Ok. So no more mention of my life being groundhog day. I’d rather groundhog day than what happened on-board on Sunday.
Everything went pretty normally for sail away – we have auditiors on board this week so there was a lot of pressure to “do things right” but everything was going well. I finished sail away party and returned to my room. I was reading the new books I ordered from amazon.com – the joy of origami and dollar bill origami. I had just found a dollar bill and was putting the first fold in my origami moth when… complete darkness.
Now, as you know I have an inside cabin so the darkness was total. I just sat there for a few seconds. Then I heard Mark in the corridor “what’s going on , then”. I found my way to the door and thankfully, when I opened it , the emergency lights were on. We went to visit Collette, who has a nice window in her deputy cruise director cabin and also some chips. It was odd to just sit there but we had to wait to be advised by the captain. When no announcement (or crew alert signal) came, we sat back and relaxed- realsing that it was a power shortage and that, whilst uncommon, it was nothing to really worry about- the engine room would get the generators back on soon.
It was surreal, the Emerald Princess dead in the water. All the elevators returned to deck 7 and went out of use (thank goodness no one was stuck). You could still see Miami in the distance. Eventually the captain notified us and the passengers that we were having engine difficulties and that they were being fixed. Cruise Director gave us all to go out on deck and swan, allaying the fears of passengers and checking that everyone was ok. It was actually really nice up on deck, all the passengers walking around in the late afternoon sunshine. I was chatting to some really cool people when:
“this is the bridge, assessment party assessment party proceed to deck 11, zone 4, passenger staircase”.
The bridge calls an assessment party when smoke detectors or some other indicator shows that there could be a fire. Having been in the staircase on deck 11 only four minutes before, I became disturbed. I made my way to the same staircase on deck 15 and craned my neck down to see if I could witness any drama, but there was nothing. However, because I was there I got roped in to guarding the staircase and stopping people from going down. It turned out that the assessment party was called because someone smelled burning, and a fuse in the elevator shaft had blown. Thank goodness.
But we still weren’t moving. Eventually the majority of the power came back on (bvut not the air conditioning) and we returned to our rooms to get ready for the Welcome Aboard Show. By this time, The ship had started to get really hot- with no A/C to cool the rooms and passengers leaving doors open and constantly going out on to deck. It was getting stifling. And my formal uniform is a polyester long sleve top and a polyester jacket. SWEATY. I was on doors, so I was swannign around in the theatre at 8pm when… total blackout. Passengers seated in the theatre were not impressed. We joked around with them and Mark & I sung Proud Mary (with dance moves). The ship started to get really hot.
Over the next few hours the power was constantly going on and off as the engine room tried to b ring the fourth generator back online. We were running around, getting water for disabled passengers, swanning the people sitting in the theatre, assisting passengers. Most people were uncomfortable, but a lot of people with mobility difficulties were stranded on whatever floor they were on when the elevators first stopped working. I spent half an hour helping a gentleman with a respirator up the stairs. His family were there with him and we had to get him from deck 6 to deck 14. He kept pushing himself and couldn’t breathe and it was really scary. But he made it.
Afterwards I played my ukeulele for people and made them sing & bought lots of people water. The heat was stifling. At 10pm, Tim called us to the office and put on some activities. There was a quiz, a gameshow, putt putt challenge in the piazza and I was doing paper flower making in the wheelhouse bar... in the dim emergency lighting… at 10:30pm!! That’s the most hardcore my paper flower making class will ever get!
But at 10:35pm, full power came back. They reset the theatre and we did the welcome aboard show at 11pm. For a greatful and appreciative crowd who showed unusual dedication for seeing the WABS. Bless them.
However, as I was onstage at 11:30pm, I missed my 18-20’s get together in Skywalkers… for which I feel really bad. Hopefully they forgive me.
What a day. But it wasn’t over yet. Sitting in Horizon Court eating chicken at 12:15am, the Captain made an announcement that due to the delay we would not be stopping at Princess Cays. Which means 2 sea days in a row! EEK!!
When I woke up the next morning, it seemed as if the whole thing had been a dream. Everything on board is back to normal (apart from the whole two sea days thing). I must say I was so impressed by the passengers on Sunday, 95% of them maintained a positive attitude and kept smiling. The engine room were amazing – I can’t imagine how stressful the whole event must have been for them. It is absolutely wonderful that we are sailing en-route to St Maarten today because of their hard work. Also, the galley staff – imagine no air-conditioning in a windowless galley. They are absolute champions.
But the best news is that everything is back to normal. The Emerald Princess sails again! With extra time in St. Maarten (and me on IPM).
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
what is this 7 day cruise, though?
I just realised, upon writing down the 10 day runs, that I have never actually shared what the 7 day runs are!!
Eastern
Turnaround (fort Lauderdale)
Crazy day. Passengers disembark 6:30am – 10am. New Passengers embark 11:30am to 4pm. Cruise staff on the gangway all day. We have a Passenger Drill at 4pm-4:45pm where every passenger assembles in their designated muster station and there is a full safety demonstration. At 5pm, We have Sail Away Party at Neptune’s Reef pool on deck 15. We give out lots of prizes and make people to dance. I usually have my 18-20’s get together at this time. At 8:30 and 10:30pm we have “Grand Adventure Showtime”(otherwise known as WABS – welcome aboard show). Cruisestaff parade on the stage of the Princess theatre, act like idiots and dance with the dancers and then we are all introduced by tim. I am usually the “Thunder from Downunder” with more energy than the city of Las Vegas. Mark is the ship’s Gigolo. I always try and get the running man and thriller dance in. Normally I’ll have Rock’N”Roakie between WABSs – which is Karaoke with a live band in Explorer’s Lounge. Passengers constantly ask where the Bathroom is by loudly saying “BATHROOM?”. Passengers also ask where the Princess theatre is when they are standing under the sign that says “Princess Theatre”, or occasionally whilst standing IN the 800 seat princess theatre.
