Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Last of Mexico .. for now

29 Oct 08

at sea; returning to San Francisco .. and I will be returning home!

Backing up - so I didnt go ashore in Zihuantanejo but that was ok .. I had a great day to myself. I sat up on deck, laying in the sun and reading. There was going to be a football game on MUTS and that was great! It was Giants vs Steelers and it turned out to be a good game. I sat in the low part of the pool (just a few inches deep) , sunning myself and watching the game. Cant say many of you did the same watching football last Sunday! :)

Andrea and I went to Paradise Beach in Acapulco - but of course, the sun wasnt really out. So we had some lunch and a few drinks and met up with Meg, Keenan and Brei while we were there. We had an early sail, so we couldnt stay all day anyway.

Monday night there was a Halloween Disco in the crew bar. Any of you who know me well, know I hate Halloween. So there was no way I was dressing up! I ended up wearing my bright orange tee and black pants .. I looked the part LOL But I felt down that night .. I am not sure why really. So I just said I was a "Plump Pumpkin" instead. I left before 1am and went to bed. Here are some pics I took of the disco:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=bf232dhz.4rdeybir&x=0&y=fy7kqk&localeid=en_US

Yesterday and today are sea days .. as is tomorrow. I have been packing in between working and I will be finished tomorrow. Well I have to be as I need to turn in my luggage tomorrow night sometime supposedly (not sure how that works tho) Anyway, I will have a short handover to Emily on Friday morning and my flight is at 3pm on Friday afternoon, direct to JFK.

If there are no other events between now and when I leave .. this will be my last post from the Star. Of course I will post once I get home, as well as pics from my brothers wedding next weekend (the 8th). Then onto the Coral Princess on Nov 19th.
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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Seeing Cabo .. From the Ship

25 October 08
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Sigh. I didnt make it to Cabo *again* yesterday .. the tenders took a long time again and we didnt get crew shore leave till 12 noon. So we wouldnt have gotten to Cabo till about 12.30 and we had to be back in line for a tender for 1pm or so. SUCKS

Anyway .. se la vie I will just have to have a proper vacation there! (Suz - divorce party in Cabo?!?! LOL)

I ended up having a good day though anyway .. all the crew were still onboard, so a bunch of the girls went up on deck, got some burgers from the grill and watched MUTS (Movies Under The Stars (or Sun)) while we laid in the sun. We had a nice day swimming, lounging, etc and the weather was beautiful!!

Here are some pics of the view to Cabo .. as well as what MUTS actually is (so my Mom knows what I keep talking about LOL)
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.77b1azur&x=0&y=-b5arv&localeid=en_US

Today we were in Puerto Vallarta; the weather was not as nice as last week, but it was still warm of course! We went to a crew hangout; Kristal Hotel .. where they have a pool, beach, swim up bar (yeah we utilized that!) It was fun and we had a good day and even managed to get some sun as well. I dont have any pics other than with my underwater camera; I took the SD card out of my good camera to put the Cabo pics online, and I forgot to put it back.

Zihuantanejo is tomorrow - but I wont go ashore. All the crew has to do safety training (I dont) but why go alone? That's no fun and the locals will just bug the hell out of me more to buy their crap.. so I will just sit up on deck again and work on my tan :)
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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Pit Stop: San Diego

23 Oct 08

So yesterday the Captain comes on around 3.15 and tells us that we are going to have to stop just outside San Diego to medically disembark a passenger. I had already heard the rumors, but no one would (or could) confirm anything; we even heard that the pax might be getting helivac'd off. That would have been cool (for me)! Anyway I knew something was up early that morning when I got up as the seas were almost like glass; so I knew we were more inland to the coast than we normally are.

We stopped right outside the breakwater (so we didnt have to pay to dock) and a US Coast Guard vessel came out to get the passenger and his wife. Turns out this guy was a bit of an idiot! Had been in ICU for the last week; checked himself out on Monday and got on the ship on Tuesday. Sorry - but seriously!?!? Who does that?!?

