12.29

Today I woke up to a knock on my door. I got out of bed, opened the door and to my surprise I found Ricky along with all the supervisors in the cruise division. It turns out that 9 cabins in the cruise division had failed cabin inspection so Ricky was marching everyone around to inspect the cabins so it didn't happen again. Well I had literally just woken up and suddenly had 6 people barge into my cabin. Talk about a rude awakening. They didn't know why I had failed cabin inspection, as there was nothing written on the paper that said I failed so Ricky just told me to get  new shower curtain as mine was a bit dirty looking. This is because my shower takes 3 1/2 days to drain after every shower so the curtain is always sitting in dirty water that slouches around as the ship moves. I've had Facilities look at in multiple times but it always seems to clog up immediately after they unclog it. This afternoon I stole a shot vac from the stage staff and attempted to suck the crap out of my drain so we'll see if that makes any difference. edit: it has!

This is a random thought but it literally feels like Christmas was about 2 months ago. I cannot believe that it only happened 3 days ago. It seems impossible. My brain cannot comprehend that it happened in this same cruise. I can't explain to you how long ago it feels. The cruise ship time warp continues…

This is a scattered post, but more randome news: I finally ordered an intervalometer for my camera so I can make some time lapses. I want to show the ship coming in and out of various ports. I also plan on shooting a time lapse of Dancing Under the Stars because Ricky wants to show Miami how the party progresses throughout the evening (morning). Hopefully I can get some pretty cool shots! It should arrive in San Juan by Saturday so hopefully I'll have it for this next cruise!

As I write this post I'm getting eaten alive by some sort of ants that I think could be fire ants as my feet and legs are starting to really burn so I'm going to go. This always happens in St. Croix and yet I continue to sit in the same spot on my computer. Yes, crew members can get pretty desperate for internet. 

12.28

I forgot to mention that early on Christmas day (between midnight and 5:00) we were involved in a search and rescue operation with the U.S. Coast Guard to search for a crew member from the Celebrity ship Summit who went overboard. We searched for about 5 hours and then were released from the search to continue on to St. Lucia as other Coast Guard ships arrived. We found two life rings but unfortunately no body. After searching 2,000 square miles the Coast Guard decided to call off the search yesterday with no results. While it is only speculation, many suspect suicide was the cause of the overboard. It is possible for crew members to get depressed, especially around the holidays, as we work long hard hours and are away from our family and friends for a prolonged period of time. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the Summit CM. 

More uplifting news: Last night we were on our way from St. Kitts to Antigua when we had to turn around and return to St. Kitts to medivac a guest. We didn't even tie up when we returned. We literally just pressed the ship against the pier, opened a bulkhead door, quickly transferred the guest to a waiting ambulance on the pier and then backed away. It was pretty impressive how little time the whole operation took. Hopefully this speed helped save the guest's life. 

Kurtis' birthday was yesterday and we had a rock night in the crew bar. Typically in the crew bar the sound system is always blasting Latin, Caribbean or house music but Kurtis requested the keys to the DJ booth for his birthday and setup a Rock n Roll playlist. It was a lot of fun to sit around and listen to "real" music for a change. There were about 8 of us and we just blasted rock music until 3:30 in the morning.  Unfortunately the crew bar is always filled with smokers as that is one of the few places where you can smoke so I always have to purge my lungs and take a shower every time I leave the crew bar. 

12.27

12.27

Wow I must say I'm impressed that people are still reading this blog. That's dedication! 

Well Christmas has come and gone and I must say I'm glad the holidays are wrapping up. As you can imagine, things are much more busy this time of year than normal. There are a lot more special events, shows and basically things to entertain the holiday crowds. 

We had a special Christmas (excuse me, Holiday) Show in the theatre which I had to create some video elements for. Most of the work went into this 2 minute animated video I created which was essentially opening credits for the show. It introduced the singers, dancers, stage staff, tech team and the orchestra. I shot individual video of each person and then put them on Christmas balls that dropped in and out of the video. It's hard to explain the entire concept but it turned out pretty well. It was projected on the massive sike while the orchestra played behind the video. It was cool because we recorded the orchestra playing the music to a click track so I was able to edit to the song. Then when they played the music live it lined up exactly to the video because they used the click track. 

The day before Christmas Eve I helped set up a massive balloon drop that was to be released during the Christmas Eve celebration the following night. We worked until about 3 in the morning to fill 750 balloons and stuff them into this net we had constructed and suspended above the Centrum on Deck 10. Now I wasn't in charge of the design of the balloon drop, I was just helping the stage staff put it up. In fact I told them that I thought it wasn't going to work and it turns out I was right!

When they went to release the balloons on Christmas Eve the rigging lines that were supporting the forward part of the net broke and the entire mass of balloons began to drift down towards the side of the Centrum in a massive blob. The video of the chaos is pretty hilarious. Stage staff sprinted down the stairs to Deck 8 where the ballon mass got stuck and were finally able to cut the net and free the balloons. So the balloons just rained straight down on one side of the Centrum rather than dropping from the center as planned, but the guests thought it was funny and everyone had a good time regardless. 

Christmas Day was super long and it was definitely weird to be celebrating Christmas not only while I was working, but while being on a cruise ship in 85 degree weather. However I was so busy the entire day I didn't really feel homesick because I didn't have time to worry about anything! The following day I slept until 11:30 and it felt great to recharge my batteries. Just in time to gear up for the New Years celebrations. 

And the show goes on… 

12.17

A few pictures to spice up the mass of boring text on this blog. (click image to enlarge)

First photo was recently taken in St. Croix. The rest is what my cabin looks like decorated for Christmas. When my sister visited she brought me the worlds smallest Christmas tree and some other things to spice up my cabin. It does make it more cheerful!

