Merry Christmas!! Days 69 - 77: Florida, Key West, Cozumel, Honduras, Sea, Jamaica, Sea, Florida, Sea

December 24, 2011 13:26

I can't believe it's Christmas Eve.

It really feels like it was just yesterday that I came onboard and I really can't believe all that I've done in the past two and a half months. It really just seems surreal.  I think the other thing that makes today that much more odd is that I'm now half way through my contract. Another couple months and I'll be home again.  At this point I haven't got anything set in place for what I'm doing next other than sitting at home and playing video games for about a week and then going down south with some buddies.  As for as my next job goes I'm still completely undecided at what I want to do and what the right move is.  I could do another contract, try for Disney, a resort somewhere down here or look at a move to a big US city.  So many options so little time… 

Christmas onboard is an odd experience.  I woke up this morning and it was just like any other day whereas any other year today would be very unique if not routine.  Wake up, shower, head to my parents, make spaghetti, have our Wedgwood family over for Christmas Eve, drink some beer, play some Monopoly, watch Muppet Family Christmas, and head to bed.  My day today however is work 7-12, off 12-5 which I'm spending writing and soon to be napping, work 5-9, do our secret santa gift exchange during work, then after that have some drinks with my ship family to celebrate the evening. Very different.  This is the second year in a row I'm not going to be home for Christmas and I can safely say I don't like it. I need to find a way to be home for the Holidays next year.

Despite the fact I haven't written in over a week (yikes, the time's going fast) anyone that reads this hasn't really missed much.  I've been extremely tired pretty well all the time lately and have even skipped going out in a port to catch up on some precious sleep.  That being said I had one of my best days onboard on our last cruise when were at Isla de Roatan, Honduras.

Isla de Roatan is a small island off the coast of Honduras and is primarily spanish speaking.  The last time we were here my shift had to stay onboard so I didn't get a chance to see more than I could see through the window.  This time however we had the whole day off so we hopped a cab and headed for the beach.  At the beach we were greeted by two things that right away told me it was going to be a good day. First the sand was pure white and as soft as icing sugar. Second I found a guy selling 3 beer for $5; jackpot.  We grabbed lunch at a restaurant on the beach where I had some coconut shrimp done with fresh coconut before heading out for a swim.  During the swim we decided we were going to fork over some cash to go for a ride on a big inflatable that gets drug behind a motorboat.  This thing looked like a big yellow banana and sat six.  We loaded up and headed straight out from the beach.  With 6 people and no real means of balance it was clear right away that we weren't likely to stay dry on this ride.  This was quickly realized when they took the first turn and we flipped off into the ocean all getting a healthy helping of sea water at the same time.  When we went over there were so many bodies flailing around that I just covered my head and waited for my life jacket to bring me to the surface; what a rush!  As we got the salt water out of our eyes we realized that we were floating in the clearest water I've ever seen.  It was a deep blue as you looked down but so clear that you could count the wrinkles on your toes.  We loaded back up and got a bit better at balancing but still ate it two more times with some of the girls loosing their bottoms along the way. Luckily they didn't completely lose them… They found them quickly around their knees and after a short yelling/laughing fit re-secured their swim wear.  When we returned to the beach I went to find my cheap beer man before logging on the beach until we had to return to the ship. It was one of those days that makes me grateful to be where I am right now.

Aside from that it was business as usual onboard.  I did however realize how quickly the remainder of my contract is going to go.  From here on out there's all dates I'll be looking forward to.  Jan 1: New Year's Day in Cozumel, Jan 6-9: "Holy Ship" DJ cruise with Fatboy Slim among others, Jan 9-14: "Jam Cruise" another rock type cruise, Feb 11-18: Mom and Dad come for a cruise, Feb 23: My birthday, and then I'm finished on March 17th.  If I thought the first half of my contract went by quickly I'm guessing I haven't seen anything yet.  

That being said, if you or someone you know wants to hire me come April let me know. I'm always looking for my next challenge.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Days 64 - 68: Grenada, Fort de France, Sint Maarten, Sea, Bahamas

December 15, 2011 22:33

To say I'm exhausted from this cruise would be an understatement.

I think I best summed it up when I was talking to a buddy on Monday night after Fort de France and told him that on Tuesday I was heading to the beach from 8 til 11 then working from 12 til 5 and 8 til 12 then heading straight to a crew party until 2 and then working from 8 - 1 Wednesday and that I was already looking forward to the nap I was going to have Wednesday afternoon…

That small sample of schedule is pretty much how the entire cruise went; work, shore, work, sleep and then repeat. It was a lot of fun and a great few days but it just kills you after a while. That being said I wouldn't change a thing.

Grenada was stunning and it's a shame we had such little time there and don't return again. I had done zero research and as a result was completely blown away when I walked off the gangway and was greeted by pure blue water fringed by rolling green hills speckled with light coloured houses with red roofs. Grenada is known as the spice island and it was instantly clean why. First of all every two steps you took someone was trying to sell you spices and secondly the whole place smelled like nutmeg. It definitely wins the prize for the best smelling island as well as most picturesque. We only had a couple hours so Stacey, Tina and I set out into town and headed for a fort on top of a hill in the middle of town. The walk up was killer, especially with the lack of exercise I get onboard but it was worth it. From the fort we had an incredible vantage point over the whole island. Unfortunately other than walking around town a bit after this was all we really had time for which is a shame because after we got back to the ship we found out there was a pretty amazing beach just a short water taxi ride away.

