Merry Christmas!! Days 69 - 77: Florida, Key West, Cozumel, Honduras, Sea, Jamaica, Sea, Florida, Sea

December 24, 2011 13:26

I can't believe it's Christmas Eve.

It really feels like it was just yesterday that I came onboard and I really can't believe all that I've done in the past two and a half months. It really just seems surreal.  I think the other thing that makes today that much more odd is that I'm now half way through my contract. Another couple months and I'll be home again.  At this point I haven't got anything set in place for what I'm doing next other than sitting at home and playing video games for about a week and then going down south with some buddies.  As for as my next job goes I'm still completely undecided at what I want to do and what the right move is.  I could do another contract, try for Disney, a resort somewhere down here or look at a move to a big US city.  So many options so little time… 

Christmas onboard is an odd experience.  I woke up this morning and it was just like any other day whereas any other year today would be very unique if not routine.  Wake up, shower, head to my parents, make spaghetti, have our Wedgwood family over for Christmas Eve, drink some beer, play some Monopoly, watch Muppet Family Christmas, and head to bed.  My day today however is work 7-12, off 12-5 which I'm spending writing and soon to be napping, work 5-9, do our secret santa gift exchange during work, then after that have some drinks with my ship family to celebrate the evening. Very different.  This is the second year in a row I'm not going to be home for Christmas and I can safely say I don't like it. I need to find a way to be home for the Holidays next year.

Despite the fact I haven't written in over a week (yikes, the time's going fast) anyone that reads this hasn't really missed much.  I've been extremely tired pretty well all the time lately and have even skipped going out in a port to catch up on some precious sleep.  That being said I had one of my best days onboard on our last cruise when were at Isla de Roatan, Honduras.

Isla de Roatan is a small island off the coast of Honduras and is primarily spanish speaking.  The last time we were here my shift had to stay onboard so I didn't get a chance to see more than I could see through the window.  This time however we had the whole day off so we hopped a cab and headed for the beach.  At the beach we were greeted by two things that right away told me it was going to be a good day. First the sand was pure white and as soft as icing sugar. Second I found a guy selling 3 beer for $5; jackpot.  We grabbed lunch at a restaurant on the beach where I had some coconut shrimp done with fresh coconut before heading out for a swim.  During the swim we decided we were going to fork over some cash to go for a ride on a big inflatable that gets drug behind a motorboat.  This thing looked like a big yellow banana and sat six.  We loaded up and headed straight out from the beach.  With 6 people and no real means of balance it was clear right away that we weren't likely to stay dry on this ride.  This was quickly realized when they took the first turn and we flipped off into the ocean all getting a healthy helping of sea water at the same time.  When we went over there were so many bodies flailing around that I just covered my head and waited for my life jacket to bring me to the surface; what a rush!  As we got the salt water out of our eyes we realized that we were floating in the clearest water I've ever seen.  It was a deep blue as you looked down but so clear that you could count the wrinkles on your toes.  We loaded back up and got a bit better at balancing but still ate it two more times with some of the girls loosing their bottoms along the way. Luckily they didn't completely lose them… They found them quickly around their knees and after a short yelling/laughing fit re-secured their swim wear.  When we returned to the beach I went to find my cheap beer man before logging on the beach until we had to return to the ship. It was one of those days that makes me grateful to be where I am right now.

Aside from that it was business as usual onboard.  I did however realize how quickly the remainder of my contract is going to go.  From here on out there's all dates I'll be looking forward to.  Jan 1: New Year's Day in Cozumel, Jan 6-9: "Holy Ship" DJ cruise with Fatboy Slim among others, Jan 9-14: "Jam Cruise" another rock type cruise, Feb 11-18: Mom and Dad come for a cruise, Feb 23: My birthday, and then I'm finished on March 17th.  If I thought the first half of my contract went by quickly I'm guessing I haven't seen anything yet.  

That being said, if you or someone you know wants to hire me come April let me know. I'm always looking for my next challenge.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Days 64 - 68: Grenada, Fort de France, Sint Maarten, Sea, Bahamas

December 15, 2011 22:33

To say I'm exhausted from this cruise would be an understatement.

I think I best summed it up when I was talking to a buddy on Monday night after Fort de France and told him that on Tuesday I was heading to the beach from 8 til 11 then working from 12 til 5 and 8 til 12 then heading straight to a crew party until 2 and then working from 8 - 1 Wednesday and that I was already looking forward to the nap I was going to have Wednesday afternoon…

That small sample of schedule is pretty much how the entire cruise went; work, shore, work, sleep and then repeat. It was a lot of fun and a great few days but it just kills you after a while. That being said I wouldn't change a thing.

