Yet another day in Acapulco!!
Well I'm becoming very acquainted with Starbucks in Acapulco and their free wireless. It's confirmed our ship has a hole in it and we have to go into dry dock for repairs. The passengers that embarked two days ago here to commence their 10 day cruise are being sent home today and tomorrow and on Friday we will leave Acapulco and travel somewhere we dont know yet for repairs. The rumours are either Panama or San Francisco. It's reported now that we did hit bottom while reversing out of Huatulco on Sunday. I thought we were really close to the rocks, obviously we were too close. I believe if you go to the Princess.com website down the bottom right hand side of the page is a link to news and announcements. If you go to that you can keep track of updates.
Meanwhile, we've been the movies twice, spent much time in Startbucks on the net. I love Skype!!! I've been able to sit look at and talk to Chris, my brother and my sister-in-law and nephew. Liam (my nephew) even sang me "I can sing a rainbow" it was awesome!!!
After 4 months of performing we are happy for a break, however I really hope everything is sorted for when mum and Annette are due to come on. At this point it seems that will all be fine. Fingers crossed.
Lots of love
Jess x
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
Hi Everyone!
Today I’m back in Acapulco which marks the end of another cruise. Only two more cruises to go now til Mum and Annette get on. I’m really getting excited now.
This cruise seemed to go slow. After all the back to back ports we had the cruise before around the Caribbean Islands, all the sea days back on this run has made it seem slow. I’ve really started to feel homesick now and am looking forward to coming home. I’m so glad Mums going to be on soon.
After my jellyfish sting in Aruba at the beginning of the cruise we then had three sea days… one of those being the day we go through the Panama Canal, which to us is like a sea day as we don’t get off. There were meant to be some brand new tours that day that have never been available before, but they were cancelled due to our delayed transit through the canal. There was a lot of traffic that day.
In Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Dave and I did a rafting tour. As it was a wet tour I didn’t take my camera, however we’ve ordered a CD of photo’s the tour company took which should arrive soon so I can show you some of those photos then. On the rafting tour we went through rapids before paddling up stream to find some crocodiles. We found two. One was about two metres long that swam on the surface of the water about 5 metres away from our raft. All up we were on the water for about an hour. It was a lot of fun.
After another sea day we then arrived in Puerto Quetzal, Guatamala where we finally spent the day at the water park. Nipples organised it for us…. The reason I say we ‘finally’ spent the day there is that this is our third attempt to go. Each other time it’s always been closed. We had such a fun day together. There were about a dozen of us racing each other down the slides and basically being big kids. I’ve included a couple of photos…. One of me on one of the slides and a group shot of all of us.
Yesterday we arrived late into Huatulco, Mexico due to bad weather which meant all the tours that day had to be cancelled. We only ever spend about 5 hours there so we ended up with only 3 hours this time. The beach is right at the end of the pier so we were able to make the most of it in the short time we had. It was really rough yesterday afternoon when we left Huatulco and rumour has it that the ship was dented on the rocks. Actually the first rumour was that we had two wholes in the hull then we heard it was dented. It was really rough, some were surprised we sailed. I remember looking out my port hole last night surprised at how close to the rocks we were. Later there were waves smashing against my port hole. Apparently we limped to Acapulco which made us late into port and we've heard some people from LA are coming to assess the damage. Rumours run rife around a ship as you can imagine. The latest we heard was that if we needed to go into dry dock for repair we could end up in San Francisco.... I doubt it though. Stay tuned I'm sure I'll have more rumours for you on this on my next update.
Last night I organised a girls night. We went for dinner in the pizzeria followed by drinks in the night club and then a movie in my room. I introduced them to one of my favourite movies called ‘The Pirate Movie’ and old eighties movie filmed in Australia based on the Pirates on Penzance. It’s a comedy and they loved it.
This cruise we celebrated Valentines day. I’ve included a photo taken that night of Danielle, John and myself. John and Danielle are the two singer dancers in my cast. I really wasn’t in the mood for celebrating (for obvious reasons) so didn’t stay down stairs in the crew bar for very long.
