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.