Fort de France was another port we didn't have a lot of time in but Anatollio, Viki and I found a way to make the most of it. We headed straight into town in search of breakfast and swimming. Conveniently we found both in their nearby downtown. We grabbed McDonald's for breakfast and some fast internet before heading across the street for a swim in the warm and clear water. I took the snorkel out and at first it didn't seem like there was going to be much to it until I came across 3 small crabs no bigger than a toonie fighting over a piece of meat. I stopped swimming and hung around to watch the show but almost as soon as I got there a little fish about 4" long swam up, stole the meat and swam away. The poor little crabs just stood there as if they had just found out there wasn't a Santa Clause. At this point I turned around and realized that there was a whole school of these little fish and they proceeded to follow me around. They were just as curious of me as I was of them because I would swim down they'd swim up to check me out and if I stood still for a while they'd come up and nibble at my feet. After this I swam over near a dock and found some wild urchins and something that looked like anemones that when you got too close to sucked back into it's little tube thing that anchored it to the rocks. Not too snabby for a place I didn't think I'd see anything.

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten is another port that it's a shame we don't return to. It's definitely the most cruise friendly port we've been too as within a 20min walk you pass every shop and restaurant you could imagine and then come to an endless white sand beach. It was another day where we worked in the afternoon so we tore off the ship at 8am to meet up with a regular passenger who had kindly offered to show us the way. This was especially nice because it's pretty normal to waste a good 30mins in a new port just trying to figure out where to go and how to get there. We spent the morning on the beach and lounging in the warm water. I literally spent 3 hours in the water before going back to the ship for a quick shower before starting work.

That night we had a crew party which actually wasn't that exciting but just getting every one together for a few drinks and some dancing isn't too bad. The only problem is they played the same drum and bass music all night that for all I know might as well of been the same song on repeat. Also during these parties it's a second hand smokers paradise as these people smoke cigarette after cigarette. Gross. I stunk when I left the party. Mind you I did finally make a lady friend so I guess it wasn't all for not. :)

On the sea day I finally got my 2 hour nap I talked about at the beginning of the post. Mind you 2 hours felt like 2 minutes before I was headed back to yet again.

Today we were back in Nassau where once again the weather didn't cooperate. So instead of lounging on the beach it turned into drinking at a bar by the beach. Not a bad compromise. :) Tonight at work was crazy. In my four hour shift I spent a grand total of 15 minutes out front because I had so much work to catch up on for the end of this cruise and the start of the next. The annoying part was for the last half hour when I was just trying to get finished up and get out of there I kept getting called out front because I was the only one in the office who spoke French. Luckily all the guests were relatively easy but I still ended up sticking around for an extra 30mins to get everything wrapped up.

Needless to say I'm more than ready for the next cruise.

View from the top of Grenada

One of the many roofless churches in Grenada

Up on the fort in Grenada

Grenada

This was the first thing I saw when I walked off the gangway in Grenada

Where we went swimming in Fort de France

My view for the day in Fort de France

The beach in Sint Maarten

Looking back at the 4 ships that were docked in Sint Maarten

Our little crab buddy that welcomed us to Sint Maarten

Days 61-63: Sea, Puerto Rico, Antigua

December 11, 2011 01:26 (2 months onboard!)

Hmm, normally the beginning of these posts come fairly easily as there's some overall theme or issue to cover. This time around however I stared at a blank screen for 5 minutes before writing this nonsense. I guess that's probably a good thing actually. Life onboard is still on the up and up and the past 3 days have been pretty good over all so I guess I'll get right into recapping the past few days.

The 2nd sea day of this cruise was actually pretty uneventful. I finally got a morning shift which was a nice change after working til 12 five nights in a row. The work day was pretty boring. Personally I haven't had any major complaints to deal with which has made some of my shifts really drag on but I'm certainly not too upset about that. The girls are all still crazy and wonderful each in their own unique way so that at least keeps me occupied.

What we did manage to accomplish on the 2nd sea day was the arrival of Christmas on the Poesia! We spent the night decorating and getting ready for Christmas onboard. It was nice to have everyone in good spirits as we prepped for the holidays.

Yesterday we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico which is now officially one of my favourite ports. First of all it's one of the first places we've been where there isn't a gauntlet of locals trying to sell you everything under the sun when you get off, secondly it's just a cool place. All the buildings are painted brilliant pastel colours and in the old part of town where we were the streets are all stone bricks and just a short walk away puts you onto of the city walls with an incredible view of the surrounding area.

We found a true hole in the wall for lunch. We just happened to stumble onto a little place recessed off the street and plenty of locals and next to no English inside. Perfect. A true sign of a good place to eat is no sign of tourists and lots of locals. I had caramelized plantains, rice and beans and this thing called mofongo. Mofongo is seasoned beef that's served in a bowl made of mashed plantains and garlic. Everything was amazing. I've quickly learned that Caribbean food is meant to me eaten all together. When you have one thing on it's own it's never really that good but when you mix it all together that's when the flavours really come out. So far it's been a culinary experience being down here and I'm loving every second of it.

