On to the GLORY!!

As I sit here writing, I’m people watching at the Newark airport with the beautiful skyline of New York City behind me. I wish I had time to go to the city, but I don’t and I’ll be back in just over a month. Yes, I said I’ll be back in a month!! I found out that I am going to be on the Carnival Glory. The Glory is currently based out of Boston with 4 and 5 day cruises to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In August, the homeport will switch to NYC while continuing to go to Canada. I’m excited I get to spend my birthday in New York!! Haha then October we will move down to Virginia and start heading to the Bahamas. November, we will have the first two weeks in dry dock as we get ready to roll out Fun Ship 2.0. It’s a huge roll out fleet wide that is taking several years to do so I’m excited that I get to be on a ship during a roll out. Now, I don’t know if it’s guaranteed that I’ll stay on during the dry dock or not yet, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon. After the dry dock, we head on down to Miami and keep heading to the Bahamas throughout the winter months. I’m very excited about my ship and my itineraries as they are always changing and really going to keep me on my toes. If you want to book a cruise to come see me on the Glory, you can go to carnival.com and specifically select the Glory and I also suggest selecting the date range of July 2012- December 2012 so that you get the right itineraries up.

Anyway, the last couple of weeks have been incredible and very busy all at the same time. The four of us “chickens” as they called us got so very close that it was hard to leave everyone yesterday. We had been doing all kinds of things all over the ship, like deck parties, trivia, game show mania, watching the production shows, debark and tender dispatch, and bingo. We also had to cover karaoke for a couple of nights because the host was sick. I lost my voice doing that because when your shift is just getting started you need to have someone singing to try and attract people into the lounge so I had to sing a few songs. I think I’m going to keep my other job because I’m definitely better at that!

As the last few days of our training were going by we were definitely trying to take advantage of the time that we could spend with the rest of the crew. Everyone was so sweet and welcoming to us that we had created some amazing bonds already and knew it was going to be hard to leave. We had a big group go out for lunch when we had our last day in Cozumel. That was a lot of fun. Also the week before we had the chance to go on a crew only excursion and we got to go to a beach and just hang out for a couple of hours. It was amazing!! The unlimited beer and margaritas didn’t hurt either! J I still can’t believe that this is the life I’m living!

I have gotten to know our break dancers on board pretty well and they found out that I love to take pictures so we got together and had a couple of photo shoots. It was an absolute blast and with the theater as a gorgeous backdrop we were able to create some amazing images. Some of them made me wish that I had more equipment because I know I could create even more awesome shots, but with what I had it was really good.

We also had a nice graduation from our college. At our graduation we received our daily uniforms, before that we were wearing a white team member shirt with khaki shorts (Not the most attractive thing I've worn). We also got our ship assignments at the ceremony so it was an exciting afternoon!

Well now as I wrap up this shorter post, I’m in a hotel room in Newark, NJ. I never made it to Canada. I was going to be late and wouldn’t have made the ship in time so I got off my flight and got my bags off and then went about changing my plans. I will now meet my ship tomorrow in Boston! With that I have the day off today to go and explore NYC!!! I’m really excited!! I’ll have some more pictures for you guys later, but until then here are a few.

 This is Dustin, Cathy, and Harrison. We all grew extremely close and will be friends for the rest of our lives. 

 At our graduation we got our ship assignments and our "blues" which are our every day uniforms.

 This is Ivan, he is one of the break dancers on the ship and we wanted to do a photo shoot together and this is just one of the awesome shots we created together.

 This is Randy, he is the other break dancer on board and we got some amazing shots as well. It was a blast working with these guys! 

 This is the beach that we got to go to with the crew. It was a beautiful day and I couldn't have asked for more!! Anyone care to join me next time??

Gettin' On Board!

Getting on Board

Wow! What are first few days!! Everything has been so much fun so far and I’ve already learned a ton. I know there is tons more to learn before I find out my next ship. Which I’m hoping might be at the end of this cruise, but we will see.

Anyway, the first night when I got into Tampa it was warm and humid, surprise surprise. I had already decided that I probably brought too much when I was tired of carrying all of my luggage through the airport. Well, I made it from the airport to the hotel with no issues; I even got to experience a little Tampa traffic. It is really no different than California traffic, just too many people getting off of work at the same time that don’t know how to drive. When I got to the airport I met up with Dustin, who I had kept in contact with from my interview process so we met up for dinner. We had both been told that there would be two others joining us, so we were somewhat curious to where they might be, but didn’t see anyone that we thought could be them. After dinner we decided to talk a walk around the city to check it out. It really is a pretty cool place. I wish I had more time to be there and see more, but hopefully I will some other day. Dustin and I found the River Walk that had a path all along the river (which was extremely disgusting if you ask me) and we saw that it could take us to the Cruise Ship Terminal so we decided to try and make our way over there. On our way, we saw the Tampa Convention Center, which I think also had an arena or something as a part of it because I kept seeing signs of where University of South Florida would play there. The Convention Center looked extremely nice though. It was really big and had some cool views of the city and water. We also saw some beautiful houses and yachts along the way. As we came up on the first of their few cruise terminals, we found the Tampa Aquarium right next to Cruise Terminal 2. It looked like a pretty awesome place, but had closed for the night so we couldn’t go inside to see more. We looked at terminal 2 and it didn’t look like the ship would be there, but maybe the next one so we took a walk down to #3 and thought that looked more like it might be there. We finally decided that we should probably head back and see if we can find the other two that were coming. As we turned around, we saw huge storm clouds coming in fast, and I mean we couldn’t make it two blocks without getting soaking wet because it was pouring fast. We were trying to make it back to the convention center where there were large over hangs that we could sit under and wait for it to pass, but we didn’t realize how fast we had actually walked because it was a lot farther to the convention center. We eventually made it even though we were soaked already. The storm finally passed and we were able to make it back to the hotel.

