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Published: April 10th 2007
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Sitting on the little ferry, bouncing over the waves from the Victory over to Grand Cayman, I’m always amazed at how many shades of blue the water turns in the sunlight. A couple guys hit on me (isn’t it too early for that?) and a sweet family from Miami asks me in broken English where the best beaches are. I smile and tell them I’m new around here and don’t know too much, but so far everything I’ve seen is gorgeous.
I have an hour in a busy coffee-shop full of well-suited business men before I head off for my tour of the island. Everyone who knows Grand Cayman tells me I need to see ‘Stingray City’, a big beachy place with stingrays I can pet and hold bigger than I am.
I’m treasuring these moments of free internet and a little quiet since I have had absolutely none of it since I’ve been here. My ten, twelve, fourteen hour workdays combined with a heavy dose of late night disco-dancing have made sleep a prized commodity during my few hours of free time. I’m gratefully to finally get a chance to write…I’m hoping my love for writing will take
over my sleep deprivation and I’ll write a little more often than once a month.
My brain is running in a million different directions, thoughts and memories demanding my attention as I try to decipher what would be best to relay to the world outside the plastic bubble of Carnival ship life.
I spend my time in a world physically and emotionally draining to an extreme I had almost forgotten since the college days where late night espresso became my main food group. Every day I film something on ship or land, edit it and put it on our 24-hour television network. I actually saw someone in their cabin watching a shore excursion of mine yesterday, and thought ‘wow, people really do watch the stuff I edited till 1am last night.” I’ve also become a ‘cable girl’, which I’m pretty proud of. This week after doing interviews for our formal night (I’ve also been dabbling with the cheesy-TV-anchorwoman role), I messed with some buttons and wires, and fixed four TV’s in my 2 inch heels and little black cocktail dress. I love being the only woman doing my job. Dusko and Alex (from Croatia and Bosnia) are amazing
Alex, Alyssa, and Dusko "working hard" on the ship
I love my co-workers, I work with a couple of crazy guys from south east Europe, Dusko is from Croatia and Alex from Bosnia...they took good care of me. I feel like they're little sister! and fun to work with, so that probably makes the ‘only woman’ thing a little bit easier ?
I love my job, but it is emotionally exhausting in a way I have never known...if
you put your heart into it like I do, and most people don't. I think they've been hurt too much.
All day long you give. You give to the guests; you smile, you care, listen, answer questions. Then you work and try your very best to do a good job, but fail miserably at it far too often. Then twelve hours passes by and your too exhausted to think and all the negative things you've seen and heard all day long really starts to get to you, especially when you're me, and you choose to still have feelings and to not be numb to the pain...
But, then the day ends (at midnight or 1am) and you get to relax for four or five hours before you sleep and start all over again. It’s my favorite time. I go change into normal clothes, head down to the crew bar, have a drink (or occasionally two or three). laugh as often and as hard as
possible, hug as many people as I can, and try to soak in and enjoy every moment, every smile, and every human being I come into contact with. I love to sit out on the open deck with my friends while they smoke way too many cigarettes (I didn't know you could smoke three in a row and still have lungs in the end) and look up at the black blue ocean and the white stars balding it’s surface blue-silver sporadically in spots and try to find shapes in the clouds....
There’s so much more that I love, so much that keeps me coming back for more…
Last week I met Chad Greene on a shore excursion in St. Thomas. I was bouncing around a little yacht going to ‘Shipwreck Cove’ shooting video here and there, and this great guy with two kids and a wife starts asking me about my dreams and telling me I can be anything I put my mind to. He non-chalantly mentioned he was an animator for Dreamworks on the last three Shrek movies and Antz. When I asked him if I would see his name in the credits, the quiet smile of
greatness washed over his genuine, humble face while he tossed out an ‘oh yeah.’
Later Katarina, my best friend on the ship and talented Graphic Designer, blinked her eyes wide at me and I think the words ‘I hate you’ and ‘you suck’ came out as curses in her native Croatian language after I told her I met this guy called….Chad Greene?
He gave me his personal email address, found me before he left at the end of the week and told me to keep him updated on my career. He looked at me very seriously and told me not to forget his email, I don’t think I could if I wanted to.
Meeting people is my second favorite part of this job. Seeing parrot fish and sea life all colors of the rainbow on snorkeling tours in St. Thomas. Holding a stingray with big orange, marble eyes and fins the color of a rainy day stretching longer than my body in Grand Cayman. Losing my balance off-roading in a dune buggy bound for the beach in Costa Maya. Hiking waterfalls and drinking rum punch on a catamaran in Jamaica. That’s my favorite. It’s hard to remember every thrill
and impression seared into my greatest memories box. There are far too many.
Every week, every day is an adventure out of my comfort zone that makes me feel lucky to be alive. Sometimes it doesn’t seem worth it, and that makes the joy even greater in the better moments. I love a life that keeps me scared and excited simultaneously, 24-hours a day.
I will leave it at that for now. In a week or two another update should find itself into your inbox with more reflections and adventures-thanks for reading!
If anyone would like to drop me a line sometime I would love it! It’s quite a treat to hear about what’s going on in your life, and feel a little more connected to the people I miss so much and am so far away from!
My current address is:
CARNIVAL VICTORY
Attn: Alyssa Bowers
AV Dept/Videographer
PO Box 025338
Miami, FL 33102-5338
Thanks everyone! Hope the sun is shining in whatever corner of the world you find yourself in.
~Alyssa~
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Marita Cox
non-member comment
YOU GO GIRL
Alyssa, first of all Happy Birthday!! Wow how exciting and very physically and mentally demanding job you have! I was so excited to read this, It makes me feel that you are so close! What great experiences and beauty you will see with this new job. I know that working with the public can be very frustrating at times, but the amazing people you will meet and the lucky people that get to know the "wonderful" you is a blessing to all. I am so proud of all you are doing and all you have accomplished. Life here is busy, Courtney just got done with Classic Basketball and is now in Classic Soccer and still playing some Spring Basketball games also. Oh, Girl Scouts too! She also got nominated by a teacher at her school for the "People To People" World Leadership Conf in Washington DC in 2008, because of her academic achievement. We are so proud of her! We are all busy, JR is working with Les and pursuing becoming a Fireman. I am really busy at work and trying to ramp up my miles running, Angie and I are going to do the Portland Marathon. I am so excited for your mom to do the Triathalon and so proud of her! So have you been running on the deck? God bless and my prayers are with you. Love Aunt Marita