Hello! It's been a few days, and thought I'd better post an update. Not a lot has happened as we've been at sea with only one port stop in Punta Arenas - I was unable to get off the ship in this port.
We went to Cape Horn, unfortunately I wasn't feeling too well from the rough seas, so I slept through most of it. I only got upstairs to take a couple of pictures as we were leaving. I wasn't able to see any glaciers there. From here we traveled to Punta Arenas where unfortunately I only had 3 hours between shifts which was not enough time to leave the ship as we were tendered rather than docked, and the tender was very far from shore. Even if I had more time I probably wouldn't have gone as the seas were so rough that they actually had to stop the tender boats for about 2 hours in the afternoon. I would NOT have enjoyed that!
From Punta Arenas we traveled through the straight of Magellin where I was finally able to see a Glacier (pictures later - I know, I know - soon!) It was very beautiful traveling here and not very rough as we were protected by islands - I think I spent about an hour on deck 4 going outside and back in (It was cold and I didn't have a sweater) taking LOTS of pictures.
Today we traveled through the Chilean Fjords, unfortunately again I only got to get out to see them as we were leaving as I was working all afternoon. I will definitely have to come back here someday so that I can see more of these towns and the places we travel past.
Tomorrow we will travel to Puerto Montt, Chile - our second to last stop before we complete this cruise in Valparisio. I will have 5 hours between shifts and even though it is a tender again I should be able to get off the ship for an hour or 2 - I hope so as I need to buy a couple of things!
Tonight the HR department is hosting a special Easter Dinner upstairs in the buffet for all of the crew - usually most of the crew is not allowed upstairs to eat in the passenger areas but because of Easter, they will be allowed tonight - although it doesn't start until 11:30!!!!
Talk to you all soon!
Miss you!
Love
Tabitha
Travel Map
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The End of the World...
Good Day from as close to the end of the world as I can reach! I am currently just a couple hundred nautical miles from Cape horn, as well as only around 400 nautical miles from antarctica! It's crazy, this is not something I ever imagined.
Well to update you on dinner, it was great! I only had one glass of wine with dinner as I was worried about more wind last night and I did not want to be dehydrated! But no worries, it was not windy enough for me to get seasick! Hopefully I am over that now - please keep your fingers crossed for me!
My mother asked me today what exactly do I do on the ship? So I will tell everyone as I'm sure some of you are wondering. My title on the ship is Junior Purser, and I work the in the bank mostly. In the bank we exchange money for guests (and crew) Give the guests smaller change so they can tip the crew, and the crew bigger bills so they don't have all $1 bills...It's a great circle...We also help guests with their accounts, they can pay their bills at the bank, as well as make deposits and get account statements. Those of you at ACD and CH will think this is funny - there are NO training documents, so less than 1 week on the job, I am already writing documentation!!!! My life is documentation!!! LOL! We also have some special duties, we assist our supervisor the guest account purser in some of her duties, so far mostly just reviewing and matching accounting records. We also assist the payroll department with stuff envelopes full of cash for paying the crew, and giving out the envelopes to the crew (big day for me on the 28th as I will help with that for the first time). There is also assistance to the documentation purser on embarkation day in assisting to collect passenger passports and other documents. There is definitely some busy times during payroll and the last day of the cruise when guests are settling their accounts, but during the middle of the cruise it can be quite quiet so I will have to start asking for more work - I don't like not being busy!
Thursday and Friday of this week were 2 days at sea, so I spent most of my time working and sleeping, but today we stopped in the Ushuaia port, which is the southern most town in the world. It is a small town, but cute, it has a nice main street with some good BBQ restaurants, I didn't want to take that much time to eat though, so I just ate quickly so I could take more photos! I took some photos of the harbour and the town. The mountains here are very pretty and remind me a little bit of Bella Coola, I enjoyed my time here even though it was only 2 hours.
So tommorrow on Easter Sunday we will travel to Cape Horn, we will not be able to get off the ship, it is just cruising past it, before heading to the next port - our first port in Chile - Sorry can't remember the name of it, I will know it next time I post. I am very excited to see Cape Horn and to take some photos. As well as some other islands here at the southern tip of South America!
Okay, again I promise, pictures will come soon!
Talk to you soon!
Miss you!
Love,
Tabitha
Well to update you on dinner, it was great! I only had one glass of wine with dinner as I was worried about more wind last night and I did not want to be dehydrated! But no worries, it was not windy enough for me to get seasick! Hopefully I am over that now - please keep your fingers crossed for me!
