This cruise so far has been so Amazing!
We ported first at Noumea which I have been to a few times. I didn't get off the ship because Noumea is so expensive and I just wanted to chill. So instead I woke up and sun bathed with Simon and Sara on the back deck.
One of my jobs as Vice President of the Crew Club is to host events and party's for the crew. On the night of Sept 30 we had a crew bingo night. We closed down the marque and gave a way over $4,500 as well as phones, cameras, Ipods, Wii, and a Mac book air through raffles. I was able try and win the raffle but I did not play bingo because I had to host it. I actually co-hosted it with my boss deputy cruise direction Bobbi. She and I had a ton of fun played off each other while hosting bingo. Instead of it just being regular bingo, I was told we made it more into a show. The marques main floor was filled with about 250 crew members hoping to win something. Others that could not be there because of work still could win the raffle. When I went to buy my raffle tickets I accidentally ripped out two sheet of five numbers instead of one and then the guy next to me took the other. I said to him, that is going to be a winner and sure enough one winner was four number from mine and he won. I should have gave him the top instead of the bottom. Ha!
After bingo I went down to the crew bar for a second and hung out with some friends. Jenny, Sean and I decided to go up the the Attic which is our night club for the passengers and we partied up there a bit. A bunch of us met there and we had a dance party. The passengers are younger on this cruise which makes it more fun in the Attic. The only problem when you go to a passenger bar is you pay more for your drinks. Crew gets 60% off, but it is still expensive compared to the crew bar.
That night after bingo and the Attic, Jenny, Sean and I went up to the 15th open deck which is the top of the ship only for crew and chilled. I decided I was to camp out under the stars in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and that is what I did. I bought a pizza and chips(AKA French Fries) and chilled by my self after Jenny and Sean left. It reminded me of camping and just being outside. That is one thing I miss. Unless we are at port I don't see the sun unless I go to the top decks. I don't have a window in my room which also makes it hard in the morning. So I slept on a lawn chair for a few hours and then I woke to the most beautiful view ever!
When I opened my eyes, the sun was not out yet but on the starboard side of the ship (left side of the ship if you are in the front looking at the back), there was huge cliffs right next to me. I could not believe how close we were sailing to this island and the view was amazing. It was dark enough, where you could see lights on the island from locals. All around the ship was many little island and I just chilled and watched the ocean, and looked for whales or anything that would come out of the water. I did not find any but after about a half hour or so I could tell the sun was going to come out from the ocean view. The sight of the sun peaking out of the ocean line was the climax of the whole outside sleeping experience. I plan to do more of that because it makes me feel like I am doing what I do back at home. Camp, hunt (for whale and animals/sight seeing) and just chilling once and a while away from the action. I then slept at about 7am till noon.
My goal was to get up and go sun bath. I figured I wanted more of the out side gorgeous weather and so I laid out. Then Jenny and Pippa came to join me on the Oasis deck. We got a strawberry daiquiri which was so good and that made the start to my day so great. This was a keen time, where I felt so blessed!
The second port was Mystery Island and we Snorkeled, sun bathed, drank kava and chilled. Mystery Island is pretty much a beach day. But it was great because Sophie finally came snorkeling!! That night was another fun night. Matt and I played outside on the main stage on the Lido deck for the start of Island Night. After we played I ate some food, kicked it with Mike (who is our guest comedian), and then hung out with some crew and passengers for a wild Island Night. This night was the best Island Night I have ever been a part of.
Now to top off this blog, I am excited to talk about our last port. This cruise we ported at Noumea, Mystery Island, Isle of Pines (which I had IPM at), and Lifou. This was my first time at Lifou and I heard some great things about it. After a late night I as well as others got up around 9:30am to eat breakfast. We finally were able to get to a tender by 11am (because passengers go first then crew) and then stepped on to Lifou. Our goal was to go to the caves and then snorkel and try to find sea turtles (Lifou is known to have many sea turtles). Some of the singer dancers (Jenny, Arran, Simon, Pippa, Sara and Sophie), the comedian (Mike), Entertainment staff (Scotty), Band master (Danielle) and I went off on this journey. We walked down the road for about ten min and stopped at this church. I made everyone go in because it was a really unique church. It was a small church with a ceiling that was tall, circular ceilings with cool designs, and the church had great acoustics. We went in, chilled a bit, took some photos, and then went back on the journey walk. There was no one in the church but I loved that the door was open.. So cool! As we were walking Scotty was teaching me some French because he speaks fluent French, but he's from Canada. Slowly and surely I shall learn. Lifou is the second French Island I have been to. We then got to the area where we walk through the jungle to the caves.
As we walked through the jungle on a path, the vegetation was so green and thick. We eventually came to some rocks and cliffs and had to walk through this mini tunnel. On the other end of this rock tunnel was this view that was amazing. We were in the middle of this hill were cliffs were above and below us. I felt like I was in some magic land and it was my playground. There were vines and crazy trees all over. It felt like we were in the movies Tarzan, George of the Jungle and Indiana Jones at the same time! We then walk down this dark hole in the rock and eventually made it to this dark place under ground that had a natural pool of water. The fun and scary part was you could not see the water unless you use a flashlight or your cameras flash. So when you jump in, it feels like you have know clue what you will land in. We hung out there for about an hour and took a bunch of pics. So fun!
After we left the cave we headed back toward the ship and got a Magnum ice cream at some local tent. Iv'e never had a Magnum ice cream and it was so good. We put our stuff on the beach and headed out for a snorkel. Just some of us went out. Simon, Arran, Jenny, Pippa and I headed out to try to find and swim with some sea turtles. We snorkeled all around and found lots of cool fish and everything was so colorful. I found my first snake!(RJ I thought of you) It was either white and black or yellow and black striped snake. I was hanging around with it and called the others over to come check it out. The way it moved and swam under water was so fascinating. Now i'm pretty sure these snakes are very poison-es, so I kept a five foot distance away and hung out with it for a bit. Eventually we started heading back in because Pippa and Simon had to work at three. They left and the rest of us still went out on the hunt. Finally, I saw a big turtle. I yelled to them to hurry over and sure enough we swam with it for about 15 min or so. At one point another came over and there were two of them. I kept following one and they followed the other. I tried to touch it but right was I was about to touch it, it would swim just enough faster so I could not place my fingers on him. Mission accomplished! As we went in, the others in the gang were heading for the tender. I could see that Mike was still out snorkeling some where, so everyone else left to catch the boat back to the ship. I stayed and tried to find Mike. Now Mike has a waterproof camera and I wanted to find those turtles again and take a picture. I found Mike and we went out hunting. We took some shots of us snorkeling and then he headed back in but he gave me his camera. I then worked hard covering water trying to find a sea turtle and finally I did. I took some pictures and tried to get some with the turtle. I was so excited because I took a video swimming with this turtle and I was sure it was going to be a great video. When I looked up and realized I how late it was, I saw the shore and I was way far out. I was about half way to the ship in about 25 meters of water. I then started to fly(swim) back because I knew the last tender was going to be soon and I was already pushing it. The way back was difficult. I was dehydrated, my mouth was salty and so I just focused on breathing so I would not cramp up because no one was close to me at all. As I made it back, Mike was all packed up and ready and I was excited to show him the pics and video as I was trying to catch my breath. We looked and some of the pics turned out and then the video came, I was excited! We watched the turtle flap his limbs once and the video was over. It did not video when I though it was!!! I was so upset! But at least we have some pics. What a great day! I am getting a waterproof camera soon!
This is my ramble about everything, sorry if I wrote to much. I am just exited to talk about these great moments. Thanks for checking out what I am doing. Cheers!!
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