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

Dad, Mom and I in Boston!

Bobbi, Me and Emily at Peggy's Cove

Me, Dad and Mom again

 My awesome girls!! Lolly, Bobbi, and Laura!! The best host team EVER!!!

 Hurricane Sandy! 

 The atrium covered already

 Me, Laura, Lolly, Bobbi, and Matt all dressed up for the Halloween party!

 Leaving New York!!

Busy Busy Busy... but what else is new!

It’s been a little while, basically a month, since I wrote last. It’s been a busy last few weeks here on the Glory. I will just get straight into things…

So when I signed back on the Glory, my cruise director that was here when I signed on originally had just signed off medically with some back issues. So, our assistant cruise director (ACD) took over as CD (cruise director). He had never acted as CD before so he was pretty nervous about things. Well with him becoming the new CD that meant we needed an ACD to fill in. The plan was to rotate the duty of being ACD between all the hosts. Well, the head office heard about that and shot it down. They wanted one person to do it so Kim who was the first one to do it, just stuck with it for a while. She was to sign off on the 25^th of August so that is when we would figure out who would do it next. Well with it being my first cruise back since my week vacation and all the other changes that were going on, I’d say it was definitely going to be a cruise where we all needed to work together to get things done. I was feeling very refreshed and ready for all the upcoming challenges and I thought we handled everything that came our way pretty well. When I say everything that came our way, some of you might think that sounds like the cruise from hell. Well, it wasn’t quite, but it was pretty crappy, literally! It started out as just another 5 day cruise to St. John and Halifax, but ended on a bad note. We had a GI outbreak on board, which is never a good thing anywhere, but on a cruise ship it really isn’t a good thing. I won’t describe what it is, but hopefully you have caught my drift already. It is highly contagious and on a ship it will travel real fast. Supposedly we ended up with almost 6% of our guests on board with it and a big majority of them being under the age of 18. They had to quarantine those who were sick to their cabins, but that is only if they listened. We almost had issues docking in NYC because our outbreak was so large that they wouldn’t allow us to dock, but thankfully we were able to do so. There were talks about if things were worse we might have had to all leave the ship and stay in hotels for a couple nights, all kinds of rumors going around, but nothing came of most of them. FYI Rumors travel really fast when you are on a ship because they have nowhere else to go. We tried to get in early to start debarking guests so we could get the ship cleaned and sanitized before the next set of guests go on board. This was also the morning of my birthday! Happy Birthday to me! I got to get up at the crack of dawn to get a bunch of sick guests off the ship! Oh well, part of the job. Anyway, we did end up getting in a bit early, but no one was there to clear the ship so we can’t let anyone off the ship. A lot of the times we port somewhere and we will be on time, but it takes some time to get cleared. So we finally started getting guests off about 630ish I believe, which was a bit earlier than our normal 7am start. But, they had told us and all the guest they would be ready by 6am, so you can imagine the amount of guests that came down at 6am trying to get away from all the sick people. Let’s just say they weren’t too happy and they just think that me and the other hosts do everything on board. We are the customs officers, we tie the ropes off, we direct the guests, and we get their luggage off the ship too, man if I could do all that I would hope I would be paid a bit more. Haha Some guests are just too funny with the things that they think.

Well I had a wonderful birthday in NYC and working of course. Got to have some delicious pizza for lunch and then did a little walking around NYC. With the GI outbreak we had last cruise we had to still be very cautious of things. It was a pretty normal 5-day cruise. I got to go to the steakhouse on board for my birthday with the host team as well a few others. That was a nice treat. We also had a medical emergency on board that required us to get back to NYC early again so we had another early debark morning. The thing about the early debark mornings is that they tell everyone we will be ready at 6am and then aren’t ready until 6:45am. You can imagine how happy guests are that they got up early and still can’t get off the ship.

