Under the Sea

Morning!

Well the cruise has been and gone, I got a tan – I swear it’s a first; usually I just burn and go back to white: Thank you Bahamas. I won’t go into a lot of detail about the cruise; otherwise we would be here for days. I worked Sunday and Monday (6^th & 7^th) then had Tuesday off to amuse myself and pack then wait some more for the text message from Lauren saying she’s landed. Alex was a sweetheart and drove me to the Port Orleans Riverside Resort, and Myndi came along for the drive to say hello to Lauren. Thankfully I got a lift as it began to pour down with rain when it was time for me to catch the bus, so again – thank you Alex! We arrived, the girls said their final goodbyes to Lauren and we got our room number and key. Lauren and I stayed in one of the Royal Rooms, which was something we had wanted to do for months, I’m glad we finally got to. It was gorgeous and I loved looking around the room finding the ‘gifts’ left behind from the other Disney princesses for Princess Tiana.

One of the beds in the Royal Room, the bedhead lights up and makes fireworks!

One of the gifts, from Beauty and the Beast

We were up early the next morning as our bags were being collected at 8am, so we disappeared and got breakfast and took a few photos around the resort. Our coach to take us to Port Canaveral wasn’t until 11:15am. Thankfully time went quickly and we were on our way. Our boarding time for our cruise wasn’t until 2pm, but as soon as we go to the terminal, checked in, we were able to board straight away, which was nice. As we entered the ship, one of the crew members announced our names, a tad embarrassing, but fun as well. 6604 was our room number (yay for even number), which meant: we had been upgraded! We had paid for an oceanview room, so that would have been levels 2-3 I believe. But when we got to our room and saw that we had a veranda we were a little excited, I ended up being very grateful for the veranda later that night as I got a little seasick, the aircon didn’t help with my headache and dizzy head, so we opened the door for some fresh air, it immediately helped.

Disney Magic - taken from Castaway Cay

Lauren and I in the terminal, just before we enter the ship

Our dinner time every night was 8:15pm, we chose the second seating to avoid majority of the children. At 6:15pm there was the first Disney show for the cruise – All Aboard! It was just a little introduction show to what we had in store for the future nights. Our first night, we were at Parrot Cay, a colourful restaurant. Thursday we arrived in Key West at about 12pm, but had to be back on the ship by 7pm, we wanted to see the Broadway-style show for that night: Villains Tonight, so we had to be back on earlier to shower and see the show at 6:15pm. We first went into the market area where I bought my first tumbler, Lauren persuaded me to buy one, even if she didn’t realise it! We then walked down the shopping street, ate lunch, then decided to go back near the ship to the beach everyone was recommending and had apparently ‘white sand’. It was $2.50 to go to that beach, I’m not used to paying to visit beaches, and it was certainly not white sand. White rocks would have been more accurate. Honestly I was a little disappointed, I think I assumed I’d be going to a beach similar to home. We swam for a while then it was time to head back.

Key West

The so-called best beach with white sand - Key West

That night dinner was at Lumiere’s, the French restaurant where I tried snails for the first time – yes I liked them. Villains Tonight was a great show with my favourite villain – Hades! – as the main character. The next day was the day at sea, which I can hardly remember. We wandered the ship, went to the pool, ate ice cream, relaxed on the top deck – a whole bunch of nothing, which was fine by me. There was a theme for dinner that night – dress up and yes, people actually wore ball gowns. We ate at Animator’s Palate, where there were sketches along the walls and throughout the night they get colour. It was very pretty. The show that night was Cinderella: A Twist In Time, another great show. Saturday we finally made it to Nassau where I finally did some shopping. I got myself some pearl earrings, necklace and bracelet; I was satisfied with my purchases. Since it was $36 to visit the beach in Nassau, we went back on the ship and enjoyed a very quite pool, then sat on deck 10 (top deck) for a while where I managed to burn my legs, they were very red. Sunday brought along Mother’s Day and our day at Castaway Cay – Disney’s private island. It was gorgeous, ironically enough, my favourite place we went to. There was sand! And the water was so clear it was amazing. Lauren and I got our snorkelling stuff and I attempted to snorkel. Convinced the fish were after me, we didn’t spend that much time looking at them. Afterwards we headed to the 18+ beach where there were no kids, it was very peaceful and we spent most of the day there. On the way back to the ship I managed to find a mother’s day present for mum, she’ll have to wait until August to receive it, but I got her one nonetheless!

Lighthouse at Nassau

Finally met Captain Jack Sparrow!

Castaway Cay 18+ Beach

Me and my smoothie in a coconut shaped cup - Castaway Cay

Monday we were kicked off the ship bright and early, I then had to say my final goodbye to Lauren, then headed back to the apartments.

Since my cruise it’s been work work work. It’s all you really do here, your days off consist of nothing unless you have the effort and money to go to theme parks or shop. Which seeing as I just get the minimum 32 hours a week, I have hardly any $$. I have just under 11 weeks until I go home! I’m looking forward to seeing my family again. My brother comes in 7 weeks and I only really have June left as a full month of working since July is when Ben’s here. We also got our emails about changing roles, I replied requesting to stay in my current role. No reply as of yet though.

Go the Distance

Ooops.

I haven’t updated this for some time. I would say I’ve been busy, which I suppose I have. On my days off or when I started late in the day I’m been doing something (or nothing). Since Give Kids the World not a lot has really happened. Of course, working and a fair bit of shopping, which probably shouldn’t have happened, but sometimes you need retail therapy (or so I try and tell myself).

