Mom,
I am on the schedule for the Dream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It goes to Genoa, Italy, twice and other ports in the Med, then up to Scandinavia! I can't believe it! I don't know when I'm going except that it's in March, so we should do our trip to England/Scotland in early March, just to be safe. It's cheaper for NCL to fly me to Miami on the 31st, vs. S. America earlier, but I don't want to push it. Pass the word. Yippee!!!
Love, Genoa
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
1/9/03: The Legendary S/S Norway
The Legendary S/S Norway was described to me as an old lady. She was originally the S/S France, built around 1961 as an ocean liner. And (the description continues), like other old ladies (though certainly none I know), she needs a lot of makeup to look as good as these new ships. She's also called the Big Blue Canoe. Her lower half is painted royal blue. She's so long that the carpet is different colors to tell you if you're forward or aft. The forward half of the ship has blue carpet with blue criss-crosses, and the aft of the ship has red criss-crosses. The decks are referred to by their names, not by their numbers. This is quite confusing at first. I live on the 8th deck, which is the Viking deck. I remember this by saying, "I am a Viking." Below me is the Norway deck, and the Atlantic deck, and so on. On the other ships I've been on, there are 5 or 6 vertical fire zones. There's a fire team for each, and fire screen doors that can isolate a zone in case of a fire. The Legendary S/S Norway has EIGHT fire zones. Because the ship used to be an ocean liner, it's not perfectly equipped for the types of cruises we do now. Troll Land is the room we use for 6-12 year olds in low season, which just begun after the holidays. The murals on the wall are also 42 years old, and are estimated to cost $1.5 million. The room was originally the second class children's room. The Concierge's office, which is a nice size for him, was the first class children's room. Also beautifully painted, but way too small for kids to run around in. Poor rich kids. For the 2-5 year olds, we use a room called the Porthole. It used to be the dog kennel. It's long and narrow, and if you are predisposed to claustrophobia, don't stop by. Fortunately, there's an outside area (for the dogs to run in) which gives us more space for those little monkeys. In high season, we split off and use a conference room for the 10-12 year olds.
During my first week here, There was a power outtage. There were a few emergency lights, including low level lighting, which is a glow-in-the-dark striping along the bottom of all walls. I felt my way to my cabin, and left the door open to let in some light. It was neat, a little excitement for my day, but it caused us to be several hours late in leaving port. Due to that and poor weather conditions, we couldn't reach our private island that week.
My cabin is outside the disco. There's a door to the right of mine which leads to an anteroom with a door to the ladies room, then another door which opens to the disco. When the both of the doors get opened at night, as when someone leaves the disco, I can hear the music. It doesn't bother me, but I think that's why it's a crew cabin, in amongst passenger cabins. Last week I was working with teens, and two of them were in a cabin across from mine. Luckily they were cool and didn't play any pranks on me or Una. Una is my roommate. She's from Latvia and she's such a sweetheart. I thought I was lucky with my last roommate--I must be on a streak. Una's a sports afloat coordinator, so she does aerobics classes, yoga, fitness walks, etc. Our room is like a suite, especially in comparison to others I've seen on other ships. I'm on the top bunk, which is smaller than the bottom, but still roomy. Una's bunk, which I'll move down to in a few weeks when she signs off, is huge. We have a vanity and plenty of shelf space. I even got someone's old DVD player for free. There's a woman from Belgium here named Dagmar. Can you believe it? So cool. When I first got here, I thought the Norway was like a white elephant. You have to act so grateful if she's in your fleet, but she requires so much upkeep that she's a bit of a pain. Now that I'm in my fourth week here, I love her. I'm so glad my request to come here was granted. It's so neat wandering around, finding new places to explore. And now that I know my way from one place to another, I feel quite at home.
I hope you're doing marvelously. I wish you all the best for the new year. For those of you who sent cards or packages, my most heartfelt thanks. Everyone loves mail. Like I said before, I don't have as much time to email as before, so please don't send me forwards or large files. But please do drop me the occasional note to let me know you're still out there.
