January 28, 2014
It’s a bit of a joke among crew members when we make plans to go out for lunch together off-ship. Whoever is invited does go, but the second we sit down and order, and receive the wifi password, all communication in real life stops, and everyone is drawn fully into the virtual. Of course, most of the time we’re doing important stuff, talking to our families, catching up somewhat with friends on land (or on other ships in my case), checking bank accounts, reading up on the news around the world, etc, etc. So going out to a meal ashore isn’t so much eating a meal together as having someone else walk and sit at the same table with you while you’re all focused on the internet.
I’ve been as bad as anyone about that this contract. And I’ve recently realized just how bad that is. That’s why lately there have been so few blog posts; I’ve been trying more to be involved in what’s going on around me instead of what’s going on far away. Spending time with the people I’m with while I can. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that quite a lot of people left this Fort Lauderdale; more precisely: the cast. I’ve been with this cast since June, so we’ve gotten really close. Two of the dancers I’ve even worked with before. It was their last few days last cruise that I realized that they were leaving and I may not see them individually again for a very long time, and I may never see more than one or two of them at the same time. Most everyone that was here when I joined this ship for the first time in June has now left, it’s bizarre for me. Of course, that’s ship life (the quick friendships and constant goodbyes), but I’m usually the one leaving instead of everyone else. I didn’t realize what it would mean, coming back to one ship for a second long contract, that everyone else would be leaving me before I left them. The ship is an entirely different one from the one I joined in June; it’s obviously the same ship and the atmosphere is still great among us, but the people have all changed and I’m finding it strange trying to get used to it. I do realize why now some people request to have a ‘permanent’ ship, once you’re on one ship for a long time, it feels even more like a family even though the people may change. Even with a ‘permanent’ ship placement, sometimes there are opportunities to fill in on other ships with different itineraries just for a change every so often.
Anyway, on to what’s been going on the last few days. The Blues cruise ended with another theme night, which perfectly coincided with Club HAL’s: pajama night! One of the HAL Cat bands actually got permission and went to Tamarind in pajamas. Amazing what we can get away with during charters! We got comfy and went to the last concert in the showroom for a while after work, then went to the OB to spend one last night with Christine and the cast before they left.
Embark day went smoothly. It’s strange to be going back to a normal work schedule. After all, the last time we had a ‘normal’ cruise was New Years; since then, it’s been two Dancing with the Stars and the Blues cruise. Really, it’s been a month and a half since we’ve had normalcy on this ship! I’d nearly forgotten what it’s like. Anyway, I went out with Meghna and Alex to get lunch and do some shopping and just hang out for a bit before I had to be back for Open House (at 1 instead of 12 this week, I love that extra hour, especially since no family comes before 1 anyway, unless they’re truly desperate to get rid of their kids for the week. Don’t laugh, I’ve seen it, it’s sad). Alex came back to the ship with me, it was an interesting shuttle ride, took about 30 minutes when it should take 5-10, but there was a lot of traffic and we had to drop some people off at the terminal hidden away in the back of the port all alone.
I went up for Open House, and met Alicia, our new YPC. Well, she’s not exactly a YPC, she’s a YPC trainer, here to train two of my friends from other ships (who are coming on in Grand Cayman). Seems like this cruise is going to be interesting. From the schedule, Meghna and I will be working, while the three of them are just doing training stuff. Not quite sure how that works out in being fair, but we’ll see. Michelle and Martien are cool, so they’ll come help us out at nights more than likely, despite what the schedule says.
28 kids are on board this week; one teen has come by so far, and most of the kids have at least registered, if not stayed for at least some amount of time. I had about 6 for Welcome Aboard party.
Today we were in Half Moon Cay. It’s nice to be back here, it’s been two weeks! Meghna and I got to do Island Activities (big surprise that none of the kids signed in, especially after we told the one family that came by that the kids couldn’t get in the water if they were signed in). So, after our hour of scheduled activities was up, we headed down to the beach and settled in for the next few hours. Slowly more people came and joined us, we swam some, joined Cassandra and her sister in the cabana they rented, sunbathed, I finished the Hobbit, and ended up taking an unplanned nap. I still managed to be back onboard half an hour before the last crew tender. It was a good day.
It was a lazy afternoon filled with laundry and reading, then I was on teens for the night. I helped Meghna with the kids though, and we kept the door open just in case a teen came so I could run next door with them. No teens came though, so Meghna and I worked together for Brave the Night. She left, and I had to hang out in the Loft by myself until midnight. I just watched a movie, it was a good movie at least, one of the few that have been on the ship TVs lately.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
St Thomas/Grand Turk
January 23, 2014: St. Thomas
It was my port day, but no one signed up again, so I got to get off the ship. I slept in and waited for Christine and Meghna to finish their raft drill and we all went to lunch. Johan came with us and we went to town, shopped a bit and ended up at an outdoor restaurant where we got a snack (they got local beers to try) and of course, wifi. We stayed there for quite a while, then I got a bit paranoid about getting back to the ship on time, so we left (it helped that I had had a headache since I woke up this morning). I took a nap until dinner to try to get rid of the headache, and didn’t really stay out or do anything after that. I attempted to stay up and hang out with Alex and Meghna listening to music on the aft deck, but I just wasn’t into it, so after about 20 minutes, I went to bed.
January 24, 2014: Grand Turk
Again, I had most of the day off. We didn’t get to Grand Turk until 2, so I had nothing to do all morning. I had breakfast, attended the fire drill visited Christine in Club HAL, had lunch, then took a nap until we could get off. We basically just hung out on the beach, I read and sunbathed while everyone else got wifi, and we all swam around with the dog for a while. He remembers me from previous weeks, swam right to me in the water and kept swimming back and forth between me and Alex as we took turns holding him to let him rest from swimming.
I had to leave early to get back and get ready to help with Bingo, then work. Bingo was extremely busy; there were 7 of us selling the cards and we were selling for about 30 minutes. The showroom was full. I only had about 20 minutes for dinner and the lines were long so I ended up with pizza (quicker line as fewer people know or think about getting pizza for dinner). Alien Night ended up being more of a smattering of various activities. They got bored making their own aliens so they started having a dance party instead. As long as they’re entertained. It was fun though, just goofing off, choosing random songs for the three of us to dance to.
It was my port day, but no one signed up again, so I got to get off the ship. I slept in and waited for Christine and Meghna to finish their raft drill and we all went to lunch. Johan came with us and we went to town, shopped a bit and ended up at an outdoor restaurant where we got a snack (they got local beers to try) and of course, wifi. We stayed there for quite a while, then I got a bit paranoid about getting back to the ship on time, so we left (it helped that I had had a headache since I woke up this morning). I took a nap until dinner to try to get rid of the headache, and didn’t really stay out or do anything after that. I attempted to stay up and hang out with Alex and Meghna listening to music on the aft deck, but I just wasn’t into it, so after about 20 minutes, I went to bed.
January 24, 2014: Grand Turk
Again, I had most of the day off. We didn’t get to Grand Turk until 2, so I had nothing to do all morning. I had breakfast, attended the fire drill visited Christine in Club HAL, had lunch, then took a nap until we could get off. We basically just hung out on the beach, I read and sunbathed while everyone else got wifi, and we all swam around with the dog for a while. He remembers me from previous weeks, swam right to me in the water and kept swimming back and forth between me and Alex as we took turns holding him to let him rest from swimming.
I had to leave early to get back and get ready to help with Bingo, then work. Bingo was extremely busy; there were 7 of us selling the cards and we were selling for about 30 minutes. The showroom was full. I only had about 20 minutes for dinner and the lines were long so I ended up with pizza (quicker line as fewer people know or think about getting pizza for dinner). Alien Night ended up being more of a smattering of various activities. They got bored making their own aliens so they started having a dance party instead. As long as they’re entertained. It was fun though, just goofing off, choosing random songs for the three of us to dance to.
Monday, January 27, 2014
start of the blues cruise
January 22, 2014:
Such a busy busy cruise! I haven’t really worked all that much, with 2 kids on board and 3 staff, we’ve divided up the hours so we’ve only worked about 3 hours each day, plus helping out with some of the random blues cruise activities. It’s been pretty fun actually. This charter is sooo different from our normal cruises!
