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Published: August 8th 2007
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Crew Disco Night
Me, Brooks, Catherine and Brian This weekend was relocation when our ship changed home ports from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa. We had 2 days at sea with no passengers - the ship all of the crew! Those couple days were packed with parties, drama and emotions.
Thursday night (the 12th), I was DJing the last dance party of the cruise for my teens and I logged onto the internet to send/receive email. There was one from mom that said Grandpa Steinhoff had gone to the hospital with pain. They ran tests, then operated and now he was on life support. The doctors had told Grandma to notify the family because he was “serious”. I felt panicked. I just wanted to be home, to call home, to leave. My biggest fear about going far from home, especially for an extended period of time, is something happening to the people I love and me not being there. I remember talking to Cayleigh about this before we both left for Africa. Ultimately, home is only a plane ticket away, no matter where I am in the world. No one at home would want me to not do things because of fear. Nor do I. That’s not living life
to the fullest. But then, there I was, Grandpa in the hospital seriously ill, me somewhere at sea and stuck in my teen club. When I finished work, I called home, woke Mom & lee which I felt badly about, but I had to call home. I had to know if it was serious enough that I should try to get off the ship in Fort Lauderdale in the morning. Talking to mom, I felt less panicked and I concluded to not rush to get off the ship, to wait out the next couple days.
That night, I desperately needed distraction. I sat with Brooks, Samantha, Brian, Catherine and Kevin in the crew bar until Sam & Kevin suggested going to the disco and the three of us went up. This started our drinking crawl around the ship. We hit the disco, lido deck guest bar, the pizzaria (all which we closed or found closed), went back to the crew bar where a new crowd had a bunch of drinks, then went out to the crew deck. It was a long night - the three of us didn’t get to our cabins until 6:30am - we could see the
lights of the Fort Lauderdale skyline on the horizon and daylight breaking!
When I pulled myself out of bed Friday afternoon, I headed up to Lido Deck where the pool and bar was open for crew. I chatted with Ursula (one of the nurses) about being away from home and deciding when it’s most important to just go. By this time we were sailing for Tampa and I had to stick with my decision to wait out the 2 days and then see. After that, I sat with Marlize, Chris (the cruise director), Darcy (the assistant cruise director), Angela & Ricky (theatre techs) and played Uno, which I’d never played before. That was a good distraction. I hung out with what seems to be my new party crowd - a mix of shoppies and spa people - and laid in the sun.
Then I had a hot stone massage in the spa! Special crew packages were offered that afternoon and I’ve been intrigued by hot stone massages for so long. That was so good for me. I had a LOT of aches and pains worked on, but mostly the physical attention put me at ease and gave me
The Boys in the Sun on Lido Deck
Jason (art auctioneer), Phil (gift shop), Ben (fitness instructor), Darnell (gift shop) comfort. I felt calm, relaxed and more peaceful afterwards.
After my massage, I wandered back out to Lido deck and saw Ben (fitness instructor) who said to join him and the boys. I sat with them and had a beer in the fading sunshine. Ben asked if I’d like to go to Supper Club. Darnell had made a reservation but hadn’t really sorted a group to go. So 35 minutes later, I was cleaned, dressed up and sitting in Supper Club with Ben, Darnell, Kevin, Loraine (spa), Erna (fitness instructor), Jason (art auctioneer) and Dan (social host). It was a completely random mix of people to be at Supper Club with. But the food was incredible as always and I was just happy to be occupied and distracted.
That night there was a massive crew party happening in the guest disco. There were so many crew members packed in the disco! Hours of dancing, drinking, it was crazy! But as the evening wore on and drama built, I’d had enough and headed to my cabin.
Saturday, I didn’t get out of bed until 2pm, then went on a tour of the ship’s engines (another activity offered special
Sunshine Girls
Tiarne and Bronwyn (spa staff) for relocation). It was good if only to say I’ve seen them. I got to see all of the engines and machines that control everything from the ship’s air conditioning, refrigeration systems, pools, water, everything.
After the tour, I spent the rest of the afternoon up on Lido where I hung out, drank, chatted and sunned with various people. It was a nice relaxed afternoon.
That evening, I attended most of the crew activities. I played Bingo in the theatre. I watched Chris (the cruise director)’s production show: a tribute to the Blues Brothers, along with a group of the entertainment staff. The show is so much fun! The final song (shake your tail feather), has had everyone up and dancing and a group of us went up on the stage to do the dance. We laughed so much. But as the night wore on, I became less and less interested in what was going on. The casino tournaments didn’t interest me and the party in Satchmo’s (one of the guest bars) was so smoky and I was just feeling awkward. So after some drinks and chats with some friends and some aimless wandering around the ship. I
just sort of gave up and went to my cabin really early for me on this ship (1am).
And now we’re in our new home port of Tampa! Mom has been emailing me about Grandpa and he seems to be doing better. He’s off life support and should be out of ICU soon. He just needs to recover from the surgery and ward off infection. All this is good. It eases my panic. But I still wish I could be home. It’s really hard not being there right now. I feel so far away, not just physically, but in terms of time. I’ve seen, done, grown, learned and experienced so much since I left home. People had home have been experiencing things while I’ve been gone. And I’m still here another 7 weeks - which seems short, but it still nearly a third of my time here. All this is making me feel uncertain I could go away again for so long. But maybe I’m just feeling delicate still.
But I got off the ship in Tampa today and went shopping. Tampa is a great home port. There’s a “Fun Bus” shuttle from the port to Walmart, 2
different malls and back to the port - it’s easy, safe, reliable and has a great driver. A grocery store is an easy 20 minute walk from the port. There are a ton of restaurants, a movie theatre, an Imax, a bowling area and gift shops right at the cruise terminal. And the surrounding area is Tampa’s downtown - the sports colosseum, convention centre, public library, judicial buildings, all there. Walking around Tampa felt like walking around the metro/Queen’s Quay area of Toronto - big buildings, clean streets, a waterfront, safe, friendly faces . . . only real difference are all of the palm trees! I’m really happy to have this home port for this closing stretch of my contract.
And now we begin our new 7 day run to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and Costa Maya. Only 2 sea days each cruise! And spring break is almost over!
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