the blog

Departures and Drips

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.

Carol’s log: Cruise Date: May 26, 2011 (Prince Rupert)

Our new training program is going great. Laarni and I are a well oiled machine and the training is fun and flowing. We’ve done 5 sessions now and have planned our sessions for the next week.

Jude leaves today. We spend her last hour together. I help her with her luggage and to do her final duties onboard the Star. She’s going back to her real job onboard the Silver something ship. She was only a reliever for our spa manager’s vacation. I’ll miss having a girlfriend onboard.

I decide to have dinner in the Aqua after getting an invitation from Floyd. He is a senior waiter and he likes me. He invites me to come to dinner and he’ll take care of me only when I get to the restaurant I’m not seated in his section but in David’s. All the Black men who work in the Aqua come by to see how I’m doing and to offer suggestions as to what I should eat. Floyd hangs back. I eat pineapple chicken, a tomato bisque, pan seared sea-trout with risotto and for dessert a flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. Delicious!

Gangway duty tonight sees me standing in the rain. Security guard Parma offers me her coat with a hood and soon I’m warmer and drier. Her offer comes a bit too late though because I can feel that I’m already getting sick. I head back to my cabin only to realize that I’ve locked my key card inside. I have to find someone from Security to let me in. There is paperwork to be completed and I feel silly until I see Laarni’s name on the sheet just ahead of mine.

Once back in my cabin, I take a long warm shower and climb into bed. I awake in the night to a dripping sound but can’t find the source. I go back to sleep.

The voyage continues…