My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
When I rejoined to Caribbean Princess on November 11, 2018, there were two Cruise Staff when there should have been five or six (I would have replaced one of them). I do have to say, I don’t think I’ll ever receive a warmer welcome than I did on that day. I’d worked with Dan (from Brazil) most of last contract. The summer before he’d gone home for vacation and then returned two months later. He wasn’t very excited to come back. When he did come back, I told him I was really glad to have him back because the team needed his positive energy. Now it was my turn. If anyone knew how I felt, Dan did. And he pulled me aside and said, I say back to you what you said to me: I’m really glad to have you back because we need your positive energy. And, well, just another person. That they didn’t need to train. I mean, I already knew where everything was. I’d worked with Romeo (from Jamaica, the one with the sunglasses on his head below) for a couple of weeks before I left. He really wanted to be a DJ and wasn’t really into all of the extra stuff that goes on besides hosting. Two days later, Ana (from Mexico) joined us. I labeled these photos: “The whole team is together!” because that happens very rarely, so when it does, I feel the need to document it. Looking back, I think, that’s not enough people! Who’s missing? But that’s right– we were a group of four for about two months.
After a couple of weeks, Romeo was transshipped to the Emerald Princess, I was promoted to Assistant Cruise Director, and we got Jodie from Australia. Jodie had cruised with her parents even more than I had– she was an Elite passenger. She was older than all of us, but was brand new to working on cruise ships.
Someone from the office wanted a picture of us in our Rhythms of the Caribbean shirts.
We made it through to Christmas.
Then in January, Dan went on vacation and was replaced by Mike (from Canada) who I had worked with for the last 10 days of my first contract. I did not like Mike on those last 10 days, and was not looking forward to his return. We ended up being good friends and I liked him a lot. I shouldn’t judge people when I’m tired and they’ve replaced my best friend and my other best friend doesn’t like them.
Molly also joined with Mike, a 23 year old, brand-new-to-ships Junior from New Hampshire. Molly was also an American with brown hair so many guests couldn’t tell us apart. I took it as a compliment since I’m 13 years older than she is.
In February, Matt came to replace Micca as the Cruise Director. He had a three-week handover and then Micca stayed on as Carolina’s guest for a few more weeks after that. In March Ana was replaced by Andi, who, I realized pretty quickly not only replaced Ana professionally, but also replaced her role in my life as my ship best friend.
We were in Wet dock from mid April to mid May. Then a cruise and a half later, Mike went home for a short vacation to return as an Ocean Forward Planner. He was replaced by Michelle from South Africa, and then Jodie went home and was replaced by Gabi from Romania.
When Molly went home, her replacement didn’t show up, so we were a team of four once again!
So during my 8 1/2 month contract, Ana came and left, Alan came and left a couple of times, Mike came and left, Jodie came and left, Molly came and left, Matt came and left, came back and left on the same day I did. It was so strange to actually be the one who was leaving, but boy, was I ready!
Next I have some pictures that didn’t quite fit in to any other stories, so I’m grouping them together here.
My first contract, I originated the role of Tiffany Chastain, heiress and (spoiler alert) jewel thief in the High Seas Heist, a week-long mystery where guests got clues to figure out who stole the Collar of Azucena. We realized that Dan, who had originated the role of Professor Thadeus Moore was leaving and his replacement would have one day to learn the part. So we had a little rumble to see who could play Professor Moore until Mike got up to speed. I hammed it up. I love getting dressed up and playing characters. So I got to play the role temporarily.
Soon Matt came onboard and took over as Cruise Director. He wanted me to be the host of the event instead of playing the characters (which is a bigger, though less colorful, part). Fortunately, it never happened. I played Tiffany my whole contract, and played both characters January to the end of July.
Sand Castles!
So technically this happened off the ship, but Princess Cays is basically an extension of the ship, and I was working so that’s how I’m counting it.
Stef learned how to make sand castles the previous summer from the masters, and then Stef taught me. So when we started coming back to Princess Cays, we gave it another go.
No one showed up and we never did it again, but Jodie and I had a great morning as I remembered how to build sand castles.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the idea of building sand castles is actually more fun than actually doing it. I prefer sandcastles to the events we do in the piazza every port day, but I wouldn’t trade it for a morning to sleep in!
Ana and I treated ourselves to Steamers in the Specialty Restaurant before the deck party one evening.
The key lime pie was amazing.
Lowering a lifeboat!
Fleet Safety was on board, and Matt asked one of them if he could learn how to lower a life boat. As first in charge of a muster station, we are in charge of gathering guests in a safe place and then guiding them to lifeboats (if necessary) in the event of an emergency. But what if something really bad happens? What if they guy who is supposed to lower the lifeboat doesn’t show up? What if everything doesn’t go to plan? I asked if I could come along, and Matt said yes. Then Ana heard about it and asked if she could come too.
