EPISODE ... errr... 3? 4? 5?

WELCOME TO THE CARIBBEAN! HERE WE GO!

Week 15

Day 1

It's only going to be a 6 day week this time around as we head down to San Juan. Gotta say I'm going to miss the weather.

Last time in Bayonne for now! I guess I'll be back in my second contract when we go back to Bermuda but as of now, home port is going to be San Juan Puerto Rico. Can't wait to get there. From what I've heard it's a magical fantastical place.

Went out to Manhattan today. Got to Time Square. Gotta say, experiencing time square on a Sunday afternoon isn't the best experience that the place can give. I'd very much like to return on a busy night and just see what the whole fuss is about. Walking around the area though, you get bombarded by a ridiculous amount of information. Just billboards upon billboards, scrolling marquees, videos, live camera feeds, news, entertainment, advertising.. it can drive you insane. I want to sit and stare at a white wall after all that eyeball saturation. 

At least now I get to say I've been to Time Square (is it time square? Times Square? Timesquare?) and I've eaten some quintessential New York pizza too. Which was delicious by the way. The one thing that I can say about New Yorkers is that they've done wonders to the pizza and made it amazing. Put it in perspective here - I've been getting a lot of pizza on the ship because it's one of the only things they serve after shows up at the buffet. That and pasta. So I've been having plenty of pizza already but I still enjoyed the New York one immensely.

I will return to Bermuda again for a single day before shifting to the other caribbean islands, so see you there. Cheers.

Day 2

Started out today getting my hair cut up in the spa. It's not free unfortunately but there's a reasonable discount. Unfortunately it's a sea day today and usually sea days mean more spa customers because guests have no where to go. And that ultimately meant that I had to get up at 8am to get my hair cut. At least I won't have to have it cut again for the rest of my contract. 1 hair cut in a single 6 month contract. I am silently, or maybe not so silently since I'm writing it out here, proud of myself. 

Gotta say looking at what the spa girl did to my hair, this is probably the roundest hair cut I've ever had. It's like she fashioned my head into a perfect sphere of hair. It's slightly disturbing how perfectly round and even it is. I will attempt to take a picture.

Guess where I'll be tomorrow?

Day 3

We returned to Bermuda today. Yes Bermuda. I thought I was done with the Island, but apparently not. We are repositioning to San Juan Puerto Rico so we stopped by Bermuda on this special 6 day repositioning cruise.

After seeing Bermuda so many times, coming back here is like visiting an old friend. I know where everything is. I know what there is to do and what there isn't. So all I did was go grab a pint. Go figure.

Day 4

Gonna be sea days in a row. Not much happening.

Day 5

Nope. Still not much happening.

Day 6

Arrived in St Thomas. I could've gotten off the ship a lot earlier than when I did. But still I got to see my first view of the caribbean. It's pretty. It's hot. It's got a lot of palm trees.

There you go, first observation. I am in no hurry to see the caribbean islands though because I'm going to be visiting these places over the next two months, and in fact when I return for my second contract, another two months. I did, however, do some research about some local food around the area. The one thing I am dying to try is conch. Those pretty conch shells that sell as tourist items? Well I wanna eat the creature living in those. It's supposed to be a local delight here.

I also want to eat some shark, and all sorts of other local food. I've found places to do that. We shall see in the weeks to come if I can score some local delights.

Day 7

Arrived in San Juan Puerto Rico. This is going to be home base for a while now. Better get used to it. Old San Juan is a fair bit of a walk from where we dock, which is annoying. This means I'll have to get a cab every time I want to get to internet connectivity. Perhaps I will make some other place my internet spot. 

All roads lead to Starbucks.

This will also mark the start of the true caribbean cruise as we coast from island to island, St Lucia, St Martin and other places. I'll tell you all about it in the weeks to come.

Thoughts from the week?

My roomie is a strange personality. He has an relentless infatuation with documentaries, regardless of the relevance of the documentary itself. Factoids must have some stimulating effect on his brain. Unfortunately this means that no matter how uninteresting the documentary may be, the TV will be on because there is an entire channel dedicated to documentaries. While I appreciate that some people do require the need for entertainment (as I have proven several times), I often keep that entertainment within the confines of a screen only I can see (read: my computer) and speakers only I can hear (read: earphones). Sometimes moments of silence are much appreciated. 