There’s three of us this week, taking care of a grand total of 2 kids: two five year old boys. It’s been pretty laid-back. Christine, my YPC, planned it out so we only worked one session of each sea day. So, I worked the morning of the first, and so had the rest of the day off. I was feeling lazy, so ended up taking a nap until I had to help out with the Blues cruise activities. Basically, that meant sitting in the digital workshop reading and waiting for any of the artists to come by and sign posters. I worked the night shift the second sea day, and of course had to work an activity the hour and a half before work. It was a busy evening; the ships theme was Mardi Gras, so I combined that with Club HAL’s un-birthday theme (we’re deciding on themes as we go this week). The boys had fun making masks, and that ended up taking up a lot of the time. After work, I met up with Alex and Meghna in the showroom and listened to one of the bands play; we wandered around listening to various bands around the ship. Two sea days down, one to go, although these sea days really aren’t like normal sea days, I don’t really know what to make of them. Do I like them because they’re so lazy or do I not like them because I don’t really DO anything during them? I did go to the gym this morning just because I could. We had a security training, and though I was tired and wanted to go back to bed, I’d woken up this morning and told myself I was going to the gym, sooo that’s what I had to do. Now, I just need to do that more often. So much time on the elliptical is intense, but I made it through, got ready and made it to lunch at a somewhat normal time.
The best thing about this cruise though, definitely is the fact that they’ve changed the lido. Usually, breakfast closes promptly at 10, maybe a few minutes later if there’s a lot of people in line; and lunch opens sometime around 11:30. This cruise, however, breakfast is available until 2pm. Lunch is served starting around the usual time, but only on one side. One side of the main line has the normal lunch options while the other has the ‘typical’ breakfast options, one side is salads while the other is still making eggs benedict and omelets, of course the pasta and aisan stations are both available (no waffles or crepes for lunch because they’re at the pasta station), one side is desserts and ice cream while the other has the various juices, milk and cereals. It’s absolutely amazing. I don’t know why this isn’t a normal thing!? It’s not really any more work for those serving the food, they’d be at the line anyway, just giving out different types of food. All the musicians and cast members love it too because they rarely get up in time for breakfast normally. I wonder if most of the other charters eat this way? If they do, well next charter season, please let me go on a ship with lots of them! Haha
St Maarten:
Today was nice, we did port day sign-ups and neither family signed up, so Christine (who scheduled herself for port day, had anyone signed up) came out with us. It was actually quite a large group going to the beach: Amanda, Johan, Meghna, me, Alex, William (another HALCat), and of course Christine. We got lunch and wifi at a cool restaurant right across from the beach, and then Johan convinced us to take a taxi to another beach. The beach we ended up at was Airplane Beach, named so because it is right next to the airport, so planes are taking off and landing not far from where we’re laying on the beach. They were flying over our heads! It was a cool experience. At one point, a rather big jet plane took off. That was painful; the jets started up and we got sand-blasted. William actually got cut, and all of us were scrubbing sand off our faces or backs, dumping more sand out of our bags and towels, and running after stray hats. Definitely an experience that I never want to repeat, but how many people can say they spent a day at the beach with planes flying closely over their head and getting sand-blasted by a jet.
I had the full day off, so I ended up just hanging out with some of the HAL Cats and listening to music around the ship in the evening. Not at all a bad way to spend a day! :)
Such a busy busy cruise! I haven’t really worked all that much, with 2 kids on board and 3 staff, we’ve divided up the hours so we’ve only worked about 3 hours each day, plus helping out with some of the random blues cruise activities. It’s been pretty fun actually. This charter is sooo different from our normal cruises!
There’s three of us this week, taking care of a grand total of 2 kids: two five year old boys. It’s been pretty laid-back. Christine, my YPC, planned it out so we only worked one session of each sea day. So, I worked the morning of the first, and so had the rest of the day off. I was feeling lazy, so ended up taking a nap until I had to help out with the Blues cruise activities. Basically, that meant sitting in the digital workshop reading and waiting for any of the artists to come by and sign posters. I worked the night shift the second sea day, and of course had to work an activity the hour and a half before work. It was a busy evening; the ships theme was Mardi Gras, so I combined that with Club HAL’s un-birthday theme (we’re deciding on themes as we go this week). The boys had fun making masks, and that ended up taking up a lot of the time. After work, I met up with Alex and Meghna in the showroom and listened to one of the bands play; we wandered around listening to various bands around the ship. Two sea days down, one to go, although these sea days really aren’t like normal sea days, I don’t really know what to make of them. Do I like them because they’re so lazy or do I not like them because I don’t really DO anything during them? I did go to the gym this morning just because I could. We had a security training, and though I was tired and wanted to go back to bed, I’d woken up this morning and told myself I was going to the gym, sooo that’s what I had to do. Now, I just need to do that more often. So much time on the elliptical is intense, but I made it through, got ready and made it to lunch at a somewhat normal time.
The best thing about this cruise though, definitely is the fact that they’ve changed the lido. Usually, breakfast closes promptly at 10, maybe a few minutes later if there’s a lot of people in line; and lunch opens sometime around 11:30. This cruise, however, breakfast is available until 2pm. Lunch is served starting around the usual time, but only on one side. One side of the main line has the normal lunch options while the other has the ‘typical’ breakfast options, one side is salads while the other is still making eggs benedict and omelets, of course the pasta and aisan stations are both available (no waffles or crepes for lunch because they’re at the pasta station), one side is desserts and ice cream while the other has the various juices, milk and cereals. It’s absolutely amazing. I don’t know why this isn’t a normal thing!? It’s not really any more work for those serving the food, they’d be at the line anyway, just giving out different types of food. All the musicians and cast members love it too because they rarely get up in time for breakfast normally. I wonder if most of the other charters eat this way? If they do, well next charter season, please let me go on a ship with lots of them! Haha
St Maarten:
Today was nice, we did port day sign-ups and neither family signed up, so Christine (who scheduled herself for port day, had anyone signed up) came out with us. It was actually quite a large group going to the beach: Amanda, Johan, Meghna, me, Alex, William (another HALCat), and of course Christine. We got lunch and wifi at a cool restaurant right across from the beach, and then Johan convinced us to take a taxi to another beach. The beach we ended up at was Airplane Beach, named so because it is right next to the airport, so planes are taking off and landing not far from where we’re laying on the beach. They were flying over our heads! It was a cool experience. At one point, a rather big jet plane took off. That was painful; the jets started up and we got sand-blasted. William actually got cut, and all of us were scrubbing sand off our faces or backs, dumping more sand out of our bags and towels, and running after stray hats. Definitely an experience that I never want to repeat, but how many people can say they spent a day at the beach with planes flying closely over their head and getting sand-blasted by a jet.
I had the full day off, so I ended up just hanging out with some of the HAL Cats and listening to music around the ship in the evening. Not at all a bad way to spend a day! :)
Friday, January 17, 2014
Cozumel
January 16, 2014: Cozumel
I got to sleep in today, well a little bit; I did go to breakfast around 9:30, which would be extremely early for all the musicians (anything before 11:30 is ‘extremely early’ to them). After breakfast, I had to cover for Meghna while she attended raft drill and Christine went to an entertainment department meeting about the Blues charter next week. After that, I was free though, but I ended up staying in Club HAL and having lunch with Meghna. Meghna and I got off with Alex and most of the cast around 1 to celebrate one of their birthdays, but Meghna left us soon after we arrived at the restaurant to meet up with the party planner somewhere else. It was a fun lunch though, got to spend some more time with the cast before they leave in 10 days. It was getting very chilly, so once we all paid most of us went back to the ship to get warm clothing before going back out to “no name bar,” which is the place apparently most crew go when in Cozumel. It’s actually a really cool place, it’s a hole-in-the-wall door leading through the building into a nice outdoor area. There’s a pool, lots of tables, a sandy area with beach chairs and more tables, and of course since it’s “by crew, for crew,” they have free wifi.
I didn’t spend a lot of time there, mainly went just to hang out and see what it was like. I had to work at 7, so gave myself enough time to walk back and change and get some tea before work, Alex came back with me to give himself enough time to eat dinner and work at 8 (I had 2.5 bowls of chips and a few quesadillas at lunch, so I wasn’t hungry at all for dinner).
Work was hard work tonight, pirate night. Usually there’s a lot more kids, and activities take a lot longer with more kids, so everything seemed to get done really quickly tonight. Thankfully, Christine helped me out on doing the treasure hunt around the ship (I was not about to take this group of kids - even though there’s only 5 of them - out and about around the ship by myself). So it didn’t end up too badly, just a bit exhausting.
After work, I changed and went to the Queen’s Lounge to listen to the HALCats. The old solo guitarist (now on as a guest) was there and we hung out and supported the band (not many people were out around the ship tonight, I guess most had a long tiring day in Cozumel and went to bed after the DWTS fashion show – which I couldn’t go to because it was in the middle of work :( ). Once they got off, some of them joined us and we hung out in the Northern Lights for a while. It wasn’t very busy and Alex and I weren’t really in the mood to stay in public area, so we went to the OB, which was also not busy but some of the other musicians were there, and we played darts until we realized it was hour forward night (before a sea day, yikes).
