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Day One: Flight to Juneau, join ship and start learning where the heck you are!
Today was a blur, I boarded the plane in seatac after chatting over post-graduate destinies with some nice guys on business from back east. These lads reassured me that somehow it all works outr and I reckon it’s like Shakespeare in love “Everything will be alright.” “Why?” “Don’t know, it’s a mystery!”
Flying into Juneau was spectacular and I was pretty sure we were going to be landing in the ocean…. It’s one of those things where all you see is water until you are on the runway. Kind of like Logan airport in Boston really. Then the airport itself was tiny and ghetto. No surprise there. I met up with Cassandra my roommate who is from Yelm and another woman who is the spa manager on the Zuiderdam which was also in Juneau. We hopping in a taxi and went off to the ship. Once there they ran off with my passport which everyone assures me I will get back before I quit, and then I was taken on a rapid fire safety tour of the Oosterdam (pronounced Oh-ster-dam) by a guy called Gordon who is Scottish but his accent was tainted with English. More’s the pity.
Some other stuff I can’t really remember happened and then I ate dinner, a lovely salad, and met loads of staff and tried to get lost and then un-loose myself. I figure this worked for learning Portland and Seattle, so it should work for the 11 decks of the Oosterdam.
That night there was a crew party and it was fantastic. They have a crew band who play a lot of U2 and Oasis, but they’re quite good. Mostly Phillipinos. Our Somolier is German I think, the Captain is English, Our IT guy is Welsh, the Cruise Director and Events manager (my main boss people) are Canadians. The other Asst. Cruise Direectors (ACD) are Drew from Utah, Joe from Los Angeles, and Cassandra from Yelm, so it’s the four of us as camp counselors for the guests.
The cabin is tiny. Probably 7’x 14’ with a bathroom and shower attached and of course no windows. I am pretty sure we’re under the water line actually. .
Day Two: Hubbard Glacier
That’s one big ass hunk of ice! I saw my first iceberg. I helped run bingo, (they’re rabid… bingo people) and we had a country themed disco that night and I googied like it was going out of style. I am still sore! Mostly today was running around and getting lost and being nice to people. I think that will be most days actually….
I helped two couples renew their vows with the Captain which was fun and actually quite touching. One couple even had rings!
Day Three: Sitka
Today I was supposed to do in port manning, which means running the activities while the rest of the ACD’s get to go ashore. Problem was, my roommate Cassandra got sick in the morning. I ended up passing out tender tickets (tickets so the guests can take the little life boats called tenders to shore for excursions and shopping). Then I got a call from Andrea, my boss, telling me to report to the Infirmary. Because Cassandra was vomiting and sick, they were concerned it might be, YOU GUESSED IT!, NORWALK! So as, is the policy, I was quarantined for 24 hours.
I should have been writing this then, but I didn’t. I slept. A LOT! We boogie all night keeping the disco hopping, and then got up at 6 to do tenders, so I was ty ty. I was woken up at 8 by the Nurse who called to tell me I could go and I thought it was 8 pm and not 8 am the next day! So now I am free! Whoo hoo! (not that I minded my nap! I had everything I needed! Movies, free room service and time to nap! What could be better!)
Day Four: Ketchikan
This morning I married a couple with the onboard chaplain and staff which was fun. Now I am off to run around talking to people and get ready to do some games and then BINGO, Trivia, hanging with the veterans, then it’s formal night and I run around in a prom dress looking pretty and saying hi to people and then we have to get the night club hopping again.
I am having an awesome time and while I am physically tired from all this running around, I think it wont be long before I have to get a new smaller uniform, so boo yah for the exercise!