A much needed update...

Wow… It has been a while since I have written and I have now officially been told by 2 different folks that I need to update things… So I guess I have been told!

In many ways, the lack of writing has been a result of feeling very much in a routine. Sounds a bit odd and perhaps pretentious, but waking up each morning in a new country has become the norm. I think the even stranger part of it all being the phone calls I get from friends about going out ~ ‘we’re in Stockholm tomorrow. Wanna grab a coffee?’ or ‘It’s Helsinki. Gotta get nylons and go to the Post Office.’

We are in St. Petersburg tonight, which means that the sky never really ever gets dark. So they are taking the bar upstairs to the open air tonight which will be amazing provided it doesn’t rain! We attempted this last week only to get all of the alcohol and equipment moved up there and realized that it was starting to rain. The thunder and lightening was quite spectacular though as it had been some time since I have seen a good storm.

There have been a number of ‘parties’ going on ~ big one to note was the Canada Day party. With close to 100 Canadians on board, there was quite the contingent coming out to celebrate. Oddly enough, we didn’t seem to know many of the founding facts, but were a fiercely proud group as the theme to Hockey night in Canada played and the group then launched into the anthem. Unfortunately that was about the only good music that was played that evening, however the crowds remained, alcohol sales were high and despite giving away a lot of Canadian beer, the sales for the evening were shy by $16 of the top night over the past month. Man, do we drink a lot!

In preparation for the event, we had decided that we wanted to make a video about why people love Canada. Great concept ~ many people, and I put myself at the top of the list ~ do not need to be on camera. Much to my shock and horror, I found that they decided to play this 17minute segment 24hrs a day for 4 days leading up to the big day… Ya, know it takes a bit to face your audience after the show. Don’t know how folks do it, but I definitely think I will be sticking to my day job. But here are a few photos from the evening...











This cruise is the last cruise with Akis. He will be leaving just after the next embarkation to head to another ship. I can honestly say that I have loved having him here. The past 2 months have flown by and we have had a lot of laughs, some tears and some lessons learned. He is now heading out to do the Alaskan run out of Seattle. We have been going out in each port to check out the sights one last time.

I know that my life is definitely going to be different with George back. Time with Akis has flown by and I realize that I have less than 2 months left on my contract ~ 4 more cruises after this one… That in itself is a bit scary as the current plan has me coming back to this ship to take over as the DSM (George/Akis’ job) for 2 months in November/December when George is next on vacation. I am left scratching my head wondering how it is that I ended up in a spot where they wanted to promote me with the responsibilities. Wasn’t this suppose to be a job where I was able to give that to someone else and relax a bit?!?

Photos from the final cruise with Akis to come… Stay tuned.