Today we were in St John, Antigua and for a place we only go to once that I had high hopes for I have to say I was disappointed. The weather was crappy which didn't help so we didn't head to a beach which I'm sure would have made it much better so Tina and I just found a place for lunch and then wandered around town for a bit. On the plus side I found another good local meal. We went off the heated track a bit and I ended up getting a plate of chicken, spare ribs, and a mixed/fried rice. I wish I was better at explaining how things taste but all I can really say again was that there was a ton of flavour and I loved it.

The city of St John itself was pretty run down and dirty. One of the first things we saw was a huge rat that had been run over and was squashed in the road and it didn't really get better from there. Down both sides of the street is their gutter and possibly their sewer system because I didn't see anything to imply they had anything else in place for drainage/sewage. The water that flowed down both sides was nasty looking and smelled like old garbage. When we walked back we found the "tourist area" loaded with shops that I'm sure most of the locals don't even come close to shopping at. I always find it so strange to find all the upscale stores and boutiques in these poor cities, it's kinda sad really. It's almost like we're just rubbing it in their faces that they can't afford these things.

Tonight was pretty chill. Had a couple beers in the crew bar before going up to the disco on 13 to get outside for a bit. It was so amazing out. The water was completely still and the moon was full. Just another one of those moments that reminds me that life aint so bad after all.

Days 54 - 60: Panama, Sea, Jamaica, Sea, Florida, Sea

December 7, 2011 at 19:22

Ok, ok so I've been slacking at the blog again.  I've been getting shit for a couple days to write more so I guess I had better do just that.  To be fair it's been a pretty uneventful few days. Come to think of it I think that's a good thing. Or maybe it's bad because the last cruise seemed like it dragged on FOREVER.  Def didn't help that we had an average age of 80ish onboard.  Yikes.

It was nice to go back to Panama, but this time instead of racing out at the crack of dawn to wander all over hoping to eventually wind up back at the ship, I slept in a bit then went out with my laptop to the same place for lunch we went when we were last here.  Where we dock in Cristobal it's pretty dirty and smelly but the area right at the dock is so heavily tourist driven that's it's fairly clean. Mind you on the other side of the street are empty lots filled with garbage.  I had a nice chill couple of hours while I caught up on the internet, chatted with Dad for a bit, and had a nice lunch of coffee, a sandwich, and of course a Panama beer before having to head back on board for a shower and work. Back to the grind.

A shining light on these days was the fact that there were a couple birthday's onboard so there was another party the night we left Panama.  Party's happen so rarely that people tend to go all out for them.  Officers and crew get dressed to the nines to party in a tiny room, this time down no deck 2 and no one blinks an eye as the drinks are passed around and the clock moves on.  The only real bummer for me was that I worked at 7 the next day and when the party ended at 2am we kept it going for another few hours.  I didn't make it to bed until around 4:30 which meant my 6:30 alarm came WAY too soon.  Either way I survived the morning and dove into bed on my break and managed to get more sleep in the afternoon that I had got the night before. Oh life on the ship.

We had another safety drill in Jamaica and instead of rushing out again for an hour or so this time I just took it easy afterwards while waiting for work so nothing to report there. And with another Sea day until we were back in Florida it was business as usual as we explained disembarkation about one million times before we got to say goodbye to our elderly friends yesterday.

There are certain things that just need to be done when we're state side and as a result I'm starting to develop a bit of a routine while in Fort Lauderdale.  This time around I finally got a bank account setup so I'm able to get some of this cash out of my possession and back up north so I can actually start using it to pay off some bills.  From there I went back to my new favourite diner for another normal breakfast of bacon and eggs and some reliable internet.  I had a nice FaceTime with mom and dad before power walking back to the ship to start another hellish 11 hour embarkation day.  

It's funny thinking back to when I worked at the Marriott Harbourfront and the Delta Beausejour when a busy day was 150-200 arrivals or when I was at the Courtyard and busy 60 arrivals.  Now we've had days where we've brought on as many as 3,000 people into 1,275 rooms so a normal day like yesterday where we bring in 2,500 people is a walk in the park.  Crazy how a little perspective and experience can change everything.

Today we were  back to a regular busy sea day but it's even more tiring for me this go around on account of the group of 400 from Quebec which means lots and lots of speaking French for yours truly.  On the plus side my French is getting better every day. On the down side I'm exhausted but I guess that's not really anything new.  Tonight on my break I went to see our "Extraordinaire" show in the theatre.  Before this I'd only seen a few small snippets of the other shows and was pleasantly surprised by the talents I've been living with for the past two months.  Dancers, singers, jugglers, a trapeze act and everything in between.  I'm thinking it's time to start checking out a few more of the shows we've got to offer on board.

