Dec 18: Grand Cayman, horseback riding
This morning, I got to escort my first excursion this contract! It was great because I got to get up and out on one of the very first tenders instead of waiting around 3 hours for open tender. None of the other first 4 excursions had escorts (one was really just a transfer to the beach, so it makes sense it didn’t need an escort), so I had to lead the way for all of them to the crew staircase down to deck A and the tender platforms. Once in the port, we found the person with a sign for our excursion and met the group. Ours was a very small group, just four of us: three older ladies and myself. We signed our waiver then were taken on a 5 minute walk to our transportation to the stables on HoneySuckle Beach, an SUV. That was a bit odd for me, I guess I just had gotten used to the big (and full) tour buses for excursions in Europe over the summer; but for four of us, it was perfect. Our driver talked very little, but pointed out the big resorts and stuff along the way, he got more chatty as we got closer though, telling us about the island. Once at HoneySuckle Beach, we put our bags in the supply house, and were each given a horse to ride. I was the first, Mocha was his name, I got on pretty easily, then our guide led me and my horse to the fence to wait while the others got their horses. It took some time, but we were all ready to head out finally and our guide told me to go out the gate first and stop at the path right before the actual beach, apparently I was leading the rest, once we were all in order and the gate closed once more, our guide made his way to the front and we set off. One thing about this excursion, it’s definitely not suited for anyone who’s never ridden a horse before. We were given the reins, and though the horses knew the path and to follow, well, my horse, we still had to direct them, and keep up with the guide ourselves. A few times the two ladies in the back fell behind a bit, so I slowed down to let them catch up somewhat. It was a pretty day, warm in the long pants and shoes we’d been told we had to wear, but there was a nice breeze coming across the water, and the somewhat constant splash of water as we rode right at the waters edge. We rode out for about half an hour, then went deeper into the water, it wasn’t quite up to the stirrups, but getting close. We didn’t stay in the deep water for long, just long enough for us to give cameras to the guide for him to take pictures for us, then it was back on the trail back to the stable. On the ride back, we took a little bit different route, a few times through paths further inland among the trees. It was interesting seeing some of the things that had been collected washing ashore. One tree at the waterline was covered in shoes, I think they were actually stapled to the tree. Odd decoration, but interesting. Also on the way back, we saw people out on the water doing some kind of sport, we asked the guide and he told us all about kite surfing, which seems like it’d be pretty cool to try. The people out there that way went pretty far, pretty quickly, doing tricks too! Back at the stable, we gave each of our horses an apple (one of the ladies had brought 4 apples for that exact purpose), and got back in the SUV to head back to the ship.
It was kind of funny because about the time I got back to the tender to get back on, it was apparently open tender because a lot of crew members were just getting off. I hung out for a bit, then went to Club HAL to help Ethan with lunch before we got off to go to the beach. Alex came with us, and we ended up going to a different part of 7-mile beach from where I went last time we were here. It was good though because it was a bit cheaper for crew since the taxi ride was a dollar less each way and we didn’t have to pay the $2 entrance fee as crew members! Alex and Ethan got wifi for a bit whereas I went right to an empty spot on the sand, laid out my towel and jumped in the water. We only had about an hour there, because crew all aboard was early since we were tendering, but it was still a nice hour on the beach: time off, chatting, enjoying the sun and water. :) A very good day.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
the sounds of Half Moon Cay
December 16, 2013: Half Moon Cay
Half Moon Cay very possibly is my favorite day of this itinerary! It’s a lovely day at the beach, whether I’m working for half of it or I have the whole time to spend at the beach. Today was a half and half day. I got off at 8:15 with Christine for “island activities” from 9 to 11:30. We sat on the beach talking for an hour before a few of the kids showed up, we built a mountain and dug a hole and buried my feet for half an hour before they left, completely covered with sand from head to toe as they’d been rolling around in it the whole time. No one else came after that, so we hung out some more and then rinsed off the buckets and shovels, put them in the bag and dropped them off with a security officer on duty next to the ship (so they could dry out and so we didn’t have to carry them around).
So, we headed down the beach, and found Natalie’s bag saving three chairs for us, so we dropped our stuff off, then jumped in the water. It felt so good after having been in the hot sun and sand for the past two hours. After we cooled off, we headed towards the pirate ship to get a drink, a sunshine lemonade (lemonade and sprite). We met Natalie along the way, and when we got back to our chairs, we all jumped into the water and stayed there for a long time, chatting, swimming, splashing each other, splashing some of the HAL Cats that came over. We were in the water for over an hour before I decided I needed to get out and have a snack. I sunbathed for a while, eating the goldfish I’d brought with me. Alex and Philipo another HAL Cat hung out with me for a while, before they decided to go back to the ship before getting too much sun. Christine came back and went back to the ship as well to work on stuff for Christmas and to check on Ethan during his port day. So, Natalie and I were left on the beach, we had some fun photoshoots in the water, swam some and sunbathed for a while. It was a bit odd having so much time onshore on the beach there, I got so used to my time there being rushed. I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time there.
Onto the sounds of Half Moon Cay day. First thing in the morning, the first and second tender are full of crew members going to work and the early-rising guests. There are few sounds on the ship; the creaking of metal, the metal on metal of the ramp from ship-to-tender, the quiet and tired voices of crew members making small talk waiting to get on the island, the trilling of the computer as everyone is scanned as being off-ship. The tender ride contains the waves, the slightly louder voices of passengers as they excitingly make small talk with one another about their excursions or about the island itself, the waves as the tender gently makes its way through them.
At work on the beach, we could hear families calling to their children, water running down the slides, the scrape of plastic shovels on the sand, children rolling in the sand, adults pulling beach chairs into the water, lifeguards blowing their whistles telling people to take the chairs out of the water and, of course the kids laughing as they tried to bury our feet in sand while we kept wiggling our toes and breaking the piles of sand on top of us.
Just laying out on the beach. There was the faint hum of the ships engines, the louder roar of the tenders motors and they traveled back and forth, the occasional perfectly-timed breeze, leaves of trees rustling with the wind and birds, birds chirping, the fans turning inside the cabanas, the splashes and yells of a family as they played Frisbee in the water, waves calmly making their way to shore, bits and pieces of conversations all along the beach, the music from one of the large cabanas, the HAL Cats playing in the pirate ship just a little further down the beach, and if you listened closely and it was quiet enough for a few seconds, the horses way down the beach as they were lead into the water for a tour. So many little sounds combining to make the feeling of Half Moon Cay a perfect day on the beach.
We got back and relaxed until dinner and work. For some reason my day on the beach had made me crave pizza, so I ended up eating 4 slices, and a few pieces of fruit for dinner. For a formal night, the lido “fishbowl” was crowded with officers (not in formalwear though they should have been as it was after 6), and the usual suspects: casino staff on break, a few shoppies, the random HAL Cat during one of their short breaks between sets, the Location Team, and of course Club HAL. We actually ended up having to sit elsewhere because our usual table in the fishbowl had been taken over by officers. It was a bit odd having so many people out eating on a formal night.