Princess Cays (Bahamas)
Princess Cays is Princess’s own island. There is a beach, an awesome BBQ and some snorkelling – but it’s a nice relaxing day for the Passengers. Princess Cays is tender port, meaning the IPM team have to stand in the Michaelangelo dining room and hand out numbered tender tickets to EVERY PASSENGER that wants to go ashore. For 4 hours. The pullback team have to stand in the sun on Princess Cays and say “welcome to Princess Cays”. Mostly I just try to make them dance to the reggae band that is there. Also watermelon carving. And Pina Coladas on the beach. And little yellow fishies with black spots. We tend to make up songs about where to find the beach rentals to the Bob Marley songs the band are playing. No Clamshell no Cry. Once a passenger asked “where’s the beach?” to which the head of security replied “you’re standing on it”. Country Western Theme Night
Sea Day
I’ve written about sea days before. Sea days are manic. 3400 pax on board with no where to go- so we have to give them something to do. Ceramics especially. I like to call our ceramics “Bikram Ceramics” because like Bikram yoga, it’s about 40 degrees in the ceramics area. I say that you have to suffer for your craft. 50’s/60’s sock hop theme night.
St Maarten/St Martin
The island of St Maarten is very small but is half dutch (Netherlands Antillies) and half French. The French side is the classiest place on the whole 2 week run. St Maarten is a shopping mecca. There is also a burger king, mc donalds and KFC somewhere. Last week we had a waterfight party there at the Get Wet Bar. Normally I go to the free internet at a café called the green hosue and eat jerk chicken. I have done an island tour of St Maarten and visited the Butterfly Farm where an extremely eccentric British gentleman lives, growing butterflies to export as food (his butterflies were served at the Beijing Olympics). Wednesday night is always ISLAND NIGHT (the big deck party that involves a lot of dances and sweating) and is the night that my music gameshow is on. I have recently added impersonations to my gameshow. Carol Channing anyone?
St Thomas, US virgin isalnds
Like st Maarten, but more annoying due to the cruise ship dock being a taxi ride away from town. There are many iguanas living there. Lots of shops. Also a Green House Café with free internet. Lots of Pirate stuff. I have never had the chance to do a tour of St Thomas due to the fact we ALWAYS have crew drills on St. Thomas. Pub Night is this night, so we don't get to bed until after 1am.
Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands (UK)
Grand turk is a gem of a place. It is a tiny sand island with scrubby trees, salt pans and a wicked beach right where the ships dock. 3000 people live there. The world’s largest Margharitaville is there, and the first manned US space craft splashed down just 2k off the coast. They only got cars in the 1980’s and until then everyone got around on horseback. When cars arrived, they just turned the horses and donkeys loose and now they roam free and happy. You have to walk through the gift shop to get back to the ship. There is a bar there called Jack’s Shack where ALL the crew go, owned by two awesome/crazy people and their golden doodle (golden retriever/poodle) called topher. Jack’s shack is a little shack right on the beach with jerk chicken and diving equipment. I always get sea water in my beer from swimming whilst drinking. We have the best times at Jack’s Shack.
In grand turk, I have done a kayaking eco tour and swum with the stingrays. Grand Turk is Rad. Also, it’s FRIGHT NIGHT THEME NIGHT on Fridays – MY FAVOURITE ONE!
-
Sea Day
usually involves a 9am start for me running the Susan G Kormen “on deck for the cure” 5k walk. This I love. 8 laps of promenade deck for the passengers and I stand and cheer with my boom box and party music. At the start, I get a breast cancer survivor (we always have at least 3 walking) to cut the ribbon. A few weeks ago, we had a male breast cancer survivor walk with us. Last week we raised $600 for breast cancer research. The final sea day also involves the end of the cruise long scavenger hunt, boat building competition and ceramics pick up. Sometimes, I will be the host for the Ultimate Ship Tour (TUST) which is an awesome awesome (but expensive) tour of the ship. Limited to 12 people, we visit the theatre, the galley, the food storage, the engine control room, laundry, the bridge, the mooring deck, the smoke stack. It’s awesome – and we get freshly squeezed orange juice and fresh fresh coconut macaroons. It goes for 4 hours. I love TUST. Normally I’ll have a trivia and rock’n’roakie – and also the piazza partyfrom 11:30-ish, where we dance and go crazy with thepassengers in the piazza as evolution plays. It is such a nice way to end the cruise, I dance there looking up 3 storey into the opulent piazza, seeing the passengers dancing and having fun with the cool music and the lights and it’s the best feeling. It’s a nice way to say bye to your new friends as well.. I miss some passengers a lot.
Western
Everything is the same between the two weeks, only the ports are different
Fort Lauderdale
o Always extreme
Princess cays
o As above
At sea
o My gosh!
Ocho Rios (Jamaica)
Hmm… ocho rios is… hmm… I’ve written about it before – it is a completely beautiful place but the people are really unpleasant. Dunn’s River Falls & Island Village are the highlights.
