I flew down to Florida today to meet three ACL cruise ships in the shipyard! I'll be working on the American Glory, a 49 passenger ship. It seems we'll be sailing around Florida for a while, but first I've got ten days in the shipyard doing last minute preparations before starting this next cruise season. There are three ships here and they've somehow docked them all side-to-side, connected to each other. From land, you step onto the American Star, walk across it's width and a ramp connects it to the Independence, which is connected across it's width to the American Glory.

I was the last of our four deckhands to arrive. I showed up and we were immediately given uniforms and put to work with little introduction. We painted the top deck guardrails of the Glory, which was pretty easy work. Cool people and not too fast paced. Everyone's new, so we're all a bit reserved, but I can tell we will mesh well in time.

Currently writing this in a guestroom aboard the American Star, which I'll be staying in for the next couple nights. Passengers will pay over $8,000 a week for this room, which baffles me—it feels more like a Days Inn on a boat. I'm not sure why anyone would pay so much for one of these cruises? We'll see, though, once we're cruising I'll have a better understanding.

Off to a monster truck show with the crew!

Ethan