On the 16^th Jason, our only male on the host team signed off because he was selected to be on the inaugural cast on the Spirit that is starting out of Australia in October! We were all very excited for him and very jealous!! On the 20^th when we’re in NYC I went to the top of the Empire State Building with Josh, Andy, and Meechy! It was a blast!! It was Meechy’s last day in NYC because she was signing off next NYC so it was nice to hang out with some friends and do some sight seeing. I’ll post some pictures so you can all see the view. It was a bit hazy so I wish it had been a bit clearer, but oh well. I also wish I would have had a wide angle lens for my camera but I can’t have it all J

The cruise of the 25^th I was on duty so I couldn’t get off the ship, which was fine. I always know before hand when I’m going to be on duty. I actually kind of enjoy it even though your days are a bit longer, you can really get to know some guests better. You create a following of people that show up to all your activities. There was a huge wedding reception happening on the cruise so they were all there for a good time and followed me around for a lot of my activities it was a lot of fun! Reminded me a lot of home and made me a bit homesick but I’m doing all right now. Of course my duty cruise would not be complete without something happening. This time it was a computer crashing and not just any computer, it’s the computer that runs the automation for the production shows, aka a REALLY important one! Without this computer, we can’t run our shows correctly; it is a huge safety hazard. So that happened our first night at sea and we ended about 5 minutes short of the first show and couldn’t put on the second show because of it. At that time we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to put on the other two shows on the last sea day as well. It’s that big of an issue. We even had to do bingo the old fashion way and turn the tumbler and let the balls roll out. Haha, it was an eventful night that’s for sure. We did end up getting to run the other two shows without the drops so that was nice because otherwise we would have had to go to plan b which I heard is not very fun. But we all survived and we didn’t have too much else happen the rest of the cruise which was nice.

When I got back into NYC, one of the hosts, Laura, is engaged and wanted to go wedding dress shopping so Dana and I went with her. It was a lot of fun and she found a gorgeous dress!! We had some lunch and then went back to the ship. It was a fun relaxing day and now I’m here in St. John enjoying some time to catch up with everyone. It’s been so nice and refreshing. When I get back on board there will be a new cruise director who will take over on Monday when I get back to NYC. Should be an exciting time because there are even more changes coming up! Only 34 days until Mom and Dad cruise! Yay!! 91 until I’m home and 117 until I’m back in Kansas!! I love what I’m doing but I’m also very excited to see everyone again. Miss and love you all!

Love and Smiles,

<3 A

Times Square on my Birthday!

 Looking uptown towards central park

Looking downtown towards the freedom tower

Me, Andy, Meechy, and Josh

Heading back to the Glory

Well Hello Everyone, 

Some of you are expecting me to be writing to you from somewhere in the warm Caribbean, but others of you have heard that I didn't even really make it there. That's right, I'm back on the Glory currently in Canada today. I did leave on the 31st to head down to Miami to fly to Belize to get on the Conquest, but Miami was as far as I got. 

The morning of the 31st, I had to check out of my room, drop my bags off, and go thru immigration before I could get off the ship. The night before I was packing my things up and had decided that I was not as efficient as I could be and that I should really get another suit case when I get down to Miami. Until then I had to work with what I had, which was way too much stuff. Shocker! I ended up with 2 checked bags and 3 carry ons. Don't ask me how I was going to pull this off because I was heading to the airport and still had no idea. I get into immigration and I have my three carry ons with me and the MSA lady tells me that I have 2 packages waiting for me in the office that had just showed up this morning. (BTW, the MSA is the office basically, any mail, ID issues, lost name tags, that kind of stuff you take care of there) I had been expecting these packages but also hoping they could be sent to the Conquest so I wouldn't have to worry about carrying the extra weight. Well, that obviously didn't happen so here I am with 3 carry ons to carry and now 2 pretty good size boxes. Oh goody! lol So, I called Mom and woke her up :) and asked her if I could open them so I could try and distribute what was in them so I could carry things a bit easier. Well, thankfully I had asked Mom and Dad for a new back pack for my birthday and they had found the one that I wanted and that was inside so I got to use that to carry some stuff and it was very helpful! The back pack that I had, but left at home I had used all through high school and college, needless to say it was time for a new one, so Thank you Mom and Dad! :) You are the bestest!