I got to sleep in today, well a little bit; I did go to breakfast around 9:30, which would be extremely early for all the musicians (anything before 11:30 is ‘extremely early’ to them). After breakfast, I had to cover for Meghna while she attended raft drill and Christine went to an entertainment department meeting about the Blues charter next week. After that, I was free though, but I ended up staying in Club HAL and having lunch with Meghna. Meghna and I got off with Alex and most of the cast around 1 to celebrate one of their birthdays, but Meghna left us soon after we arrived at the restaurant to meet up with the party planner somewhere else. It was a fun lunch though, got to spend some more time with the cast before they leave in 10 days. It was getting very chilly, so once we all paid most of us went back to the ship to get warm clothing before going back out to “no name bar,” which is the place apparently most crew go when in Cozumel. It’s actually a really cool place, it’s a hole-in-the-wall door leading through the building into a nice outdoor area. There’s a pool, lots of tables, a sandy area with beach chairs and more tables, and of course since it’s “by crew, for crew,” they have free wifi.
I didn’t spend a lot of time there, mainly went just to hang out and see what it was like. I had to work at 7, so gave myself enough time to walk back and change and get some tea before work, Alex came back with me to give himself enough time to eat dinner and work at 8 (I had 2.5 bowls of chips and a few quesadillas at lunch, so I wasn’t hungry at all for dinner).
Work was hard work tonight, pirate night. Usually there’s a lot more kids, and activities take a lot longer with more kids, so everything seemed to get done really quickly tonight. Thankfully, Christine helped me out on doing the treasure hunt around the ship (I was not about to take this group of kids - even though there’s only 5 of them - out and about around the ship by myself). So it didn’t end up too badly, just a bit exhausting.
After work, I changed and went to the Queen’s Lounge to listen to the HALCats. The old solo guitarist (now on as a guest) was there and we hung out and supported the band (not many people were out around the ship tonight, I guess most had a long tiring day in Cozumel and went to bed after the DWTS fashion show – which I couldn’t go to because it was in the middle of work :( ). Once they got off, some of them joined us and we hung out in the Northern Lights for a while. It wasn’t very busy and Alex and I weren’t really in the mood to stay in public area, so we went to the OB, which was also not busy but some of the other musicians were there, and we played darts until we realized it was hour forward night (before a sea day, yikes).
one of my 800 DWTS show photos!
January 15, 2014: Grand Cayman
I was on teens yesterday (sea day), and had the night off, which was nice. None of the teens showed up until around 5, and then it was only 2 who were exchange students from Finland and Germany on vacation with their journalist host mom. It was cool to talk to them, though they didn’t really stay long, they came to try to meet other teenagers, but there weren’t any others there. Meghna was supposed to meet me at dinner at 6 but she wasn’t there, and neither was Amanda so I sat down alone for a while, then Alex joined me for a bit before he had to head to work, and then finally everyone else started showing up, by which time I was ready to leave and change into formal. Courtney met me in my room and curled my hair (she has one of those ‘professional’ curling things that wraps and curls sections of hair in a few seconds), then we went off to the show.
After the show, we went to the atrium area and bugged all the photographers and got a LOT of pictures taken (some after we borrowed Amanda for a bit from work). Not sure what to do afterwards, we wandered around to the different bars and finally settled in the Crow’s Nest for a while to just hang out. It felt so much later than it really was though, because I got used to going to the show at 10, not 8; 2 hours makes a BIG difference! They didn’t really want to stay in public area, so we went to the OB, which was pretty dead, so they left and I hung out with Ryan (from the cast) for a bit, eventually we decided to venture back out to public area once more, and ended up at the elevators near the casino, where a lot of the DWTS people were. We stayed there for a while talking to people (most of them are actually pretty nice) until we moved on to the Northern Lights with a lot of them. That was fun, Alex joined us after the band finished their set, and a lot of the cast members came. I ended up talking for a lot time with a girl who I found out was assistant for makeup and wardrobe (she was really nice), and a passenger hung out with us too. We got introduced both to Sabrina Bryan and Joey Fatone and a few of the dancers who hadn’t been outside the casino earlier. I really enjoyed chatting with all of them!
Anyway, today I had to work the morning shift, of course no one showed up so Meghna came to take over at 11:30 and we just had lunch together. Alex and I had planned on going to the beach after I got off work, but it was cloudy looking outside, so when I got back to the room I called and instead made plans to get some wifi and food (for him, since I’d just eaten lunch).
It’s nice sometimes when it rains, because then I don’t feel guilty about using my time ashore only for wifi instead of excursions and beach time! It was like that especially in Europe. Rain gave us an excuse to just relax and not feel quite so obligated to do something more productive or educational with our time.
I intended to take a nap when we got back, but it just wasn’t meant to be. First Meghna called and needed me to cover for her in Club HAL for a few minutes (so I had to change into my uniform, go upstairs, and then of course I ended up hanging out and talking to her for longer), then someone in the room next door decided to deadbolt their door open, and go in and out and in and out of their room for about 20 minutes straight, and then Courtney called so we could go get pictures from formal night (she leaves tomorrow so we had to get the prints today). They were busy, so we wandered around a bit made plans for dinner and picking up the pictures after dinner. However, plans changed when I returned Alex’s ipad and he wanted to go to dinner early. Courtney just met me as I was finishing dinner and we got the pictures and sorted them before I had to work.
Work was a bit long tonight, “Games Galore” night just isn’t made for kids under the age of 8. I usually have the tweens make up their own board game; the little ones can’t do that. The little ones also can’t play that many board games, all we have for them is Candyland, Jenga, and Connect 4 (which really is over some of their heads anyway). I made it through though, but had to give them more free time at the end of the night, when most parents were coming in anyway. I was ready to run downstairs, grab my camera, change and run to the show (the Dancing with the Stars production show), but one of the parents was late picking up their kid, so I really did have to run, and I missed the first 15 minutes of the show, and Courtney and Sam had just lost the seat they’d been saving for me. So, I stood through the show, it wasn’t too bad though, I could move around to take pictures and not really disturb anyone, except when the dancers came into the audience and ran around the stairs (the narrow part, where I was standing). I did get a LOT of pictures though!
So amazing!
Courtney had been planning on staying out late as it was her last night on board, but when we went to the Northern Lights after the show, she realized how tired she was, so she and Sam left. I stayed of course, and hung out with the cast and Alex when he got off work, and talked more with Rachel (the assistant for makeup/wardrobe). It was hour back night, which was amazing, although, the extra hour that could’ve been used for sleep was instead spent on hanging out in the Northern Lights and OB, choosing music to play and just talking.
I was on teens yesterday (sea day), and had the night off, which was nice. None of the teens showed up until around 5, and then it was only 2 who were exchange students from Finland and Germany on vacation with their journalist host mom. It was cool to talk to them, though they didn’t really stay long, they came to try to meet other teenagers, but there weren’t any others there. Meghna was supposed to meet me at dinner at 6 but she wasn’t there, and neither was Amanda so I sat down alone for a while, then Alex joined me for a bit before he had to head to work, and then finally everyone else started showing up, by which time I was ready to leave and change into formal. Courtney met me in my room and curled my hair (she has one of those ‘professional’ curling things that wraps and curls sections of hair in a few seconds), then we went off to the show.
After the show, we went to the atrium area and bugged all the photographers and got a LOT of pictures taken (some after we borrowed Amanda for a bit from work). Not sure what to do afterwards, we wandered around to the different bars and finally settled in the Crow’s Nest for a while to just hang out. It felt so much later than it really was though, because I got used to going to the show at 10, not 8; 2 hours makes a BIG difference! They didn’t really want to stay in public area, so we went to the OB, which was pretty dead, so they left and I hung out with Ryan (from the cast) for a bit, eventually we decided to venture back out to public area once more, and ended up at the elevators near the casino, where a lot of the DWTS people were. We stayed there for a while talking to people (most of them are actually pretty nice) until we moved on to the Northern Lights with a lot of them. That was fun, Alex joined us after the band finished their set, and a lot of the cast members came. I ended up talking for a lot time with a girl who I found out was assistant for makeup and wardrobe (she was really nice), and a passenger hung out with us too. We got introduced both to Sabrina Bryan and Joey Fatone and a few of the dancers who hadn’t been outside the casino earlier. I really enjoyed chatting with all of them!
Anyway, today I had to work the morning shift, of course no one showed up so Meghna came to take over at 11:30 and we just had lunch together. Alex and I had planned on going to the beach after I got off work, but it was cloudy looking outside, so when I got back to the room I called and instead made plans to get some wifi and food (for him, since I’d just eaten lunch).
It’s nice sometimes when it rains, because then I don’t feel guilty about using my time ashore only for wifi instead of excursions and beach time! It was like that especially in Europe. Rain gave us an excuse to just relax and not feel quite so obligated to do something more productive or educational with our time.
