Category Archives: Fire & Ice 2017

Early Days – At Sea – [10/04/2017]

Working a Grand Voyage as a workshop teacher is very different from working one as a librarian. My days are considerably shorter, and the stress level? Definitely lower. While the guest expectations remain high, this is by far the most … Continue reading

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Prepare for the Usual – San Diego – [10/01/2017]

I swore I would never go back. I really did. And I haven’t. Not really. But I made a promise, and promises are something I keep. So this morning’s embark day of this particular Grand Voyage found me in the … Continue reading

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Let’s Play Wet Dock – Round 2! – Seattle, Wet Dock Day 3 – [09/28/2017]

Scenario: you are (still) a worker on a cruise ship. Your floating home is moored for one more day in a big city, after which you will be heading out to sea (still with no passengers). You have one day … Continue reading

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Let’s Play Wetdock! – Seattle, Wetdock Day 3 – [09/27/2017]

Scenario: you are a worker on a cruise ship. Your floating home is currently ensconced in a maintenance period, where she is being prepared for a long voyage with highly demanding passengers. As everything for this voyage is expected to … Continue reading

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Playing Hooky – Seattle, Wetdock Day 2 – [09/26/2017]

I never knew that…playing hooky could be so much fun. Neither did I. ~ Hercules Wetdock has provided the entertainment department with a rather unusual circumstance: aside from the occasional training meeting and the coast-guard required crew drills – we … Continue reading

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Under Construction – Seattle, Wet Dock Day 1 – [09/25/2017]

In eight years there isn’t a great deal I haven’t done on ships, but this will be my first time working through maintenance cruise. To say this is a little bizarre is a bit of an understatement, I have never … Continue reading

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Silent Cogs – At Sea – [09/21/2017]

Even with the new job – which I love, which half the time doesn’t even feel like work – my clockwork sometimes fails me. Crawled into bed relatively early last night because I could tell my body was trying to … Continue reading

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We Went…which-a-way? – Homer (not Seward), Alaska – [09/20/2017]

When you’ve done as many contracts as Amras and I have in Alaska, you kind of come to the natural assumption that you know the ports. After all, between the two of us we have been up and down the … Continue reading

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Sparkle Creek – Ketchikan, Alaska – [09/13/2017]

Usually the end of the Alaska season is a mess of rain and rough weather; but so far this cruise it seems that Mother Nature has decided that the storm she pounded us with last week (which at one point … Continue reading

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On Breakthroughs – Ketchikan, Alaska –[09/13/2017]

Progress report: You learn three chords, you can play any rock n’ roll song in the books My father said that…and much as I hate to admit it, he was probably right. I knew for the last two weeks that … Continue reading

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