Overall I didn’t take too many photos this past cruise so I thought I’d put in some show photos. I haven’t put any of the production show photos in for a while. These are some of the ones that Tom Fletcher the comedian that was on a couple of cruises ago took.
I’m looking forward to coming home soon. Only ten more weeks to go!!
Today I’m back in Acapulco which marks the end of another cruise. Only two more cruises to go now til Mum and Annette get on. I’m really getting excited now.
This cruise seemed to go slow. After all the back to back ports we had the cruise before around the Caribbean Islands, all the sea days back on this run has made it seem slow. I’ve really started to feel homesick now and am looking forward to coming home. I’m so glad Mums going to be on soon.
After my jellyfish sting in Aruba at the beginning of the cruise we then had three sea days… one of those being the day we go through the Panama Canal, which to us is like a sea day as we don’t get off. There were meant to be some brand new tours that day that have never been available before, but they were cancelled due to our delayed transit through the canal. There was a lot of traffic that day.
In Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Dave and I did a rafting tour. As it was a wet tour I didn’t take my camera, however we’ve ordered a CD of photo’s the tour company took which should arrive soon so I can show you some of those photos then. On the rafting tour we went through rapids before paddling up stream to find some crocodiles. We found two. One was about two metres long that swam on the surface of the water about 5 metres away from our raft. All up we were on the water for about an hour. It was a lot of fun.
After another sea day we then arrived in Puerto Quetzal, Guatamala where we finally spent the day at the water park. Nipples organised it for us…. The reason I say we ‘finally’ spent the day there is that this is our third attempt to go. Each other time it’s always been closed. We had such a fun day together. There were about a dozen of us racing each other down the slides and basically being big kids. I’ve included a couple of photos…. One of me on one of the slides and a group shot of all of us.
Yesterday we arrived late into Huatulco, Mexico due to bad weather which meant all the tours that day had to be cancelled. We only ever spend about 5 hours there so we ended up with only 3 hours this time. The beach is right at the end of the pier so we were able to make the most of it in the short time we had. It was really rough yesterday afternoon when we left Huatulco and rumour has it that the ship was dented on the rocks. Actually the first rumour was that we had two wholes in the hull then we heard it was dented. It was really rough, some were surprised we sailed. I remember looking out my port hole last night surprised at how close to the rocks we were. Later there were waves smashing against my port hole. Apparently we limped to Acapulco which made us late into port and we've heard some people from LA are coming to assess the damage. Rumours run rife around a ship as you can imagine. The latest we heard was that if we needed to go into dry dock for repair we could end up in San Francisco.... I doubt it though. Stay tuned I'm sure I'll have more rumours for you on this on my next update.
Last night I organised a girls night. We went for dinner in the pizzeria followed by drinks in the night club and then a movie in my room. I introduced them to one of my favourite movies called ‘The Pirate Movie’ and old eighties movie filmed in Australia based on the Pirates on Penzance. It’s a comedy and they loved it.
This cruise we celebrated Valentines day. I’ve included a photo taken that night of Danielle, John and myself. John and Danielle are the two singer dancers in my cast. I really wasn’t in the mood for celebrating (for obvious reasons) so didn’t stay down stairs in the crew bar for very long.
Overall I didn’t take too many photos this past cruise so I thought I’d put in some show photos. I haven’t put any of the production show photos in for a while. These are some of the ones that Tom Fletcher the comedian that was on a couple of cruises ago took.
I’m looking forward to coming home soon. Only ten more weeks to go!!
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Hi Everyone!!
I’m now well into the second half of my contract now!!
Saying goodbye to Chris in Manaus was the worst! The day before he left we went on a 15 hour tour down the Amazon that started at 10am with a quick bus tour of the city… see the photo of me on the steps of the famous Manaus Opera House. We then headed to the Amazon River where we boarded a boat for a 2 hour journey down the river past the meetings of the waters to an Amazon Village Resort. This became our base for the day. We had lunch before heading out for a trek through the jungle where we learnt a lot about the natural remedies available from the many trees in the jungle. We then boarded a canoe where we headed further down the river to a village, this is where Chris and I got to hold a sloth and I met the Monkey in the photo. After travelling down various inlets of the river (where I so wanted to see an Anaconda) we then headed back to base for dinner… see the photo of Dan, Dave, Me, Chris, Hayley & Brett back at the resort. When it got dark we boarded the canoes again to go Crocodile watching. Our guide caught one that was estimated as be 7 years old. Chris got to hold one… see photo.
