Well, I’m back to work. After a great 10 weeks at home, I’ve now been back at sea for over a week now. I switched ships for this contract. I knew that things would be a little different this time. This ship is smaller and things are laid out differently and I only knew a couple people that would be here instead of nearly everyone on my old ship. But I had no idea how hard it would actually be. I managed to find my way around alright. The floor plan is very strange, but it has similarities to the old ship so it wasn’t too bad. So far the worst part has been my cabin situation.
For some reason, I was brought on as an extra for my first week- we call this handover. Basically I just follow around the person I am replacing- ask questions, learn from him, etc. It’s helpful since you don’t have to jump right into the events during your first week. I found it a little comical though. I had just done 4 months running the broadcast department, and I demoted myself back to being an assistant yet I had this week of learning. It was really nice and relaxing for me. However, due to this handover, I couldn’t get into my permanent cabin until this cruise. The day I signed on they put me in a double occupancy crew cabin and introduced me to my roommate. It took a couple hours for me to start fighting that. According to my contract I don’t have to share a room, but they kept telling me they were to full and they had no other beds for me. Finally, late my first night, they told me they had a guest cabin available. So as I went to move my suitcases from Deck 2 to Deck 8 I found the watertight doors closed. These doors are used in emergencies to seal off compartments. For example if the ship ever hit something and we starting taking on water these doors would close to prevent the whole ship from filling up with water. However, this ship closes these doors every night. So at 11:00 at night, a solid steel door stood between my suitcases and the elevator. I could still access the elevator, but I had to climb a flight of stairs first. In a normal situation this is not a big deal, but in the last 48 hours I had moved all my luggage from my house to my parent’s car, from their car into the airport, from San Juan airport to hotel transport, from the transport to my hotel room, back to the transport in the morning, then into the cruise terminal, then from the middle of the ship into my first cabin. Now I had to walk them upstairs and put them in my new cabin. It was a hassle, but I was so happy to have my own space- finally!
I retired to my room at the end of my second day absolutely exhausted. I still had to go out later and film the Cruise Director, but I had a few hours off. So I swapped my formal wear for my pjs and crawled into bed to read for awhile. Half an hour into my break I got a call that I had to leave the guest cabin ASAP. So I packed my bags…again. And moved them back into my original cabin. However, it was nighttime again so I couldn’t take the elevator all the way to my deck so I had to carry my suitcases down the same set of stairs. It was then that I decided to just share the cabin for the week. Just the act of moving everyday was exhausting.
But yesterday I had to move again. I have finally moved into my permanent cabin. Well, permanent for the 9 weeks I have left here.
As I noted earlier I met my ship in San Juan. Since we sail from there many of our guests speak Spanish. To accommodate that, most of the entertainment staff is bilingual with Spanish as their first language. Everyone is very friendly and will invite me to sit with them at meals, hang out with them, etc. However in a matter of minutes they are all back to speaking Spanish as I sit there quietly. I really should have paid more attention in Spanish class back in high school I guess! Hopefully I will find some English speakers soon.
By the end of this week I will visit all of the ports that my time on this ship will take me to. I have been to most of them before, but I visited St. Croix for the first time last week. I spent all of my time near the pier in Frederiksted. There is an old fort in town that I toured and took many pictures (sorry, I left my camera onboard today so you will have to wait for those). St Croix has more mahogany trees than any other island so there was also a mahogany furniture exhibit in the fort. One wing of the fort had a photography exhibit. I think a local photographer recently won an award so they were featuring his work. Walking through this exhibit I spotted a picture of a bird pooping for only $150. I guess it takes some type of skill to capture that exact moment for posterity, but who would buy that? Where would you put it? And for $150? If that’s how much bird poop is worth my car is worth a fortune!!!!!!!
After the fort I was in search of Turtle Deli. I read an ad that said they had been voted best sandwiches in the Virgin Islands. I walked along the beach until I saw a large turtle statue and there it was. I ordered my enormous sandwich and sat at a patio table facing the beach and steps from the sand. The view was amazing, the sandwich delicious, and that is the first place I have found in the islands that carries Dt. Mountain Dew. I sat there enjoying the view and Dew all afternoon.
At the end of this cruise I visit Aruba and Curacao for the first time. I’ll let you know if they sell strange artwork as well.