Love always, Genoa
Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the things you did.
During my first week here, There was a power outtage. There were a few emergency lights, including low level lighting, which is a glow-in-the-dark striping along the bottom of all walls. I felt my way to my cabin, and left the door open to let in some light. It was neat, a little excitement for my day, but it caused us to be several hours late in leaving port. Due to that and poor weather conditions, we couldn't reach our private island that week.
My cabin is outside the disco. There's a door to the right of mine which leads to an anteroom with a door to the ladies room, then another door which opens to the disco. When the both of the doors get opened at night, as when someone leaves the disco, I can hear the music. It doesn't bother me, but I think that's why it's a crew cabin, in amongst passenger cabins. Last week I was working with teens, and two of them were in a cabin across from mine. Luckily they were cool and didn't play any pranks on me or Una. Una is my roommate. She's from Latvia and she's such a sweetheart. I thought I was lucky with my last roommate--I must be on a streak. Una's a sports afloat coordinator, so she does aerobics classes, yoga, fitness walks, etc. Our room is like a suite, especially in comparison to others I've seen on other ships. I'm on the top bunk, which is smaller than the bottom, but still roomy. Una's bunk, which I'll move down to in a few weeks when she signs off, is huge. We have a vanity and plenty of shelf space. I even got someone's old DVD player for free. There's a woman from Belgium here named Dagmar. Can you believe it? So cool. When I first got here, I thought the Norway was like a white elephant. You have to act so grateful if she's in your fleet, but she requires so much upkeep that she's a bit of a pain. Now that I'm in my fourth week here, I love her. I'm so glad my request to come here was granted. It's so neat wandering around, finding new places to explore. And now that I know my way from one place to another, I feel quite at home.
I hope you're doing marvelously. I wish you all the best for the new year. For those of you who sent cards or packages, my most heartfelt thanks. Everyone loves mail. Like I said before, I don't have as much time to email as before, so please don't send me forwards or large files. But please do drop me the occasional note to let me know you're still out there.
Love always, Genoa
Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the things you did.
12/26/02: Another Group Email
Happy New Year! (It's too late to say Happy Hanukkah or Merry Christmas.) It's crazy busy on the LEGENDARY S/S Norway. Thankfully, the workload is balanced out by all the parties! Everything is awesome here. I'll write more another time, but the email rates just went up (it's 25 cents after 5pm on port days and only 10 cents before 5pm). I have scarce free time to email here, so please bear with me as I communicate less frequently. If I haven't been in contact with you much anyway, this shouldn't come as any big shock hee hee). I wish you all the best for the new year.
Love always, Genoa
Love always, Genoa
12/11/02: Rolling with the Punches
I found out last night that I'm transferring to the S/S Norway this weekend. I leave the Sun and the Western Caribbean on Saturday, stay in a Miami hotel overnight, and join the Norway on Sunday. She goes to St. Maarten, St. Thomas (both of which I've seen), and Great Stirrup Cay. She's about 43 years old, and is a classic ocean liner. They have documentaries about her, and I've been wanting to cruise her. The kids korner is called Troll Land and has murals worth millions of dollars. The down side to leaving is that I like this ship and these ports. I like my roommate and the girls I work with. I won't be able to meet up with my friends on the Dawn. But, overall, it's a very good change. It just came out of left field.
For those of you fretting about my Christmas and birthday and for-no-reason presents not getting to me on my new ship, my address should be the same for letters and packages, with the one change of the ship's name from Sun to Norway. And if you've already sent them, the ships are both our of Miami, so, with only a slight delay, they will find me.
As for my friends on ships, with every ship change brings old faces back into view. I hope to see you again soon.
Love always, Genoa
For those of you fretting about my Christmas and birthday and for-no-reason presents not getting to me on my new ship, my address should be the same for letters and packages, with the one change of the ship's name from Sun to Norway. And if you've already sent them, the ships are both our of Miami, so, with only a slight delay, they will find me.
