Life Onboard Ship!

Seems like thats all I heard today, upon finding out that Garth quit & is under survelience by security until he can be escorted to the nearest airport and flown back to his home country tomorrow morning.  Yep...seems like everyone I'm friends with is either quitting, resigning before they can get fired, or getting fired.  Left, right and centre I'm losing those I've built up friendships with the last two months & its frustrating even though new friendships come from the new sign ons. 

 

It started with Tiff giving me a weeks notice that she was quitting back at the end of April - my closest friend on the ship and suddenly there she was showing me an e-confirmation for the upcoming Friday.  A day later, a friend from the spa would be fired for being late for work one too many times.  The morning Tiffany was being signed off, Mario (Art Gallery) comes up to me with his bags packed and says he got 12 hours notice last night that he was being transfered to a different ship in a different fleet.  And I had five minutes to say goodbye to a friend that had been nice to me and ate with me & Tiff from day 1.  He would fly out the same morning across the country to join Carnival as per his contractors request.  Sometimes people dont have a choice, which I'm seeing a lot.  It sucks making friends and then not getting to say goodbye which is what happened with Jeremy.  He had one too many beers one night and the next morning in LA, and the next morning management was kicking his ass back to Texas.  Didnt even get to say goodbye to him, let alone grab an email address.  Jeremy was cool -we signed on the same day and he was the guy who constantly had to hear me whine about how much I miss Vinny.   He was making really good money here & you have to wonder if it was worth that one night of getting wasted.  Then last Monday it was Jenny getting transferred to the Adventure, (loved that girl!!) and last Friday it was Nikolitsa going to Greece.  Now today I find out that Garth is going home tomorrow and under surveilance tonight so I wont get a chance to say goodbye until tomorrow when he gets escorted off the ship.  And that sucks because he'sin my division and was the one that on the first night here threw me to the wolves in Karaoke & taught me everything I need to know on the rock wall.  So its hard to watch people go when they sign off but i think the key is just not to get too attached to any friends onboard...'here for a good time, not a long time' i suppose.  Its okay when you know people are leaving and they'll be back after vacation in 6 weeks or 2 months, but to have little or no warning sucks.  Sometimes people deserve it...like that girl that got hammered and let a watertight door cut off her finger. 

 

Also serves to remind me that just cause I'm here today, doesnt mean that I wont be waking up the next morning in LAX with a one way ticket home. 

 

Sometimes I think that wouldn't be bad either, considering how much I miss Vinny.  But I'm almost  halfway done my contract so I think I'll stick it out even though it means being apart from my guy for a couple more months.  But I'm crazy about him and he's going to wait for me which i'm incredibly thankful for.  Love you, babe :)

 

Now back up to the nightclub - I have a bartender's flair show followed by socializing with guests while they party and get hammered.   Its a 3 day so they'll be there until 4 am, but i'll be going to bed much earlier - i have serious shopping to do tomorrow in LA. 

 

Hope you're all doing well :)

*Hugs & Kisses*
Nicole

 

The thing about this job is, I never ever know what the hell is coming up next.  Never.  I get my schedule for every cruise - what I'm doing in San Diego, LA, the island, in Mexico...but I never know what the crowd is going to be like, or even better...whats going to happen when I'm not at work!

 

This last weekend cruise was so much fun!!  Well, one part of it super sucks...my closest friend since I arrived - Tiffany from Vancouver - bought a plane ticket home on Friday.  We love to hang out and complain about work and what we hate and had discussed calling it quits earlier in our contract when I was still adjusting to life without Vince, and she was adjusting to life without Starbucks.  I thought she was starting to enjoy it...but I got quite the surprise when she showed me the receipt.  So obviously, I'm a little upset - we have so much in common and she is (or was) my closest friend on the ship.  So we decided we're going to make the most of her last week.  On Saturday we went to see the dolphins swim and the bartenders face off in their flair Show (im sick of it but she'd never seen it before) - a guy actually ended up proposing to his girlfriend during it which was sweet!  After we got completely dolled up for formal night & went out for supper - stopping afterwards to get professional photos done and going to the Headline Showtime.  By absolute fluke, I discovered that Nick (from Minnesota) had the same terrible Hiring Agent me & Tiff & many other canadians did. So we invited him out for drinks to hear his terror stories of being hired at the Latin lounge while watching Dueling Rocking Pianos.  After, we headed up to the nightclub for more drinking and dancing.  Before I knew it, It was 2 am...and I had to work at 7:30 the next AM.  Luckily that day was incredibly slack for me :) - that was yesterday, right?  Yeah, it was.  Anyways - it was great, flew by.  Later that evening, went up to work at the nightclub and after ran into Alex just before I was heading to get some sleep and organizing our trip to Anaheim for the next day.  Alex is a photographer from England who needed to kill time before his laundry was done & we decided that I was going to do an audition for a Tiffany Replacement in my life for the void that I will have once she leaves.  So I went for drinks with him to the crew bar and some other crew.  By the time I went to bed it was like 3 am, and I was up at 6:45 am because GUESS WHAT?!?!?!  We went to DISNEYLAND TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was on me & tiffany's to do list since we got here...and we  only have a week to haul ass on getting it done.  So me, her, Kendra (remember Kendra?  Smuggled me cookies when I was in Confinement?  From Edmonton, AB - YES CANADIANS!!) , Jeff & DJ went to Disneyland!! IT WAS SO FUN!!!  HOLY SHIT - I AM TOTALLY TAKING MY KIDS THERE WHEN I HAVE SOME!!  I will have to post some photos.  Considering we had to be back on the ship by 3:30 - we didnt have a tonne of time, but we did a lot of rides and shopping and just tourist stuff.  I really enjoyed myself :) :) :) :)   I can't wait to go back!!  Space Mountain was down so that was the only thing I didnt get to do that I really wanted to.  That and meet the Chipmunks.  I saw Aladdin & Ariel & hell, I even saw Donald Duck.  But you think those stupid squirrels made an appearance? HELL NO.  So I will return :) 