I've realised this about myself several times already - I am a champion of the beauty of silence. It's nice to just sit in silence sometimes and read or write or something. Silence is nice. 

He's a nice dude though. Strange. But nice.

Also, I'm already missing the cold weather up north. Weather in the caribbean feels much like home. Hot and damp. Ugh. I don't like it. 

Who's really paying attention to these?

Day 9

Bright and early today despite sleeping late after celebrating last night. Yes celebrating my halfway point with my port manning buddies. Got out, found a starbucks and interneted the entire afternoon. Yes I made internet into a verb. 

On my way back to the ship it started raining. Just realised something. Home is probably the one place that has mastered the art of having awnings that stretch out over the walkways in front of shops. I say this because, as of this moment of writing, I am stuck in the middle of Quebec cowering under a bridge with shops all around me and if I were home I could very well continue my walk under the shade of those majestical awnings. Why don't other countries with predictable rain patterns every year do this? Is this technology not readily available to the world? We need to do something about this.

Today down in the crew deck were crates of art. I never realised that purchasing art was part of the cruise business. But it makes sense doesn't it? Within the space of 10 years people do come back to ships again and again so I guess they expect new art to waste time on all around the ship. And this is probably the first paragraph I've ever written in my life where I'm using art as an noun and not in some other form. Not artist or artistic, just art. 

I forgot to mention something in Day 7. Weirdness happened that day at payday. I got my envelope and then the doctor from the clinic waved a form in front of my face and before I could read and sign it, he jabbed my arm with a needle and gave me a shot. Apparently it was a free flu shot. For all I know it could've been the 'Celebrity Company Loyalty Serum.' My first flu vaccination and I was completely unaware I was getting one. Interesting.

Also, today was that magical day. It's called a day off. BOOYAH. Gonna miss the day's off. When we get to the caribbean, that can no longer happen. Sad but true.

Day 10

Today was the day of hell. It's two captain's clubs in the day, one rehearsal and then two shows. 

It was pianist show again. Mr Classical pianist had another evening show to get through. Drummatically speaking (yes I invented yet another word) it was a piece of cake. But he got us playing classical pieces and it was the first time I've ever played classical tympani on a drumset. It sounded stupid.

This was the exact music I went to contemporary college to escape playing. I guess it came back to haunt me. But the crowd loved it. I had the most boring rehearsal and show. But at the end of the day I was pretty wiped out.

Day 11

We arrived back in Charlottetown, the place where nothing happens. BUT, my roomie discovered on my little map that a brewery exists on this forsaken place. So we went there and discovered probably the most delicious pale ale I have ever tasted. 

And we play some jazz tonight so I guess today is a good day.

Day 12

Double sea day so not much activity going on. It's nice to have returning entertainers on board. Easy peasy.

Day 13

The one fantastic thing about sea days is that I don't have anything to motivate me getting up before 4pm - which is when rehearsal is - which means I can stay up super late practicing. 

Day 14

Arrived in our final port of call for the Atlantic run which is Newport Rhode Island. Didn't really feel like getting off so I just stayed on the ship.

We were supposed to depart at 5pm but there was something wrong with the anchor so we got kinda stuck there till after the first show. I guess life as a captain aint so easy after all.

Thoughts from the week?

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but it's a recurring thought. This whole working on a cruise ship thing is a very very very weird way to travel. When you speak to someone who's worked on a cruise ship and they say they've visited this country and that country, it's not in the way in which you'd think. It's not the way a normal tourist experiences a vacation.

I mentioned this in my earlier post, it's a pseudo vacation. Collectively I've probably spent less than a day at every port so far, excluding Bermuda of course. And maybe Quebec because we do have 2 days there. It's 2-4 hours of vacation in a place every two weeks. It's very strange.

Take my example of Portland or Halifax. I only get off the ship in the morning, sometimes later after an early lunch, and then I go off and walk as far as I deem possible, maybe taste a local delicacy, and then back to the ship. Now I don't see this place again for another two weeks. Two weeks later I restart my walk from the ship, same location, same time of the day, same day of the week, for the same amount of time. I never experience the city at any other time of the day, not anytime else in the week, and never any further than where my feet can take me. 

So in future, when I say I've been to Canada and Bermuda and the Caribbean, you'll know what I'm talking about. 

I guess if the day comes when I'm filthy rich I'll revisit these places for real.

