My Ship Likes to Party All the Time

Cruise # 21- Happy New Year, Everyone! This cruise was all about fun. Ridiculous and exhilarating fun. The first sea day was New Year's Eve. We were treated to the same dry turkey and rice as we had on Christmas Eve. Again, I was unable to participate in the free wine and beer due to Generations, which has pyro in it. Oh, well. We had early shows so we were off in time to actually enjoy bringing in the New Year. I was on deck 9 or Lido deck as we call it. The guests were gathered all around the pools and hot tub. There was a live band. I was on top of the hot tub. They put ply wood over the hot tub to create a sort of crew area. It was really cool. I was standing literally right next to the Captain when the ball dropped. There were several people from the entertainment department but mostly it was the big wigs on the ship. After the ball dropped, the Captain made a speech and I went to hang out with the band. The party then moved to the disco, which then moved to the Dog's Bollocks(a crew cabin that has been turned into a late night bar. Don't tell security. They don't know. I had nothing to do with the name either. It was made up by a couple English guys that live in that room), which then moved to deck 4 for the sunrise. It was quite a night. Everyone was in a great mood. I got up the next day and watched football all day. The week continued on as usual. However, there seemed to be a continued need by everyone to keep partying. I was dragged to the disco two more times after New Years.

The fly-ons for this cruise were Mike Panzeca, Marcus Monroe and Anthony Acosta. All of these guys you have me talk about before. Marcus went to all the parties with us on New Year's. It was cool to hang out with such a "huge celebrity". We found out after he left that he won't be back until we relocate to New York in May. If I would have known that, I would have made a better effort to let him know how much I have enjoyed working with him.

I elected not to get off in Colon, Panama or Belize.

In Limon, Costa Rica Greg and I went on an awesome shore excursion. We went zip lining in the Braulio Carrillo Rain Forest. We took an hour and a half bus ride to the site. Along the way, our tour guide told us about the history of Costa Rica. Literally translated it means "rich coast". We passed several banana and coffee plantation along the way. The most interesting thing I found out about Costa Rica is that its main export is computer parts. I would have never guessed that. When we arrived we waited in line to get our equipment. While we were waiting, we started talking to a couple from Charleston, SC. We found out they both worked on the T.V. show Army Wives. I think it is on the Lifetime network. They were dorks like us and really helped to pass the time. Once we were suited up, we walked up the trail and crossed an Indiana Jones style suspension bridge. It wasn't quite as long though. The first few lines were relatively short and were mostly for training purposes. The last few, however, were quite long. A couple of them over 1,000 feet. The views were amazing and the zip lining was quite fun. Seeing the rain forest in person is so much better than seeing on T.V. It's hard to get an idea of the beauty and thickness of the foliage. We saw several types of lizards and a flock of Tucans. They were colored different than Tucan Sam but were very pretty all the same. The day started out overcast but ended up sunny and nice. Due to the dampness of the air, the forest is actually kept quite cool. We traversed 9 lines in all. When we were done, we got back on the bus and headed back to the ship.

This week in Fort Lauderdale, I bought a computer. I bought a MacBook Pro. I am writing this blog post on it right now. No more Internet Cafe for me. I can sit on my bed and blog, now. Also, pictures download faster from here.

Talk to you soon,

Chris

Picture #1-It's 2010 on the Miracle!

Picture #2-The show band on stage just after the ball dropped.

Picture #3-Greg and I at the entrance to the suspension bridge.

Picture #4-Me at the Braulio Carrillo Rain Forest.

Picture #5-One of the zip lines we rode on. To the left you can see a river between the trees. We later zipped over it.

Pictures #6 & 7-Two different lizards I saw in the forest.