I intended to take a nap when we got back, but it just wasn’t meant to be. First Meghna called and needed me to cover for her in Club HAL for a few minutes (so I had to change into my uniform, go upstairs, and then of course I ended up hanging out and talking to her for longer), then someone in the room next door decided to deadbolt their door open, and go in and out and in and out of their room for about 20 minutes straight, and then Courtney called so we could go get pictures from formal night (she leaves tomorrow so we had to get the prints today). They were busy, so we wandered around a bit made plans for dinner and picking up the pictures after dinner. However, plans changed when I returned Alex’s ipad and he wanted to go to dinner early. Courtney just met me as I was finishing dinner and we got the pictures and sorted them before I had to work.
Work was a bit long tonight, “Games Galore” night just isn’t made for kids under the age of 8. I usually have the tweens make up their own board game; the little ones can’t do that. The little ones also can’t play that many board games, all we have for them is Candyland, Jenga, and Connect 4 (which really is over some of their heads anyway). I made it through though, but had to give them more free time at the end of the night, when most parents were coming in anyway. I was ready to run downstairs, grab my camera, change and run to the show (the Dancing with the Stars production show), but one of the parents was late picking up their kid, so I really did have to run, and I missed the first 15 minutes of the show, and Courtney and Sam had just lost the seat they’d been saving for me. So, I stood through the show, it wasn’t too bad though, I could move around to take pictures and not really disturb anyone, except when the dancers came into the audience and ran around the stairs (the narrow part, where I was standing). I did get a LOT of pictures though!
Courtney had been planning on staying out late as it was her last night on board, but when we went to the Northern Lights after the show, she realized how tired she was, so she and Sam left. I stayed of course, and hung out with the cast and Alex when he got off work, and talked more with Rachel (the assistant for makeup/wardrobe). It was hour back night, which was amazing, although, the extra hour that could’ve been used for sleep was instead spent on hanging out in the Northern Lights and OB, choosing music to play and just talking.
Monday, January 13, 2014
perfect day in Half Moon Cay
January 13, 2014
You know those days when everything goes perfectly, all according to plan? Well, this wasn’t quite one of them. Not in a bad way though! I just didn’t have much of a plan and things went perfectly anyway, with only a few of the usual blips.
Actually, it kind of started last night, I had an awesome time at the OB playing Skip-Bo with two of my amazing groups of friends. Amanda, Sam and Courtney (the first group) left early after one game, and I settled in talking to the photogs for a while. I’ve missed them lately, they’re being worked very hard with very little to show for it, so they’ve been catching up on sleep and giving their barbill a break most nights. It was good to see them all out, even if half of them do just tease me (they’d forgotten that I’m ticklish until today). After a while they scattered and more people joined us. I ended up talking to Alex for a while before heading across the room to see Ryan (he’s one of the cast members, I’m not sure I’ve mentioned him a lot but we play cards together a lot at the OB). He immediately asked if I brought Skip-Bo with me. When I went over to grab it, I didn’t even have to ask before we had 6 players: Betty (who was Club HAL this summer, but currently wife on board with a band leader), her husband, Meghna, Ryan, Alex and me. It was a surprisingly long game, but it was fun. Betty and her husband left, and the rest of us played another game which ended in perfect timing because we were all just starting to yawn.
I woke up a bit late today as somehow I had managed to switch my two alarms, so my more abrupt music came on first, which of course sent me back deep under my blankets. I slept for a bit before realizing that I was now hearing my usual first alarm. It was only five minutes, but maybe I just needed those 5 minutes today. I met Christine on the beach and we hung out talking to one of the security officers who keeps watch over the marina entrance (which is easily visible from the ‘stand’ by the Club HAL area of the beach. No kids came, so it was a good thing we both forgot to get the beach toys from upstairs this morning, now we didn’t have to carry them around the rest of the day with us! While we were sitting there, we did some people-watching and realized that the Dancing with the Stars people had once again rented out the “Oasis” cabana by Club HAL (big shaded building with hot tub, tables, bar service, and a slide into the water), so we got to see all of them walk by to get there.
After we finished our two hours of waiting for kids, we headed down the beach, found a spot with the solo guitarist (he’s actually a guest this week, and friend on board next week because he wanted to stay on for the blues charter and his contract ended yesterday) and stayed there. It was nice, we swam for a while, and the DJ, Courtney, Amanda and Meghna joined us. Us girls sat enjoying the sun reading while the boys started throwing a football, which then turned into most of us heading into the water to play Frisbee. Megan, Kimbalee (a new photographer) and Johan joined us for that as well. It was fun, just hanging out, running/swimming/jumping after the Frisbee and just getting some relaxation time in. After laying out and reading a bit longer (it got a bit too chilly/cloudy to stay in the water playing Frisbee), Johan started bugging us to build a sandcastle. So, build a sandcastle we did, and everyone else ended up starting a sand-throwing fight, which then ended up in everyone (including me because they ganged up on me as I was sculpting the castle) diving into the water to wash off the sand that was starting to dry onto our backs, arms, legs, faces.
We still had over an hour, but we got a bit concerned after 15 minutes or so of drying off, because the beach was starting to empty, so we packed up and got on the tender. Good timing though, because Derek Hough and a few of the other Dancing with the Stars people joined us on that tender! Of course, I was too shy to ask for a picture with any of them, so that didn’t happen but maybe next time I’ll have photographic proof I met someone famous!
You know those days when everything goes perfectly, all according to plan? Well, this wasn’t quite one of them. Not in a bad way though! I just didn’t have much of a plan and things went perfectly anyway, with only a few of the usual blips.
Actually, it kind of started last night, I had an awesome time at the OB playing Skip-Bo with two of my amazing groups of friends. Amanda, Sam and Courtney (the first group) left early after one game, and I settled in talking to the photogs for a while. I’ve missed them lately, they’re being worked very hard with very little to show for it, so they’ve been catching up on sleep and giving their barbill a break most nights. It was good to see them all out, even if half of them do just tease me (they’d forgotten that I’m ticklish until today). After a while they scattered and more people joined us. I ended up talking to Alex for a while before heading across the room to see Ryan (he’s one of the cast members, I’m not sure I’ve mentioned him a lot but we play cards together a lot at the OB). He immediately asked if I brought Skip-Bo with me. When I went over to grab it, I didn’t even have to ask before we had 6 players: Betty (who was Club HAL this summer, but currently wife on board with a band leader), her husband, Meghna, Ryan, Alex and me. It was a surprisingly long game, but it was fun. Betty and her husband left, and the rest of us played another game which ended in perfect timing because we were all just starting to yawn.
I woke up a bit late today as somehow I had managed to switch my two alarms, so my more abrupt music came on first, which of course sent me back deep under my blankets. I slept for a bit before realizing that I was now hearing my usual first alarm. It was only five minutes, but maybe I just needed those 5 minutes today. I met Christine on the beach and we hung out talking to one of the security officers who keeps watch over the marina entrance (which is easily visible from the ‘stand’ by the Club HAL area of the beach. No kids came, so it was a good thing we both forgot to get the beach toys from upstairs this morning, now we didn’t have to carry them around the rest of the day with us! While we were sitting there, we did some people-watching and realized that the Dancing with the Stars people had once again rented out the “Oasis” cabana by Club HAL (big shaded building with hot tub, tables, bar service, and a slide into the water), so we got to see all of them walk by to get there.
After we finished our two hours of waiting for kids, we headed down the beach, found a spot with the solo guitarist (he’s actually a guest this week, and friend on board next week because he wanted to stay on for the blues charter and his contract ended yesterday) and stayed there. It was nice, we swam for a while, and the DJ, Courtney, Amanda and Meghna joined us. Us girls sat enjoying the sun reading while the boys started throwing a football, which then turned into most of us heading into the water to play Frisbee. Megan, Kimbalee (a new photographer) and Johan joined us for that as well. It was fun, just hanging out, running/swimming/jumping after the Frisbee and just getting some relaxation time in. After laying out and reading a bit longer (it got a bit too chilly/cloudy to stay in the water playing Frisbee), Johan started bugging us to build a sandcastle. So, build a sandcastle we did, and everyone else ended up starting a sand-throwing fight, which then ended up in everyone (including me because they ganged up on me as I was sculpting the castle) diving into the water to wash off the sand that was starting to dry onto our backs, arms, legs, faces.