My mother asked me today what exactly do I do on the ship? So I will tell everyone as I'm sure some of you are wondering. My title on the ship is Junior Purser, and I work the in the bank mostly. In the bank we exchange money for guests (and crew) Give the guests smaller change so they can tip the crew, and the crew bigger bills so they don't have all $1 bills...It's a great circle...We also help guests with their accounts, they can pay their bills at the bank, as well as make deposits and get account statements. Those of you at ACD and CH will think this is funny - there are NO training documents, so less than 1 week on the job, I am already writing documentation!!!! My life is documentation!!! LOL! We also have some special duties, we assist our supervisor the guest account purser in some of her duties, so far mostly just reviewing and matching accounting records. We also assist the payroll department with stuff envelopes full of cash for paying the crew, and giving out the envelopes to the crew (big day for me on the 28th as I will help with that for the first time). There is also assistance to the documentation purser on embarkation day in assisting to collect passenger passports and other documents. There is definitely some busy times during payroll and the last day of the cruise when guests are settling their accounts, but during the middle of the cruise it can be quite quiet so I will have to start asking for more work - I don't like not being busy!
Thursday and Friday of this week were 2 days at sea, so I spent most of my time working and sleeping, but today we stopped in the Ushuaia port, which is the southern most town in the world. It is a small town, but cute, it has a nice main street with some good BBQ restaurants, I didn't want to take that much time to eat though, so I just ate quickly so I could take more photos! I took some photos of the harbour and the town. The mountains here are very pretty and remind me a little bit of Bella Coola, I enjoyed my time here even though it was only 2 hours.
So tommorrow on Easter Sunday we will travel to Cape Horn, we will not be able to get off the ship, it is just cruising past it, before heading to the next port - our first port in Chile - Sorry can't remember the name of it, I will know it next time I post. I am very excited to see Cape Horn and to take some photos. As well as some other islands here at the southern tip of South America!
Okay, again I promise, pictures will come soon!
Talk to you soon!
Miss you!
Love,
Tabitha
Friday, March 21, 2008
Puerto Madryn & Seasickness...
Hello! Well I have had a couple of eventful days here on board and off. I was able to get off the Ship in Puerto Madryn 2 days ago (Argentina). It's not a very exciting city, no great architecture, but we were able to see a nice long beach (photo's coming soon), as well there were a lot of shipwrecked boats on the shore rusting away (photo's coming!). We didn't have long so we did not get a chance to go very far. We had a really nice lunch - I had VERY good Argentinian beef tacos. It was so tasty! In Puerto Madryn you can take tours to see the penguins, but it's far to go, so we did not have enough time. Maybe another time!
Yesterday and today are days at sea. Yesterday it was rather rough due to high winds, so when I woke up in the morning, I was seasick. I took a seasick pill, and was able to miss work and training to go back to bed, and I slept for 3 hours, and rested for another 2. I felt well enough to go back to work last night. And after work I met up with my co-workers in the Financial controllers room for a drink. He has a very nice room! Then we went to the crew bar for one more drink, and I was back in bed at 2am and didn't have to work until 10am today.
We had a special lunch today because we reached a good rating from the last cruise from the guests, usually in South America they get a rating of about 235 out of 300 because they are harder to please down here. But last cruise they got 263, which is the best, so they made us a special lunch (lucky me!). Tonight our Financial Controller will take us for dinner in the Casual Dining room, and we will get a nice dinner and some wine again.
Anyways, not much else to report today. Tomorrow we will go to Ushuaia and I should be able to leave the ship for a couple of hours again.
Talk to you all soon!
Tabs
Yesterday and today are days at sea. Yesterday it was rather rough due to high winds, so when I woke up in the morning, I was seasick. I took a seasick pill, and was able to miss work and training to go back to bed, and I slept for 3 hours, and rested for another 2. I felt well enough to go back to work last night. And after work I met up with my co-workers in the Financial controllers room for a drink. He has a very nice room! Then we went to the crew bar for one more drink, and I was back in bed at 2am and didn't have to work until 10am today.
We had a special lunch today because we reached a good rating from the last cruise from the guests, usually in South America they get a rating of about 235 out of 300 because they are harder to please down here. But last cruise they got 263, which is the best, so they made us a special lunch (lucky me!). Tonight our Financial Controller will take us for dinner in the Casual Dining room, and we will get a nice dinner and some wine again.
Anyways, not much else to report today. Tomorrow we will go to Ushuaia and I should be able to leave the ship for a couple of hours again.
Talk to you all soon!
Tabs
Monday, March 17, 2008
Hola From the Waters near Uruguay!
Hello! I have now found our internet cafe on board the ship, and have so much to update you on!
My luggage was found! Yeah!!! It arrived on the ship about 4 hours before we sailed so that is good news, I've heard from others that they have gone up to 3 weeks without their luggage! I could not handle that!
