Gone Cruisin': Heading South

I know it has been a while since I posted anything and I’m really sorry about that. I’ve been extremely busy and have less than 1 month before I’m home. Things are only going to get busier I’m sure.

Well the last time that I wrote a blog we were still doing 4 and 5 day runs out of NYC. Since then we have finished those and started with our week long runs. We did 5 of those then relocated to Norfolk, Virginia. Our last two cruises were 4 & 5-day runs and they were pretty normal. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened. We moved on to 7-day cruises and I was on duty for the first one. That meant it was my first time in Maine and I couldn’t check it out. Good thing we were going to be back the next week. With me being on duty, everyone knew something was bound to happen. I think we might have a pretty smooth cruise, just little things here and there. That was a first though. The only thing different about this first 7-day cruise was that we did the run a bit backwards. When we left NYC we first headed to Halifax, then St. John, Portland, then Boston last. When we have a run like this where we head to Canada first, that means the guests have to do some sort of immigration when we first get back into the US. It’s kind of a pain because they will have to do something again when we get back to NYC. Thankfully this was the only cruise that was like that. The other four weeklong cruises went Boston, Portland, St. John, and Halifax. The weather was really nice for most of the month of September. It might be a little chilly here and there and then a bit of rain once in a while but for the most part it was still in the 70s even in Canada.

From my last post I had to wait 34 days for mom and dad to get here! Well they have come and gone now. The have been gone for almost that long now. We had a great week together! It started off the right way by being able to catch some of the K-State game in New York City! We were able to eat together quite a few times and spend lots of time together on and off the ship. I’m pretty sure mom and dad enjoyed it as much as I did. They got to meet some of my friends on the ship. Trevor walked around Boston and some of Portland with us. We didn’t have too much planned in the ports, but Mom decided she wanted to see Peggy’s Cove in Halifax so Bobbi and Emily joined us for that too. It was a gorgeous place and a perfect day for pictures. I was glad that mom made the decision to want to go! We did luck out and were able to spend a few extra hours together because we had a medical emergency and had to return to Halifax the night we left so we were delayed getting into NYC. That morning we were also supposed to drop all the guests off and then head out to Norfolk, Virginia to relocate to our new home port, but our delayed arrival also messed up the arrival of another ship. We were supposed to try and be out of the port by 11 but we didn’t arrive until then, so the other ship had to sit out in harbor until we finished debarking all the guests and loading all the other materials on. Supposedly the ship had traveled all the way from Europe so I felt bad that they had to wait even longer.

When we set sail for Norfolk, it was really neat! It was the first time I had been on board with no guests and let me tell you the nicest thing is being able to wear whatever clothes you want around the ship! I could wear jeans and a sweatshirt!! We were able to walk around where ever we wanted and could take pictures of skyline. It was pretty awesome! And of course you know if there are no guests on board, there is going to be a party! They already had one planned out. Each month different departments are in charge of planning different events for the month. There is usually at least one party in the nightclub, a couple of different food nights, sport activities, karaoke, and sometimes excursions off the ship. It wasn’t too long of a trip down to Norfolk, because we still made it on time the next day into port. I was on port manning the first cruise out of Norfolk, which I didn’t think would be too big of a deal and it wasn’t really. It was so nice to be looking out the windows and seeing crystal blue waters and being able to walk outside to the open deck and wear shorts and not have to have a jacket on. The first day we were in Nassau and it was relatively boring, I bet there weren’t more than 300 people on the ship out of about 3200! I obviously couldn’t get off because I was doing activities all day, but no one showed up to the first 3! I was just walking around the ship entertaining myself. Good thing I’m an entertainment host! J After a while, things started to pick up finally and some people were coming back on board. We were in Nassau overnight so a lot of people went out to the clubs and stuff. I got a nice 7 hours of sleep that night so I could get up and work the next morning! Haha it wasn’t as bad as it sounds until you hear about all the fun you missed out on! Oh, well… It’s not the end of the world. After two days in Nassau, we were in Freeport, which doesn’t look like much right at the port, but I guess there is stuff to do when you get away from the ship; a lot of nice beaches and what not. It’s just another port that I’ll have to check out when we come back next cruise. Oh, also so I’m on duty this cruise and nothing is normal unless something happens right? Well, our dj had a family emergency and had to go home, so that left our host team to dj in the nightclub. It doesn’t sound too hard, I know, and it’s not. It is just really boring and lonely. We all took turns doing it so that the same person didn’t get too lonely too long.

