this port, I run out of money. If only we’d come to this port a few more times before, I would’ve realized how much cool stuff they had, perfect for presents. Anyway, once I spent all my cash, I slowly made my way back to the ship, soaking in the little bit of warmth the sun was giving me (it was a pretty cold day; I wore shoes). Once back on the ship, I changed and got some lunch before going up to Club HAL to hang out with Megan. One of the teens was there so we played Skip Bo for a while, then attempted to try to finish an episode of Doctor Who we started two days ago. About 5 minutes into it, a parent and child came in; they only had an hour, Megan was not pleased. But, we gave her a coloring sheet, put on Bambi and I left Megan to watch it with her. This was the same parent that came on the first port day and complained that his daughter had been all alone all afternoon.
It was early departure and I still had no money, so I had nothing really to do, so I ended up taking a nap/reading until dinner
Friday, October 11, 2013
port day in Palmero and pizza in Naples
October 8, 2013; Palmero
My only port day this cruise. The EM had decided on embark day that now that we have 30 kids, we can’t just put up the sign and wait for a call for port day activities, so I had to be up in Club HAL at 8 and stay there until 4. I was falling asleep all morning, doing my best to work on the puzzle to keep me awake. Megan came up to keep me company around 11, so we watched an episode of Doctor Who until lunch. After lunch, one of the teens came and the three of us started to watch another episode, but one of the kids came, so I let them go to the Loft while I entertained the 5-year-old. Her dad wasn’t the happiest when he picked her up, I think he expected port day to be more popular, he was concerned that none of the other kids showed up. I don’t understand why parents sometimes just don’t get that when we tell them that port days are only free time because not a lot of kids come, most go out with their families.
Anyway, I hung out in the room until dinner, then watched a movie before going to the show with Ben, Megan and Emily. I’d seen the show before, last fall on the Maasdam, but it was a really good guest entertainer so I didn’t mind seeing it again.
October 9, 2013: Naples
The entertainment department had security training at 9:30 this morning. They’re not the best at telling us about these things in advance. Had I gotten the excursion I wanted, I would’ve been gone before the meeting and not known about it. However, I did not the excursion to hike up Vesuvius, so I did know about the meeting. After the meeting, I grabbed some breakfast, changed and waited until Matt was off gangway duty so he, Megan, and I could get off and wander around Naples together. We met up with Cassandra (who works in ShoreX) on the way out, and she joined us. We wandered around for a while, and ended up finding a place to get pizza and wifi. We stayed there for a few hours, having lunch, chatting and catching up on internet. Cassandra went back to the ship to get some work done and take a nap, but Matt, Megan and I decided to walk around the city for a bit longer, we followed the coastline one way and cut back through town coming back. It was a nice walk, but I was very glad to have this new laptop with me instead of my old one, it’s not nearly as heavy so I could walk a lot longer!
I’m on teens for the night shift the rest of the cruise, so don’t start until 9pm now. It’s a bit odd, I have a lot of time between dinner and work, so sometimes I just go up and hang out with Megan and the kids. The teens didn’t want to do anything in particular, so we played Skip-Bo for a while, then one suggested watching Doctor Who, so we got that out and watched Doctor Who until closing.
There was a birthday party in the OB for one of the cast members, it was “once upon a time” themed. That was interesting, the cast all had costumes prepared but most everyone else either didn’t dress up, or made do with random items they’d assembled into some form of costume. I “dressed up” as Emma (the main character of the show “Once Upon a Time,” which basically meant I slightly curled my hair, and wore my usual jeans and tshirt). Megan and I didn’t stay for long, we were tired after all the walking we’d done today.
My only port day this cruise. The EM had decided on embark day that now that we have 30 kids, we can’t just put up the sign and wait for a call for port day activities, so I had to be up in Club HAL at 8 and stay there until 4. I was falling asleep all morning, doing my best to work on the puzzle to keep me awake. Megan came up to keep me company around 11, so we watched an episode of Doctor Who until lunch. After lunch, one of the teens came and the three of us started to watch another episode, but one of the kids came, so I let them go to the Loft while I entertained the 5-year-old. Her dad wasn’t the happiest when he picked her up, I think he expected port day to be more popular, he was concerned that none of the other kids showed up. I don’t understand why parents sometimes just don’t get that when we tell them that port days are only free time because not a lot of kids come, most go out with their families.