We arrived on the ship on Saturday morning, had a couple of training sessions during that day, and I met my supervisor, our CFO, and a few other staff in my department. I found out that my position is an officer position so that is what gives me the extra privledges within the passenger areas of the ship! And I'm so glad! The food in the mess is okay, but not much selection! Stacy, sometimes the salad sucks! So there is a nice Salad bar in the buffett that I will make my first choice! Unfortunately, passengers get the right of way, so if it is busy we cannot eat there.
I haven't met too many others yet as I've been busy working and doing lots of training, I think so far I have been in 6 hours of training, and I have at least 4 more hours this week - I think there would be more but one of the people training is away for vacation and back for the next cruise, so I think there will be a lot more in the next cruise.
The ship is nice, very big, it was hard getting around at first and there are still some places I don't know how to find yet, but everyone is very helpful.
So far on our voyage we have left Buenos Aires, and traveled to Montevideo & Punta Del Este (both in Uruguay), unfortunately with the training I have had, I was not able to get off the ship in either port. I did see them from the ship and I definitely want to visit. Montevideo is very old, and has amazing architecture! There was this beautiful building right outside the window I was looking through and I really wanted to go take pictures - but I couldn't - now I do know that as long as I am in uniform, I can go around the ship with my camera to take photos of places we see even if I cannot get off the ship because of time problems. Punta del Este is very much a beach resort type town, there was a long beach with hotels, and right behind was the jungle - it looks quite flat there, but I would imagine there is a lot to see - we were only tendered in Punta del Este so I was not able to get up close to view - if we had been docked I could have left the ship for an hour today, but with tendering it takes nearly 30 minutes each way on the boat, so I could not get off the ship.
I think I will have time to get off the ship in our next Port Puerto Madryn, Agentina, as my schedule will have a break in the afternoon. Hopefully then I can take photos! I do have a few photos from Buenos Aires, but have not been able to post yet - still have to find out how to connect using my laptop - plus using their computers is much cheaper - only $.08 per minute! I will post pictures as soon as I figure things out.
Anyways, it's getting later and I have to go have a rest before I head out for the St Paddy's day party!
Talk to you all soon!
Tabs
My luggage was found! Yeah!!! It arrived on the ship about 4 hours before we sailed so that is good news, I've heard from others that they have gone up to 3 weeks without their luggage! I could not handle that!
We arrived on the ship on Saturday morning, had a couple of training sessions during that day, and I met my supervisor, our CFO, and a few other staff in my department. I found out that my position is an officer position so that is what gives me the extra privledges within the passenger areas of the ship! And I'm so glad! The food in the mess is okay, but not much selection! Stacy, sometimes the salad sucks! So there is a nice Salad bar in the buffett that I will make my first choice! Unfortunately, passengers get the right of way, so if it is busy we cannot eat there.
I haven't met too many others yet as I've been busy working and doing lots of training, I think so far I have been in 6 hours of training, and I have at least 4 more hours this week - I think there would be more but one of the people training is away for vacation and back for the next cruise, so I think there will be a lot more in the next cruise.
The ship is nice, very big, it was hard getting around at first and there are still some places I don't know how to find yet, but everyone is very helpful.
So far on our voyage we have left Buenos Aires, and traveled to Montevideo & Punta Del Este (both in Uruguay), unfortunately with the training I have had, I was not able to get off the ship in either port. I did see them from the ship and I definitely want to visit. Montevideo is very old, and has amazing architecture! There was this beautiful building right outside the window I was looking through and I really wanted to go take pictures - but I couldn't - now I do know that as long as I am in uniform, I can go around the ship with my camera to take photos of places we see even if I cannot get off the ship because of time problems. Punta del Este is very much a beach resort type town, there was a long beach with hotels, and right behind was the jungle - it looks quite flat there, but I would imagine there is a lot to see - we were only tendered in Punta del Este so I was not able to get up close to view - if we had been docked I could have left the ship for an hour today, but with tendering it takes nearly 30 minutes each way on the boat, so I could not get off the ship.
I think I will have time to get off the ship in our next Port Puerto Madryn, Agentina, as my schedule will have a break in the afternoon. Hopefully then I can take photos! I do have a few photos from Buenos Aires, but have not been able to post yet - still have to find out how to connect using my laptop - plus using their computers is much cheaper - only $.08 per minute! I will post pictures as soon as I figure things out.
Anyways, it's getting later and I have to go have a rest before I head out for the St Paddy's day party!
Talk to you all soon!
Tabs
Friday, March 14, 2008
I made it!!!
So, I've made it to Buenos Aires with a few blips on the way, but all that means is the rest will go smoothly right?