Our next cruise was a 2-day cruise to nowhere, which is basically a big booze cruise. The bar manager was very happy, but was also wishing it was just slightly longer so he could get even more revenue. For this cruise we literally went straight out from Norfolk, turned around and came straight back. The next cruise got a little more interesting. It was planned to be a 6-day cruise, with 3 days in port. Well, I’m sure you all heard about Hurricane Sandy and that’s when she started. Sandy had just formed when we were in Norfolk, so we had one full day at sea then we were supposed to get into Nassau at 11am the following day. We had had another medical emergency and had to go back to Norfolk, so that delayed us getting into Nassau a couple of hours. That was just the beginning though. Instead of staying over night in Nassau like our itinerary said, we stayed 6 hours! We had to head out because the hurricane was heading straight for the Bahamas! Our next port was out of question too because it was Freeport, which is also the Bahamas. We started to head north and thought we could make it to Port Canaveral (Orlando) to make up for port time, but they had closed that port as well due to high winds and potential flooding. I’m not sure why they would do something like that, it’s not like there was a hurricane or anything coming! Haha Well the guests ended up having a 5-day cruise with only 6 hours in port. At first, I think a lot of people were upset, but then started understanding and ultimately just wanted to get off a rocky ship. So, we arrived back a day earlier than we were supposed to, but still many guests thanked us for doing a great job throughout the whole ordeal. After all the guests had gotten off the ship, the crew was not allowed off the ship and we were going to set sail at 6pm to head out to sea. We didn’t have much of a plan of where we were going yet, but it was safer for us out to sea than it was hanging out tied up in port.

So out to sea we went. It was extremely rocky and I just kept thinking, thank goodness there are no guests here, they would have been freaking out. Just about anyone would have been. Most of the crewmembers seemed to handle it all just fine. I thought it was kind of fun haha It was just like a giant roller coaster! I’ll try and put up some pictures so you guys can see what I’m talking about. We would be listing from side to side as well and rolling from front to back. We ended up being at sea for a total of almost 4 days once we dropped everyone off in Norfolk. So that meant that all crewmembers had been on board for at least a solid week with only a couple hours when it wasn’t rocky because we were docked in Norfolk. A solid week of avoiding a hurricane and riding out the waves will really get to you. Everyone was so anxious to get off the ship when we got to Ft. Lauderdale that the line to get off the ship was about 500 people long. We just waited for a while for it to die down so we wouldn’t have to wait too long, I mean by then what is another 20 minutes. We ended up having 2 full days in Ft. Lauderdale until the ship was going to leave for dry dock down in Freeport. Everyone that was at the end of their contracts or vessel transferring to a different ship signed off on different days. Some signed off on the 31^st of October, some on the 1^st of November and the rest on the 2^nd before the ship left for Freeport. Originally they had told everyone they would be signing off on either the 31^st or the 1^st, but we quickly figured out that it could be the 2^nd too. I signed off the 2^nd. Even with no guests on board we still had to do port manning. I volunteered to do it the first night and that ended up kind of kicking me in the butt. Everyone went out and had a great time since it was Halloween and I was on board bored out of my mind. I was just walking around the ship because I didn’t want to be stuck in my room. At that time the ship was already in dry dock mode. That means that all the glass and windows get covered with cardboard, the floors covered with cardboard as well. Basically anything that can be damaged in any way shape or form gets covered. It also means that you can’t do anything on the ship. Everything is shut up and blocked off or covered. Also for dry dock they only keep so many of each department on the ship so I was chosen to vessel transfer and then come back.

Well the next day I was able to get off the ship and grab some lunch and dinner. We also went out to get drinks with a group from the ship. It was a really fun last night with everyone. Since I didn’t sign off until the 2^nd, I got to meet our new ACD (Assistant Cruise Director) Eversen. He signed on on the 1^st so it was nice to be able to meet him before I came back to the ship after dry dock.

Well I’m currently on the Freedom, but only for a few more days and then I will fly back to Miami and get on the Glory on Thursday!! The team here is absolutely awesome! I’ve gone from an all girl host team on the Glory to an all guy team here on the Freedom. They are all great guys and it’s going to be sad to leave them even after only 10 days. I’ve been able to go to some different places than the Glory will go to. I actually just finished a run that Mom, Dad, Kurt and I did back in 2010. I was in St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and Nassau. Yesterday I was in Ft. Lauderdale and today I’m in Key West. Tomorrow is a sea day and then Wednesday I will sign off in Grand Cayman and fly to Miami to stay over night. It’s times like this where I sit here and think about all I have done and the things I’m going to do in the next few days that I can’t believe this is my life!! I’m getting paid to go to these amazing places!!

Well, again I apologize it has been so long since I wrote last. I hope everyone is doing great! Feel free to shoot me an email or call me whenever, I love hearing from everyone. I'm going to try and put together a slide show for when I come home so I can show you guys more pictures and videos. I’ll be home soon to see everyone! Miss you all!

Love and Smiles!

These are some pictures from when Mom and Dad came cruising! This is Peggy's Cove in Halifax