Six Months Of Travel

When I joined my first cruise ship, I had no idea exactly where I would be going for the next 6 months. It would prove to be a long ride. I started out my contract on Celebrity Cruise Lines GTS Summit, in February of 2003 in Fort Lauderdale Florida. I quickly found out that for the first 8 or 9 weeks we would be sailing the Caribbean. My ship was doing 10 and 11 day runs. One run went to St. Thomas, St. Martin, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Aruba and Barbados. On the other run we went to places like Crand Caymen, Jamica, Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica.

Once my ship had finished up the winter season in the Caribbean, we would be heading through the Panama Canal. This was a two week cruise, with many sea days. We started out going to Mexico, then to Aruba and then to Colon, Panama. Going through the Panama Canal was mostly very boring. Heading through the canal is a long ordeal. It took the Summit all day to get through. There was not really much to see, and it was very hot and humid outside. I remember taking the lens cap off my camera for a couple of shots and my lens had fogged up.

Once through the canal, we stopped for another day in Panama. By then winter was almost gone and it was time to head north. We made lots of stops in some great places in Mexico like Acapulco, Ixtapa, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. After that we headed up the coast of the U.S. stopping in San Diego, San Fran, L.A., Catalina Island, Seattle. We had one day in Victoria Canada, and finished that leg of our journey in Vancouver.

The whole trip from Florida to Vancouver had taken about 4 weeks. At this point I had 3 months left on my contract, and I would be spending them in Alaska. I had a great time on my first trip to Alaska. There is a lot to do if you like the outdoors. In Alaska that season I traveled to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Valdez and Seward.

I Finished my first contract after 6 long months, and many ports. It is sometimes hard to remember now the places and the times of that contract, but the experience somehow stays with me.

My First Day In Mexico

I started my first contract working for Celebrity Cruises, in February of 2003. I joined the Summit, in Fort Lauderdale Florida, and for my first 2 months we would be sailing the Caribbean. During my first couple of weeks I had gone through lots of training (mostly ship stuff), met many new people, and did a lot of drinking.

One day that I will never forget, came after just 2 days on board. We left Florida, and the next day was at sea. Our first port of the cruise was Cozumel, Mexico. I was a little hung over when I woke at 9 in the morning. A couple of hours of training, and I was free for the day. I happened to get lucky, in that, my place in the schedule game me a day from the casino 2 days into my contract. I would have time to finish unpacking, get my room organized and do more looking around the ship.

I finished my training around 11:30am. This is around the time that casino people start to wake up, after a night of dealing cards and drinking after that. When I got to my hallway, my friend Jason had his door jammed open. I stopped to chat for a minute. He said that there was a bunch of people from the casino going to the beach, and for beers at Carlos n' Charlies after that, and pretty much begged me to come along. I was finished my training for the day and was off from the casino, so why not.

After a few hours at the beach I was getting a sunburn. Time to go to the bar. If you have never been to Carlos n' Charlies, in Cozumel Mexico. You have to go. It was like a night club, at 3 in the afternoon. Loud music, tall frozen drinks and girls pouring sangria down your throat. I got smashed. We all had a great time, but I think I had overdone it. The sunburn, the heat and the drinks had taken their toll.

Looking back now I am amazed that I made it back onto the ship without getting breath tested for alcohol. While on the ship you are never supposed to have more than .08% and I was well over that. I stumbled past the guards on the gangway, and bounced off the walls all the way to my cabin. Jason stayed with me to make sure I made it to my cabin. When I got there I fell into my bed and passed out. Late that night I woke up, and around 11:30 pm I went to the crew bar. I was still too messed up to drink much more so I only had a few beers and went to bed.