Peachy Bums

Peachy Bums

10^th April 2012

Tendering ports are always horrible, especially when on Disney, as they have the “guests must go first” approach. Sleeping in as much as I could, an utter fail as I was wide awake at 8.30, I decided to get the laundry done. It was about time too!

Carolee called to ask what the weather was like. I reminded her that we don’t have a window in our "penthouse cabin" but suggested that I’d have a look outside as I’m one level up from the crew open deck.

Going to collect my laundry, I spoke to one of the cabin attendants who asked if I was going outside. Not really, I wanted to type up my blog but needed to get off to withdraw money from Ocean Pay. Then came the shocker “why?” the cabin attendant asked. “We have no tender today”. That couldn’t be right, surely?

Charging down the stairs to the point that I nearly tumbled and rolled down the rest, I got to Deck 5 forward. Looking over the edge, he was right. The Disney Magic was docked in St. Thomas and not tendering. Running back upstairs, I woke Ani up and got on the phone to Carolee.

“Carolee, we are docked”

“Shit, are you serious?”

“Yes! I’ve just checked”

“I’m getting off the ship. Now. Bye” and she hung up on me – again.

Ani and I slowly got dressed and got off the ship. The sun was hot and beating down on us. I felt like a lizard, awaking as my body absorbed more and more of the heat. There’s one thing to always remember about the Caribbean sun, it’ll cook and toast you into a lobster red in no time! The vast majority of guests will come back as red as a traffic light. Some even get third degree burns and sun poisoning. One boy last cruise had large, horrendous, yellow blisters across his cheeks after a day in St. Thomas.

Walking around, there wasn’t really much to do, but apparently this was the more affordable side of St. Thomas. The other, where we tender to, is a more luxurious, expensive side, full of designer clothes shops etc.

Ani spotted the place and asked if I was up for having something to eat in Hooters. Of course, anything is better than the tripe served in the Mess. Crossing over the road, we sat outside admiring the place and enjoy the warmth of the sun, rather than the coolness of the air condition on board the ship.

Not long after we sat down there were people milling around in bright orange hot pants and teeny white tops. Boobs and bums out, of course. I had to smile. Most of the men were admiring the peach, pert bums that wiggled past in super tight Daisy Duke shorts. You couldn’t help but look! The internet wasn’t bad and I managed to get some blog posts up and photos, although uploading pictures took a while.

It wasn’t long until the food was served and we were woofing it up. Even though it was simple and on the verge of junk food, it was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time! The crew mess, we are forced to eat in, is putting me off food. Endless days of rice, undercooked chicken drumsticks and out of date salad. Now we eat to eat, because we have to. After eating crap for days on end, biting into a chicken sandwich made our lunch taste so much better.

Carolee spotted us and came to join us. Of course there were a number of “is there something you girls aren’t telling me” and “I caught you checking out her butt” comments but then again, even Carolee had to have a peek. At Hooters, it'd be rude not to!

As we were apparently going to be docking in the same place next time, we decided we should venture up the mountain in the cable cars. It sounded like a plan, but we wanted to rally up some more people.

Finishing up, we headed over to the bank after one o’clock to withdraw our money. Carolee and Ani hadn’t been paid. I withdrew some money that had been building up on my card. All of a sudden, Carolee figured out why we hadn’t been paid. Usually we get paid every two weeks, during St. Thomas at 13.00. Our days have switched now though. Instead of turning around on Saturday, we are now disembarking the guests on Friday. Basically, we’d be getting paid tomorrow at 13.00… when we are at sea and on our way to Castaway Cay where there’s no chance of finding an ATM… I guess such is ship life!