Tuesday, April 29, 2008

I don't like Turkey anymore ..

29 Apr 08
departing Marmaris, Turkey


The town was fine .. good .. great even. Cat and I went ashore together .. we were docked at the edge of a really pretty marina, with some lovely yachts in it. We wandered around it and into the little town .. then went for lunch at Pineapple. YUMMY!!! I had a Greek Salad and pizza .. was almost as good as Aegean Pizza back in Holbrook, NY ... but the dressing on the salad is just oil ... not like back home.

Anyway .. after lunch, we went for a walk around town .. and of course I was taking pics. When I finished taking a few, I had turned around and stepped into a little hole .. more like a little valley in the cement that I think is for water run off. Anyway, I mis-stepped and then when I tried to catch myself, fell over the curb that was right next to it. :( :( I have a bad scrape on my right shin, and my right hip is bothering me. I am upset as all hell .. cause you know how embarrasing it is to fall. You feel like an idiot .. cause you have been walking all your life and then you just fall, like you are back to being a toddler. Grrrr

So needless to say, I did not have a good rest of the day .. I tried to walk it off - but it was still sore, so Cat and I went back to the ship about an hour or so later. I took a nap, hoping that resting it would help. It is still sore! I am going to take some of my good drugs that I have with me for cases like this and just go to sleep. That will be of course after I call my Mommy .. I need a virtual hug ..

Here are my pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.b6q12tcb&x=0&y=5rpyof&localeid=en_US

Don't mind the pic of Cat's bum - she asked me if I was taking pics of her bum since I was walking behind her (only cause I was slower .. and hell, she has LONG ass legs) and when I told her no, I then took a pic of it anyway :)

Monday, April 28, 2008

Istanbul .. not Constantinople

We were in Istanbul on the 26th of April .. crappy weather though. Rainy, windy, cold .. and damp. I tried to layer as much as I could as we were going to be outside a lot. I was able to get on a full day tour, which was great .. since doing it myself would have been costly as well as a lot harder to do.

The Blue Mosque was probably the best place .. other than the Grand Bazaar - but that was just shopping. The city was packed! There were sooo many people in town .. our tour guide kept apologizing saying it was a culmination of the Greek Holiday weekend, a holiday for the Austrailians (Adzac Day I think they said) as well as it being a Saturday.

Anyway - here are the pics .. sorry they are out of order again, but when I upload to Kodak Gallery, they don't all load the first time .. and then I have to re-do the ones that didn't upload .. then they get out of order. Most of the time I wouldn't mind putting them in the correct arrangement .. but on ports like this where I have 180 pics .. I can't be assed!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.2fj4gr23&x=0&y=-bt50bx&localeid=en_US

Yes I am still afloat :)

28 Apr 08
Arriving in Kusadasi, Turkey

Just wanted to post *something* (didn't want anyone to think I was actually SLACKING! :P) and let you know the net has been crap the last 2 days .. I am still trying to get all my pics from Istanbul up on the net, then once that is done I will post them here ..

Stay tuned ......

Friday, April 25, 2008

Party Pics

25 Apr 008
Arriving in Istanbul, Turkey

Have some party pics that I hadn't had a chance to put up ..

First one was a Karaoke night in the crew bar:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.cgbximdn&x=0&y=-4klz5v&localeid=en_US


Second was a "Chav Party" - kind of like the UK version of "gangsta" dress-code, but from what I was told, it is very specific to brand names - like Burberry and Dior. However, all the clothes and jewlery are knock-offs. Supposedly there are actually people who really dress like this! LOL :)

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.aa99ob4b&x=0&y=i8lyel&localeid=en_US


Finally this one is from the Black & White Disco we had last night in the crew bar:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.b5wl03bf&x=0&y=jt6wut&localeid=en_US


As we are entering Istanbul, we are supposed to lose satellite - and as it is an overnight port, we won't have it back till tomorrow night. I am still currently 7 hrs ahead of the East Coast. I am on IPM tonight, so I am throwing an "IPM Party" in the Horizons bar upstairs for the rest of us who are on it. Tomorrow I am on an all day tour - I was originally told I couldn't go, but since we will be without satellite coverage, there is no need for me to be in the cyber! :) YAY! So stay tuned for lots of pics - we hit all the major highlights .. the Blue Mosque, Hague Sophia and the Grand Bazaar!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

24 Apr 08
departing Thessaloniki, Greece

(pronounced Thess - salon - a - key)

Another beautiful day .. Thessaloniki is the 2nd largest city in Greece. Though not as urban as Athens was in my opinion. Had a more small city feel to it. Still lots of outdoor cafes, shops and beautiful architechture. My mission today was to find a church - since they celebrate Easter when I do, I thought it would be nice since I won't be able to go to any services this weekend. I might luck out on Saturday in Istanbul - but that would be "luck" and I knew I would have a better chance in Greece.

