Istanbul, Turkey

A lot has happened since I last wrote. The ship went through dry dock, meaning it sat out of water on blocks in Freeport, Bahamas for two weeks as people came on the ship to fix things up before the long voyage across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. During that time, Broadcast got 100 DVDs of TV shows to put in the computer for new TV programming. So through the whole 2 weeks, I made it to the beach once. Johnny, Tim, and I got a tradition down of getting on to the noon shuttle into town, where we’d eat Domino’s and chat, then jump on to the 1:30 shuttle back to the ship to continue working. The nice thing about dry dock was that we didn’t have to wear our uniforms everywhere on the ship. The bad thing was there’d be days with no air conditioning and even throughout the night, people would be working on pipes so I’d constantly hear banging on the pipes going through my room. For some, dry dock was paradise because there was no work to be done and they were able to go to the beach every day for hours on end. For others, it was the opposite and we couldn’t wait for the cruises to start back up again.

During the TransAtlantic Cruise, we spent 7 full days out at sea all in a row. I was starting to miss land by the third day and it made me more homesick than ever. It was wonderful getting to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, even though I ended up not able to get off shore. The next day was Lanzarote. Tim, Katrina, and I hopped in a cab for two hours and the driver took us all over the island. We went through the national volcano park, stopping on the side for a few minutes to pet and take pictures of camels waiting for riders. Then it was on to a small church the driver chose to show us. A winery came up next and then he took us to the town center. He happily dropped us off right at the ship before our deadline to climb back onboard. It was only 20 euros for each of us to pay for that two hours of seeing the island, so we thought it was pretty fair.

I had my proud moment when the driver couldn’t understand what Katrina was asking him, so I got enough courage to translate it in to Spanish for him, though with bad grammar. I heard Tim and Katrina gasp in the back seat as I had a small conversation with the man in Spanish and Tim ask “where in the world did that come from??” It felt good to be able to use some of my high school Spanish finally.

Valencia, Spain was next on the list. It was beautiful to see. Abby helped me find the post office, with Johnny, Tim, Oliver, and Katrina following behind us staring at all the amazing buildings surrounding us. Abby and I kept looking at a map I had on where the post office was, trying to figure out which building to go into. Little did we know it was the spectacular huge beautiful building right in front of us. When we walked inside, the ceiling was high up and had the design of a compass in the middle. I paid a little more than one euro to send Marcelo a letter and checks to help pay for my part of storage back home in L.A.

We walked then to the bullring and were able to go inside and take some pictures. The whole city was wonderful. I wish I could visit there on my own some day for a month or so. Drive to Madrid maybe and just see Spain a bit. Maybe in my future if I do well in my career some day.

Next, Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival was in the works as we got there. Lights and red carpets were everywhere. Camera crew and reporters were set up all around the area. It made me miss a bit of Hollywood and being around sets. I went out with Shane, Ellia, Ben, Kirsty, and our ship’s new DJ, Johnny. We walked all over the place, got some McDonalds (they laughed when I attempted to save the McDonalds box that came with my meal since it looks different than the ones back in the U.S.), and then walked to a castle-looking building that overlooked Cannes. It was a great sight and a wonderful day. I took lots of good pictures for the once in a lifetime experience.

Agadir, Morocco was an interesting city, but nothing I adored. Fernando, Thad, Tim, Katrina, and I went out to eat, looked at the beach, and then went back to the ship. There wasn’t much to see or do. I took pictures though to remember it.

I didn’t get to go off the ship in Barcelona. I also was unable to go see the Leaning Tower of Pisa when we were docked in Livorno. Shane kept me company as we walked around Livorno for an hour and a half and then we went back to the ship. I was upset about not seeing the Tower of Pisa, but I got over it. Can’t let that one thing keep me down. I’ll just have to make it a goal to visit it someday if I ever have the money to.

It was great to get to Civitevecchia, Italy to grab different guests and start a new cruise. We’re now going to these ports all throughout the last 3 months I am on the ship, so I have time to see them all. I haven’t seen some of them because I still had to input movies in to the computer for the movie channel, but now that that’s done, it will free up my time to go out more often and just enjoy being with friends and seeing new places. My favorite so far on this cruise has been Rhodes. The whole city is in a fort built by knights and is full of history to it. There’s one shop there that I plan on going back next cruise to buy a gift or two for my family.

We’re visiting the Greek Islands and then we’ll be coming to Messina and Naples soon. Can’t wait to taste the pizza in Naples. Apparently though there’s been some kind of garbage strike in Naples for the last year and a half so I hear it’s a very dirty city and not much to see, but everyone I talk to adores the pizza. So we’ve gotten specific directions from Tim’s friend on what pizza place to go to once we dock.

Good time in Mediterranean and there’s just better times ahead! I’ll try to update this more often.

Ciao!!