It's like a movie trailer. That's exactly it. I experience only bits of the real thing, leaving me wanting to eventually see the whole of the real thing. It's a vacation teaser. 

And so marks the end of yet another chapter. We end the Atlantic run and move on to the caribbean. It's going to be exciting.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF ... YOU?

Week 13

Day 1

Well, the 13th week started off just as superstitious people would envision it. Had to get up today for full crew immigration. I knew it was going to take a while but I didn't realise it was going to take as long as it did. It was compounded by the fact that we also arrived late into port today. I'm guessing some guests were pissed, but for crew who only get so few hours off the ship, we reserve the right to be even more pissed.

By the time we cleared immigration and got off the boat it was already past noon. What a bad start to the day.

Now for some interesting news. And some sad news.

First, remember the whole deal with the name of the cruise line being celebrity and whether celebrities actually came on the ship? Well, apparently they do. Retired celebrities anyway. Cruise director came and told us tonight that KC from KC and the Sunshine band is on this cruise. Yay?

Sad news. My beloved 16" stagg crash which has served me so well in the last legs of my college life and also my excessive abuse after has finally come to the end of it's life. A crack has appeared. It's still alive now but it's only a matter of time before it dies. Le sigh.

Day 2

I resumed my practice again last night and have not heard a peep from anyone. Let's hope it stays that way.

Day 3

Another day in Boston. Last time I'll be here for now. Revisited Harpoon Brewery today but with some buddies. Who's to pass off free beer? Come on.

Day 4

Last time in Portland Maine. Gotta say, as strange as it is being here once in two weeks for only a few hours, I've actually seen all of Portland that I want to see. I know there are probably more touristy things to do like visit museums and art galleries and stuff like that, but as far as experiencing Maine goes, I'm pretty content with my explorations so far. I've had some delicious local beer, some delicious local food, and I've seen some pretty astounding and beautiful places, most of which do not require entrance fees. So there you go. I think I'm very well satisfied with my pseudo vacation to Maine.

Day 5

It was raining ridiculously today in Bar Harbour. Now I'm not usually one to stay on the ship when i have the opportunity to go somewhere but rain in Bar Harbour is probably not the best idea. And I was originally planning to go and explore more of the National park and maybe hike up a mountain. Firstly, my shoes would not survive that trip in the rain, and secondly I would've caught pneumonia in this weather. So I stayed on the ship. On a port day. For the first time. Sadly it was ridiculously boring.

We got to play yet another show with Mr Classical pianist tonight. Second time around is way better. He still doesn't listen to my time though, so it's not as smooth as it can be if he actually knew what performing with a band is really about.

Day 6

Once again we arrive in Halifax. It was cold and raining so we decided not to go out as far as I normally do in Halifax. The weather this cruise has been horrible. Rain everywhere. Now I've always mentioned that I like the rain but not when I'm trying to be a tourist. Geez weather, get your crap together.

Day 7

There's something special about sea days. The fact that there is absolutely nothing to motivate me to get up any earlier than noon coupled with the fact that sea days are perfectly predictable when it comes to what I'll be playing that night (read: we play production shows on sea days so I know the music already) makes for a very special day (read: boring). Cheers.

Day 8

I told myself to go up today to the open deck and catch a view of the surrounding hills as we sailed into Quebec. It's supposed to be really gorgeous with the trees changing colours all along the way as we coast up the river to Quebec city. 

BUT, there was a crew party last night and I was up till 5. And so I slept in yet again and missed it for the third and final time. 

Also, because I'm such a nice guy and because there clearly is nothing to do in Quebec city after 10pm besides clubbing, I took port manning for a buddy on the ship. Means he gets to get off the ship and I don't. It's kind of a big deal because this is the last ever overnight we'll ever have so there's no swapping. It does come with it's benefits though - I got a free gin and tonic. Cool beans.

BIG THOUGHT FROM THE MIDWEEK.

This post marks the end of my 13th week working on this ship. It marks the third month. It marks the HALFWAY point in my very first contract.

No I have not gotten sick of the food yet.

No I have not gotten sick of sea life yet.

No I have not gotten sick of being on a boat yet.

No I have not gotten sick of basically travelling for free yet. (Hey I had to rub it in)

No I have not gotten sick of the work yet. (if that happens I really shouldn't be in this line of work eh?)

Halfway there baby. 

