My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Years ago, I saw an interview with Mike Meyers where he said nothing in his life feels like it really happened until he tells his dad. Or something like that. Anyway, that’s how I feel about my mom. When the World Cruise she had booked was cancelled (the cool ports they had been hoping to go see weren’t going to be open yet), she and Ron booked my last 20 days on the Enchanted. Now that she’s been to all of the continents, all of the Disney Parks and all of the Mayo clinics, she is on a mission to sail on all of the Princess ships. I was excited to show my mom what I had been doing for the last six months on my new ship. It was nice that she would be there for two cruises, not only so I’d have double the time to make sure I got to do all of my activities (we rotate some things every other cruise), but she could also get the feel of doing everything, then turning around and doing everything again, and how having different people gave everything a slightly different feel cruise by cruise. Little did I know how different these two cruises would turn out to be. Ron Voyage would be there for twenty days as well, and their friend Antoinette (who I had met in New Zealand during my last contract) would come for the first 10 days.
My mom had done a 7-day cruise on the Majestic Princess (her first Princess cruise post-pandemic) a couple of weeks before, and she was very impressed by the Welcome Aboard sashes. I told her I wore those all the time (well, every 10 days). There was only one gangway working, so it was busy. Finally my mom, Ron Voyage and Antoinette came onboard.
They went and got settled in their cabin and I met up with them during my breaks. My mom and Antoinette came out for the sail away Celebration, and then they all came for my Welcome Aboard Trivia. Usually Ron just hangs out in the cabin and only leaves to eat, go to the gym or go to the shows. I think this was the first event of mine that he came to.
The Welcome Aboard Trivia is one of my ‘babies’. It sounds weird in that sentence, but it’s an event I take full ownership of, it’s one I fight for to get put in a good spot on the schedule and I’m the only one who does it. When I cruised with my mom before I started working for Princess, I saw a Welcome Aboard trivia and I thought, how cool! It’s probably about the cool quirky things about the ship or the places we’re going. It wasn’t- it was just general knowledge trivia on the first night. When I was on the Caribbean, I asked if I could do a ship-specific trivia, and it took off from there. My favorite fact about the Caribbean Princess is that her Godmother is Jill Whelan, who played ‘Vicki’ on the Love Boat. The Golden Princess’ Godmother wasn’t quite as famous. When I got to the Enchanted, I was really excited to find interesting facts for my trivia. My favorite quirk is that there is a Jazz Lounge called Take 5, which is located on Deck 6. People get used to it after a while, but it’s as confusing as having an apostrophe in my last name. Deck 5? No, Take 5 on Deck 6. Dan (Cruise Director turned Entertainment Director) had a good one– Two of the three main dining rooms are named after places in Italy. What is the name of the third dining room? That’s right, on Deck 5 we had the Santorini Dining room right across from Sabatini’s Italian Specialty Restaurant (and both of them are alternative Muster Stations, which is hard to remember which one goes with which). I start the trivia by doing a long introduction of all the places I’m from, and then tell everyone that this is a ship specific trivia- there will be questions they know the answer to, and questions I want them to know the answer to, so we can all nerd out on learning unique things about this ship. When I did the Enchanted Princess Trivia after our naming ceremony I learned that there was not a huge following of Princess trivia nerds, so I tried to make the questions easier and/or interesting. One of my questions is where am I from- they’re always surprised that I literally gave them the answer a few minutes before. Ron was impressed that I gave two sets of prizes at the end- one set to the winning team who had just joined that day, and one set to the winning team who had been on longer (Princess sold the itineraries as a 10 day cruise or a 20 day cruise. Some people stayed on for months).
The first day of the cruise we went to Princess Cays. I hung out with my mom in the Piazza and did laundry while Antoinette went to the beach.
The next day was a Sea Day, and also Ron’s birthday. I started out doing zumba.
My mom and Ron went to the Most Travelled Luncheon. They were 4th most travelled this cruise.
That night, Ron got to see his favorite show, Rock Opera, in his favorite seat.
After that, I co-hosted the Yes No Gameshow with Marcus, the Cruise Director.
Parasailing in St Thomas
Ok, remember last cruise when I wanted to go Parasailing, but they cancelled it? I asked Paolo if he wanted to come too, and he said he doesn’t do heights. So when I rescheduled my adventure, I made a reservation for two. I tried to talk my mom into going, and she said Antoinette might want to do it. Then Paolo changed his mind and decided not to let fear get in the way of adventure. My mom and Antoinette both decided that they would have more fun watching than going so it was settled. We took a taxi to the beach and found the pier.
Here we are in front of the boat:
And on the boat:
We were joined by a mom and her two kids who each took a turn going up before we did. They had travelled everywhere but the Caribbean, which is why they were there. I wouldn’t mind having that problem.
We sat on the back of the boat, they strapped us in, and then we floated up.
We sat up there in the middle of the sky and took in the view.
They dipped us in the water before we were pulled back in. The water was perfect.
Paolo loved it. I loved it. It was peaceful and fun. It was a beautiful day. Now, this was my kind of adventure.
When we got back to the dock there were giant fish in the water.
