Wamea Canyon

Next in our trip through the Hawaiian Islands was the port of Nawiliwili on the Island of Kauai. This island ties for my favorite with Maui (which I will share in the next two instillations.) Kauai has beautiful countryside all over the island. The San Francisco gang had yet another companion this time. In the group photo you will see Steve, Alex, and myself accompanied by Darren and Michael. We rented a car again and this time Steve drove. Because he’s Australian, we all teased him about driving on the right side of the road and when I started taking pictures of him driving he posed real quick like he was crashing. But luckily he’s a very good driver and now he’s taken over most the driving on our trips.

Our first destination was the Wamea Canyon, which is dubbed the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It was spectacular, I’m afraid no picture can do the place justice. Then we went hunting waterfalls. We ended up hiking to the bottom of a large waterfall down a steep muddy trail that a local told us about. It was a tough climb, but it was worth it. There was no one at the bottom we had it all to ourselves. We all had a great time on this trip.

Katie

Kailua Kona, on the big island in Hawaii

My first stop in Hawaii was in Honolulu. We weren’t in port for very long. I just walked around town and did a little shopping. The city is nice. It’s like what South Florida would have been, if they had taken better care of the place and left some trees around and kept it cleaner. Our next port was Kailua Kona, on the big island. The lava from the volcanoes was too far away, so we went to a place called turtle beach, where they have sea turtles everywhere. You aren’t allowed to touch them, but you can get very close and even swim with them. I took pictures of course and we had fish and chips for lunch on the beach. The weather was kinda blah, but we still had a nice day. This time Michael from activities staff (eating lunch in the picture below) tagged along with the San Francisco Gang.

Katie

Napa Valley

The next stop for the San Francisco Gang was wine country in Napa Valley. But before we got there, we stopped and took pictures at the golden gate bridge and then visited Muir Woods where they have giant redwood trees. Now this trip to see the wine country was a guy named Steve Merchant’s idea. Steve Merchant is a Canadian activities staff guy and when he suggested a trip to the wine country, I knew I had to do it. So it was supposed to be me, and Canadian Steve, and Aussie Steve, and Alex (who is Austrian in case you were wondering) but Canadian Steve decided he didn’t want to go anymore. So we made a joke of it the whole trip and below you'll see we are at a nice restaurant toasting to Steve for having such a great idea.

After that trip we toured around San Francisco the next few days. I stocked up on some professional film to get me through Hawaii. I also went and got contact lens. I have daily wear disposable so I just wear them whenever I feel like it and I wear my glasses the rest of the time. I love it. Now I can still see when I go swimming at the beach or snorkeling. And I don't have to wear my glasses when I get all dressed up and go out.

All these pictures and the ones from the previous Chronicle and the next few chronicles to come are courtesy of Aussie Steve (he's the one drinking a giant latte below.) I was shooting mostly black and white inferred and medium format. That won’t be processed for a while. So I’ll have to share my own pictures later. Doing Black and White inferred was interesting. The film is very sensitive and you’re supposed to put it in your camera and take it out in complete darkness, and since I don’t have a changing bag to do that, I had Alex and Steve lock me up in the trunk of the car to change my film. That was funny.

Katie

Commercial Contest Award

I have some exciting news today. I just won a commercial contest that Celebrity was having with all the broadcast teams in the fleet. Two other ships were chosen as winners in addition to ours. I made 2 commercials one was with Steve where he’s staring out at the ocean all bored. Then when he leans forward to look down at something, his nose touches the glass window and he starts making faces. A cute girl passes by and sees him. He pulls away embarrassed and then a title card comes up saying "Looking for some excitement?" and then there is a short montage of all the sports we have on board.

The next commercial I had the two flyers (aerial artists that fly around the stage during shows) as my actors. They are having a formal tea in our specialty restaurant and the guy is really bored. So he makes a paper football and flicks it across the room into another couple’s teacup and yells in excitement. Everyone in the restaurant stares at him indignantly until he quietly puts his hands down then the title card comes up "Need a change of scene?"

