Nap Time Anyone?

Every time someone gets a break on the ship the first thought that goes through most of the peoples minds is 'Do I have enough time to get in a decent nap?' Most of the time the answer is: 'Well let's try'.

At my end of the ship, there is no such thing as napping, sleeping in, quiet, just doesn't happen. With the laundry room not far from us, having one of the main staircases to get to the crew bar, the constant welding that is happening, and when its time for a port, the immense shaking and rumbling on the boat, you just don't sleep. Fact. You try and you try. When you're close, you get a phone call: 'Can you go do this?' or you get a knock on the door: 'wanna go eat?'

However, last night I found out when you do sleep, you seem to dream about karaoke because that's what you do here pretty much 25/7.

I'd like to take a moment to try and take back all the times I didn't want nap time in kindergarten even though I had that super cool towel/pillow thing that my Mum made me.

I'd also like to try and figure out how I'm going to survive the next 8 days on $6. Guess that means no crew bar for Jodi. Womp womp. With $6 that also means my internet is limited with only about 70 mins left to last me till the 8th... which realistically probably won't work, SO that means probably limited blogs until I get to tampa on Monday when I get to some free wi-fi.

Here's to another day of Bingo and Karaoke.

Wastin Away Again in Margaritaville

Yesterday, plain and simple, was just a lot of fun!

Myself, Jenn and Pearl had the entire day off in Cozumel- we didn't start 'work' until 9pm. And by work, I mean watch karaoke. We got off the ship at about 10:30am and didn't get back on board until about 4:30pm.


In between all that time, we got rained on, tanned, got our free wifi on, rained on some more, free margaritas, free beer and some delicious food. We found out that if we go to Margaritaville, not only do we get 20% off our meals, we also get unlimited beer with said meals. We also wound up with some free margaritas. Now, this would be so much better if I drank either margaritas or beer, but I'm feeling like with the word 'FREE' involved, I may start having to like these drinks :) If my tastebuds don't want to agree with it, I'll stick with my $1.50 amaretto sours in the crew bar.

Last night, we also got to practice our trivia hosting skills to each other. I hosted a 'Geography' trivia for the 6 of us. I pretty much only chose it because 3 of the answers had to do with Canada. I'm a little bit of a proud Canadian eh? Next week we get to put those skills to the test and finally get to host our own trivias! Ahhhh!

Two days ago, we had to skip out on Grand Cayman because of the rocky waters. In the cayman islands we use tender boats to get from the ship to the island because there's no actual port there and that day the port authority decided it'd be too rough for the tenders to come pick up passengers. Boy,  were they right. Rocky waters was an understatement. That was the first night where I felt REALLY sick from the motion of the ocean. I ended up going straight to bed, skipping out on crew bar and the open mic that they had up there.

Anyway, here are some photos from yesterdays adventure if you haven't already creeped them on Facebook :)

Hurricane Schmurricane

Hurricane Isaac's got nothing on us ;) For those of you worried even just a little bit, we're going the complete opposite direction of the storm at the moment. The storm is moving north east and we're moving south west or something to that extent. We were also almost 300 miles away from it earlier today so I'm sure at this point we're even farther!

I'm also getting close to being a bingo expert on board. Pull tabs, bingo cards, win a cruise - golden. I've done it 3 times now. Last night sold pull tabs and WAC, today sold bingo, and also did the accounting for it.

I also got to help host a digital scavenger hunt, charades AND motown trivia. Guests got SO into the motown trivia and it was a LOT of fun! Next up, the comedy club! We've got 2 comedians on board at the moment so we'll get to see both of them perform, as well as see both the family and dirty versions.

It's also formal night tonight again, so guess who gets to all prettied up? :D

I also cannot believe that it hasn't even been a full week since I've been on the ship. It's been a full week since I've left but did this week ever go by slow! Anybody else have a slow week or was it just us on board? Holy crap! And people said this experience would fly by.. pft!

OH, good news though! I passed the PCS safety test, thanks to a very good looking italian officer named Guido believe it or not. (I didn't think those were names, I really just thought they were juiced up italian gorillas a la Jersey Shore). Which meansssss *drumroll* CREW BAR!!! Finally!!!! We all sound like such alcoholics but honestly, being the only ones not allowed to drink on board you start feeling like a 21 year old minor.

So cheers to no hurricane, cheers to getting pretty and cheers to PCS! Let's cheers the italians too just cause we can :P

Eh?

