Ode to the Crew Gym

Fitness selfies
Motivational posters,
Luminescent yellow walls
Blur as my eyes focus on my treadmill screen.

Just one more minute
One more rep
One more kilometre
Ten more calories
Closer to my goal.

They float around me
I float around them
Together- yet still alone.
Lost in our own worlds
Drowned by blaring earphones.
Together, we work for a common goal
To be stronger, faster and fitter than before.

Dear Diary: Old endings become new beginnings

Today is no ordinary day for me. Today marks the final leg of my contract at sea. It marks the time where I start counting down the weeks and not the months. I have two months left on this ship. That is eight cruises, eight formal nights, eight embarkation days, eight more days in St Thomas, eight more afternoons in the Bahamas, two days out in Miami and sixteen more hours to enjoy Tortola. I have eight more blog posts to tell you about the Carribbean. After that? Who knows where in the world I will be.

Drinking wine while sailing into St Thomas-one of my favourite memories this contract

It is funny how you feel you have tons of time but when that time is over you feel it has flown by without any time for you to catch your breath in between. This contract has passed so swiftly leaving the bittersweet taste of warm beer from the crew bar, the caress of island sunshine and the stale smell of the dusty air conditioning system installed on the Escape.

I personally cannot believe I survived a full four months of smiling at strangers and visiting the same islands every week. Miami, St Thomas, Tortola, Nassau, Bahamas. Every week. It sounds wonderfully exciting to the old me- stuck in  one city for years, however my heart has become a gypsy heart- always on the run. I no longer itch for travel, I lust for it and it would be very difficult to settle for any kind of life living in one place.

My ship contracts used to have at least three different cruise itineraries. I sailed to Alaska, to Mexico, Columbia and the Panama Canal, finishing up in Jamaica. I have done the Eastern Carribbean, then the Western Carribbean. I took a ride on the ship to Nova Scotia, Canada for a few weeks. It was there when I fell in love with ships. Almost every day I woke up in a different place every day, I lounged on a different beach, hiked up a different trail and saw a different site I had never seen before. True, I was never fully experiencing each place based on the limited time we had there but life passed in a never-ending whirlwind of colour.

Throwback to NYC- fresh from the Ocean

From the late nights in crew bar to the breakfasts in NYC- working in ships was different to living in any city in the world. New people came almost every week and old people left. It is a place where the only constant, stable thing is change itself. 

Somehow it no longer feels like that anymore- my nights in crew bar have become shorter and less regular, my itinerary has stayed the same for the full six months and, even though I wake up in a different place every day it is still the same place I went to the week before. Do not get me wrong- I still have fun. I just can't shake the feeling that I am living in one place- that moves around but is still the same.

Perhaps I am growing up, perhaps the novelty of ships have worn off. I know that when you have been on ships long enough to know that the disgusting mix of dough and bones in brown liquid they call "Carribbean soup" is actually delicious then you are no longer fresh to the game. (I am not  kidding there was always a line for that soup and I used to wonder what was wrong with those people. I now AM one of those people. Anyhow- something tells me I have learnt all I can from working and living here and I know in my heart it is time to move on.

"Moving on" in Miami.

This is why I am certain this will be my last few weeks on a cruise ship- the beginning of the end. I have plans for the future but I do not yet know what is next to come. For now I will enjoy my last few weeks in the Carribbean as much as I enjoy the last few sips of beer at 2am. I will relish my journey back home and- no matter what happens next I will always keep you posted. 

A Carribbean toast to new beginnings.

12 signs you know you are going to have a bad day

I rocked up to work this morning at a ripe 6:30 in the morning with a red bull rattling in my stomach for breakfast. As the elevator took a slow walk to China up to my workplace I tapped my foot- annoyed. I was reminded of all the things that can ruin your day. Here a are a few:

1. When the elevator stops at every floor on your way to the penthouse.

2. While brushing your teeth you spill a drop of toothpaste- staining a perfect blouse

3. You pull your favourite outfit out the closet only to find it is creased beyond words.

4. Traffic. No other words needed.

5. A row of people taking over the entire pathway while maintaining the slowest pace of all time.

6. Taking a sip of ice-cold coffee you have left out for too long.

7. Burning your breakfast or skipping it altogether.

8. When your boss schedules you a day off but you are in port manning and cannot leave the ship (cruise ship workers will know all about this one).

9. Waking up too late to shower and- as a result- feeling disgusting all day.

10. Wearing granny panties because it is laundry day.

11. A giant zit on your face

12. Negativity from anybody, anywhere, anyplace, anytime.

1 sign you know you are going to have a good day? When your bra and panties match.

Jumping the broom

Amidst crashing waves, sun-soaked sand and azure blue skies of St Thomas Virgin Island I was lucky enough to witness my roommate marry the love of her life.

Despite the beautiful location, it was one of the most modest weddings I have ever attended. Her fiance went to work at 5am to 9. Afterward she finished, they gathered their paperwork and donned simple short, white dresses. My roommate even refused my help with hair and makeup. They headed out to the gangway off the ship to Lime Tree beach- inviting some colleagues who were able to get away from work to join them. Luckily we were mostly photographers so they received a full, free wedding photography service. The "reception" was a cocktail and lunch ordered at a restaurant on

During the same time my school friend got married with full, wedding reception, ballgown and flower-strewn church service attached. She married her boyfriend of three years. My roommate married her girlfriend of three months.

Despite their differences they both believed that it was the right time to get married. When I was younger I used to believe that you had to be with someone for years or live with them before you even though of marriage but now I know that when you are ready you are ready. If its the right person waiting three years before will not make a difference.

This post is a bit personal yet I want to share the most amazing thing I have seen while travelling on a ship. That is something you see every day: love and its ability to conquer all obstacles. I have seen people who live halfway across the world from each other cross that distance after only a few months of even knowing each other. You would think living a lifestyle on a ship would close your heart to love but I have seen it make people more and more open to it. My own ship love affair brimmed with crazy emotions and happiness. We never had the ability to dress up and go out for dinner at night like I did with my boyfriends at home yet I still felt the romance flaring between us. I suppose less romance leads to more sincerity and, in the case of my roommate, the minimalist wedding she had was more than she ever dreamed of.

During that dark time in our past known as the slave trade- "negroe" men and women were never allowed to be married yet love conquered all obstacles and they defied this rule. They swept a broom under their feet-jumping over it together- making them man and wife. Without a marriage license they were just as married in their hearts as any other married couple.

Customs around marriage have changed over years and through continents but love which is passionate enough to face more than a few obstacles is something that will never change- no matter the place or the time. Now that, is the biggest wonder of our world.