Second Contract Highlights

And here we are, catching up! Starting with Disney. My second contract with DCL definitely had it's ups and downs. But, the friends I made and the experiences I had made the entire experience worth it. I miss these people daily, and can't wait to reunite with them all in the near future!

Pirate night was always a good night when Stitch showed up.

So over Christmas, I was struck with a case of Conjunctivitis, aka Pink Eye. Despite my swollen eye and miserable attitude, it was still a great Christmas, full of characters, fake snow, and a lot of the Frozen soundtrack.

Even though it's blurry, the Fantasy at night was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen.

Walking around downtown St. Thomas one day we found Blackbeard's castle!

And, my greatest accomplishment of 2014, I peeled a banana. I HATE bananas. The smell, the taste, the texture. Yuck. It took 23 years but I finally peeled one! I did not eat it though, nor drink the banana smoothie. Baby steps. 

My contract ended the day after my birthday, which was quite the timing. I had a month of vacation before I started work at the Ranch. More on that to come soon!

Hello Again!

Oh my gosh. Where has the time gone?! I am so sorry that I haven't posted in 7 months (7 months?!). Well. I will try my best to catch everyone up on what I've been up to lately and what my next steps are.... once I figure that out myself!

In April, I quit my job with DCL and in May I started working on a dude ranch here in Colorado. As of a couple of days ago, my contract ended at the ranch and I am technically "unemployed" but I have faith that something fabulous will come along in due time.

And so, while I work on catching up on everything since February, here are a few snippets of life lately to tide you over.

A St. Patrick's Day gift to myself- swimming with dolphins in Cozumel!

Last night onboard the Fantasy

A visit to see Su in California. Disneyland happend, obviously.

The 2014 wranglers at TRR

An afternoon in the TRR Rodeo with Freckles

Columbines, the Colorado state flower

Update

Hey everyone!

Where has the time gone. I only have 5 weeks left in my second contract and it has FLOWN by. Here are a few pictures from Airplane Beach in St. Maarten. Hope you enjoy them! Right after I put my camera away, a big 777 flew over. Darn it!

I'll post more pictures and stories soon, I promise!

Merry Christmas from Mexico!

Hey all! This is just a quick post to say I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season full of fun and family. Spending the holidays onboard can be draining but it's also so much fun- everyone is happy and excited to be spending such a wonderful time with their Fantasy family and im so grateful for all of them. I miss everyone, and promise to have pictures posted soon, but enjoy your day! 

Aboard the Fantasy- Part 3

As I mentioned in this post, what made the experience working onboard the Fantasy was the people. I met some incredible friends, and without them I don't think I would be going back for a second contract!

Snorkeling on the job. Life is rough.

Struggle bus.

Day off at Margaritaville. 

Hayley loved these iguanas. I was not so much in love...

Planking.

Oh hey, Pirate Stitch.

To everyone who has been there for me these last 5 months, thank you so much for your unconditional love and support. I'm so grateful and so excited for this opportunity to continue. But in the mean time, I still have over 5 weeks of vacation to sleep and eat delicious food. Woo!

Aboard the Fantasy- Part 2

So like I mentioned here, working aboard the Fantasy was full of it's ups and downs. But, we did go to some incredible places that I would never get the opportunity to visit ever again. I'm so lucky!

Grand Cayman. We tendered in the Cayman Islands, which means we couldn't dock right alongside the island since the water was too shallow for our ship. So, we dropped anchor just off shore and then we would run smaller boats from our ship to shore in order to get the masses off into port. It was pretty cool, but also sometimes a pain in the butt. 

A rainy day in Cozumel. Cozumel is always a nice port, especially since it has a Starbucks RIGHT INSIDE THE PORT. Perfect. But somehow, I feel like it was ALWAYS raining when we docked there. Hmm..

These three are of St. Thomas, which is probably my favorite port. There's a really cute coffee shop and it has good shopping and pretty nice beaches. 

This is Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. Castaway is always a day of mixed emotions. The ship staff have to work the island, so it's not so much like a real port day since we work like 9-10 hours on Castaway. But, it's so beautiful and so much fun, that how could you not love it?

San Juan. Have I mentioned how much I'm in love with Puerto Rico??

And finally, St. Maarten. I also love this port. It has really good shopping and it really beautiful too. 

Somehow I don't have any pictures of Costa Maya... weird. I'll work on that next contract. But, that's it for now. Off to sleep (have I mentioned that I've been sleeping like 15 hours a day these last few days?). I think my next post will be on the people I've met and worked with for the last 5 months because let's be real, they're the ones that make it worthwhile. 

Aboard the Fantasy- Part 1

Well, my first contract with DCL onboard the Fantasy is officially over. I've been home for two days now, and I have never slept more in my life. I guess working 70 hour work weeks for 18 weeks straight will do that to you.

Sorry I didn't post more, but internet was expensive, and honestly I didn't have much time to sit down and actually write about what was happening. So, here's a brief recap (that might turn into multiple posts... I'm not yet sure).

Our first three days were spent on land, in classes called "Traditions" where we learned about the Disney Company and other things. The first day of "work" we were instructed to just explore the parks, so this is me at Magic Kingdom, in the middle of a Tropical Storm. Classic. While on board, we did go through one pretty major Tropical Storm and that was brutal. Seasickness is no fun, especially when everyone around you is puking. But we survived and it is a fun story to tell!

This is my schedule for the day. My line is highlighted in green. I was bottom line, so I actually started pretty late in the day, which was nice. But this little piece of paper tells you where all 80 Youth Activities staff members are for every half-hour of their day. Crazy. 

We had the morning off in St. Thomas, so we went to the Mariott hotel and swam in the ocean. It was great! Sometimes I had a really good schedule that meant I didn't start work until like 5pm on a port day, which was awesome but meant I was working until 2:30 that morning. I think more often than not it was worth it, because I got to actually explore the ports.

This was another late start in St. Thomas, where I got to swim with Sea Turtles and pet some iguanas. I wish I actually got pictures of me swimming with the turtles, but maybe next time. It was super fun! This contract, I also swam with Stingrays. Next up on my bucket list, dolphins! It's actually really expensive to swim with dolphins, which is a bummer. 

This is the Peacock chandelier in the atrium on decks 3, 4, and 5 of the Fantasy. It's beautiful. And that carpet in the lobby is hand-made. Ouch. It must have taken FOREVER. But it's a really comfortable carpet. 

Casually posing with the Minnie statue in the Atrium.

Morning off in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I fell in love with San Juan when we went there. The combination of modernity alongside the colonialism, plus the cultural and social changes that are constantly happening in the territory are fascinating. I would go back there in a heartbeat.

I'm glad the drinking water is safe to drink...

This is what the bow of the ship looks like from below. Crazy!

And it looks like I'll be posting more about my contract, since I do have a lot to say. Any questions? I'd love to answer them!