As a prize I get to take 4 people to lunch at any place in any port I want and we can spend up to $150. I’m taking Resty, Brett, and Steve. And my commercials are going to be played fleet wide.

Katie

The San Francisco Gang

In San Francisco we were in dry dock for five glorious days. Dry dock is when they put the ship in a special dock and drain the water out, so you can see from one of the pictures below what the bottom of the ship looks like. There are no guests and nothing for the crew to do but play.

In San Francisco Steve, Alex, and me formed what has been dubbed "The San Francisco Gang." Since San Fran there have been others who have come and gone in the gang, but it still remains: myself, Steve, and Alex. We started making our own tours to the places we wanted to see usually renting a car and driving to see all the sights of a particular place. In San Francisco we had our first big trip to Napa Valley and stayed overnight there. From there we’ve been on lots of great trips together and it didn’t take long for the rest of the crew to catch wind of our great adventures and start asking to join in. One time I went to the mess and a bunch of people came and sat at my table and started asking what was our next trip and could they join in. You will see versions of the San Francisco Gang in later Chronicles, but here is where it all started.

Alex, Steve, and I rented a car and toured the city then went out to wine country to visit some wineries. Attached are some pictures of us riding a cable car and standing at Pier 39 at sunset. Next we went to Napa Valley... more on that next time.

Katie

The Americas

Well, now that I've caught you up with South America I need to catch you up on Central America, San Francisco, and Hawaii. I'm just now leaving Hawaii and I have had such a good time. We have five sea days till we get to Mexico so I'm going to be very busy, but I'll be getting those pictures out soon. This picture was from an early morning at sea when the water was calm and you couldn't see where the sea ended and the sky began.

Katie

Arica, Chile

Good news, the engines are broken! I know I know, you’re thinking what’s so good about broken engines? The ship is still in working order, but we have to go into dry dock for repairs. We will be in dry dock for 5 days in San Francisco! And what work will I have to do while we are there? None, ha! Well, I’m sure I’ll do a little cleaning and organizing in the broadcast room, but for me it’s a paid vacation. To top it off, we aren’t taking on any guests before we sail to Hawaii. We will pick them up when we reach the islands. So the crew will have 4 days at sea with no guests. We will have the ship all to ourselves. There are going to be parties every night. The only down side is that we’ve cut one of our Hawaii cruises. So we’ll only have one week in Hawaii instead of two. But hey, it’s like a 9-day vacation for me. Yay!

So, now back to my tour of South America. I’m almost done. I’ve got Peru to go and that’s pretty much it for South America. Our last stop in Chile was in a town called Arica. It’s the armpit of South America, and I don’t mean that the town was bad. It was nice and quaint. I mean if you look at a map of South America and look on the Western side to where the land dips inward and then goes strait down, right at that joint is Arica. I went on an ancient ruins tour where we saw old Incan ruins and stopped in a small farming town where I took the pictures of the little girl and her lama and the two characters in a local bar. Then we went to the top of some mountains where a medicine woman did a blessing for the fertility of the earth and some dancers did a traditional Chilean dance, that’s what the feet in the sand are. Arica has a huge desert with a river that everyone lives and farms by. It was an interesting place. Next stop Peru.

Katie

Pisco Sours

In the Southern part of Chile I went to an estancia where they raise sheep. They did a shearing demonstration and a herding demonstration where a cowboy/shepard was on horseback directed his dogs who moved the sheep around. I’ve never seen sheep herded that way before...come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever seen sheep herded. There were lots of cute dogs on the ranch and we had another spectacular meal.

When we arrived, we were welcomed into an old farmhouse full of antiques and were served Pisco Sours. Now a Pisco Sour is a very small innocent looking Chilean drink, but man does it pack a punch. It tastes good, like a hard lemonade and I had two, because I thought they were serving different drinks, but they were the same drink just in different glasses. Right after that we had lunch and I had a glass of red wine with my lamb. I was talking and laughing and having a great time. Then I stood up. It wasn’t until that very moment that I realized I was drunk. Sandy the sports coordinator happened to be along with me on this one and now every time I pass him in the hall he always says something like, ‘hey, Katie, you’re looking a little shaky there. Have you been sampling the Pisco Sours again?’ or ‘Katie, going to the crew bar tonight? They’re serving your favorite, Pisco Sours.’ I’ll never live it down.