Anyway, I hung out in the room until dinner, then watched a movie before going to the show with Ben, Megan and Emily. I’d seen the show before, last fall on the Maasdam, but it was a really good guest entertainer so I didn’t mind seeing it again.
October 9, 2013: Naples
The entertainment department had security training at 9:30 this morning. They’re not the best at telling us about these things in advance. Had I gotten the excursion I wanted, I would’ve been gone before the meeting and not known about it. However, I did not the excursion to hike up Vesuvius, so I did know about the meeting. After the meeting, I grabbed some breakfast, changed and waited until Matt was off gangway duty so he, Megan, and I could get off and wander around Naples together. We met up with Cassandra (who works in ShoreX) on the way out, and she joined us. We wandered around for a while, and ended up finding a place to get pizza and wifi. We stayed there for a few hours, having lunch, chatting and catching up on internet. Cassandra went back to the ship to get some work done and take a nap, but Matt, Megan and I decided to walk around the city for a bit longer, we followed the coastline one way and cut back through town coming back. It was a nice walk, but I was very glad to have this new laptop with me instead of my old one, it’s not nearly as heavy so I could walk a lot longer!
I’m on teens for the night shift the rest of the cruise, so don’t start until 9pm now. It’s a bit odd, I have a lot of time between dinner and work, so sometimes I just go up and hang out with Megan and the kids. The teens didn’t want to do anything in particular, so we played Skip-Bo for a while, then one suggested watching Doctor Who, so we got that out and watched Doctor Who until closing.
There was a birthday party in the OB for one of the cast members, it was “once upon a time” themed. That was interesting, the cast all had costumes prepared but most everyone else either didn’t dress up, or made do with random items they’d assembled into some form of costume. I “dressed up” as Emma (the main character of the show “Once Upon a Time,” which basically meant I slightly curled my hair, and wore my usual jeans and tshirt). Megan and I didn’t stay for long, we were tired after all the walking we’d done today.
Barcelona and sea day
October 7, 2013
For the first time, I didn’t have a headache in Barcelona! I was much happier. We arrived really early, about 8:30 or so, Megan and I had to help out with On Deck for A Cause, which conflicted with breakfast time. It was kind of pointless for us to be there though, originally we were supposed to be there to cover for the DJ who was supposed to be doing Bingo, but since we arrived early, Bingo was cancelled. Anyway, we knew we were hungry and feeling cheap, so we decided to wait the hour and half for lunch, and went to Club HAL to hang out with Ryan. We had a quick lunch, then changed and got off to wander for a while. We wandered around Las Ramblas, through the shops and market there. I was tired by the time we got towards the end of the street (it’s a long street, the main shopping/market street) so we turned back after deciding it’d be a good idea to take the Hop on-Hop off bus around tomorrow, and take it easy today: get a drink, some food and wifi. So, we found a place and settled down for a while. I ended up with a free drink because they ran out of it after giving me a little bit. It was a nice few hours, very relaxing just getting to talk with people back home.
Megan and I had to work tonight (she started at 7, and I at 9, but I joined her at 7 since it was movie night), so we went back to the ship, had a long dinner, then started our movie nights watching Lady and the Tramp and Fox and the Hound with the kids, and a few episodes of Doctor Who with the teens. After work, we quickly got changed, gathered Ben and Matt (electrician and photographer) and went out. We ended up meeting another group of crew members almost as soon as we got to Las Ramblas. We joined them and had fun just hanging out. Half of the other group left, and we went out in search of them, but four of us got tired of wandering around (we were happy it was a somewhat big group), so we made our way back to the ship.
Day 2 Barcelona I had intended to get up, get breakfast and get off earl with Megan to take the Hop On Hop off bus, however that didn’t work out. I ended up sleeping in, and slowly getting ready, just in time for lunch. Since all aboard was 3, we decided it wouldn’t really be worth it to get off and have to worry about getting back on time, so we ended up hanging out in my room watching Doctor Who until naptime before dinner. It was a quiet first night, one kid had registered during Open House, and just one more during the night session, I just let them have free time playing wii and xbox or coloring. Pretty easy night.
