The mighty seas beckon us!!

I am officially proud to announce that Carnival Cruise Lines has hired both me and my wonderful wife, Kris!!

An answer to prayers and a vote of confidence for the basket we put our eggs in last November, we still don't know the exact date of our departure but have been given the words we needed: "Welcome to our team."

This has been no short or easy venture for us. The idea started for us over a year ago in the fall of 2007. Planning for the wedding, we knew we wanted an adventure in the early stages of our marriage and doing some preliminary research found how possible it was to both travel (big plus for us!) and save money. We began calling it our "calculated adventure". We probably interviewed at least 4 or 5 people on our honeymoon cruise. We really wanted to get an idea of how it all worked. After a contact name from a guy I knew who played drums on Carnival, I had set myself up an over-the-phone audition for late July. Mind you, we were still in the dreaming phase and none of this required a lot of our worries or stress. Yeah...that didn't last.

The audition went terrible. I seriously played like crap. But somehow, the easy-going guy behind the entertainment band players thought I was good enough to keep. So there it was! He sent me the forms, I got my medical, sent it back in and I was set. Hired and ready for action in early 2009. It was Kris's turn to audition in the vocal department. What we DIDN'T know was that the guy who ran this department was flaky, unattentive and that the vocal group of cruise entertainment was insanely competitive. So we sweated out the fall, joined an online cruise company that sent resumes to all cruise lines (ALL OF THEM), waited, waited, ate/slept and waited some more. Without much more future knowledge we decided that we should quit jobs and home and become "gypsies" anyhow. Our family and friends supported us and we felt the peace of mind that God brings.

It was easy to keep our spirits hi amidst a super fun east coast road trip and the busyness of family holidays. But 2008 came and went and we still knew so more then the day I sent my papers back to Carnival. Kris eventually got the kiss off email from the vocal guy but was he kind enough to give Carnivals cruise staff contact. As our thoughts and mind began to doubt and wonder, we decided to visit her grandparents in Florida. No cold, no "sweat" (so to speak) right?? It worked for a few days. We continued to pester Chris, our cruise staff contact, to no avail. Amidst the warmth of Florida and the generosity of her grandparents we felt like our way was muddy and unclear. Then it happened. Chris called and Kris was charming as can be. The he called again (While we were at Disneyworld no less) with a promise to call the next day. Then he didn't call for two days and our collective nerves were fraying by the hour, like a high-school girl who waits for "the guy" to call. On a day when we resigned to enjoy ourselves regardless for the rest of the trip, Carnival Chris called, they talked and talked and talked. Then Kris got what she longed to hear since September....
"We think you'd be a great fit."

God is good! And we're more then ready for the next step...