Katie

New Manager On Board

My old manager, Sean, has already left the ship and has been replaced by a new manager, Resty. And when I say new, I mean brand new. He’s worked longer than I have, but only as an assistant. This is his first time as a manager. And he got no handover. Usually they send crew a few days before the person they are replacing leaves, that way they have some time to go over things together. Resty didn’t get that and we were expecting an experienced manager to come on, but the one we were expecting left Celebrity and went to work for another company.

So I got a brief handover from Sean before he left and now I’m training Resty. It’s very hard on us both. Resty has company training most of the day and I am trying to do the manager’s job and my job at the same time while teaching Resty and slowly letting him take over. Resty is great though, he works very hard and he’s catching on all right. I’m sure once we get through this cruise it will get better, but right now, I’m beat.

There will be more of my South American adventures coming soon. Right now we’re heading to Aruba. I’ve left you a little behind with the pictures. I’ve already become a shellback. That means I’ve crossed the equator. Before you cross the equator, you’re a pollywog. And they have a big ceremony where a person dresses like King Neptune and everyone gets really silly and they cover the pollywogs in batter and flower and through pies in their face before tossing them in the pool. I was shooting the event so I didn’t have to go through it, but someone still managed to get pie in my face.

Katie

Ushuaia, Argentina

Most of these ports I have been in twice. Once on the way up to Brazil and again on the way back around Cape Horn, through the Straits of Magellan and back toward the Panama Canal to end up in Ft. Lauderdale at the end of this cruise. So I’ve been to Ushuaia, Argentina twice. I’m going to tell you about the first time now and the next Chronicle will be about my second time to Ushuaia.

On this trip, I went hiking to the bottom of a Glacier with Sandy, the Sports Coordinator, Phil a Tasmanian sax player, and Nate an AV (audio visual) guy. We took a lift up to the bottom of this mountain and hiked the rest of the way to the bottom of a glacier that was there. It was about a two-hour hike and man was it steep. That hike has inspired me to work out on a regular basis. Before we left, we stopped off at a little restaurant/cabin and had soup and coffee and red wine. It all tasted wonderful. And the woman who brought us our food was great. She let the boys try three different beers and warned them that Argentinean beers weren’t so good, but the wine was excellent. We finally ended up splitting a bottle of wine.

Katie

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires (remember Eye-res, not Air-res) is probably going to be my favorite port in South America. Rio is second favorite, it might have been first if not for the Carnival and my fear of being mugged, even though nothing bad happened and I never really felt in danger, I had so many warning going in and there were so many slums that all the poor people had to live in, it just made it a little less romantic for me.

I was more comfortable in Buenos Aires and I loved England when I went and Buenos Aires has a strong English influence. When I was there I saw a Tango Show. The Tango was born in Argentina and let me tell you, you have never seen it danced until you’ve seen Argentineans dance the Tango. Wow. I couldn’t even really capture most of the amazing stuff they were doing, but you can get an idea from the pictures. Next will be the Falkland/Malvinas Islands.

Katie

Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo, Uruguay is a nice town. I already sent pictures taken by my friend Adrianna from the Estancia that we went to in Uruguay near Montevideo, but we were there twice. I’ve attached some of my pictures from the Estancia and also pictures that I took when I did a tour of the town. I got to see the beaches, which was actually the shore of a river, so I guess it wasn’t technically a beach, but the river was so wide you couldn’t see the other side and it just looked like a beach with brown muddy water. I saw a statue of Artigas in the old part of town and the large government building where the Senate and the House of Representatives reside. Outside there were two guards posted in traditional uniforms you can see in the picture below. Next I will take you to Buenos Aires and show you what a real tango looks like.