After a very teary goodbye the next morning, Brett, Tara and I went shopping and to the movies. We managed to find a movie in English (A Night in the Museum). Leaving Manaus we head back down the Amazon where we once again stopped at Santarem. This time Dave and I did another tour where we got to visit a village and taste some traditional foods… one of them being piranha… see photo of cooked piranha.
Before we knew it it was time to cross the equator again which meant we had to do the equator crossing ceremony again. This ceremony is the same on all the ships, King Neptune and his Queen hold a trial of various crimes …. I.e. gluttony, lust or whatever and people end up gunked… the whole thing is pretty gross but is good fun. See photo from the first one when Chris was on.
Back in open waters our next port was Devils Island. Some of you may remember the Steve McQueen movie Pappion. It was set and filmed there. We had rehearsals the day we stopped there so when Dave and I got off we only had about an hour to explore the place. I’m so glad we got to see what we did. The island was once a jail and is filled with old buildings and ruins, it was really interesting. See photo of me on the pier waiting to catch the last tender back to the ship.
The next 5 ports we were back in the Caribbean Islands. Starting with Trinidad where Tara and I did a hike to the Maraca’s waterfalls. In Grenada, Dave and I did a tour that visited an old fort, a rum distillery and Grand Anse beach which was beautiful… see photo. Grenada is soon to host one of the World Cup Cricket games.
In St Vincent, Tara and I did an all day Catamaran tour that saw me see too much sun. My tan is coming along nicely. On our tour we visited Bequia an neighbouring island and Princess Margaret beach... it's named after her as she once took a dip there and owned a house near by.
In Dominica, Dave and I did a river to ocean kayak tour which was fun. We went back to the Layou River where we went river tubing last time, but this time we were further down the river and kayaked in a duel kayak through rapids before paddling out to the ocean.
In St Kitts in the West Indies, Brett and I did a tour in an old British Army Troop Carrier… see photo. We got to see some beautiful scenery and spend time at the beach. It was a nice port to finish the Caribbean part of our itinerary. We are now back to our usual itinerary for two cruises before embarking on our Peru & Ecuador Itinerary.... half way through that itinerary is when Mum and Annette get on.
One of the highlights of our last cruise was that Dave and I go to do our own show for one night in the show lounge. We had so much fun. It went way better than we expected. We got a standing ovation from the entire audience and both shows were packed. We each performed about 4 solos each and did 6 duets together finishing on our favourite song we love singing together ‘Please Don’t Ask Me’. To give you an idea of Dave’s voice just imagine John Farnham… they are so similar! I’ve included some photos that the onboard Comedian at the time took for us.
Talk about ‘what a small world’ Sandy Pedley one of the Children’s workers on board and I were chatting the other day. She is Australian and lives in the Blue Mountains, I told her my brother works in the Blue Mountains at John Wycliffe Christian School and she said "That’s where I went to school". Only those of you who are familiar with my days of going to the Hawkesbury Christian Centre will appreciate this but Sandy and I realised we once new many of the same people. Most notably my sister in law Kylie with whom she was in the same year as in school there. What a spin out! See photo of Sandy and I in St Kitts.
I’ve also included a couple of photos’ of our Australia Day celebrations.
I’m now well into the second half of my contract now!!
