Today Mel, Jess and I were in Grand Turk. Once again, our original plans were messed up due to some disorganization elsewhere on the ship, but we still made the most of it. A few weeks back, I’d done the Flow Rider (surf machine) in Grand Turk for a tour with my teens. I’d told Mel and Jess how much fun it was, so they decided it was something they wanted to try. I got a pool-side chair next to the Flow Rider so I had a front-row view of the action. Which also meant I got lots of good photos [View Full Entry]

---

---

Mel and Jess are here cruising with me and today we had a fantastic beach day! Today’s port of call was Half Moon Cay, a private island owned by one of our sister lines. Though we come here every two weeks, I’ve only gotten off on the island once! It’s a tender port and of course, guests come first, so us crew members have to go back 3 hours before sail time. When I don’t finish work until at least 1am the night before, it’s difficult to drag myself out of bed early enough to make the day worth going out [View Full Entry]

---

---

I’m a month and a day away from the end of this contract and going home. Meanwhile, something exciting is happening to help the time go by - my sister Melanie and her friend Jessica have come to cruise with me!! The girls arrived yesterday when we were in Miami. They stepped on the ship and I immediately took care of them at the lobby bar! I had to work both in the afternoon and evening, but in between we had a lovely dinner in the dining room and then we closed the night in the crew bar. Today is their [View Full Entry]

---

---

All over the news these days is the swine flu outbreak. This past week the CDC put out a travel advisory for travel to Mexico which of course effects us on ships. I’m not in a position to comment into detail about the company’s approach to the entire thing - if you’re interested you can find out through proper channels like the company’s website, or chat with me on a personal level. But I can say that our regular itinerary has changed. Which cause some chaos on a planning and organizational level a couple days back. But now that the cruise [View Full Entry]

---

---

The last two weeks I haven’t been up to much of anything. I have been so sick! I had some sort of flu or virus that just completely kicked my butt. I couldn’t sleep at night and all day I’d just be sneezing and aching. I was constantly freezing yet to touch my skin I was burning up. All I did was work and sleep - or try to sleep. I kept taking cold and flu medication which was doing nothing. After a week of no improvement, I was finally given penicillin which seems to be kicking it as I’m finally [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today we’re back in Cozumel and I was so excited because we had a crew tour on offer! Cozumel is such a great port but as a crew member it’s usually spent either taking advantage of the places with wireless internet or partying. For far too long I didn’t see anything beyond the shops and bars in Cozumel. I tend to feel pretty proud of myself when I actually get out and do something in this port. Then when it’s something offered with fellow crew, it’s especially exciting because you get the sight-seeing plus the social aspect! Near the island of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Spring break is still upon me here on the ship. 300 teens - and my participation rates have been around 80% so I am intensely busy. Which also means, of course, teen tours are still running. Today in Cozumel, I ran my third teen tour in the last 10 days! I took a group of five teens to the adventure park for an afternoon of high ropes and snorkeling. The group was really fun; we enjoyed the day greatly. For the first half of our tour, we were suited up in safety gear. There was a whole team of guides working [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today we’re in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and it’s the last port day I have with Ginny here. We’d talked about a few different things we could do today, but then I had teens sign up for the tour being offered this cruise, so I had to chaperone. But I was able to arrange for Gin to come on the same tour I’d be taking the teens on, so we still got the day together. The adventure for the day? River Tubing on the White River. I’ve done a couple of river tubing tours in other ports, but this one was a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ginny is still here cruising with me (oh, and we did luck out with a guest cabin and dining room table again this cruise!!) and today we’re in Grand Cayman. I think the best thing to see in Grand Cayman is Stingray City, so I’d recommended it to Gin and she was all for it. She also wanted to do some snorkeling during her time down here, so we did a combination tour today. We were bused across the island to board our motor boat that took us out into the sea. We stopped at three different snorkel spots today. We [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today we’re in Grand Turk. As part of my teen program, every cruise I offer a shore excursion where the teens get to go on a tour in port with their friends and me - no parents. Gin, who is cruising with me, and I had had plans to go on a tour of the island and hang out on the beach afterwards. But with such a high teen count, of course I had enough teens sign up to run the tour this cruise, so I had to work. Ginny went off on the bus tour on her own and I [View Full Entry]

---

---