Cruise 5 of 14: June 20 - 27th

Cruise 5 of 14: June 20 - 27th

Wednesday June 20th: Vancouver, B.C.

This morning I handled debarkation on the gangway starting at 7:30am. I didn’t mind as I am then able to get off the ship until my shift at 2:00pm. After saying goodbye to the passengers I changed clothes and went out into bustling Vancouver. It was partly sunny and in the low 70’s.
I walked up Howe St. to the mall and discovered an Orange Julius! I love their 3 Berry Blast and after last week needed a pick me up. After enjoying my smoothie I continued walking around and saw the local art museum, some native indians residing in Vancouver were also having a sidewalk sale of their handmade items. It was relaxing and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the city until it was time to return to the ship to get ready to work gangway at 2:00pm.

The kids tonight were quite hyper and excited to be on the ship, but different than last week’s kids. Two of our girls are Jewish and keep strict Kosher, so that will be interesting to see how we handle their food restrictions and such. I know some details of kosher, but not the specifics in depth. The younger of the two is adorable and very shy, the older is very much a show off and bossy. I think we’ll get along fine though, at heart she is a kid and just wants people to like her.

Thursday June 21st: First Sea Day

The seas today were relatively calm and the weather was nice and sunny and fairly warm for cruising at 19 kts per hour. We took the kids out on the sports court and they played tag for 2 full hours before we brought them back in. It was nice to get them out and running around.

I’ve been napping a lot due to being sick, but thankfully after naps I’m able to keep on going. With only two of us on staff I can’t stay home sick and recover, but God’s grace is sufficient and He strengthens me with just what I need for that shift to do a good job in that moment. I never have more than what I need, but I am thankful to receive just enough. It forces me to look to Him as my source of strength and remember not to rely on myself.

For our theme night tonight we had spy night. With a fairly decent amount of kids showing up we decided to split the group and send the older kids around the ship in a team and the younger ones stayed together with Liz and went around the ship looking for the same clues, but with her help they finished much sooner than the older ones. :)

Because of the high numbers and only 2 staff we decided this week to have only movies again for the teens, but unlike last week we are running the movies from 8-10pm to coincide with our Club HAL kids hours instead of during their regular 9-12am hours. This allows both Liz and myself to get home at a more decent hour instead of close to 1am each day.

Liz has now caught the bug as well as my roommate. I feel terrible to be spreading my germs, but there’s nothing I can do about it when I work and live with them so closely. I only hope they start feeling better really soon.

Friday June 22nd: Tracy Arm and Juneau, AK

Today we had a mandatory all crew customs inspection. Each department had a specified time to show up and present themselves to the custom’s officials. I got in line at 2:30pm and was done in about 10 minutes. When I got to the front of the line the agent stares you down and asks “Where are you from”, “What do you do on the ship” etc. and are somewhat intimidating. When I got to the front and said I was currently from Milwaukee, WI the agent sitting next to my “interrogator” breaks out in a big grin and says “I’m from Steven’s Point!!!”. We chatted briefly and my agent shoos me away without any other questions. I guess the other agent was vouching for my honesty! :)
No crew shore leave was granted until the conclusion of the inspection (at least 4 pm) so I decided to change into my “going ashore” clothes and take a quick nap. That was around 3 pm and I got up around 6:45 pm in time to change into my Camp Night theme wear and get upstairs around 7 pm.

So much for Juneau this week. I’m unfortunately too sick to care about getting off the ship right now.

Saturday June 23rd: Skagway, AK

I slept in this morning until 9 am and then we had a General Drill where I had to grab my lifejacket and prepare to “save the children”! Save them I did and then thankfully our Cruise Director remembered to send us to our rafts so that we didn’t go down with the ship! :) Our new captain was involved in the drill and all the crew surrounding me were astounded at how hand’s on he is. I think it’s great. He actually eats meals with the fellow crew, greets guests on the gangway during embarkation, and is highly visible around the ship. It really is a boost for crew morale as he is a very nice man and always smiles and waves at the crew.

