Christmas Caribbean Cruise….Part 6

This is the spot where I was face painting, right across from the statue, under the bridge.

The second day of cruise I was scheduled to face paint in the afternoon from 2:00-4:00 PM, so I was able to work out in the gym and up for a yoga class in the morning. That gave me enough time to grab lunch, shower and change or maybe it was shower, change grab lunch and then go to face paint, honestly I don’t remember exactly.

Now being a vegetarian traveling and eating is always a challenge. And while the carnivores had plenty of variety for their breakfast and lunch meals the herbivores did not have the same variety available.

And I am used to having my soy bacon or soy sausage in the morning. Be that is it may I did find food that I could eat. Now if you wanted soda or drinks or fresh juice that was an additional fee that even I had to pay. I am not a soda drinker so that is not a problem but it certainly meant I wasn’t going to be doing any drinking of liquors on this trip. And once I found out that the flavored waters were no more than soda without the carbonation I figured $4.00 for a fresh squeezed orange was not so bad after all. Yes, I did ask to see the cartoons so I could read the ingredients lists. I am one of those people. I like to know what goes in my body.

Lucky for me I wasn’t a vegan yet on this cruise as I am now. Breakfast and lunch were okay but to be truthful I much prefer the variety of food when I have gone to Jamaica all-inclusive resorts.

I fared far better at dinner where there was always a creative vegetarian option on the dinner menu. Of course I did not realize I could order more than one entrée until the last couple of days of the cruise. But when I did find out I was ordering like two desserts for dinner. The first time I got a chilled fruity soup it tasted just like a smoothie to me. Hmnnn, so from that point on I asked the waiter to bring me the soup in a wine glass and I would have myself a fancy dinner drink sans the alcohol. I did not take pictures of dinner. I guess next time I will have to do a better job of journaling, especially if I want to write about my travels. But when I am hungry I am thinking eating and not documenting.

As for my first day of face painting it went something like this. I went to the spot on the promenade deck where I was to be face painting and there was no table or chairs anywhere. Hmnn, this is not good, I thought but I was about a half hour early. They asked me to be 15 mins early for my shift but I like to be super early. Of course no one was around that knew anything of my tables and chairs. I somehow managed to locate someone who could get me a table and two chairs. I like to start on time and end on time. The young kid that came to assist me did not really seem to know much of what was going on. I think he was an assistant entertainment director 4th down the line. It’s like ten minutes to my start time and still no table.

I am quite perturbed as it takes me about 15 minutes to set out my face paint supplies and they are the ones that stressed that “I” had to be punctual. I think I may have said something to kid like, “I am a professional and this is unacceptable.”  They had me face painting where they would have tables set up with items for sale.  I guess the thinking was while I painted the kids faces mom and dad could go shopping.

Other than the missing table the second day of sailing was rather uneventful. Honestly I don’t even remember if I went to see a show that night. I think I went in search of a piano that I could practice on.

Below are some samples of the face painting I did on the ship. The kids were really cute and I would have my regular customers show up for each shift.  I brought extra sparkles, jewels for princess faces, and made sure I had lots of christmas themed designs.  I had about 15 lbs of face paint supplies with me.

There was a single dad that came up with three children.  The kids mother had recently passed away and she was a face painter.  She would paint her kids all the time.  And they had not been face painted by anyone since the mother died.  Talk about putting pressure on me!!!!!  This was the first Christmas without the mother which is why dad and the grandparents and uncle and his kid were taking this cruise together.  My heart just broke for these kids and I so wanted to make them feel a little bit of joy.  And Dad was pretty handsome as well.  He showed me a picture of his wife and some of the things she had painted on the kids.  Wow, truly not the kind of story you expect to hear at Christmas.

 

Related articles

• Christmas Caribbean Cruise 2012….Part 5 (ivonnemontijo.wordpress.com)
• Christmas 2012 on a Caribbean Cruise…Part 1 (ivonnemontijo.wordpress.com)
• Christmas Caribbean Cruise 2012 part 3 (ivonnemontijo.wordpress.com)