We still had over an hour, but we got a bit concerned after 15 minutes or so of drying off, because the beach was starting to empty, so we packed up and got on the tender. Good timing though, because Derek Hough and a few of the other Dancing with the Stars people joined us on that tender! Of course, I was too shy to ask for a picture with any of them, so that didn’t happen but maybe next time I’ll have photographic proof I met someone famous!
embark day for Dancing with the Stars-At Sea finale
January 12, 2014
Another embark day. I didn’t have anything to do today, so despite agreeing to go ashore with Courtney to go shopping, I called her and told her I was sleeping in a bit longer and would see her later in the day (she wanted to go out around 8:30). So, I ventured out on my own. I wasn’t on my own for long though, because while I was in Publix getting some snack-food, I ran into Stef. She is the wife of one of the band leaders over the summer, the band leader that is Emilys best friend and ‘big brother.’ Emily had told me the other day that he was on the Eurodam, but I didn’t know his wife was. So, we both finished our shopping and agreed to get lunch/wifi together and catch up for a bit. It was nice, we went to a smoothie place and got a smoothie each (mine was strawberry and yoghurt, yummm) and some food. It was a nice long lunch. Then, I introduced her to Plato’s Closet and we both shopped for a bit before I decided it was time to head back to the ship. Of course, once back on the ship, I went to the Bow and called Mom and Dad and Mom again and talked until we left port.
The night was a bit eventful. We had 5 kids show up, and they were all just a little bit awkward. One has a mom who’s part of corporate, two others have been on 22 cruises (one has special needs so that was stressful for me), and the other two were just really really shy. It went fine though, they made friends with each other once we got them doing something and the night went by somewhat quickly.
Meghna and I went to the show afterwards. It wasn’t the normal “Listen to the Music” first night introduction show though. Well, it wasn’t JUST “LTTM.” In the middle of the show, where they normally announce the On Location Team (the librarian, DJ, and party planner-and YPC depending on the cruise director), they took the time to introduce all of the Dancing with the Stars-At Sea ship finalists. Because this cruise is the finale cruise for 2013, one winner was voted on each cruise on each ship on HAL (the last night of the cruise) to be in the running, but only one winner from each ship was chosen to get a free cruise and be part of this DWTS At Sea finale cruise. They introduced all of them and then had one of the pro couples give a demonstration of the Viennese Waltz just to get the excitement up for this cruise (not that this crowd needed it, they’d all obviously come just for this; the showroom had standing room only, and I’m pretty sure the ship was leaning forward because all the people were there and not spread out over the whole ship! This cruise is going to be eventful, I can already tell!
Another embark day. I didn’t have anything to do today, so despite agreeing to go ashore with Courtney to go shopping, I called her and told her I was sleeping in a bit longer and would see her later in the day (she wanted to go out around 8:30). So, I ventured out on my own. I wasn’t on my own for long though, because while I was in Publix getting some snack-food, I ran into Stef. She is the wife of one of the band leaders over the summer, the band leader that is Emilys best friend and ‘big brother.’ Emily had told me the other day that he was on the Eurodam, but I didn’t know his wife was. So, we both finished our shopping and agreed to get lunch/wifi together and catch up for a bit. It was nice, we went to a smoothie place and got a smoothie each (mine was strawberry and yoghurt, yummm) and some food. It was a nice long lunch. Then, I introduced her to Plato’s Closet and we both shopped for a bit before I decided it was time to head back to the ship. Of course, once back on the ship, I went to the Bow and called Mom and Dad and Mom again and talked until we left port.
The night was a bit eventful. We had 5 kids show up, and they were all just a little bit awkward. One has a mom who’s part of corporate, two others have been on 22 cruises (one has special needs so that was stressful for me), and the other two were just really really shy. It went fine though, they made friends with each other once we got them doing something and the night went by somewhat quickly.
Meghna and I went to the show afterwards. It wasn’t the normal “Listen to the Music” first night introduction show though. Well, it wasn’t JUST “LTTM.” In the middle of the show, where they normally announce the On Location Team (the librarian, DJ, and party planner-and YPC depending on the cruise director), they took the time to introduce all of the Dancing with the Stars-At Sea ship finalists. Because this cruise is the finale cruise for 2013, one winner was voted on each cruise on each ship on HAL (the last night of the cruise) to be in the running, but only one winner from each ship was chosen to get a free cruise and be part of this DWTS At Sea finale cruise. They introduced all of them and then had one of the pro couples give a demonstration of the Viennese Waltz just to get the excitement up for this cruise (not that this crowd needed it, they’d all obviously come just for this; the showroom had standing room only, and I’m pretty sure the ship was leaning forward because all the people were there and not spread out over the whole ship! This cruise is going to be eventful, I can already tell!
another last day of the cruise
January 11, 2014
Last day of the cruise. I found out yesterday that Meghna, my original roommate from the summer on the Nieuw A is transferring for a few weeks from the Eurodam. She’s going to be my roommate again. Strange after 5 months. Anyway, it was a lovely day in Half Moon Cay. Ethan and I did the island activities, and Christine went back to the ship to do port day (since one of the parents requested it for her daughter so she could go to the spa instead of horseback riding). We hung out on the beach and just enjoyed the sun until the day ended all too soon. I went back to the ship and started working on condensing my stuff again since I’ve spread out quite a bit around the room, not having a roommate this week.
Christine called around 5 to let me know that we were approved to go to Canaletto with Cassandra and Claudine (another ShoreX who I rarely see, but we’re friends) to celebrate Claudine’s last day. So, I quickly changed and got ready and dropped my change of clothes upstairs in Club HAL. I’m still not impressed at all with the new Canaletto menu. I like the idea, the “family-style” way of eating: share two appetizers, two pastas and one large plate between two people (so, we got four appetizers, four pastas and one large plate for four of us; I only ate one appetizer and had a whole pasta to myself). The food just isn’t that great, it’s all vegetable dishes or seafood. Oh well, it was still nice to have dinner somewhere other than the Lido. Well, Canaletto is technically IN the Lido, just a sectioned off area with table service and an entirely different menu.
Anyway, after dinner, Christine told me that since we haven’t had kids showing up to Club HAL at night (the one who has been coming for after-hours was in the show tonight), I could just stay in my smart-casual clothes and hang out until 9:30 and go to the show. Of course, the one night I’m in a skirt and heels at work, one kid does show up. It was too late to change then though, plus I’d realized I’d forgotten to pack my shoes in my bag. He didn’t stay for long, just long enough to finish watching How to Train Your Dragon and start playing a video game; his mom basically just dropped him off to get him out of the room while she packed. So, I met up with Ethan and we went to the show. It was a packed house for the week’s finale of Dancing with the ‘stars’-at sea. It was pretty cool though, because it was a theme cruise and we had all these pros on board, they got three of the pros to be judges instead of the usual 3 or 4 crew members who have the night off and know nothing about dance. It was a tough competition, but all of the dancers were really good!
Last day of the cruise. I found out yesterday that Meghna, my original roommate from the summer on the Nieuw A is transferring for a few weeks from the Eurodam. She’s going to be my roommate again. Strange after 5 months. Anyway, it was a lovely day in Half Moon Cay. Ethan and I did the island activities, and Christine went back to the ship to do port day (since one of the parents requested it for her daughter so she could go to the spa instead of horseback riding). We hung out on the beach and just enjoyed the sun until the day ended all too soon. I went back to the ship and started working on condensing my stuff again since I’ve spread out quite a bit around the room, not having a roommate this week.
Christine called around 5 to let me know that we were approved to go to Canaletto with Cassandra and Claudine (another ShoreX who I rarely see, but we’re friends) to celebrate Claudine’s last day. So, I quickly changed and got ready and dropped my change of clothes upstairs in Club HAL. I’m still not impressed at all with the new Canaletto menu. I like the idea, the “family-style” way of eating: share two appetizers, two pastas and one large plate between two people (so, we got four appetizers, four pastas and one large plate for four of us; I only ate one appetizer and had a whole pasta to myself). The food just isn’t that great, it’s all vegetable dishes or seafood. Oh well, it was still nice to have dinner somewhere other than the Lido. Well, Canaletto is technically IN the Lido, just a sectioned off area with table service and an entirely different menu.
Anyway, after dinner, Christine told me that since we haven’t had kids showing up to Club HAL at night (the one who has been coming for after-hours was in the show tonight), I could just stay in my smart-casual clothes and hang out until 9:30 and go to the show. Of course, the one night I’m in a skirt and heels at work, one kid does show up. It was too late to change then though, plus I’d realized I’d forgotten to pack my shoes in my bag. He didn’t stay for long, just long enough to finish watching How to Train Your Dragon and start playing a video game; his mom basically just dropped him off to get him out of the room while she packed. So, I met up with Ethan and we went to the show. It was a packed house for the week’s finale of Dancing with the ‘stars’-at sea. It was pretty cool though, because it was a theme cruise and we had all these pros on board, they got three of the pros to be judges instead of the usual 3 or 4 crew members who have the night off and know nothing about dance. It was a tough competition, but all of the dancers were really good!