Work wasn’t too bad, Under the Sea night went well. We made a sign for the night, decorated seahorses, played River/Bank, and played fishy 4 corners. They wanted to be active tonight, so River/Bank and 4 corners lasted an hour just themselves! All the kids were signed out by 9:45, nice because that gave us time to clean up and change before our present-wrapping party. Christine told us at dinner that we would be wrapping all the kids presents in the OB at 10 with a few other volunteers. It was quite fun! We put on some Christmas music (until other people came in and changed it), took over the back room and worked together with some of the cast members, the librarian and the party planner to wrap all the presents we’ll give out to the kids on Christmas day. It was definitely a team effort, we only had a few rolls of tape, and over 200 things to wrap. At first we were all cutting paper and wrapping, then I decided to turn it into a more assembly line thing, so I measured and cut the paper and made a pile for others to grab from and wrap the tween presents with, while someone else did the same with the teen presents. We finished in about an hour and a half, with only about 8 of us working! After we finished, we got Natalie to leave her teens and help us carry everything back to the closet to lock it away until the day of, then we all went back out to the bow and just talked for a while. It was a warm night out, the moon was bright so we couldn’t see stars, but it was too nice not to stay out for a while
Half Moon Cay very possibly is my favorite day of this itinerary! It’s a lovely day at the beach, whether I’m working for half of it or I have the whole time to spend at the beach. Today was a half and half day. I got off at 8:15 with Christine for “island activities” from 9 to 11:30. We sat on the beach talking for an hour before a few of the kids showed up, we built a mountain and dug a hole and buried my feet for half an hour before they left, completely covered with sand from head to toe as they’d been rolling around in it the whole time. No one else came after that, so we hung out some more and then rinsed off the buckets and shovels, put them in the bag and dropped them off with a security officer on duty next to the ship (so they could dry out and so we didn’t have to carry them around).
So, we headed down the beach, and found Natalie’s bag saving three chairs for us, so we dropped our stuff off, then jumped in the water. It felt so good after having been in the hot sun and sand for the past two hours. After we cooled off, we headed towards the pirate ship to get a drink, a sunshine lemonade (lemonade and sprite). We met Natalie along the way, and when we got back to our chairs, we all jumped into the water and stayed there for a long time, chatting, swimming, splashing each other, splashing some of the HAL Cats that came over. We were in the water for over an hour before I decided I needed to get out and have a snack. I sunbathed for a while, eating the goldfish I’d brought with me. Alex and Philipo another HAL Cat hung out with me for a while, before they decided to go back to the ship before getting too much sun. Christine came back and went back to the ship as well to work on stuff for Christmas and to check on Ethan during his port day. So, Natalie and I were left on the beach, we had some fun photoshoots in the water, swam some and sunbathed for a while. It was a bit odd having so much time onshore on the beach there, I got so used to my time there being rushed. I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time there.
Onto the sounds of Half Moon Cay day. First thing in the morning, the first and second tender are full of crew members going to work and the early-rising guests. There are few sounds on the ship; the creaking of metal, the metal on metal of the ramp from ship-to-tender, the quiet and tired voices of crew members making small talk waiting to get on the island, the trilling of the computer as everyone is scanned as being off-ship. The tender ride contains the waves, the slightly louder voices of passengers as they excitingly make small talk with one another about their excursions or about the island itself, the waves as the tender gently makes its way through them.
At work on the beach, we could hear families calling to their children, water running down the slides, the scrape of plastic shovels on the sand, children rolling in the sand, adults pulling beach chairs into the water, lifeguards blowing their whistles telling people to take the chairs out of the water and, of course the kids laughing as they tried to bury our feet in sand while we kept wiggling our toes and breaking the piles of sand on top of us.
Just laying out on the beach. There was the faint hum of the ships engines, the louder roar of the tenders motors and they traveled back and forth, the occasional perfectly-timed breeze, leaves of trees rustling with the wind and birds, birds chirping, the fans turning inside the cabanas, the splashes and yells of a family as they played Frisbee in the water, waves calmly making their way to shore, bits and pieces of conversations all along the beach, the music from one of the large cabanas, the HAL Cats playing in the pirate ship just a little further down the beach, and if you listened closely and it was quiet enough for a few seconds, the horses way down the beach as they were lead into the water for a tour. So many little sounds combining to make the feeling of Half Moon Cay a perfect day on the beach.
We got back and relaxed until dinner and work. For some reason my day on the beach had made me crave pizza, so I ended up eating 4 slices, and a few pieces of fruit for dinner. For a formal night, the lido “fishbowl” was crowded with officers (not in formalwear though they should have been as it was after 6), and the usual suspects: casino staff on break, a few shoppies, the random HAL Cat during one of their short breaks between sets, the Location Team, and of course Club HAL. We actually ended up having to sit elsewhere because our usual table in the fishbowl had been taken over by officers. It was a bit odd having so many people out eating on a formal night.
Work wasn’t too bad, Under the Sea night went well. We made a sign for the night, decorated seahorses, played River/Bank, and played fishy 4 corners. They wanted to be active tonight, so River/Bank and 4 corners lasted an hour just themselves! All the kids were signed out by 9:45, nice because that gave us time to clean up and change before our present-wrapping party. Christine told us at dinner that we would be wrapping all the kids presents in the OB at 10 with a few other volunteers. It was quite fun! We put on some Christmas music (until other people came in and changed it), took over the back room and worked together with some of the cast members, the librarian and the party planner to wrap all the presents we’ll give out to the kids on Christmas day. It was definitely a team effort, we only had a few rolls of tape, and over 200 things to wrap. At first we were all cutting paper and wrapping, then I decided to turn it into a more assembly line thing, so I measured and cut the paper and made a pile for others to grab from and wrap the tween presents with, while someone else did the same with the teen presents. We finished in about an hour and a half, with only about 8 of us working! After we finished, we got Natalie to leave her teens and help us carry everything back to the closet to lock it away until the day of, then we all went back out to the bow and just talked for a while. It was a warm night out, the moon was bright so we couldn’t see stars, but it was too nice not to stay out for a while
end of one cruise and beginning of the next
December 14, 2013
Yesterday was a rather boring sea day for me. Since I cleaned the Loft closet on the crossing, and it (surprisingly) didn’t really get messed up while I was gone, and since none of my teens have really been showing up, I had nothing really to do while in the Loft. Yes, I got to read which is nice, but when it’s for two hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon, I just don’t feel all too productive from just reading. I did have two teens come in, just for about 30 minutes each, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon, but that was it; it was a nice break from reading to set up Wipeout on the xbox for one and to play Skip-Bo with the other. Honestly, that was my whole day, I feel like I’m not doing much of anything this week, and so feeling guilty for it! I try to help out Natalie sometimes next door, but only a few of the tweens have been coming up so she doesn’t have a whole lot to do herself.
Anyway, we’d planned to have a Club HAL dinner at the Pinnacle last night, so I was given permission to leave the Loft early to change quickly into formalwear and meet the rest of them downstairs. I’m getting much better at changing in the bathrooms outside of Club HAL (for formal and for pajama nights). When I got down to the Pinnacle though, the rest of the girls weren’t there, so I asked and the manager said he didn’t know anything about our reservation, so I went to call them. Natalie didn’t pick up and I was about to call Emily when they came out of the elevator and told me that our reservations had been cancelled due to guests making reservations.