Sea day was next. I had the morning kids shift and the afternoon teens shift. It wasn’t too bad. I had a few more kids register in the morning, but it seems like they’ll most likely only come today. The morning felt a bit longer than it was, but it still wasn’t that bad. I tried to keep to the schedule somewhat since some of them seem like the sort of kids that need to be told what to do instead of given free time. Turns out they all love playing with Legos, so I had them do that for the last 30 minutes (after they got tired of Scene It in 5 minutes).
The afternoon teens session was fine. The teen that was on last week was the only one to show up for the first two hours, so we hung out in the kids room and played Phase 10 with Ryan (while the younger kids were playing Kinect Sports and legos), then joined them for ice cream. Other teens finally showed up, so we moved to the Loft and played Phase 10 pretty much until it was time for me to close and go to dinner. I didn’t really do much the rest of the night, ended up just watching a movie with Ben and meeting Megan after she got off work at midnight to go to the OB.
For the first time, I didn’t have a headache in Barcelona! I was much happier. We arrived really early, about 8:30 or so, Megan and I had to help out with On Deck for A Cause, which conflicted with breakfast time. It was kind of pointless for us to be there though, originally we were supposed to be there to cover for the DJ who was supposed to be doing Bingo, but since we arrived early, Bingo was cancelled. Anyway, we knew we were hungry and feeling cheap, so we decided to wait the hour and half for lunch, and went to Club HAL to hang out with Ryan. We had a quick lunch, then changed and got off to wander for a while. We wandered around Las Ramblas, through the shops and market there. I was tired by the time we got towards the end of the street (it’s a long street, the main shopping/market street) so we turned back after deciding it’d be a good idea to take the Hop on-Hop off bus around tomorrow, and take it easy today: get a drink, some food and wifi. So, we found a place and settled down for a while. I ended up with a free drink because they ran out of it after giving me a little bit. It was a nice few hours, very relaxing just getting to talk with people back home.
Megan and I had to work tonight (she started at 7, and I at 9, but I joined her at 7 since it was movie night), so we went back to the ship, had a long dinner, then started our movie nights watching Lady and the Tramp and Fox and the Hound with the kids, and a few episodes of Doctor Who with the teens. After work, we quickly got changed, gathered Ben and Matt (electrician and photographer) and went out. We ended up meeting another group of crew members almost as soon as we got to Las Ramblas. We joined them and had fun just hanging out. Half of the other group left, and we went out in search of them, but four of us got tired of wandering around (we were happy it was a somewhat big group), so we made our way back to the ship.
Day 2 Barcelona I had intended to get up, get breakfast and get off earl with Megan to take the Hop On Hop off bus, however that didn’t work out. I ended up sleeping in, and slowly getting ready, just in time for lunch. Since all aboard was 3, we decided it wouldn’t really be worth it to get off and have to worry about getting back on time, so we ended up hanging out in my room watching Doctor Who until naptime before dinner. It was a quiet first night, one kid had registered during Open House, and just one more during the night session, I just let them have free time playing wii and xbox or coloring. Pretty easy night.
Sea day was next. I had the morning kids shift and the afternoon teens shift. It wasn’t too bad. I had a few more kids register in the morning, but it seems like they’ll most likely only come today. The morning felt a bit longer than it was, but it still wasn’t that bad. I tried to keep to the schedule somewhat since some of them seem like the sort of kids that need to be told what to do instead of given free time. Turns out they all love playing with Legos, so I had them do that for the last 30 minutes (after they got tired of Scene It in 5 minutes).
The afternoon teens session was fine. The teen that was on last week was the only one to show up for the first two hours, so we hung out in the kids room and played Phase 10 with Ryan (while the younger kids were playing Kinect Sports and legos), then joined them for ice cream. Other teens finally showed up, so we moved to the Loft and played Phase 10 pretty much until it was time for me to close and go to dinner. I didn’t really do much the rest of the night, ended up just watching a movie with Ben and meeting Megan after she got off work at midnight to go to the OB.
Friday, October 4, 2013
French-speaking places!