C Eh N Eh D Eh

I've come to notice how much I actually say 'eh' around here. My inner Canadian stereotype has been in full force. Saying 'eh' constantly. Missing my poutine and Timmies. There are quite a few Canadians on board around the ship. Guest services, entertainment (obviously), camp carnival, we're everywhere. Not sure they're saying 'eh' quite as much as myself!

I'm feeling like I may come home with some sort of weird cross-over accent. A mixture of South African and English (which are really quite similar) along with a little bit of a southern accent. So, if you Skype with me anytime soon, don't worry, I'm still Canadian, for now ;)

I'm glad to hear that it's still quite hot at home though, even though it may be humid as hell. Trust me, it's super humid here as well. I'm sitting at a free wi-fi spot at the port in Tampa at the moment. Guests won't be boarding the vessel for another 15 mins maybe and I don't have to be back on board until 2 for a ship tour. We got off as soon as debarkation was over. Mat warned us that there may be a few people who get a bit pissy by the end of the trip, getting confused as to how to get off and just generally in a bad mood. Who wouldn't be? Its the end of your vacation. Only came across 1 :) Win for me!

Today should be exciting with a whole new fleet of passengers, new people to mingle with. Perhaps some more gingers on board. No aussie gingers as of yet, but it's only my second week :P

Just to include a picture for fun, heres 4 of us when we were in Cozumel on Thursday :)

VIFP

'Very Important Fun Person/People'

That's not me - however, I do get to help guests celebrate being a VIFP. If you are a gold, platinum, or diamond member of Carnival Cruise Lines there are all kinds of perks that go along with it! Yesterday, we had the VIFP party, where there was a great turnout of guests who had been sailing with Carnival for years. This was a 50th cruise with Carnival for one lady! Obviously Carnival is doing something right to get her to come back all these times!

Yesterday we arrived in Grand Cayman. Guess where I was? Stuck in training all day :( Ahh well, you win some you lose some. I'll see it again at least twice more while I'm here so hopefully I'll be able to get off the ship then. On a happier note, I get to get off in Cozumel today! That means more pictures for you! :D Cozumel comes with a price though - I have to work all morning. And by work I mean, greet guests while they get off the ship, learn about all the backstage stuff, learn how to work bingo, learn show watch duties, and you know my favourite part, learn all the line dances!!! Cha cha slide here I come! (if you know me, you'll know I LOVE the cha cha slide!!)

Then tonight I get to enjoy some more shows! That's all we've been doing at night really is attending the shows. Last night was the Fun Force boys BBoy Wish and BBoy Curious who are incredible at what they do and super nice guys! After the shows tonight (Gender Showdown and Showcase of the Stars) we get to go to the deck party where, yup you guessed it, we get to do line-dancing! The best!

Oo, FINALLY got shorts and I've borrowed a pair of trainers from one of the other girls here so I finally look like all the rest of the girls! I'm not the black sheep anymore. Although I got a nasty blister from my new flats which is not fun at all and I look kind of gimpy walking around right now. Ahh well.

I've posted some pictures of my living quarters on Facebook. If you haven't seen them here they are. 4 pictures, that's all you need. Living quarters - 4 - get it? Yeah? Sweet. Lame? Yeah.  ;)

AND OUR DAY IN COZUMEL :) ... well 4 hours anyway

Where To Start ...

I honestly don't even know where to start! I'm on day 3 of this adventure and so far so good - there have been a few bumps though!

So yesterday the girls and I got all of our stuff together at the hotel and were ready to go for the shuttle to take us to the port which was literally a 5 minute drive from our hotel. We got on, all is good, filled out paperwork through the ying-yang and finally met our E-Staff trainer, Mat. A Canadian, from Ottawa to be exact! Yay home! He is really great and soo helpful!

Now up there I said the girls - you don't know who the girls are. Alana from Canada, Jen from Canada (who I actually had my interview with in Toronto!) Pearl from London, England, Lize Marie from South Africa (who is also my room mate) and Marina who is from North Hollywood, California. All of them are so much fun we get along like we've known each other forever already!

Yesterday, I learned that apparently the stairs are the fastest way to get everywhere. Let me just tell you that my ass better look GREAT by the end of these 6 months! :P All the stairs that we've been climbing all lead up to the crew bar, which unfortunately we're not allowed in for the first week - womp womp.  A lot of the other employees (male) are actually counting down the days till we're allowed in there - creepy much? '6 more days girls, 6 more days'. Its a strange little reminder.