I went up on the porch at 4 when I was on my break to take a look around, get some air, etc. Nothing really to see with the passenger disembarking, so I just chatted with a bunch of crew who were outside as well and then took some pics of the battleships that were sailing around:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.c5yr7tr7&x=0&y=a2fqn1&localeid=en_US


After that, I went for my nap :)

Last night was formal night, as well as an hour forward, so there was no way I was going out. I am tired as hell today as I didnt sleep really well. Had wierd dreams about the ship crashing into a forest, breaking the bow off, then it became a Duck Tour and was driving all over the city. I know - freaking strange. And I didnt even have any booze last night!! (oh wait - maybe that was the problem LOL)
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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Some people are just so rude

22 Oct 08
heading to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico


Well even after the internet came up, I still didnt get a full amount of relief. Since it was the end of the cruise, pax were getting their folio statements and then complaining to me that the internet was down/out and wanted FULL refunds. Now normally we dont credit for unused minutes; but since I didnt know the sat was going to be out (and it was planned) I couldnt tell them; so I decided I would credit unused mins for anyone who asked. (oi - money out the window!!) I had a few who just threw their toys out of the pram and were really ridiculous. I only had to do about 3 full refunds in the end. I had one guy who wanted to argue with me; even had me paged via the Purser's Desk b/c he wanted more than the $30 I credited him. Had he been nicer, maybe; but he was such a dickhead. Not to mention - he sounded so much like my exhusband both in voice and manner - that I was holding strong! But boy, I was pissed off after that conversation. I was all fired up it was like I was arguing with Scott all over again .. grrrrrrrrrr! I stomped around my room ranting at my roommate LOL

Any- hoo :)

So yesterday we had our turnaround in San Fran. I had plans to meet some of my fellow WOCS (Work On Cruise Ships) friends; I am still an active member of the group as they helped me so much in getting a job, that I just want to be able to give back to someone else. I met up with Susie, her friend Lynn and Micha Berman. Micha was the one who wrote the book “Permanent Passenger: My Life on a Cruise Ship” that I bought as soon as he had published it. Great book for anyone – whether you want to work on a ship, you have or currently worked on a ship or even for just a good, easy read.

Here is the group of us after we had lunch: (me, Micha, Lynn and Susan)



Susie and Lynn dropped me back off at the ship and then I got back onboard amist a ridiculous amount of passengers trying to get on as well. Lucky for me, I have my crew ID and I was able to skip that huge-ass line. Why there wasn’t a separate crew entrance (as there ALWAYS is) I don’t know.

Anyway, around 4pm I made my normal phone calls to the parents and we set sail about 5pm. I stayed out on deck for the sail away, since it would be my last out of San Francisco. Got some pretty cool shots (in my opinion LOL):


Library has been crazy again and I am soooo glad I am getting off this ship (for the library reason anyway). I have been super stressed trying to do a good job at MY JOB, while trying to do BOTH of these jobs. Apparently I did well as I got 5 (yes FIVE) blue C.R.U.I.S.E cards! So even if everyone else hated me, 5 pax liked me :) LOL
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Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Net is Back!

18 October 08
At sea - enroute back to San Francisco, CA


Well holy hell on a stick - the net has been out for 2 days due to an upgrade we had; that then we couldnt get connected back to the satellite. But the pax are going freaking beserk - like I cut off their communications forever - not just for a few days!!! I have been bitched out, yelled at, sneered at and I have been as sweet as pie. "Kill 'em with kindness" It was bad this afternoon; I was already pissed off because the connection wouldn't work and then I couldnt go ashore (In Cabo no less!) and then when I went to my desk at 4 I was yelled at by 2 pax right in a row. After that, I closed up shop and went back to my cabin. There was no way I was going to put up with that. Tonight seems to be a little better; people have calmed down a bit. I am not sure the calm will stay though if we dont get the connection back. (its now Sat night as I type this)
Anyway - back to the fun parts of my job :) Yesterday we were in Puerto Vallarta and Andrea and I just wanted to go to the beach. We told a taxi to take us to Niki Beach as we had heard it was nice. He ended up bringing us to the Westin and said we could use their beach. We asked when we got there and they didnt have a problem with it. Cool! The hotel and grounds were gorgeous - it was like we were on vacation. We ended up going to the pool instead, as it just looked so inviting. We had a light lunch and some fruity cocktails. Then lounged in the pool and on the chairs - it was divine. It reminded me of the Grand Wailea in Maui with the beautifully sculpted grounds. Here are some pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.6yz7ej8z&x=0&y=23xkpr&localeid=en_US

We stayed until about 3pm and then I was due to work at 4. I came back to my cabin, but instead of going down to the cafe, I called the Computer Office to see if it was up. (the upgrade started at 10am and could take up to 10 hrs) Turns out the connection was still not up, so I took a nap instead :) I went to work for 7.30 hoping the cafe would be up, or up shortly. It didnt actually come up as they techs were having some trouble. So here I am 24 hrs later and I still dont have a connection.