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Grand cayman is a BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL PLACE! It has great shops, lovely people and is extremely classy. Normally, we’ll go to the coffeeshop that looks suspiciously like starbucks for a coffee and free internet, then to Hammerheads on the waterfront for lunch. It’s a nice place. There is an entire shop of Havianas. The only thing that is bad about grand cayman is that it is a tender port. UGH tender boats.
- Cozumel.
o I LOVE COZUMEL!! Such good knick knack shopping is rarely seen! Mayan ruins, CHECK, beautiful beaches, CHECK, awesome scuba diviing, CHECK. It’s all there- plus the people are friendly and the food is GOOD. Passengers are always wheeled back on from senor frogs in wheelchairs, too drunk to walk. 80's theme night on cozumel, but the ship is very quiet that evening due to passengers passing out.
Sea day
o Oh no!
Fort Lauderdale.
And that is my life. For the next 7 weeks.
Eastern
Turnaround (fort Lauderdale)
Crazy day. Passengers disembark 6:30am – 10am. New Passengers embark 11:30am to 4pm. Cruise staff on the gangway all day. We have a Passenger Drill at 4pm-4:45pm where every passenger assembles in their designated muster station and there is a full safety demonstration. At 5pm, We have Sail Away Party at Neptune’s Reef pool on deck 15. We give out lots of prizes and make people to dance. I usually have my 18-20’s get together at this time. At 8:30 and 10:30pm we have “Grand Adventure Showtime”(otherwise known as WABS – welcome aboard show). Cruisestaff parade on the stage of the Princess theatre, act like idiots and dance with the dancers and then we are all introduced by tim. I am usually the “Thunder from Downunder” with more energy than the city of Las Vegas. Mark is the ship’s Gigolo. I always try and get the running man and thriller dance in. Normally I’ll have Rock’N”Roakie between WABSs – which is Karaoke with a live band in Explorer’s Lounge. Passengers constantly ask where the Bathroom is by loudly saying “BATHROOM?”. Passengers also ask where the Princess theatre is when they are standing under the sign that says “Princess Theatre”, or occasionally whilst standing IN the 800 seat princess theatre.
Princess Cays (Bahamas)
Princess Cays is Princess’s own island. There is a beach, an awesome BBQ and some snorkelling – but it’s a nice relaxing day for the Passengers. Princess Cays is tender port, meaning the IPM team have to stand in the Michaelangelo dining room and hand out numbered tender tickets to EVERY PASSENGER that wants to go ashore. For 4 hours. The pullback team have to stand in the sun on Princess Cays and say “welcome to Princess Cays”. Mostly I just try to make them dance to the reggae band that is there. Also watermelon carving. And Pina Coladas on the beach. And little yellow fishies with black spots. We tend to make up songs about where to find the beach rentals to the Bob Marley songs the band are playing. No Clamshell no Cry. Once a passenger asked “where’s the beach?” to which the head of security replied “you’re standing on it”. Country Western Theme Night
Sea Day
I’ve written about sea days before. Sea days are manic. 3400 pax on board with no where to go- so we have to give them something to do. Ceramics especially. I like to call our ceramics “Bikram Ceramics” because like Bikram yoga, it’s about 40 degrees in the ceramics area. I say that you have to suffer for your craft. 50’s/60’s sock hop theme night.
St Maarten/St Martin
The island of St Maarten is very small but is half dutch (Netherlands Antillies) and half French. The French side is the classiest place on the whole 2 week run. St Maarten is a shopping mecca. There is also a burger king, mc donalds and KFC somewhere. Last week we had a waterfight party there at the Get Wet Bar. Normally I go to the free internet at a café called the green hosue and eat jerk chicken. I have done an island tour of St Maarten and visited the Butterfly Farm where an extremely eccentric British gentleman lives, growing butterflies to export as food (his butterflies were served at the Beijing Olympics). Wednesday night is always ISLAND NIGHT (the big deck party that involves a lot of dances and sweating) and is the night that my music gameshow is on. I have recently added impersonations to my gameshow. Carol Channing anyone?
St Thomas, US virgin isalnds
Like st Maarten, but more annoying due to the cruise ship dock being a taxi ride away from town. There are many iguanas living there. Lots of shops. Also a Green House Café with free internet. Lots of Pirate stuff. I have never had the chance to do a tour of St Thomas due to the fact we ALWAYS have crew drills on St. Thomas. Pub Night is this night, so we don't get to bed until after 1am.
Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands (UK)
Grand turk is a gem of a place. It is a tiny sand island with scrubby trees, salt pans and a wicked beach right where the ships dock. 3000 people live there. The world’s largest Margharitaville is there, and the first manned US space craft splashed down just 2k off the coast. They only got cars in the 1980’s and until then everyone got around on horseback. When cars arrived, they just turned the horses and donkeys loose and now they roam free and happy. You have to walk through the gift shop to get back to the ship. There is a bar there called Jack’s Shack where ALL the crew go, owned by two awesome/crazy people and their golden doodle (golden retriever/poodle) called topher. Jack’s shack is a little shack right on the beach with jerk chicken and diving equipment. I always get sea water in my beer from swimming whilst drinking. We have the best times at Jack’s Shack.
In grand turk, I have done a kayaking eco tour and swum with the stingrays. Grand Turk is Rad. Also, it’s FRIGHT NIGHT THEME NIGHT on Fridays – MY FAVOURITE ONE!