Grenada was stunning and it's a shame we had such little time there and don't return again. I had done zero research and as a result was completely blown away when I walked off the gangway and was greeted by pure blue water fringed by rolling green hills speckled with light coloured houses with red roofs. Grenada is known as the spice island and it was instantly clean why. First of all every two steps you took someone was trying to sell you spices and secondly the whole place smelled like nutmeg. It definitely wins the prize for the best smelling island as well as most picturesque. We only had a couple hours so Stacey, Tina and I set out into town and headed for a fort on top of a hill in the middle of town. The walk up was killer, especially with the lack of exercise I get onboard but it was worth it. From the fort we had an incredible vantage point over the whole island. Unfortunately other than walking around town a bit after this was all we really had time for which is a shame because after we got back to the ship we found out there was a pretty amazing beach just a short water taxi ride away.

Fort de France was another port we didn't have a lot of time in but Anatollio, Viki and I found a way to make the most of it. We headed straight into town in search of breakfast and swimming. Conveniently we found both in their nearby downtown. We grabbed McDonald's for breakfast and some fast internet before heading across the street for a swim in the warm and clear water. I took the snorkel out and at first it didn't seem like there was going to be much to it until I came across 3 small crabs no bigger than a toonie fighting over a piece of meat. I stopped swimming and hung around to watch the show but almost as soon as I got there a little fish about 4" long swam up, stole the meat and swam away. The poor little crabs just stood there as if they had just found out there wasn't a Santa Clause. At this point I turned around and realized that there was a whole school of these little fish and they proceeded to follow me around. They were just as curious of me as I was of them because I would swim down they'd swim up to check me out and if I stood still for a while they'd come up and nibble at my feet. After this I swam over near a dock and found some wild urchins and something that looked like anemones that when you got too close to sucked back into it's little tube thing that anchored it to the rocks. Not too snabby for a place I didn't think I'd see anything.

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten is another port that it's a shame we don't return to. It's definitely the most cruise friendly port we've been too as within a 20min walk you pass every shop and restaurant you could imagine and then come to an endless white sand beach. It was another day where we worked in the afternoon so we tore off the ship at 8am to meet up with a regular passenger who had kindly offered to show us the way. This was especially nice because it's pretty normal to waste a good 30mins in a new port just trying to figure out where to go and how to get there. We spent the morning on the beach and lounging in the warm water. I literally spent 3 hours in the water before going back to the ship for a quick shower before starting work.

That night we had a crew party which actually wasn't that exciting but just getting every one together for a few drinks and some dancing isn't too bad. The only problem is they played the same drum and bass music all night that for all I know might as well of been the same song on repeat. Also during these parties it's a second hand smokers paradise as these people smoke cigarette after cigarette. Gross. I stunk when I left the party. Mind you I did finally make a lady friend so I guess it wasn't all for not. :)

On the sea day I finally got my 2 hour nap I talked about at the beginning of the post. Mind you 2 hours felt like 2 minutes before I was headed back to yet again.

Today we were back in Nassau where once again the weather didn't cooperate. So instead of lounging on the beach it turned into drinking at a bar by the beach. Not a bad compromise. :) Tonight at work was crazy. In my four hour shift I spent a grand total of 15 minutes out front because I had so much work to catch up on for the end of this cruise and the start of the next. The annoying part was for the last half hour when I was just trying to get finished up and get out of there I kept getting called out front because I was the only one in the office who spoke French. Luckily all the guests were relatively easy but I still ended up sticking around for an extra 30mins to get everything wrapped up.

Needless to say I'm more than ready for the next cruise.

View from the top of Grenada

One of the many roofless churches in Grenada

Up on the fort in Grenada

Grenada

This was the first thing I saw when I walked off the gangway in Grenada

Where we went swimming in Fort de France

My view for the day in Fort de France

The beach in Sint Maarten

Looking back at the 4 ships that were docked in Sint Maarten

Our little crab buddy that welcomed us to Sint Maarten

Days 61-63: Sea, Puerto Rico, Antigua

December 11, 2011 01:26 (2 months onboard!)

Hmm, normally the beginning of these posts come fairly easily as there's some overall theme or issue to cover. This time around however I stared at a blank screen for 5 minutes before writing this nonsense. I guess that's probably a good thing actually. Life onboard is still on the up and up and the past 3 days have been pretty good over all so I guess I'll get right into recapping the past few days.

The 2nd sea day of this cruise was actually pretty uneventful. I finally got a morning shift which was a nice change after working til 12 five nights in a row. The work day was pretty boring. Personally I haven't had any major complaints to deal with which has made some of my shifts really drag on but I'm certainly not too upset about that. The girls are all still crazy and wonderful each in their own unique way so that at least keeps me occupied.

