My first cruise experience

It was about 5 years ago when I boarded my flight from Heathrow to Miami to have a conference with my new collegues.  After an extensive training course in duty free shop management I was about to hit the high seas.

The catch was that I now had to fly from Miami, via Santiago in Chile to the port of Punta Arenas in Chile only knowing 2 words in Spanish (Yes and Beer!!) My company had booked the flights however the first leg was over booked so I had to fly on the later flight (upgraded of course).  This meant that my overnight stay in Santiago was now actually 5 hours.

I landed in Santiago and managed to find my way to my hotel using sign language, slept for an hour then I was back in Santiago airport catching my connecting flight.

On arriving in Punta Arenas I had a local taxi take me to the port.  What a shock I had….I was due to board the Celebrity Millenium which was anchored in the bay.  I then realized that I had to board a tender with my 2 bags and laptop bag.  The seas were very choppy and I will never forget that journey.  It was like being on a very wet rolloer coaster.  The ship got bigger and bigger the closer we got.  I had to embark the ship with waves lapping the hull and sea salt in my eyes.

I even had to throw my bags onto the ship as the waves were moving the tender boat so much.  This was an extreme incident in South America, and remember at this time I was a crew member.

This will always stick in my mind and the experience will be with me forever.

I would like to know if anyone has any interesting stories about their first cruise, and if they can beat this!!!