Party Like A Rockstar

20 Jan 08


Departing Buenos Aires


Finally, I got back on land again last night; I have to say, for a World Cruise there seems to be an awful lot of sea days. I would think I am going to go a little nutty when we cross back across the Atlantic and we have about 6 in a row! I was glad to get out; I was feeling quite a bit homesick on my last shift. Missing my family, my dog, my friends; just the normalcy of being at home. I know it is normal so I didn’t give it too much thought and I am feeling better today.

I worked till 10pm (that’s 2200 hrs for you, Dad) and then went down to crew deck to locate my partners in crime, Amie and Clare, who were going to go out as well. Its pretty cool that it doesn’t get dark here till almost 10.30. At 9 it was looking like dusk, like how it would at home in the summer after dinner time. Anyway, found them in the crew bar .. we just sat and watched a movie for a bit as it was still early. Jenny (from the Spa) came in and dragged us out and told us we had 15 mins to get ready and to get moving. So I skuttled back to my cabin and got dressed. Finally got to wear a great top I had bought last year in London; wish my shoulders werent peeling, but at least it would be dark in the club! Borrowed some fancy flip flops to match and off I went to finish up getting dresses in Clare’s cabin. While everyone was in there, and some people were in Buddy’s cabin, it turns out that Mr. Night Officer came down to see what we were up to (we were blaring the music) I don’t know what happened, but something got messed up with who was on IPM duty and who had authorized a change and Liz and Jenny had switched so they could go out and supposedly the bridge called them to tell them they were not allowed to leave the ship. So he was down there explaining it to them. I tried to chat him up a bit and I go nowhere. I don’t know if it was due to the crankiness of the girls and he just didn’t want to deal with any of us or what. But brrr, there was some frosty winds blowing through. So that turned me off. Clare said it might have been the situation and not me, but who knows.

By the time that was all over, we got downstairs and outside to wait for the shuttle (we are in a working industrial port, so we are not allowed to walk to the terminal) it was now getting on almost 12. We ran into a few guys who were also going to the club we were all going to, so we took a few taxis and headed out (after we figured out where we were supposed to be going!!) It was about a 20 min cab ride, but it was only $15US so it was all good. The cover at the door was $14US and at first we weren’t going to go in, but then the guys found out it was an open bar .. so we said let’s go! We got into the club and there was no one in there .. I mean no one in general, not just crew; uhhh, where we in the right place? Buddy kept saying we were .. but we figured we would sit and have a few drinks and see if anyone turned up. After about an hour everyone had trickled in ~ some had gone to dinner before hand so they were showing up in dribs and drabs. But after a while, the crew members had pretty much taken over the area by the one bar. LOL I didn’t bring my camera, but Clare and Buddy did, so I will get their cameras and d/l the pics from their SD cards; hopefully I will get those up in the next few days. There are some great ones .. and of course lots of crazy and silly ones too. The club was fun; dancing, hanging out and just getting to know my fellow crew members and new friends. It was the big huge club you see on the Travel Channel when they show foreign city nightlife. It was awesome!

Around 4 something we decided we had had enough; the locals were quite the pain in the ass. I guess it got out that we were all from the ship, so there were flocks of them all telling us who knows what in Spanish. (at least it was spanish and not portugese! I know enough spanish to get me thru the day) We hoped a cab and then asked the driver if there was a McDonalds around. He had no idea what we were asking so we finally kept saying “Big Mac?” and using hand gestures as if to say we were eating a hamburger. It was so funny! He figured out what we wanted and took us to the one that was open on the way back towards the cruise terminal.

Ordering was a whole ‘nother adventure – that’s for sure!!! LMFAO The kid behind the counter spoke no English, so here I am (the only one who knows any Spanish) trying to order .. and Astin keeps saying she wants BBQ sauce and we have no way to figure it out to tell him. Thank goodness for a local cutie who spoke both languages and stepped in to help. I did ok with the food ~ it was the condiments that was hard! We made quite the spectacle of ourselves and everyone in the place was laughing (I am sure AT us instead of WITH us, but who cares, we won’t see them ever again) We laughed about it all the way back to the ship. When I see any of them today (Mila, Astin or Dani) I just say “BBQ sauce” and we all laugh. We decided to eat on the dock before going inside – and while we were eating a few more people started staggering back too. Everyone was very jealoous of our McDonalds find!

It was about 5.20am and I needed to put myself to bed; I knew it would be hard but I couldn’t stay up the next 2 hrs if I had nothing to do. So I went to my cabin, set my alarm for 7.30 and threw myself into my bunk. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. But OMG did it kill to have to get up 2 hours later! UGH that part sucked!! At least I could look forward to only having to work 2 hrs and knowing I could go right back to bed afterwards. Thank Gawd! So I struggled through the morning and at 10am I ran out of the café and downstairs to my waiting bed. I drew the curtains, put on the fan and off to sleep I went. I slept till about noon then got up and realized I was starving!!! So I got dressed in my bathing suit, put on lotion, packed my beach/pool bag and went to the mess for some lunch.

After lunch I went up to Deck 9 ½ ~ Deck 9 forward, then there is another top part to it where the crew all go (if they don’t want to go to Deck 4) I put on some more lotion and then got my iPod out and got comfy. Yes, I laid on my tummy! I couldn’t get that more burned. I needed some color on the other side ~ or else I was going to be very two-toned looking. Ewww. I was there for about an hour and then Clare and Amie came up as well. Then Tanya popped up a bit later. The weather was so beautiful; sunny, no clouds, nice breeze and about 85 degrees. Just lovely!

I was up there till about 3.30 and then I had to leave to go down and take a quick shower before work. I also had training with the new Executive Purser at 4.30, so I couldn’t be sweaty and smelly :P That leads me to where I am now ~ work! My shift is up and it is time to quit for the night.


Just remember: A bad day at sea is always better than a great day at the office