Most importantly I think anyone reading this post and my past few can see that things have turned around for me lately. Ship life has been much better since Aruba and I'm doing everything in my power to keep it that way.  Right now, with the exception of Patrick who's on nights, I'm the only guy working directly with 10 other women.  What does this mean? It means from my boss, to the group coordinator, and all the girls on the line, there's always some form of drama to diffuse or someone who just wants some attention to help them get through the day.  I'm embracing the roll because the happier they all are the smoother things run and the happier I am as a result.  It's kinda like the old saying "happy wife, happy life". Mind you whoever came up with with probably didn't have 10 wives…

Ciao!

Days 52-53: Aruba and Columbia

December 1, 2011 22:34 (Holy shit I can't believe it's December already!)

So saying the past week or two haven't been the best is an understatement. Luckily yesterday and today was the best 48hours I've spent on board and I didn't even go out today.

Yesterday started early as we got into Oranjestad, Aruba at 7am. This is the only time we go this season so we knew we only had one shot to make a great day of it. Only problem was when we got the weather the day before it called for rain and a chance of thunderstorms… bummer. BUT as I already said these two days were amazing so do you think the rain came? Hell no! Not only did it not rain but it was 35C and sunny. A perfect day.

We left the ship and found a cab that was willing to take us to the beach for $3 per person. After a 10-15 min drive we found ourselves in their downtown at a beautiful beach populated with resorts like Westin and Hyatt. The water was an brilliant aqua and although too cloudy to snorkel it was perfect in the heat. After a dip and a nap in the sun Tina, Roby, and got to play some beach volleyball with some locals and other tourists. This was especially great because beach volleyball is all that Tina's been saying she's wanted to do since we got down south and for me I got to remember what it's like to sweat because of exercise.

At this point we were hot, sweaty, hungry and thirsty so we tore into the ocean again before walking over to Hyatt's bar. I had a Mojito and the most amazing fish tacos before heading back for even more swimming before we had to catch a cab back to the ship. While we were packing up I had a chat with a local selling tours and asked him a bit about the area. He told me that houses 10-20 mins from the beach go for as low as 50k and that Aruba's revenue was 80% tourism. Hmm cheap housing, high tourism demand, AND a Hyatt on the beach. I think I need to see if they're hiring… ;)

Work, as always, was tough after a day in the sun but our saving grace was that since all the guests had also been out in the sun all day they were in their cabins resting instead of at reception giving us a hard time while we recovered.

After work we headed to the crew bar where I was reminded by one of the Andreas (pronounced Andrae-a) that it was our name day and they were going to be celebrating in the bar. Now being from North America I don't know anything about name days but after experiencing my first one I can say I'm a fan. December 1st St Andrew/Andrea's day so people with those names are celebrated. There were 5 or 6 Andrea's plus me so we had a nice little crew of 20-30 in our bar celebrating. For a change we actually had music, and dancing which lasted until about 3:30 this morning. Needless to say there were a lot of happy and tired people around the ship today. I was exhausted getting to work but it was totally worth it.

Today I didn't get off but I got to work with my old shift again which is always a good time. On our two hour break tonight Tina, Roby, and I ate in the fine dining restaurant again and once again was blown away with the food. This time I had scallops, a lobster pasta, angus steak, and coconut cake. Let's just say my pants didn't fit right after and I couldn't stop smiling. To top it all off I was off at 10 tonight and now I'm off to the crew bar to grab some brewskis for Drewski. Ciao!

Days 46 - 51: Jamaica, Sea, Florida, Sea, Sea, Netherland Antiles

November 29, 2011 19:39

Wow has it really been almost a week since I last wrote? The days here are really starting to go by insanely quickly. Time flies when you're having fun? Time seems to go by much quicker when I'm having to put up with bs at work. Over the past week I've had some serious ups and downs and even started looking into ways I could get fired to get off this ship. Extreme? yes but that's just how annoyed I've been over the way couple weeks. If I didn't hate quitting so much I'd find a way off but I'll just grin and bear it, at this point it's only another 4 months and I'm outta here. And besides, Mom and Dad booked their cruise today for Feb 11-17 so I should probably stick around for that. :p

Jamaica was very bitter sweet. We had VERY limited time (2 hours) in port because of a crew safety drill but we made the most of what little time we had. We tore off the ship and headed right for a restaurant on what they called "The Hip Strip" in downtown Montego Bay. We hit up a pub right on the water with a beautiful beach with private access. We ordered lunch then tore off into the water while we were waiting for our food. Did a little bit of snorkelling again and saw some small white striped fish about 5" long. I was about to put my feet down and stand up for a sec when something told me that looking where my feet were going first was a good plan. I looked down and saw that I was about to step on a beautiful white flat fish with light sky blue circles all over it. Glad I didn't step on the poor guy! After our short swim my lunch of Jamaican jerk chicken was ready. Delicious! Once we paid and left we had about 10mins to look in the shops before boarding the bus back to the ship. Happy Thanksgiving to us! Short lived but awesome, luckily we go back a bunch of times.

