The most rushed 7 days ever

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone! Around the world I send my greetings of un-bughummery.
So here I am at home writing this. I will try to go back in time to fill in some of the blanks such as my Carribean run for a month and a half and add some more photos.

I will be sending my blog out (finally) to those who'd like to see pics and hear a little of what's going on. Also I will be soon posting my new Itinerary, so you can find out what the heck part of the world I'm in today. (Well, today it's really just Vancouver because I'm home, but in five days that won't be the same!)

New news and Dominica

Plans have changed in the last two days folks! I’ve been offered (out-of-the-blue) an opportunity which I cannot refuse. I will be cutting my contract on the Ryndam short and will be transferred to the position of Hostess on the Prinsendam Grand World Voyage. As much as I am just settling in to Ryndam life and will miss the people I’ve met, the juicy carrot that is a single cabin and about double the pay with a lot more responsibility and one of the two most coveted ships, is quite an offer. Also, I will be coming home for a week for Christmas. I leave on the world cruises Jan 5th, but will be starting early (Dec. 31st) for training.

The last week few days have been much nicer than the last few weeks. We’ve been missing a staff member which makes a huge difference in our jobs since they have to stretch our responsibilities as it is. We now have a new EC manager onboard (from Vancouver) and also a new cruise director, Steven (also from Vancouver). In St. Thomas I bought a new digital camera and wandered around, but as much as everyone talks about it being such a great port – it’s not at all my favorite. I suppose people have different rating scales than I do in order to make it into their top ports. I, for one look for somewhere that is beautiful, not too touristy and friendly. It seems that once you’ve worked on ships for a few years you get jaded and those people’s favorite ports are the ones that are most like American cities and that have good places to shop.

For this reason I was frothing at the bit to get off the ship in Dominica (pronounced Dom-en-eek-ah) because when we were in port two weeks ago it looked so lush and interesting from the ship. As it was, Lucy, Rob and Eric had met a local, Fitzroy, that week and he took them all over the island for a very cheap rate. We happened to run into him on our way to visit some friends’ of Rob and Eric’s on the Volendam. We had lunch with the Cruise Director, Scotty and his senior, Jason. A cruise staffer from their ship and also our Cruise Director completed the bunch. We found Fitzroy waiting outside the restaurant and he took us to Trafalgar Falls. We hiked a short ways up to the falls, quickly realizing how wet we were getting due to the fact that we were in a rainforest. I was the only person with foresight to bring a swimsuit, but it didn’t really matter as the spray from the falls and the rain itself was enough to completely soak everything we had on. A cool swim under the waterfall, followed by a dip in the Sulfur Springs to warm us up topped off a great day. We got back to the ship only to find out that our soccer game against the Volendam had ended with huge disappointment and our engine wouldn’t start so we were late in sailing to Barbados.

Guatemala and the Panama Canal

When we docked in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala we realized there is literally nothing there. It’s not a real dock, it’s in the middle of nowhere we wanted an adventure. So Lucy, Eric, Sarah and I set off to find one. We started by meeting four older folks, guests from our ship and decided to split a van cab 8 ways. It was a fun start since the one older gentleman who had to sit in the back with us couldn’t hear, so he talked (or rather, yelled) the whole way whilst asking questions to our taxi guide. The guide quickly tired of this gentleman and stopped talking altogether. We headed into Antigua, Guatemala through gorgeous countryside. It was dotted with Coffee plantations and active volcanoes. Upon our arrival in Antigua, we were circled by children selling their handcrafted goods and trying to rip us off. Poor Eric who is usually so kind to everyone ended up telling a 15 year old girl off. We walked the old city which is beautiful and went through a jade factory, to a former nunnery and botanical garden then ended up in the Central Parque to people watch. We barely made it back to the ship in time for work. The rain and an accident on the road ahead of us on a busy Friday afternoon made it a 1 ¾ hour trip instead of 45 minutes.

Panama Canal morning was to be a busy day for the cruise staff. We woke up at five a.m. to start our day of socializing and viewing the Bridge of the Americas. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually get there until 7 a.m. and by then we were incoherent. The day was a long at hot one, but I can’t say it wasn’t an experience of a lifetime. The fact that the canal which took so many lives and lifetimes to achieve, was still doing it’s job with the technology of 1914 is mind-boggling. The fact that our ship and most ships in the world are built just within the limits to fit through the Canal and you can literally reach your arm and touch the wall because it is less than two feet on either side for leeway. We saw one alligator (or croc?) and some wild boar as the Canal is cut through a tropical jungle.

The contract that nearly wasn’t…

I arrived from Vancouver, in LA around 10:30 am after collecting my luggage. Contrary to what all the airplane passengers might have thought (she needs THAT much stuff to come to LA for a week or two?) it’s not easy to pack for 4-5 months. Backpacking is much simpler. A few t-shirts, pair of shorts, one pair of pants, pj’s – you’re done. No problem before. Now I’ve got 5 theme nights to pack for, 7 formal nights per cruise (the long cruises you can’t wear the same formal!) and then the uniform add-ons – plus of course all the regular stuff you might need for everyday life at home. Anyhow, it was a lot to haul around. The cab driver from the airport to the ship had no idea where the cruiseship port was even after I gave him the address. I was so tired from no sleep the night before I left that I fell asleep in the cab and woke up to the guy driving around in circles. I think he thought I was still asleep and hoped I wouldn’t notice we were completely lost. I made him turn off the meter as it was already at $70. He still couldn’t find it and refused to ask for directions or call someone and we ended up driving around for an hour and a half. He then took me to where the Queen Mary is docked and tried to unload my things from the cab and leave me there. I wouldn’t have it because it was certainly not the right place. For those of you who may not know, the Queen Mary is a stationary hotel, which was the Queen of Englands’ ship until they turned it into a tourist trap and it’s been docked there for decades…I know because my mum made us stay there when I was a kid. I ended up getting another cab driver to take me to my ship and within 5 minutes I was looking up at my new home for the next few months.