Oh and sea-sickness. Hasn't happened yet really. Well no vomiting at least. Dizzy, a little bit, but I think I'll ease into my sea-legs soon!

As far as activities go we haven't done much yet - a lot of observation which is totally fine because we get to enjoy it just as much as the guests do! Last night, we got to watch Mat and Misty (other ACD) host a jeopardy type trivia show which was a lot of fun (and I pretty much got every question right :P) Then that was closely followed by Bingo - which people take VERY seriously on these ships! And then straight after that was the Welcome Aboard Show - singing, dancing, b-boys, comedians - just a lot of fun!

Today, we finally got to take a tour of the ship. Yesterday we felt a bit confined to the crew area - I don't think we really even went anywhere that guests were allowed. Today we got to explore a little bit more on the Lido Deck, Promenade, Empress - checked out where all the shops and theatres were and stuff. Its very large. I was just glad that I had been on the Celebration before. It was a different class of ship - this class is Fantasy - but they're somewhat similar so I can kind of find my way around right now. I actually just got back to my cabin from the Mixologist where guests get to concoct their own drink and then they sell it at a bar on Lido deck after which is pretty cool! Followed by the hairy chest competition - 100% entertaining! All the guests seem to enjoy themselves and people pretty much swarm the stage to check it out!

I mentioned bumps above. Well those bumps include: getting told that I didn't have my medical in the package that I gave them. And basically if you don't have your medical, you're not technically allowed be on the ship. Sweet right? Are the going to throw me overboard? No - thank God. Here comes Mum saving the day as always, gets my medical sent and I'm good to go (as soon as I forward it to the medical officers). Bump #2 - well the shorts we were given, well they don't fit. Welcome back low self-esteem -_- Hopefully they will be ordering me another pair asap. As well as the shoes that I was told I could purchase on board - nope not there either, which happens to be bump #3. So I get to be the black sheep of the group, wearing black pants (which is ridiculously hot on lido deck let me tell you) and black flats (which are new and are giving me ridiculous blisters).

Tonight is the Captain's dinner so we get to get all fancied up which is always fun for me so I think I'll quite enjoy that! Now, I think it's time for a nap before we have to get ready for formal night.

Haven't really taken many pictures yet - hasn't been much time. Tomorrow I might have a little bit of downtime after safety training and stuff while we're docked in Cozumel, so hopefully I'll get a picture or 2 in then!

Sorry this was ridiculously long but I hope you enjoyed anyway and kept up with it all. I'm sure it turned into rambling at some point but I can't be bothered to scroll up and read it over. ;)

Hope everyone is safe back home :)

Here's me and the girls with our luggage - Lize Marie (who used to be a photographer on the ships and switched to Entertainment) took the photo.

L-R: Alana, Marina, Pearl, Jen and Me

Being Touristy in Tampa

So It Begins ...

Well, here I am sitting at the Ottawa airport waiting to board my flight to Charlotte. Thank God for friendly (and cute) airport attendants so early in the morning - makes for a much easier travelling day :)

Yesterday was probably the most overwhelming day as far as good-byes go. So many people to say quick hi's and bye's to. Visits from about 3 mins to 3 hours - it was all very much appreciated and I'll miss you all.

I noticed yesterday why it was getting so much harder. Good-byes are never easy, but when you have to say bye to a bunch of people and they only have to say bye to you, its a little tougher.

Thank you for all the well wishes from everyone, including all the people I've only known for a short while - the wishes didn't go unnoticed.

Well I've got my Timmies in tow and I'm about ready to just chill and wait to board. See you in Tampa!

NOTE: For anyone who texts, BBMs, WhatsApp, social networks me (theres 1 or 2 of you i think ;) I will be checking my phone once a week while I'm in port, so feel free to send me an encouraging message - I may need it!

Down to the Wire

Well, 3 days people. Two if you don't count today considering today is almost over. Friday and Saturday. That's it.

On Sunday, I broke down for about an hour by myself. Things had just built up - I had realized it was 7 days till my departure, AND the Olympics were over. Yes, I get very worked up over the olympics ;) What made me stop crying you ask? Oh just Prince Harry. What a good guy ;)

Well yesterday was a whole other story. Three separate times during the day I had mini breakdowns. The first of when I was playing a board game - A BOARD GAME - and I remembered that I would be missing out on our traditional game on Christmas Eve.

The next, finding out my good friend Jordan McIntosh (@jordanmcintosh) has his first single being released next week on our local country station ('Walk Away' - request it!) I got so excited and couldn't wait to request the song, and then again realized, I wouldn't have the phone at my fingertips to call that station to request. I cried, which pooled over to my Mum and my sister had to leave the room.