 

Hope you are all doing well.  Now I return back to the nightclub.  It's a 4 day I'm on right now but the way these guys are partying you'd think it was a rowdy 3 day weekend one.  Hoping to get to bed before 2 am but not holding my breath, haha.  Oh well, I dont work until late tomorrow so it doesnt matter.  Might go shopping in SD - if you have a wishlist from victoria secret, send it my way  (Erin, Im looking at you). 

 

Take care :)

Much Love,
Nicole

"Nicole, my friend - we need to go for a beer with the DJ after work today.  Just one beer and then we go back to the cabina & be sleeping before midnight...." 

 

Famous last words.  We went straight up to the DJ booth at the guest night club in our professional suit outfits which Camila calls our "flight attendant uniform"...and we had a great takeoff & flight...mild turbulence around the 4th drink (DJ would not play our ridiculous requests for music), and a smooth landing.  Which ended with Camila passing out in our cabina at 4 am in her flight attendant uniform muttering, "Eh friend...tomorrow we depart again.  Same time."  I love that girl!!  

 

Also last week was INDIAN NIGHT.   The dancing was weird, the decorations were even weirder, but the crew was having a great and drunken time.  Apparently every nation thats represented on the crew - over 60 countries - gets to host their own night in the Back Deck whenever they want.  I've hit Indian Night as well as South African Night.  Coming up this week is the Crew Talent Show.  6 months onboard straight...they have got to find something to keep us entertained, I suppose!!  Last week just flew by and this week is looking to be the exact same.  

 

110 Days to Go.

 

 

 

 

Greetings from sunny Baja California & Mexico!  Life onboard is sweet, and I am loving it very much!  Sometimes the days are long (like 10 hours) and other times I can't believe I'm working (3 hour days).  I love getting out in port - LA & San Diego are my favourite!  Mexico is kind of a hole if you're not drinking.  Like there's a place called Papas & Beer or something...and its straight Girls Gone Wild material.  I've seen people get carried back on to the ship after visiting there.  But for me, its pretty grubby...little kids trying to sell you chiclets & McDonalds Chicken Nuggets that you're pretty sure is anything but. 

 

 

 

My cabina:  Mini fridge, tv, dvd player, cd player, huge mirrors, and a window.  Its pretty sweet!  My roommate is Camila (from Brazil).   We have a bunkbed & private bathroom, and live on the I-95 (main corridor).  Camila likes to have people over in our cabina for drinks which she calls "life jacket parties".  Usually "Greece" is first on the scene with open bottle in hand.  She's our CPA and gets to do all the Royal Romance Weddings & Vow Renewals. 

 

The food:  It ranges from really good to super shitty and unidentifiable.  The good thing is, even if you hate everything thats available, you just slip the cook a tip and she makes you a chicken caeser salad.  Presto!  Instant edible food.  The main place to eat is the mess - they have a fast food counter, a home cooking counter, an asian counter, a salad counter, a dessert counter...trust me, they give us tonnes of options.  But if I dont like them - for breakfast, we have a Latte-tudes on Deck 5 for coffee & breakfast *not Tim Hortons good, more like Starbucks*

For lunch & supper - theres also a make your own pizza pizzaria, an awesome restaurant, a sushi restaurant, the officers mess, and if you're in port you just go out for lunch.  Did I mention my staple food here?  Ben & Jerry's.  Deck 5 - oh yeah!!