We joined my mom and Antoinette back at Sapphire Beach.
It was too cold for Edie, but not for us!
We got back in time for Paolo to get to rehearsal while the three of us went to my favorite, Tap & Still for grilled cheese and milkshakes.
2/22/22 Dominica
In Dominica I was IPM (In Port Manning) where I had to stay onboard for emergency duties and do the activities. We had a couple of ports every cruise where we couldn’t get off anyway because the local authorities required that you could only explore the island if you were on an authorized tour. It was my turn to be on the Wake Show (the daily show onboard that the Cruise Director hosts to talk about what is going on that day. My mom loves the Wake Show, so I put myself on it as often as possible so I could say hi to her on TV. I always love it when we get to chatting and end up forgetting to talk about what’s happening onboard. Marcus is a really good host.
That afternoon I hosted Two’s Day Trivia at 2:22pm
A couple of weeks before, my mom had pointed out that it was going to be 2/22/22 and wouldn’t it be fun if I did a trivia about that at 2:22pm. I said that sounded like a lot of work for something I would only do once. Then I mentioned it in the office and Dan (Entertainment Director) started making suggestions for questions around things that had a ‘two’ sound in it. I took the idea and ran with it. In the midst of my research I realized that it was also a TUESday. So I ended up doing 22 questions (each worth 2 points) with a variety of super easy questions (What is the only even prime number?) to harder ones (How many sets of twins are born in the US each year). Dan sent it out to the fleet and my friend Matt put it in on the Caribbean Princess at 2:22pm as well. It ended up being the most popular daytime trivia I’d hosted on a port day, and I overheard my loyal trivia patrons talking about it the rest of the day.
That afternoon I got the news that on the next turnaround day in Fort Lauderdale, not only would JP (the President of Princess) be coming onboard, but JC (Fleet Manager who trains Cruise Directors and Cruise Staff) would be joining us as well. JC was coming for 20 days and we would be spending every port day doing training. So not only would we not be able to get off the ship, that time that we usually get to catch up on sleep would also be spent in training or studying for the next day. It was framed like bad news, but I was disappointed that I would only get to be there for half of it. I had met JC a couple of times- the first time he came onboard the Caribbean Princess about 3 weeks into my first contract. When he offered to sit down for a one-on-one with anyone who requested one, I jumped at it. I’m that kind of annoying nerd- in acting school when the teacher would let us out early, I’d stick around and ask follow up questions a) so I could get my money’s worth of the tuition I was paying myself and b) I love this stuff and will talk about it longer than most people want to. In the one on one, he said he couldn’t give me much feedback- I was only 3 weeks in and still learning what I was doing. He still managed to make an impact, though. At that point I was trying so hard to do everything ‘right’ that I would scold myself pretty harshly when I made a mistake. He had mentioned to the group that the whole point of everything we do was to be entertaining. Later, I made a mistake and dropped an egg in the egg drop competition, and instead of just scolding myself privately, I told everyone what I’d done on the microphone and it got a big laugh. I have since tried to take every opportunity to turn my mistakes into comedy gold. Sometimes it works. A year or so later he came on the Caribbean while we were in Wet Dock to develop a new game show. I didn’t really get to work that closely with him that time. This time, I didn’t know what the subject or purpose of the training would be, but I was excited to take advantage of it. In the office, I was casually asked if I’d be interested in extending. My replacement wasn’t due to come until 10 days after I was scheduled to disembark, and now JC would be here too. I told them I’d consider it.
The other port where we couldn’t get off the ship
It’s much harder to remember the names of the places where we can’t get off the ship than the places where we can, especially when they start with the same letter. If I had been able to get off the ship, I would have been able to add Dominica and Grenada to the list of countries I’ve been to, but I don’t think I can count them if I’ve only seen the port from the side of the ship. Anyway, the next day I wasn’t doing the activities and I couldn’t get off the ship. I don’t usually go to the spa on the ship because, even with our crew discount, it’s expensive. But Angela had gotten her hair done by Denisa, and had raved about it. I splurged and got my hair done in January and I loved it. I decided I would go to Denisa and get the highlights and cut that I normally would get at home right before I finished my contract. Now with all of our free time being taken up with training, time was running out! Luckily she was able to squeeze me in that morning.
Here I am with my fancy hair at Gigi’s Pizzaria, which is always a nice alternative to the regular menu. When I showed up with my family, we got extra special treatment. In the middle of dinner I got a page on my archaic pager from Dan- they were officially asking if I would extend. I said yes.
That night we did Is it Logical? Trivia where I try to make the guests cheat to get the answers before we did You Be the Judge. It’s the night where all the rules go out the window.
Bonaire
I was supposed to be IPM in Bonaire, but in a previous cruise, I had covered Niki’s IPM so she could go to the beach, and so she covered this one so I could go out with my mom. I had more days off this cruise than I usually do (which I appreciated much more than my mom- she’d be happy if I was doing trivia and carpet bowls on the ship). It was especially nice because I was mentally preparing for not being able to get off the ship after this cruise. Antionette was doing her own thing and Ron doesn’t get off the ship, so we decided to be spontaneous. Previously in Bonaire, I had sped off the ship (we more often than not got in at noon so we had a sea day morning) and went straight to the beach. With my mom I wanted to walk around and check out the town, and then we could go to the beach and kayak if we ran out of things to do.
