Tuesday September 17th Malaga, Spain
I slept for about 2 hours then had disembarkation. It was painful! I was so tired and very hungry but I was finished in an hour and went to see Manu and Sergio off! I carried one of Manu’s bags and wow oh wow it was heavy!! After our Adios a group of us walked to the city center. It took about half an hour, but it was along the beach in brilliant sunshine. We made it to the center and ran into Manu again!
With Leechie & Manu
She is staying in a hotel for the night, so we all had lunch at a Tapa’s place. I had a tiny hamburger (slider to us) it was almost, ALMOST as good as Papa’s home made burgeyyys.
Wow! What a beautiful city.
I bought some magnets and a shot glass, then we stopped by McDonalds to get wifi for a little bit. I was pretty irritable so I didn’t spend very long online. Javier bought me an ice cream and we walked back to the ship, he spoke about his favorite bands and music. He is very passionate about his music.
I did some cleaning up and then took a bit of a nap. I woke up in time to go to rehearsal at 5pm. We just went over the dances without Manu which didn’t take very long. I returned to my cabin and put some makeup on before Pax drill at 630pm. It was extremely warm, and the passengers were terrible today, no one was listening.
I was very tired for show time and the ship was moving a lot so I didn’t feel too well. Show #1 was bad but, as usual, show #2 was perfecto! Minus the off balances because of the ship’s movement.
I ate a hot dog for dinner, mmmm just like home! Then I went back to my cabin to relax in the only night I’ll get in a cabin alone! It was heaven!
I realized that Sergi looks like Uncle Vincent. Also, a bit like a frog so what does that say about Uncle Vincent!? Haha
Wednesday September 18th Tangier, Morocco
I was woken up by the sound of someone knocking on the door, I tried to ignore it but it didn’t stop; I opened the door to Gustavo who had seen a picture I posted on Facebook with the 22 people in the cabin! He told me it was a ‘no no, to put pictures like that on Facebook. So I took it down the next time I had internet.
I went back to bed for about an hour. I got up to go to the crew purser to put money on my card and I made some coffee and started to pack my things. I was waiting for Danny to be ready to swap cabins with me.
I finally found her and we switched. I was so freaked out when I saw my new cabin. The porthole was battened shut, things were everywhere…I was overwhelmed because I am very organized. I was able to convince Leechie to open the porthole and I also moved some of her things so I could put my belongings away. I moved the safe down off the desk to the floor so we have more space now.
I unpacked some things before having lunch and our pool party. It was very good! I was still super tired, I’m not sure why, I think it’s all catching up with me. It was very sunny and hot outside. We moved to the staff pool where there were a couple of people but it was so windy I only stayed for about 10 mins then went back inside. My face is red now, so I suppose I caught some sun.
In the cabin I organized some more of my things, then took a bit of a nap. When I woke up, I went to find something to eat, I am getting pretty sick of sticky rice.
I started some laundry, this time I was one of those ‘nice people’ and put someone’s finished laundry into the dryer. I needed the washing machine! Hehe.
It was Gala night and I went upstairs to hear Javier sing. I overheard some people speaking English! On this cruise we have 180 passengers who are British. I went over and spoke with them, guess where they were from? Southend! What a tiny, tiny world!! It was so good to be able to speak with passengers, finally. They told me they go on 2 cruises a year, live in Spain and don’t speak Spanish!
Thursday September 19th Casablanca, Morocco
We all met in the Staff mess at 10am to go out. We didn’t have much time so we rushed. We walked to the city center. I saw a ton of motorcycles, if you can call them that. They looked as though if you touched one it would fall to pieces. Casablanca was already 10 times better than Tangier, Morocco. We saw lots of cats just roaming around.
We kept seeing dead fish everywhere, and one rabid dog that tried to attack me. But it was definitely a cleaner and safer city. I bought some ‘original fake’ ray-bans and a magnet.
We went back to the ship for another pool party, it was boiling hot!! Then we had an entertainment meeting where Anoushka spoke about some of the dancer’s futures when the ship becomes Costa.
We had rehearsals for over 3 hours in the theatre. I was exhausted! I took a nap immediately afterwards and woke up at 8pm to eat dinner. I went to watch, Capello’s show, the magician. It was very good! I am going to be his new assistant when the other girl leaves in 9 days!
I didn’t have Carnival duty today but I put on my cowgirl hat anyway and went to the Formentera to participate. People had crazy costumes this week. Men dressed like women, women dressed like men! It was very amusing! Then we went to crew bar and basically had a party! Everyone from the entertainment team was there! Now I am in bed, exhausted from the heat and tired.
Friday September 20th Lisbon, Portugal
I woke up with my alarm to give myself time to have coffee before the Crew Drill. I wore my original fake ray-bans during the drill and was told I couldn’t wear them! It was very hot and bright!
Javier and I went a-wandering in Lisboa and ate Italian food.
I was speaking to Mum when I saw a guy steal someone’s backpack, run away, drop the bag, get caught by 2 guys who took him to the police. It awesome.
We finished up our food and headed back to the ship. I went up to the pool to ‘take some sun’ I ended up falling asleep!
I ate some mashed potatoes (they were just baby potatoes, but I mashed them with cheese and salt) before doing the shows. They both went very well, Alex, the singer, was sick so she had to lip-sync. During the 2nd show, my top hat fell off just 8 counts after I entered the stage. It was funny!
I had to teach the Hungarians the word ‘diarrhea’ today. It was very amusing. Everyone has an upset tummy! Not amusing!
I didn’t have white party as a duty today, but I went anyway, it was in the pool and very cold.
I have learned that Leechie eats like a dog, drinks like a dog, bathes like a dog. It’s definitely a test of my patience!
Bori tried to go over counts with my for a part in the show and turns out she didn’t know the correct counts, but I did. Way to go ‘dance captain.’
Saturday September 21st Portimao, Portugal
I was woken up by a knock at the door at 11. It was Javier telling us that we couldn’t go out until 12 because today was Tenders which means the ship anchored off shore
and we had to take a ‘tender’ (lifeboat that holds 150 people) to shore. It was so much fun!!
They moved around in the water a whole lot, but it was a very exciting trip!
We had to walk about half an hour to get to the city. Everywhere was deserted, I’m not sure why, Roman and I said that maybe they had a huge party last night and everyone was hung-over and staying inside!
We went to the grocery store and I found a bathing suit shop, so I bought some bottoms. Yay! We sat in a tiny café, there were no other customers, but there was wifi. Roman and I walked back to catch the tender,
we didn’t have much time so we had to get straight on to return to the ship because it was going to take a little while.
I went straight to the pool and fell asleep in the sun again.
We did our staff presentation, Javier was nowhere to be found, I spent an hour looking for him! I watched a movie in the crew bar with J-LO. It was very good! Then I made some popcorn and went to it is very hot!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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