Katie

Buzios, Brazil

Before leaving Brazil the ship made a stop in a small port town called Buzios...or something like that. It was a cute little port town. There aren’t too many places where cruise ships dock that aren’t developed and touristy, but this town was nothing of the sort. Everyone was very friendly. I had sangrias at a nice local restaurant and walked along the beach and through the town. I took a picture of a church and the ship from one of the beaches. We weren’t docked, the water was too shallow, so we had to tender. Tendering is when they take some of the lifeboats back and forth from the ship to the dock to transport passengers and crew. It’s such a pain and sometimes it’s a really long bumpy ride. In the Falklins the tender ride was twenty minutes, but I’m getting a head of myself.

We made another stop in another Brazilian port where I went to the beach and took a self-portrait on the beach by some large round boulders that looked really cool. And that’s all for Brazil. Next will be Uruguay.

Katie

Switching Cabins

Today I had a full body, deep tissue massage on board. They have a great discount for crew in the spa. A Canadian named Merrill was my masseuse and man was he good. I feel like pudding. If you have never had a professional massage, you must get one before you die. Yes, they are expensive, but it is an experience worth the price. Just don’t get addicted to them, then you’ll be in trouble.

I’ve had to change rooms. I’m sharing now. My roommate is the only female on the AV team her name is Marie. She’s French Canadian and she’s so sweet, and tiny. Two of her shoes would fit in one of mine. When we were first standing in the room together she said, "You’re so tall, are you sure you will fit in the bed?" We get along great and I didn’t mind moving, but now I’m in the very back of the ship and it’s so noisy. My old room was a the front and you couldn’t hear the engines when we were moving. All you could hear was the water splashing against the side of the ship, it was like sleeping on the beach. In the back there is a rumbling hum like when you’re in the movie theater watching a disaster movie and there’s an asteroid about to hit and there’s that low rumble as it gets closer and closer and your seat vibrates. It’s like that. I’m laying in bed waiting for the asteroid to hit. The first couple of nights I couldn’t sleep. I’m getting used to it now. Hopefully when the singer who has been stuck on the ship because she can’t get a flight out in these little South American ports gets to go home, they will move me back.

The broadcast room is also at the front of the ship and now because I’m as far to the back as physically possible it takes me 4 minutes to walk to the broadcast room. This ship is that big! Still beats rush hour traffic though ;)

Katie

Estancia (ranch)

Finally I have some pictures to share. They aren’t mine though. One of my friends from the crew, Adrianna, escorted a shore excursion with me and she had a digital camera and was able to burn a CD of the pictures that she took, so I can share those with you now.

The trip we went on was near Montevideo, Uruguay to an Estancia (ranch) where we saw real Gauchos (cowboys) do sheep shearing and dancing and horseback riding. We had a great lunch with all the children in the family (about 12) serving. Then everyone got to go horseback riding and I told them I already knew how to ride and they let me run with the horse. Then we went on a hayride out to a beach where all the family rode their horses along the surf. It was a fantastic trip. Both Adrianna and I had a great time.

The first picture is of the dancers doing some drumming. Then there’s Adrianna doing the hayride. Two of the boys in the family riding next to us. Adrianna took a picture of me on the trailer for the hayride. And then there’s the family riding along the beach. Katie

Website Update

Since I can't do anything with the South America Pictures I have taken, I decided to update my photography website. It really needed it. Check it out at:

www.katiedamien.com

Katie

Getting into Chile

It’s been a long time since I sent a Chronicle. I’ve been a bit busy working on the ship and learning all kinds of interesting things. I have been able to get off a few times. Mostly I go on shore excursions. Since South America is a new and growing place as far as tourism goes, the Shore Excursions department likes to send one crew member as an escort for each tour, so they can help the guests to stay together and report back on how the tour went and if the guide was good and all that. The crew sign up to go and I’ve been lucky enough to get a few. I’ve been to the beach, touring the cities and to a tango show. And let me tell you, you haven’t seen a tango until you’ve seen it done by Argentinean dancers. Wow.

I haven’t sent anything because I don’t want to tell you about all the amazing sights I am seeing without any pictures to show for it. I just haven’t found a way to make them digital yet, but as soon as I do I will get more specific on how each port is. Right now I will just say that Buenos Aires (not pronounced Aires, like it looks, but Eye-res) is my favorite port. It is a big bustling city with lots of monuments and plazas and interesting sights to see. Montevideo (also not pronounced the way it looks, but rather Monte-vi-dayo) is my second favorite. Many places around here look very European like old Italy or Spain.

