Merry Christmas from the Bahamas!

Okay so it's still a couple of days before Christmas but I don't know my chances of getting online for blogging so here is my festive post. 

Nothing much exciting has happened since I last posted... Well, nick went on vacation last Sunday which has sucked. It's very strange to see someone literally every single day and then for them to disappear almost in a puff of smoke! I keep expecting him to be on the phone when it rings or to come knock on my door. I've kept busy since he's been gone considering its Christmas which is lucky... The 2nd day after he left we had the worst counts session ever because everyone kept getting their numbers wrong and it just sucked... We left at 3pm!! We used to get out around 11-12 even with crew drill in the middle but 3pm is plain rediculous. Then I had less than 3 hours off before going back to work for pirates. Seen as nick has now left and he was the main pirate master, I have done it every pirate night since so after our short break it was time for pirate night... Then after work was done we had midnight gingerbread house making! That was a lot of fun, my house eventually collapsed because I put too much candy on it. The bummer was that cabin inspection was the next day so we were not allowed to take it back to our cabins, hence we stuffed our faces until we felt sick then enjoyed destroying them.

Wednesday was castaway as the itinerary has switched around at the moment and the sea day is on Mondays. I was actually on a Donald in the end because I couldn't have the planned one on Tuesday night as it was pirates. I slept in a bit and then left with Tyler because it was cabin inspection anyway. I went to castaway and got pretty fried in the sun for two hours before having BBQ lunch and then heading back to wash my hair and boring things like that. 

Thursday I saw florida nick as he came to visit. I signed him onto the ship and gave him a quick tour and then we got longhorns for lunch yum.

On friday I got news from my mum that she's booked the Disney fantasy for a week in January when she comes to visit me!! I get to be a guest for 7 days!! I already put in for palo dinner and brunch reservations. My vacation plans are finally coming together, I will spend 4 days in Orlando with Florida nick and his roommate Eric then my mum arrives and we have a day in Orlando before going on the cruise for 7 days then she flies home the day after we disembark. Then i will fly to California on the same day as she goes home to visit nick and then I fly home a couple of days after getting back from that. God knows what I will do at home! 

So I guess quite a few exciting things have happened this week really. 

The weekend was pretty standard. We had a late night meal for merchandise Christmas celebration which was ok... Not as good as the last one though. We have a tacky sweater party tonight in the crew bar then tomorrow is Christmas Eve!! They are putting on a midnight mass which I would like to attend if I get out in time then the crew bar is Christmas music... See how tired I am! Wednesday is Christmas Day but also a sea day so it will be a crazy one...

So I would like to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends and family, I can't wait to be home and see everyone again. Not long!

3 weeks to go!

I can't believe I'm finally on the last leg of my contract. Since thanksgiving everything has been reasonably as normal... The seas calmed down a lot so we haven't had any more bad weather like on my last post. I don't know if I mentioned it but Clare moved cabins (to next door actually) so I ended up with my own cabin for a week which was amazing. You never appreciate your own space until you work on a cruise line! Then on the 1st Ana moved in... She's from Portugal and an absolute sweetie. She's so nice and quiet and easy to live with so I'm really happy about that because we will share until I leave. However I was coming down with a sore throat when she moved in and then I had my night off on the 2nd and I literally just slept for the whole evening. It felt like a waste of an evening off but I didn't have any dining reservations, nobody else was off and I felt rubbish so probably a good thing in the long run. In the end, I tried to take vitamins and sore throat stuff for a week before giving in on the Saturday and visiting the doctor for the second time this contract. She said it was an upper respitory system infection, gave me antibiotics and Saturday night off. Again I spent it sleeping and it took a few days but eventually I felt better in the middle of the week.. I think it was just the result of pure exhaustion to be honest. 

The following weekend I talked to my manager and decided to give up stockroom. I had wanted to give it up before Christmas anyway because I'm leaving in January but we found someone that was keen to do it and so it was all swapped before I could catch up with myself. It did mean that I ended up as fairy godmother in training which I saw coming! I had the training 4 months ago but they only just found me a costume so now I'm spending most of my time as a FIGIT. I do makeovers to little girls where they get basic make up, glitter, face gems and pixie dust - it's a smaller version of Bobbity Bobbity boutique as they have at WDW and the fantasy. It's fun but you have to stay in character constantly and really give a lot during your shift... Still I'm preferring it to being in the stockroom. Don't get me wrong, I learnt a lot during my time as stockroom but towards the end I found it very stressful and I didn't really have much support from the rest of the team so it was difficult. The girl that has taken over has done an awesome job so far and whilst making me feel like I was rubbish in there, it's good that the stockroom is getting sorted in time for Christmas, new year and the inventory which happens in February. 

Moving on from that anyway....

We had another late night Nassau. It's unheard of with captain Henry but we passed our inspections and coastguard with flying colours so it was the crew reward. I didn't manage to get palo reservations like I had hoped but Tyler, nick and I went to Hard Rock Cafe and had dinner and a cocktail before going to Señor frogs for another drink which ended up as 3 drinks and a bit of a mad evening. It was hilarious and well needed. Nick and I went back to the ship at 10pm (I know, so late! Hahaha!) and promptly fell asleep. The next day was my first shift back on the island and I started at 8am so that's was fun!

I had to change my shifts off around a bit so I actually only have two mornings and two afternoons left on the island which is exciting because I'm not a huge fan of working there. I love the island don't get me wrong, but working there is different. Including today I have three sea days left (scheduled ones anyway!) and I have welcome line on my very last cruise which is awesome because it means I get that Thursday evening off plus the Saturday off too because I'm leaving on my ESTA so I can't work the day before. So even though now I don't have any evenings off until the 2nd January I'm sure there's lots of fun things coming up with Christmas and new year around the corner....