We ended up wandering the streets to find a delightful cafe, Het Consulaat at 9 Kaya L. D. Gerharts
The atmosphere was perfect– it was cool and secluded and had a European feel. The food was good. There were trees growing out of the cement. So we hung out there as long as we wanted to.
On the way back we took a picture in front of the ship, even though I told my mom there would be the money shot the next day in Curacao.
We stopped for gelato, and then went back so I could take a nap before the evening.
Every time we came back from the beach in Bonaire, I eyed this sushi restaurant right by the pier. I thought it would be so much fun to come out and have dinner before the evening. I threw on a dress, and because we were so close, I figured if I left at 6:20 I could make it to greet people coming to the theater by 6:30. The restaurant opened at 5, but the kitchen opened at 5:30. Perfect.
The sushi was so good, and it was so decadent to be having such a fancy meal, looking at work before I had to be there. Marcus liked the idea so much that the next time we were in Bonaire he made me swap IPM so we could go get sushi. Unfortunately this place was closed, so we had sushi down the street. It was almost as much fun.
Curacao
The first time I went to Curacao was with my mom in 2017. She brought me on the last leg of her first World Cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles. That day was King’s Day, so there was a huge festival and everyone wore orange. Here we got a picture with the ship at the picture spot:
To go with our picture of the Golden Princess, taken around the corner from Antoinette’s house in Napier, New Zealand:
That morning, Marcus had gone out running and sent the team pictures of a great little spot he’d found. I asked for more details about where it was, and we found it!
Do you see that bread? Again, I found a place with great food and great atmosphere.
We took the scenic route into town to find a synagogue that was meaningful to Antoinette. Her Rabbi was assigned to this synagogue in Curacao for his first assignment. There were people there who knew him many years ago. We sat and enjoyed the outdoor patios that I love and crossed the bridge on our way back.
Last two Sea Days
I got a page from Guest Services while I was greeting people at the theater- my friend Senka had found a suite upgrade for my mom and Ron Voyage that would be available to them for the rest of their stay. I am always so overwhelmed by how my friends and teammates treat my family when they come onboard. It’s like my family is their family and they know how special it is to be able to see them and to share my world with them. When my mom is onboard crew I don’t even know will stop me in the hall to ask how she’s doing even after she leaves.
And while we were in the Piazza, we ran into my friend Hannah. Hannah Howie from Scotland was one of the singers in the Production Cast on the Golden Princess and now she was onboard to take over with the next cast after I left.
It was love night on the Enchanted Princess, so I did Love Songs music trivia.
This one started on the Caribbean Princess. Matt started Love Night (or at least that’s where I heard it from first). It’s the second formal night and since Princess Cruises is the setting for The Love Boat, we do Love Songs and the Marriage Match Gameshow on Love Night. The first time it was assigned to me, I got the songs from Mike, another Assistant Cruise Director, who had just finished cutting the songs. Like the majority of what I do, I took someone else’s preparation and made it my own. On the Golden Princess Matt was the Entertainment Director so Love Night was in the schedule, and on the Enchanted I pitched the idea and it stuck. Now I have all my jokes built in, and it’s a consistent hit that I’ve promoted to a prime spot in the evening.
The next morning I rushed from Zumba to shower before filming the Wake Show for the next cruise. It’s a tight turnaround, but I know my mom loves it.
Marcus was nervous. The President of Princess Cruises and the Fleet Manager for the Cruise Director and Staff would be on next cruise. We didn’t know if they would watch the Wake Show, but we had to make a good impression just in case. We stopped and started so many times. After we filmed (we were filming the show for two days later, since we didn’t need a show for Turnaround day), Marcus found out that the mask rules were changing for the next cruise, so we went ahead and filmed the whole thing over again the next day. It was better the second go around.
I went to the office before my next place I had to be and found out that my mom and Ron Voyage would be third most traveled next cruise!
Being in the Top 10 gets perks like the Most Travelled Luncheon (which Ron says is the best meal on the ship) but the Top 3 get recognized at the Captain’s Circle Party. I had worked many Captain’s Circle Parties in the past, but I hadn’t done it on this ship because it usually conflicted with Afternoon Trivia and Love Songs. I put myself on the schedule to do it for the next cruise.
That night we did our last Hollywood Hiccups with Angela, and crossed our fingers that the new girl would show up the next day.
The next morning was turnaround day. I told Marcus I would be back by 10am to re-film the Wake Show, so my mom and I sped out as soon as the crew were given shore leave. We managed to run into Antoinette at Walgreens, so we were able to have a proper goodbye and meet her Honey, who was picking her up.
And then, back at the ship, we do it all again…
*explanation of the title: EX is the two letter code for the Enchanted (The Caribbean was CB and the Golden was NP) 206 is the Voyage Number – the sixth cruise of the second year I think. When I did the schedules, these codes were very important.