Switching things up!

Hey guys,

Well I know I just posted a blog not too long ago, but it took me a while from the time I wrote that to the time that I actually posted it. I figured I’d write one and post it actually after I was finished. The reason it took me so long to post the last one was that I finished it on my second sea day of the cruise and then the following cruise I was host on duty, which means I can’t leave the ship for a whole cruise so I wasn’t able to go get any free Wi-Fi. When you are on a cruise ship for so long, your first stop off the ship is usually to get some free Internet.

So, I am going to back up a bit to last cruise. I was host on duty as I said earlier and that means that I have to stay on the ship from the morning we arrive in Boston until the last sea day obviously. Then, the following morning when we arrive in Boston I will no longer be on duty. As host on duty, you must run all the activities while in port for those guests that either choose to stay on board, come back early, or leave the ship late. The activities are usually a basketball free throw competition, beanbag toss (what the ship calls it) or corn hole (what I call it), and then a mini golf tournament followed by a trivia usually. Most of the time you have the same people following you around to the activities so you kind of gather a little mini family. I really enjoy this part of being on duty because you can really get to know some guests. It’s really nice. Other things that I have to do while on duty are: pick up the bingo cards, set up for some activities (fun hop, 60 seconds or less, prepare for deck Olympics, etc.), put out the morning puzzles, and do the morning trivia every morning. Again, most trivias you have the same people showing up all cruise long so you can kind of get to know them a bit more as well as them getting to know you.

Oh, I don’t think I have mentioned this yet, but our entire host team has nicknames so when I came on board they had to think of one for me. Suzie, our Cruise Director’s wife, thought of one for me; she decided on Alycious. Everyone decided that it fit pretty well so I now introduce myself as Alyssa but around here I go by Alycious. I have guests calling me Alycious once in a while lol I’m finally getting used to it. At first it would catch me off guard or I wouldn’t recognize it lol. But now, I’ve gotten used to it and I will respond to it just like Alyssa.

Well the last couple of cruises have flown by. Since our last 4 day cruise, We have had two 5 day ones. The first one I was on duty, this last one just flew by. I think it was because there was a lot going on at home that I was thinking about. Happy Belated Birthday Cameron!! And Happy Birthday Aunt Betty!! I hope you both had wonderful birthdays. I was definitely thinking about you guys and I definitely watched Spiderman on your birthday Cam. I wish I could have been there to celebrate with everyone, but I’ll try and make it back for next year.

As of right now, I’m sitting on one of our open decks writing to you all (although, you won’t be reading this until 2 days later). Today we were in Boston and it was our last day in port here until September. We will be back here in 5 days but it will just be to debark the guests then we will take off for New York City for our relocation. We will just have an over night and embark guests the next day in NYC. I’ve really loved what I have seen of Boston, but I’m very excited for NYC. Today I was lucky enough to go tour Fenway Park!! I had been pumped about this for the entire cruise because I had planned it as soon as we left Boston the time before. I went with two girls from Camp Carnival, which is our youth program here on board. Kellie, Meechy, and I all went together and had a blast. It was nice to spend a day out enjoying baseball with some girls that enjoy baseball as much as me. I was completely in awe of Fenway. All the history that is there and just the fact that I can say I sat on the Green Monster is pretty cool. I would have loved to catch a game, but maybe I can in September when we start coming back to Boston. I even charged my phone while I was in the press box!! How many people can say they did that?! Haha not too many! Well I will post some pictures that I took on the bottom of the post so those of you who have never been there can check it out.

