...Ghost Ship...

hello all. just a recap finally as to what happened a few days ago. it is now 430pm july 20th and we have now been ok'd by US coast guard to hobble up to new york. we are actually JUST leaving right now, and there are some seriously 'different' vibrations to the ship as we are going, of course i am making small jokes with the shoppie Kim on the computer next to me, but we both kinda have this look in our eyes.... we do now have Crisis councellors on board for the crew as of today, and yours truly is making his way down after this. everytime i close my eyes at night, i get phantom 'listing' or 'leaning' and my heart starts to pound. we were told the night of the incident that if we listed 5-10 degrees more, we would have capsized.... this is NOT a fact, but its not something you need to hear.

there are only crew members on this ship... what was once a floating majestic hotel of close to 5000 aboard, is now a hobbling, ghost town of 1200. it is in fact a ghost ship.

on the bright side, all 8 crew members who were treated ashore have now joined the ship and are doing well. all passengers treated ashore (i dont know the numbers, but its 100-200) have all been let go from the hospital except for 2, but we have confirmation that neither one of them are in critical condition. You have no idea how bad this was, but NOBODY has any idea how bad it could have been either.... everyone is ok.

I have decided that I am not going home. I am, however making a request to transfer to the Star Princess (Grit's ship) tonight. I figure that leaving one ship that almost tipped over, and joining another ship that had 4 decks burnt to a crisp only 4 months ago... makes sense eh? Grit and I have been speaking about this and she said that she has been talking with the photomanager since the 'incident' here on the crown... the manager said that he was putting in a request for me. lets hope he sticks with it.

i have 2 internet cards now, and 1 phone card so i can contact everyone soon... that was the only thing holding me up before, crew office was closed (no internet cards) and phone cards were sold out..

see you all in the next cartoon! (not leaning to one side)

-m-