We were all still dressed up though and looking forward to a nice dinner together, so we went to Canaletto in hopes that they had an empty table for us. They did, and we got to experience their new menu. It’s been a while since I had Canaletto, actually it’s been over a year; last time I went was for Rachel’s (the librarian, now EM) birthday on the Maasdam. The new menu has “small plates,” (appetizers) “pasta” and “large plates” (entrees), they recommend group-style eating so ordering a few things and dividing them up onto everyone’s plate. So, that’s what we did. I really wasn’t that impressed. They’ve gotten rid of the bread with balsamic before the meal in favor of a small, tomato-slathered bruschetta. Splitting four ‘small plates’ wasn’t really the easiest thing actually, I tried most everything, but I really only wanted one of them and I got a very small piece of that. The pasta was good though, pesto ravioli is the better one of the two we had, the other was of course too tomato-y (rigatoni with tomato sauce and Italian sausage). I didn’t get a lot of the pasta though, because again we divided two somewhat small plates between four of us, so I really just ended up with two pieces of ravioli. They got chicken cachiattore and veal as entrees. I wouldn’t go near the veal (had it before and wasn’t in the mood to try it again), but I had one piece of chicken, not too impressive and it wasn’t quite enough, because again we were dividing it between four of us. I wish we could’ve gotten the pasta as the entrée, I would’ve been a lot happier. At least I know for certain now that going to Canaletto really isn’t worth it for me, I came away still rather hungry. Dessert was good at least, walnut praline and a scoop of ice cream! And it was nice that we all got to get dressed up and hang out as a group, we haven’t done that this contract yet.
I wasn’t really sure what to do after dinner because I had about an hour and a half before I had to be in the Loft, and half an hour before the show if I wanted to go to that alone. Instead, I just changed back into my uniform and hung out with the kids during free time and helped Natalie with her tweens before heading to the Loft. Two of my teens were actually already there when I went back to the Loft, they were very excited about Vegas night (most of the teens are), so I got out chips and tried to refresh my memory a bit as to how to play Blackjack and Texas Hold ‘em. I think I made up a few of the rules and messed up others, but we still played and they didn’t seem to care. Around 10:30, their parents came to get them, so I was left alone with nothing really to do. Snack came, brownies (I don’t normally eat the brownies on the ship, but I was hungry so I tried one, then ran downstairs to get a slice of pizza) and I ended up watching Ever After until I could clean up and leave.
I didn’t get off in Half Moon Cay today. I had the morning shift of port day and could’ve gotten off for an hour before all aboard but I decided it wasn’t really worth the stress of getting back to the tender on time. No one called for port day, but I hung out for a while in Club HAL to go through and organize the craft supplies. The afternoon was uneventful as well. The night actually went well, a lot of the teens finally showed up and they all stayed until midnight! After work I joined Natalie on the Bow where we tried to watch for shooting stars, but it was too cloudy and the moon was too bright. We tried to leave after a while (because we were tired), but Johan dragged us back inside to cheer the boys on in Wii Sports.
December 15, 2013: Fort Lauderdale
There was nothing I really needed to go shopping for today, and it’d been a late night so I slept in instead of paying for a shuttle. I had a calm morning, had lunch, called Mom from the Bow, and visited Natalie as she worked Open House. Not a whole lot of excitement; I met Ethan, who will be with us in Club HAL for a month. We had sailaway, then hung out in the Lido for 15 minutes until it was time to go to our entertainment dept meeting. After the meeting, we had about 45 minutes, not sure what else to do, and since we never get to see it, we watched as everyone rehearsed for the opening show “Listen to the Music” (which introduces everyone in the entertainment department (aside from Club HAL). That lasted about 45 minutes, perfect time to head to dinner!
It was a busy first night, at least 12 of the kids showed up, a few of them need to work on their listening skills and we had to talk to their parents about that, but most of them were tired so we mostly had counselor-lead free time the whole night. We played candyland, 4-corners, ickle bickle, where’s my shoe, and colored. Some of the kids in this group are surprisingly talented drawers! I was impressed!
Yesterday was a rather boring sea day for me. Since I cleaned the Loft closet on the crossing, and it (surprisingly) didn’t really get messed up while I was gone, and since none of my teens have really been showing up, I had nothing really to do while in the Loft. Yes, I got to read which is nice, but when it’s for two hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon, I just don’t feel all too productive from just reading. I did have two teens come in, just for about 30 minutes each, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon, but that was it; it was a nice break from reading to set up Wipeout on the xbox for one and to play Skip-Bo with the other. Honestly, that was my whole day, I feel like I’m not doing much of anything this week, and so feeling guilty for it! I try to help out Natalie sometimes next door, but only a few of the tweens have been coming up so she doesn’t have a whole lot to do herself.
Anyway, we’d planned to have a Club HAL dinner at the Pinnacle last night, so I was given permission to leave the Loft early to change quickly into formalwear and meet the rest of them downstairs. I’m getting much better at changing in the bathrooms outside of Club HAL (for formal and for pajama nights). When I got down to the Pinnacle though, the rest of the girls weren’t there, so I asked and the manager said he didn’t know anything about our reservation, so I went to call them. Natalie didn’t pick up and I was about to call Emily when they came out of the elevator and told me that our reservations had been cancelled due to guests making reservations.
We were all still dressed up though and looking forward to a nice dinner together, so we went to Canaletto in hopes that they had an empty table for us. They did, and we got to experience their new menu. It’s been a while since I had Canaletto, actually it’s been over a year; last time I went was for Rachel’s (the librarian, now EM) birthday on the Maasdam. The new menu has “small plates,” (appetizers) “pasta” and “large plates” (entrees), they recommend group-style eating so ordering a few things and dividing them up onto everyone’s plate. So, that’s what we did. I really wasn’t that impressed. They’ve gotten rid of the bread with balsamic before the meal in favor of a small, tomato-slathered bruschetta. Splitting four ‘small plates’ wasn’t really the easiest thing actually, I tried most everything, but I really only wanted one of them and I got a very small piece of that. The pasta was good though, pesto ravioli is the better one of the two we had, the other was of course too tomato-y (rigatoni with tomato sauce and Italian sausage). I didn’t get a lot of the pasta though, because again we divided two somewhat small plates between four of us, so I really just ended up with two pieces of ravioli. They got chicken cachiattore and veal as entrees. I wouldn’t go near the veal (had it before and wasn’t in the mood to try it again), but I had one piece of chicken, not too impressive and it wasn’t quite enough, because again we were dividing it between four of us. I wish we could’ve gotten the pasta as the entrée, I would’ve been a lot happier. At least I know for certain now that going to Canaletto really isn’t worth it for me, I came away still rather hungry. Dessert was good at least, walnut praline and a scoop of ice cream! And it was nice that we all got to get dressed up and hang out as a group, we haven’t done that this contract yet.
I wasn’t really sure what to do after dinner because I had about an hour and a half before I had to be in the Loft, and half an hour before the show if I wanted to go to that alone. Instead, I just changed back into my uniform and hung out with the kids during free time and helped Natalie with her tweens before heading to the Loft. Two of my teens were actually already there when I went back to the Loft, they were very excited about Vegas night (most of the teens are), so I got out chips and tried to refresh my memory a bit as to how to play Blackjack and Texas Hold ‘em. I think I made up a few of the rules and messed up others, but we still played and they didn’t seem to care. Around 10:30, their parents came to get them, so I was left alone with nothing really to do. Snack came, brownies (I don’t normally eat the brownies on the ship, but I was hungry so I tried one, then ran downstairs to get a slice of pizza) and I ended up watching Ever After until I could clean up and leave.