More news from the last time I'll be in Jersey. See you there folks!

And so ends another 2 week cruise....

Day 9

Extra quebec day! No wait today wasn't exactly the extra day. Tomorrow is. But instead of leaving at 6pm or something we had another overnight. Sadly tonight became the night we were port manning which meant staying on the boat after 8pm. 

I decided to spend the day exploring more of quebec. The moment I got on the gangway there was a surge of people coming back on. That very moment I suspected something fishy was going on. So I got out and started walking around and what do you know, it began to rain. Thankfully not the heavy rain but that typical misty rain that seems to riddle this part of the world. And just when I decided to go back to the ship it stopped raining. Geez.

The one fantastic thing about today was the fact that it was a once in a blue moon day off for the orchestra. It really began to feel like the day off after we had dinner and had absolutely no work to do. We just hung out and watched some videos, some of the orchestra members that is.

What a way to spend the day. 

Day 10

Sail away was early today. Extra night in quebec but we sailed off at 10:30am. Which meant we didn't get an extra day after all. Just an extra night. 

Had to play for a classical pianist today. Granted the dude is talented and all and he can really really play, not like second rate pianist who was here the other time, but this guy has actual skills. 

But the man has no sense of band direction, conducting, or, worse still, time. He has absolutely no rhythm. Here's the problem with a pianist like that. He can sound utterly amazing as a soloist playing his classical pieces where he can push and pull time to his whim which most people call 'expression' but when you're playing with a drummer, it does not work at all. It's tough being a drummer and having to follow someone with that kind of weirdo understanding of time because he is not following me.

He has a good show and talent but man this guy should remain a soloist. Thankfully he's doing a concert tomorrow that doesn't concern the band. Phew.

Day 11

Thanks to the lovely weather we are spending a day at sea, barely moving. Our port destination tomorrow is La Baie which is actually still in Quebec. So we're taking more than an entire day to get to somewhere that isn't very far away. Sure the slow moving ship means no rocking on board, but it does feel like we're wasting a ton of time. 

On the upside we get to play some jazz tonight because the entertainer tonight is a juggler. 

This cruise though there aren't as many dancing couples. Which is actually less fun. It's nice to see people standing up and getting down with our music. I'm sure they enjoy it just as much sitting down drinking wine, but dancers always make the room come more alive.

Oh well.

Day 12

Reached the town of La Baie. Or whatever.

Must say, compared to charlottetown or sydney, both of which I didn't quite like, this was even worse. The place is absolutely tiny and there is absolutely nothing going on here. It's not a tourist spot at all. The biggest attraction there is A church and the McDonalds. I'm serious. It was that horrible. It was blistering cold too. I tried hiking up the river but there was no access to it so I gave up and went back on board the ship. Horrible. It actually feels like a 'substitute' port because it's as exciting as cheddar cheese.

Tonight we played a show with a Vegas singer and trumpet player. It's actually one of the better shows we've played. Gotta say, I enjoyed him more as trumpet player than a singer. The trumpet songs that we played were pretty bad ass but the singer stuff was very typical vegas cover singer. Good show though. 

Day 13

Man had a really full day today. I am tired out. 5 different performances today. Crazy stuff. Not that I'm complaining. But certainly deserves an earlier night. 

Thoughts from the week?

I just noticed that my writings are in weird tenses. Grammar police would've locked me up for life by now. Here's the reason why. I write these at different times of the day so sometimes they are about things that have already happened and sometimes they are about things that are going to happen. Deal with it.

BONJOUR FRENCHLANDCANADA

Once again your weekly update coming to you midcruise from Quebec city.

Day 1

Embarkation day is always a joy. Why? Because I get to do the passenger drill where I have to tell grown ass men to come and sit in the front so that the less abled guests can sit at the back. 

Firstly when you have a crowd of 100% retirees, how do you classify less abled guests? Can't argue when all of them claim that they can't walk up and down stairs that easily.

Secondly, most of these guys don't even want to be there. Some of them have been ejected from the bar, some from their cabin, some from the pool, and told to adjourn to their stations for 15 minutes of announcements that most of them have heard before. 

I had this one guy that I asked to sit in the front seats and he politely replied me 'no'. Can't argue with that now can I?

And if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm being sarcastic about embarkation day being a joy. The only upside to embarkation day is the opening show is always the same every cruise, which means that rehearsals go by in a flash and I can play the show with my eyes closed.