-
Sea Day
usually involves a 9am start for me running the Susan G Kormen “on deck for the cure” 5k walk. This I love. 8 laps of promenade deck for the passengers and I stand and cheer with my boom box and party music. At the start, I get a breast cancer survivor (we always have at least 3 walking) to cut the ribbon. A few weeks ago, we had a male breast cancer survivor walk with us. Last week we raised $600 for breast cancer research. The final sea day also involves the end of the cruise long scavenger hunt, boat building competition and ceramics pick up. Sometimes, I will be the host for the Ultimate Ship Tour (TUST) which is an awesome awesome (but expensive) tour of the ship. Limited to 12 people, we visit the theatre, the galley, the food storage, the engine control room, laundry, the bridge, the mooring deck, the smoke stack. It’s awesome – and we get freshly squeezed orange juice and fresh fresh coconut macaroons. It goes for 4 hours. I love TUST. Normally I’ll have a trivia and rock’n’roakie – and also the piazza partyfrom 11:30-ish, where we dance and go crazy with thepassengers in the piazza as evolution plays. It is such a nice way to end the cruise, I dance there looking up 3 storey into the opulent piazza, seeing the passengers dancing and having fun with the cool music and the lights and it’s the best feeling. It’s a nice way to say bye to your new friends as well.. I miss some passengers a lot.
Western
Everything is the same between the two weeks, only the ports are different
Fort Lauderdale
o Always extreme
Princess cays
o As above
At sea
o My gosh!
Ocho Rios (Jamaica)
Hmm… ocho rios is… hmm… I’ve written about it before – it is a completely beautiful place but the people are really unpleasant. Dunn’s River Falls & Island Village are the highlights.
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Grand cayman is a BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL PLACE! It has great shops, lovely people and is extremely classy. Normally, we’ll go to the coffeeshop that looks suspiciously like starbucks for a coffee and free internet, then to Hammerheads on the waterfront for lunch. It’s a nice place. There is an entire shop of Havianas. The only thing that is bad about grand cayman is that it is a tender port. UGH tender boats.
- Cozumel.
o I LOVE COZUMEL!! Such good knick knack shopping is rarely seen! Mayan ruins, CHECK, beautiful beaches, CHECK, awesome scuba diviing, CHECK. It’s all there- plus the people are friendly and the food is GOOD. Passengers are always wheeled back on from senor frogs in wheelchairs, too drunk to walk. 80's theme night on cozumel, but the ship is very quiet that evening due to passengers passing out.
Sea day
o Oh no!
Fort Lauderdale.
And that is my life. For the next 7 weeks.
home is a place that is 87 days away...
With Barbara and Tim both leaving in 2 cruises time- and Mark in 6, I have started thinking about going home myself. Not that I miss home so much (and I love it here & am still having heaps of fun), but I have been thinking about it a lot.
So I sat down with my new itinerary and some coloured pens and worked out how the next three months will pan out.
As of today, I have 87 days left of my contract. I disembark the Emerald Princess on the 19th of October. I have 8 7-day cruises remaining and then 3 10-day cruises after that. The 10 day cruises will just FLY by because they are mostly new ports & different destinations. 10 day cruises are also apparently very different to 7 day cruises in terms of passenger demographics AND how hard cruise staff work. On the 10 day cruise there is a lot more time and things are a little more … relaxed. 7 day cruising is apparently much harder work than usual- and Tim does work us very hard (but is an amazing cruise director, and we certainly get the results!).
Tim and Barbara have 2 cruises left, Mark has 6 cruises left. Then… crazy time. DJ Dave is leaving after the first 10 day cruise, Boogie and Hersh are leaving after the second 10 day cruise, I am leaving after the third 10 day cruise and Collette is leaving after the fourth 10 day cruise. Can you imagine how crazy those weeks are going to be? It is going to be an awesome way to end the contract.
The new runs are exciting as well – 10 day eastern followed by 10 day western.
10 day eastern (starting on ) is Port Everglades, Princess Cays, At Sea, St Thomas, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba, At Sea, At Sea, Port Everglades.
The 10 day Western is Port Everglades, At Sea, At Sea, Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, St Kitts, St Thomas, at sea, Princess Cays, Port Everglades.
How Exciting. The only slightly disturbing thing is that when they run together it goes at sea, at sea, port everglades, at sea, at sea – meaning whoever is IPM in port everglades is doomed to 5 days in a row of intensity! And guess what, although I’m only going to experience the double sea day double ONE TIME, if IPM schedules stay the same, it looks lke I AM GOING TO BE IPM!! Hahah oh well, I’ll be so stoked to be going home at that point, I won’t even notice Im sure!
The good thing is I should be able to swap around IPMs with other people so I get to see all the ports in the western run (which I’m only going to be doing once), as I can swap them and do St. Thomas or Princess Cays IPM.
Times left in each port
Port Times Off IPM
Fort Lauderdale 11 7 4
Princess Cays 11 7 4
St Maarten 4 2 2
St Thomas 7 4 3
Grand Turk 4 3 1
Ocho Rios 4 3 1
Grand Cayman 4 2 2
Cozumel 4 3 1
This means I have tenders a total of 6 times left in my contract. YES YES YES!! Only six tenders to go!! (provided none of the new ports are tender ports!!)
So I sat down with my new itinerary and some coloured pens and worked out how the next three months will pan out.
As of today, I have 87 days left of my contract. I disembark the Emerald Princess on the 19th of October. I have 8 7-day cruises remaining and then 3 10-day cruises after that. The 10 day cruises will just FLY by because they are mostly new ports & different destinations. 10 day cruises are also apparently very different to 7 day cruises in terms of passenger demographics AND how hard cruise staff work. On the 10 day cruise there is a lot more time and things are a little more … relaxed. 7 day cruising is apparently much harder work than usual- and Tim does work us very hard (but is an amazing cruise director, and we certainly get the results!).
