8.1

This morning I woke up around 645 and hopped into my mini shower. As I was showering I suddenly noticed that I was standing in water. Not a small amount of water that normally collects when you shower, but probably about 3 or 4 inches of water. It suddenly occurred to me that my drain was not draining. I quickly turned off the water to assess the situation. I was standing there covered in soap not able to see a thing without my glasses but didn't want to turn the water back on as I had already begun to flood my phone booth of a bathroom. So soaking wet I quickly tiptoed into my room and grabbed a cup. I began bailing my bathroom floor into the toilet. After a few minutes I had taken the water level down enough to turn the water on a bit to get the soap off of me. Now I was running late so I quickly put on my uniform and ran to the other end of the ship for my training session.

It is amazing how much safety training I am required to attended. This morning I again had about four hours of safety and security training. I got to met the captain (Captain Karen). Last night I found out she is the first woman to be captain of a cruise ship! We were also introduced to the first officers of engineering, security, safety, medical and HR. There are so many acronyms and code words my head is already starting to spin. Announcements over the PA system such as "Alpha Alpha Alpha, zone 5, deck 7, port" means Alpha=medical emergency and zone 5 = fire zone 5 (there are seven fire zones on the ship created by bulkheads and fire and watertight doors). Every employee has an emergency card that declares what the crew member's duty is and the location they should report to in each type of emergency (medical, fire, grounding/collision and security threat).

This morning the first safety officer showed us how to operate fire and splash doors. We then went outside and I had completely forgotten we had changed locations and walked out onto the deck to see beautiful water and the island of St. Croix. I could also see a ball park right off of the beach! We were shown all the different types of life and rescue crafts as well as the passenger muster stations. Later in the week I'll also be trained in fire, survival, crowd control and first aid. It's going to be a busy week!