I didn’t get off in Half Moon Cay today. I had the morning shift of port day and could’ve gotten off for an hour before all aboard but I decided it wasn’t really worth the stress of getting back to the tender on time. No one called for port day, but I hung out for a while in Club HAL to go through and organize the craft supplies. The afternoon was uneventful as well. The night actually went well, a lot of the teens finally showed up and they all stayed until midnight! After work I joined Natalie on the Bow where we tried to watch for shooting stars, but it was too cloudy and the moon was too bright. We tried to leave after a while (because we were tired), but Johan dragged us back inside to cheer the boys on in Wii Sports.
December 15, 2013: Fort Lauderdale
There was nothing I really needed to go shopping for today, and it’d been a late night so I slept in instead of paying for a shuttle. I had a calm morning, had lunch, called Mom from the Bow, and visited Natalie as she worked Open House. Not a whole lot of excitement; I met Ethan, who will be with us in Club HAL for a month. We had sailaway, then hung out in the Lido for 15 minutes until it was time to go to our entertainment dept meeting. After the meeting, we had about 45 minutes, not sure what else to do, and since we never get to see it, we watched as everyone rehearsed for the opening show “Listen to the Music” (which introduces everyone in the entertainment department (aside from Club HAL). That lasted about 45 minutes, perfect time to head to dinner!
It was a busy first night, at least 12 of the kids showed up, a few of them need to work on their listening skills and we had to talk to their parents about that, but most of them were tired so we mostly had counselor-lead free time the whole night. We played candyland, 4-corners, ickle bickle, where’s my shoe, and colored. Some of the kids in this group are surprisingly talented drawers! I was impressed!
Dec 12
Dec 12, 2013
San Juan: It was a normal sea day morning, I worked 10-12, a few of the teens showed up, but they didn’t stay for too long. After lunch when we finally arrived, Alex (from the HAL Cats) and I got off the ship to wander. And wander we did, we made a big loop around part of the town before we decided to stop and get something to eat. After we ate, we decided to go to the mall that we’d heard a lot of other crew members talk about, so we went there and got wifi until we met up with a few others and we all came back, some of them to go to a bar, others of us to take a nap or rest before work. There’s a movie theatre in that mall, so some of us have discussed going next time to see the Hobbit!
Work wasn’t too much to talk about. Two of the 13/14year old boys came in, they became friends this morning, and we chatted for a bit, they have a lot in common with each other, I’m glad they both came at the same time this morning so they could meet! Then they played Wipeout until their families came to pick them up (so far, 3 out of the 5 teens that have come, their parents drop them off and pick them up, I find that odd). So, by 9:45, I was alone, none of the other teens came the rest of the night, so I put on Doctor Who and watched that until time I could leave.
St. Thomas: Today was nice. It didn’t really seem like it would be at first this morning though. I woke up early and got ready before going to breakfast, hanging out in Club HAL with Emily, and watching people getting off the ship from the outside part of Deck 10. All that to kill a few hours before I had a raft drill. Because I had a raft drill, I couldn’t get off until after, so I waited. Finally we had the drill, then Natalie and I went up for lunch, ate a bit and I made plans to go to the beach with Johan and a few others (finally plans for the day, I was thinking that I would just have to wander around town by myself!). Natalie had another excursion so couldn’t come with us. We took a 10 minute taxi ride to the beach (even after riding around a bit, I have no idea where we’re docked, I know I’ve been here before, last year on the Maasdam-we tendered that time-but none of the things I saw today rang any bells as familiar to last year). It was a short ride, but it’s nearly unwalkable because there’s no sidewalks, and rather curvy roads. Anyway, we arrived and settled in on the beach with Cassandra and Matt who’d been there a while already. The water was nice, not nearly as clear as I’ve seen it in other Caribbean ports though. We actually spent a lot of time in the water (glad that people swam more this time, in Grand Cayman everyone kind of stayed close to the shore, or tanning on shore, so it wasn’t as fun to swim around out on your own. Johan, Matt and I were in the water most of the afternoon actually, they kept trying to see if they could launch me in the air and get me to do a backflip, I “flew” a few times, but have yet to master that aerial backflip. I could either use the momentum to go UPwards, or to go BACKwards, but never really was able to combine the two. Apparently we have to try again another beach day, practice. They seemed to have a lot of fun with my light weight, they kept thinking of ‘tricks’ they could do picking me up. It was fun for me too, ignoring of course the many many gallons of saltwater I may have swallowed in the process. The afternoon slowly came to a close and it was getting to be time to start heading back to the ship, so I laid out to dry off while the boys decided to show off their handstand and cartwheel abilities on the sand. Actually, they’re quite good, better than any cartwheel I could do!
Back on the ship, I had a relaxing two hours; a quick shower and drying of my hair before going on to spend the remaining time with other, more ‘pretty’ things. I decided to curl my hair (for no reason other than to see how this curling iron works since we’re doing a Club HAL dinner in Pinnacle tomorrow), I put on some make-up then put on a movie to watch as I did my nails. Natalie came back and we chatted before heading up to dinner.
Oh, and I’m finally over this sore throat thing that’s been horrible over the past few days! Still going to take the next day or two’s antibiotics to be sure, but I’ve been feeling so much better the past two days! I have yet to look up exactly what the crew doctor gave me, but I’m very glad it seems to be working (still wish though she would’ve given me some clue as to what was wrong with me).
San Juan: It was a normal sea day morning, I worked 10-12, a few of the teens showed up, but they didn’t stay for too long. After lunch when we finally arrived, Alex (from the HAL Cats) and I got off the ship to wander. And wander we did, we made a big loop around part of the town before we decided to stop and get something to eat. After we ate, we decided to go to the mall that we’d heard a lot of other crew members talk about, so we went there and got wifi until we met up with a few others and we all came back, some of them to go to a bar, others of us to take a nap or rest before work. There’s a movie theatre in that mall, so some of us have discussed going next time to see the Hobbit!
Work wasn’t too much to talk about. Two of the 13/14year old boys came in, they became friends this morning, and we chatted for a bit, they have a lot in common with each other, I’m glad they both came at the same time this morning so they could meet! Then they played Wipeout until their families came to pick them up (so far, 3 out of the 5 teens that have come, their parents drop them off and pick them up, I find that odd). So, by 9:45, I was alone, none of the other teens came the rest of the night, so I put on Doctor Who and watched that until time I could leave.
