Thursday, July 31, 2008

Time to go!

31 July 08

All my bags are packed; I'm ready to go; I'm standin' here outside the door ..

:)

Its that time again folks - I am leaving tomorrow morning at 5am for the airport. I have a 7.30am flight from JFK to Vancouver then a connection to Victoria. I stay overnight in Victoria and then I will be meeting the ship in the early evening when it comes in. (Now if only the ship had a million bucks on it for me - then my ship *really* would have come in!! LOL)

I am soo very excited. I love the adventure of this; new people, new ship, new places to see. Its like I get to start "over" every time I get on a ship. No one knows my past, no one can judge me for what mistakes I made before now. Its amazing to just be ME and let the chips fall where they may. I love it!!

Of course I will be blogging much more now that I am going back out to ships. I am supposed to have wi-fi at the hotel I am staying at, so I will be sure to check in that evening. Don't forget I will be 3 hrs behind East Coast time .. so no early morning phone calls!! :D

xoxoxoxo

S
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Friday, July 25, 2008

Catching up again

25 July 08

Seems like forever since I last wrote!! Ok, since my last post ..

Last Wed (the 16th) I drove up to NE PA to hang out with Kim at her house and visit some family as well. We had fun (as Kim and I always do - I think we would have a blast in a padded empty room!) and it was nice to see my Aunt's as well.

I was there till Friday afternoon when I drove down to the Philly area; I stopped by to see my ex-sister and brother in law and their new baby Jacob. It was really good to see them and I was so pleased they wanted me to stop by and meet the baby. He is such a cute little peanut!! I was there for a bit and then I went up to Kir's. We had the Kenny Chesney show the next day, so we had to get organized and get our "gear" together.

Sat we were up EARLY .. 6.30! We planned to leave at 7.45 to get down to the stadium for 8.30. Yes, we are serious tailgaters when it comes to Kenny! The lots opened at 9, so we were shooting for then (we are never on time, so we figured we would shoot for 9 and then see what happened) Kir and I got to the meeting point at 8.30 and Deena was on time, but as usual (love ya sunshine) Chrissy was running late :) But it gave the rest of us time to go over to Lowe's and get sand; it all worked out and we pulled into the lot (5 cars) at 9.15am. It took us about an hour to set up everything .. it wasn't what it should have been as some of my tailgating "decor" was in a box that I was unable to get to in storage. (I didnt pack the storage area the right way) The rest of it was in my box that was still coming from the UK, that didnt get there in time. Oh well. I know some of you (especially my UK friends) dont have a clue about what tailgating is, so I made sure to take a few pics of our setup.

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

We had a blast, but it was effen hot!! I didnt take my camera into the show, I figured it was my only show this year and I wanted to enjoy it as opposed to worrying about taking pics. Which was good because we ended up being further away from the stage than I thought. It was a long day but soo worth it! Kenny looked hot and gorgeous as always! I almost cant wait till I am not working on ships anymore so I can see him more .. going from 8 shows last year, to one show this year is a HUGE difference!

Sunday I went to see Michele, drop off my tailgating gear (her basement is my "storage") and then I got a call from my old partner at my last job, to stop over and see him and his kids. He and I are still good friends and I wanted to see the boys (I had seen him on my last trip to the area the week before) I figured I would stop by there and then head over to my friends Sue's house - I told her I would be there around 4. But while I was at Greg's, Sue had text me and said she was very ill and it wouldn't be a good time to come over. (I told her no offense, but without insurance, I couldn't afford to be sick!) So I ended up staying at Greg's the rest of the day and then he, his wife Molly and I ordered some chinese after the kids went to bed. They asked (Molly begged) for me to stay over there which worked out well, since I was supposed to stay over Sue's house.

Monday I had lunch plans with a big client of mine when I worked with Greg. (he was also a friend; they came to my wedding in FL back in 2004) It was nice to see them and they dropped enough comments about coming back to work for Greg. Not sure how I feel about it. It sounds good, but part of the reason I took this job to work on ships, was to make a clean break of things in my life. After lunch I headed up to Kir's and hung out there until she got home after work.

Tuesday I went to the dealer where I have the lease for my truck to see if there are any good incentives for turning in my truck, getting another one, etc. My salesman was there - Bill - and he is awesome; so not a typical salesman. We talked, he knows my work schedule and he said to email him in a month as there might be some good deals for the 09's that are coming out. He also said he could look into a corporate rate for me to rent a car via the dealer until I was done with ships. After all that - I headed back to NY and home to my Mom's.

