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Published: April 12th 2006
Hi all,
I'm really sorry for not writing sooner, but it's been a crazy 4 days since I left Heathrow airport. I finally had some good luck on the plane ride over to Chicago, I had a 2 sear section to myself, and I swear I've been taking showers daily, so it's not because they didn't want to put someone near me. I gave out some mini-chocolate bars to the flight attendants, and it was basically just to be nice to them, since they have a pretty tough job. before we landed one of them dropped a bottle of Brut in my lap, a small gift from the crew. I think I'm going to keep it for my 30th B-Day coming up in July. Anyway, I was going against the clock coming back, so I was pretty tired, then my flight to Houston was delayed 3hrs, and we landed in Houston so late that the shuttle service to the hotel was over for the night. I had no US cash on me (O'Hare and Houston airports had not cash machines or exchange counters where I was, which sucked). I had to make a deal with a cab driver to get me to the hotel, and I would exchange some traveller's cheques at the counter. I check in at 2am, and stumble into the room knowing I had to be at the front lobby for 630am for pickup to the ship. It was after I dropped my bags did I realize that there was someone else in my room sleeping, which the front desk failed to mention to me. Seems like Princess Cruises likes to save money on rooms by bunking people up.
Anyway, the first day was alot of .....hurry up and wait, go to the port as fast as possible and wait to get on board. Hurry to get to security to wait to be screened....you get the picture. My room on the ship is tiny, but cosy. My roomate is a guy from France named Florian which so far has been great. He's really cool, I work with him in the Seabreeze bar on the top deck where I get to wear a tacky coloured ensemble of teal & white striped shorts and a short sleeve shirt, but it is outside, I wear sunglasses and enjoy the great weather. I have never made so many blended drinks in my life. Oh well. The first time we left port, it took me a few minutes to realize that we were moving. I was making a pina colada, looked up and freaked out to see the city of Galveston moving, it was the weirdest sensation after being on land for so long. Back to the bars...I work at up to 4 bars a day, all different, and I'm learning so many new drinks. I've finally figured out how to get places on the ship, I got lost my first 2 days, I had no idea where I was going half the time. What passengers see of the ship, compare to our internal halls and rooms is such a stark contrast. Everyone on board is great, but it has been mentally draining having to learn so many new things. I've yet to get off the ship, but I think that'll happen tomorrow, somewhere in Mexico. We were in Belize yesterday, which I wouldn't mind seeing on my own after the cruise.
I'm going to end it right here, but I'll try and update after we cruise across the Atlantic into the Med. That's going to be alot of fun.
I miss everyone and I hope it's getting warmer back home. I'll be enjoying a 6 month summer from now on.
Cheers,
Neil
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Lo
non-member comment
nice
hey so good to hear things are going better now... and thanks for the 411. im going to cuba on friday and guess what i am bringing... mini chocolate bars.. :) keep the blogs coming, love reading them. hopefully we'll see ya in thailand.. i'm going to book a week at a muai thai training camp if you want in let me know! its cheap and sounds amazing. bighug, lo.