As for my friends on ships, with every ship change brings old faces back into view. I hope to see you again soon.
Love always, Genoa
11/28/02: What an Awesome Week
I've had the best week. We've had lots of kids this cruise, because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Very few monkeys; the kids have been great.
I went to a turtle farm in Grand Cayman on Monday. They raise green sea turtles. The conditions aren't the best, but they release some of them and the rest are consumed (bad), but at least they aren't taking them from the ocean anymore (good). Anyway, the babies were about 6 inches long, and I saw one beast at least 5 feet long, and that was just his shell! It was so awesome to see them. The midsized ones are in a tank where you can pick them up. Some of them squirmed too much, and I let them go, but the ones who would take it got Genoa hugs. I can't wait to see the pictures.
Yesterday I went cave tubing in Belize. Fifty passengers and I took a bus an hour and a half to a rain forest. We donned our life vests and hiked, carrying our inter-tubes, about 45 minutes. It started to rain very hard. I mean HUGE raindrops! Pouring. Cats and dogs. This San Diego native has rarely seen precipitation like this. Then it let up, and someone ahead of me on the trail sang, "The other day." So I, recognizing the repeat song, responded, "The other day." We began to sing the song about an interaction with a bear, until he didn't know the next line, so I sang, and he responded. It was cool, singing along with some guy I couldn't even see. When we got to the top of the cave system, we got in the water on our tubes, with flash lights affixed by elastic to our foreheads. We entered the caves at a lazy pace (no rapids here), and more than one person was inspired to sing, "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me." (For those of you who don't recognize that, it's the theme song for Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride. That's what it looked like inside.) At one point, someone yelled, "Lights out!" and we all turned 'em out and floated in pitch blackness. The caves are spacious, and we saw fruit bats on the ceiling and cool formations all around. Someone also sang, "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall," and the rest of us continued with the rest of the line. It was a great group of people, as might be evident. When we got out of the water, we were fed a local dish, then we took the bus back to the pier.
Today, I met up with my very good friend David, whose ship was also in Cozumel today. We went to Playa Del Carmen by ferry with a few other youth counselors, which is mainland Mexico (Central America, neat). The beach was beautiful, and when we got back to Cozumel, I picked up my clean, folded laundry from a laundromat (oh what luxuries one appreciates when away from home).
One of my favorite parts of living on a ship is having a room steward. I tip Iran (from Jamaica) $10 a week and every day he makes my bed, takes out the trash, cleans the bathroom, vacuums, replaces my towels, toilet paper and kleenex, and he changes my sheets weekly. I love this service! And they call this work?!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and Happy Hanukkah.
Love always, Genoa
I went to a turtle farm in Grand Cayman on Monday. They raise green sea turtles. The conditions aren't the best, but they release some of them and the rest are consumed (bad), but at least they aren't taking them from the ocean anymore (good). Anyway, the babies were about 6 inches long, and I saw one beast at least 5 feet long, and that was just his shell! It was so awesome to see them. The midsized ones are in a tank where you can pick them up. Some of them squirmed too much, and I let them go, but the ones who would take it got Genoa hugs. I can't wait to see the pictures.
Yesterday I went cave tubing in Belize. Fifty passengers and I took a bus an hour and a half to a rain forest. We donned our life vests and hiked, carrying our inter-tubes, about 45 minutes. It started to rain very hard. I mean HUGE raindrops! Pouring. Cats and dogs. This San Diego native has rarely seen precipitation like this. Then it let up, and someone ahead of me on the trail sang, "The other day." So I, recognizing the repeat song, responded, "The other day." We began to sing the song about an interaction with a bear, until he didn't know the next line, so I sang, and he responded. It was cool, singing along with some guy I couldn't even see. When we got to the top of the cave system, we got in the water on our tubes, with flash lights affixed by elastic to our foreheads. We entered the caves at a lazy pace (no rapids here), and more than one person was inspired to sing, "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me." (For those of you who don't recognize that, it's the theme song for Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride. That's what it looked like inside.) At one point, someone yelled, "Lights out!" and we all turned 'em out and floated in pitch blackness. The caves are spacious, and we saw fruit bats on the ceiling and cool formations all around. Someone also sang, "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall," and the rest of us continued with the rest of the line. It was a great group of people, as might be evident. When we got out of the water, we were fed a local dish, then we took the bus back to the pier.