Saying goodbye to Chris in Manaus was the worst! The day before he left we went on a 15 hour tour down the Amazon that started at 10am with a quick bus tour of the city… see the photo of me on the steps of the famous Manaus Opera House. We then headed to the Amazon River where we boarded a boat for a 2 hour journey down the river past the meetings of the waters to an Amazon Village Resort. This became our base for the day. We had lunch before heading out for a trek through the jungle where we learnt a lot about the natural remedies available from the many trees in the jungle. We then boarded a canoe where we headed further down the river to a village, this is where Chris and I got to hold a sloth and I met the Monkey in the photo. After travelling down various inlets of the river (where I so wanted to see an Anaconda) we then headed back to base for dinner… see the photo of Dan, Dave, Me, Chris, Hayley & Brett back at the resort. When it got dark we boarded the canoes again to go Crocodile watching. Our guide caught one that was estimated as be 7 years old. Chris got to hold one… see photo.
After a very teary goodbye the next morning, Brett, Tara and I went shopping and to the movies. We managed to find a movie in English (A Night in the Museum). Leaving Manaus we head back down the Amazon where we once again stopped at Santarem. This time Dave and I did another tour where we got to visit a village and taste some traditional foods… one of them being piranha… see photo of cooked piranha.
Before we knew it it was time to cross the equator again which meant we had to do the equator crossing ceremony again. This ceremony is the same on all the ships, King Neptune and his Queen hold a trial of various crimes …. I.e. gluttony, lust or whatever and people end up gunked… the whole thing is pretty gross but is good fun. See photo from the first one when Chris was on.
Back in open waters our next port was Devils Island. Some of you may remember the Steve McQueen movie Pappion. It was set and filmed there. We had rehearsals the day we stopped there so when Dave and I got off we only had about an hour to explore the place. I’m so glad we got to see what we did. The island was once a jail and is filled with old buildings and ruins, it was really interesting. See photo of me on the pier waiting to catch the last tender back to the ship.
The next 5 ports we were back in the Caribbean Islands. Starting with Trinidad where Tara and I did a hike to the Maraca’s waterfalls. In Grenada, Dave and I did a tour that visited an old fort, a rum distillery and Grand Anse beach which was beautiful… see photo. Grenada is soon to host one of the World Cup Cricket games.
In St Vincent, Tara and I did an all day Catamaran tour that saw me see too much sun. My tan is coming along nicely. On our tour we visited Bequia an neighbouring island and Princess Margaret beach... it's named after her as she once took a dip there and owned a house near by.
In Dominica, Dave and I did a river to ocean kayak tour which was fun. We went back to the Layou River where we went river tubing last time, but this time we were further down the river and kayaked in a duel kayak through rapids before paddling out to the ocean.
In St Kitts in the West Indies, Brett and I did a tour in an old British Army Troop Carrier… see photo. We got to see some beautiful scenery and spend time at the beach. It was a nice port to finish the Caribbean part of our itinerary. We are now back to our usual itinerary for two cruises before embarking on our Peru & Ecuador Itinerary.... half way through that itinerary is when Mum and Annette get on.
One of the highlights of our last cruise was that Dave and I go to do our own show for one night in the show lounge. We had so much fun. It went way better than we expected. We got a standing ovation from the entire audience and both shows were packed. We each performed about 4 solos each and did 6 duets together finishing on our favourite song we love singing together ‘Please Don’t Ask Me’. To give you an idea of Dave’s voice just imagine John Farnham… they are so similar! I’ve included some photos that the onboard Comedian at the time took for us.
Talk about ‘what a small world’ Sandy Pedley one of the Children’s workers on board and I were chatting the other day. She is Australian and lives in the Blue Mountains, I told her my brother works in the Blue Mountains at John Wycliffe Christian School and she said "That’s where I went to school". Only those of you who are familiar with my days of going to the Hawkesbury Christian Centre will appreciate this but Sandy and I realised we once new many of the same people. Most notably my sister in law Kylie with whom she was in the same year as in school there. What a spin out! See photo of Sandy and I in St Kitts.
I’ve also included a couple of photos’ of our Australia Day celebrations.
Today we're back in Aruba back to our normal itinerary for two cruises. Today Danielle and I did a Catarmaran Snorkeling tour. Can you believe... I was bitten by a damn Jellyfish again!!! Last month when that happened in stung a little but this time... OMG!!!! It really hurt me :( ... and once again I was the only stung on the boat!!
Well that’s it from me. Till my next update, take care and keep in touch.
Lots of love Jess xx
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