My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
The days of quarantine flew by. I must admit, I am a huge fan of this new process. Each day I was woken up by the knock on the door telling me breakfast was waiting outside. Sometimes I would lounge in bed as the hours passed, chatting with friends, watching shows on demand or reading my book. Sometimes I would be really productive and I would exercise and work on my Zumba routine. One day I woke up at 4am and decided to make an itemized list of everything I packed.
On the balcony, I enjoyed the view while I got to know my neighbors (and teammates).
To my right is Jeremy from New York:
Jeremy and his husband (who works as a Production Singer for Princess) live very close to where I lived in Astoria, Queens, in New York City. This is Jeremy’s second contract. His first was on the Ruby Princess, which did a very similar itinerary to the one that I did on the Golden. We had a lot to talk about. He disembarked and went home about a week before the world shut down.
To my left is JaYson from South Africa:
Yes. He always looks like a model, even when he isn’t expecting to see anyone that day. He also looks like this when he smiles:
While this is my fourth contract and third ship, this is his third contract and fourth ship. JaYson worked on the Sky Princess, which, we think, has a similar, if not the same, layout as this ship. He is the official expert on where things are. Jeremy and I asked him lots of questions about what the ship is like outside of these staterooms (or at least what it was like on the Sky). He cracked me up with contradictions as he described himself.
One afternoon the boys got sunburned (I curled up in the shade) as we spent hours talking about our favorite activities, romantic interests and the people we knew in common.
It didn’t take much to entertain us. On my last day I looked out and found a bird on my balcony.
This little bird was enjoying the view as much as I was! I watched it until it walked under the divider to JaYson’s side.
On the way back to Florida we watched the ships (and looked up which ones they were on cruisemapper.com) as we passed them.
The final night we all enjoyed dinner on the balcony, and then I took one last bath.
Today I have officially been quarantined in this cabin for 7 days. In spite of having finished my computer based training at home, I still had plenty to do. Perhaps I’m savoring this empty schedule because I know how busy I’ll be once things get rolling. Anyway, I’ve learned that it takes more than 7 days (and a year and a half) for me to get bored!
This morning I was told to be ready with my thermometer and temperature log at 7:30am. At 8:30 they came and swabbed my nose. Later today, inshallah, I’ll get the call to say that I am free to roam the ship (masked and socially distanced, of course). At that point I’ll get my ID (Laminex) activated to open my crew cabin, and I’ll be able to move in there more permanently.
Next time, I’ll let you know what it’s like outside of this cabin!