October 4, 2013
So much to say and so little time! Yesterday, Megan and I wandered around Monaco. It’s such a small place, but I still managed to see some stuff I hadn’t before. We wandered around the back of the casino, then back around to the front. The back of the Casino is to the water, and there’s a pretty pathway with lots of plants surrounding building with appartments (spellcheck is telling me I keep spelling that wrong, but the correction it gives me looks so wrong. I’ve been using French spellings too much if the right spelling look misspelled) below. It’s a very pretty view. We took some pictures at the front, of course, but it was a bit sad because the pathway up the hill directly in front of the casino where there used to be a lot of fountains and steps and stuff is completely blocked off and being re-done. So, you can only see the Casino from very close right in front of it. So, we walked around the ‘exotic gardens’ there for a few minutes before heading back down towards the marina. I had to stop in at the supermarket to check and see if they had finally restocked on Dr. Pepper. They had! So, I ended up buying 5 (hopefully it’ll last me the next month), and going back to the ship to drop them off before going back out. This time, we went up the hill through the gardens on the other side of the marina, closer to the ship. We walked all the way up to the Oceanographic Museum/Aquarium and the palace before we decided to go back down to find some wifi and lunch (after all, it was nearly 2). We found a place and stayed there for about two hours, really until it got too chilly for me to stand it any longer. It was a windy day, like a storm was coming in, but there was never any storm.
Back on the ship, I just hung out and talked to Emily until dinnertime, then had work. Olympic night was out of the question because it was so windy outside, so I extended free time a bit and let them play Kinect Sports instead of forcing them to face the wind outside. I changed into formal quickly and went to the show. It’s one of the better cast productions on this ship called “Cantare.” It’s just the four male singers, who are all really good. I think I’ve seen this show three times now, of course this is the first time I got to see the beginning (because the kids left by 9:50 and I ran downstairs to change as fast as possible. After the show, a few of us went to the Northern Lights for a little bit before going up to the OB. Megan came later but we didn’t play Skip-Bo because we were both tired and ready to go, and all she had to do was get the phone from Ryan (she had port day in Marseille).
Now, onto the excitement of today! I went ice skating in Marseille!
Malcolm (I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned him much, but I met him first on the Oosterdam, he’s a cadet engineer) invited me last night to come with him and a group of others to go skating. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do today anyway, and of course it sounds like fun so I found out the plans. I had a lazy morning: breakfast, visiting the crew office, and getting ready, before meeting the other four, getting off the ship and getting a taxi to take us there. We were an interesting group: youth staff, cadet engineer, electrician, engineer, and stage manager. We made it there in about 20 minutes, and were on the ice in no time! Lee (the engineer) and I were the only ones who knew how to skate already, so we had to teach Jenn, Ben and Malcolm how to move around, and attempt to teach them how to fall properly. Our falling lessons didn’t seem to take for Malcolm, every time he fell, he would hit the ground hard, and swing his feet around. I made sure to stay away when I knew he was going down; at least he didn’t hurt himself too badly. I relearned some of the things I used to know, like crossovers, regular skating, stops, turns, and spins, and the others just went around in circles, taking a lot more breaks than I thought necessary.
After about two hours, the other group finally arrived (they told us they’d leave right after drill, so only about 15 minutes after we ended up leaving). It got crowded then, but it was fun; the other group consisted of half the cast, a few musicians, two of the photographers, some techies, and various others. Basically this was an unofficial crew tour. We may have to suggest this as a crew tour for next year! I had to tie laces for a few people when they got their skates. Well, I kind of demanded them to get off the ice and sit back down; they’d tied their laces really really loosely, and were about to twist an ankle. They were pleasantly surprised at how much better they could move with the skates on when they couldn’t move their ankles. So, we all had a blast going around, trying not to trip over one another, watching the few Canadians race around on their hockey skates, trying to convince me to try to remember some jumps. A lot of falls happened, but no one got seriously hurt, just a few bruises to appear over the next few days. It was a lot of fun. We had the people working take a group picture for us, then it was decided that I lead a “conga line” around the ice. 
That was difficult. I ended up having to use all my strength to pull 5 people who were just holding on, not helping to skate as well. That was interesting, and exhausting. I was happy when Ben let go of me. So much so that I was already one lap around the ice before they realized I’d been set free, their reactions were pretty funny. I am going to be very sore tomorrow though, especially since I was using the plastic rental skates with absolutely no give and that don’t tighten in the right areas of the foot. Mine were so loose in the toe area, but extremely tight around my lower calf and the arch of my foot. I never really thought about it way back in 5th grade how much better it was to have my own skates than having to use the horrible plastic ones.
