Caribbean Holidays

So I ended the last post, “I’m now one step closer to dying.” I’m not going to say that anymore…read on for more…

I’ve been here for 6 weeks. Is that right? 6 weeks? That sounds like a long time, but everything still seems brand new. Although I am getting quite acclimated and comfortable, I’m still having a hard time with the holidays coming up. I had kind of hoped on just skipping over them until next year- I’m fine with not being home for Christmas if I pretend that no one is having Christmas on land. I only get sad when I think of Thanksgiving dinner at my house, getting up at 4 to shop with my parents the next day, Christmas eve at church and with friends, Christmas morning at my house, Christmas afternoon at my grandparent’s, and spending the next week with my family. Yeah…that’s when it hurts. What is it about Christmas? Oh well, 6 weeks down 21 more to go. Time really is going fast. My schedule out here is completely different to any work schedule on land…similar to SRT I guess, but still odd. I’m always on call so even though I worked until 2 am I still had to go fix something at 8 am this morning. But for the most part, I usually don’t have to be anywhere until 10 am. I’m only scheduled 2 or 3 hours a day and I set my schedule for the rest of the time. It’s rare that I leave the office before midnight. On port days I get up about the time I think they are going to clear the crew to get off and get back on about an hour before all aboard or when I run out of places to explore. This week had a much different itinerary than I am used to.

We left last Thursday at 4pm and didn’t get to San Juan until 4 pm on Sunday so we had 3 full days at sea. I don’t know how much news you watch, but you may recall something about hurricane/tropical storm in the Atlantic Thursday through Sunday. I can now officially say I lived through a hurricane. I heard the Captain say yesterday that the waves were certainly over 20 feet and most likely above 25. He said the winds were at speeds of a category 2 hurricane. Through the wind and the rain many sliding doors on the ship began to leak. I was delayed in filming a show as I found the entrance to the theater flooding and waited there to reroute guests until someone else could take my place. I spoke with guests after the show who were very concerned and afraid we were in danger. I assured them that everything was fine and that they would love sleeping as the ship rocked. I usually really like it when it’s rocky- it makes me tired and I always sleep great. Thursday night was a little much for me. It was so rocky that I couldn’t fall asleep then the giant television that was in my cabin when I moved in landed on top of me at 3 in the morning. I had no idea what was going on. It only scraped my elbow, but it sure did scare me. My television bounced off me and crashed to my floor while my fan careened off my cabin wall and landed on top of me. I wasn’t sure what had happened, so I switched on my light and jumped out of bed to make sure everything was alright. The television was so heavy that I could only push it off my bed but there was no way it was going back on the stand even if I could lift it. I sat my television stand/table back up and put my fan on it and went back to bed. Good luck sleeping after all of that. Had my television landed a few inches to the left it would have hit my head and most likely killed me…it was a big TV. I prayed a lot that night and I thanked God for his protection. I slept maybe 2 hours that night and that television no longer lives in my room…but it does still work thanks to me breaking its fall. My elbow wound has turned from a scab to a bruise and is almost gone.

Even with all that excitement, my cabin fared better than other parts of the ship. The liquor store apparently didn’t secure their cabinets/shelves/booze and they were closed all day Friday to clean up. Our panini maker is out of the mess now so I wonder if it took a fall- that’s probably the damage I’m most upset about…no more grilled cheese L. Nothing major though and we weren’t in danger.

After a few much calmer days at sea we arrived in our first port- San Juan. I’ve been to San Juan once already, but I only was able to go out for an hour. We were there at night this time so as soon as I finished watching the Steeler game I headed out to see if any shops were still open. I spent about an hour in a three-story Marshall’s before heading back to the pier. I go most places by myself but decided not to wonder in strange cities at night. I talked to my family for awhile as I sat on the pier (my cell phone bill is another entry altogether and you people need to get back to your regularly scheduled lives at some point…).

I was up on the pool deck filming an event as we pulled out of San Juan so that was cool to see. I like being in the Caribbean where islands are close together and you can see them in the distance as you pass.