Our bass player celebrated his birthday today. We had quite the party. Thankfully tomorrow is a sea day. Rest up.

Day 2

Sea day sea day how I love/hate thee. On the one hand there's not much to do. On the other hand, there's not much to do. We did have a birthday celebration last night for our bass player so a much needed sleep in was possible. Which is why I love sea days because I have no reason to get up early to get off the ship. 

But there really is nothing to do on board for crew. Watch movies I guess.

Day 3

Had the most amazing day in Boston today. First I went to Chinatown which wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be. But that only makes the rest of my day even more awesome. I actually went into Chinatown to find a cheap haircut. Sadly the haircuts on board the ship aren't free. Everything else is like laundry and dry cleaning but because the haircuts are done by the spa, and the fact that the spa is run by a completely different company - it's not run by celebrity, they have a spa company come on board and set it up on some commission basis or something - and the spa haircuts cost like 20 bucks. I did find a few places but I decided against it because they looked very sketchy. 

I will get a haircut soon. I might find a cheaper place in the other ports we have, but I will resort to the 20 dollar ones on board if I fail to find a cheap barber somewhere.

After exploring the lame chinatown in Boston, I decided to go to the Boston Commons which is the public park in Boston. As I've mentioned before, Boston has a unique vibe to it. So even if it is a tuesday there are people hanging out in the parks in Boston - some of them working people with their lunches. The next time I'm in Boston I am definitely getting to the open market which I discovered today, and getting some delicious Boston street food.

But that wasn't the end of my day. I then went instinctively to HARPOON BREWERY which is a craft brewery in Boston. Apparently they are pretty famous in the states as a craft brewery. I say 'instinctively' because I walked pass the place earlier in the morning and decided against drinking some beer at 11am. But later in the day I showed up at EXACTLY 2pm which was when they were doing the daily tasting sessions.

YES. FREE BEER TASTING. I only had to tip them. I felt happy so I tipped them a fair amount. BUT FREE BEER. CRAFT BEER at that. Not some ordinary beer you get in a bottle, but a specially brewed beer in the state of Massachusetts. I had 12 different sample of beer, served in 4oz glasses which made for more than 3 pints of beer. 12 DIFFERENT KINDS. Almost all of them were delicious. But the fact that they cost nothing made them extra delicious.

I also bought a beer T-Shirt from Harpoon. Only because it had the line - LOVE BEER. LOVE LIFE - on it. I will wear it with pride.

Anyone at home reading this, sorry to say you will never taste the awesomeness of Harpoon. It is so delicious you cannot even imagine. Perks for working on a cruise ship traveling around the world.

I will only do this rarely but here goes....

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ABAHABHABHABHBAHAHAHAAHHGHAHAHAHHAGHAGHAGHAHAHHAAHAAAAAAIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

My life is awesome.

Tonight's show was particularly weird. We had to do an opening number with the comedian, wait for him to get through 40 minutes of material and then play a closer. All in all, including rehearsal, I probably worked 30 minutes today. He could've just used a track and given us the day off. Not complaining, but I am complaining. Sheesh.

Day 4

Portland has got to be my favourite port so far. It's pretty and quaint, but not boring like other places. It's got a bunch of places to go that are just awesome and some fantastic places to see.

First I went to a nice little place called Gritty McDuffs. Had some local drinks and also had some famous Maine LOBSTER ROLLS. Call it a preliminary round before I get my full lobster lunch in Bar Harbour tomorrow. The lobster rolls were awesome. There's just something perfect about fresh juicy lobster meat in a sandwich. Minimal seasoning and minimal amount of mayo so you get the full absolute taste of delicious lobster. And they don't shred it up into small little bits either - it's huge chunks of lobster meat.

I decided to keep moving around portland after that and ended up at one of their many parks. There was a map at the park and from there I directed myself up to the famous Portland Observatory. The sign said it was 'open to public' which I assumed meant you could go into the building like a public museum. Sadly that wasn't the case. It costs 8 bucks to basically have a man walk you up a 4 or 5 story wooden tower to look out the window. Seriously? 8 BUCKS to see a wooden building? To see OUT of a wooden tower in the middle of town? Sorry, not happening.

Had a great show tonight. Played with a lady singer who plays guitar. It's one of those shows where you feel good both shows and the music kicked ass all throughout the show. No hiccups, no mistakes, just great music.