Wednesday I went into the city (that would be New York City to those of you who don't know what the words "the city" refer to) to meet up with my friend Carol from CT. We went to see Mamma Mia (the movie) and then went for an early dinner before heading back home. I got home about 8 and then a guy, Mike, who I met online asked me out for drinks (just down the road) so I went out later on with him. We had fun and he is really nice; we have plans for tonight for dinner

Whew! Anyone else tired yet??

Yesterday I did some errands, then went to my brother's place in Brooklyn for dinner with him and Camille (his fiance) We had fun - just ordered chinese and hung out.

Today I am procrastinating on the packing and doing laundry .. I hate it .. I dont want to have to pack already .. ick. I feel like I am still unpacking. Thank goodness for my packing list. I can pack last minute if I need to! :P
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Monday, July 14, 2008

Good Weekend!

14 July 08

Had a great weekend with the fam! Saw lots of my cousin's and got to catch up with everyone. It was a great day for a backyard party; we hung out by the pool ALL day. Had some good laughs, some good drinks (Aunt Geri's margaritas kicked-ass) and it was all around a great day.

The next morning everyone was up fairly early .. we had breakfast, cleaned up the yard and then everyone went swimming. It was a lot less crowded :) We had fun! Of course every time Kim and I tried to sun ourselves on the rafts, the kids always were flipping us over. Silly kids!!

I woke up Sunday all stuffy and puffy; it was wierd. I don't know if I am coming down with a cold or if it is allergies. It feels allergy-ish, so Aunt Geri gave me some Benedryl which helped but made me so sleepy. I tried some Day-Quil today instead. I am not sleepy and not as stuffy, so maybe it is a cold. I think I will go get some Claritin tomorrow though; I think I am just not used to all this pollen and congested air here.

Lastly I got an email from MTN - I am leaving on Aug 2nd for Seattle! So I have a few more days than I thought .. which is good since I seem to be making plans left and right :)
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Saturday, July 12, 2008

What I've Been Doing .. A Weekly Recap

12 July 08

So I have been home a week now .. and this is what I have been up to:

Friday I got picked up at the airport and after a long wait in customs for my luggage (ok maybe it wasn't such a long wait - but it felt like it) I finally pushed all 6 pieces through the Customs doors and over to where my cousin (and BFF) Kim were waiting for me. We headed off to my Mother's (where I now live) and had some good catching up time in the car and when we got home. Had to do a Taco Bell run around 10ish as we were starving !! Loved it like the old times :)

Saturday we hung around in the morning then went to lunch with my brother and his fiance along with my Mom. Was nice to sit and visit and catch up with them. They are in the midst of major wedding planning so I was getting the details on what is new and exciting in that dept. After lunch we spotted a dress shop across the street so we all went over there to look for a dress for my Mom. We found a few things we all liked (including her) but when her husband came to look, he squashed all of them. :sigh:

Sunday morning I headed to Philly (well the Philly 'burbs) to see friends as well as go to some of the routine appts - Dr, Vet, hair salon, etc. Went to my friend Kir's house first, to drop off my dog Mugsy, and pick her up. We had a nice lunch the first day with my friends Kelly and Kevin and their twins, Abbey and Bryce. They are 6 months old, but since they live in NC, I don't see them often. She had them right before I left for the ship - so I never met them before. They were up visiting her parents who live in Delaware, so it was convenient for everyone. We went to the Cheesecake Factory (yum!) and had a nice afternoon with all of them.

Abbey and Bryce:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.7wi9igpn&x=0&y=4ovaw5&localeid=en_US


Monday was the beginning of the appts; my Doctor, then lunch with some friends from my last job, and visiting the office. Then dinner with my friend Michele and her husband Tony. (if you read my blog religiously, they are the "parents" of Elvis, who passed away a few months ago and who was a wonderful doggy companion to me) It was quiet without him, that is for sure :(

Tuesday - Mugsy had a vet appt at 8, then a grooming appt at 9; then I had a perm appt at 9.15. I didnt know when else I could schedule it for and it is always tight in the beginning anyway, so it will give it time to loosen up a bit before I head to the ship in a few weeks. After I picked Mugs up from his appt, we headed back to NY and straight to my Dad's house as I hadn't seen them yet (they were away when I came home). They made me a really yummy dinner (seafood stuffed shells, salad, garlic bread) and even dessert (chocolate pudding pie!) I stayed over that night and then hung out with my Dad and youngest brother (Darin) on Wednesday.