Well, this next part is just about as surprising to you all as it is me because I had just finished telling you about getting ready for relocation. I finished writing about Fenway and it was time for me to start working for the evening so I shut my computer down and went to get ready. As I’m getting ready to head up to the Lido deck for our sail away party, I see our cruise director and he said he wanted me to stop by after I finished sail away. That was fine with me because he has had me do that before just because there are little things I’m working on to try and be an even better host. That is what I figured he wanted to talk about. Well I come down after sail away and he let me know that I am being transferred. I’m being sent to the Conquest because they need some help on their ship and the Glory is the only ship in the entire fleet that has 4 hosts and we are only budgeted for 3.5 hosts. I’m not sure where you can find half a host, but oh well. So yes, I’m only being transferred temporarily to the Conquest as of right now. This will be my last cruise on the Glory and I will debark in Boston and miss the relocation to NYC. I will then meet the Conquest in Belize on August 2^nd. I will be there until the 24^th of August and then fly back to the Glory. The Conquest is out of New Orleans and does a couple of different 7-day runs while I’m there. I’m sad to be leaving here so soon because I’ve started to make some really good friends, but I’m also excited because I get to do some more traveling and have some more adventures. The thing that I’m least excited about is that I have to pack again and lug all my crap through the airport and all that jazz, especially since I’m going to be traveling internationally. Yes, I know my life is rough. Haha I don’t know too many hosts that can say they have been on 3 different ships in their first 2 months with the company. The whole reason I am going is because I am the newest one to this ship, the girls have contracts that are ending soon and Jason needs to stay to balance out the girl to guy ratio. I’m perfectly fine with transferring; I’m honored actually that Josh, my CD, has enough faith in me to send me. It is only going to make me an even better host. I’m also very excited that I will be back in the Caribbean for a little while. I’m going to try and get as tan as possible while I’m there. I’m feeling a bit white since I wear long pants and a sweatshirt just as much as I do a tank top and shorts.

Well, I think that’s enough excitement for now as I will be posting this tomorrow when I get into St. John, New Brunswick. I got lucky and don’t have to do gangway in the morning so I can get off the ship a bit earlier. For those of you that are reading this and are either on their way up or already there, I hope you have a blast at Lake Almanor. I had been doing a good job of keeping it off my mind that I had even forgot that it was the end of the month already, but then I was talking to Mom yesterday telling her that I was getting transferred and she didn’t even want to tell me what she was doing on Saturday because she knew it would make me upset. As hard as I tried to keep it in, I ended up crying. I’m definitely going to miss being there with you guys. I hope to skype with you all on Sunday maybe? If not I’m sure I will have a day off before I head to the Conquest. I hope everyone has a drink and an extra bite for me while you are up there. J Also one last major thing as well, congrats to my absolutely amazing friends Elizabeth and Ande!! I wish I could be with you two today to celebrate the joining of your lives. I’m definitely thinking about you guys. I’m there in spirit. 

Love and Smiles to everyone,

Alyssa

ps. I'm attaching the link to my cruise director's blog. He is a pretty cool and funny guy. I also got mentioned in his last post! :) http://bigsexyinc.com/

Me sitting on the GREEN MONSTER!!!

Meechy and Kellie!!

Yes, I charged my phone in the press box!!

The red seat is where the farthest home run was hit in the stadium. 

First few weeks on the GLORY!!!

Hello All,

I hope the month of July is finding everyone in good health and a festive spirit. I can’t believe that it is the 10^th of the month already and I have been doing this for a month already. Some days it feels like I just started, others I feel like I have been doing it for months already. Either way I still can’t keep my days straight. Haha I think today is Tuesday and that is only because that is what my computer is telling me. For all I know it might actually be Wednesday in Canada and no one told me. J Being on an itinerary that does 4 & 5 day runs causes you to really lose track of your days. I’m in port in Boston every other Saturday, but then that will change because we do three 5 day runs in a row so it will shift everything a bit. Right now, I am currently on a 5 day cruise and enjoying an afternoon off in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I have been on the Glory for 13 days now, and I’m finally feeling like I’m getting in the groove of things. I am staying busy and that is not an understatement. Between all the trainings and new ship things I have to learn, along with how this ship does things I’ve been learning a lot. We also had an ACD handover, which is when the current ACD (Assistant Cruise Director) is leaving on vacation so another ACD comes on board to take his place. Sometimes the ACD that is leaving would come back from vacation and want to go to a different ship, but in this case, John is coming back in September. So the ACD that we currently have is Pete and he is only here for the 2 months that John is going to be gone. Our Cruise Director (CD) is Josh aka Big Sexy (from Chicago). The other hosts are currently Kim (from Chicago), Dana (from Ohio), and Jason (from Chicago). Kim is signing off at the end of August, Dana is sometime in September and then Jason is the beginning of November right before dock.