About half an hour after the second group arrived, they started to get tired so we all ended up returning our skates and leaving in search of lunch. Much to the dismay of a few of us, we ended up at McDonalds (it was cheap and fast, good since we only had an hour and a half to get back to the ship. But still we’re in France! Why McDo?!?). Anyway, we had to walk a while to find a taxi station, but we made it back in plenty of time (in 5 different cabs, they must’ve been happy making all that money from us). Once back, I hung out with Emily in the room for a bit, then looked through my pictures until dinner (I’d forgotten to put pictures from Dubrovnik and Monaco on my computer).
Dinner was fine, just the normal pasta. Work was busy. I had 6 kids, most of which showed up right at 7. Oddly, they were fine for free time, and I would’ve been happy to let them have free time all night because “Brave the Night” is really hard with such a small group, with no snack, and with so many little ones (this theme night is definitely for the tweens and not kids). However, when Ryan came up early, one suddenly started asking what we were going to do tonight. So, I divided them into teams (boys vs girls; I had to separate the two sets of siblings, they start to fight after a few minutes of any activity together), then set them to work on their team flag. The boys finished in record time, two minutes max. Then they just got wild, I told them they either had to draw more on their flag or just sit and wait for the girls to finish. They decided to throw markers at each other instead. To stop that, I gave them a new task, which they complained about of course. They were just a mess tonight. They wanted to do something, but not anything I planned. Once I finally gave up on normal “Brave the Night” activities and told them we’d play team Ickle Bickle, they calmed down slightly. Lightning started outside then and it all just got out of hand, with constant questions of where Ickle Bickle was, what he looked like again and all sorts of unrelated things. Even Megan, who had come up because she was bored, was getting frustrated with them. At least a few parents came then to pick some of them up. With only two (brother and sister) left, I completely gave up on Brave the Night and let them play Kinect Sports for the 30 minutes before their parents finally came to get them. It was a long night, and for some reason I just didn’t have the patience to deal with it like I usually do. Maybe I’m getting to that point of my contract where my energy/patience levels are dissipating so I need a break? Who knows, it’ll help that next cruise we have different kids, although our numbers seem to keep rising. We went from 7 to 15 to 30 for next cruise, all through the course of this cruise. And for the crossing, apparently we’re going to have 6 kids! They’re going to hate each other after 7 days straight at sea, especially 3 teens and 3 littles. Not sure what we’re going to do about that, but I guess we’ll see when the time comes.
So much to say and so little time! Yesterday, Megan and I wandered around Monaco. It’s such a small place, but I still managed to see some stuff I hadn’t before. We wandered around the back of the casino, then back around to the front. The back of the Casino is to the water, and there’s a pretty pathway with lots of plants surrounding building with appartments (spellcheck is telling me I keep spelling that wrong, but the correction it gives me looks so wrong. I’ve been using French spellings too much if the right spelling look misspelled) below. It’s a very pretty view. We took some pictures at the front, of course, but it was a bit sad because the pathway up the hill directly in front of the casino where there used to be a lot of fountains and steps and stuff is completely blocked off and being re-done. So, you can only see the Casino from very close right in front of it. So, we walked around the ‘exotic gardens’ there for a few minutes before heading back down towards the marina. I had to stop in at the supermarket to check and see if they had finally restocked on Dr. Pepper. They had! So, I ended up buying 5 (hopefully it’ll last me the next month), and going back to the ship to drop them off before going back out. This time, we went up the hill through the gardens on the other side of the marina, closer to the ship. We walked all the way up to the Oceanographic Museum/Aquarium and the palace before we decided to go back down to find some wifi and lunch (after all, it was nearly 2). We found a place and stayed there for about two hours, really until it got too chilly for me to stand it any longer. It was a windy day, like a storm was coming in, but there was never any storm.
Back on the ship, I just hung out and talked to Emily until dinnertime, then had work. Olympic night was out of the question because it was so windy outside, so I extended free time a bit and let them play Kinect Sports instead of forcing them to face the wind outside. I changed into formal quickly and went to the show. It’s one of the better cast productions on this ship called “Cantare.” It’s just the four male singers, who are all really good. I think I’ve seen this show three times now, of course this is the first time I got to see the beginning (because the kids left by 9:50 and I ran downstairs to change as fast as possible. After the show, a few of us went to the Northern Lights for a little bit before going up to the OB. Megan came later but we didn’t play Skip-Bo because we were both tired and ready to go, and all she had to do was get the phone from Ryan (she had port day in Marseille).
