Cease and Desist

The adventures of Carol Brown, representing Norwegian Cruise Line on a 6-month mission on the open sea to train the crew, explore new ports, seek new friends and experiences, and to boldly go where she has not gone before.

Cruise date: April 18, 2012 (Miami, Florida)

As you can probably tell, I’ve stopped writing this blog. Not because there isn’t really great stuff to share about ship-life and my role as a Training Specialist but because of the following three things:

First, the internet on the ship is very slow which means that uploading anything takes forever. And when you have to pay to use the internet, it can get very expensive to maintain a daily blog. A shoutout of thanks goes to my son Caileb who posted almost all the previous blogs for me!

Second, I plan to turn my adventures as a Training Specialist and newbie to shiplife into a book. There really is lots of great stuff that I haven’t shared with y’all yet and I want you to buy my book when it gets published. I’ll start pulling it together later this year after my next contract expires in October and hopefully will publish next year.

Third, I’ve tried to protect Norwegian Cruise Line and my fellow crew mates in my postings but it seems there are some privacy policies that I have to review more closely or I may get sued, at least while I work for Norwegian. So after this adventure is over, I’ll publish the book in consultation with a really good lawyer.

So here’s what I can tell you since my last posting.

There is a guy though none of the ones mentioned previously. His name is Jose Jimenez Moses. He’s 34 and from Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua. He is passionate, as all Spanish men are, and speaks like a Jamaican with a Spanish accent. He calls it Creole. We did meet on the Star though he had to pursue me for months since I wouldn’t give him the time of day because of his age…he’s 12 years my junior so I guess that makes me a cougar! I can see you all doing the math! We are planning to get married and I’ll move to live there with him later this year. He’s got a number of great business ideas that we’ll pursue though he’s a fisherman at heart. We are both on the Spirit and the envy of everyone on the ship! My relationship with him has sparked a number of blog ideas so watch for some new ones.

As I said, we are on the Norwegian Spirit this contract. It and its management are very different from what it was on the Star. While I like the Spirit and have some new friends, I miss the Star and will always consider it home. Like on the Star, I avoid the Captain though for very different reasons. I’m gonna leave it at that…you can read about it in my book!

People on the Spirit are not as friendly as on the Star though they are nice enough. On the Star my best friends were from the casino, spa, musicians and the medical centre. On the Spirit, I don’t really have any friends (honestly Jose takes up most of my time) except for a woman from hotel utility, my fellow Training Specialist and the former Cruise Consultant who was also a fellow Canadian. It is always nice to bump into folks I knew on the Star. The reception is always so warm and homey. That is why it is important to be nice to people…you never know when they will cross your path again.

The Spirit is going to Europe. To be specific:

Civitavecchia, Italy
Naples, Italy
Mykonos, Greece
Istanbul, Turkey
Piraeus, Greece
Venice, Italy
Izmir, Turkey
Livorna, Italy
Toulon, France
Barcelona, Spain

This is my first trip to Europe and I am so excited! I finally get to see some of the places I’ve always wanted and the bonus is that I get to see it with my sweetheart! My daughter gets to travel with me for 2-weeks in May and this is the icing on huge yummy cake! Jose and I had hoped to get married in one of the ports such as Venice or Mykonos but there seems to be too many restrictions. We’ll wait until we sign-off ship in October and get married in Nicaragua.

This voyage comes to an end in October 2012. But new adventures are just beyond the horizon. I hope you’ll join me.