I arrive at the airport and thankfully they don't weigh my bags because I would imagine that at least one would have been over weight. My flight to Miami was nothing out of the ordinary, and I got to the hotel and everything safe and sound. Decided I would just have a relaxing night and not go out or anything the first night. Got to catch up with a lot of friends and family so that was nice. The next day, I got up and went to a mall and did some shopping. It was a pretty cool mall called Dolphin Mall. It has a lot of the outlet stores which was really nice. I found a new suitcase and a few other things, but I spent the afternoon walking around there. It was pretty big so you definitely needed some time to walk around.  I did treat myself to a manicure and pedicure, which felt amazing. It was during my pampering of myself that I received an email saying "Do not get on the plane tomorrow, you are heading back to the Glory on Monday". Well, it didn't say it like that but it was pretty close. The CD (Cruise Director) Josh on the Glory had been having some back issues and he needed to sign off medically so they figured it would be easier for me to come back since I knew the ship already and everyone than having someone new come and have to figure everything out. When I got off in Boston, the ship headed out to New York to relocate. So Wednesday the Glory was in New York, but by the time that I found out about heading back to the Glory, I would not have made it in time. Chris, my ultimate boss said that he would wait to fly me out to New York on Monday rather than trying to get me on there earlier when they port in Canada, just because it'll be less hassle. I was very thankful to hear that because last time I tried to fly into Canada from Miami, it didn't work too well. So, they had me switch hotels so I was closer to the head quarters and there was a little bit more around there. So I tried to meet up with Chris on Thursday but he ended up having a super busy day so we planned for the next day. He did pass my number along to some of the guys in the office so they contacted me and I went around Miami with them and went to dinner. It was really fun driving around Miami in a convertible! Friday I went into the office to help out the guys and meet up with Chris. It was pretty fun, not too many people in the office, but it was nice to see the other side a bit. I got to help book the flights of all the comedians that fly on board. I also got to pick my next ship! I'm very excited about it!! I'm happy to share with you that my next ship will be the Dream!! I'll start in January and I will be based out of Port Canaveral which is close to Orlando, FL. So if anyone wants to come cruise with me, I'll be there, January 19th thru the 20th of July, I'd love to have some of you come join me. I'm super excited about the ship and the run. I will also know the sound tech as well. He is the same one that is on the Glory right now and will be signing on just a couple of days before me. His name is Josh. 

The rest of the weekend I just kind of took it easy. I did go tour Marlins Park which was awesome! I'll post some pictures on the bottom of the post. From the ball park I walked about 3 miles to downtown and Bayside which is super close to the cruise port. I tried to meet up with Harrison from my host college because he was on the Valor which was in port, but he was Host on Duty so he couldn't get off the ship. It was a big bummer, but oh well. I can't do much about it. So I enjoyed a lunch by myself while looking at the Carnival Valor. Sunday I just hung out and repacked all my stuff so that it would be easier to travel back to the Glory. I had a 6am flight back to NYC on monday morning. Once I got back on the Glory it was just like old hat obviously since I hadn't been gone very long. I had missed one cruise. Some people knew I was coming back, others were surprised to see me. Either way it has been good to get back. I was a bit bummed I didn't get to go to the caribbean for a few weeks, but I'm happy I get to spend my birthday with people that I have known for a little while now. It's gonna be nice and fun. Plus, who wouldn't want to spend their birthday in NYC!! I'm really pumped about that! 

Anyway, I'm going to get going back to the ship, but I'll talk to you all soon. Take care until then.

Love and Smiles,

Alyssa

These are a couple of my closest friends here on the Glory!! Meechy and Josh 

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