Now, onto the excitement of today! I went ice skating in Marseille!
Malcolm (I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned him much, but I met him first on the Oosterdam, he’s a cadet engineer) invited me last night to come with him and a group of others to go skating. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do today anyway, and of course it sounds like fun so I found out the plans. I had a lazy morning: breakfast, visiting the crew office, and getting ready, before meeting the other four, getting off the ship and getting a taxi to take us there. We were an interesting group: youth staff, cadet engineer, electrician, engineer, and stage manager. We made it there in about 20 minutes, and were on the ice in no time! Lee (the engineer) and I were the only ones who knew how to skate already, so we had to teach Jenn, Ben and Malcolm how to move around, and attempt to teach them how to fall properly. Our falling lessons didn’t seem to take for Malcolm, every time he fell, he would hit the ground hard, and swing his feet around. I made sure to stay away when I knew he was going down; at least he didn’t hurt himself too badly. I relearned some of the things I used to know, like crossovers, regular skating, stops, turns, and spins, and the others just went around in circles, taking a lot more breaks than I thought necessary.
About half an hour after the second group arrived, they started to get tired so we all ended up returning our skates and leaving in search of lunch. Much to the dismay of a few of us, we ended up at McDonalds (it was cheap and fast, good since we only had an hour and a half to get back to the ship. But still we’re in France! Why McDo?!?). Anyway, we had to walk a while to find a taxi station, but we made it back in plenty of time (in 5 different cabs, they must’ve been happy making all that money from us). Once back, I hung out with Emily in the room for a bit, then looked through my pictures until dinner (I’d forgotten to put pictures from Dubrovnik and Monaco on my computer).
Dinner was fine, just the normal pasta. Work was busy. I had 6 kids, most of which showed up right at 7. Oddly, they were fine for free time, and I would’ve been happy to let them have free time all night because “Brave the Night” is really hard with such a small group, with no snack, and with so many little ones (this theme night is definitely for the tweens and not kids). However, when Ryan came up early, one suddenly started asking what we were going to do tonight. So, I divided them into teams (boys vs girls; I had to separate the two sets of siblings, they start to fight after a few minutes of any activity together), then set them to work on their team flag. The boys finished in record time, two minutes max. Then they just got wild, I told them they either had to draw more on their flag or just sit and wait for the girls to finish. They decided to throw markers at each other instead. To stop that, I gave them a new task, which they complained about of course. They were just a mess tonight. They wanted to do something, but not anything I planned. Once I finally gave up on normal “Brave the Night” activities and told them we’d play team Ickle Bickle, they calmed down slightly. Lightning started outside then and it all just got out of hand, with constant questions of where Ickle Bickle was, what he looked like again and all sorts of unrelated things. Even Megan, who had come up because she was bored, was getting frustrated with them. At least a few parents came then to pick some of them up. With only two (brother and sister) left, I completely gave up on Brave the Night and let them play Kinect Sports for the 30 minutes before their parents finally came to get them. It was a long night, and for some reason I just didn’t have the patience to deal with it like I usually do. Maybe I’m getting to that point of my contract where my energy/patience levels are dissipating so I need a break? Who knows, it’ll help that next cruise we have different kids, although our numbers seem to keep rising. We went from 7 to 15 to 30 for next cruise, all through the course of this cruise. And for the crossing, apparently we’re going to have 6 kids! They’re going to hate each other after 7 days straight at sea, especially 3 teens and 3 littles. Not sure what we’re going to do about that, but I guess we’ll see when the time comes.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
october 1
October 1, 2013
It’s been a pretty boring few days. I had port day in Kotor, got a call almost first thing and was there all day. I had signed up for an excursion in Corfu, but it’s a good thing ShoreX pays attention because none of the entertainment department knew that we had a general emergency drill that morning. I didn’t get the excursion of course because it would’ve meant I miss the drill. It was almost noon by the time s the drill ended, so I got lunch, then wandered around in port for a while (I didn’t way to pay for the bus to get to town, it’s not as fun alone when I really would’ve only wandered the streets aimlessly). Megan and I had Pinnacle for dinner (she’s only been to Canaletto of the specialty restaurants); next we have to get her to Tamarind, possibly when one of us has the night off and the other doesn’t start until 9, that way we don’t have to rush. The teens have been good this cruise, staying all night but it’s not really difficult for us to stay and hang out with them for so long, we’ve been going to late night at 11 anyway.