Before I leave you with that little tease of what I’ve seen, I do have one picture I can share. I had to spend $100 just to get into the country of Chile. They wouldn’t let me out of the airport without paying this reparation fee. I still don’t know what it was all about, but it’s now the most expensive passport stamp I have in my book (actually the company reimbursed me so it didn’t actually cost me anything.)

Katie

Building the House

I wanted to send out these pictures before I left home, but didn’t get the chance. This is the last volley of photos from me about the house. Everyone in the family has been working diligently on it, even Mae (who frequently plays the supervisor role.)

I have been cruising past the Chilean Fjords. They’re beautiful steep mountains that were created by glaciers. And there are still some glaciers around here, but I was in training this morning and missed them. The crew say these are nothing, wait till we get to Alaska. The mountains are pretty though and we get really close for being such a big ship. I have been taking plenty of pictures. Unfortunately the computer that I can upload them to, is still down. As soon as it is fixed, you’ll be getting lots of pictures.

I’ve been very lucky. I happen to be in a room by myself. I’m sure it won’t last, but it’s a nice luxury for now. My room is on deck one, but there are two decks below it, deck zero and the tween deck, apparently it’s a nautical term. I am forward (front) and on the far starboard side (right) so at night it is very quiet except for the waves crashing against the wall. It’s like sleeping in a hammock on the beach. Because I’m so far from the middle of the ship, it rocks a lot. I love it. Good thing I don’t get seasick.
Katie

Arrived on GTS Infinity

I am happy to report that I have made it safely to the Infinity. I had a very long flight all night to get to Santiago, Chile. From there I was driven with a hand full of other new sign-ons to Vapariso, Chile. It was a nice drive only took about two hours. We started in the mountains, then went through wine country, and finally ened up in this big port town. I got to ride a car with one of the concierges and we were having a great time enjoying the scenery until she noticed that the driver, who spoke no English, had a pistol nestled between the passenger seat and the emergency brake.

She said, I don't know weither to be glad or scared. Should I be glad that he has a gun and can protect us, or scared that he needs a gun to protect us. He was happily pointing out land marks to us in Spanish, and nothing bad happened. I guess it's just the way things are around here. These next few weeks I will be very busy learning all my new equipment, I will send more about my adventures later.

Katie

Vaccines

I figured it was about time for another chronicle, though I don’t have much to report on. I have finished working for dad doing locksmithing stuff. It was a pretty cool job. I was just starting to get the hang of it. There was still a lot to do when I left, but now dad’s student crew is back, so the pressure’s on them.

I had a bunch of vaccines yesterday. Before traveling to South America I was required by Celebrity Cruises to get a yellow fever shot. Apparently some of the countries I’m going to require the vaccine before you can enter. So I made an appointment with our local branch of the CDC. Once they had me there, the nurse explained to me the other diseases that I should get vaccinated for. I ended up getting 4 shots and a flu mist. My arms are still sore. In a couple weeks I will be safe guarded against yellow fever, typhoid fever, Hepatitis A, and tetanus (which apparently expires every ten years, and all adults should keep updated, and it’s free up here.)

So after going though all this I am wondering why would anyone want to go to South America? I know there’s supposed to be great jungles and stuff, but who would want to risk their life to see them? I’m going to spend much of my time on the coast. It just seems like; if you want to see great beaches go to the Caribbean where they probably won’t try to kidnap you because you’re America and you are less likely to die from a mosquito bite. Oh well, I guess I will let you know what all the fuss is about when I get there.

I have acquired two new cameras, one is a Canon auto focusing 35mm camera that mom got me for Christmas in a last ditch effort to keep me at home. The other is a Pentax medium format camera. I’m taking them both. So there should be lots of pictures for me to share.

The house is on hold. We are waiting for an inspection before we can continue. Sorry no new pictures yet. I did attach a self-portrait that I did. It doesn’t have anything to do with anything; I just think it looks cool. That’s all for now.

Katie