When we made it back to the hotel, I went up to my room to change my clothes and my room key wouldn’t work so I had to go get it fixed and came back up. When I came back up I found someone’s bags in my room. I was a bit taken back by this because first off I wasn’t expecting them and second, I had one king size bed in my room. So, I took a walk down stairs again to ask them about this and they said I had a roommate, I said okay, that’s not a problem, but I only have one bed. They said “Oh, really? Well we expect you two to cuddle up.” I said that’s fine I’m going to have to get to know her sooner or later. Haha Well, my roommate ended up being Cathy from Canada. She is super cool and very easy to get along with. We have a lot in common and we are still roommates on the ship now. The hotel brought a roll away bed up for us too so that we didn’t have to get to know each other that well that soon. Haha Also, since I had a roommate we thought maybe that Dustin would as well, especially since he had 2 beds from the beginning. Well we went down to the front desk to ask if he would as well and they said no, so I think they messed up and gave him our room and me his room, oh well though. It all worked out. So, later Cathy and I were in our room hanging out and Dustin was in his room and all of a sudden the fire alarm starts going off and the manager comes on the loud speaker and tells us that it is not a drill and we need to evacuate. This all started just after 12:15am, I’d say we were outside for about 15-20 minutes maybe, it was definitely great people watching time. We had some very interesting people staying at our hotel. After all the commotion had calmed down, I think I finally got to bed about 2:30 or 3:00ish. Between being excited, everything that had went down that night and the time change I didn’t feel tired until about then.

The next morning the three of us got up, ate some breakfast and took the shuttle to the cruise terminal. We were all a little nervous, but pretty excited at the same time. We arrived at the terminal and had to ask where the employee entrance was and headed that way. The fourth member of our college would be meeting us here and we did finally get to meet Harrison. We went through the whole security and paperwork process and headed to check out our cabins. Cathy and I continued to room together and Harrison and Dustin are rooming together. We met Mat who would be our college trainer. He is from England and a real funny guy. After we dropped some of our stuff off in our room, we headed to get some lunch, then went on a few tours around the ship, and finally got our “very attractive” uniforms. We have to wear these cargo khaki shorts and white t-shirts that say team member on them. It isn’t too bad, but for those who know me pretty well know that I’m absolutely against wearing white and khaki together. It drives me crazy!! I’ll survive though, I will get some different shirts soon. In the evening we got to watch the game show, bingo, and the welcome aboard show. All were great and I immediately started thinking about it from an employee’s point of view rather than a guest’s point of view as I had in the past. The first day was a good one and made me very excited for the rest of the training.

Friday was our first day at sea and it started with a bang, literally. We had to have our blood pressure and blood sugar checked, so we couldn’t eat for at least 6 hours prior to the test, which was supposed to start at 8am. It didn’t start until 9am so I hadn’t eaten in about 9-10 hours and I was probably a little dehydrated because I didn’t have a water bottle with me. So, I was the first of our foursome to go get “pumped and pricked” as we were calling it. I went in, things went fine, I walked out to the hall way to wait for the other three, started to feel a bit dizzy but didn’t think it was a big deal because I had felt that way before and thought it would go away relatively fast. Well, it didn’t next thing I knew I was waking up on the ground with a headache. Besides the headache, I felt fine. I wasn’t dizzy anymore. I got checked out by the doctor and he said everything seemed fine and he agreed with me that he just thought it was because I hadn’t eaten in a while or probably been drinking much water. I’m completely fine now, I promise. I just wanted to get my name out there to everyone because word spreads like wildfire here on board when things happen with the crew. Just like Cathy, some people heard her sing for the first time and now everyone is coming up to her telling her they hear she is amazing, and they aren’t lying! She really is!! After an eventful morning, we just did some more training and shadowing to become more familiarized with everything. Oh, a side note, know one heard about my morning so that was a good thing! Friday night was our first Captain’s reception; we had to get all dressed up for a night full of activities. We had the reception then had a break for dinner followed by watching both production shows at 6pm and 8:45pm. We also popped into the Karaoke lounge for a little bit then also the Punch liner’s Comedy Club.