Wednesday afternoon I went back to my Mom's house (she and Dad only live about 20 mins from each other) as she wanted to go dress shopping again. We went to a shop about a half hour away that supposedly had some really nice things. In the end, she *finally* picked a dress!!

Mom's dress:
http://www.cmcouture.com/collection.asp

Its the one in the middle. It has a cute, lace bolero jacket as well. And instead of the ivory underneath the lace, she got hers in copper. It is VERY pretty!! And thank goodness she got something she loves, as she was starting to panic that she was running out of time .. whew!

On Thursday I did .. NOTHING. It was actually really nice. I chilled out at home; read a little, napped a little; organized a little; watched tv, played on the computer. But nothing really.

Friday was the big shopping day! Liz (my stepmom) and I were going dress shopping .. for the both of us! She picked me up at 10.30 and we hit 2 places in that area; there were some dresses that I liked, but nothing exciting and more expensive than I wanted. Liz found a really gorgeous dress at the first place, but dammit if we can find it online! We think it might be a last season dress. But oh well - at least we know it looks good and where we can get it. She found something at the 2nd place, but I don't like it as much as the first. She really likes one she saw online, but we can't find anyone who has it; the second one she saw is similar, but not the exact same.

Here is the one she likes online, can't find in the store and is similar to dress # 2:
http://www.jovani.com/evening-dresses.php?col=evening&seq=15

(I like this one better than dress #2 - but I have to see it on her to decide if I like it better than dress #1)

Anyway - after a nice lunch at Ruby Tuesday .. we headed to Estelle's which is a FAB place for all sorts of dresses and such. I found a few I liked - one black and white one in particular, but I wasn't making any decisions yet. I had seen a dress online at David's Bridal and that was what I wanted to look at before buying anything else. I might go back to Estelle's as they had some really nice formal seperates .. depending on how formal the dress is on the new ship. I sent an email to the girl who works on the Crown Princess to ask what she wears on formal nights.

From Estelle's we went to Davids Bridal - I hit the jackpot there (I always do!) there were quite a few I really liked .. including the one I saw online. But I ended up with something different. Isn't that always the case? The dress I got has a sweep of the material to the side waist and it is slimming and hides EVERYTHING! And it was a hell of a lot cheaper than the other dresses (sorry Mark and Camille - its got nothing to do with you guys, it is the low income I make these days!)

My Dress - in Peridot - with a bolero jacket:
http://davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_bycolor_detail.jsp?stid=1575&sid=6579&cfid=4

And the jacket:
http://davidsbridal.com/accessory_detail.jsp?stid=3375&prodgroup=182

The picture doesn't do it justice - there is some nice beading on the top part and the rest is satin. For some reason the pic looks computer touched up or something. The good news is I will have it before I leave - so I will have Mom take some pics of me in it when I get it in 2 weeks. Then I will have it go in for alterations while I can get fitted since I will still be here till about the 30th (I might be here till the 2nd - but I am using that date to be safe)

Soooo after a long day of shopping .. we came back to my Dad's and then shortly thereafter went out for dinner at the marina. VERY Long Island. Beachy, Outdoor deck .. it made me soo glad I live back in NY now when I am home from ships. There is nothing like sitting on the deck, having some drinks, out by the water, listening to live music and eating lobster, mussels, etc! FAB FAB FAB We were there for several hours just chilling out, drinking, eating .. YUM!! The lobster was AMAZING. I want more ... !!

Today is Sat and we all are just getting up; we are heading over to NJ today for my cousin's graduation party. It should be really good - great weather, pool and back yard BBQ, all my family (still lots I haven't seen yet) and of course, it is always cool that you can hang out with your BFF at all types of events, because we are related! So Kim and I are going to hang out by the pool with the fam and get our "drink on"!!

Happy Weekend!!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Princess for a princess

Its official!!! I am going to .......................... the Star Princess!

She will be in Alaska from now until September - going out of Seattle to a few Alaskan ports before coming back. It is a 7 day cruise, so I will be in Seattle every Sunday.

After that she will move to San Francisco for a short refit I think - so I am not sure what happens to me then. I will have to look into that.

Then once out of Dry Dock, she begins the Mexican Riviera cruises - going to Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa and Acapulco before coming back to San Fran. Those are 10 day cruises.

Here is some info on her:
http://www.cruises.com/c/shipdetail.asp?lineid=40&vessel=185

Right now I am set to join her on Aug 3rd in Seattle. So unless they want me to do a handover with the current manager for a few days, I will most likely be leaving on Aug 2nd to meet her. I can't wait ... !!
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Getting closer!