Went out with Cat and her mom .. just for a wander really. But they knew I wanted to find a chuch and we literally stumbled over the one we went into. (and I am sooo glad - wait till you see the pics - and it was right out on the street in the middle of the city!) Obviously, I can't read Greek so we didn't know what the name of it was .. I sort of was able to talk to one of the guys who was walking around (he even went inside, then came back and put the sign of the cross in oil on my forehead - when I told him my name was Anastasia) Anyway, so the monastery is called Kapnikarea .. here is what I found online about it: ( http://eventsuk.britishairways.com/sisp/?event_id=34220&fx=event )

Monastiraki, actually means "small monastery" and quietly houses a tiny Byzantine chapel (Kapnikarea) right in the middle of Ermou St, which provides a welcome respite from the haggling and crowds.

There was actually a bazaar on the other side of the street - in the back of the Monastery .. but we never made it to that street (we didn't know till I went online tonight) Anyway, it was still the highlight of my day!!

We also went over to Agui Sophia - but it wasn't open. The chuch is now catholic and replicates the original church in Istanbul, Turkey (and I hope to get to it on Sat when we are there)

Here are the pics from today:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.ccu4g2gb&x=0&y=-7t9skn&localeid=en_US

Wow - what a great day!

23 Apr 08
Athens Greece

WOW WOW WOW

I have always wanted to go to Athens .. and OMG, I can't wait to come back! Greece is amazing .. I absolutely love it .. the history is unbelieveable .. this stuff has been around since BC!

And the cool thing is - the city, which looks like any other major city (except for all of the greek writing!) is built with all of this awesome architechture right in the middle of it!

I went on tour - which was Panorama Athens. We first went to the Acropolis, where you can see up to the Parthenon. Very cool - almost surreal, like I wasn't really there. Only thing I wish I had time to climb up; but since the tour didn't include it (was a tour for the old and dead) they didn't allow the time. However, since I will come back to Greece one day .. I will climb to the top!

After that - we went by the remains of the Temple of Zeus, the old Olympic Stadium (first ever Olympics were held there!) passed Parliament, and the major University of the Arts ..

Sorry - but the pics are all out of order. Kodak Gallery was acting up last night and then I didn't have internet all day today. So I don't have time to re-arrange them (there are over 130!!) because I wanted to get them posted and the blog posted; since I have pics from today I need to get going on.

A++ on Athens .. and Greece in general - love it!! And a BIG check mark on my Must See list ..

Here are the pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.4hkzbo2z&x=0&y=-f2sqk6&localeid=en_US

P.S. - I was messing around with filters on my tele-photo lens .. so as you can see, some pics of the Acropolis and Parthenon have a rose colored tint to them. If you look at the ones of the theater, that is the true color. I decided I didn't really like the rose color, and took off the filter after that day.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Another check-mark on "the list"

22 April 08
leaving Nauplia, en route to Athens - Greece

What a great day and a beautiful city! Nauplia is an ancient old town that used to be the capital of Greece back in the day. The city has since re-built and modernized, and is just adorable. The sea side has shops, fabulous outdoor restaurants and bars and some great buildings as well. The outdoor restaurants reminded me of the Champs-Elysees in Paris; but more on a small town scale. I think that it might be a happenin' place to be for some nightlife!

Here are the pics I took today:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.4saogmyz&x=0&y=-ayutts&localeid=en_US

Athens is tomorrow .. going on a half day tour to the sights .. Acropolis, Parthenon, Olympic Stadium .. very excited!!