Tim and Barbara have 2 cruises left, Mark has 6 cruises left. Then… crazy time. DJ Dave is leaving after the first 10 day cruise, Boogie and Hersh are leaving after the second 10 day cruise, I am leaving after the third 10 day cruise and Collette is leaving after the fourth 10 day cruise. Can you imagine how crazy those weeks are going to be? It is going to be an awesome way to end the contract.
The new runs are exciting as well – 10 day eastern followed by 10 day western.
10 day eastern (starting on ) is Port Everglades, Princess Cays, At Sea, St Thomas, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba, At Sea, At Sea, Port Everglades.
The 10 day Western is Port Everglades, At Sea, At Sea, Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, St Kitts, St Thomas, at sea, Princess Cays, Port Everglades.
How Exciting. The only slightly disturbing thing is that when they run together it goes at sea, at sea, port everglades, at sea, at sea – meaning whoever is IPM in port everglades is doomed to 5 days in a row of intensity! And guess what, although I’m only going to experience the double sea day double ONE TIME, if IPM schedules stay the same, it looks lke I AM GOING TO BE IPM!! Hahah oh well, I’ll be so stoked to be going home at that point, I won’t even notice Im sure!
The good thing is I should be able to swap around IPMs with other people so I get to see all the ports in the western run (which I’m only going to be doing once), as I can swap them and do St. Thomas or Princess Cays IPM.
Times left in each port
Port Times Off IPM
Fort Lauderdale 11 7 4
Princess Cays 11 7 4
St Maarten 4 2 2
St Thomas 7 4 3
Grand Turk 4 3 1
Ocho Rios 4 3 1
Grand Cayman 4 2 2
Cozumel 4 3 1
This means I have tenders a total of 6 times left in my contract. YES YES YES!! Only six tenders to go!! (provided none of the new ports are tender ports!!)
Thursday, July 22, 2010
if it's thursday, it's grand cayman
life is about free internet. the mission is to find the free internet in every port.
Today Mark and I are sitting in a coffee shop called "cafe Del Sol" in Grand Cayman. The cafe is suspiciously starbucks-like. it has starbucks coffee and the internet network connection is called "starbucks" yet.. it is not a starbucks.
I <3 Grand Cayman. It is a really nice port- and it has a whole store just for Havianas! I got a new pair last fortnight - flouro pink straps and black base, but with glow in the dark stuff all over them. Sounds rank but whatever, don't judge them til you see them.
Today however, is all about one shop. The Estee Lauder/Clinique/Mac shop. Specifically the Mac section. Girls, we all know that Mac cosmetics are the best. But they're a little expensive (well more expensive than revlon anyway). However, THIS IS NOT TRUE ON GRAND CAYMAN!! IT IS DIRT CHEAP!!
lipstick - $13
eyeliner - $13
Blush - $15
lip gloss - $12
oh my god. it makes me go crazy to think about it.
THroughout the cruise, i've been gradually replacing all my revlon/rimmel/l'oreal cosmetics with Mac and Clinique. I'm coming back with the most awesome collection! ON the ship, clinique foundation $16!!!!!! powder? $20!!!
I bought two new fragrances so far as well.. I pretty much treat the fragrance shop like my own personal perfume cabinet - I'm constantly in there spritz-ing and trying new fragrances out at the start of the night. My new fragrances are Cacherel Amor Amor and CK Euphoria for those of you playing at home.
TOnight is Pub night... I can't believe it's pub night again. It's like groundhog day.
Today Mark and I are sitting in a coffee shop called "cafe Del Sol" in Grand Cayman. The cafe is suspiciously starbucks-like. it has starbucks coffee and the internet network connection is called "starbucks" yet.. it is not a starbucks.
I <3 Grand Cayman. It is a really nice port- and it has a whole store just for Havianas! I got a new pair last fortnight - flouro pink straps and black base, but with glow in the dark stuff all over them. Sounds rank but whatever, don't judge them til you see them.
Today however, is all about one shop. The Estee Lauder/Clinique/Mac shop. Specifically the Mac section. Girls, we all know that Mac cosmetics are the best. But they're a little expensive (well more expensive than revlon anyway). However, THIS IS NOT TRUE ON GRAND CAYMAN!! IT IS DIRT CHEAP!!
lipstick - $13
eyeliner - $13
Blush - $15
lip gloss - $12
oh my god. it makes me go crazy to think about it.
THroughout the cruise, i've been gradually replacing all my revlon/rimmel/l'oreal cosmetics with Mac and Clinique. I'm coming back with the most awesome collection! ON the ship, clinique foundation $16!!!!!! powder? $20!!!
I bought two new fragrances so far as well.. I pretty much treat the fragrance shop like my own personal perfume cabinet - I'm constantly in there spritz-ing and trying new fragrances out at the start of the night. My new fragrances are Cacherel Amor Amor and CK Euphoria for those of you playing at home.
TOnight is Pub night... I can't believe it's pub night again. It's like groundhog day.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
a new week and a scary video
Another week, another lot of passengers to embark in a few hours. I'm honestly going to miss last week's bunch alot- they were great. They were polite, friendly and classy people (no riff raff) who participated in everything and were just... well, nice.
Eastern Caribbean crowds seem (generally) to be more like that... the Western Run attracts a few more riff-raff, Carnival type passengers (although still filled with lovely people- a few always stand out as being pretty horrible).