12.17

It has been eons since I've written anything on here. In fact I'm not sure if anyone even reads this anymore so if you do read this post, comment and let me know! 

So a quick recap of the last month or so includes a visit from my family, Thanksgiving, a few new ports of call and a whole slew of other things that I can't even remember. 

My mom, dad and sister came down for the Thanksgiving cruise. It was really great to spend (some) time with them and hang out in their room which felt like Richie Rich's mansion compared to my cabin. Unfortunately for me Thanksgiving meant additional work so I didn't get to spend as much time as I had hoped with them, but I still got to have a few delicious meals with them and we even went sailing as a family in St. Maarten which was great. 

A lot of my time Thanksgiving week was spent making daily videos telling the story of a turkey that was getting chased all around the ship and on different islands by a chef. Yes, 4 years of college education and I'm making turkey chase videos. But it was actually a lot of fun and the guests seem to enjoy the videos. The final video showed 6 chefs chasing the turkey around the ship and down into the Centrum (central area of the ship) where it cut out and picked up in live action as people watched the chefs try to catch the turkey only to be stopped by the Captain who "pardoned the turkey". It was quiet a site to see. 

What else has happened… I went 4wheeling in St. Maarten and explored both the French and Dutch sides of the island. I wore my helmet camera and took some pretty cool video which I'll post if I ever have an internet connection faster than dial up.

Here is what I had written about 4wheeling which I never posted…

"Yesterday I went on a 4Wheeler excision in St. Maartan. It was pretty cool to see most of the entire island from a 4wheeler. If you didn't know, St. Maartan is split into two different sides. A Dutch side and a French side. As you can imagine, they are completely different. We ate lunch in the French side and it felt like I was in France but with the addition of Palm trees and 85 degree weather. It was rather bizarre. As we were sitting outside along the street eating lunch at a small restaurant a police van screeched to stop outside of the restaurant with its siren blaring and an officer jumped out. He began yelling in French demanding to know who's vehicle was parked on the street across from the restaurant. He walked through the restaurant asking everyone and I guess no one took ownership. After about 5 minutes he got back in the police van and took off. It was very strange. After the officer left we resumed our lunch. I had a delicious shrimp shish kabob and a petite pain which I guess is a French donut. It sort of tasted like a pretzel crossed with a Chineese donut minus the sugar. 

We also stopped at a buttery fly farm. It was actually really cool. A guide walked us through the room (?) which is a large area enclosed in screening to keep out any predators. She showed us various specious of butterflies and let us hold different caterpillars while showing us what type of butterfly they turned into. After she finished talking we just walked around and looked at the various butterflies. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to photograph various butterflies when they landed on the plants. It was a game of cat and mouse that lasted about 15 minutes until I decided 100+ photos of butterflies and leaves where butteries had been milliseconds before was probably enough. 

Next we hopped back on the wheelers and headed towards Airport Beach. As you may have guessed from the cleaver name, Airport Beach is a beach located next to an airport. And when I say next to I mean the runway is 15 feet from the beach. There is the ocean, then the beach, then the runway. You may have seen pictures of people hanging on to a fence and getting blown back by the thrust from jets taking off. Well this is the place. There is a bar next to the beach that has a chalk board with the list of departures and arrivals so people know when to expect a plane. I must say it's pretty awesome. Following airport beach we had to head back to the ship because some people had to get back for a rehearsal. We were actually cutting it pretty close so we were really hauling on our way back. In fact there were some people that weren't comfortable going that fast so we left them in the dust. Literally. On the way back I rode with Tamara (our Light Tech) because she was riding with Hugh who had sprained his ankle playing soccer at the olympics the previous night and had to be on a 4wheeler that wasn't going to go as fast. Let me tell you it was a good thing he didn't ride with Tamera because we were cruising. We were continuously trying to stay in front of Patricio and Brittany as we raced back. I was sitting behind Tamera I was constantly looking behind us to make sure Patricio wouldn't try to sneak around us. If he did start to edge up I would yell to Tamera and we would box him out. It was a pretty intense battle as we made our way back to the ship. Judging by the glares we were getting from our tour guide who was on the 4 wheeler in front of us, I don't think he liked our little game."

It's hard to believe but Christmas is next Sunday. It's so strange to think that Christmas is in a week. I am in a complete time warp and literally don't know what time of year it feels like. Yes we have a huge Christmas tree in the Centrum and I hear Christmas music and we have caroling and Christmas shows but my body is still confused as to the time of year. The hot weather, working literally every single day and constantly revolving around a 7 day schedule really has my mind confused. But the good news is I'm not counting down the days to the end of my contract because time is moving so fast!

Tonight the Cruise Division is having a wrapping party to wrap over 700 gifts for the Adventure Ocean kids. These are the kids who enroll in our children's program while onboard. We're starting around midnight and just wrapping until there are no more gifts to wrap! Should be fun? 

It's going to be a busy next two cruises as both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve fall on turn around day. We'll be sailing on Christmas day so we'll have to keep the guests extra entertained as they'll be stuck on the ship. It will definitely be weird for me to spend Christmas away from my family in the middle of the ocean, but I plan on buying a phone card so I can try to call home from the ship for the low low price of….

I also just found out that there was an earthquake 14 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico this morning while we were sailing in but I didn't feel any additional motion in the ocean. Good thing!

Well I think I've written plenty for now. Congratulations if anyone is still reading my ramblings! Let me know if you are still actually reading and if so, I'll try to keep writing things!