St. Thomas: Today was nice. It didn’t really seem like it would be at first this morning though. I woke up early and got ready before going to breakfast, hanging out in Club HAL with Emily, and watching people getting off the ship from the outside part of Deck 10. All that to kill a few hours before I had a raft drill. Because I had a raft drill, I couldn’t get off until after, so I waited. Finally we had the drill, then Natalie and I went up for lunch, ate a bit and I made plans to go to the beach with Johan and a few others (finally plans for the day, I was thinking that I would just have to wander around town by myself!). Natalie had another excursion so couldn’t come with us. We took a 10 minute taxi ride to the beach (even after riding around a bit, I have no idea where we’re docked, I know I’ve been here before, last year on the Maasdam-we tendered that time-but none of the things I saw today rang any bells as familiar to last year). It was a short ride, but it’s nearly unwalkable because there’s no sidewalks, and rather curvy roads. Anyway, we arrived and settled in on the beach with Cassandra and Matt who’d been there a while already. The water was nice, not nearly as clear as I’ve seen it in other Caribbean ports though. We actually spent a lot of time in the water (glad that people swam more this time, in Grand Cayman everyone kind of stayed close to the shore, or tanning on shore, so it wasn’t as fun to swim around out on your own. Johan, Matt and I were in the water most of the afternoon actually, they kept trying to see if they could launch me in the air and get me to do a backflip, I “flew” a few times, but have yet to master that aerial backflip. I could either use the momentum to go UPwards, or to go BACKwards, but never really was able to combine the two. Apparently we have to try again another beach day, practice. They seemed to have a lot of fun with my light weight, they kept thinking of ‘tricks’ they could do picking me up. It was fun for me too, ignoring of course the many many gallons of saltwater I may have swallowed in the process. The afternoon slowly came to a close and it was getting to be time to start heading back to the ship, so I laid out to dry off while the boys decided to show off their handstand and cartwheel abilities on the sand. Actually, they’re quite good, better than any cartwheel I could do!
Back on the ship, I had a relaxing two hours; a quick shower and drying of my hair before going on to spend the remaining time with other, more ‘pretty’ things. I decided to curl my hair (for no reason other than to see how this curling iron works since we’re doing a Club HAL dinner in Pinnacle tomorrow), I put on some make-up then put on a movie to watch as I did my nails. Natalie came back and we chatted before heading up to dinner.
Oh, and I’m finally over this sore throat thing that’s been horrible over the past few days! Still going to take the next day or two’s antibiotics to be sure, but I’ve been feeling so much better the past two days! I have yet to look up exactly what the crew doctor gave me, but I’m very glad it seems to be working (still wish though she would’ve given me some clue as to what was wrong with me).
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
finally got internet enough to post quickly
December 3, 2013: At Sea
The rest of the workday yesterday was rather uneventful compared to the first half. I came back to the room and took a nap, talked to Natalie, had dinner then went to work. We had spy night, we combined our groups since there were only a few tweens. It went rather well, we had some bit of trouble getting them to stay focused, but that’s the usual with the young ones; a few more tweens came just in time for the scavenger hunt so we divided them up in groups with the littles, telling them to let the little ones help out where they could (looking for the clues), most of them were actually pretty good at that which was very helpful.
Natalie and I ran down to the room to change into formal clothes and made it to the show. I didn’t know what show it was, but I was happy to see when we got there that it was LiveWire, an Irish couple that I’ve seen a few times on various other ships. They have a great show, I’ve really enjoyed it every time. After that, I decided I wanted to socialize a bit, so we went to the OB for a while and ended up outside on the bow. It was a beautiful night, very light wind, stars so bright and numerous. We stayed out there for a while, I talked to the photographers and Cassandra for a while.
Today was a busy day, a typical sea day. We had quite a few kids right at the start of the day, and most of them stayed all the while we were open. At least they were mostly well-behaved, we didn’t have too much trouble all day, the normal instances of course but nothing we couldn’t handle. Even ice cream went well!
Camp night went well too, we decorated bears, made bear ear headbands, and divided them into groups to make up their own camp. Very few behavior problems compared to the last few days, but that’s probably because we’ve finally figured out how to divide them into groups that have the best results. As soon as they all left, we cleaned up quickly, then ran to catch the last bit of the show, GarageBand. Remember, the last time I saw this show was when they had a tech rehearsal for the crew. It was a bit disappointing actually, seeing it again. It’s still a great show, but I think it’s because it was so funny last time, and the cast is getting to the last month of their contracts so are tired, it just wasn’t as good. Still good, but not as much so as I remember
December 4, 2013: Grand Cayman
I was pretty unsure of what to do today at first. Natalie did tendering, letting me sleep in a bit. I went up to visit before breakfast and it was going really well, sending people straight down the stairs to the tender; we agreed to meet at breakfast if open tender was called before 10, and to meet in the room (me with a muffin for her) if they hadn’t called it, then go ashore as soon as we were ready. At breakfast, I met up with the solo guitarist and he invited me to go to the beach with a group. I told him I’d meet them on the pier, then went down with Natalie’s muffin after I’d finished eating. Open Tender was a bit later than expected, but Natalie and I still got to walk around for a bit before I met up with the group and she had to find her excursion.
The beach was great, I was very happy to go hang out with people, get some sun and swim! I thought I was going to come back before everyone else because I was supposed to help do something for one of the guest entertainers at 3, but everyone else ended up comig back with me. I made it back just in time, literally ran to the room to change and ran upstairs, sand on my feet and salt in my hair but I was there on time, when so many other people didn’t even show up. We didn’t really know what we were going to be doing until we got there, but it wasn’t bad, all we had to do was take labels off pans and stuff, throw out any that could cause injury and count them all. The guest entertainer group we were doing this for is called “Recycled Percussion” and they have a lot of crowd interaction (thus the pans we had to count. They have a crew show at midnight after their normal shows tomorrow so I’ll see how they are then.
After that, I finally got to get all that sand and salt off of me and head to dinner, then work. Nothing too exciting there, so glad we’re mixing tweens and kids because I don’t think I could handle all these kids by myself, they don’t like to listen and most of them English isn’t their first language.
December 10, 2013
So, I haven’t written in a few days, I’m sorry. I haven’t been feeling too well the last few days and it got busy before that.
The end of last cruise was alright with the kids. I had to do pirate night on my own though, in the kids room. Change of environment with 12 already-hyper and nearly uncontrollable 3 and 4 year olds? Not the best idea. Far from the best theme night I’ve had, actually it might even have been the worst. I was exceptionally glad when it was over.
I did have after-hours one night, of course the same night as the Recycled Percussion crew show, but I was only a few minutes late for that. The kids played MarioKart the whole time, their parents came at midnight and I quickly cleaned, ran downstairs, changed and made it to the show by 10 after. It was actually a pretty awesome show! They have talent, partially music, partially gymnastics-y stuff, partially showing off with drumstick tricks.
Today was a busy busy day, exhausting really.
I woke up and went to the infirmary. Should’ve thought more about that, the crew doctor pretty much asked what was wrong with me, gave me some (huge) pills that were somehow already sitting on her desk), told me when to take them and told me I could go. Now I feel like I need to look up what exactly these pills are that she gave me, what are they supposed to do to me? Again, negative experience with a ships crew doctor. Not pleased with that at all, she didn’t even say what she thought might be wrong with me!
After that, I ran up to breakfast before going up to Club HAL early to cover for Natalie so she could go on an excursion, since she took over my gangway duty on Sunday because I was sick. So, I spent from 10 until 4 in Club HAL with a few kids who could never really decide what they wanted to do. Once two of the tweens got there (after lunch), they had something to do (MarioKart, as usual), but the kids needed something new about every 5 minutes. And then, the phone started ringing. Emily called to tell me that I needed to do some training in the Entertainment Office and Passenger Notification training in the front office after work, then Natalie called a few times to get me to bring her a pair of pants from the storage locker, as quickly as possible since hers were in the wash and she wanted to get something to eat. Altogether a crazy afternoon. So, after work I got to go by the locker to get pants, then run downstairs and do two sets of training before I finally got to rest. My throat is still completely sore and for a bit earlier I thought I might pass out because it hurt so bad when I turned around because of a noise. Not my best day, but tomorrow I’m off from noon ‘til 9, so that’ll be nice!