I had great fun with my 18-20's this week - I sceduled activities at the start of the week and did them up their own little princess patter. THings were still a little disorganised, but this week all systems are go. I have 151 18-20's this week - I've already done up their info sheet and posted it all to their rooms. I hope they're nice- I'll miss the last lot.
Wednesday last week was crew drills- a normally fairly boring affair which this time became incredibly disturbing. Tim gathered all the stairway guides and muster personell (that's me) into the Princess Theatre where he showed us a video.
He warned us it was disturbing and graphic but i wasn't quite ready for what we saw. It was a video containing original footage from the 1990 Scandanavian Star disaster. Basically, a fire broke out on this passenger liner in the middle of the night, the captain did all the wrong things and all the officers actually abandoned ship before evacuating all the passengers. The ship was towed to port and the fire was put out. 153 passengers (about half those on board) died - mostly from asphyixiation trying to get out of their cabins at 2am with no lights and noxious smoke filling all the hallways. If you are interested, look it up on wikipedia - you'll find they actually recommissioned the ship and it was sailing until 2001 which makes me feel so so sick.
The video was the actual footage of what they found when the went on the ship and thinking about it now still makes me upset and feel ill. dead bodies everywhere, their hands scrunched up, lying in hallways, climbing out of beds, trying anything to get out. it's horrifying at the best of times, but when you realise taht this COULD HAPPEN TO YOU it certainly reaffirms your focus on saftey.
It was horrible. But I certainly have planned my escape route if that was to happen on board. If there is no way out down the corridor or the 3 blocks of passenger stairs, I am going to go out onto our deck 11 balcony with my life jacket and climb down onto the very front of the ship and wait at the crew pool. if the fire comes to get me, I will abandon ship. FOr sure.
I have counted the doors and distances for all my escape routes- i'm so glad i live on deck 11, far above underwater (deck 3) and not locked in on the balcony-less decks 4 - 6. weep weep. saftey.
Eastern Caribbean crowds seem (generally) to be more like that... the Western Run attracts a few more riff-raff, Carnival type passengers (although still filled with lovely people- a few always stand out as being pretty horrible).
I had great fun with my 18-20's this week - I sceduled activities at the start of the week and did them up their own little princess patter. THings were still a little disorganised, but this week all systems are go. I have 151 18-20's this week - I've already done up their info sheet and posted it all to their rooms. I hope they're nice- I'll miss the last lot.
Wednesday last week was crew drills- a normally fairly boring affair which this time became incredibly disturbing. Tim gathered all the stairway guides and muster personell (that's me) into the Princess Theatre where he showed us a video.
He warned us it was disturbing and graphic but i wasn't quite ready for what we saw. It was a video containing original footage from the 1990 Scandanavian Star disaster. Basically, a fire broke out on this passenger liner in the middle of the night, the captain did all the wrong things and all the officers actually abandoned ship before evacuating all the passengers. The ship was towed to port and the fire was put out. 153 passengers (about half those on board) died - mostly from asphyixiation trying to get out of their cabins at 2am with no lights and noxious smoke filling all the hallways. If you are interested, look it up on wikipedia - you'll find they actually recommissioned the ship and it was sailing until 2001 which makes me feel so so sick.
The video was the actual footage of what they found when the went on the ship and thinking about it now still makes me upset and feel ill. dead bodies everywhere, their hands scrunched up, lying in hallways, climbing out of beds, trying anything to get out. it's horrifying at the best of times, but when you realise taht this COULD HAPPEN TO YOU it certainly reaffirms your focus on saftey.
It was horrible. But I certainly have planned my escape route if that was to happen on board. If there is no way out down the corridor or the 3 blocks of passenger stairs, I am going to go out onto our deck 11 balcony with my life jacket and climb down onto the very front of the ship and wait at the crew pool. if the fire comes to get me, I will abandon ship. FOr sure.
I have counted the doors and distances for all my escape routes- i'm so glad i live on deck 11, far above underwater (deck 3) and not locked in on the balcony-less decks 4 - 6. weep weep. saftey.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
buffet pig
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written. And really I don’t have any excuse- except that I’ve been using all my spare time for working and planning for things.
I am in charge of the 18-20’s group – and this cruise I’ve really taken it up a notch in terms of what I’ve been scheduling. This week, we are doing a midnight movies under the stars, a hot tub party in the sanctuary and all sorts of fun stuff. The activities themselves aren’t that important – it’s more important that they all get a chance to meet up with each other every day and make new friends.
It is so weird, but here the 18-20 year olds aren’t really considered adults. It’s stupid because they totally are, but since the drinking age in the US (and thus onboard the ship) is 21, we have to ‘keep them occupied’. I think that it would be far better to do an under 23’s young cruiser’s group, but sadly we can’t do this because, quite clearly, the 21-23’s would buy the 18-20’s alcohol…
Last night was a “back to school” theme party in the crew bar. I was there for
about 2 hours but then Mark and I both kind of lost interest. The sea was very rocky last night (the roughest I’ve seen it) and my shoes were a bit slippery. Then we committed the ultimate sin. We went to buffet.
Three weeks of healthy eating cancelled out in one drunken buffet binge! Horizon Court/Café Caribe (our awesome buffets) are open 24 hours a day and really, there is no comparison back at home to the quality and types of food offered around the clock.
I had roast ham, guacamole, salad, bacon, scampi scampi scampi… you know, I’m really proud I didn’t have any real carbs.. but I already pigged out on a Tortuga rum cake that Liz put in the office for us to snack on. I swear I ate half that damn cake.