Saturday 21^st (I think it was the Saturday, it may have been Sunday, either or) Lauren and I went on a massive shopping spree. Lauren took me over to the outlets on I-4, which I found out quickly is a lot better than the outlets we have next to our complexes. We only went in 4 shops and I came out with something form each: Charlotte Russe, Love Culture, Forever 21 and Victoria’s Secret. I was surprised, however, I did buy quite a bit but the end total was about $170, which I suppose I’m use to shopping at home where if I had bought all that at home the total would be a fair bit more. I was finally able to get my summer clothes shopping out of the way, a few shirts, dresses and shorts later – as well as my first bras from Victoria’s Secret. The outlet is definitely worth your while, bras originally $50 down to $15. I will make sure I go back before I leave the program (which I will be – Alex and I made a promise to save a heap, then we can go and just spend it all).

We had a roommate outing on the 24^th to see The Lucky One, which was nice, we’ll have to have more roommate outings in the future methinks. Wednesday the 25^th Lauren and I went to see Chimpanzee in the morning, followed by The Lion king Musical that evening. But first, before we even arrived we stopped for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (no, I did not have cheesecake for dinner mum) I had Fish and Chips, which was a nice change from my diet of…Chicken. The journey to the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre was an interesting one. The way Google sent us was through the ghetto; luckily Lauren’s doors automatically lock when you start the car. She also warned me – no eye contact, so I avoided that. Once we finally got to the parking lot, we went inside and waited for the doors to open to be seated. What was great was that I wasn’t expecting the elephant to come down the aisle during the opening song – Circle of Life – since it seemed very small. Nope! It still made its way down, so that was a nice surprise. It was a great performance, some aspects I had forgotten from the first time I saw it in London. I’m glad I went to see it again.

In the days that followed, I got my Visa stuff sorted for me to leave the country, had to get a formed signed by my manger at work, which was fine until it presented problems later. It was a form to say I had time off for the cruise, which I hadn’t as my requested time off what denied. The manager had signed it anyway as he said I can just give them away or call in personal. Well. Two days later he checks me in for work, then informs me that he was incorrect and that with Disney cruises you can’t call in personal otherwise it’d lead to my termination. Obviously I didn’t want that. So I spent the past week panicking trying to giveaway shifts. I still haven’t given away one last shift, but there’s still a few days until I leave, fingers crossed, although a manager told me that if I can’t give it away that I could do a No Call No Show, which obviously isn’t ideal. Not only does it make things complicated for them (then again that’s what Spares are for) but it’s not the best thing to have on my record. It’ll be the only thing anyway, I’ve got no points so if I have to, that’ll be my solution.

Our roommate, Lauren, had her last night in the apartment on Sunday night, she didn’t finish her program until the 3^rd, but her mum was here so she went and spent the nights in a nice comfy Disney hotel. I’ll be seeing Lauren on Tuesday when she comes back to Orlando for our cruise on Wednesday. We’re staying at Port Orlean’s Royal Room (Princess room as we like to call it), where each princess has left something behind (ie magic carpet from Jasmine etc).

Tuesday I found out some not-so-good news from home, which added to the pile of reasons as to why I should shorten my program and go home early and I pretty much made my mind up on Tuesday/Wednesday that I was going to change my program end date to August 3^rd (hopefully, haven’t spoken to the Programs Office yet about it, I’ll be doing that after the cruise) that date is the date where some Americans finish, so I’ll hopefully finish my program with Alex and Myndi (my two American roommates). Tuesday I went and looked around the outlets near our apartment complex, just to get some prices for a bag I wanted form Verra Bradley. I also made the mistake of going into Steve Madden and saw some boots on sale. But being a good girl I left the outlets empty handed. However…all afternoon I kept thinking I should have gotten the boots (I mean $40 hello?) so…7pm I made my way back and of course they had added to the sale area. $20 pair of wedge heels, so I got those too. And of course, since I was there I went back to Verra Bradley and got my duffle bag for the cruise and when Ben and Hannie come, so I don’t have to cart my suitcase along with me on the housing buses. And…of course I saw the bag I was after for my handbag for when I travel on the plane back home. The one I came over with died, and I need one that fits my large laptop, and because I’m picky, I like one that zips up so when it’s lying on the floor under the seat in front of me, stuff doesn’t go falling out. So I bought that too. My mum would be facepalming or rolling her eyes at me right now as I try to justify my purchases.

Wednesday I went and saw The Hunger Games again, this time with Alex as she couldn’t come with us when all us roomies went. Since then I’ve been working. Yesterday after work I went to MK with Myndi, originally we were going to see the Avengers before going to MK, but they had sold out, we got some characters to sign her bag, then found her friend, Kathy, who had been working. We then spent the rest of the night riding attractions and I had my first hot pretzel – yes mum like that guy that does the voice of Lumiere does in Law and Order – then our legs were dying so we headed home.

I have only today and tomorrow left of working before I have my day off then start my cruise, just a tad excited. My brother and Hannah come in 64 days, 9 weeks and 1 day. Which means…my program ends in 13 weeks. That’s kind of freaky. Jumping from 8 or so months to just 3, a tad disorientating, I guess I should stop thinking ‘I have a whole year to do this’ and start filling in my ‘to do list’. At least my main, big thing that I wanted to do whilst here is coming up in 2-3 days – CRUISE!

Until next time!~