What we did manage to accomplish on the 2nd sea day was the arrival of Christmas on the Poesia! We spent the night decorating and getting ready for Christmas onboard. It was nice to have everyone in good spirits as we prepped for the holidays.

Yesterday we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico which is now officially one of my favourite ports. First of all it's one of the first places we've been where there isn't a gauntlet of locals trying to sell you everything under the sun when you get off, secondly it's just a cool place. All the buildings are painted brilliant pastel colours and in the old part of town where we were the streets are all stone bricks and just a short walk away puts you onto of the city walls with an incredible view of the surrounding area.

We found a true hole in the wall for lunch. We just happened to stumble onto a little place recessed off the street and plenty of locals and next to no English inside. Perfect. A true sign of a good place to eat is no sign of tourists and lots of locals. I had caramelized plantains, rice and beans and this thing called mofongo. Mofongo is seasoned beef that's served in a bowl made of mashed plantains and garlic. Everything was amazing. I've quickly learned that Caribbean food is meant to me eaten all together. When you have one thing on it's own it's never really that good but when you mix it all together that's when the flavours really come out. So far it's been a culinary experience being down here and I'm loving every second of it.

Today we were in St John, Antigua and for a place we only go to once that I had high hopes for I have to say I was disappointed. The weather was crappy which didn't help so we didn't head to a beach which I'm sure would have made it much better so Tina and I just found a place for lunch and then wandered around town for a bit. On the plus side I found another good local meal. We went off the heated track a bit and I ended up getting a plate of chicken, spare ribs, and a mixed/fried rice. I wish I was better at explaining how things taste but all I can really say again was that there was a ton of flavour and I loved it.

The city of St John itself was pretty run down and dirty. One of the first things we saw was a huge rat that had been run over and was squashed in the road and it didn't really get better from there. Down both sides of the street is their gutter and possibly their sewer system because I didn't see anything to imply they had anything else in place for drainage/sewage. The water that flowed down both sides was nasty looking and smelled like old garbage. When we walked back we found the "tourist area" loaded with shops that I'm sure most of the locals don't even come close to shopping at. I always find it so strange to find all the upscale stores and boutiques in these poor cities, it's kinda sad really. It's almost like we're just rubbing it in their faces that they can't afford these things.

Tonight was pretty chill. Had a couple beers in the crew bar before going up to the disco on 13 to get outside for a bit. It was so amazing out. The water was completely still and the moon was full. Just another one of those moments that reminds me that life aint so bad after all.

Days 54 - 60: Panama, Sea, Jamaica, Sea, Florida, Sea

December 7, 2011 at 19:22

Ok, ok so I've been slacking at the blog again.  I've been getting shit for a couple days to write more so I guess I had better do just that.  To be fair it's been a pretty uneventful few days. Come to think of it I think that's a good thing. Or maybe it's bad because the last cruise seemed like it dragged on FOREVER.  Def didn't help that we had an average age of 80ish onboard.  Yikes.

It was nice to go back to Panama, but this time instead of racing out at the crack of dawn to wander all over hoping to eventually wind up back at the ship, I slept in a bit then went out with my laptop to the same place for lunch we went when we were last here.  Where we dock in Cristobal it's pretty dirty and smelly but the area right at the dock is so heavily tourist driven that's it's fairly clean. Mind you on the other side of the street are empty lots filled with garbage.  I had a nice chill couple of hours while I caught up on the internet, chatted with Dad for a bit, and had a nice lunch of coffee, a sandwich, and of course a Panama beer before having to head back on board for a shower and work. Back to the grind.

A shining light on these days was the fact that there were a couple birthday's onboard so there was another party the night we left Panama.  Party's happen so rarely that people tend to go all out for them.  Officers and crew get dressed to the nines to party in a tiny room, this time down no deck 2 and no one blinks an eye as the drinks are passed around and the clock moves on.  The only real bummer for me was that I worked at 7 the next day and when the party ended at 2am we kept it going for another few hours.  I didn't make it to bed until around 4:30 which meant my 6:30 alarm came WAY too soon.  Either way I survived the morning and dove into bed on my break and managed to get more sleep in the afternoon that I had got the night before. Oh life on the ship.

We had another safety drill in Jamaica and instead of rushing out again for an hour or so this time I just took it easy afterwards while waiting for work so nothing to report there. And with another Sea day until we were back in Florida it was business as usual as we explained disembarkation about one million times before we got to say goodbye to our elderly friends yesterday.