Saturday, January 11, 2014
DWTS show!
January 9, 2014: St. Thomas
Annnndd nights like tonight are what make my job all the more amazing!
This cruise and next, we’re playing host to a few celebrities and quite a lot of professional dancers as part of “Dancing with the Stars- At Sea” which started last year. Tonight, the stars, dancers and other troupers put on a production show for us. It was really impressive, especially considering they haven’t had a whole lot of experience doing these dances, lifts and jumps on a moving stage! I didn’t really know some of the celebrities, but I did recognize Kym Johnson from the show and Sabrina Bryan from “Cheetah Girls.” The dancers performed the Viennese Waltz, the jive and the cha-cha in pairs and as a big group. An hour of really great dancing. Sadly, my camera died a few dances in, so I didn’t get a lot of pictures. I hope they do the show again next week so that I can take my DSLR.
Most of the day was rather calm. I had a raft drill this morning, and then was on call for the afternoon shift at work. Yet again, no one called, and no one showed up for the night session. It’s been a really quiet cruise, with 30 kids on board, we’re surprised that none of them have come to even play video games.
Annnndd nights like tonight are what make my job all the more amazing!
This cruise and next, we’re playing host to a few celebrities and quite a lot of professional dancers as part of “Dancing with the Stars- At Sea” which started last year. Tonight, the stars, dancers and other troupers put on a production show for us. It was really impressive, especially considering they haven’t had a whole lot of experience doing these dances, lifts and jumps on a moving stage! I didn’t really know some of the celebrities, but I did recognize Kym Johnson from the show and Sabrina Bryan from “Cheetah Girls.” The dancers performed the Viennese Waltz, the jive and the cha-cha in pairs and as a big group. An hour of really great dancing. Sadly, my camera died a few dances in, so I didn’t get a lot of pictures. I hope they do the show again next week so that I can take my DSLR.
Most of the day was rather calm. I had a raft drill this morning, and then was on call for the afternoon shift at work. Yet again, no one called, and no one showed up for the night session. It’s been a really quiet cruise, with 30 kids on board, we’re surprised that none of them have come to even play video games.
Grand Turk & San Juan
January 7, 2014: Grand Turk
We had a general drill this morning, those are never fun as they mean none of the crew members can get off the ship first thing in the morning. First, there was a fire drill, so I had to go to the front office and sit until they called for the general drill and then we were dismissed to our raft stations, where we stood for long time waiting for everyone who didn’t have an excusal form to show up. Finally, it was over. I was one of the many who all but ran downstairs to change and head off the ship. Amanda, and Courtney (librarian on another ship, she is currently friend on board) and I headed off to the beach. It was a nice day in the sun, but cut way too short as all aboard time was 2:30.
January 8, 2014: San Juan
I had the morning and night off since I volunteered to work port day, so I slept in a bit, helped out in Club HAL for a while before lunch and port day. No one called so I just sat in Club HAL watching Star Wars and reading The Hobbit. After I got off work, I met up with Courtney and we wandered around town together until we had to come back and get Sam (the engineer she’s a friend on board with), and the three of us headed out to dinner. We wandered around for quite a while before we finally decided on a place to eat. We had a nice dinner of appetizers and pizza. It was fun. :) Afterwards, we went to the bow and watched as we sailed away.
We had a general drill this morning, those are never fun as they mean none of the crew members can get off the ship first thing in the morning. First, there was a fire drill, so I had to go to the front office and sit until they called for the general drill and then we were dismissed to our raft stations, where we stood for long time waiting for everyone who didn’t have an excusal form to show up. Finally, it was over. I was one of the many who all but ran downstairs to change and head off the ship. Amanda, and Courtney (librarian on another ship, she is currently friend on board) and I headed off to the beach. It was a nice day in the sun, but cut way too short as all aboard time was 2:30.
January 8, 2014: San Juan
I had the morning and night off since I volunteered to work port day, so I slept in a bit, helped out in Club HAL for a while before lunch and port day. No one called so I just sat in Club HAL watching Star Wars and reading The Hobbit. After I got off work, I met up with Courtney and we wandered around town together until we had to come back and get Sam (the engineer she’s a friend on board with), and the three of us headed out to dinner. We wandered around for quite a while before we finally decided on a place to eat. We had a nice dinner of appetizers and pizza. It was fun. :) Afterwards, we went to the bow and watched as we sailed away.
Sea Day
January 6, 2014
I admit, it’s not easy being away from home for so long. It’s a strange life I lead; when I’m home, after the first few weeks when I’ve finally gotten to spend time with my family and some friends, I’m more than ready to head out to sea, and then there are days like this at sea when all I want to be is home, getting hugs from my family and dogs and not having the stresses of living with the same people you work with and see most every part of every day.
As easy and amazing as I usually make my life sound, I have to admit that it isn’t always so. I struggle with a lot of things. Sharing a room with someone I work with, or not having a roommate at all and being very lonely for it. I struggle with being social when I know I need it but am just feeling so anti-social that it’s all I can do to go to the OB and sit there hoping someone will make an effort to include me because I’m not feeling secure enough at the time to get involved in conversations of my own accord. Nights like that come along more often when I have my own room, but only if I manage to convince myself to go out and talk to people instead of sitting on my bed watching a movie.
I struggle with keeping up with my land-locked friends. Sometimes I get the feeling that I’m “out-of-sight, out-of mind.” Sometimes I try so hard to keep in touch with people that when they don’t respond in a timely manner (Internet is available most all the time and is easily accessible on land! So, it shouldn’t be difficult to send a “hi, I’m good. How are you” to me) I get frustrated and give up for a while. Even with this blog, I try to make sure to write something about every day, but when I know about half my friends don’t keep up with it, and few people mention anything I’ve talked about in it. Sometimes it’s hard to keep going with it, I don’t know what in particular anyone may want to hear about, I feel now like I’m just starting to repeat everything I’m saying anyway, it takes up internet time (thus money) to post if I’m on the ship, and it takes some time to type all this out. I’m not giving it up of course, but if I don’t seem to post as often as I used to, this is probably why.
And then there’s the faith aspect. Most people on this ship know I’m a Christian, I’m a rare category of crew member and it’s very obvious if anyone watches me, listens to me, or pays a bit of attention to how I life. But it’s not easy. Because those of us who actively live out our faith are so rare around here, we have to be extremely careful and vigilant. It’s hard to find others to fellowship with, it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and collapse into bed at the end of a day without reading the devotional you placed on the shelf above your head so you wouldn’t forget. Praying has always been easy for me to remember to do, but on the random day here I may find myself climbing into bed and realizing that I haven’t talked to my Father all day. It doesn’t happen too often, but it happens enough that I’m not happy about it. Thank you Mom for all the church music every Sunday! Mondays have become my Sundays because I can take the afternoon to sit and listen and read my Bible. :)
I admit, it’s not easy being away from home for so long. It’s a strange life I lead; when I’m home, after the first few weeks when I’ve finally gotten to spend time with my family and some friends, I’m more than ready to head out to sea, and then there are days like this at sea when all I want to be is home, getting hugs from my family and dogs and not having the stresses of living with the same people you work with and see most every part of every day.
As easy and amazing as I usually make my life sound, I have to admit that it isn’t always so. I struggle with a lot of things. Sharing a room with someone I work with, or not having a roommate at all and being very lonely for it. I struggle with being social when I know I need it but am just feeling so anti-social that it’s all I can do to go to the OB and sit there hoping someone will make an effort to include me because I’m not feeling secure enough at the time to get involved in conversations of my own accord. Nights like that come along more often when I have my own room, but only if I manage to convince myself to go out and talk to people instead of sitting on my bed watching a movie.
I struggle with keeping up with my land-locked friends. Sometimes I get the feeling that I’m “out-of-sight, out-of mind.” Sometimes I try so hard to keep in touch with people that when they don’t respond in a timely manner (Internet is available most all the time and is easily accessible on land! So, it shouldn’t be difficult to send a “hi, I’m good. How are you” to me) I get frustrated and give up for a while. Even with this blog, I try to make sure to write something about every day, but when I know about half my friends don’t keep up with it, and few people mention anything I’ve talked about in it. Sometimes it’s hard to keep going with it, I don’t know what in particular anyone may want to hear about, I feel now like I’m just starting to repeat everything I’m saying anyway, it takes up internet time (thus money) to post if I’m on the ship, and it takes some time to type all this out. I’m not giving it up of course, but if I don’t seem to post as often as I used to, this is probably why.
