the blog

Seattle, oh I love you !

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 21, 2011 (Seattle)

Ahh Seattle! I love this city! I love that I can walk to Pike’s Market from the pier. I love that most of what I might want to access is in walking distance from the pier—great food, a pharmacy, bookstores, clothing stores, attractions, everything. But today, I take a taxi to Best Buy because I need to get my personal computer fixed. The taxi costs me $40 but my driver Navtej is willing to come back and pick me up.

Best Buy is just opening so I am one of the first few people in the store. The Black Tie squad attempts to bring up my file but can’t because the records are Canadian. I tell them the problem that I can’t turn it on and he gives me the bad news that they will have to send the computer away for repair and it won’t be back for at least 3 weeks. There will be a cost he says because they can’t verify my warranty. I decide not to go this route. I’ll send the computer home and the boys can take it to Best Buy for repair. Then, one of them can have use of it until I get back. I now need to buy a new one. I choose a Gateway netbook only because it is inexpensive and comes complete with Norton Anti Virus protection and MS office 2010. A real deal at $199US. Computer in hand I check out the rest of the mall and find my way into Old Navy to buy some warmer clothes and those undershirts I want. I spend another $30US for 4 undershirts, 2 hoodies and 2 long sleeve shirts. I’m good to hand out in Alaska now. I ring Navtej and he delivers me back to the Star. A couple of hours well spent. I love Seattle!

This trip to Seattle was to include meeting up with Tanya and Klodyne again but Tanya had to work and Klodyne and I missed each other. I didn’t receive Klodyne’s text until I was back on the ship and getting ready to deliver the safety exam to the returning crew. I spoke with Tanya and she explained that she was on call because her boss is out-of-town but that she and Donnie, her husband, would see me in Seattle on June 4^th. They will have a car so we’ll be real tourists and I’ll get to see so much more of this beautiful city. I can’t wait!

I’m starting to remember more people’s names. It feels good to call them by their names just as they call me by mine. I don’t have any real friends yet and I often eat my meals alone but I use it as thinking time so I don’t really mind. What I do mind is not having someone to talk to about stuff and to just hang out with. Often, once work is done, I wander around the ship alone. That isn’t much fun so I end up just going to my cabin and to bed. There don’t seem to be a lot of women my age and everyone seems to have their cache of friends already. I could hang out with some of the men but I’m cautious as to how that might look. As an officer, I have to safeguard my image because people are always watching and judging. This was stressed when I was Miami. So my mission is to find a friend to hang out. I’ll let you know how that goes.

The voyage continues…