Oh Ida...

Hello hello!
Well things just never end the way they're supposed to, do they? :) We've had quite a second to last cruise, what with Hurrican Ida in our midst! We had some very rocky shows, but were able to pull through! On Saturday we were informed that instead of our normal route of Tampa, Sea Day, Cayman, Cozumel, Sea Day, we were going to be re-routed to Key West due to the hurricane. The original plan was to spend what should have been our first day at sea in Key West, THEN have a Sea Day, and then proceed to Cozumel as normal. THis would have meant pushing our last night of Shout back one night, because we only perform on Sea Days. HOWEVER, when we go to Key West, they shut down the port and wouldn't let any ships through! So instead of Key West, we spent another day at sea. So this 5 day cruise only got one day in port, which was today. We swapped Shout BACK to the night it was supposed to be on, so as of two nights ago, I'm done performing for Carnival! What a wild ride it's been, and I can't believe it's over!
We spent all day yesterday relaxing, and were able to go out and about before midnight because we didn't have any shows. Then we had crew bingo and our friend Chris, a social host, won over $1800 so that was quite the nice surprise!
Victoria, Nicola and I just had a fabulous lunch in Cozumel and did some souvenir shopping. We only have one more day in port after this- unbelievable. And then of course, the Elvis charter is just 2 days away- I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to share from that too!
HOME IN SIX DAYS!!!!!!!!

coming to the end...

Well everyone, it's hard to believe, but I am coming to the end of this journey! Last night was our very last 2 performances of Fiesta Latina, which still hasn't truly kicked in yet. We swapped the shows this cruise (normally we would have done Shout last night) so there's as much time as possible to alter the costumes for the new cast so that they can open the show on the 11th. I love that we get to see them perform! This means that we'll do Shout 4 times with only one day in between to recover, but after that we're DONE! So we'll perform two Shouts on the 6th, Intro Show on the 7th, 2 more Shouts on the 8th, and that's IT. Because of the charter coming on board on the 12th, we have our entire last cruise with NO work. Explanation:
Carnival allows groups to charter an entire cruise ship for their group only. This apparently happens quite often but the only one we have during our contract just happened to fall on our last cruise. These charter groups completely take over, they have their own activities and their own shows. This charter is run by Elvis Presley's childhood friend, Jerry Shilling. AKA this cruise is going to be filled with Elvis freaks and impersonators. There's an impersonation contest with a crazy prize, something like $10,000, a 24 hour booth with PB & J and banana sandwiches (which was apparently Elvis's favorite snack), things like that. So essentially, I'll have my last 8 days here getting paid to do pretty much nothing. HA! I honestly couldn't be luckier! The atmosphere around here has been so different since the new cast came on- much more relaxed. Everyone is just able to breathe a bit easier.
The only downer is that Tiffany pulled a muscle in her arm a while ago and the doctor forced her to get physical therapy for it off the ship- in Miami. She left on Monday and won't be back til the 12th. So we're closing both shows without a full cast. But hopefully, if everything goes as planned, she'll be with us for the charter cruise.
I'll be home in snowy Minnesota in just 12 days, and Harrisburg in 18! I'm feeling so good about this entire experience and so thankful for it. It's truly changed my life, and I'm glad I can say that with a smile on my face. Can't wait to see everyone! Love, love, LOVE :)