Oh and guess what?!? My fan died :( I had it up in Matt's cabin as his cabin is like an oven .. it had been working great and then last night .. dead. Out of nowhere. Matt said he just unplugged it and plugged it back in - wasn't there at the time, so not sure what *really* happened LOL Tried it in my cabin to no avail. So sad ... I carried that fan across 3 continents to get it on the ship! And I love it .. I am going to ask the Electro Techs to take a look at it and see if it is really dead or maybe an easy fix. If its dead .. I will have to see what I can do about finding a fan in port. Otherwise, I will have to wait till I get to Asda back in Southampton. :sigh:

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Palma, Mallorca

20 Apr 08
en route to Nauplia, Greece

Had a great day yesterday in Mallorca (pronounced My-York-ca) also spelled Majorca. Really pretty little harbor town .. and had a field day taking pics! Some really beautiful archetechture!!

There was a nice cathedral .. but unfortunately, we didn't know it closed at 2pm on Saturdays and we had taken our time getting over there. :sigh: Oh well .. it wasn't one of the churches I really want to see on this cruise, so its all good.

Here are the pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.993mwul7&x=0&y=-uttgc7&localeid=en_US

We are at sea today and tomorrow - then we start our 5 day port run. Athens included and I got picked for a Tour Escort .. sooo wooo hoo - free tour :) YAY. So stay tuned for that on the 23rd .. (jeezus - can you tell I am excited for Athens - I have talked about it in every post lately!)

Been hanging around with Matt a bit .. mostly in the crew bar and it all seems pretty cool actually .. last night we watched some ep's of Season 3 of The OC that I have not seen .. god I miss American TV!!! Now I am all addicted to it again and want to watch the next ep .. like NOW!!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Great job .. el Capitan!

So last night Captain had his Welcome Aboard Gala .. and we all go for drinks with the pax. While introducing his Sr Officers, he talked about how we were going to be passing Gibraltar. Dad has been asking me when we were going through the straights and I finally got him the answer. It was going to be 6.45am this morning .. groan


Dad wanted me to get up - I said it wasn't likely since we had a disco last night (details and pics later) .... however, I happened to wake up at that time (funny how the body clock works) and so I called Amie (who wanted to get up if I did) and the 2 of us grabbed our cameras and went top-side in our jammies.


To our disappointment - it was pouring rain, foggy, dark and you couldn't see anything 10 ft off the deck .. we said "ummm, the weather forecast would have been helpful to know!"


This morning I told Captain (at breakfast) that I was up bright and early to take pics .. so he said he was sorry he didn't phone to let me know not to get out of bed .. LOL and he will be more than happy to call me at 2am when we pass it on the way back .. hahahaha


Port tomorrow - thank goodness .. Palma, Mallorca .. but then 2 sea days after that! Ugh!!! However, once we get past those sea days .. we have 5 port days in a row (and Athens is one of them - YAY)


P.S. - Oh and guess who's back on board?? (If you didn't already recognize him from some of my pics) And who is VERY single?!?! Mr. Night Finance Officer :) Hmmmmmmm ......

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

New Cruise .. off to the Med!

16 Apr 08
Bay of Biscay; North of Spain and Portugal

Yesterday was turnaround day .. busy for everyone .. though it is an easy morning for me :) Only day ALL cruise I can sleep in .. yay!! I was in bed till 10.30am .. it was wonderful .. could have easily gone back to sleep, but I did have to take care of a few things in the cyber and I wanted to go into town for lunch.

Went to the town of Southampton (called So'ton on board) and went to the mall .. wow! It was like a real, proper mall .. I felt so at home :) Went to Quiznos for lunch - do you know how long it has been since I had a hoagie?? It was close and their sandwiches are yummy, so I was in temporary heaven. Then wandered a bit and went into Asda next door - which is Walmart in the UK. (actually is owned by Walmart) so I did a little shopping there. Headed back to the ship about 2.30pm as I needed to get the Cyber ready and the manifest loaded with the new pax info.

So far so good on the pax - they seem nice and are fairly savvy with the computer as well. Got some good news from the MTN home office, which gave me a renewed energy for this cruise. I actually made the target for the World Cruise (S American Odessey) afterall!!! They are calculated a little differently than the normal cruises and I knew I had come close in January and February - so I guess with the different calculation .. it made it! YAY!!! So I will get a nice little bonus in my next check. Whew!!!

