End of the season 9.26.09

The weather has changed in the past 3 weeks for the wetter & colder, the birds are flying south for the winter, and the bears are beginning to go into hibernation…..it’s time for us to get the heck out of here! Time to head to warmer weather, sunshine, & our own boat!!

Whew! How quickly two weeks flies by when you’re having fun. And it was an interesting couple of weeks, to say the least. We had some big changes at work which ended up with Michael and I jumping in with both feet to help out. While that last sentence sounds so easy, it was quite a learning experience, a bit of a fire drill, and long hours. The past three weeks we’ve both worked between 10-12 hours a day! Wait a minute – we came up here to have FUN!! Haha… On top of that, we had to pack up everything for the ride home, which is also work! I’ve said it before but jeez we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff! Our poor van is squatting in the back again but we’re ready for the month-long trek down to Mexico.

But of course, we made time for lots of fun too. Our company held an ‘End of Season’ party which was too much fun. Anyone and everyone from the docks was invited, there was a ton of food, a bounce house for the kids, a couple of kegs of beer, and even a vodka lune!



What’s a vodka luge you may ask?! It’s a big chunk of ice that has channels carved into it and you wait at the base while a shot is poured from above into the channel.



Yum! Of course it was dangerous too – it was easy to have too much!



There were about 150 people or so who came and went during the evening and there were three bands that played during the evening. We had a great time and enjoyed letting our hair down with everyone we had the pleasure working with that past 6 months, many we won’t see again. That’s one bad part of working in seasonal positions – while some will return for next season, most won’t. I’m just thrilled to have had the chance to meet and get to know them! Of course, as always...more pictures are on the website!

We also had an opportunity to jump on two cruise ships for their end of year parties. Now of course, I’ve been on two cruises in my life – one on the Norwegian Star and the other on a Carnival ship. And yep, you guessed it – those were the two ships that had the end of year parties! It was still a great day and fun time. The first ship of the day was the Norwegian Star. Rebecca, one of the gals who worked for the Ducks, Michael and I all went aboard. We were given guest passes and escorted up to the party by one of the Shore Excursion Managers.



As soon as we arrived, we were given drinks (a rum punch or screwdriver) and munchies. Rebecca had never been aboard a cruise ship so we asked our ShoreEx to take us on a tour of the ship. We went everywhere! We took lots of photos and had a great time touring the ship. Back at the party we met up with the folks we work with on the docks and got to spend some downtime with them before it was time to leave. Later that evening we boarded the Carnival Spirit for another end of year party. This time we went with the owners, John & Jillian, and Bryce, one of the other Hummer drivers. This party was a lot shorter and we weren’t given the grand tour, but we still had some tasty drinks (the blue margaritas were excellent!) and munchies.

It has been an incredible summer, we’ve had a great time, met some wonderful folks, and thoroughly enjoyed being here. In fact….we’re going to come back again next year! Woohoo! We were offered positions similar to those we’ve been performing the past couple weeks and figured ‘why not?’! We love the area, the people we work for and work with, the job….and the fact that we know exactly what we’ll be doing next year. There is definitely enjoyment in knowing we can do whatever we want and when and where we want….BUT….applying for jobs, interviewing, sending resumes, etc all while cruising was a bit of a drag last year. We had to stay near internet access, always on the ready for a job interview, and spent hours and hours researching jobs & places to go. This way we know exactly what we’ll be doing, where we will be doing it, when we have to be there, etc. We can enjoy our winter and won’t have to worry about all the questions – how long will it take us to get there? What do we bring with us? Will we like it? When do we have to put the boat to bed for the winter? We know exactly. So it’s a good thing! We’re pretty excited too! The job we’ll be performing is a bit different from this year. Michael will be the Operations manager – managing employees, dispatching, monitoring ticket sales, and working in the Ketchikan Visitor’s Bureau. I will be the accountant, his assistant, and will be doing Hummer tours or Duck tours when available. It should be fun! So plan your trips NOW! Haha… Come visit us! We’d love to have friends & family up for a visit.

More to follow...
Rene