 

The facilities:  It's basically a little town down on Deck 1 & 2 for crew.  There's 900 of us - we have an internet cafe, a dvd rental store, a convenience store, laundry, arcade, pool tables, lounge, gym, photo shop, and pretty much anything else you need - hair dressers, masseuses, etc.  They take good care of us :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you are all doing well, thanks for the emails :) Its great to hear from you!

 

Take care,

Much Love,
Nicole

 

This entry is dedicated to FLO (Thanks for the phone call!!) & Schwartz Peter who have checked to see if anything is new only to find out that I am lazy & haven’t updated this in months.  My sincerest apologies. 

 

BOTTOM LINE IS:  I’m leaving Canada tomorrow, moving to Los Angeles and working on a cruise ship in Baja Mexico & California.   And unless you want to spend $8-$15/minute calling me on the old telephone, this is the only way you’ll hear from me as I bob up & down in the ocean until September. 

 

This is how it happened in the course of a few months…

 

November:  Worked on resume – got snazzy sister Michi to proof it.  Went to the NHL Battle of Alberta game with Vin & did a lot of shopping.  When I wasn’t taking time off to hang out with Vin, I was working at the multiplex during the day & serving/bartending at night. 

 

December: 

Christmas Party Season with Vince!  Dating for a year – I love him so much! Took a couple weeks off work to go to BC & party with the family – Janine & I met up in Edmonton and took the Hound home.  Telephone interview for job.

 

January:

First ever New Year’s Eve kiss!!  Took 3 days off work to hit the city for an interview for the job – they had HR that came in from Florida, Texas & Vancouver.  And no, the interview wasn’t 3 days.  Vince & I made a trip out of it – it was fun.  I love not working.  Came back, was offered a job shortly after & put in 2 weeks at both jobs & with my landlord.

 

February –

Took time to just hang out with Vince – I was unemployed & loving it!  Valentine’s Day was awesome – we went out for pizza & watched hockey.  The day after, I packed most of my shit & picked Michi up from the Loser Cruiser station.  We spent the night catching up & bleighing.  The next morning I gave her the big tour of Lloydminster including where I worked, a big lunch at Tony Roma’s (Of course!  Michi can not go to a city that has TR & not have ribs there.  It would be an absolute crime in her eyes.)    Then we drove out to Chauvin so I could say good bye to Vin & his family.  It was great!  We left Lloyd early the next morning and arrived back home at about 8 PM.  Surprisingly, my SUV did not break down…although upon arrival back into a BC repair shop…I found out that my brakes were shot & so were the rotors. 

Vince came up to say goodbye from the 23^rd to the 27^th so that was really nice but sad.

 

March –Helping out with calving at home.  Cooking with my mom, happy hour drinking with my dad, and bleighing with my sister watching Desperate Housewives entire seasons. First Ever Poker Tournament & Fondue Fest 2007 with Briggi, my farm wife competition.  Got all my vaccinations, saw some old neighbours, booked my flight, etc.   Basically, I have my shit together & I am very excited, but a bit nervous to head out tomorrow.  Hard to believe that in 12 hours I'm going to be trying to bribe my way through Customs...good thing I watched 'the Terminal'!

 

Now it’s time for CSI.  A nice glass of wine.  And maybe, if I’m feeling ambitious – the bonus features of Desperate Housewives. 

Yesterday I took a cab in the morning and the cab driver was very energetic and friendly (which lets discuss, is kind of hard to find in Lloyd) but anyways - and he was genuinely interested in what I did and introduced himself and then he told me something interesting.

 

I bet he tells everyone that gets into his cab the exact same story, but whatevs - I'll share it anyways.

 

Apparently he just started cabbing.  He lives outside of town and is single, no kids, etc.  He used to be a big deal on the service rigs making $50/hr and he said he got lonely.  So lonely he gave that up to drive cabs just so he could meet new people every day.  How do you get that lonely when you could make the money to go on trips and see the world and stuff you know?  But he said after a while, the money doesnt mean anything - that he has a house and everything he wants paid off and no one to share it or any trips or experiences with.  He did sound lonely telling the story and I don't know if I'd go to the extreme of becoming a cab driver if I were him, but if it makes him happy, then that's cool.  I just thought it was weird because everywhere you go, its always about money and how can you make more and work more hours and more overtime...I just thought it was interesting.

 

But I am also tired (its 2 am) and hungry, so maybe he was just a guy who actually got fired from being a $20/hr deckhand and wanted to make his life sound more interesting.  No idea.  Anyways so moral is:  Money isn't everything.

 

Tomorrows topic: "Money isn't everything.  Or is it?..."