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Abby Kracoff
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My Vacation

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 by Butch Begovich

Hello Funville readers, Butch here. It’s back to work on the Carnival Liberty and loving every minute of it! I just returned from seven weeks of vacation and now I feel refreshed and ready to… well, cruise!

 

So many of you come to us for your vacations so it might be kind of strange that I need to leave the ship for mine. Although my job is fun and I truly do feel blessed to do what I do every day, it is nice to get away from my office, the e-mails, the planning, and for those of you who know me well know I can talk your ear off. So it’s nice to give my voice a rest! Leaving a ship is always a little bit fun because we, cruise directors, often do not get to spend time with each other because there is only one on each ship. A dear friend of mine and fantastic cruise director, Kevin Noonan, came on board for my last week for what we call a hand-over to prepare to take over the Liberty in my absence.

 

So what did I do on my vacation? Immediately after leaving the ship I spent a week in South Florida relaxing on the beach and doing, well, nothing. It was great! Some of my good friends from my college days met me down in Miami for a bit of a reunion and so we could catch up with each other. After a week of soaking in the sun it was time to head home to Minnesota to see my family. For the first time in over six years, I got to spend the Easter holiday at home. As a shipboard employee, having a holiday off work is a rare occurrence and I cherished every moment with my parents, my siblings, and my rapidly growing nieces and nephews. After a week at home it was time for some adventure.

 

I love to travel; it’s this very reason that brought me to Carnival many years ago. After Easter and a quick Twins Game at the new Target Field I traveled to Northern Idaho to visit more family and to do some skiing. After finding my ski legs again, and getting bumped and bruised by the mountains, I headed to Vegas and met up with two of my greatest Carnival friends – who happened to be on vacation too – cruise directors Stephanie Meads and Big Tex and his wife, who is a dancer on the Carnival Valor. Let’s just say, I am living by the phrase: “What happens in Vegas…”

 

One trek I always make during my vacations is to New York City. Many of my friends from college, including my best friends live there. I love New York! So much culture, great food, and world class shows are all on this one tiny island. I do, however, find it hard to sleep in NYC. Maybe it’s because of all of the noise and over stimulation. So, on a whim, my best friend and I left New York for a quick week in the Riviera Maya in Mexico. I am in Mexico all of the time, but being there without a schedule or work on the brain is a completely different experience. I was so relaxed in Mexico that I did not leave the walls of our resort once in seven days. 

 

After all of my travels it was time to head back to Minnesota, give a quick hug to my mom, do some laundry and come back to work. It is always nice to have a break, but I was ready to come back. In fact, I couldn’t wait to get back on the ship, see all of my team, and hit the ground running. I feel blessed that even though every once in a while I need to take a break to recharge, my job is something that I look forward to doing every day. I wake up with a smile when I am on board the ship and look forward to the day ahead. If you are venturing to the Liberty soon, I’m here, refreshed, and ready to make sure you have the vacation of a lifetime!

 

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Comments (0)

  • donteenac said:

    Good to see you....glad you had an awesome Vacation....as we did last September on the Liberty with you as a cruise director....you are very good at your job and we had a blast....we have made a promise to each other the go on a Carnival Cruise every other year....so we are eager to book our 2011 adventure with Carnival!!

    Wednesday, June 9, 2010

  • Jaci said:

    There's nothing like a vacation where you can enjoy a good book in a hammock.  Do any of the Carnival ships have hammocks?

    Wednesday, June 9, 2010

  • Chris said:

    Glad you had a good time on your vacation. It's always good to visit family.

    Hope to see you soon!

    Wednesday, June 9, 2010

  • Terri said:

    glad u had a wonderful vacation. I will be on the Libertky in Nov. No holding back!!

    Wednesday, June 9, 2010

  • dodger501 said:

    Was that pic taken in Marine?  We enjoyed you as our CD last January on the Liberty, hope to see you there next January!  Hope we have better weather.

    Wednesday, June 9, 2010

  • SusanV said:

    Hi Butch, It sounds like you really had a great vacation! I see that you will be the CD on the Dream when we sail on Aug. 21st, that's great news! I can't wait for my "Dream" vacation, it will be my first platinum cruise and my husband's 50th birthday! See you in August! Susan & Ben #7441

    Wednesday, June 9, 2010

  • Dan the Man said:

    Our family is looking forward to a cruise on the Carnival Victory in September! It starts at San Juan,Puerto Rico and visits 6 islands.I hope we have a good cruise director?We have 100 more days to wait!Anybody else going on this cruise?

    Thursday, June 10, 2010

  • GIZMOM said:

    Butch, you are an amazing cruise director on the Liberty.  We had the pleasure seeing and hearing you in action on our cruise 22-29 May.  You made our cruise the vacation of a lifetime.  Keep up the good work.  Hope to see you again on a future cruise.

    Joanne Gizzi

    Kingston, Ontario Canada

    Thursday, June 10, 2010

  • Duracell said:

    Hello Butch. yes my vacation includes you. I don't know if you will remember me. I was the fiesty red head with the high fivin' daughter on the Liberty May 15-22.

    I just want to thank you for being an awesome Cruise director. Also for the help with the scavenger hunt and the Solid Gold Plastic Ships on a stick.

    My group had a fantastic time on board and have already booked our next one where we are heading to Alaska!

    Thank you againa nd Keep up the good work!

    Thursday, June 10, 2010

  • ej4cruising said:

    Hi Butch,

    We will be on the Liberty July 31-Aug 7.  We are really looking forward to it.  We sailed the Liberty's Maiden voyage in Europe in 2005.  What a wonderful vacation that was.  John Heald was our CD.  We can't wait to sail on her again.  Hope to meet you - just 46 days.  

    Ellen Cunningham

    Monday, June 14, 2010

  • cruisin chris said:

    HI Butch!

    You were our Cruise Director on the Glory and my family loved you!  Beware, thohg, I still havn't had my revenge for the CC taping of the disco lesson -- It HAD to happen on the first day -- I must have seen myself gettin down old school at least a thousadn times that week!

    We're heading out on Dream in November --hope we have just ast much fun!

    Thursday, June 17, 2010

  • kimdip said:

    We just finished cruising on the Valor with your friend Big Tex. The trip was fun but we missed you . You have a wonderful way of making the day special and we saw you out alot and were always on the intercom telling us what was happening on the ship. Next year we want to be on your ship again. Keep up the great work!!!

    Tuesday, June 22, 2010

  • JWilsonTL said:

    I live in South Florida so people find it funny when we leave here to go someplace up north for our vacations when everyone is wanting to come here. If we aren't on a cruise for our vacation, then we are someplace up north. I totally get it !  :)   Welcome back !   Looking forward to meeting you on the Liberty if you are still there when we cruise on her next year !   :)   (and if you are, I will be the one playing EVERY single game till I win a trophy !)   lol

    Friday, July 9, 2010

  • haliemakenna said:

    i just went on the liberty in the end of june 2010, and i loved you! me and my mom were kind of like your many stalkers, we took pics of you 24/7! :))

    Monday, July 12, 2010