Holiday Seasons, etc.

Well, I’d like to begin by apologizing for being so horrible about blogging over the holidays. I hope you all had an amazing Holiday season and that 2009 has been successful thus far. For the past two weeks, it’s been hard to find time even to type out a little update. Soooo, here goes:

Christmas onboard was interesting at best. It was my first Christmas away from home and definitely made me realize that I never want to spend the holidays away from my family and friends ever again. Christmas has always been my absolute favorite time of the year and although we were in Antarctica for the 23rd, 24th, and 25th… it just didn’t feel like the Christmas spirit was in the air. The décor of the ship was appropriate with trees and lights, but working for 12 hours was hardly what I wanted to be doing.

Christmas Eve was a normal day at Sea… lots of work and socializing out on the outdoor decks when we weren’t working an actual shift. In Antarctica there are a lot of environmental rules and regulations to try to keep the area as pristine as possible. That being said, we couldn’t have any outdoor sporting events. I loved that aspect because we had very few events and the indoor ones that we did have were run by the DJ for the most part. Christmas Eve we had an International Choir performance at 11:15 pm. The performance included carols sung by the English-speaking choir, Indonesian choir, and Filipino choir. The passengers absolutely loved it! After we all got off of the stage, we went to the Pinnacle Grill (the fine-dining restaurant onboard) and had cookies and drinks with all of the staff members that participated in the choir. Midnight mass was held in the show lounge. I dragged Danny along for his first Catholic mass since he was about 12. I think this was the strangest part of my Christmas because our family traditions with mass were always different than most. We used to have a mass at my Grandma’s house and my Great Uncle John would always preside over the mass because he is a priest. So, being in a mass on Christmas that was not as personalized was a bit strange. I still liked the midnight mass though!

On Christmas Day (as I said before) I worked A LOT. I instantly decided that when you pick up a job at a movie theater or Chinese food restaurant, you know you’ll be working… but everyone else should have hours adjusted accordingly. Do people REALLY need to check books out on Christmas while in Antarctica? Probably not. It just was a bit frustrating because it was our Christmas too, not just a holiday for the passengers. But, we got through it. I did get to watch the Christmas Cabaret show that the cast choreographed and performed in the afternoon. It was cute… full of Christmas carols and fun dances. All of the staff members were invited to a nice dinner on the lido deck, where Danny and I both got surf and turf (filet mignon and lobster tail) and had a few glasses of wine. He even drank wine, so it must’ve been a special occasion! Then, it was back off to the library until closing.

New Year’s was fun, though it involved a whole lot of preparation! On the 30th, the whole entertainment team (including event staff, cruise director, event manager, about 5 musicians, and all 10 cast members) went into the show lounge at 11:30 pm and began blowing up TONS of balloons for the balloon drop that we would have the next night. We also hung silver and gold streamers on every single pole in the whole lounge. We put center pieces on all tables and hung balloon strings down the tall walls on the sides of the stage. There are railings that were pulled out and assembled on the front of the stage so that we could convert the stage into an additional dance floor (the center flooring is also a dance floor.) Needless to say, the hard work that night and the following day paid off because the lounge looked amazing! The pictures I have don’t even do it justice.

When we arrived in Rio de Janeiro, we had 2 overnights. This was the first time that I’ve been in one place for 3 days since I was home! On the first night, a bunch of us went out and were going to go to a club, but the cover charge was really expensive so we decided to go to this street that is lined with bars and restaurants and is apparently pretty safe in comparison to most places in Rio. The bars had ridiculous lines and it would’ve taken us all night to get in, so we decided to just walk up and down the street to get a feel for the city. It reminded me of a big festival because there were people everywhere at 2 am! There were carts everywhere on the street selling sodas, beer, and Smirnoff Ice. Apparently Brazil doesn’t have open container laws like we do in the US. Haha. We ended up stopping at a restaurant that was AMAZING! Danny and I split a dish that had a pizza-looking pan and the pan was filled with slices of filet mignon and topped with sautéed onions, melted cheese, and potato wedges. We obviously were not thinking about health, but it was soooooo good! After that, we took a cab back to the ship and our 4:30 am bedtime did not end up being very fun for me since I had to work disembarkation the following morning at 7 am.

Needless to say, I spent my time off the next day sleeping so I could catch up and get back on track. Now we’re on another cruise from Rio back around through Antarctica and ending in Valparaiso, Chile. This cruise we have quite a few VIPs onboard. The parents of the CEO of Holland America are sailing with us along with two other couples. Also, we’re doing a lot of preparation because one of the head honchos from Corporate is coming to sail with us during our next voyage. He often goes on ships for a week (or even a day) and goes through everything with a fine-tooth comb and critiques everything that is done onboard. We have to make sure everything is top-notch for the next cruise so he won’t tear us apart!

We’ve still had time to get off the ship and have fun. On Friday we were in Montevideo, Uruguay… I’m pretty sure it may be one of my favorite ports here. I got off the ship with the other event staff guy and his fiancé from the cast, the DJ, and Danny. We spent the afternoon walking around and taking fun pictures. Then, we went to a fun restaurant and ate lunch and drank some local beer. The beer comes in 1 liter bottles and is less than $3. On our way to the restaurant, we walked by some street vendors. I ended up buying a painting off of the street for $20. It’s a painting of the streets in Uruguay and was done by a local. It’s really pretty and the price was definitely right. Something tells me that I shouldn’t start my collection now when I’m going to have to get it all home somehow. Oh well, I’ll find a way.

Our new Event Manager (the cruise director I worked with on the Veendam) is officially into the swing of things. He was an Event Manager in the past, so now he’s just trying to readjust his mode. We’re trying to get ready for Antarctica again, as the weather is quickly getting colder. I’ll try to resize my pictures and put up some pictures of the penguins and whales that we saw over Christmas!

I miss you all so much and can’t wait to hear from you! I’ll definitely be better about blogging now that our busiest time has passed… Love you all!

Xoxoxo.