After that last break, I somehow felt great, much better than I’d been feeling over the past few days. My throat was still swollen, but my head felt a whole lot better. Sadly, none of the teens showed up, so I ended up watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (it was on TV), and an episode of Doctor Who until Natalie came back from the show around 11:30. We hung out in the OB for a while, me just enjoying the fact that I was feeling so much better again.
The rest of the workday yesterday was rather uneventful compared to the first half. I came back to the room and took a nap, talked to Natalie, had dinner then went to work. We had spy night, we combined our groups since there were only a few tweens. It went rather well, we had some bit of trouble getting them to stay focused, but that’s the usual with the young ones; a few more tweens came just in time for the scavenger hunt so we divided them up in groups with the littles, telling them to let the little ones help out where they could (looking for the clues), most of them were actually pretty good at that which was very helpful.
Natalie and I ran down to the room to change into formal clothes and made it to the show. I didn’t know what show it was, but I was happy to see when we got there that it was LiveWire, an Irish couple that I’ve seen a few times on various other ships. They have a great show, I’ve really enjoyed it every time. After that, I decided I wanted to socialize a bit, so we went to the OB for a while and ended up outside on the bow. It was a beautiful night, very light wind, stars so bright and numerous. We stayed out there for a while, I talked to the photographers and Cassandra for a while.
Today was a busy day, a typical sea day. We had quite a few kids right at the start of the day, and most of them stayed all the while we were open. At least they were mostly well-behaved, we didn’t have too much trouble all day, the normal instances of course but nothing we couldn’t handle. Even ice cream went well!
Camp night went well too, we decorated bears, made bear ear headbands, and divided them into groups to make up their own camp. Very few behavior problems compared to the last few days, but that’s probably because we’ve finally figured out how to divide them into groups that have the best results. As soon as they all left, we cleaned up quickly, then ran to catch the last bit of the show, GarageBand. Remember, the last time I saw this show was when they had a tech rehearsal for the crew. It was a bit disappointing actually, seeing it again. It’s still a great show, but I think it’s because it was so funny last time, and the cast is getting to the last month of their contracts so are tired, it just wasn’t as good. Still good, but not as much so as I remember
December 4, 2013: Grand Cayman
I was pretty unsure of what to do today at first. Natalie did tendering, letting me sleep in a bit. I went up to visit before breakfast and it was going really well, sending people straight down the stairs to the tender; we agreed to meet at breakfast if open tender was called before 10, and to meet in the room (me with a muffin for her) if they hadn’t called it, then go ashore as soon as we were ready. At breakfast, I met up with the solo guitarist and he invited me to go to the beach with a group. I told him I’d meet them on the pier, then went down with Natalie’s muffin after I’d finished eating. Open Tender was a bit later than expected, but Natalie and I still got to walk around for a bit before I met up with the group and she had to find her excursion.
The beach was great, I was very happy to go hang out with people, get some sun and swim! I thought I was going to come back before everyone else because I was supposed to help do something for one of the guest entertainers at 3, but everyone else ended up comig back with me. I made it back just in time, literally ran to the room to change and ran upstairs, sand on my feet and salt in my hair but I was there on time, when so many other people didn’t even show up. We didn’t really know what we were going to be doing until we got there, but it wasn’t bad, all we had to do was take labels off pans and stuff, throw out any that could cause injury and count them all. The guest entertainer group we were doing this for is called “Recycled Percussion” and they have a lot of crowd interaction (thus the pans we had to count. They have a crew show at midnight after their normal shows tomorrow so I’ll see how they are then.
After that, I finally got to get all that sand and salt off of me and head to dinner, then work. Nothing too exciting there, so glad we’re mixing tweens and kids because I don’t think I could handle all these kids by myself, they don’t like to listen and most of them English isn’t their first language.
December 10, 2013
So, I haven’t written in a few days, I’m sorry. I haven’t been feeling too well the last few days and it got busy before that.
The end of last cruise was alright with the kids. I had to do pirate night on my own though, in the kids room. Change of environment with 12 already-hyper and nearly uncontrollable 3 and 4 year olds? Not the best idea. Far from the best theme night I’ve had, actually it might even have been the worst. I was exceptionally glad when it was over.
I did have after-hours one night, of course the same night as the Recycled Percussion crew show, but I was only a few minutes late for that. The kids played MarioKart the whole time, their parents came at midnight and I quickly cleaned, ran downstairs, changed and made it to the show by 10 after. It was actually a pretty awesome show! They have talent, partially music, partially gymnastics-y stuff, partially showing off with drumstick tricks.
Today was a busy busy day, exhausting really.
I woke up and went to the infirmary. Should’ve thought more about that, the crew doctor pretty much asked what was wrong with me, gave me some (huge) pills that were somehow already sitting on her desk), told me when to take them and told me I could go. Now I feel like I need to look up what exactly these pills are that she gave me, what are they supposed to do to me? Again, negative experience with a ships crew doctor. Not pleased with that at all, she didn’t even say what she thought might be wrong with me!
After that, I ran up to breakfast before going up to Club HAL early to cover for Natalie so she could go on an excursion, since she took over my gangway duty on Sunday because I was sick. So, I spent from 10 until 4 in Club HAL with a few kids who could never really decide what they wanted to do. Once two of the tweens got there (after lunch), they had something to do (MarioKart, as usual), but the kids needed something new about every 5 minutes. And then, the phone started ringing. Emily called to tell me that I needed to do some training in the Entertainment Office and Passenger Notification training in the front office after work, then Natalie called a few times to get me to bring her a pair of pants from the storage locker, as quickly as possible since hers were in the wash and she wanted to get something to eat. Altogether a crazy afternoon. So, after work I got to go by the locker to get pants, then run downstairs and do two sets of training before I finally got to rest. My throat is still completely sore and for a bit earlier I thought I might pass out because it hurt so bad when I turned around because of a noise. Not my best day, but tomorrow I’m off from noon ‘til 9, so that’ll be nice!