Another uneventful sea day and we were back in Fort Lauderdale for a delightful 11 hour day. I was off for the morning and used the time to find a diner for a nice breakfast, some good internet, and a chat with mom before grabbing some groceries and a delicious Boar's Head sub from Publix before I dove back into the craziness at 12. We worked 12-12 with a one hour break from 6-7, makes for a long day. It was a really strange embarkation day though because it really wasn't that busy. That is until about 11:20 when the entire ship started calling for extra pillows. I've never heard our night housekeeping manager sound so depressed and he sounded that way every time we called for another pillow order. I was actually worried that at some point we were going to call and he was going to tell us that we simply had no more pillows. Luckily that wasn't the case. Most passengers were very accepting with the fact that it took a bit of extra time to get pillows because of the high demand. Most of them. Tina had one guy tell her off so badly over the phone that I could hear him yelling through the phone from the other end of the desk. "Just get me some fucking pillows!!!!!" He was so heated about this he came to reception to continue to take a strip off of her while threatening to make as much of a scene as he had to to get some pillows. While he was doing this I was on the phone with the housekeeping supervisor quietly instilling a sense of urgency to get some pillows to the desk as fast as possible. They showed up a couple minutes later, he grabbed them and we never heard from him again… Some people…

The past two days were relatively uneventful except for the fact that after working 11hours and finishing at 12 our genius boss scheduled us in at 7am the next day. It's always nice to know the person you're working for cares about you eh? On top of that I was traded to the other shift for some unknown reason and in the process lost all the people I like working with and that I go out with in port every time. Awesome. OH! and to make yesterday even better my new shift and I apparently missed some test call from the elevator emergency button to which we were all given an extra hour of work. Highlight of the day was the massive rubber band fight Patrick, Viktoriia, Cathalina and I had. Best job ever maybe? How many days left in my contract? Just over 4 months? Crap. First and last time with this company? Booyah.

Today we were in Curacao in the Netherland Antilles which, from what I was told is quite similar to Europe. I went out with Anatollio, Stacey, and Viktoriia to their downtown which was packed full of high end shops, low end vendors and some incredible colours and architecture. To reach the shopping district you have to walk across a floating bridge that will pivot out of the way when ships have to get past it; pretty cool. We saw it happen while waiting to cross over. It was super hot and muggy and a late morning rain was very welcome before heading back to paradise for a 1pm start.

Right now I'm sitting in my cabin listening to The Black Keys trying my best to escape reality before I have to be back at the desk in 20mins. Tomorrow we're in Aruba and I get to go out with my old shift and work with them on account of the fact that we missed Costa Maya last week or whenever it was. Aruba over another Mexico day? I'll take it! Here's hopping for a good night and a great tomorrow. :)

Where we had lunch in Jamaica

Private beach in Jamaica

The view from our table in Jamaica

Bridge in Netherland Antiles

Downtown Willemstad

Local market in Willemstad

Days 39 - 45: Sea, FL, Key West, Cozumel, Honduras, Sea

November 23, 2011 12:16

This block of days goes in two very distinct directions. The sea day, Florida, and Key West were great… The rest? Not so much. Let's start with the good news.

As usual the last day of the cruise was hectic with question after question about disembarkation followed by a crazy morning in Florida filled with passengers just trying to get off the ship and on with their lives. The nice thing about that day though was that whereas I worked first thing in the morning that meant I had the afternoon off to spend some time running errands and relaxing in Lauderdale which is a nice simple port and an easy place to get some peace and quiet for a bit.

Now I'm not saying that all of Key West is like this, but in the area near the port it is extremely tacky. Gift shop after gift shop with crappy tours galore. The saving grace of this day was when I found a nice pocket of wifi I was able to steal for a while and then a lovely 2nd floor restaurant with a nice patio for lunch. It was so delightfully serene. I had a nice shady table overlooking the street below that was just enough removed that you could barely hear the vendors and passerbys. I was able to have a couple beer, a nice lunch and read for an hour or so before returning back to the ship. Really a lovely end to my time ashore.

From here on this cruise has been pretty shitty.

Monday we were back in Cozumel and it was our turn to stay on board for the day while the other shift had their turn out; not fun but no biggie. Then yesterday we were in Honduras, a place we'll be back to a few times. We had to tender in and my shift was scheduled off all morning then starting at 1 ensuring we had no chance to leave the ship in the process. 2 days in a row locked on board with nothing to do while the other shift got 2 days off in a row. When I asked my boss about this she said "sorry that's just how the schedule was". I'm sorry, don't you make the schedule? Was there any particular reason we got the crap schedule while the other shift got a drastically better one or are you just playing favourites?

Now today, while we're at sea, we finally get a shift where we start at 7 and have the afternoon off… on a day we can't leave again. And to make it even better we're scheduled to be able to go "out" tomorrow in Jamaica however there's a crew safety drill so by the time it's all said and done we'll be lucky if we get a couple hours ashore. Real glamour job we've got here.

What really kills me is the complete lack of leadership and motivation that we receive. We only hear about the negatives. If something goes wrong we get a firm talking to right away. Yet have I once been commended on all the positive comments I know for a fact get written about me on the comment cards? After we had some poor scores for Reception and were told essentially to improve or else and I took it upon myself to make sure that our scores improved (which they did, drastically) did I/we get a "good job" talk or a pat on the back? No.