9 July 08

I am closer to getting my ship!!

It is definitely a Princess ship - which is what I wanted! It is most likely going to be the Star Princess, but now there are 3 ships that need installs (Princess is MTN's newest contract, so not all of the ships are configured for the MTN Internet Cafe yet) So I am waiting to hear from MTN to see if any of the new installs can take a female; if so, then I want to put in for the Golden Princess. If not, then I am going to get the Star. I had talked to Penny (our VP) prior to the info about the new installs coming out, and she had said I was going to get the Star.

So now I am waiting to hear back from her about whether or not they can take a female manager or not. Should know today :)
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Saturday, July 5, 2008

I'm Home!

5 July 08

So I am home; not even sure what I am supposed to do with myself now. I have plans tomorrow to go down to Philly for a few days, but when I come back, then what? I am trying to book up my social calendar, but since all of my friends live in Philly and not on Long Island, I dont have anyone here to hang out with.

I am missing the ship; I couldn't sleep last night! I didn't have my fan, I didnt have any rocking and it certainly wasn't nice and cool in my bedroom like it had been in my cabin!

Will still be posting blogs while I am home; and of course will still keep you updated on where I am going next and when. I am hopefully going to hear on Monday!

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Last pics from the ship

Forgot to put up the pics from MY Leavers Disco:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.3ijv9297&x=0&y=z7vq5c&localeid=en_US

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Friday, July 4, 2008

The Time Has Come

4 July 08
Heathrow Airport
AA Admirals Club (hee hee)

can you believe it???


I am sitting at Heathrow - all checked in; upgraded to Biz Class on American. Used miles to pay for it and it gave me a larger baggage allowance! Whew! Still had to get my large case under 32kg, so they gave me a box to dump things into. At least I didn't have to pay for that

So sitting all comfy in the Admirals Club for the next hour before they start to board my flight. Then I will get on and settle into my seat and chill out! Going to have a glass of wine and read my book ... YAY .. great way to end the contract if you ask me!

It was very tough to say good bye today .. lots of hugs and tears with Amie, Clare and Gemma. Poor Pierre, I think even he was close to it too! I am trying not to think about the fact that I am not going to be on the ship anymore. If I do, it just upsets me. I love that life and as much as I am excited to see my family and friends; it has become very routine for me. Cruising is something that has always made me happy, deep down inside. Yes sometimes being away was hard and crew life is intense at times as well. But I love the travel, I love the people (most of the time) and I have memories that I couldn't buy with all the money in the world.
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Thursday, July 3, 2008

Ship Wish List

Ok, so here is my wish list for the Aug ships:

CCL Valor, NCL Pearl, CCL Conquest, Grand Princess, Star Princess, CCL Victory, P&O Ventura, CCL Destiny, NCL Dream, P&O Arcadia, HAL Zaandam, HAL Westerdam, HAL Rotterdam, HAL Maasdam, SS Whisper

Key:

CCL - Carnival Cruise Lines
NCL - Norwegian Cruise Lines
HAL - Holland America
SS - Silver Seas


The Valor might be a long shot since it is not available till later in the month of August; but who knows! Of those that are available in early Aug when I am due to go back, my preferences are Grand Prin, Star Prin, CCL Victory ...

So I sent in the list and I was told by Penny, our VP, that I will find out on Monday!! Woo hoo .. I will be in Philly then, but I will have my laptop and BB with me. Cross your fingers!

Ship list!!!

3 July 08
heading back to So'ton - and heading for HOME


I got the ship list today!!! woo hoo ... of course about an hour after it came in, the sat went out until just now and it is 8pm here!

We get to rank the list from 1 - 15 in order of our preferences. I will most likely be putting Grand Princess as #1 and Star Princess as # 2; they leave Aug 6th and Aug 3rd respectively.

From there on, not sure ... :) Still working that out ...

Only 29 hrs to go till I land .. at HOME!! I am excited to come home, but I have to admit I am very apprehensive about leaving the ship; what I know is so familiar to me; my little family and my good friends.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Last Port ... OH MY!

2 July 08
leaving Gothenberg Sweden


Wow, this was it! My last port .. and I didn't even go ashore LOL

I took IPM (aka In Port Tanning ha ha) for the morning, but then the Captain changed our sail time to 3pm, so it wasn't worth getting off for an hour. Especially since town was a good 20 min shuttle ride away.