Our itinerary changes a bit coming up soon so it’ll be fun to readjust to everything. After this cruise is over, we will do our last 4-day out of Boston, followed by three straight 5 days ending on the 31^st of July. After we debark all of the guest on the morning of the 31^st, we will head out and have a 1-day relocation to New York City!! Only crew on board so I heard that there are some pretty good parties that day. J We will then continue with 4 & 5 day cruises out of NYC, then on September 8^th, we will start 7 day cruises out of NYC. The 4 & 5 day cruises will go to the same two Canadian ports that we currently go to out of Boston, but when we start the 7 day cruises, we will add stops in Boston and Portland, Maine. I’m really excited to be able to go back to Boston and especially check out Maine with all the fall colors that will be out. Then October 13^th, we will have another relocation and head down to Norfolk, Virginia. When we get to Virginia, we won’t be there too long, we will do a 6 day, 2 day, 6 day, then a 5 day. After those 4 cruises our ship heads into dry dock for 2 weeks from the 2^nd of November until the 14^th. I am not exactly sure where the dry dock will be, I’ve heard a couple of different things. Guess I will find out soon enough. I’m not exactly sure what will happen to me either when the ship goes into dry dock. I will have a month left on my contract, so I could possibly get transferred somewhere else, or get put up in a hotel for 2 weeks, or even sent home for 2 weeks. Anything could happen and I probably won’t know until the last minute. My sign off date is the 2^nd of December though so after dry dock I wouldn’t be on this ship for too much longer.

It is an absolutely gorgeous day here in Halifax, about 75-80 degrees. I’m out on one of the open decks for the crew on a lounge chair writing to you all. I wish I could say I was on the beach in Cozumel, but Canada will have to do this time. I really miss the beach and the warmer weather, but if I can keep getting weather like this, I’ll be all right with it. Haha The crowd that comes to cruise out of Boston is a lot different than the crowd that comes to cruise out of Tampa; that is for sure. But the job is still the same. I do a lot of the same activities as I did on the Paradise. We have lots of trivias throughout the cruise, we do Game Show Mania, 60 seconds or Less, Gender Showdown, Love and Marriage show, Liars club, Deck Olympics, Mixology Contest, Men’s Hairy Chest, and we even have a Murder Mystery that lasts all cruise long and of course we have lots of BINGO games. I have been a part of most of the activities except, Liars club and Love and Marriage. Liars club, I will help with next cruise and Love and Marriage hosts don’t normally help with because Josh our CD hosts it. I also have show watches where I have to walk around and tell all the guests that don’t like to listen to the house rules that they can’t take pictures during the shows. It is amazing how each show is so different. The other night I had to do both show watches and the first show no one took pictures and then the second show, everyone was taking pictures. I had to keep walking back and forth and what I found funny was that I kept walking in front of the same people to tell other guests to stop, then they tried to start taking pictures. They must have thought I was just walking over to say hi or something. Haha I just didn’t get it. I also find it funny when guests try to be sneaky about it, like we can’t see what they are doing. So I will tell you now, if you come visit me on a ship, please don’t take pictures during the show. It is out of respect for the dancers and it is against the International Copyright Law. Thank you J Some of the other things that I have to do is gangway assistance and debark in the mornings when we get back to Boston. Those are some early mornings, but they don’t bother me. I can sleep when I am dead. Right Mom? J For the next couple of weeks I also have to help with the Comedy Club. I will be running the mic and lights and all the technical stuff. We are short on technicians so the hosts have learned to run the club and will do so until we are back to full staff in the tech department. I will also have to occasionally host the comedy club. Jason does it on a regular basis, but when he is host on duty it rotates between us girls who aren’t on duty. If anyone doesn’t understand any of the games I mentioned above feel free to ask me about them, I’d love to share more with you guys.

I am now in the middle of the 4-day cruise. I got busy and stopped writing, but I am back now. I am currently in St. John. I was supposed to have a training this morning, but it got cancelled so I was able to get off the ship for a little bit and went and got something to eat and used some free internet. I went with Pete to a restaurant called Cora’s; they only serve breakfast and lunch. I had a HUGE crepe with Nutela and bananas in it. It definitely wasn’t the same as Grama’s but still delicious. I just kept eating and I’m not sure how, I was so full. In the end, I didn’t finish it. I spent the afternoon doing laundry and enjoying a bit of relaxation time. You learn to really cherish the time off that you get because when you are working it is go, go, go all the time. I like that though, although a nap here and there is nice too. J Well, I hope to talk to you all soon. I know there are a lot of people reading this and I do my best to talk to everyone that I can. I’m often online in the middle of the day which I know is hard for a lot of people, but I would love to hear from everyone. Hope all is well.

Love and Smiles,

Alyssa