We hear all the day that "you're not a team" and they're right. The problem is it's coming from our direct supervisor who has apparently forgotten or just doesn't know that every team needs a leader and in the work place the leader needs to be the middle manager. It's their job to direct and motivate the staff on the line. It's their job to be there for the line and to support them so the line can focus on the guests and not have to worry about all the bs that goes on behind the scenes. Instead of being there for us though we're constantly fighting battles against the person who's supposed to be our leader. The same leader who's always looking to place blame in the process creating animosity between team members. Gee, I wonder why we're not a team?

What kills me too is that just today we all got individual sit downs about logging absolutely everything we get called for. "I've told you all over and over again that his needs to be done and it still isn't". OK, in that case maybe it's time to look inwards instead of passing the blame to your staff. Is there a chance that the methods being used are flawed? We're all competent people and possess the basic skills to log requests but still aren't. Why not try a different method? A different approach? Because I'm pretty sure that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is a sign of insanity. It's like continually pushing a door to try and open it when all you had to do was try pulling.

Sorry for so much negativity I'm just pissed off. There's no excuse for bad moods all the time. People really need to lighten up. I mean come on! We're living on a cruise ship going to some of the most beautiful places in the world every day. Who shit in your cereal?

Day 38: Cozumel, Mexico… Finally!!

November 18, 2011 01:25

Ok, so for as crappy as yesterday it only made today that much better.

After a nice easy four hours on the desk to start the day we were off at 11 and we didn't start again until 5 which gave us more than enough time to enjoy our time in Mexico. We kept it simple today and just stayed local. We had heard from the other shift that this place Margaritaville had everything we were looking for: food, drinks, swimming and wifi. When you work in this industry that's like the perfect combination so we headed straight for there.

After some delicious margaritas and awesome fajitas, Tina, Patrick, and I grabbed our snorkels, borrowed some flippers and made our way into the sea. The great bit of all this was we literally just had to walk a few feet from our table and hop into the water off their pier, so convenient.

The water was SO clear. Buying a mask/snorkle the last time I was in Fort Lauderdale is already the best decision I've made yet. At times it was easily 30 ft deep and you could see clear to the bottom. There were fish everywhere. At one point a whole school of 4" ones were circling me, at another I was swimming with a school of 6" blue ones. Some of the guys we saw a lot of were about a foot plus in length and were coming close enough to touch. Some of the cooler things I found out there was the fuselage of a couple air planes. Around these I spotted a big anemone, a star fish the size of a dinner plate, a flat fish, and a sting ray. I'd say the highlight tho was when we saw a puffer fish shoot out underneath us. It went and hid in some rocks for a while and when we swam down you could see all the spines along it's side and on top of that it had these incredible bright blue eyes. Very very cool.

Work after my time off was business as usual but was almost extra lame simply due to the fact of what I was doing only hours before. Once my shift was over my day went back to being awesome tho. As part of ShipRocked, Hinder was playing in our theatre tonight and they brought all that they had. Like most people the only song of theirs I knew was "Lips of an Angle" but the whole gig rocked and when they finally played "Lips of an Angel" the place went crazy and everyone sang along.

So that was my day in a nutshell. Prob my best day so far and come to think of it, the shell's came right off my eggs… I've said it once, and I'll say it again… The eggs don't lie.

Ciao!

Hinder

View from the pier.

Where we spent our afternoon. :)

Day 37: Costa Maya, Mexico… kinda

November 16, 2011 23:12

Two days in a  row! Maybe I'm actually back on pace with this whole blog thing.  I just need to leave myself a couple mins before I go to bed each night and I can get back on pace with actually writing about the day that happened as it happened.

So as I mentioned yesterday we've got this ShipRocked thing onboard right now which is pretty cool. I just wish they sold out the ship as opposed to selling only half the ship cause then we wouldn't have to worry about any noise issues.  So last night when I got off work I headed down to the theatre to check out a band called Sevendust.  Personally I'd never heard them before but I knew the name and know that they're a pretty popular metal band.  Basically I figured I might as well check out a free concert of a big band when I had the chance.  It didn't get started until 2am but it was worth the wait. It was really cool to go to a metal show in our classy 1200 person theatre. Even cooler because there were prob only 300-500 people there for this.  There's something special about a show for a crowd that small and these guys gave it their all. It was cool too because I think it was pretty special for them too because at one point their lead singer said "Thank you guys for being here. This is the latest gig we've ever played. I can't believe we're playing on a ship in the middle of the sea in the middle of the night."  Shit like this makes the shit I deal with at work not seem to mater so much.  The this morning I'm working away minding my own business when  these guys and their wives come asking normal questions about the port and whatnot when I realize that they were the guys from the band we saw the night before.  Very normal, cool and nice people. I love when people don't let success go to their heads.

Today was pretty lame. We worked all day while the other crew got to spend time on shore. This isn't wasn't a big deal until Mandy (my boss) realized that she messed up and that we're only in Costa Maya once.  But you know what? Mistakes happen and that's ok. The thing that drives me crazy is that I checked to see if the other crew were still on shore and I found out that they were ALL ON BOARD!!! They pissed away the afternoon napping in their cabins on a beautiful 35C sunny day while we worked away a beautiful day without the ability to leave. Oh well, what's done is done. Tomorrow's a new day and I'll feel better.

