It’s hard to believe it’s been three weeks since I came to the Paradise.
It feels like a lifetime already full of adjustment to ship life – including the rocking of the boat this evening that forced me to down another two seasickness tablets.
The people who work on this boat total 900 or so and Matty and I are two of about 15 Americans total. Most people are named Made, Santiago, Kienel, Duangjai, Danilo, Ante, Liliya, Fnu, Joaquim, Varoon, Hasim, Claudio, Khalipe, Ernesto & Macelin.
My day sometimes begins at 8am and ends as late as 1am. I might have 4 hour breaks in between activities or I could end up working a pretty long day if I’m Host on Duty. Most days I wear a pair of royal blue wind pants that swish when I walk and a red white and blue polo shirt that Matty says is way too big on me. At night I either wear our “reds” which is a red blazer over white dress pants or an elegant dress of which I have my five options almost all purchased at Deb or Rave.
My team consists of 6 people, the Cruise Director, Felipe, from Brazil, the Assistant Cruise Director, George (who is only 20) from England, and three other social hosts who are from Britain (Rob & Laura) and Orlando (Alex) Most of the people on board in the entertainment department are from England, South Africa or Canada. No one is from Chicago.
The activities I host are: trivias, bingos, game shows, tournaments for ping pong, bean bags, water balloons, scavenger hunts, scattergories, hairy chest competition, and something we call Fun Patrol which is where we get a drink compliments of the cruise director and “schmooze” on the promenade deck with the guests. Tonight we lead the showband (this includes Matty) in a Mardi Gras parade through the promenade. Matty straps on a snare drum and plays about 10 choruses of “oh when the saints go marching in” before he ends that night at 1:30am!!!
Tomorrow we get off the ship for a few hours in Long Beach; tomorrow we’ll get off in Catalina and maybe go for a hike. We aren’t porting in Mexico until the swine flu gets cleared by the CDC… so that means more sea days. No biggie.
I promise to write more interesting stories on this blog but for the first one we just needed the basics I think!
I’m hoping in the next few weeks I can start singing with the showband when they do promenade sets!!! We’ll see… stay tuned!
So happy for you guys...looks like amid the late nights and sometimes early mornings you are enjoying yourselves. LOL You're both in my prayers for safety and perserverance (thats for you Kris and your seasickness ;)). Miss you both.
ReplyDeleteLuv,
Lea
Hi you guys. Love your Blog!! Not sure what to do other than to read and ENJOY. Miss you guys terribly, but looking forward to our cruise on the 26th of June. Less than 8 weeks away! You better save some of those seasick pills for me. I'm so glad you guys are having a good time. Talk to you soon. (How do you like the ONE space typing!! I'm getting there...)
ReplyDeleteLove, Mom Duncan
This sounds awesome! I am so glad that both of you are doing exactly what you wanted to... I am sure you will adjust to the rhythm of everything and be exploring all of the new places in between... plus you will have so many friends to come and visit when you are close.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you want to ask your friend from SA how he/she is ask: "Hoe gaan dit" (Afrikaans) or "Molo Unjani" (Xhosa)
miss you!
Yay for you both! I watched Samantha Brown's Travel Channel episode where she takes a trip on the Carnival Inspiration. I thought of you so much while watching it! Kyle wants to know if you have ice sculpters on your ship like they did? They carved the fruit into intricate designs too. So cool. Continued good luck and blessings!
ReplyDeleteGreat update!! :) Can't wait to hear more about your adventures! And what were the grizzly moments Matt metioned?? :) Keep up the blogging so those of us with drastically less exciting lives can live vicariously through you!
ReplyDelete