After that last break, I somehow felt great, much better than I’d been feeling over the past few days. My throat was still swollen, but my head felt a whole lot better. Sadly, none of the teens showed up, so I ended up watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (it was on TV), and an episode of Doctor Who until Natalie came back from the show around 11:30. We hung out in the OB for a while, me just enjoying the fact that I was feeling so much better again.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Half day at Half Moon Cay
December 2, 2013: Half Moon Cay
Aside from a few minor changes, it’s almost as if I never left! Of course, I still had to attend the normal “newly embarked” crew meetings (which I’ve heard at least 7 times now). The last one was this morning. Sadly, that meant that I was unable to go directly ashore in the morning. I sat through the meeting, then changed and made my way to the gangway. I waited there for 45 minutes, not because there were a lot of people to get off (at least not to start off with), or because there was no tender there, but because the tender was rocking too much for anyone to safely get on or get off of it. It was a bit crazy, I was near the front of the line so I knew some of what was going on, but as the waiting crowd got bigger, the people in the back weren’t being told what was going on. We finally got on the tender though, with very few problems once we started. I made it to shore with about 2 hours to spend as I wished before I figured I should head back (an hour before the last crew tender, but I knew it’d take a while again to get people on and off). I walked down the beach, looking for Emily (my YPC) but didn’t find her, so I found a chair, set my stuff down and jumped in the water. It was lovely, I really missed the Caribbean, the perfect level of saltiness, the brilliant blue color, the relaxation! I didn’t get out of the water for 30 minutes, which is when I finally saw Emily walking down the beach, we talked for a bit until I decided to get back in the water and she continued her walk. Suddenly, the ship’s horn blasted 3 somewhat long blasts. In a moment, it seemed all movement on the beach stopped, even the waves seemed to be waiting, wondering what to expect. The next few minutes consisted of many people checking watches, asking each other what that meant, and generally a great deal of confusion. That signal usually means all aboard time is right about… NOW. So, I decided my water time was over and got out to dry off and possibly head back to the ship. I saw Emily down the beach talking to one of the lifeguards, and she came back to let me know that a big storm was coming and they want everyone to get on tenders to get back to the ship as soon as possible. Not good news when there’s supposed to be 2.5 more hours ashore for the guests. But, we all cooperated, and I heard no guests complain as I quickly made my way to the tenders. Not too much of a crowd was there yet, word was still spreading, so I made it onto the tender with no problems, but it quickly filled up and they tried to get as many of us on as possible. I seem to always ride back on the tender usually used for “glass-bottom boat” tours, and this time I ended up with a seat right about the glass, so I got to watch underneath us as we pulled out, lots of sand, designs in the sand, seaweed, and the constantly changing blue of the water. We had to wait a few minutes when we got closer to the ship because the other tender was having a difficult time getting the last few people off, so I watched beneath us as we rocked and waited. I alternated between watching rain come towards us and watching below to see if any fish went by. Lots of bubbles there, but no fish, but it was still beautiful. The water where we were waiting was my favorite blue, but even more so, it was a brilliant clear blue that seemed to glow and reflected off all the surfaces near the underwater ‘window.’ God’s creation really is indescribable!
Once we drew alongside the ship, we had no problems getting us all off, a few officers were there to make sure we ducked our heads as the ramp from the tneder to the platform on the ship was steep, and even I was too tall to make it through the archway door to the safety of the ship. I figured Natalie would have a few kids by now, after all everyone was being sent by, so I had a few slices of pizza before running by Club HAL. Surprisingly, no one was there, so I went outside to enjoy the sun while I could and to watch the last few tenders unload. They were having lots of issues, only getting one or two people down the ramp every few minutes, and there was still another whole tender of people to arrive! After about 20 minutes of unloading maybe 10 people, someone apparently called the bridge because the tenders drove a safe distance away and the ship began to turn and turn and turn. Finally it turned to where the waves were mostly blocked by the ship, and the tenders were able to have somewhat calm waters so they could unload. I think everyone was onboard by 2:45 or so (the last crew tender was originally supposed to arrive at the ship around 3:30). We are good.
Aside from a few minor changes, it’s almost as if I never left! Of course, I still had to attend the normal “newly embarked” crew meetings (which I’ve heard at least 7 times now). The last one was this morning. Sadly, that meant that I was unable to go directly ashore in the morning. I sat through the meeting, then changed and made my way to the gangway. I waited there for 45 minutes, not because there were a lot of people to get off (at least not to start off with), or because there was no tender there, but because the tender was rocking too much for anyone to safely get on or get off of it. It was a bit crazy, I was near the front of the line so I knew some of what was going on, but as the waiting crowd got bigger, the people in the back weren’t being told what was going on. We finally got on the tender though, with very few problems once we started. I made it to shore with about 2 hours to spend as I wished before I figured I should head back (an hour before the last crew tender, but I knew it’d take a while again to get people on and off). I walked down the beach, looking for Emily (my YPC) but didn’t find her, so I found a chair, set my stuff down and jumped in the water. It was lovely, I really missed the Caribbean, the perfect level of saltiness, the brilliant blue color, the relaxation! I didn’t get out of the water for 30 minutes, which is when I finally saw Emily walking down the beach, we talked for a bit until I decided to get back in the water and she continued her walk. Suddenly, the ship’s horn blasted 3 somewhat long blasts. In a moment, it seemed all movement on the beach stopped, even the waves seemed to be waiting, wondering what to expect. The next few minutes consisted of many people checking watches, asking each other what that meant, and generally a great deal of confusion. That signal usually means all aboard time is right about… NOW. So, I decided my water time was over and got out to dry off and possibly head back to the ship. I saw Emily down the beach talking to one of the lifeguards, and she came back to let me know that a big storm was coming and they want everyone to get on tenders to get back to the ship as soon as possible. Not good news when there’s supposed to be 2.5 more hours ashore for the guests. But, we all cooperated, and I heard no guests complain as I quickly made my way to the tenders. Not too much of a crowd was there yet, word was still spreading, so I made it onto the tender with no problems, but it quickly filled up and they tried to get as many of us on as possible. I seem to always ride back on the tender usually used for “glass-bottom boat” tours, and this time I ended up with a seat right about the glass, so I got to watch underneath us as we pulled out, lots of sand, designs in the sand, seaweed, and the constantly changing blue of the water. We had to wait a few minutes when we got closer to the ship because the other tender was having a difficult time getting the last few people off, so I watched beneath us as we rocked and waited. I alternated between watching rain come towards us and watching below to see if any fish went by. Lots of bubbles there, but no fish, but it was still beautiful. The water where we were waiting was my favorite blue, but even more so, it was a brilliant clear blue that seemed to glow and reflected off all the surfaces near the underwater ‘window.’ God’s creation really is indescribable!
Once we drew alongside the ship, we had no problems getting us all off, a few officers were there to make sure we ducked our heads as the ramp from the tneder to the platform on the ship was steep, and even I was too tall to make it through the archway door to the safety of the ship. I figured Natalie would have a few kids by now, after all everyone was being sent by, so I had a few slices of pizza before running by Club HAL. Surprisingly, no one was there, so I went outside to enjoy the sun while I could and to watch the last few tenders unload. They were having lots of issues, only getting one or two people down the ramp every few minutes, and there was still another whole tender of people to arrive! After about 20 minutes of unloading maybe 10 people, someone apparently called the bridge because the tenders drove a safe distance away and the ship began to turn and turn and turn. Finally it turned to where the waves were mostly blocked by the ship, and the tenders were able to have somewhat calm waters so they could unload. I think everyone was onboard by 2:45 or so (the last crew tender was originally supposed to arrive at the ship around 3:30). We are good.
I'm back!!
December 1, 2013: Ft. Lauderdale, back to the ship!
This morning was a bit hectic. I had a difficult time getting to sleep last night, and then kept waking up at random times throughout the night, I think once was because the phone rang… once. HAL recently (as in the past month) came up with a new system of giving out flight and hotel information, however not everything is always included in that one little part of a document containing flights and the name of the hotel, like information about the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, AND information about the shuttle from hotel to ship. I asked the hotel when I arrived, but they didn’t know exactly what time the shuttle should be there, they said it usually comes around 8, so that’s what I planned for, really 7:45 just to be safe. So, I went to breakfast and around 7:20 I finished and started to head upstairs when I saw a shuttle pull in, and a nurse I know from one of the ships waiting in the lobby. She’d seen the shuttle too, and told me to hurry but that she’d tell them to wait on me. Made it to the ship just fine, but when we got to the terminal, apparently more has changed, we have to give up our passports and our medical passports before we even can get on the ship, so there were maybe 25 of us (a lot were apparently flown into Miami, so had different shuttles) in the small room with the x-ray machine, trying to fill out forms and form some sort of line to turn them in, get confirmed and get our stuff out of everyone else’s way. Crazy. So, I get on the ship, and to my room, next to my first room last contract, to find it full of stuff, hardly any room for my luggage, but I find space.