Today, I met up with my very good friend David, whose ship was also in Cozumel today. We went to Playa Del Carmen by ferry with a few other youth counselors, which is mainland Mexico (Central America, neat). The beach was beautiful, and when we got back to Cozumel, I picked up my clean, folded laundry from a laundromat (oh what luxuries one appreciates when away from home).
One of my favorite parts of living on a ship is having a room steward. I tip Iran (from Jamaica) $10 a week and every day he makes my bed, takes out the trash, cleans the bathroom, vacuums, replaces my towels, toilet paper and kleenex, and he changes my sheets weekly. I love this service! And they call this work?!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and Happy Hanukkah.
Love always, Genoa
11/19/02: It's Not Sunny on the Sun
Everything's going great here. My new lead is awesome, and the three of us youth counselors get along great. We'll get Thanksgiving seasonal youth counselors next week. The kids room is so cool. I'll have to take some pictures of it filled with monkeys (my term of endearment for wild children). There was a huge storm, and we sailed all day yesterday instead of going to Grand Cayman. The seas were really rough, and even I of strong constitution felt a bit green. People were getting sick (one child on the table and herself), so we moved midship to the library. Think about a teeter totter - it's calmer in the middle. The waves move you in a figure eight. When laying in bed, your body moves left/down, up, right/down, up. It's cool, but you lose your balance when walking a lot. Last week in Roatan on the taxi ride back from Tabyana beach, I saw all kinds of interesting stuff. Roatan is a Bay Island 36 miles off the coast of Honduras, and part of that country. It's third world, and the children's first English is "one dollar?" I saw a mama dog with sagging teats flopping beneath her. A group of young and presumably mother cows meandering along the road. Lots of houses, many made of cinder blocks, on stilts to guard against the tides and storms. There were baby waves about 100 feet out, but the water came all the way in to the porches. There were unpaved roads and shoeless children waving to us. I saw an abandoned bus and canoe along the road. There are handmade docks with palm-thatched roofs. Some passengers feel bad for these people, but not me. They have family loyalty and support that many never know, and they don't know much about our privileges. I think it's neat to see such a different lifestyle, and I think it's really important for our passengers to see it. Things are going well here. We're in Roatan today, but it's rainy, so I'm going to the gym with my lead, Laura. We'll hit Belize tomorrow, but it's not supposed to be nice until Cozumel on Thursday. Maybe next week. I love the sunshine, but the storms are cool, too. It's like rainy day schedule at school. The teachers have to work more, but it's a break from routine, which I get a kick out of.
Love always, Genoa
Love always, Genoa
11/16/02: It's Raining, It's Pouring
I've been stuck in the immigration process for hours, so I have scarce little time until I have to work. All is great here. I spent as much time this past week with an old friend who was here as I could. He left today for another ship. Huge bummer. I'm sitting at a computer in the Seamans' center in Miami, and I heard a weird noise coming from all around suddenly. It's POURING outside. I love this stuff! I'm going to walk through it as I return to the ship. My roommate is the wardrobe girl for the dancers. Her name is Caroline. She's British and very nice. She even let me have the bottom bunk. My lead was very meticulous and particular, and she'd talk your ear off, but she left today. The kids korner is huge and great. I went scuba diving in Cozumel and we saw a plane wreck. I'm in such a rush, but I'll try to email again soon.
Love always, Genoa
Love always, Genoa
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