As I mentioned above, I was trying to help the guys with the connection problem, so I never got a chance to go ashore. I was NOT happy that I missed Cabo; but figured if the cafe came up it would be worth it. Well it never did and I might as well have gone ashore. Sigh Well at least I have one more shot at going to Cabo on the next run down here. I already plan on going ashore the minute I finish work that morning; even if it means going alone!

The net finally came back up this morning - Sun Oct 19th at 10.43am .. 48 hrs and 22 mins after it went out. Was probably 2 of the hardest days I have had! At least some of my pax were great about it - one of my new friends, Michelle (a pax) had come to defend me several times when pax were ranting at me :) And Michael (another pax) gave me $20 this morning and told me I have been wonderful and had such "grace under pressure" and told me to have some margaritas on him next port :) How sweet is that!!!
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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Ahhh, I have missed the sunshine

16 Oct 08
leaving Ixtapa, Mexico

Man, I tell ya - this is the reason I do this job. I have been to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world; the caribbean, the meditteranean, Mexico and I love them all.

Yesterday we were in Acapulco; I was excited!! Andrea and I headed off the ship around 1pm and as we were getting off, we ran into a bunch of the spa girls who were also planning to head to the beach. So we joined up with them and all 9 of us went - we didnt care where we went, as long as it was the beach and had a bar, food and an ocean! Ahhh, it was great. We sat under the cabanas and had lunch and then we could move out into the sun whenever we wanted. And the margaritas .. OH MY GAWD .. were soo freaking good (and cheap as hell - only $5 for a large frozen one!) It could have been trouble if we had more than a few of them.

Here are the pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.6mbf4g2r&x=0&y=-1ue53z&localeid=en_US


Today we were in Zihuatanejo (Ixtapa) but it was a half day (only in port 7-3) and I have to work 8-10 and 4-6. Besides it was a tender port and that means crew usually cant get off the ship till around 11am. So it was almost useless. I went up to the Spa at 11.30 for a fill-in and then out to the crew deck to lay in the sun and dunk in the pool. I got some more color today - just a little pink, but I cant help it - the sun is sooo glorious!

I took some pics from the crew deck back onto land - it looked nice but very resort-esque (so I am not sure we would have been able to get to those beaches anyway)
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.5aa7e7c3&x=0&y=-ae39z2&localeid=en_US

Puerto Vallarta is tomorrow .. and we are going to the beach again .. YAY
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I'm Doing It Again!

16 October 08
Ixtapa, Mexico

So .. I thought maybe I wouldn't do another contract .. but I just love this! So I was offered another contract with a Princess ship; this time the Coral Princess, starting Nov 19th.

I will only be home for 2 weeks, but that is ok. I will be home for my brothers wedding and a week after, so its all good.

Coral Princess will be doing Panama and the Caribbean all winter long .. sweet! I will look up the full itinerary later and post it in my next blog.

Anyone want to come on a cruise?? :)
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Monday, October 13, 2008

Here It All Is

13 October 08
At sea - enroute to Acapulco, Mexico

Whew - what a hell of a few days!! I am wiped out :(

Ok, backing up to catch everyone up to the last week or so. I got back on the ship on Tuesday evening .. went and signed back on, unpacked, showered and off to the Wardie I went :) It felt good to be back and a lot of people were glad to see me (which is always a nice feeling no matter what) Had a fun night out as usual .. turns out I didnt have to work on Wednesday as the cafe wasn't going to be ready. Wooo hooo! So got up late and was able to have one last day of doing nothing before the craziness began again.

Andrea and I wanted to go into town for dinner .. so I grabbed Juan (the MTN tech onboard to help me set up the cafe) and he grabbed Miles (from PCL Corporate) and we went to the Cheesecake Factory. Yum yum and not the stupid-heads like they are in Seattle :) After dinner, we headed back to the ship and .. where else? The Wardie! Had a blast there .. everyone drank a little too much and we all decided to check out the status of the ship at 2am .. it was hilarious! I had to have a good night .. I had been told by the cruise staff that they were told by PCL that *I* was going to be running the library, as well as the internet cafe. I was effing fuming! Of course I sent an email off to my shoreside manager right away - but still .. it was getting towards the weekend and the first cruise left on Sat at 4pm!

