DAY 224 ~ Thursday 26th May

Freeport, Bahamas – I’m going home!!! Finally, after nearly 9 months, I’ve got my sign off papers. Things have been a little up in the air due to dry dock, and at one point I was scheduled to be offloaded on May 18th, along with all the old furniture, dancers and half my roommates. That didn’t happen in the end, however the God of dry dock has finally seen through my feeble fire fighting skills and now deemed it time to send me back to land of the living and living on the land.

Trying to catch 40 winks during a 20 minute break in the middle of the night.

I can’t quite believe it. It’s all happened so quickly. I also can’t believe having seen the first week and a half of dry dock, that I’m going to miss the completion of the epic project. But I guess not getting covered in dust and subjected to all the rigours that the refurb entails isn’t going to be too hard to miss.

At the moment I’m getting bombarded each day with questions from interested Internet people enquiring about all the exciting changes during taking place onboard. I feel really disappointed that after writing every day for the last 220+ days, that I won’t be able to keep them up to date, as they seem to be enjoying it so much. And just when it’s getting to the good part of dry dock with the painting and decorating just getting going, plus our daily dose of watching Bad Girls in the cabin is also getting to the good part. It’s nearly enough to make me want to stay!

Having witnessed the final few original workmates leave over the previous month, I was the last one left standing from the group of people that were here when I signed on back in October. It was kind of frustrating knowing that I was the next one due to go home, but not sure when. Like watching the person just ahead of you on the rota going home after a long night and sitting at your table eagerly waiting for your turn to finish, but no idea when it’s coming. Some nights you could sit they’re for what seemed like an eternity, chomping at the bit, watching the minutes and seconds slowly tick by, before someone finally came to relieve you, or closed your table and sent you to bed.

Well my time is finally here people, in a matter of hours, I’ll be packing all my belongings back into my bag and heading for the skies! I’m actually really sad to be finishing my contact in so many ways. And I’ve got to get used to all of the harsh realities of the real world again. No more awesome laundry guys washing and pressing my uniform for a start. No friendly cabin steward making up my room and bringing me fresh towels on a regular basis. Not only will I have to cook my own food, but I’ll have to source it from a supermarket, pay for it and bloody well wash the dishes afterwards.

My home is being redecorated and I won't even be there to see the finishing touches.

Of course it will be nice to have a day off finally. And not get woken up by the sound of the telephone ringing, cabin inspections, boat drills, noisy roommates, PA announcements, shrieking watertight door alarms, drilling, banging, loud people in the corridor outside, and of course the need to go training at all hours of the night and day.

Desmond the fire dog is going to have to be my able replacement.

I’ll have to use to using real cash again, not just swiping my ID card that doubles as a passport, door card and onboard account debit card. And I guess I won’t have to wear a name tag announcing to the world that I’m a dealer from the UK (without helpfully elaborating that it is casino cards that I’m dealing in, which can sometimes lead to embarrassing confusion).

Of course the wonderful people and the beautiful islands, white sandy beaches and turquoise seas are going to be hard to replace, as are the tropical temperatures that hover around 30°C most of the time. Still, it will be summertime when I return to Europe (which means some sunshine hopefully), which should break me in gently at least. And free fast wifi will surely help cushion that harsh blow somewhat too.

I shouldn’t get too excited just yet though, as I’ve another fire fighting shift to survive yet, hopefully without the boat burning down, before I head down the gangway one last time. Until tomorrow my faithful readers…

Goodbyeeee!