Okay, so when your planning for your adventure aboard the JR they tell you we have the relative comforts of home. You have access to the T.V., a phone and the internet. Nice right? Of course it is. I mean who would complain about having internet access, telephones and T.V. about 200 miles off the coast? No one but be warned what they don’t mention is that while the T.V. does get some basic channels, by time you actually find yourself sitting long enough to watch T.V., you have no interest or energy to sit and watch. You’ll find yourself watching one of the ship channels, watching the drillers work even though you may have just come inside from watching the exact same thing outside.

Anyone will tell you that you can make calls from the ship but that it’ll require a phone card. What they don’t mention is that there are two main phones to use. One is located in a prominant hallway location directly outside of a dressing room. The second, someone new to the ship would absolutely never find on their own. It’s about two decks below the F’ing Poop deck, around 2 corners when you come out of the stairs near the mess and down the steepest staircase I’ve ever seen in my life. The stairs end at the gym and the movie/library room. Inside the library room, there is a closet labeled Storage. Which opens to a little grey/white bare storage closet containing a low wood table with an old single line analog phone, a chair and old christmas decorations. Dial 9 to get an outside phone line, your card number, your pin then the phone number your tryingto reach and hope the phone’s aren’t down and the person picks up.

As far as the internet goes…I’ll just say never forget your jacket when your down in the dungeon unless your only planning to stay a few minutes. I’ve been down here five and my fingers are starting to numb. ^_^