Back to the night in the wardie - here are pics from Tues and Wed night:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.9p6rbfrn&x=0&y=3h14h5&localeid=en_US


Thursday we had to get up and get moving on the set up of the pax i-cafe. Lucky for me it wasn't ready till 11am .. so Juan called me then and I got to have a little of a lie in that day too. We grabbed lunch and off we went to get things rolling. However just before we went to the pax cafe area, we noticed that we were going to be sailing under the Golden Gate again (we were heading out for a day of sea trials) And the coolest thing happened - we got to see the Blue Angels practicing for the air show on Saturday! It was soo cool - I have goosebumps just writing about it now. Of course my camera battery died, but its ok; they were so close to the ship, they kept buzzing right over us. Once we got out to sea it was soo rocky! There was a really strong wind or something; after a few hours of rocking and rolling all over in 22ft swells, the Capt came on and said he cancelled the trials because 'if the ship can handle these seas this well, she will pass the trials anyway' He then turned us around and headed back to San Fran. I think we got to the dock around 8.30pm but we were still in the cafe. We got most of it done by 9pm that night . 18 pc's all wired and setup. Some of the network connections weren't working, so we would have to come back the next day to finish. I fell into bed that night at 10pm! No wardie for me ..!

Here are a few pics of the new cafe:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.aeel2nbn&x=0&y=-b716tn&localeid=en_US


The next day we had to setup the crew i-cafe. Luckily that is only 8pc's. We had that one done in 2 hours! We broke for lunch, then went back and finished the pax cafe. We were all done by about 3pm or so. We were now at Pier 35 (near Fishermans Wharf) and a handful of us wanted to go ashore and out for the evening. I went back and took a nap; the plan was to meet in the Wardie at 7pm or so and then go from there. Everyone made their way there eventually .. we never leave when we want to! Jake convinced us that we needed to go to In And Out Burger for dinner LOL. At least it was cheap :) It was actually good .. better than McDonalds but I still think Burger King is the best. (Oh and actually - I didnt have to pay for dinner at the CCF or In and Out - Juan was using the expense account!! YAY!)

Here is Jake, very happy to have his 4x4 burger (4 burgers and 4 pieces of cheese)
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.5ccbg0jn&x=0&y=ot7gud&localeid=en_US
(dont ask me what is up with the pink sparkly pig - it is in the crew walkway of the SF terminal!!)

Saturday was the big day .. finish it ALL up and then hang on! The pax were coming :) Embarks started at noon, so I got all my signs and stuff reaady and as the first pax came onboard .. I ran for the hills :) LOL but my desk is right next to the gangway .. so people would think I was the information desk .. so it was better to just not be there at all. I came in to work around 2, but I was dying to go top-side to see some of the Air Show. Luckily, I could hear when the Blue Angels started performing .. :) So I got up there around 3 something when it was a little quiet in the cafe (all the pax were watching the show on the top decks too!) I got some great pics and it was soooo cool for them to be buzzing the ship and Alcatraz:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.6v6tgk7n&x=0&y=-e0mlkv&localeid=en_US


The sailing out was good .. but we hit some high seas again and I thought 'oh boy, its going to be a long 3 days to Acapulco!' Luckily by the next morning it was all nice and calm .. and has been ever since WHEW! It has been crazy freaking busy in the cafe/library .. since MTN didnt get an answer about the library deal by Sat, so I had no choice. Oy freakin Vey! It has been an actual mad house until this afternoon. I have been constantly interrupted by pax wanting to ask library questions (do you have such-and-such book? I cant find .. OMG I was going to jump overboard) I have barely spent any time with my own pax. Luckily I have sent several emails to my manager shoreside over the weekend and she was beside herself angry today. She promised she will get me a resolution soon and to just hang in there. I told her I didnt mind helping, but I was going crazy with the amount of pax. I mean shit, I am only ONE freaking person!
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Friday, October 10, 2008

Yes I am alive!

10 Oct 08
San Francisco, CA

I am back on the ship .. but I am finishing setting up the cafes, so I am not on the net much yet. When I get back to my normal routine tomorrow, I will catch everyone up on the last few days and what I have been doing!
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