Life Is Good

14 Jan 08

Buzios, Brazil

What can I say??? I spent a lovely afternoon on a nice long break; spent my time on the Sun Deck getting some color! I was starting to wonder if I really worked on a cruise ship or not since I hadn’t been out in the sun or even up on deck since I got onboard :) I was planning to go ashore with Cat, but by the time she beeped me it was after 1.30 and I needed to be back and dressed for 4pm to go back up to the café. So I passed on going; we weren’t docked, so we were tendering pax back and forth and I couldn’t be bothered. Besides I was enjoying the fresh air and the sunshine as well as just laying around and relaxing.

Course, now I think I did too much of that laying around and relaxing, as I am as red as a lobster :( I did put SPF on, but where I was laying was so breezy, I never felt the sun getting hot on my skin. Yes I know .. silly move. Don't worry, it won't happen again. Lucky for me it only lasts a day or so and it is only on my front (so I can easily sleep on my back LOL) Once the redness fades it will be a lovely tan though, so I am off to a good start. As I sit in the café on my evening shift, I am freezing and I have a sweatshirt on over my work clothes. Not to mention my fellow crew members are giggling at me. They all are loving to tease me whenever they can; I am a ‘Greenhorn’ since I haven’t done any ships before (being a pax doesn’t count to them) and they are the first to pick up on any mistakes I make or silly questions I ask. They aren’t being mean, it is all in good fun really. Kind of an initiation to the working crew members 'group' of a luxury liner.

Tomorrow is Rio De Janiero and I am excited! It should be pretty cool. I will definitely be going ashore. We are going to be docked, so of course it will be easier to get on and off. Plus it is on my “Must See” list for this cruise. Some places I have never heard of (like Buzios) so it doesn’t matter if I go ashore or not. But Rio has always been a place on a distant travel list, and now I have the chance, so of course I am going. Even though I work for MTN, I am still a crew member of P & O; I have something called IPM, which is In Port Manning. Meaning that they require a certain amount of crew to stay onboard in every port in the event of an emergency or something. My group consists of about 6 people, so I only have to do it two times, for a half day each. My first one is on Saturday from 1300 to departure, which is in Buenos Aires. It is ok though since we are there for 2 days and this is the 2nd half of the 2nd day. I am sure I won’t mind by then :)

Still figuring out who is attached to whom as far as the crew members go. Once I get a feel for that a little better, I can throw myself out into the dating scene. There are some great guys onboard; cute, nice and of course you know they have to be fun if I dig them. If they can’t make me laugh, forget it. I lived the joke-free life before and I refuse to ever do it again.

I am finishing up my shift and I am going to go see if Alex, one of the Head Chef’s, will make me a jello bath or something to cool my burning skin :) LMAO!! ( Relax, Mum ~ I am kidding! Though I am sure it would feel great!)