Basically the whole first cruise was just watching and checking things out. Sorry this has been so lengthy. I’m typing it on word and then pasting it to my blog when I have Internet. I’m also realizing that if I keep typing out absolutely everything you guys are going to be reading for 4 days!!! Haha just kidding, probably not that long, but pretty close. Well, we had time off in Cozumel that we were able to get off the ship. We first went to find a free wi-fi place so we could all catch up with our family and friends. I was happy to hear that little miss Willow was born! Congrats to the Baechler family!! Don’t let her group up too much until I get to meet her! After we went to hang out at the beach for a little bit, then found a bar that was for crew only, which was pretty cool. We heard it was a bit expensive for the quality of drinks that you get, but they have a fresh water pool that is just steps from the edge of the ocean, I thought that was pretty cool. The next sea day was more training and shadowing. There are some things we get to participate in, like the deck parties. I think those are a blast, but you all know I love to dance! Dad, I now know the correct steps to the Wobble so we can do that dance together when I get home or you come visit!

As I was typing this I was in the middle of my second cruise, which is a 5-day cruise with stops in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Today we were in Grand Cayman, I wasn’t able to get off, I had training all morning, but hopefully next week. Tomorrow, we are able to get off in Cozumel though, we are planning on going on a crew only event where we get to go to a beach and have a catamaran ride with some food and drinks. Should be a great time!! Oh, also, I’ve met one couple from Lyons, Kansas so far and the gentleman was super excited that I had gone to K-State. I’ve also seen one guest wearing a K-state shirt, but I couldn’t track him down because I was working. Oh well, I’m just happy to see some purple. I also just before I am posting this, I was working out in the gym this morning and the tv was on ESPN, but it was in Spanish, but I got to see that Matt Cain threw a perfect game!!! I was sooo happy!! Please tell me the Dodgers lost last night too?? I didn’t have time to stick around and find out.

I miss you all terribly. I got to talk to a few of you while I was in Tampa on Monday so that was a nice treat. I’ll be back there on Saturday again, so if you feel like calling, leave me a message or text me and I’ll get back to you. Hope everyone is enjoying reading about my adventures.

Love Always,

Alyssa

The time is finally here!

Well, the day is finally almost here. I can honestly say that I'm beyond excited, nervous, anxious, happy and sad all at the same time. I'm so thankful for all that I've been able to do the last couple of months while I've been getting ready to leave. I just thought I'd share a little bit with you guys. 

First off, at the end of March my amazing family all got together to celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary!! It was a wonderful weekend and I can speak for everyone we all had a blast and made memories that will last a life time. Congrats again Grama & Grampa, I love you both very much.

The month of May was really busy and went by way too fast. It started out with a trip down to Palm Desert and Newport Beach with my parents. We started with a baseball game in Rancho Cucamonga and finished with another in Fresno. In between those two games, we spent some time in Palm Desert, got to see Jeff the Bestest :) in Long Beach, caught up with some of my parents' friends from Orange, and took a walk on the beach in Newport Beach. It was a great time and I think we all wished it would have lasted longer.

About a week after we got back was "Tee" Day! For most of March, all of April, and half of May, I was helping out with the Make Dreams Real Golf Tournament. It was an amazing experience and I had a great time learning all kinds of things and doing what I love. If you want to learn more about the Make Dreams Real Endowment Fund I attached the link, so you just have to click on the name. Everything went pretty smooth and everyone had a great time. This year was extremely successful too.

After the tournament was over, the Corporate Challenge took place for The First Tee of the Central Valley. It was another great event with a good turn out. The kids all had a wonderful time watching all the exciting play. 

The next day I headed up to Angels Camp for the Frog Jump and the destruction derby. Our family was cheering Party Artie on!! Party Artie was driving the family sponsored car which took third place and was awarded the most aggressive driver!! Artie definitely had the best hit of the whole derby. Congrats to everyone involved!

Next on the calendar in May was getting to see my beautiful cousin graduate from high school! Taylor graduated from St. Mary's in Stockton and we couldn't be more proud. Everyone had a great time at the graduation party too. 

Last but not least in May, I got to help celebrate the 3rd birthday of the cutest little girl I know. She was surrounded by most of her family and lots of bubbles and cake pops :) I was certainly blessed being able to see my family as much as I have the last few months. It was wonderful.

My last weekend in California was definitely one for the memory books! I was able to do things that I love to do, see things that I love to see and spend time with those I love to spend time with. I got to catch up and hang out with one of the coolest people I know, Ms. Natalie. She is spending some time at Berkeley this summer and came all the way from Singapore so we got to spend the weekend together. We got to take in TWO Giants games, (They won both btw!) spend some time with my family, and check out Half Moon Bay and Ghirardelli Square for ice cream!! It was so much fun and the weather couldn't have been better! Miss you Nat.

That's a little catch up on my life since March, its been crazy busy, yet so much fun at the same time. I'm thankful for all the time I've been able to spend with everyone. I'm sad for the things that I'm going to miss out on while I'm gone but I'm going to do my absolute best to keep in touch. I look forward to seeing everyone when I get back. I'll try to post again soon.

- A