After the drill I was tired but decided to get off the ship anyway to get a little fresh air and exercise after being cooped up since Vancouver, but really since Ketchikan. I walked on the main road towards the edge of town and stopped at the store “You say To-ma(e)-to we say To-ma(a)-to” - parenthesis added by me to help you know what it sounds like. They have great juices there and I bought a Raspberry, blueberry, lime juice bottle. It tastes like tart lemonade and I love it. It is all natural and chock full of antioxidants which I feel I need right now as well so it was well worth the expense.

I walked out of town as far as my legs could carry me and I stopped often along the way to capture wildflowers at their best. I’m running out of things to photograph, so this week I mainly shot flowers. I really enjoyed the time I spent shooting them. It has also been overcast here the past couple of weeks and today was no exception, so perfect soft lighting for shooting flowers. Landscapes and scenery are best on sunny days, but portraits and detail shots are great on bright overcast days.

Coming back in to town I called home as soon as I had a strong enough signal. The wind was proving to be to much for my poor phone so I walked as fast as I could and eventually stopped behind a 2 story building and finished the rest of my conversation in a bit of shelter from the wind.

After arriving back to town it was pretty close to the time I needed to be getting back on to get ready for Country Carnival night but I missed dinner because it was after six pm, so I stopped at my favorite deli in town and ordered a BLT to go and enjoyed it thoroughly on my freezing cold, atrociously windy walk through Skagway. The tide had come in by the time I returned to the gangway and so getting on the ship was interesting. It was blowing about 22 kts and the incline of the gangway was almost literally up and down. The stewards that kindly ask you to wash your hands upon returning to the ship were actually helping to boost people going up the ramp. My immediate thought was...why didn’t they simply open the tender platform entrance on A Deck and put the gangway there as we did in Victoria each week last summer??? It would have made too much sense I guess. Hopefully no one suffered too much stress climbing the steep ramp. Yikes!

Country Carnival was a success and the kids really loved face painting. We got a new boy tonight named Chris and he is a really fun kid. I’m glad he joined us, but his initial reaction to the group of kids was, “wow these kids are wild”. Yep, they are wild, but thankfully nice wild rather than naughty wild like last week.

Sunday June 24th: Glacier Bay National Park

Today it rained AGAIN in Glacier Bay. I really wish I could have seen the sun even once this summer in this place. It was actually so yucky today that the clouds hung about 13 feet above the water so until we got right up to the glaciers you couldn’t even see anything but the water and the bottom of the rocks at the base of the mountains. Too bad for the guests that don’t get multiple takes like me, this was their one opportunity and it was once again yucky.

Our Hoonah Cultural Interpreter this week was new and had NEVER talked to a group before about her culture. The supervisor thought our kids would be a safe way to start her career, but the poor girl was so nervous she completely clammed up and couldn’t remember anything she wanted to talk about. I felt so bad for her I kept asking her very leading questions, while looking inquisitive so the kids wouldn’t catch on, to help her remember things they’d be interesting in hearing about. :) She apologized later and thanked me for my interaction. She said that I probably actually knew more about her culture than she did at the moment but was hoping to do better as she got more practice.

We took the little ones out on the sports court to watch the calving of Marjorie and of course their attention span was about 2 minutes. So then they started running around playing tag. That was totally fine, but all of a sudden I heard a really loud boom and wondered what it was. One of the little boys grabbed my arm and said “Look there’s an avalanche over there!” Of course it was Marjorie calving big time and I missed it as I had been watching the kids. I’m so glad that he saw it though as he had told his mom that morning it was the one thing he wanted to see on this cruise specifically. That was pretty cool for him and for him to see it first made him feel really proud too. :)

The afternoon went well. We sent the older kids out on a couple of scavenger hunts and they did really well together, as there were only 4 of them and I split the boys and girls into 1 each per group.

Tonight we had movie night and the request was for the latest Disney/Pixar flick “Cars”. It’s a very cute movie and I highly recommend it for kids and adults alike. It has good messages for all ages in it.

