The holidays on a ship are odd. When you are away from your family and it is 80 degrees out, it’s easy to think of Christmas as just another work day.
But the Pride of America did a great job of trying to make the holidays away from home the best possible. There was a party or event almost every night, and the ship was beautifully decorated with Christmas trees everywhere.
We decorated all of kids club with snowflakes and we all received stockings from Toby Beau. We were also encouraged to wear holiday themed accessories.
As a youth counselor, we had a bunch of extra duties for the kids, including gifts with Santa and gingerbread house making. I got to be an elf for the gingerbread making, and the youth counselors had to wrap about a billion presents sent from corporate.
The ship hosted a lot of parties!! One night was the Officers Christmas Party, where the staff was also invited. Then the entertainment department had our Christmas Party, which was a BLAST! There was lots of food and drinks and was hosted by Rennetta from Toby Beau. Then on Christmas Eve there was an Ugly Sweater party in crew bar.
On Christmas Day they gave us a lunch in Liberty, and corporate gave everyone iPod Shuffles with cute sayings in the back! That afternoon, I face timed my parents and sister and opened up my presents.
The week leading up to New Years Eve was fun as well. Crew Enrichment hosted a Masquerade Ball, and it was so cool! They even used our snowflakes for decorations.
The best part of the week was that I got to see my mom and dad after four and a half months! They stayed in Maui the week before they came on the ship, so I got to spend Sunday afternoon and Monday morning with them.
Actual New Years Eve on the ship wasn’t to exciting for me because I worked till 3 am for late night care at kids center. But the ship was beautiful and the party looked amazing!
Overall, I had a really great time on the ship during the holidays. The best part was seeing my parents, and knowing that my family would be getting on the ship for January 4-11. But that’s for the next post!
The Suite Life of Kellie 