April 17th-Day 18

 This is a long one! 

The Norwegian Bliss started the cruising season by coming to port today around 11:30. The seasoned Gastineau guiding crew were preparing for their first tours, while the new guides had the day to themselves. Luckily for myself I got a text from one of the CDL training guides(Cam) who talked to me about the upcoming week and how I should be planning on taking the CDL Test by Saturday or Sunday. I told him that I only had two days of training and that I would love to have some more experience before taking the test, so he offered that I could join him Monday and get some practice between tours. I had to be at the office at 1pm, to do a pre-check on the vehicle and get it ready for passengers. I knew I wanted to walk to the office at some point, just to see how long it would take, so I thought why not on my “first” day of unofficial tours.

 I woke up, had a good breakfast, packed a bag with all the essentials(water, snack, wallet, CDL permit, jacket), and headed out the door at 11:15. I gave myself 2 hours to walk 4ish miles, because I haven’t walked this way and didn't know how long it would take. One hour and twenty minutes later I answered my question and was at the office 30 minutes early. This is definitely doable going to work, but I don't think I would want to do this after work, or if it was raining/bad weather. The office was bustling with people running around and preparing for their parts of the jobs. There were donuts out on the table to celebrate the first day and I was able to grab a piece of a chocolate donut with a peanut butter filling! YUM! (I'm still figuring out where to find these donuts) 

Cam arrived and we started going over how he goes about his day as a driver. We looked at the schedule to see how many people/tours we were doing as well as who the tour guides we would be taking. I am unable to drive while passengers are on board, so Cam came up with the plan of him driving while the passengers were on the tour, and I would drive between the differing tours. DISCO was the bus used today, and we packed it with snacks/water, made sure it was all set to go, and picked up Scott. 

The first stop was myself driving to Peratrovich plaza and parking in the lot. This was a bit stressful since now I had Scott, my driver instructor, and Cam, the lead CDL guide, watching me drive. Once we arrived, Scott headed to the area to pick up the tour, while Cam and I stayed with the bus and discussed what to do while we waited for Scott to return. After a delay on the ship, Scott arrived with the people and we headed off to Auke Bay. I got to sit in the back of the bus and listen to Scott do his tour, boy is he good at his job, he didn't even need the computer PowerPoint. After dropping off the first crew, I got back into the driver's seat and drove back to the office to pick up Donna, and then head to Peratrovich Plaza once again. The same procedure occurred, but now Donna was the guide and I had a blast listening to the introduction tour she gave. I was lucky enough to watch two very different, but great tours! We dropped off this tour and had some time to kill, so Cam and I did different scenarios that could be on my test and then headed to the office area to fill up the bus. The last stop of the day was driving back out to Auke bay and picking up Scott’s tour. A funny situation that happened was that when Scott was counting how many people were on the bus, he kept counting me, and was confused on how he picked up an extra person. Cam said out loud, double check your back left corner, and Scott excitedly said, “Oh that’s Alyssa!” and he gave the whole bus my story of last July and how I am now back to do tours myself. The passengers clapped for me and that was a nice gesture! Last stop of the day was dropping off the passengers and heading back to the office. It was now 6pm and I was tired, and ready to go home. 

Once back home I made a quick dinner of Shrimp Scampi, with a side salad, and then got to watch Puss in Boots with a bunch of people. What a great way to finish the day! I am very lucky I was able to get a sneak peak of the tours and I am grateful to Cam for allowing me to do so!

The Norwegian Bliss on my walk to work.

I am sitting in the back of the tour bus here, while the passengers get on. This was Scott's first tour group of the season.

A quick pic between dropping off and picking up tour groups.

Movie Night at the apartment, surprisingly Puss in Boots was a very good movie. Lots of funny adult humor as well as digs or call backs to other movies.