Not sure what to do for the next 2 hours until my meeting, I pull a blanket onto one of the beds to sit and read. The two girls come and go, one had to literally throw all her stuff in a suitcase because they were making frustrated calls over the PA system for all disembarking crew to go to the crew mess, and her stuff was everywhere. Finally, my meeting time came around, so I went to that. As I was coming back to the room from that, I met up with Emily, the YPC, she gave me a schedule and we talked for a bit before I ran off to change and get some lunch before Open House. My new roommate arrived just as I was leaving for lunch, so we talked for a minute and I ran off to get food. Only once I was there did I realize that I wasn’t really that hungry. I ate anyway and went upstairs to organize stuff for Open House. For the first hour, no one showed up, not even wandering by, so I sat there watching Finding Nemo. Natalie, my roommate and fellow Club HAL girl, came up and we talked for a while, then it got really busy, then really quiet, then really busy. It continued like that the rest of the afternoon, 4 families would come at once, and then no one would be there for 30 minutes.
After that hectic Open House (we have some interesting families onboard, lots of really little ones. As in half the kids onboard are 3 or 4), I returned to the room to unpack some and ended up talking with Natalie until she went to do wristbands, then we talked again as she unpacked before her meeting and before I had to go to the Sailaway Party (in the rain, luckily when we got there we were told we only had to stay for a little bit). Emily, Amanda (the librarian) and I then went up to the OB for a bit, where one of the cadets had invited us to eat pizza and watch Despicable Me with a group of random people. They ended up not starting the movie until after we had to leave for our Entertainment Department meeting, but we did socialize there for a bit.
The Dept meeting was short, so we had a nice long dinner before Natalie and I went to work. I was so glad we combined the groups tonight, because it was just insane. 2 of the tweens showed up, and most of the young ones. We could tell that they all were exhausted and should’ve been in bed. Two of the most tired little ones literally attached themselves to me, so I tried to keep them entertained playing games, but one of them just wasn’t having it. Then, another of the girls just refused to listen to anything Emily, Natalie, or I said to her. Then one of the boys started to go play xbox instead of the activity we were playing. It was all just crazy. One of the little boys who attached himself to my leg a few times ended up falling asleep on the couch. We had to talk to a lot of parents, some of them just didn’t want to be there, others we found out weren’t fully potty-trained, some were just too tired to be there, and some wouldn’t follow the rules. I really hope tomorrow is better, I don’t know if Emily is going to let us stay combined or not, maybe the little ones will be better in the smaller room, where there’s less to get into and make a mess. I don’t know.
I hadn’t slept well last night, and Natalie was on her third ship this contract (she was transferred from the Ryndam to the Eurodam to here in the last month) so she was exhausted. We clocked our hours (another new thing, but this is very good, we don’t have to wait until after midnight to clock our hours! We can do it as soon as we finish work!), then headed straight to the room for bed. We ended up talking for a long time, finding out we have a lot in common so that’s good!
This morning was a bit hectic. I had a difficult time getting to sleep last night, and then kept waking up at random times throughout the night, I think once was because the phone rang… once. HAL recently (as in the past month) came up with a new system of giving out flight and hotel information, however not everything is always included in that one little part of a document containing flights and the name of the hotel, like information about the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, AND information about the shuttle from hotel to ship. I asked the hotel when I arrived, but they didn’t know exactly what time the shuttle should be there, they said it usually comes around 8, so that’s what I planned for, really 7:45 just to be safe. So, I went to breakfast and around 7:20 I finished and started to head upstairs when I saw a shuttle pull in, and a nurse I know from one of the ships waiting in the lobby. She’d seen the shuttle too, and told me to hurry but that she’d tell them to wait on me. Made it to the ship just fine, but when we got to the terminal, apparently more has changed, we have to give up our passports and our medical passports before we even can get on the ship, so there were maybe 25 of us (a lot were apparently flown into Miami, so had different shuttles) in the small room with the x-ray machine, trying to fill out forms and form some sort of line to turn them in, get confirmed and get our stuff out of everyone else’s way. Crazy. So, I get on the ship, and to my room, next to my first room last contract, to find it full of stuff, hardly any room for my luggage, but I find space.
Not sure what to do for the next 2 hours until my meeting, I pull a blanket onto one of the beds to sit and read. The two girls come and go, one had to literally throw all her stuff in a suitcase because they were making frustrated calls over the PA system for all disembarking crew to go to the crew mess, and her stuff was everywhere. Finally, my meeting time came around, so I went to that. As I was coming back to the room from that, I met up with Emily, the YPC, she gave me a schedule and we talked for a bit before I ran off to change and get some lunch before Open House. My new roommate arrived just as I was leaving for lunch, so we talked for a minute and I ran off to get food. Only once I was there did I realize that I wasn’t really that hungry. I ate anyway and went upstairs to organize stuff for Open House. For the first hour, no one showed up, not even wandering by, so I sat there watching Finding Nemo. Natalie, my roommate and fellow Club HAL girl, came up and we talked for a while, then it got really busy, then really quiet, then really busy. It continued like that the rest of the afternoon, 4 families would come at once, and then no one would be there for 30 minutes.
After that hectic Open House (we have some interesting families onboard, lots of really little ones. As in half the kids onboard are 3 or 4), I returned to the room to unpack some and ended up talking with Natalie until she went to do wristbands, then we talked again as she unpacked before her meeting and before I had to go to the Sailaway Party (in the rain, luckily when we got there we were told we only had to stay for a little bit). Emily, Amanda (the librarian) and I then went up to the OB for a bit, where one of the cadets had invited us to eat pizza and watch Despicable Me with a group of random people. They ended up not starting the movie until after we had to leave for our Entertainment Department meeting, but we did socialize there for a bit.
The Dept meeting was short, so we had a nice long dinner before Natalie and I went to work. I was so glad we combined the groups tonight, because it was just insane. 2 of the tweens showed up, and most of the young ones. We could tell that they all were exhausted and should’ve been in bed. Two of the most tired little ones literally attached themselves to me, so I tried to keep them entertained playing games, but one of them just wasn’t having it. Then, another of the girls just refused to listen to anything Emily, Natalie, or I said to her. Then one of the boys started to go play xbox instead of the activity we were playing. It was all just crazy. One of the little boys who attached himself to my leg a few times ended up falling asleep on the couch. We had to talk to a lot of parents, some of them just didn’t want to be there, others we found out weren’t fully potty-trained, some were just too tired to be there, and some wouldn’t follow the rules. I really hope tomorrow is better, I don’t know if Emily is going to let us stay combined or not, maybe the little ones will be better in the smaller room, where there’s less to get into and make a mess. I don’t know.
I hadn’t slept well last night, and Natalie was on her third ship this contract (she was transferred from the Ryndam to the Eurodam to here in the last month) so she was exhausted. We clocked our hours (another new thing, but this is very good, we don’t have to wait until after midnight to clock our hours! We can do it as soon as we finish work!), then headed straight to the room for bed. We ended up talking for a long time, finding out we have a lot in common so that’s good!
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