There are certain things that just need to be done when we're state side and as a result I'm starting to develop a bit of a routine while in Fort Lauderdale.  This time around I finally got a bank account setup so I'm able to get some of this cash out of my possession and back up north so I can actually start using it to pay off some bills.  From there I went back to my new favourite diner for another normal breakfast of bacon and eggs and some reliable internet.  I had a nice FaceTime with mom and dad before power walking back to the ship to start another hellish 11 hour embarkation day.  

It's funny thinking back to when I worked at the Marriott Harbourfront and the Delta Beausejour when a busy day was 150-200 arrivals or when I was at the Courtyard and busy 60 arrivals.  Now we've had days where we've brought on as many as 3,000 people into 1,275 rooms so a normal day like yesterday where we bring in 2,500 people is a walk in the park.  Crazy how a little perspective and experience can change everything.

Today we were  back to a regular busy sea day but it's even more tiring for me this go around on account of the group of 400 from Quebec which means lots and lots of speaking French for yours truly.  On the plus side my French is getting better every day. On the down side I'm exhausted but I guess that's not really anything new.  Tonight on my break I went to see our "Extraordinaire" show in the theatre.  Before this I'd only seen a few small snippets of the other shows and was pleasantly surprised by the talents I've been living with for the past two months.  Dancers, singers, jugglers, a trapeze act and everything in between.  I'm thinking it's time to start checking out a few more of the shows we've got to offer on board.

Most importantly I think anyone reading this post and my past few can see that things have turned around for me lately. Ship life has been much better since Aruba and I'm doing everything in my power to keep it that way.  Right now, with the exception of Patrick who's on nights, I'm the only guy working directly with 10 other women.  What does this mean? It means from my boss, to the group coordinator, and all the girls on the line, there's always some form of drama to diffuse or someone who just wants some attention to help them get through the day.  I'm embracing the roll because the happier they all are the smoother things run and the happier I am as a result.  It's kinda like the old saying "happy wife, happy life". Mind you whoever came up with with probably didn't have 10 wives…

Ciao!

Days 52-53: Aruba and Columbia

December 1, 2011 22:34 (Holy shit I can't believe it's December already!)

So saying the past week or two haven't been the best is an understatement. Luckily yesterday and today was the best 48hours I've spent on board and I didn't even go out today.

Yesterday started early as we got into Oranjestad, Aruba at 7am. This is the only time we go this season so we knew we only had one shot to make a great day of it. Only problem was when we got the weather the day before it called for rain and a chance of thunderstorms… bummer. BUT as I already said these two days were amazing so do you think the rain came? Hell no! Not only did it not rain but it was 35C and sunny. A perfect day.

We left the ship and found a cab that was willing to take us to the beach for $3 per person. After a 10-15 min drive we found ourselves in their downtown at a beautiful beach populated with resorts like Westin and Hyatt. The water was an brilliant aqua and although too cloudy to snorkel it was perfect in the heat. After a dip and a nap in the sun Tina, Roby, and got to play some beach volleyball with some locals and other tourists. This was especially great because beach volleyball is all that Tina's been saying she's wanted to do since we got down south and for me I got to remember what it's like to sweat because of exercise.

At this point we were hot, sweaty, hungry and thirsty so we tore into the ocean again before walking over to Hyatt's bar. I had a Mojito and the most amazing fish tacos before heading back for even more swimming before we had to catch a cab back to the ship. While we were packing up I had a chat with a local selling tours and asked him a bit about the area. He told me that houses 10-20 mins from the beach go for as low as 50k and that Aruba's revenue was 80% tourism. Hmm cheap housing, high tourism demand, AND a Hyatt on the beach. I think I need to see if they're hiring… ;)

Work, as always, was tough after a day in the sun but our saving grace was that since all the guests had also been out in the sun all day they were in their cabins resting instead of at reception giving us a hard time while we recovered.

After work we headed to the crew bar where I was reminded by one of the Andreas (pronounced Andrae-a) that it was our name day and they were going to be celebrating in the bar. Now being from North America I don't know anything about name days but after experiencing my first one I can say I'm a fan. December 1st St Andrew/Andrea's day so people with those names are celebrated. There were 5 or 6 Andrea's plus me so we had a nice little crew of 20-30 in our bar celebrating. For a change we actually had music, and dancing which lasted until about 3:30 this morning. Needless to say there were a lot of happy and tired people around the ship today. I was exhausted getting to work but it was totally worth it.

Today I didn't get off but I got to work with my old shift again which is always a good time. On our two hour break tonight Tina, Roby, and I ate in the fine dining restaurant again and once again was blown away with the food. This time I had scallops, a lobster pasta, angus steak, and coconut cake. Let's just say my pants didn't fit right after and I couldn't stop smiling. To top it all off I was off at 10 tonight and now I'm off to the crew bar to grab some brewskis for Drewski. Ciao!