So that was my not so exciting day in Costa Maya. My only saving grace was a cold beer with Roby and Tina after work and then Shameem dragging me out of my cabin to join her in the crew bar for a bit before bed. I guess that's what friends are for. :)

Tomorrow we hit Cozumel and we work til 11 then are off until 5. Can you say day drunk?  I can't wait. I guess right off the end of the pier is a bar called Margaritaville where there's good drinks, good food, free wifi, and swimming right off the pier. I can't wait.

Days 32 (Sea Day), 33 (Key West), 34 (Bahamas), 35 (Fort Lauderdale),36 (Sea Day)

November 15, 2011 17:25

So just as I got all caught up on my days my google account had some "suspicious activity" logged form Dubai and as a result shut me out. This locked me out of my email and blog which was a bit of a worry. The tricky part was to get it back I needed to enter a code that was texted to me. Kinda tough to do when at sea and I've cancelled my cell. Luckily when we got back to Fort Lauderdale I was able to pop my sim back in and use it long enough to get what I needed. Those few mins will prob jack my final bill up nicely but it's one of those things that had to be done. A pain in the ass but at least it's covered.

ANYWAY, enough of that boring stuff. Let's see, what's happened over the past 5 days… Well we had the fun boys onboard who actually weren't nearly as crazy as we had expected. The only day it was a little much was when they came back onboard after Key West all boozed up and screaming. There was a group of them in the lobby cheering and yelling whenever another from the group came back onboard but aside from a few blatant dick grabs it was just another group of drunk passengers. It only really got ridiculous when one of them thought that while drunk, wearing a sailor hat and no shirt was a good time to come and complain about something random. Or maybe he wasn't even complaining, maybe that's just how he talked… Who knows.

I don't have much to say about Key West because it was another one of those trade off days where we worked all day and will get off all day next time. The crappy part was I didn't have anywhere near the amount of work to do as I did last time we worked all day in port so the day crawled by. No worries tho, Tina and I passed the day by having a rubber band war. Gotta work with what you've got.

Nassau however was a different story. It was our turn to get out for the day and we were ready and willing. We finished work at 11:30 and bombed off the ship and headed straight for Señor Frogs. We grabbed some margaritas and had a nice lunch while being entertained by the staff, and their schinanigans. As expected it was nice and ridiculous in there and right out of the gates shots were being passed around and everyone was having a good time. Eventually they started running a trivia game where they played the theme song to a movie or TV show with the prize being, you guessed it, more shots. Luckily I'm an 80s baby and so when they played Duck Tales and Inspector Gadget I was right on the ball and won myself some free booze.

The water was this incredible aqua blue and after sitting next to it for a while we just had to find a way in. On top of that we could see a private hotel beach from where we were sitting so beach time was teasing us. We found out that the beach was part of the Hilton and after a short walk we found the front door. Getting access was much easier than anticipated. We simply walked into the hotel, out the back and onto the beach. Easy as pie. The water wasn't as warm as it was in Columbia or Costa Rica but still felt amazing. The extra nice bit about it being a private beach was that there were no crazy locals trying to sell us crap and there were beach chairs! After a dip I had a nice nap on the beach before the wind blew some dark clouds in and the beach lost it's appeal. We walked around town for a bit and called it a day. When we're back we're def gonna go check out Atlantis instead of pissing away time in the uneventful town and shanty shops.

We hit Fort Lauderdale again the next day but this time I didn't have much time on shore as I started work at 11 and worked pretty well all day. (Gotta love 11 hour embarkation days). Tina and I got up early and headed into town in search of a dive shop. After a few swim days and not being able to see what was underwater we were both fed up and with places like Cozumel on the horizon a good mask and snorkel was def in need. We found a shop and a nice set, grabbed some breakfast and headed back to the ship for the shit show that ensued.

Currently onboard we have what's call "Shiprocked" which is essentially a music festival on the water. We've got bands like Hinder, Buckcherry and Filter and assorted others playing gigs around the ship and about 1000 tattooed up rock fans to go with. That's all well and good and they're great people but the issue comes from the 1500 others who didn't realize that Shiprocked was going on the same time as they had planned a quiet relaxing cruise. Unfortunately it makes for some very upset and disappointed guests. To help deal with the complaints and extra late night traffic I'll be working until 1:30 this morning; can't wait for that one.

Tomorrow we're in Costa Maya and my shift will be onboard all day. The day after however we'll be in Cozumel and I plan to do nothing but drink stiff drinks, eat fajitas, snorkel and be in the sun all day. It's going to be amazing.

Anyway now that my account is back up and running I'll see if I can't actually stay up to date on my writing. Who know's what the coming days will yield… Ciao!

It's like the ship watches us no matter where we are.

View from where I had lunch.

Downtown Nassau

Hilton's private beach.

1 Month Onboard! Days 28, 29, 30, and 31: Sea Day, Cozumel (kinda), Sea Day, Fort Lauderdale

November 11, 2011 00:43

I've been the laziest blogger lately and for those of you who enjoy reading my random ramblings I apologize for this. I've been so tired and over worked lately that sleep and beer have won over blogging the past few nights, sorry.

