I can't wait to get home. It's been such a long time... by the time I leave I will have been away from home more than 8 months. A few weeks ago I was asked to extend by an additional week because my replacement was not ready and I accepted, so my new sign-off date is March 6. Last week they sent another request, this time to extend 'til the end of March (once again, something to do with my replacement being delayed). I responded that it was not possible as I already have a plane ticket to join my mom in Aruba for a week starting March 12 and after 8 months away from home I am not giving that up. I have yet to hear back but hopefully they will be able to find someone else to fill in for me; I simply cannot do 9 months.
Last night we (finally) started a full ice melt in Studio B. This melt has been overdue since November but unfortunately it is difficult to schedule time to do it during 7 day cruises with so many sea days. We simply can't afford to be without a venue for ice skating and/or ice shows for 2.5 days. However we were able to work it out so that we would melt the ice on the evening of the last day of last cruise and then build the new ice over the first two days of this cruise. It is going to be a tight schedule this week. On top of the full ice make, our fleet head sound and light technician, Jeff, is going to be onboard Voyager this week. Definitely a good thing since it means we can get some maintenance and repairs done that may require a little more expertise, but it will make this week all that much more busy. In addition, the lighting designer for Ice Odyssey is expected to come sometime in the near future for a week or two to install some new lights we have onboard but cannot use them until the show has been re-designed for them. In preparation for her visit, I have been working very hard in Studio B trying to ensure that the lighting rig is in 100% working order (minus the broken lights that we are replacing).
My last few weeks are shaping up to be the busiest of my contract. I guess I'll certainly be earning my vacation now.
