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Published: June 18th 2008
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This past week, we’ve had a charter cruise. A private company rented out the ship for their employees (a sales incentive prize) and so it was a private cruise for them all week. This group had ZERO kids onboard - so I had no teens all week! Basically, I was just cruising.
There was some work to be done. My replacement arrives next week, so I’ve been preparing the handover. And there were technical things to take care of in the club. But compared to everyone else, and compared to my usual weeks, I was essentially off.
It was really great. I can’t complain. But you know how something can be really built up and you have these big expectations and excitement, and then it sort of just happens and you’re like “so, that was that.” That’s kind of what the week was like. Nice, great, fun, but it was so built up, the reality just couldn’t meet it.
First, after we disembarked our passengers from the previous cruise in Fort Lauderdale, we had about 4 hours on the ship with only crew. The reason - we relocated our home port to Miami! After embarking the charter cruise
passengers, we had a lovely sailaway from Miami. Jody and I watched sailaway, then I joined the camp girls for a sailaway party. Wine, chips, Peruvian treats (from Dora, who is back from vacation) and the joy of no children!
I spent most nights out. And every morning sleeping in (a couple afternoons too!). One evening, the camp carnival girls (who were also off) and I went to supper club.
Because of the charter, no shore excursions were available to crew. So we were on our own. In Nassau, Jody and I walked to a beach near the ship. Along the way, we stopped at a few of the shops where I could trade in my “treasure” coins back when Mel and Brad and I went on our snorkel tour. The most exciting trade - I got a pair of tanzanite earrings! The beach we went to wasn’t overly exciting. But it was a nice walk and quiet. The sun was hot, the water was cold. And in the water were hundreds of fish, little teeny tiny silver fish that would part the way for you as you made your way into the water. At one point, I
stopped walking and they sort of closed so that there was a big circle of these itty bitty fish all around me. Pretty cool.
In Grand Cayman, I headed out with some friends to Treasure Island, a hotel along Seven Mile Beach. I used to go there all the time when I was on the Legend. It’s so nice there. Pool, hot tub, sot of beach, restaurant (where they make poutine!), bar, free internet . . . I spent hours online taking care of various things I’m trying to get organized for my work back home. Laid out in the sun. Enjoyed my poutine while soaking in the pool. Yes, I sat in the water by the pool bar while I ate. I love it.
Then we had a day in Cozumel. All along the main strip in Cozumel, there are shops, mostly jewelry shops. And many of these shops have signs out front claiming that you get a free gift just for going into the shop. Ema (who until a couple weeks ago was my roommate) and I decided we wanted to get our share of free gifts. So we started at one end and worked our
way down the street. Any shop with a sign claiming to give a free gift, we went into. Most of the gifts were small stones that can be made into jewelry. I’m thinking I might make some earrings or something out of them all. The gifts at most other stores were drinks. That’s right, free drinks. Always tequila. So we had a lot of tequila. We finished up at No Name Bar, a bar run by former crew members for crew members. By the time we got there, the tequilas had sunk in and I was ready to turn in. Which is exactly what I did when I got back to the ship!
Now the charter has ended. I’m back into having teens. And in another two days, I will have a replacement to train. I’m down to my final two weeks . . . crazy . . .
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