Leavers disco was the other night .. was a really good time and again was out late .. but hey, I will sleep when I am dead! (that one's for you Chrissy! Get writing that song, would ya?) Here are the pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.c6sd7gtr&x=0&y=-r7hnmi&localeid=en_US

We have 2 more sea days before our next port .. which will be Palma (Spain) I am truly excited for this cruise as far as the ports .. mostly for Athens, Greece. It was on my Must See list and I am going to be able to tick it off in just another week :) Woooo hoooo .. I do have an awesome job!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Sea days .. update .. crew bar .. etc

12 Apr 08
More sea days .. on our way back to Southampton

Got into Madeira around 6.30 last night .. got out about 12.30 .. was on IPM so I didn't go ashore, but that was ok. We are heading now up the coast of Spain and Portugal on our way back to the UK for our April 15th turnaround. This cruise went a lot faster than the days of the other one. I am not sure why .. but thank goodness cause these pax are nothing but a big pain in the ass!

Ok .. lets see .. update on me .... I thought I mentioned it before, but I know I didn't since a few of you have asked me about Ash .. anyway, for now I have asked to cool things off. It is too hard with him being in India and me being out here. If we get to the next ship together - great, we can see about picking up where we left off. But if we don't .. it would be a shame to spend all this time apart only to be dis-appointed all over again. It is also possible that he will meet someone else and I will meet someone else. So for now, we aren't together as a couple. We do chat online almost daily .. which is good because we started as friends and worse case scenario, we will always remain friends in the future.

So we will see what happens in the coming months as I find out about my next assignment. Usually they send out the availability list about 3-4 wks prior to my sign off date .. so basically late May or early June I will know what ships will be available to me for the end of July when I am due back from my vacation. Keep your fingers crossed that my sign off date is June 28th ....

Nothing too much in the crew bar .. as I said in previous posts .. the time change and long working hours on sea days has us all knackered. However, last night there was a Galley Party on the aft mooring deck (basically the "ass" of the ship LOL) And since they took the speakers from the crew bar .. we decided to crash it. It was basically about 10 girls .. and Johnny from the band LOL .. We brought our own booze .. we just wanted a cool place to hang out. Once we realized all the Indians and Phillippino were oogling the girls .. we knew Chef wouldn't kick us out :) He wanted his guys to have some eye-candy if nothing else. Here are the pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.1octduqn&x=0&y=-e25fcl&localeid=en_US

Turned out to be a bigger party night than any of us expected - most of us didn't get to bed till the weeeee hours of this morning. But it was a good time and I think a lot of us needed it .. it has been a hell of a cruise. Leavers Disco is tomorrow night .. should hopefully be a good time as well :)

Friday, April 11, 2008

Three Months

Sometimes it feels longer, sometimes it doesn't seem like it has been that long ..

11 April 08
Almost to Madeira, Portugal


I have officially been on board for 3 months today .. WOW

Still not too much going on .. still at sea .. we were supposed to get into Madeira at 2pm today, but we had a heavy swell and some rough seas, so we had to slow down and therefore won't get in till at least 6. The seas have finally calmed down enough to allow for sleeping .. I got about 5 1/2 solid hours last night. I woke up a few times between 12 and 2 .. but then after that I didn't wake till my alarm went off. Still a bit tired, but I guess losing those hours will do that to you.

Currently I am 5 hrs ahead of the East Coast .. which makes for a VERY boring morning at work .. can't anyone be awake at this hour?!?! I mean.. Kellu, don't you have babies to feed?!? I mean its 4am, aren't they hungry?!? LOL Luckily, the evenings go by faster now since more people are online when I am at work.

I won't be able to go ashore today; I took IPM to cover for Brooke so she could go out at night - thinking I would be able to go ashore this afternoon for a few hours. Was actually supposed to meet up with a cyber friend from my Work On Cruise Ships group .. but .. yeah, not going to happen.

As of now, my sign off dates are either June 20th (from England) or June 28th (from Russia) Wont hear for sure until about a month or so before that. Keep your fingers crossed that it is the 28th, so 1) I can get to see St Petersburg, 2) I will be able to stay home into the end of July and see Kenny Chesney in Philly and 3) wont have so many days till my Mom comes home from her vacation on the 2nd!!