Day 5

Bar Harbour today. I didn't manage to get off the ship the last time we were here and I was adamant I was going to have some proper lobster. The lobster rolls yesterday were a pretty nice intro to what would be an awesome lobster meal today.

But first before I did that I decided to take a long walk to parts of Acadia national park. The park isn't very far, but it is ridiculously large. It's one of the biggest ones in the States apparently. I took a trail that led me to the outskirts of the park. I did manage to go quite far into the park considering I walked the whole way. I actually took an hour long video of me doing the trail which I will most certainly let you guys see when i have the time to put it up on youtube. But it was fun to be out in nature. I'm all about the free exploration and enjoyment of a place - and by free I mean cash free (except for food) - so the park was certainly a good idea. If I had enough time I would've climbed up Dorr Mountain and gotten a view of the place. But sadly I didn't get off the ship early. Maybe next time.

I finished off the trip with a stop at a nice little outdoor place and had my first every whole atlantic lobster. 

OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS WAS IT DELICIOUS. I've never had whole lobster before, what more the famous atlantic lobster. It was just simply poached in water and then served up with some delicious metled butter sauce and lemon. SO FRESH. SO GOOD. 

Have to say, Bar Harbour is an awesome place.

Tonight's show was a chaotic one. Compared with the show last night, tonight's was ridiculously quick and dangerous. When you have that many different songs flowing into each other with all sorts of tempos, something is bound to go wrong. Many of the songs started off at the wrong tempo and we corrected midway. Hopefully the audience was more distracted by the guy's big singing voice so they didn't notice any of that.

Glad he's not doing the mid cruise variety show. 

Day 6.

Returned to Halifax today. After my previous excursion in halifax which you've read about, I've actually pretty much explored the entire place. I decided instead to sit down in starbucks for the afternoon and get some internet. 

Even though the wi-fi was free, after sitting there for 2 hours and more with only a purchase of the smallest cup of coffee they have, I felt rather bad. But my want for internet was greater than my lowly feeling and so I stayed. Eat that starbucks.

Played the variety show tonight which meant another chance to work with the singer/guitar player. She's unbelievably professional. Well, she did work on Broadway so I expect she's got that whole performance experience under her belt. Very organized rehearsal and very in control of the band. Good stuff.

Now for some rants. I got told off by security tonight for practicing until 1:30am. Yes you heard it right - told off by security for PRACTICING. Isn't part of my freaking job to practice? And I was told when I started my damn contract that I would be able to use the theater for practice as long as nothing was going in there. And I did. For the entire Bermuda run I was practicing most nights until 2 or 3 in the morning. And now I get told off for noise? What the hell! This is ridiculous. I'm going to have a word with my band leader to straighten this out. The drums are already set up in the damn theater and I'm not going to move them out and then back again and hook up all the mics and shit just to practice. This is absurd. My instrument is a loud one. Deal with it. Soundproof the damn theater if you have to. Stupid shit.

I AM PISSED OFF. ARHGHGHGH.

Day 7

So after the ordeal yesterday I actually woke up this morning and was in a bad mood for pretty much the entire day. Not a good way to start the day nor spend the day, but the whole 'no practice at night in the theater' thing is not making me happy at all. What makes it worse is that I talked it over with my band leader this morning and it's an injustice that cannot be rectified. It is a huge injustice to me as a musician, but there's nothing that can be done about it. Guest complaint. Done. No arguing. No reasoning. Nothing. 

I really needed a good pick me up movie after that. And what do you know? Conviction came on the movie channel. I actually bought that DVD recently and never took the time to watch it before getting on this boat. But now i have watched it and I'm feeling much more pleasant inside. Thankfully.

Day 8

Quebec day. 

There's only 2 pieces of ridiculously awesome information that you need to hear about.

One, I discovered today in the buffet that they make fresh crisp and delicious popodam. UNLIMITED SUPPLY OF THE STUFF! I am definitely going to have them every single night now. 

Two, that magical day of happiness has finally arrived. 11 weeks working on the ship and finally the day has come. TOmorrow, I have the day off. WHEEEEE! No work tomorrow! And it's compounded by the happiness of the fact that, due to weather conditions, we are staying an extra day in Quebec. FANTASTIC!

Sweet sweet happiness. See you all tomorrow.