And then there’s the faith aspect. Most people on this ship know I’m a Christian, I’m a rare category of crew member and it’s very obvious if anyone watches me, listens to me, or pays a bit of attention to how I life. But it’s not easy. Because those of us who actively live out our faith are so rare around here, we have to be extremely careful and vigilant. It’s hard to find others to fellowship with, it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and collapse into bed at the end of a day without reading the devotional you placed on the shelf above your head so you wouldn’t forget. Praying has always been easy for me to remember to do, but on the random day here I may find myself climbing into bed and realizing that I haven’t talked to my Father all day. It doesn’t happen too often, but it happens enough that I’m not happy about it. Thank you Mom for all the church music every Sunday! Mondays have become my Sundays because I can take the afternoon to sit and listen and read my Bible. :)
Friday, January 3, 2014
Reunions!
Jan 2: Grand Cayman
I’m glad I’m getting to the point now where I know at least someone on every HAL ship, it makes days like today fun! We were in port with the Amsterdam today (in addition to three other, non-HAL ships) and Emily (librarian from last contract here/my roommate) is there now. We’ve been messaging over the past few days to make plans and today was the day. I had to work until noon, but she got on the ship as a visitor and came up to Club HAL to see me for my last hour, I kept an eye on the kids as they watched a movie and we started our catching up. Phil came to take over at 12 and said he didn’t need help with the four kids for lunch, so Emily and I set off to my room to change and head ashore. We’d planned on going to the beach, but that was before we realized how early the Nieuw A was leaving, so we altered our plans and decided to grab lunch and a drink instead. I hadn’t really forgotten how much I missed having such a good friend around, but it really hit me when we never had more than a second’s pause in conversation the whole two hours as we ate. It was really good to be able to catch up with Emily, it was weird for me when I came back and she (as well as a lot of other people) had left.
Anyway, my all aboard time was alltoosoon, so we parted ways and I caught the tender before the last crew tender (good timing!) I spent quite a lot of time wasting my internet card because the internet was extremely slow and I really wanted to try to upload a few of these blogs.
I’m glad I’m getting to the point now where I know at least someone on every HAL ship, it makes days like today fun! We were in port with the Amsterdam today (in addition to three other, non-HAL ships) and Emily (librarian from last contract here/my roommate) is there now. We’ve been messaging over the past few days to make plans and today was the day. I had to work until noon, but she got on the ship as a visitor and came up to Club HAL to see me for my last hour, I kept an eye on the kids as they watched a movie and we started our catching up. Phil came to take over at 12 and said he didn’t need help with the four kids for lunch, so Emily and I set off to my room to change and head ashore. We’d planned on going to the beach, but that was before we realized how early the Nieuw A was leaving, so we altered our plans and decided to grab lunch and a drink instead. I hadn’t really forgotten how much I missed having such a good friend around, but it really hit me when we never had more than a second’s pause in conversation the whole two hours as we ate. It was really good to be able to catch up with Emily, it was weird for me when I came back and she (as well as a lot of other people) had left.
Anyway, my all aboard time was alltoosoon, so we parted ways and I caught the tender before the last crew tender (good timing!) I spent quite a lot of time wasting my internet card because the internet was extremely slow and I really wanted to try to upload a few of these blogs.
not such a bad way to start the year
Jan 1: Jamaica
I worked after-hours yesterday for New Years, it was a bit odd. Christine kept me company and we talked while the kids played video games. We did get them to do the 15-second countdown with us though, that was kind of fun; the kids immediately went back to their games as soon as it was officially the New Year. They stayed until around 1, and I got down to my room around 1:15 with the intention of changing and going out to find my friends and join in on the celebrations. It was not meant to be though, I got back to my room and discovered that my key had been deactivated. I called Christine and got the number to call for someone to let me in. When I called, they said they’d be waiting at the door (the nearest phone was upstairs), but when I got down to the room no one was there; I waited 30 minutes for someone to come and by that time had realized that there was no way I could go out now, I’d have to change and then go, but then when I was ready to come back to the room, I’d have to call them to let me in again.
Anyway, I woke up this morning, had some breakfast and got ready to go out with Christine. We weren’t really sure what to do, so wandered in the terminal for a bit before looking into the hop-on-hop-off bus tour, which we then discovered was too expensive, especially compared to the $5 taxi ride into town (it turns out that everything on the hop-on-hop-off tour is within walking distance of town). We decided to go to the beach, and stayed there for a few hours before we walked around town a bit, did some souvenir shopping and headed back to the ship. We were back early, and I ended up taking a nap instead of doing anything productive.
It was Camp Night for my tweens. Not a very good theme for this group, they wouldn’t focus on anything for long. It was frustrating, and by the time they finally finished up making up their own camps, we didn’t have time for any of the other activities.
After work, I needed air, so I changed and went up to the bow. As expected, it was empty (everyone was still recovering from the New Years party). It was a perfect night to stargaze! There was practically no wind, it was somewhat warm and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. I saw 5 shooting stars in the hour I was laying out on one of the picnic tables. A very good way to end the day!
I worked after-hours yesterday for New Years, it was a bit odd. Christine kept me company and we talked while the kids played video games. We did get them to do the 15-second countdown with us though, that was kind of fun; the kids immediately went back to their games as soon as it was officially the New Year. They stayed until around 1, and I got down to my room around 1:15 with the intention of changing and going out to find my friends and join in on the celebrations. It was not meant to be though, I got back to my room and discovered that my key had been deactivated. I called Christine and got the number to call for someone to let me in. When I called, they said they’d be waiting at the door (the nearest phone was upstairs), but when I got down to the room no one was there; I waited 30 minutes for someone to come and by that time had realized that there was no way I could go out now, I’d have to change and then go, but then when I was ready to come back to the room, I’d have to call them to let me in again.
Anyway, I woke up this morning, had some breakfast and got ready to go out with Christine. We weren’t really sure what to do, so wandered in the terminal for a bit before looking into the hop-on-hop-off bus tour, which we then discovered was too expensive, especially compared to the $5 taxi ride into town (it turns out that everything on the hop-on-hop-off tour is within walking distance of town). We decided to go to the beach, and stayed there for a few hours before we walked around town a bit, did some souvenir shopping and headed back to the ship. We were back early, and I ended up taking a nap instead of doing anything productive.
It was Camp Night for my tweens. Not a very good theme for this group, they wouldn’t focus on anything for long. It was frustrating, and by the time they finally finished up making up their own camps, we didn’t have time for any of the other activities.
After work, I needed air, so I changed and went up to the bow. As expected, it was empty (everyone was still recovering from the New Years party). It was a perfect night to stargaze! There was practically no wind, it was somewhat warm and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. I saw 5 shooting stars in the hour I was laying out on one of the picnic tables. A very good way to end the day!
nice day on the island
Dec 30: HMC
A very nice day :)
We arrived somewhat later this morning (scheduled actually, not just a ‘we are running late’ late arrival), so I managed to get upstairs and eat some breakfast before changing and getting on the tender to head to shore. Only one of the kids signed in, so it was Phil, Ethan, and me helping one kid build a giant sandcastle/city complete with highway, bridges, lakes, a town hall, and a ‘guardian’ of some sort (the boys called it a gorilla, but it looks nothing like a gorilla to me. What does it look like to you?). Our hour ended, and I stayed later to rinse off the toys and put them back in the bag, and to see if any families showed up for the family sandcastle contest. No one showed up, so after 10 minutes, I made my way down the beach, lugging my beach bag plus the bag of wet kids beach toys (heavy bag!).
I set up camp on the beach, alternating between swimming and laying out to read. Alex and Fillipo joined me for a bit and we played Frisbee in the water. That was fun, that Frisbee definitely was a good investment! Somehow in our playing, we moved pretty far down the beach, so when we were done, we had to swim back when we got tired. They left me not long after we got back to our chairs, and I was left alone again. It was a tad lonely, but not too bad, I finished a book and swam a lot before I finally decided I should head back to the ship before the tenders started getting too crowded (we left late today, 5 instead of the usual 3:30ish, it was around 3:30 when I got back to the ship this time).
Sports Under the Stars night went much better this time than last week, though I was thoroughly bored. I let Royce take charge since all the kids wanted to do was play dodgeball. I entertained the 4 girls that didn’t like sports, but it was still a long time to spend outside not really doing much.
A very nice day :)
We arrived somewhat later this morning (scheduled actually, not just a ‘we are running late’ late arrival), so I managed to get upstairs and eat some breakfast before changing and getting on the tender to head to shore. Only one of the kids signed in, so it was Phil, Ethan, and me helping one kid build a giant sandcastle/city complete with highway, bridges, lakes, a town hall, and a ‘guardian’ of some sort (the boys called it a gorilla, but it looks nothing like a gorilla to me. What does it look like to you?). Our hour ended, and I stayed later to rinse off the toys and put them back in the bag, and to see if any families showed up for the family sandcastle contest. No one showed up, so after 10 minutes, I made my way down the beach, lugging my beach bag plus the bag of wet kids beach toys (heavy bag!).