Here are some pics from Acoustic Night at the crew bar the other night .. it was actually pretty darn good!!! (we thought it would be worse than karaoke!!)

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.20uwbbnj&x=0&y=96gdwl&localeid=en_US

The pics of me licking the bar .. Nash spilled my Bacardi .. so I was pretending not to waste it (but that bar is gross .. I was more than happy to get another one - on Nash of course!!)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

A Little *Something* ....

for someone who was complaining I am a slacker .... Kellu! :-) Are ya happy now??

Nothing going on .. booooring .. its the crossing .. day in and day out .. hey look - there's water! Work all day .. too tired for too much at night ..

One more full sea day and we get to Madeira on Friday at 2pm. Clocks are moved forward an hour everyday .. so that is messing with everyone's sleep and we are all exausted. I am now 4 hrs ahead of the East Coast and we still have one more clock forward tomorrow. I will be 5 hrs at minimum ahead of you all for the rest of my contract now. Probably will have a few more clock forwards once we get into the Med.

That's all for now!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Engine Room Tour

6th April 08
Somewhere in the Atlantic

Some of the Engineers were nice enough to volunteer the Cadet to give tours of the Engine Room. Cat and I had ours this morning - I can't remember what half the stuff does, but I know it either provides water, treats sewage, heats or cools water, converts water .. then there are the engines themselves. Holy hell - it was hot as HELL in there .. and louder than standing next to an airplane

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.acv2dpov&x=0&y=-gpblr4&localeid=en_US

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Going Out With A Bang!

5 April 08
Departing the Caribbean to cross the Pond .. so sad :(

Today we were in Tortola – part of the BVI’s (British Virgin Islands) It was soo beautiful! Reminded me a lot of St Thomas – wonder why?!? Well it is only 20 mins away by ferry! Reminded me of the Mihalik Family Reunion Cruise last year .. wished they all could be on this cruise with me!!! :sigh:

That being said – we had one of the best “tourist” days to date! We went to Dolphin Discovery and went swimming with the dolphins! OMG, it was amazing! I had done it before, once in Ocho Rios in my last life, and this was soo much better! We ended up getting almost 2 hrs with them .. which was FAB! Tanya didn’t swim, so she took some pics for us. I bought 2 pics of me .. one dancing with Hippo and one getting a kiss from him. I will get someone to scan them so I can put them up. Amie and Clare bought the DVD’s, so I will get it and copy it, then upload it to the net as well. The DVD is the best since obviously the photo guy could get places Tanya couldn’t (like the docks) But you guys are going to have to be patient as I need to get it worked on tomorrow and then see about uploading it. It is only about 10 mins, so it should only take me 17 hrs to upload it on this slow-ass connection :P Ha ha

We had so much time with them – almost 2 hrs! We met lots of dolphins, not just the same one or two. And we met two babies! It was so neat. We got a kiss, a dance, a dorsal fin tow and a foot push! I can’t explain it any more .. so I will leave you to the pics.

Here are the pics from the Dolphin Swim:


http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.699rf6tr&x=0&y=-bp61wo&localeid=en_US


And here are pics I took before and afterwards .. of the place, the island, the beach we went to afterwards (Cane Garden Bay) It was beautiful!!


http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.catq6du7&x=0&y=mn3tk6&localeid=en_US


That's it for the caribbean .. we are now back out in the Atlantic heading across the pond! We get into Madeira around lunchtime on the 11th. (The 11th is my 3 month anniversary of being out here! Can you believe it?)

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Its Jamaica Mon

3rd April 08
En route to Catalina Island .. not sure where that actually is though LOL

Montego Bay was yesterday .. Amie and I had planned to go to the beach .. but the clouds were out in full force when we got on the tender :( So we went into town .. figured we would find something to do. Well we got out of the cab and walked right in front of Margaritaville! Good enough for me LOL

Was another fun, relaxing day - seems I have spent most of this cruise in the bars .. but being in the islands, you just have to kick back and chill out with a nice margarita. It does wonders for re-charging the batteries for the crew as well. And as you can tell from the pics, we do have a good time!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.4h04ngv3&x=0&y=-i372m4&localeid=en_US



p.s. - I got some more pics from Amie and Jenny .. so I will be adding to the Roatan and Angels Disco pics if you want to take a look later on tonight or anytime after that