The sea day was long, I had the morning off, but had the kids shift both afternoon and evening, at least at night there were only a few and it was movie night, of course it took a lot of effort to get them to sit still for the movie and not talk through it (we watched Up), but it was okay; they were all picked up by 9:30 and I went over to the Loft to watch a movie with Megan and the teens. Despite the fact that it was my port day, we ended up going to the OB and playing Skip-Bo with a few people (we’re slowly getting to be somewhat social).
I had port day in Naples and today in Civitavecchia. Never doing two port days like that in a row again. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but I got a call first thing both mornings, so I was working straight from 8-4 with a few kids who don’t know how to handle free time. The older sister doesn’t like to do anything without her brother, because she makes him make her win. It was a bit stressful, especially at the end of day 2 of dealing with them all day. But the good thing about having both those port days is that I don’t have any more port days the rest of the cruise!
It’s been a pretty boring few days. I had port day in Kotor, got a call almost first thing and was there all day. I had signed up for an excursion in Corfu, but it’s a good thing ShoreX pays attention because none of the entertainment department knew that we had a general emergency drill that morning. I didn’t get the excursion of course because it would’ve meant I miss the drill. It was almost noon by the time s the drill ended, so I got lunch, then wandered around in port for a while (I didn’t way to pay for the bus to get to town, it’s not as fun alone when I really would’ve only wandered the streets aimlessly). Megan and I had Pinnacle for dinner (she’s only been to Canaletto of the specialty restaurants); next we have to get her to Tamarind, possibly when one of us has the night off and the other doesn’t start until 9, that way we don’t have to rush. The teens have been good this cruise, staying all night but it’s not really difficult for us to stay and hang out with them for so long, we’ve been going to late night at 11 anyway.
The sea day was long, I had the morning off, but had the kids shift both afternoon and evening, at least at night there were only a few and it was movie night, of course it took a lot of effort to get them to sit still for the movie and not talk through it (we watched Up), but it was okay; they were all picked up by 9:30 and I went over to the Loft to watch a movie with Megan and the teens. Despite the fact that it was my port day, we ended up going to the OB and playing Skip-Bo with a few people (we’re slowly getting to be somewhat social).
I had port day in Naples and today in Civitavecchia. Never doing two port days like that in a row again. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but I got a call first thing both mornings, so I was working straight from 8-4 with a few kids who don’t know how to handle free time. The older sister doesn’t like to do anything without her brother, because she makes him make her win. It was a bit stressful, especially at the end of day 2 of dealing with them all day. But the good thing about having both those port days is that I don’t have any more port days the rest of the cruise!
Dubrovnik
September 26, 2013: Dubrovnik
I had the late morning shift with the kids and then the teens. It wasn’t bad, there were only 3 kids there, and they were content to play Uno and Legos for the hour I was there. After that, I just got to hang out with the teens for half an hour. They had an air hockey competition followed by a ping-pong competition (the girl was determined to meet one of the boys). We had an entertainment department meeting at 12:30, so Megan and I watched as sailed ever-closer to Dubrovnik. Sadly we missed the actual docking, but it was a nice sail-in before the meeting. After a quick meeting, we went to lunch and everyone apparently had the same idea – get lunch before getting off the ship. We had to search a bit to find a seat, so we took a long time eating since we knew both gangways would be packed as soon as the crowd finished eating.
Megan forgot to take money out this morning, and I only had a few Kuna left, so in lieu of the bus, we walked to Old Town. That was a much longer walk than anticipated, it took us an hour to get there, and once we were close, we had to take a bunch of stairs downwards to the gates to get in! It was good exercise though, who needs the gym when you can walk to town up and down and around small mountains?
