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Published: April 22nd 2011
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The holiday season has hit the Dream! It can be really difficult being away from home, family and friends during the holidays. But this year, between work keeping me busy and friends keeping me happy, it has been a good time.
We've broken from our regular itineraries and did a 9 day cruise that included both Christmas and New Years. It was extremely popular, the ship booked solid and tons of families. So work in the teen club has been very busy. In addition to all of the teens we have onboard, we've been having technical crises all the time . . . in the last week we've had a fire, a flood and a complete power outage - all in our DJ booth! I'm so happy to have Kristina here as my co-director. We keep laughing through all the problems when if I were on my own, I'm sure I'd be a stressed-out wreck!
Between all the teens and the technical problems, we've been having lots of fun though.
On Christmas Eve, we were in Nassau. The Fantasy was also in port that day - and a good friend Jen is on the Fantasy. Duain, Jenny and
I have all worked with Jen in the past so we were pumped for a reunion. We met at Senor Frogs and the holiday celebrations began. Nearly every port has a bar like Senor Frogs and though I see them all the time, I rarely actually go - too many guests. But that day we were right in on the craziness. To add our own festive cheer to the party, we were all decked out in santa hats, reindeer antlers, I had an elf hat. Lots of fun.
Christmas Day was a day at sea, so lots of work hours (and this was the day of the fire in the DJ booth!). But in the mess we were served a special dinner (including wine!). Kristina, Duain, Jenny and I ("the Dream Teen Team") did our own "Dirty Santa" exchange after dinner. I love our little teen director posse. I ended up with the game "Screw" which is basically a rip-off of the game "Clue" (one of my favourites) with every possible sexual innuendo put into the game. I'm sure we'll have fun with that some night in the crew bar! That night we went out to the disco for
drinks and dancing.
We had our department gift exchange on the 26th. With Christmas being a sea day and us having over 1000 youth onboard, we couldn't get it scheduled until the day after. I got the boxed DVD set for the final season of LOST - which I have been anxiously awaiting to watch for months now! I may not leave my cabin once I get started on it . . .
After that we had a few port days, though I didn't do anything too exciting. Work and all the holiday parties has me pretty worn out, so I was mostly sleeping and then relaxing in the ports.
Then came New Years Eve. What a crazy night! We had another special dinner in the mess, but it was pretty rushed because work was so crazy that day. Not only was it New Years Eve, it was the final day of the 9 day cruise - so the teens were eager to party. It's a difficult balance between making sure they're having fun but also following the rules . . . For the actual countdown, we closed the club to go up to the main party.
Nearly the entire ship was packed up on the Lido Deck - you can see in the photos how busy it was up there. The band was playing, the entertainment staff were hosting, Times Square was being aired on the big screen, tons of the crew were gathered around the entertainment area and champagne was being handed out everywhere. We had our 20 minutes of fun for the countdown and hugs afterwards before going back to re-open the club for the teens. Eventually, around 2am, we wrapped things up at work and then headed out to join the festivities ourselves - off the clock. There was a crew party in one of the smaller back lounges. We went there for a bit, then went to the disco to join in the big party there. It was quite the night - and I spent New Years Day in bed (until I had to get up for work) recovering from it all!
We have one more busy cruise and then things should quiet down for a bit. The holidays have been full of fun, but I could use some down time for a change.
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