SO yesterday was probably not a good day for me diet wise. I did, however, do a lot of running so hopefully the damage is not so bad.
I try and vary my running, but I have been going every day (I’ve even started getting up early on sea days to run). I either run 8 laps of promenade deck (deck 7) which is 5 kilometers (which gives you an idea of how big the Emerald Princess is) OR I run 30 laps of the deck 19 track, which is only 3 kilometers and then do full court lay-ups on the bball court for 10 minutes.
Promenade deck is obviously my favourite for running. On the EP, the deck goes up one level around the front of the ship – so there are very steep stairs followed by a crazy head wind – it’s good for stamina. After I run, I go to the gym and do about half an hour of weights and conditioning. It’s just a shame I put all my hard work to waist (see what I did there?) with my extreme porker actions yesterday.
Today I should be hungover, but because I now drink only vodka, lime and soda , I seem to be cheating nature and have not had a hangover for the past 3 weeks. I love my vodka lime and soda.
I am in charge of the 18-20’s group – and this cruise I’ve really taken it up a notch in terms of what I’ve been scheduling. This week, we are doing a midnight movies under the stars, a hot tub party in the sanctuary and all sorts of fun stuff. The activities themselves aren’t that important – it’s more important that they all get a chance to meet up with each other every day and make new friends.
It is so weird, but here the 18-20 year olds aren’t really considered adults. It’s stupid because they totally are, but since the drinking age in the US (and thus onboard the ship) is 21, we have to ‘keep them occupied’. I think that it would be far better to do an under 23’s young cruiser’s group, but sadly we can’t do this because, quite clearly, the 21-23’s would buy the 18-20’s alcohol…
Last night was a “back to school” theme party in the crew bar. I was there for
about 2 hours but then Mark and I both kind of lost interest. The sea was very rocky last night (the roughest I’ve seen it) and my shoes were a bit slippery. Then we committed the ultimate sin. We went to buffet.
Three weeks of healthy eating cancelled out in one drunken buffet binge! Horizon Court/Café Caribe (our awesome buffets) are open 24 hours a day and really, there is no comparison back at home to the quality and types of food offered around the clock.
I had roast ham, guacamole, salad, bacon, scampi scampi scampi… you know, I’m really proud I didn’t have any real carbs.. but I already pigged out on a Tortuga rum cake that Liz put in the office for us to snack on. I swear I ate half that damn cake.
SO yesterday was probably not a good day for me diet wise. I did, however, do a lot of running so hopefully the damage is not so bad.
I try and vary my running, but I have been going every day (I’ve even started getting up early on sea days to run). I either run 8 laps of promenade deck (deck 7) which is 5 kilometers (which gives you an idea of how big the Emerald Princess is) OR I run 30 laps of the deck 19 track, which is only 3 kilometers and then do full court lay-ups on the bball court for 10 minutes.
Promenade deck is obviously my favourite for running. On the EP, the deck goes up one level around the front of the ship – so there are very steep stairs followed by a crazy head wind – it’s good for stamina. After I run, I go to the gym and do about half an hour of weights and conditioning. It’s just a shame I put all my hard work to waist (see what I did there?) with my extreme porker actions yesterday.
Today I should be hungover, but because I now drink only vodka, lime and soda , I seem to be cheating nature and have not had a hangover for the past 3 weeks. I love my vodka lime and soda.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
biggest loser...?
Well.. today was weigh in for the biggest loser.. I lost 5.4 kilos in the last two weeks. Mark lost 6kg. Dale has yet to weigh in. Pretty sure I win for percentage body weight lost.. but I can see mark arguing he lost the most weight. My BMI is now 25. Bernie (the nurse) says I should aim for 22- in fact that is the company standard. At any rate, we are going to keep it up- and hopefully by the end of my contract I can be at BMI 22 (which for my height is about 68kg)
Princess has quite strict rules on weight- if your BMI is over 28, they won’t hire you. Basically, you have to be fit and able to carry out emergency duties. If your BMI is over 28 (obese) then you can’t carry out your emergency duties properly and you might put people’s life at risk. If you are already working and your BMI goes over 30 (I think) they give you a certain amount of time to get back into the healthy weight range and put you on a diet.
However, that being said – Mark’s BMI is 28 and there is no way he is obese… at all! He only barely looks overweight.. like me really. I think BMI might be a bit unfair for tall, well built people (like myself but especially Mark). Perhaps they should think of a different way of measuring it.
In other news, James left last week. His contract still had 4 weeks left, but he was over it. I understand where he’s coming from – he’s been at sea for 5 years. And I mean, if you don’t want to be a cruise director, then what are you working towards? I think he’s ready to try something new and I wish him the best of luck with everything.
To replace James, we have a new ACD called Hersh. It’s nice to have some new blood on the team- I can feel myself working harder. Hersh is a really good host and it will be great to watch him and keep improving my skills.
Today I’m IPM in Jamaica… I’m missing the crew tour. They are going to swim with dolphins. I AM SO JEALOUS. Anyway, Mark and I are IPM partners again, so tomorrow in Grand Cayman and on Friday in Cozumel we are going to make up for being stuck on the ship today.
At the moment, I’m just tweaking my music game show for tonight- I’m adding in a segment where I impersonate ethel merman, liza minelli and carol channing and they have to guess who I am.. haha I’m so lame!
Princess has quite strict rules on weight- if your BMI is over 28, they won’t hire you. Basically, you have to be fit and able to carry out emergency duties. If your BMI is over 28 (obese) then you can’t carry out your emergency duties properly and you might put people’s life at risk. If you are already working and your BMI goes over 30 (I think) they give you a certain amount of time to get back into the healthy weight range and put you on a diet.
