Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Alaska Day 2 - Monday May 7, 2007

This cruise ship is crazy. It is sooo big! There are 3000 people on board: 2000 passengers and 1000 workers. There are 2 pools, a kiddie pool, 4 hot tubs, 9 restaurants, somewhere around 9 bars, a dance club, a basketball court, shuffleboard, 3 ping pong tables, a spa, a 24 hour weight room, a fitness room, a casino, a shopping arcade, blah blah blah. It's pretty crazy. There are 12 decks! It's fun to explore everything. My dad especially likes to explore the casino. Oh, yeah, and there is a large theatre which has a different show each night.

We had to do a “safety drill” where we had to practice grouping together for the lifeboats. Sort of fun, but really cold outside! There is a picture below.

What is very obvious here is that we are white. ALL of the servants, waiters, stewards, are from third world countries. Talking to them, we find out that some of them have been away from their families for months, even years. All of the white people are either passengers, crew members, or have more prestigious jobs such as hosts or entertainers.

This whole day we are simply traveling to our first port. The boat got soooo shaky that I, and some of the rest of us, got serious motion sickness. It's pretty funny, you walk down a hallway and suddenly find that you are touching the left side of the hallway, then a few seconds later you find yourself touching the right side of the hallway. That's how much the boat is rocking back and forth today. I took some motion sickness pills and my mom gave me these motion sickness arm bands which apparently work even though it seems a bit voodoo-ish. Cool!

Today we saw a hypnotist. She did a show in the theatre. It was pretty funny. I'm not sure what to think about this hypnotism thing, but it is a funny thing to watch. There was this one guy who was hilarious. He was from Arkansas and was totally a riot. I wish I would have been allowed to film the show, because it was that good. We stayed for the second show, too, and our friend Barb went up to be hypnotized. She did well too, and once it was over she said that she felt super rested. Cool.




Here are lots of pictures of the ship (notice how the pool is empty 'cause it's way too freaking cold!):


























1 comment:

Kara said...

Reminds me of the ship I was on. Looks almost identical, but yours looked so happy and tropical on the outside. Love the picture of you in your cute life vest.