The process is finally CRUISING along (all pun is intended!) ... I HAVE A SAIL DATE!!
***I wrote my first post back in February as you can see. I wrote that post but purposely never gave out the link to anyone because I wanted to be able to have more for you to read. Now you have two lengthy posts to catch up on even though I bet most of you have already heard me talk about a lot of this. I'd suggest reading the February post first as it might make a bit more sense to you. I hope you enjoy! :)
Well, as you can see my last post was on February 4th, where I was hoping to hear something in the next coming week. That obviously didn't happen since I am writing in the evening of March 20th, BUT I finally have some good news! I WAS GIVEN A DATE TO SET SAIL!!!!
Since the beginning of February, each week has been about the same for me. Each and every day, I hope and pray to hear something regarding the status of my paper work. I would email or call every day, sometimes I would do both. Trying to find information out regarding something that seemed so simple was like pulling teeth. I never seemed to be able to get a hold of anyone or I would never get a response back. Among the few people that I kept in contact with from my interview, there was a guy named Dustin that was basically in the same situation I was in. He was waiting for his paper work to be cleared too with no word on why it was taking months longer than the others. About once a week we would text each other and see if one of us had heard anything. We never had good news for each other until recently. During this whole process, the lady that screened me for my interview, Stacia, kept me pretty sane. She was SOOO helpful that she was contacting these people along with me and we were both trying to get answers. She wasn't getting much more than I was. Finally, a couple weeks ago I asked her if she thought I should send my paper work in again just incase it had been lost, they needed a bit of a refresher, or just a kick in the butt. At this point I could only imagine the reason they would give me of why my approval had taken this long. She suggested that sending my paper work in again might be a good idea, so of course I immediately did. I also suggested it to Dustin and he sent it in immediately too. I sent the papers in on a Thursday and the following Tuesday I got a response stating that they could not be read because they were in an unrecognizable format. My mouth kind of dropped open. I could not wrap my head around it at first. My mind was bouncing back and forth between the thoughts of, "Are you kidding me"? and, " I've never had an issue like this before". I was thinking "Are you kidding me"? because if the fact that they could not open my paper work for the last 3 1/2 months was the issue why did they not tell me SOONER! Then there was "I've never had an issue like this before", because I really never had. When I first had a Mac, there were plenty of people: friends, classmates, and teachers that were still trying to figure out the differences between Mac and PC. I have had that figured out for few years now and hadn't had an issue sending documents since. So, after my initial shock of this response I got to work on trying to convert it to a better format and resent the paper work. Three days later I got an email again saying that that format could not be opened. I really didn't know what to do at this point because I had done everything that I thought would work in the first place. I asked what was suggested as a format and did what I needed to to get that format. That process is another story in itself haha! But regardless I got it into their suggest format (which I still don't understand why they don't tell you how they want it in the first place, but whatever!) and sent in.
All last week I called and emailed to see if the format they suggested worked and I never got a response. Of course Monday I was back at my calling and emailing routine and finally got someone to answer their phone!! (This was only the second time I had actually talked to someone and not had to leave a voicemail) Of course he had to call me back and let me tell you, he did actually call me back. He called me back the next morning at 5:15! I don't think he realized that I was in California when he was calling from Florida, but that's okay because he brought good news. He wanted to let me know that he had just sent me an email and once I got that document back to him signed it wouldn't be long before my medical approval would be complete. Needless to say that I got the document back to him and about 20 minutes later I had an email saying I was approved!!! The next step was waiting for an email from Chris (the man who interviewed me in Atlanta) and that came pretty quickly as well!!
It still amazes me that I was never notified that my paper work was in the wrong format which slowed down this whole process considerably! In about 3 weeks I got the same results that I was expecting for 3 months prior. It really goes to show you that you should check up on your paper work wether it is a application or medical documents.
So, I won't keep you waiting any longer, I will be leaving on JUNE 6th since I start on the 7th!! I will be starting in Tampa, Florida on the Carnival Paradise! Now, if you want to come visit me on board don't book anything on this ship as I will only be on board for 18 days!! Wait until I find out what ship I will be on for the remainder of my SIX MONTHS!! I'm hoping for my sake and your sake if you want to come visit me that I'm some where in the Caribbean because I mean who wouldn't want to take a cruise to the BAHAMAS!! Haha
There are a few last things I'd like to say. First off, thank you for reading all this and baring with me as I continue to learn and become a better writer (I hope I'm not too bad). Second, Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this entire process. I know I have been beyond frustrated at some points and some of you have seen that come out more times than you'd probably like to see, but the fact that everyone has stuck by my side while I follow a dream of mine means the world to me. You all keep my spirits high and a smile on my face. :) Finally, I look forward to updating everyone more. PLEASE don't hesitate to comment, ask questions, email me, whatever it is that you would like to know I will be more than happy to share with you!
Thank you again to everyone for all your love and support especially the last few months!!
xoxo
Alyssa
P.S. 76 DAYS UNTIL I'M CRUISIN'!!!
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