After we finished cleaning up at 11 pm I dashed down to the Queen’s room for the International Christian Fellowship meeting. I had been invited my first week on board but hadn’t made it previously for various reasons from seasickness to after hours babysitting. I am so glad that I went. I realized that most of the really sweet guys that work in the Lido restaurant are believers and now they know that I am as well. They were so surprised but excited to see me there. It was so great to actually spend time in prayer and singing with other christians. Some of the guest were there as well and one of the guests was a Baptist minister and he gave an impromptu message. We had such a great time together. I am really looking forward to next week, hopefully I’ll be able to attend.

Most of the crew there were Indonesian and then there was a girl from Austria that works in the Spa and the Security Officer Norm and his wife Moira. The group used to be called the Indonesian Christian Fellowship until we all started showing up and now they sing in English for us and encourage us to bring any others that are believers regardless of nationality. Unfortunately I don’t know any other believers, which is why I’m so thankful to have met these people.

Monday June 25th: Ketchikan, AK

Ahh Ketchikan. It was at its best today bestowing liquid sunshine on all who came to visit. Just sprinkles though, nothing serious. I needed to get off the ship today and get some exercise, I’m once again eating way too much because it is so readily available (and I have absolutely no willpower - one of the exact reasons I’ve never tried alcohol) so I need to burn a few calories.

I walked once again all the way to Saxman Totem Village, taking pictures along the way of various wildflowers and such. It is so interesting to see the impact that the wet rain forest climate has on the structures in that city. The buildings rot so quickly and demolition is too expensive so things just become abandoned where they collapse. It’s really sad. There used to be several major business operations in Ketchikan that have since closed causing many families to relocate to other islands or the lower 48. There isn’t really any landfill in Ketchikan either for old cars and scrap metal so people tend to accumulate it in their yards. Both Ketchikan and Skagway both look run down and cluttered with junk when you go to the areas where people actually live (getting away from the glitzed up tourist areas).

The totem village was nice, I didn’t spend much time there though as my taxi driver a few weeks back had done such a nice job narrating about the poles for me. I actually knew more from that driver than I learned today. It was a good walk though and so I decided to also walk back to town. By the time I got back to town I was cold and tired so I decided to get back on the ship and take a nap before work at 7 pm.

Even though our kids have been separating for some of our activities we joined together tonight for pirate night. Most of the regulars are 8 and 9 years old and they love to play, so I knew they’d want to be pirates more than do a scavenger hunt again. They did indeed love being pirates and we had a fun evening with them.

Tuesday June 26th: Last Sea Day

The seas weren’t as rough this week as they were last week, so I had my faithful buddy Chris come running to Club HAL right at 9 am. Liz and I were shocked. We never have kids the last day until around 10:20 am and therefore we actually never intend to actually DO the activities scheduled prior to that. We had to get out the supplies and conduct the activity when, after losing an hour the night before, all I really wanted to do was veg and watch cartoons like usual. My cough has gotten very thick and my throat is very sore. I have been getting steadily worse these past couple of weeks and I don’t have the energy to do much of anything.

The day went smoothly over all and the night ended without a hitch. Funny enough, this week Liz was expecting tips from several of the different families and we were only tipped by the one family we never would have thought would do so - you just never know. I was grateful for the bit of extra that came my way as I’ve spent more time on the internet this week while not feeling well. Some people eat chocolate when not feeling perky, I surf the web. So it was well received and appreciated.

Oh, NEWS. We finally have an additional crew member coming to join us in Club HAL next cruise. His name is Steve and he’s worked on this ship before, so we are looking forward to having a functional teen program again. :) Hopefully we’ll get another staff member before too long so that there can be 2 in the kids room instead of just one. Next week our kid count goes over 100 so we won’t even be legal as HAL’s policy is 1 for every 30 kids (crazy I know).

I have late gangway tomorrow so I’m planning to get off in Vancouver and wander back up to Orange Julius. With my throat feeling this sore that’s the only thing that sounds good to me.

Hopefully I’ll be feeling better soon, but again God has given me just the exact amount of strength that I’ve needed for each and every day and I feel blessed.

I hope that you have been blessed this week as well.
'Til next week,
T