Halfway There

Halfway there! I’m getting excited to get back to the city and start senior year (?!) – when did that happen?

Yesterday we had a FIRE. On board. It was very scary. I was checking my email in the crew dining room when the code word for fire came over the announcements: “Bravo, Bravo, Bravo – tween deck.” Thanks to my bazillion hours of training, I knew this meant there was a fire on the deck just below mine (Deck 0, basically). But, just like at school when a fire alarm rang and you assumed it was a drill, I thought it was a drill. BUT THERE WAS A REAL FIRE. As I finished my emails and tried to leave the dining area, they were blocking off the hallways and people were running to the fire in their fire gear and had oxygen tanks. I heard people saying that there was a person down there, but they had just evacuated him. The doorway to my corridor was blocked, so I went up to deck 2 and around to get to my room (smelling smoke the whole way). As soon as I got to my room I heard people knocking on doors furiously: “Who’s in the cabin? Is anyway in the cabin? Midship! Go midship!” So I frantically grabbed my bag and exited the area. There was a TON of smoke coming from the hallway just next to mine, and the officers evacuating us had bandanas covering their faces. As I made my way midship, I heard passengers commenting about the smoke smell. Some passengers I was with saw the crew running with their fire gear, and were understandably alarmed. I was concerned, but I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I got some tea, and by the time I had to report to play our set for the night, the cruise director made an announcement that the fire had been taken care of. That was definitely the closest I’ve ever come to a real emergency – luckily we were already docked, so the threat seemed less disastrous than if we were at sea. The hardest part was not knowing what to tell the passengers – we have these code words so as not to alarm the passengers, but so the crew teams can take care of it themselves.’

Last night was also the first night in port that I didn’t have a chance to get off the ship. We have to rotate giving everybody nights off, so the orchestra played 2 big band sets in the lounge. Victoria is my favorite port so I was disappointed! I’m happy to be back in Seattle though, heading off on cruise #4. I’m going to try to see Inception in one of our ports this week!