So I worked this morning till 11.30 then went to an early lunch with Amie. Afterwards I didn't have much to do. So I could have done laundry (no), packed some more (nah) or read. I wanted to just chill out and read; but since it was a nice day out, I wanted to get some sun too. So I went up to Deck 4 and combined them both. Got a chair and a stool and sat out in a sleeveless tee and shorts and read. It was sooo nice. The weather was gorgeous! Was out there for a few hours, so I got some color (thank gawd) I was beginning to look as white as I am in the winter; no one would have believed I have been on a ship all these months if I came home that pale!

Just after 3 we started to sail so I went up and watched us sail away. I actually started to cry when I realized this was my last port. I won't be anywhere else in the world on this ship - maybe not *ever* again! :( So many great memories on this ship. I am going to miss it terribly!

Tonight is the Leavers Disco - Clare and I can't believe the time has come for it to be OUR Leavers Disco! Unfortunately it is the night before a sea day, so many people can't be out all night .. but we are going to party it up anyway. I don't have to get up in the am for work; I have to go down to the crew office by 10.30 and hand in my ID, collect my passport and things, as well as pay my onboard account (eek LOL) And then the rest of tomorrow will be intermittently checking in on Christine and packing everything else! Oy!

Catching up ... Copenhagen Denmark

1 July 08

I have to say Copenhagen is probably the nicest major city we have been to in the baltic. It is very pretty, very clean, very upscale and very European. Don't get me wrong, I loved St Petersburg, but that was different. Copenhagen seemed new, even if the buildings had older type architecture looks to them. Of course the weather was fantastic, so that always helps!

After a pretty late night out the night before (it was my "I'm Not Married Anymore" Anniversary party) we all planned on a lie in and then lunch at 12.30. There was no rush to get up and go anywhere since we weren't sailing till midnight from Copenhagen.

Amie, Pierre, Gemma and I had lunch then we all went down to get dressed to go out for the day. We planned to come back later to change since we wanted to go out that night as well. After wandering around by the pier looking for the mermaid (a Copenhagen icon) we took the bus from the pier to the city center and since Amie and Clare had been to Copenhagen on their first cruise, they knew the city. We got off on the main square and then walked down the shopping street. We had a nice wander around and up and down the streets. The girls wanted to shop, so I sat at an outdoor cafe with Pierre while the girls went into H&M. However, they got on a shopping fix, so eventually I left. I was not into shopping at the mo. And I was not about to spend silly amounts of money on things I could 1) get at home cheaper and 2) would have to carry home with me! I wanted to go back and shower before going out that night; so I took the bus back to the pier and did just that. I came up to work for a little bit to check on Christine to see how she was doing. She seems to be getting on well so I think she will be fine come tomorrow when I hand over all the keys, etc to her.

Once everyone came back to the ship - the next plan was to meet at 8 and go back into the city to the Absolut Ice Bar. Supposed to be like the one in Norway, but better; and it was! The one in Norway was in someone's warehouse. This was in an upscale hotel and a posh looking bar. It was pretty amazing. I didn't last too long in there; maybe only 20 or so mins. I really am not liking the cold as much as I used to. I will take the warm sunshine anyday! So one of the new girls from the casino (Marguarite) and I came out and warmed up in the courtyard. The weather was still so nice - even at 9.30pm. I think everyone was out by 9.45 or so. And since we had to be back on the ship by 11.30, we wanted to use our time wisely.

The girls (Gemma and Clare) had spotted a Scottish pub when we were getting out by the Ice Bar that was in the Tivoli Square, so they wanted to go there. Some of us were starving as we hadn't eaten since lunch (other than a hotdog - which are supposedly a popular item in Copenhagen) so we stopped at .. (insert drul roll here) .. Burger King! I tell you, I won't need to be looking for fast food when I get home!! I want home cooked everything .. beware parents!! :)

So after a quick bite we headed over to the Scottish pub where we spent the last hour or so until we had to get a taxi back to the ship. It was a great day!

Copenhagen pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.84l4mzez&x=0&y=-drcuaj&localeid=en_US

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The countdown is on!

2 July 08

62 hours from now and I will be landing at JFK airport in NY!! OMG, I just can't believe it; I am having mixed emotions about leaving the ship. This has been my home for the last 5 1/2 months. It will be very wierd being home, not working, living in NY. But I have missed my family and friends so I am glad to be going home to see them. I also have missed everyday things, like driving, going to the store, my dog, etc. Not to mention decent, non-british, food! :)

I have to catch up with my pics from Copenhagen yesterday .. I will post that in a little while. But I have gotten a few emails asking where I was .. so I am posting to let you know I am still here, working with my new girl to get her sorted for Friday and trying to get packed!