And once again on my way out to have a good time, my wonderful sister decided to point out that I wouldn't be able to see my (not so) little cousin Sean one more time before I left because he comes home from his aunts a week after I leave. This kid is like my little brother so it definitely sucks not seeing him one more time before I take off.

So, I get that this sounds like a real 'pity me' post. It's not I swear. I'm so appreciative of the opportunity I've been given and I know I'm going to love every minute of it. I also know I'm not in this alone because there are many other people on the ship who do the same thing - sometimes now on their 3rd or 4th or 15th leg of being part of ship life. It's more of a post to remind people to appreciate the little things. Like, I got emotional over a board game! Who does that?! This girl that's who. Might have to teach some of my colleagues how to play some Rummoli so I can get my fix while I'm away.

Tomorrow - some good old fashioned Mum&Daughter&Daughter time. Pedicures all around. Should brighten my weekend a bit :)

New Friends!

You know what the best part of social media is? You can connect with people before you really connect with them! When I finally got my travel information, he was kind enough to send a long the names of the ladies that I was going to be in the cruise college with. So what was the first thing I did? Off to Facebook I go and get to creepin' ;)

Fortunately, one of the ladies, Pearl, had found me first and sent me a message and I was able to find another one, Alana. Numbers and friend requests were exchanged and hopefully we'll be meeting for dinner on the 19th while we're at the hotel. Three still remain a mystery, but I suppose in 9 days I'll have met them all!

OH and I thought I'd share this picture of my newest charm for my charm bracelet. My former boss at Hallmark got it for me and I added it to my bracelet this morning! Cute right? Thanks Alina!

Packing...

Told you I was going to try and get my pack-on tonight! (and so much for not posting again until I leave :P) All of my stuff I have to try and fit into these not very large bags. Good thing is, you won't miss these 2 prints when they get onto the conveyor belt! Shoes and bras are definitely going to be an issue for packing for me :S As of right now, the majority of what's packed are dresses and toiletries! Once I get my purse that I'm using as a carry-on tomorrow, I'm going to pack what I need to in there, which includes this file folder of information for my trip. This is what I still have to pack with not a lot of room:

TO PACK

tanks (black x4, grey, VS)

MG shirts

leggings

other dresses

plaid shirts

sweater

bobby pins & elastics 

straightener

hairspray

bathing suits (1 in carry on)

battery for alarm clock

folder of paper work

cords for electronics

underwear

socks

make-up

BRAS

wallet

pantyhose

pens

deck of cards

jewelry

nail polish

sunglasses

Welcome!

Well, here it is. The first entry.

If you don't know me, here's the situation.

I'm the proud new member of the Entertainment Staff on Carnival Cruise Lines! How exciting is that? I had my interview in March, was hired the following week, received my start date about a month ago, and today I finally got all of my travel information. So guess what? It's real! It's happening! In less than 11 days, I start on this crazy adventure.

Let's get one thing straight before you decide to follow me or not. I'm not a writer. By any means. If you're a stickler for grammar, or writing formats or anything of the sort, you're probably going to hate me. BUT, I will tell you that I'm one of the few who understand the difference between there, their and they're as well as your and you're ;) So don't worry, those are under control!

To be honest with you, I'm not sure how often this blog will be updated. I'm hoping at LEAST once a week. I would love to tell you the going on's of the different fleet of passengers each week.

For my first 3 weeks on the ship, I'll be doing what is known as the 'Cruise College' on their ship called the 'Paradise'. My home port is in Tampa, Florida and from there I travel to Cozumel, Mexico and the Grand Cayman Islands. Me, the girl who complains about the heat half the time, will be spending the majority of my next 6 months in the Caribbean. Sweet, right?

A downfall: no holidays with the family. No Thanksgiving. No Halloween. No Christmas. No New Years. No Birthday (yes my birthday is a holiday ;) We go all out for everything. So we got that all out of the way this past weekend. Every holiday for the next 6 months was celebrated, don't worry.

Hopefully I'm going to get my 'pack-on' tonight and get a lot of that out of the way.

Don't know if I'll blog again until I leave considering nothing new should really happen between now and then except for hopefully getting a bag or two packed.

If you want to see my 'witty' tweets from now until then follow @slinky8 on there. If you don't want to hear all the London 2012 updates, I suggest you wait until Sunday to follow me after the closing ceremonies ;)

Later days.

Jodi