I had suggested that we walk on the walls of Old Town, but once we were there, we saw that there was a price attached to that, somewhere around 80 Kuna. Definitely out of our price range, so we ended up just walking around inside the walls, then stopping somewhere and getting wifi for a bit before I had to head back to the ship to eat and get to work on time. On the way back, we somehow managed to make a wrong turn, and I stopped recognized the buildings we were passing. We started going up instead of down towards the water and I started to freak out a little bit, the roads here are fairly straightforward, there are only a few places where they connect, nothing at all like a grid pattern. So, I knew we had to turn left to get down to the water, but every “road” we tried to turn down ended up being a dead end parking-only street. I was realy worried about being late, because I only had little over an hour to get back. I’d all but given up on dinner by the time we found a bunch of stairs going down and decided to follow them in hopes they would take us downhill to the road beside the marina. Thankfully it did, and we were a lot closer to the ship than I’d figured we were. So, I got back, changed and still had enough time for a good dinner before work.
It was an easy night, I had three of the kids, not even for the whole time, for the first hour and half, only one boy was there, so we let him play Xbox and help Megan and I with the puzzle (Megan didn’t have to be there, but we’ve gotten into a habit of coming up early and staying late to hang out before/after our assigned shifts). Two girls came and they were content to play games with each other, and none of us really wanted to go outside to the Sports Deck (Sports Under the Stars theme night), so we stayed in and did stuff in Club HAL. By 9, two had been picked up, and the girl who remained wanted to play Kinect Sports Bowling, so I set that up for her and sat chatting with Megan and the teens, keeping an eye on her playing. I would’ve played with her, but she told me to set it up as only one player. Her parents came a bit early, and we discussed what happens in the kids club on port days; so I might have kids for port day tomorrow since they tired her out today walking all over Dubrovnik. After they left, I went over the Loft with Megan and the teens and we ended up watching Doctor Who until time to leave.
I had the late morning shift with the kids and then the teens. It wasn’t bad, there were only 3 kids there, and they were content to play Uno and Legos for the hour I was there. After that, I just got to hang out with the teens for half an hour. They had an air hockey competition followed by a ping-pong competition (the girl was determined to meet one of the boys). We had an entertainment department meeting at 12:30, so Megan and I watched as sailed ever-closer to Dubrovnik. Sadly we missed the actual docking, but it was a nice sail-in before the meeting. After a quick meeting, we went to lunch and everyone apparently had the same idea – get lunch before getting off the ship. We had to search a bit to find a seat, so we took a long time eating since we knew both gangways would be packed as soon as the crowd finished eating.
Megan forgot to take money out this morning, and I only had a few Kuna left, so in lieu of the bus, we walked to Old Town. That was a much longer walk than anticipated, it took us an hour to get there, and once we were close, we had to take a bunch of stairs downwards to the gates to get in! It was good exercise though, who needs the gym when you can walk to town up and down and around small mountains?
I had suggested that we walk on the walls of Old Town, but once we were there, we saw that there was a price attached to that, somewhere around 80 Kuna. Definitely out of our price range, so we ended up just walking around inside the walls, then stopping somewhere and getting wifi for a bit before I had to head back to the ship to eat and get to work on time. On the way back, we somehow managed to make a wrong turn, and I stopped recognized the buildings we were passing. We started going up instead of down towards the water and I started to freak out a little bit, the roads here are fairly straightforward, there are only a few places where they connect, nothing at all like a grid pattern. So, I knew we had to turn left to get down to the water, but every “road” we tried to turn down ended up being a dead end parking-only street. I was realy worried about being late, because I only had little over an hour to get back. I’d all but given up on dinner by the time we found a bunch of stairs going down and decided to follow them in hopes they would take us downhill to the road beside the marina. Thankfully it did, and we were a lot closer to the ship than I’d figured we were. So, I got back, changed and still had enough time for a good dinner before work.
It was an easy night, I had three of the kids, not even for the whole time, for the first hour and half, only one boy was there, so we let him play Xbox and help Megan and I with the puzzle (Megan didn’t have to be there, but we’ve gotten into a habit of coming up early and staying late to hang out before/after our assigned shifts). Two girls came and they were content to play games with each other, and none of us really wanted to go outside to the Sports Deck (Sports Under the Stars theme night), so we stayed in and did stuff in Club HAL. By 9, two had been picked up, and the girl who remained wanted to play Kinect Sports Bowling, so I set that up for her and sat chatting with Megan and the teens, keeping an eye on her playing. I would’ve played with her, but she told me to set it up as only one player. Her parents came a bit early, and we discussed what happens in the kids club on port days; so I might have kids for port day tomorrow since they tired her out today walking all over Dubrovnik. After they left, I went over the Loft with Megan and the teens and we ended up watching Doctor Who until time to leave.
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