Happy Holidays Everyone!
So sorry about the delay; Things have been crazy to say the
least. Please allow me to explain why I haven’t posted in so long…
I’ve been fricken busy. Get off my back.
Or, in a more detailed and friendly explanation, the ship disembarked on the 23rd of December from Sydney to take part in a 12-day cruise that ends in Auckland, New Zealand. In Cric Quay (the name of our port) we picked up a staggering 3,182 guests. That’s max-capacity. And the crew? Well, we lost quite a few crew members who completed their contracts and decided to go home- I don’t blame them. The hardest hit department, arguably, and in a completely biased opinion, was the galley. Our par-level on any cruise is supposed to be 162 employees to feed the all guests and crew on board the Solstice. We had 130. We were operating at about 80%. This meant everyone was working longer hours and switching from station to station at a moments notice, especially me.
I’ve been working in the butcher’s station for the past two
cruises (24 days to be exact) but have also doubled as a round cook (prep)
roast- assistant ( cooking all the meats) hot-line cook (plating all the foods)
and vegetable prep team. Sometimes I did all those jobs in one day. It may not
seem like its that big of a deal, but having to switch your mindset from one
focus to another in a matter of minutes isn’t always the easiest thing in the
world to do! So, yes, I’ve been busy. But I also go to experience Christmas and
New Years abroad!
Christmas was actually spent at sea, in transit from Sydney
to Melbourne, but I got to see first-hand what an Australian Christmas Eve
looked like. I have to say, I’m a pretty big fan of what I go to see. The
normal Christmas decorations adorned the public areas, “Merry Christmas” was
spelled out in bright green and red colors, a giant Christmas tree with fake
presents in the center of the city- the perfect spot for a family photo op.
Christmas music gently wafted in the background of the shopping areas, people
were happy and in the holiday spirit- and in SHORTS with sun screen on! Come
on, what could be better? Yes- the whole white Christmas thing is nice in
theory until it becomes gross with dirt and deer poop and you’re forced to go
outside and shovel for hours. I’ll stick with the 90 degrees and cloudless
summer skies, thank you very much.
New Year’s Eve on board was also pretty spectacular. I got
dressed up, thanks to my friend Justin on board who happens to have an
impeccable sense of style and also wears the same size clothes as me, drank
some champagne and “watched the ball drop”, which is to say I counted down the
ball dropping and on the first moment of 2013 chugged a glass of champagne and
gave a lot of kisses to a lot of people. We danced and laughed and took plenty
of photos that will one day surface but I think I’m fine with them being
delayed a bit.
All in all, life has been good. Full of ups and downs and twists
and turns. I’ve never been so exhausted in my entire life, but I also have
never been able to experience so much in so little time before, either. So I’ll
take my beatings with a smile and continue on.
On a side-note, it is exactly 60 days until I come home to
my favorite country in the world. And I can say that now, having been to 12
countries in only 4 months! Crazy to think that once upon a time I was convinced I’d be stuck in the United
States my entire life.
