12/24/11

Alright, so this week has had its ups and down. I received some very bad news from home on December 20^th which is why I have not written in this blog for a while. My poor brain is so overwhelmed with information right now I don’t think I can see straight!

So I have been training like crazy! Our first port of call was Manzinillo. The guests did not like this port AT ALL. There we complaints about the dock area, the stores all around, and the port adventures. This is not a normal stop on the Mexican Riviera cruise so it is not a huge worry, but the area there is not very nice.

The next day was Puerto Vallarta which was a lot better for the guests. My friend Colin and I went to a mall near the port and did a little shopping there. We went to Colin’s favourite store, Liverpool, which is sort of a mix between The Bay and Target. It has a little of everything. Colin did not buy anything there, but Colin bought me a super cute sailor jacket! He is such a genuinely sweet person. He bought it because I have no secret Santa and the department tonight is having their secret Santa party.

Overnight we headed towards Cabo San Lucas. The water was so rough that night I actually woke up at one point because I almost fell off the top bunk! But Cabo is so beautiful there!! The weather was a nice mid 70’s, so it was a bit on the cooler side, but it was still gorgeous. I took Colin out for lunch at my parent’s favourite place, COSTCO!! Colin had a chicken bake and I had a slice of cheese pizza. We walked around Costco for a while and I bought a couple of shirts (I took the “pack lightly” a little too seriously and now I am lacking clothes. I thought we wouldn’t wear them much, but it seems you do need more than 3 shirts), a towel, and a pillow. I can’t imagine how many filthy heads have been on my pillow so I slept easier last night knowing I had a new pillow. Items were not as cheap in Mexico as they are in Canada. 2 pillows, which in Canada would have been 9-12 dollars were 179 pesos which is about $17 USD. Not as cheap. They also have a Nikon D5001 camera (which looks really nice dad) for 12,900 pesos which is about $1,200USD. Apparently electronics in St.Maarten are really cheap.

We had to tender over to the port and then take a taxi to Costco (about $15 each way), but neither Colin nor I were really keen on the tender for two different reasons. I don’t like the tender because I don’t like small boats. I hate being that close to the water in a tiny craft. Colin doesn’t like it because he is afraid of Sea Lions!! He absolutely hates them!

So we tendered back to the ship with our booty and went to work until 22:30. So that was yesterday and the ship had the crew Christmas party last night, but I didn’t feel like celebrating so I went to sleep. I am going to go to midnight mass in the Walt Disney Theatre tonight with Colin.

On the food front, I am still an involuntary vegetarian. The meat they have in the crew mess is always, ALWAYS covered in some sort of sauce. There are a lot of curried meats, and meats with strange smelling sauces on them so I just avoid them entirely. So what I eat is potatoes! They have potatoes at breakfast, lunch and dinner; it is fantastic. They also always have a side of vegetables, usually steamed cauliflower which is great, but today they had pea and corn. Mom, you would be so proud of me: today I ate rice!! I had rice absolutely covered in peas and corn and it actually tasted like something I used to eat in childhood. Did we used to eat peas and rice?

The food definitely leaves something to be desires, and I would kill for a hot meal. Everything I have eaten so far has been semi-warm to cold. I just want a nice hot bowl of soup, or food that is steaming when I put it on my plate, not gelatinous. But, the food is usually eatable so I can’t really complain that much. Last night I went to the crew shop and found GINGER ALE!!! Canada Dry ginger ale!! I was so happy I skipped a little. I haven’t had a ginger ale since leaving home, so it was so nice to have one again. I am drinking my first one as I type.

So some things I forgot to bring with me/will have my parents bring are:

1.handsoap – for the bathroom, they only sell bar soap at the store (forgot)

2.moroccan oil – the humidity here is killing my hair and I forgot this at home (parents bring)

3.towel and pillow case – gross (bought, and parents bring pillow case)

4.pantyhose – I didn’t know what my costume was so I bought plenty of black socks and a few panty hose, big mistake. My costume is only a skirt so I have yet to wear a pair of black socks and I have run out of panty hose (parents PLEASE bring me pantyhose)

5.hair towel – a small towel for your hair, the towels you get from laundry are a tad crunchy (parents bring)

But all in all, you can buy anything you need on the ship, or in one of the ports. It is not a huge deal if you forgot something.

So I am on break now waiting for my final (!!!!) safety training at 13:30 until 17:50, so a long safety training.

Tomorrow is Christmas so I work all day long, but it is good. Work is keeping my mind occupied which is good at this moment in time. I want to wish everyone who reads this a very Merry Christmas tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!

Toodles!