Well, it's nearly the end of my tour of the Caribbean. Well, don't fret. It's not too bad. But I WILL have to "settle" for the Mediterranean and the Baltic seas.
This transition IS going to be a little bit rough. Everyone will be leaving the Grand Princess (and by extension, leaving me as well!) Well, not everyone, but darned over two-thirds of the onboard crew will be signing off at the end of the next cruise. By April 10th, nearly everyone I've known onboard will be leaving for home, or for another contract...or leaving ships for good.
Come April 10th, we'll be making our crossing of the Atlantic. As you might know, i do most of my work on days at sea. Now, for the Caribbean, that means that the bulk of my classes fall on 4 out of the 14 days (before you sneer at my workdays, you come onboard and try to teach Photoshop to seniors and retirees). Now, thank the Lord, I don't have to do all 4 class days back-to back...but this is nearly the end of the Caribbean.
April 10th marks the first day of a 14-day crossing cruise with 8 days at sea. Six of those sea days are consecutive.
I'm going to die.
Most of you might know that I started this contract in the Mediterranean. When I did the TransAtlantic crossing westwards, it was a 22-day cruise with a MAX of 4 consecutive sea days. People were getting grumpy after day 2. I can't imagine what six days at sea is going to be like.
On the other hand, there are some pretty significant pros (minor understatement) to the crew change. Despite all the great people that are leaving at the end of next cruise, there's a handful of good-apples-turned-bad that are going, as well.
Unfortunately, ship life tends to drastically change some people (I'm partly guilty, myself) and I've had some really great friendships go sour, with people that couldn't handle the stress. Granted, I don't have NEAR the lousy circumstances that they do, when it comes to working conditions, so I have a slight advantage. But when I thought that these people had hit rock-bottom...they pulled out a shovel and kept digging.
So the good news is that they get to go home, back to a semi-normal, less-dysfunctional life. I'm happy for them, but at the same time, the circumstances are a little sad.
On the other hand, this also means a lot of fresh, new crew! People that have just gotten back from their land-based vacations, and that are happy to be onboard! This might just make the next two months quite enjoyable for people like myself that are still onboard.
Well, there is one other little perk.
NEW DESTINATIONS!!!
France (Ajaccio, Brest, Cannes, La Rochelle, Le Havre),
Spain (Alicante, Barcelona, Cadiz, Cartagena, Malaga),
Italy (Alghero, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Naples),
England (Falmouth, Southampton),
Ireland (Dublin, Cobh),
Monaco (Monte Carlo),
Scotland (Greenock),
Portugal (Lisbon),
and Gibraltar.
Just to name a few.
LOVE YOU GUYS AND GALS! I'll see you at home in June!
did you have to post all the places you're going to be going? cause really...i can't handle it. hahaha
I want to gooooo!!!!!! But not for that long. And one of my friends did a foreign study in Alicante, Spain, and she LOVED it. So, anyway, how long are you going to be home again?