My flight out of Vancouver was delayed due to a missing seal in the landing gear that they had to replace - 1 hour 15 minutes later, we head out of the gate (let me remind you that my time between flights arriving and departing in Dallas was 1 hour and 15 minutes). Luckly there were a lot of people on my flight that were taking my next flight to Miami, so they held the plane for us - of course we were then delayed by another half hour to get all of our (I mean everyone else's) luggage on board. (let me also remind you that in Miami I had 50 minutes between arriving and departing). We got to miami with about 30 minutes to spare before leaving the gate - unfortunately I had to go another concourse and take a tram in order to get to my next plane - lucky for me Stacy's been training me cause I had to run! I made the flight with about 1 or 2 minutes to spare before the door closed. Then I think they started looking for my luggage cause they delayed another half hour (little did I know there was no luggage of mine to find in Miami).
We arrived in Buenos Aires at about 7:30 this morning, I found my Navijet guy to take me to the hotel (BTW, it's REALLY easy for Canadians to get into Argentina - he asked if I was from Canada, I said yes, and he said - okay go ahead). It took about an hour to get to my hotel (after waiting for non-existant luggage to appear and putting in a search request. We got here, and I was exhausted and didn't think I liked Buenos Aires much. But had a nap, talked to the luggage people (it's still in Dallas - should arrive at the ship before we depart (fingers crossed!)
After the nap I felt like a bit of an adventure so grabbed my camera and headed out (of course in the hottest part of the day in my sweat pants - man I'm gonna stink tomorrow) So I've had a bit of a tour around where my hotel is, it's a really beautiful spot - there are some great little shops (but kinda expensive), and a beautiful park where everyone comes during their siesta to lay on the fresh mown grass - don't worry ladies - I got pictures. LOL There's also a beautiful square connected to the park, and of course lots of beautiful architecture. I took quite a few pictures (will post when I have more than just 30 minutes of Internet time). I had a bit of an emotional moment out there taking those photos, I really started thinking about some of the amazing places I'm going to see and if they are half as beautiful as Buenos Aires, I'll be so lucky.
Anyways, only a few minutes left so I better get this posted, please send me comments to keep in touch, as I do miss you all already!
love,
Tabs
My flight out of Vancouver was delayed due to a missing seal in the landing gear that they had to replace - 1 hour 15 minutes later, we head out of the gate (let me remind you that my time between flights arriving and departing in Dallas was 1 hour and 15 minutes). Luckly there were a lot of people on my flight that were taking my next flight to Miami, so they held the plane for us - of course we were then delayed by another half hour to get all of our (I mean everyone else's) luggage on board. (let me also remind you that in Miami I had 50 minutes between arriving and departing). We got to miami with about 30 minutes to spare before leaving the gate - unfortunately I had to go another concourse and take a tram in order to get to my next plane - lucky for me Stacy's been training me cause I had to run! I made the flight with about 1 or 2 minutes to spare before the door closed. Then I think they started looking for my luggage cause they delayed another half hour (little did I know there was no luggage of mine to find in Miami).
We arrived in Buenos Aires at about 7:30 this morning, I found my Navijet guy to take me to the hotel (BTW, it's REALLY easy for Canadians to get into Argentina - he asked if I was from Canada, I said yes, and he said - okay go ahead). It took about an hour to get to my hotel (after waiting for non-existant luggage to appear and putting in a search request. We got here, and I was exhausted and didn't think I liked Buenos Aires much. But had a nap, talked to the luggage people (it's still in Dallas - should arrive at the ship before we depart (fingers crossed!)
After the nap I felt like a bit of an adventure so grabbed my camera and headed out (of course in the hottest part of the day in my sweat pants - man I'm gonna stink tomorrow) So I've had a bit of a tour around where my hotel is, it's a really beautiful spot - there are some great little shops (but kinda expensive), and a beautiful park where everyone comes during their siesta to lay on the fresh mown grass - don't worry ladies - I got pictures. LOL There's also a beautiful square connected to the park, and of course lots of beautiful architecture. I took quite a few pictures (will post when I have more than just 30 minutes of Internet time). I had a bit of an emotional moment out there taking those photos, I really started thinking about some of the amazing places I'm going to see and if they are half as beautiful as Buenos Aires, I'll be so lucky.
Anyways, only a few minutes left so I better get this posted, please send me comments to keep in touch, as I do miss you all already!
love,
Tabs
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Almost time!
Well, it's almost time for me to head out. I have a few chores left to do in my last week here. I have my last workout with Stacy saturday morning, so she'll kick my butt...after that Ricardo and I head up island to Nanaimo so he can move into his new (temporary) home - SO SAD!!! More packing and a little partying this weekend! Hope you can come! Movers come Tuesday, and I've got some beauty appointments next week so I can arrive looking swell. Thursday morning 7am is when my flight takes off from Victoria, I should arrive in Buenos Aires around 1am Victoria time on March 14th, or 7am Buenos Aires time. I'll have about a day and a half to see what Buenos Aires is all about before meeting my ship! Talk to you all soon!
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