When I woke up the next morning we were in St. Thomas. I have also been to St. Thomas before. I shopped and ate pizza last time, so it was time for something different. I have a friend leaving for vacation today so he wanted to go to Duffy’s one more time before he left. When I told the Cruise Director we were going to Duffy’s he said it was his favorite bar in the whole world and he takes all of his friends that cruise with him there. It was about a 30 minute cab ride away- oh yeah, cabs in St. Thomas are trucks with benches in the back covered by a roof but no sides. Oh yeah, St. Thomas is an island- islands are mountains in the ocean- therefore St. Thomas is mountainous (a little transitive property there for you…free of charge). Oh yeah, the aforementioned hurricane hit St. Thomas too and we passed/drove through a substantial amount of flooding. Oh yeah, 30 minutes is all it takes to get to the other side of the island. So if you put it all together I rode in the back of a pick up truck up and down flooded mountains across an entire island to get to the best bar in the world. Ta da…oh the life I lead. Duffy’s is famous for what they call the shark tank- it is a fishbowl full of a variety of rums and who-knows-what. You get 2 two sharks and several plastic skeletons in the tank as well. People get really excited for it. I was excited for my meal- a lobster roll. Due to a disastrous search for food in Portland, ME a few months back, I never got the lobster roll I had craved. Who would have guessed I would get one almost exactly 2 months later in St. Thomas? I must say I liked the company better back then…and I didn’t mind the lack of alcohol with toys in it.

The next day was Samana in the Dominican Republic. I had heard bad things about this port. I had also heard to not go by myself here. I have a friend that always go out alone as well so we teamed up this time. Samana was a tender port- you get off the big boat and onto a little boat to go to land- my first time tendering. The town was not nearly as bad as I had expected. I felt safe the whole time. However it doesn’t really look like a port of call for cruise ships- it looks like a mission’s trip destination. I actually made that comment when I was there- I think it would be great if we could have crew service projects. The cruise director said we sometimes do that in Haiti. Back to Samana- there were street performers and kids selling shells for money. Lots of people without shoes, stray dogs, and piles of trash everywhere. It was sad. Along the main road seemed fairly safe but the map I had didn’t seem to be entirely accurate so we didn’t go very far. Outside of town looked beautiful though- very jungley with a gorgeous waterfall nearby. The cabs were very expensive and we didn’t feel safe taking it just the two of us- I’ll do an excursion there next time. Maybe take the four wheelers to the waterfall- that sounds like me.

The next day was Labadee, Haiti. I loved and hated it. It’s beautiful! Spectacular beaches, warm weather, and lots of sunshine. The area we visit is like a local park. For my hometowners- think Two Mile Run in the Caribbean. Hiking/walking trails, swimming, sand volleyball courts, and picnic shelters. Oh, and the longest zip line over water in the world. For lunch that day we brought a bunch of provisions off the ship and had barbeques- hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, ribs, salads, fruit, and cookies. It was awesome! Those are clearly the reasons I loved it. It was also like Samana in some ways though. Outside of our resort area poverty reigns. We have an active donation program and it is here that we sometimes do service projects- so I’m looking forward to getting involved with that.

We were at sea since leaving Labadee at 5:00 Wednesday until our arrival in Cape Liberty on Saturday morning. Now we get to do it all over again. This time we’re doing a unique and brand new itinarary. I’ll be in Port Canaveral, FL on Tuesday and Nassau, Bahamas on Wednesday before spending Thanksgiving in CocoCay, Bahamas. I’m excited for my first trip to the Bahamas, but I was told last night that we don’t get Turkey on Thanksgiving. I really want some pumpkin pie…maybe I’ll get some in Florida on Tuesday.

Thanks for all the comments/encouragement you’ve been posting/emailing! Maintaining contact with the outside world is vital to my survival…well that may be dramatic, but it is vital to my sanity and wellbeing…so thank you. Happy Thanksgiving! I’m thankful for all of you. Please eat double for me this year. And get up the earliest you will all year on Friday to save 25% on Christmas gifts.

Now back to your regularly scheduled lives…