Then swore I that I was a stranger here. B

Continuing from where we left off...

Amsterdam:

I tried to walk under the ship.

Amsterdam was our home port and one of the few European ports in which you could easily walk into town from the ship and I was pretty comfortable with my surroundings.

In Town

Turn left: Red Light District

Turn right: town.

Not in RLD but a very interesting
advertising technique...
Would never happen in the US...

Yes, I did venture into "The District".  How could I not, being in Amsterdam.  Kind of un-nerving, women throwing themselves at me from their little windows.  This is a rarity for me with or without windows.  And, lets be honest, we were there in the morning mid week...  I was probably not seeing the A or even the B squad.  

This particular day, I was enjoying the weather and wandering around.  Again, I was comfortable in the area and did not think I would have an issue getting back to the ship.

However, the Dutch did not receive the memo about the streets in a grid formation either.  I got turned all around.

Fortunately they are much more open to speaking English.  I showed several people my ship ID and asked where to find the ship.  I got vague directions from several people and finally saw the top edge of the ship.  I only had to get across the train tracks and elevated road.  

I see a road that appears to go underneath the railroad tracks complete with a little walk way on the one side.

I proceed into the 'small' tunnel.  I am walking along and do not get to the end of the tunnel.  

I begin to walk faster.

My 'logic' is that if I am going to get/be lost, I would rather get somewhere sooner rather than later.

As I am walking the drivers begin to honk at me but I proceed on my path.

Yellow/Orange lights begin to flash and there is a announcement over the loud speaker.  In Dutch, obviously.  Does not really help me.  A little bit more walking and there is more honking lights and Dutch.  Still not helping.

I realize I have a pursuer.  A nice gentlemen in uniform catches up to me and asks where I am trying to go.  I explain my situation and he just shakes his head and escorts me back the way I had come to a little doorway.  We take an elevator up to street level and I am right by the ship...

The way I figure it, I was under the ship/later attempting to make my way across the bay to the other side.

I thanked the nice man and proceeded to get my butt back on the ship.  This time with about 15 minutes to spare...

Alaska: 

I almost missed the ship...

The town of Ketchikan asked the ship if we would like to be in the fourth of July parade as we were in port on the fourth.  We agreed but was basically required for myself along with a couple of other entertainment personnel on board. (This may have been the cruise in which I got into a big fight over a Canada Day/Fourth of July party...  It got ugly...  Maybe a later blog...)

The provided us with a flat bed truck in which we could build a float.  We had a fabricated smoke stack complete with one of our foggers from the theatre, a bunch of people to ride on and walk along side during the parade, and some speakers and music that we would play.

We were all set up and ready to go when we were informed of two key things. 

1) The start time of the parade was moved back a little bit.

2) Our position in the parade was moved back.

A combination of these two factors was going to make it very tight for us to get back to the ship when we were done.  The officials assured us that we would be fine.  Of course they were not the ones operating the ship...

We had the Cruise Director, Production Manager, AV Manager (me), and the Lighting Tech on this float.  When we were done, we were past the all aboard time for crew and quickly approaching the all aboard for the guests (meaning the ship would be pulling away and leaving).

The nice folks in Ketchikan offered to hold onto all our equipment until the next week but we weren't exactly comfortable with that.

Our flat bed driver came to the rescue.  He proceed to race through the small streets of Ketchikan (sometimes down the wrong way on a one way), to get us back to the ship.  He races up to the dock and security has removed the rails of the gangway, broken down all the scanners and metal detectors.

We were the last four people to get back on board.

As soon as we got up the ramp they were pulling it in and we started pulling away from the dock.

If you are ever on a cruise - BE ON TIME.  THEY WILL LEAVE WITH OUT YOU!  It does not matter who you are, except maybe the Captain.

Not the only adventures I have had in my life but they kind of stand out...