On the plus side, you haven't missed out on much. Sea days and all pretty much the same. Busy and work and nothing exciting when I'm not working. And Cozumel was just a tease this time around. On the desk we take turns getting off for the whole day when we're at a port we go to more than once and it was our turn to work all day while the other shift played all day.

Before I get to the Cozumel day though, I first need to address a couple things from my post that were raised to me in and email from mom. I said I had a great meal in Costa Rica but didn't tell you what it was and there was a picture of 3 random girls who went unidentified. My bad. The meal was a chicken breast seasoned in some local manor the tasted awesome with rice and black beans. To top it off there were friend plantains that tasted amazing. Sweet and delicious, yum. The girls are Rosanna, Roberta, and Tina. Rosanna works at accounting, Roby and Tina work with me at reception and I spend pretty much 24hours with them. These are the people in my life these days. :)

The day in Cozumel actually wasn't so bad. I had lots of work to catch up on so with all the passengers on shore I was able to do 5.5 hours of comment corrections which really made the time fly by and I actually forgot were were in a great location until I got a call from Cheryl, Anatollio, and Renetia from shore to tell me about how drunk they were and the great time they were having. Thanks jerks, love you too.

On one of the sea days, I went to eat at our fine dining restaurant Obelisco with my buddy Patrick from reception. There was a promo of $20 for a 4 course dinner and whereas we typically eat crap onboard we couldn't pass it up. The food was AMAZING. I had a seafood app with salmon, and king crap followed by john dory stuffed ravioli which were both fantastic and wrapped up with a nice cheesecake. The star of the meal however was my main course which was a pistachio crusted lamb with blueberry sauce. Now, in my life I've eaten a lot of lamb and I can safely say it's my favourite red meat. That being said this was hands down the BEST lamb I've ever, ever had. The chef cooked it perfectly and when paired with the pistachio crust and the blueberry sauce it literally melted in your mouth. Let's put it this way; the ship could have gone down and I wouldn't of cared as long as I was able to finish my main. Wow it was good.

Today was disembarkation/embarkation in Fort Lauderdale. These days are typically crazy but today actually went by pretty smoothly. We do however have a 300 person group that embarked today called "invasion" or "ingaysion" if you will…. Yup, we're currently dominated onboard by boys who like boys and that spells trouble for me. Already tonight I've got a story to tell…

As I was nearing the end of my shift I had my head down doing some work. Roby (Roberta) poked me and told me to look up. Not sure what she wanted I stopped and looked ahead. On the stairs in front of me were 6-8 of the guys that had stopped on the stairs to get a good peek at yours truly. When they saw that I had looked up they scattered like cockroaches exposed to light. Needless to say it's going to be an interesting few days… Oy.

We're at sea tomorrow before hitting Key West on Saturday and Nassau on Sunday. The most disappointing bit about all this is that my great friend Darby is going to be in Nassau on Tuesday. I can't believe I'm missing her by 2 days. :(

That's all for now folks. I'm finally caught back up and I'll do my best to stay on top of things again. Bed time for me now, night.

Day 27: Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

November 9, 2011 15:45

Ah Costa Rica, a great day that started off so poorly...

So I started work at 7am and as usual my alarm went off at 5:55 then 6:05 to start my day. I hopped out of bed and into the shower to start my usual morning routine. As I was finishing up my shower, I checked my watch in the bathroom to see how I was doing for time. 7:19… Hmm, that's odd. I could of sworn I had already changed it back a couple days earlier for day light savings, better check my iPhone and iPad when I get out, something's odd. When I came out of the washroom Anatollio told me that the desk had called to tell me I was late for work! WTF!? I checked my iPhone and iPad, sure enough they both read and hour earlier than the watch in the bathroom. At this point I knew that something had gone wrong but it still made no sense. When I came onboard I turned off the "Set Automatically" feature to avoid something like this from happening. Turns out that 2 days prior when the ship had done day light savings it wasn't actually the day for daylight savings and that it actually happened over night and my clocks automatically adjusted themselves thus making me late for work. Jerks.

So that was fun. Luckily it happened to about half the staff and a ton of the guests so management just brushed it all off which was good because being late equals an extra hour of work and I couldn't' afford that on this day because I was meeting my good buddy Jeslyn who I went to NSCC with.

There's something extra special about seeing a familiar face in a completely foreign place. We came out of the port and I didn't' really know where or how I was going to find her when out of sheer dumb luck I saw her sitting in a little coffee shop across the street. After some yelling and hugging it was off to the beach!

We met a nice cabby who was the proud father of 16 kids (buddy, you need some condoms) who took us to this little touristy place on the beach where we were able to get my best local meal yet and then head into the crystal clear water.

There's something about being able to see my feet when I'm in water that's up to my shoulders that just makes me smile. The only bit about today that was a bummer was how quickly it all went by. The food was great, the swimming was spectacular and getting to spend time with a true friend was the best of all.

To date this was my best time ashore even if it was only for a few hours. :)