However, that being said – Mark’s BMI is 28 and there is no way he is obese… at all! He only barely looks overweight.. like me really. I think BMI might be a bit unfair for tall, well built people (like myself but especially Mark). Perhaps they should think of a different way of measuring it.
In other news, James left last week. His contract still had 4 weeks left, but he was over it. I understand where he’s coming from – he’s been at sea for 5 years. And I mean, if you don’t want to be a cruise director, then what are you working towards? I think he’s ready to try something new and I wish him the best of luck with everything.
To replace James, we have a new ACD called Hersh. It’s nice to have some new blood on the team- I can feel myself working harder. Hersh is a really good host and it will be great to watch him and keep improving my skills.
Today I’m IPM in Jamaica… I’m missing the crew tour. They are going to swim with dolphins. I AM SO JEALOUS. Anyway, Mark and I are IPM partners again, so tomorrow in Grand Cayman and on Friday in Cozumel we are going to make up for being stuck on the ship today.
At the moment, I’m just tweaking my music game show for tonight- I’m adding in a segment where I impersonate ethel merman, liza minelli and carol channing and they have to guess who I am.. haha I’m so lame!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
wash your hands with sanitizer
Well, this week has been a bit weird.
Towards the end of last cruise, we had a few passengers & crew come down with norovirus (which causes gastro). One or two cases are expected, but on Thursday last week, numbers started to climb a bit higher. We went to “Yellow level” sanitation, which means we take more precaution with EVERYTHING to prevent noro spreading.
But on Friday we had a few more cases and, as an extra precaution, we went to red level. At red level ,we are doing absolutely everything to ensure the health of the passengers and stop noro spreading. For most, it means constant sanitising. Passengers must be served their food at the buffet – so the buffet staff all work really hard. For cruise staff, we had to take in all the sporting equipment and incinerate it (or sanitise it and lock it away). We then had to sanitise all our areas – ceramics and the library. For library, we had to take every book off the shelf and sanitise it.
Most importantly, we all lost our deck priveleges. No more shopping in passenger shops, eating passenger food or spending time on deck (unless working).
The measures were harsh, but I’m pleased to report they were successful and the ship is now back on green level (and I am back in horizon court, snacking hardcore). It’s a credit to Princess that we can handle such things so well. Passengers barely even noticed that anything was amiss (apart from the few who got ill).
Also, for the last week Mark, Dale (Chief of Production) and I have been playing biggest loser. We’ve all porked up a bit since being on the ship, so I threw down a 2 week challenge.We all put in $10 and The person who loses the biggest percentage of body weight in two weeks wins the money. So far we are all doing really well – I still havn’t weighed in yet, but mark has lost 3.5kg in the first week. I assume I’ve lost about the same (or maybe more- I did drink 2 litres of waters before I had my first weigh in heh heh
Salad, chicken, salad, chicken, “sweet & nutritious fruit plate”, tea – we are doing pretty well so far. I’ve been running 3k every day (which is 30 laps of the running track on sky deck- I could do more but I just get so bored), then I do full court lay-ups on the bball court for 15 minutes, then down to the gym to practice some body step or body attack and do some weights and conditioning.
Gym is hard with my jobs. Some days (like today – I’m IPM in st Thomas) It just isn’t possible. So tomorrow, I’m going double hard. I must win the… $20 prize.
Towards the end of last cruise, we had a few passengers & crew come down with norovirus (which causes gastro). One or two cases are expected, but on Thursday last week, numbers started to climb a bit higher. We went to “Yellow level” sanitation, which means we take more precaution with EVERYTHING to prevent noro spreading.
But on Friday we had a few more cases and, as an extra precaution, we went to red level. At red level ,we are doing absolutely everything to ensure the health of the passengers and stop noro spreading. For most, it means constant sanitising. Passengers must be served their food at the buffet – so the buffet staff all work really hard. For cruise staff, we had to take in all the sporting equipment and incinerate it (or sanitise it and lock it away). We then had to sanitise all our areas – ceramics and the library. For library, we had to take every book off the shelf and sanitise it.
Most importantly, we all lost our deck priveleges. No more shopping in passenger shops, eating passenger food or spending time on deck (unless working).
The measures were harsh, but I’m pleased to report they were successful and the ship is now back on green level (and I am back in horizon court, snacking hardcore). It’s a credit to Princess that we can handle such things so well. Passengers barely even noticed that anything was amiss (apart from the few who got ill).
Also, for the last week Mark, Dale (Chief of Production) and I have been playing biggest loser. We’ve all porked up a bit since being on the ship, so I threw down a 2 week challenge.We all put in $10 and The person who loses the biggest percentage of body weight in two weeks wins the money. So far we are all doing really well – I still havn’t weighed in yet, but mark has lost 3.5kg in the first week. I assume I’ve lost about the same (or maybe more- I did drink 2 litres of waters before I had my first weigh in heh heh
Salad, chicken, salad, chicken, “sweet & nutritious fruit plate”, tea – we are doing pretty well so far. I’ve been running 3k every day (which is 30 laps of the running track on sky deck- I could do more but I just get so bored), then I do full court lay-ups on the bball court for 15 minutes, then down to the gym to practice some body step or body attack and do some weights and conditioning.
Gym is hard with my jobs. Some days (like today – I’m IPM in st Thomas) It just isn’t possible. So tomorrow, I’m going double hard. I must win the… $20 prize.
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