I set up camp on the beach, alternating between swimming and laying out to read. Alex and Fillipo joined me for a bit and we played Frisbee in the water. That was fun, that Frisbee definitely was a good investment! Somehow in our playing, we moved pretty far down the beach, so when we were done, we had to swim back when we got tired. They left me not long after we got back to our chairs, and I was left alone again. It was a tad lonely, but not too bad, I finished a book and swam a lot before I finally decided I should head back to the ship before the tenders started getting too crowded (we left late today, 5 instead of the usual 3:30ish, it was around 3:30 when I got back to the ship this time).
Sports Under the Stars night went much better this time than last week, though I was thoroughly bored. I let Royce take charge since all the kids wanted to do was play dodgeball. I entertained the 4 girls that didn’t like sports, but it was still a long time to spend outside not really doing much.
just another embark day
Dec 29: Ft. Lauderdale
I got off rather early because I had to work Open House starting at 12. The shuttles took forever to come, there were at least 100 crew members all trying to get on the first four shuttles at once, I didn’t even bother because there were so many people opening the back doors and climbing over seats just to get a spot. After a few more shuttles came, most people left and the shuttle I ended up in wasn’t even full. I chatted with one of the dancers until we arrived, and I made my way to Publix while she had some shopping to do at Ross. I got everything I needed and was wandering around trying to decide if I wanted to have more snackfood when I ran into Christine. We talked for a bit, checked out and then headed our separate ways, me to get Moes to take back to the ship for lunch, and her to GameStop to get xbox games that we’ve been trying to get for a few weeks now with no luck in port. Turns out that Moes didn’t open until 11; it was about 10:30, and I wanted to make sure I was back on the ship at the very latest 11:30, so I had to give up hope of having non-ship food this Ft. Lauderdale.
Open House went pretty well, quite a few families came, and we didn’t really have too many complaints about the required parent sign-in, the age groups, or the fact that we can’t allow 2-year-olds in. Success!
Anyway, after Open House, I went to the Bow to call Mom, and stayed there through sailaway, almost until our Entertainment Department meeting. The EM and Cruise Director were impressed with how well we’d done with the Christmas cruise, and that was really all they had to say that applied to Club HAL. It’s always rather unproductive for us to go to these meetings every week; most of what they talk about has to do with shows. After the meeting, Amanda and I decided to just head straight up to the Lido and get tea before dinner, we met Johan on the way and he joined us. We were actually there so early that we managed to reclaim our old table in the fishbowl (the big round ‘family’ table in the middle.) It was fun to finally be able to sit at the same table as our friends now, we just know too many people to sit at the smaller tables nowadays.
Welcome aboard party. I really prefer not to talk too much about that actually. To sum it up, it took at least 45 minutes to complete our “Contract of Fun.” (Normally that takes 10 minutes, if I’m writing really slowly that day). Not the best first night, it kind of makes me dread the rest of the cruise with these kids.
I got off rather early because I had to work Open House starting at 12. The shuttles took forever to come, there were at least 100 crew members all trying to get on the first four shuttles at once, I didn’t even bother because there were so many people opening the back doors and climbing over seats just to get a spot. After a few more shuttles came, most people left and the shuttle I ended up in wasn’t even full. I chatted with one of the dancers until we arrived, and I made my way to Publix while she had some shopping to do at Ross. I got everything I needed and was wandering around trying to decide if I wanted to have more snackfood when I ran into Christine. We talked for a bit, checked out and then headed our separate ways, me to get Moes to take back to the ship for lunch, and her to GameStop to get xbox games that we’ve been trying to get for a few weeks now with no luck in port. Turns out that Moes didn’t open until 11; it was about 10:30, and I wanted to make sure I was back on the ship at the very latest 11:30, so I had to give up hope of having non-ship food this Ft. Lauderdale.
Open House went pretty well, quite a few families came, and we didn’t really have too many complaints about the required parent sign-in, the age groups, or the fact that we can’t allow 2-year-olds in. Success!
Anyway, after Open House, I went to the Bow to call Mom, and stayed there through sailaway, almost until our Entertainment Department meeting. The EM and Cruise Director were impressed with how well we’d done with the Christmas cruise, and that was really all they had to say that applied to Club HAL. It’s always rather unproductive for us to go to these meetings every week; most of what they talk about has to do with shows. After the meeting, Amanda and I decided to just head straight up to the Lido and get tea before dinner, we met Johan on the way and he joined us. We were actually there so early that we managed to reclaim our old table in the fishbowl (the big round ‘family’ table in the middle.) It was fun to finally be able to sit at the same table as our friends now, we just know too many people to sit at the smaller tables nowadays.
Welcome aboard party. I really prefer not to talk too much about that actually. To sum it up, it took at least 45 minutes to complete our “Contract of Fun.” (Normally that takes 10 minutes, if I’m writing really slowly that day). Not the best first night, it kind of makes me dread the rest of the cruise with these kids.
two ships in Half Moon Cay
December 28, 2013
I had a somewhat busy day. I got off ship this morning to help with Island Activities and to see who I could find that I knew on the Zuiderdam since we were at Half Moon Cay together today! Turns out that a few people were there, not just Kayleigh (who actually couldn’t get off today). One of the HAL Cats singers from this summer on the Nieuw A, and Tristan, who was on the Eurodam with me last New Years. I talked to the HAL Cats singer for a few minutes while walking down the beach, and Tristan and I caught up as both our groups waited for kids to show up, and we combined the kids and made sandcastles and stuff together.
I had to leave before our activities finished so I could get back to the ship, shower and get to work on time. It was a bit crazy though, because a tender had just left as I came up, we had to wait about 10 minutes for another one, then another 15 minutes for people to get on (I think they wanted the tender to fill up before sending it back, but that was impossible, and finally they resigned themselves to the fact that no one else was getting on aside from the 20 of us that were already waiting. And of course, the tender ride itself took 15 minutes. I thought I had left with plenty of time to at least take a somewhat decent shower and get there on time, but no luck with that. I had just enough time to rinse off, throw on clothes and run upstairs.
The afternoon was quiet for the first half, I watched Pocahontas and read some, then started Lilo and Stich. It was 2:30 before any of the kids showed up, and then they all came at once. So, it was a busy second half of the afternoon with some kids being perfectly fine just playing video games, and a few others with no idea what to do, and rejecting all the suggestions I had for them. That was an interesting combination. It was just a long afternoon. I actually had a parent comment on how tired I looked, especially in comparison to the beginning of the week when I was an elf and running around happily taking pictures with people.
Pajama night went fine, we had quite a few kids, but they were all rather calm and contentedly watched Wreck-it Ralph. I helped Christine number and order the first two days programs for the kids that embark tomorrow while the other three watched the movie and refilled drinks for the kids.
I had a somewhat busy day. I got off ship this morning to help with Island Activities and to see who I could find that I knew on the Zuiderdam since we were at Half Moon Cay together today! Turns out that a few people were there, not just Kayleigh (who actually couldn’t get off today). One of the HAL Cats singers from this summer on the Nieuw A, and Tristan, who was on the Eurodam with me last New Years. I talked to the HAL Cats singer for a few minutes while walking down the beach, and Tristan and I caught up as both our groups waited for kids to show up, and we combined the kids and made sandcastles and stuff together.
I had to leave before our activities finished so I could get back to the ship, shower and get to work on time. It was a bit crazy though, because a tender had just left as I came up, we had to wait about 10 minutes for another one, then another 15 minutes for people to get on (I think they wanted the tender to fill up before sending it back, but that was impossible, and finally they resigned themselves to the fact that no one else was getting on aside from the 20 of us that were already waiting. And of course, the tender ride itself took 15 minutes. I thought I had left with plenty of time to at least take a somewhat decent shower and get there on time, but no luck with that. I had just enough time to rinse off, throw on clothes and run upstairs.
The afternoon was quiet for the first half, I watched Pocahontas and read some, then started Lilo and Stich. It was 2:30 before any of the kids showed up, and then they all came at once. So, it was a busy second half of the afternoon with some kids being perfectly fine just playing video games, and a few others with no idea what to do, and rejecting all the suggestions I had for them. That was an interesting combination. It was just a long afternoon. I actually had a parent comment on how tired I looked, especially in comparison to the beginning of the week when I was an elf and running around happily taking pictures with people.
Pajama night went fine, we had quite a few kids, but they were all rather calm and contentedly watched Wreck-it Ralph. I helped Christine number and order the first two days programs for the kids that embark tomorrow while the other three watched the movie and refilled drinks for the kids.
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