We climbed up the little white ladders that say Crew Only and walked along the edges beside the life boat.
The Fleet Safety guy (I really wish I could remember his name) showed us how to unhook the lifeboats and which levers to push to swing the lifeboat out over the side, where to put it to load passengers, and then we lowered it down to the water.
Then we lifted it back up and put it back. We climbed inside to make sure all of the supplies were there and pre-expired. If I try to picture it now, I can’t remember all the details, but I feel better having learned in the first place. I hope I’m never in a circumstance where this information is useful, but I’m glad I know it.
I used to be fat!
One day in Roatan, one of those “Memories from two years ago” pictures showed up on my Facebook feed. This was the picture:
It’s nice to look back and remember fond memories, but it’s also nice to look back and see how far I’ve come. It was a lot of work to lose all that weight and it’s nice that I’ve kept it off, and I feel much more like myself. I showed some of my friends who had only known me as the size I am, and they were very surprised. It sparked some conversations where people asked me more about my past and my journey to the present. Matt brought it up many times over the rest of our contract. Kelly used to be fat! he’d say and then tell me to show the picture to the person we were talking to. Matt was a dancer before he became Cruise Director, and has since put on some weight. Andi felt the need to point out that Matt and I both swapped– he used to be skinny! Then Matt would pull out his picture from his past.
Fourth of July
On Independence Day, Matt planned a huge celebration that would out-do the parties we did every week. I just remember it being overwhelmingly ambitious. That week, in addition to the Rhythms of the Caribbean Party, the 24K Gold Deck party, and the Balloon Drop party, we had a Canada Day Celebration, 4th of July and a new Birthday party for all of the guests. This one was the biggest. It started with a marching band parade, but there were so many people gathered around the piazza, that no one could tell where they were or get through the crowds, so they had to shorten their route. Then we had almost an hour of sing-a-longs and performances by the mostly American singers, followed by Carnival games.
My favorite was the Pie Eating Contest. As we were planning, Matt said he had emailed the chef asking for pies for the pie eating contest. I asked him what kind of pies. Cream? Cherry? Blueberry? He said it was up to the chef– it doesn’t matter. We went to pick up the pies that morning and found that the Filipino chef had made Guiness and Beef pies. Was he kidding? I asked. Nope! Americans don’t think of savory pies as pies! If someone says, ‘pie’ we assume it’s a sweet pie. I thought this predicament was hilarious. We had to chalk it up to things that happen when you work with a crew of 50 different nationalities– you can’t make assumptions. So we had a meat pie eating contest. It was disgusting. And then I got to dump a bucket of water on Matt for “Can you dunk the Cruise Director.”
The photo department hosted a party in the crew bar one night– a glow in the dark party. I wasn’t in the mood to go, but I’d become friends with Stu, the Photo Manager, so I went down to make an appearance.
Bernie!
Last day
I’d been warned by people who extended their contracts that they’d gotten exponentially more tired and careless toward the end and sometimes got in trouble, and thus regretted that they’d extended. I extended for a couple of reasons: the first time was for a promotion, which was worth it. Then the second time I extended to ensure a standard two month vacation (I had been scheduled for one month vacation for a couple of months) and all of that would push my next vacation so that I’ll be home when my cousin Cameron gets married next spring. I had the advantage of a month in wet dock where I was able to catch up on sleep and have a rest from customer service. Nevertheless, I still had plenty of dreams that I’d forgotten about an event and had gotten in trouble for not showing up. (On the ship I always had an awareness of where and when I had to be next. One of the best things about being on vacation is the freedom from needing to be somewhere next) I was determined to preserve my energy and keep up my standard of performance until the end. I was able to do it until just about 24 hours before I left. Then I became a mess. Or as some people described it, a ship show. Except they didn’t say ship. Matt gave me an unbelievably easy last day filled with plenty of time to pack my bags and tie up loose ends. I got through the morning, hosted the Shark Week Family Fun Fair, passed over the prizes and games we had owned to the people who would be running it the next time, I showed up for the Egg Drop competition (even though I wasn’t scheduled for it) just because I enjoy dressing up in a ridiculous costume and hanging out with my friends Matt and Andi. Then we all went to lunch and I relaxed. Then Andi reminded me that I needed to do the High Seas Heist Check in. This was it! The first event I forgot in my whole contract and I forgot it on my last day! I cleaned out the office to avoid packing my suitcase, and then went to a little tea time party thrown by one of the guests for one of the dancers.
I scrambled and stressed, trying to figure out what to keep and what to throw away and what to give away and how to fit it all into two suitcases that couldn’t exceed 50 lbs each. I cried a little bit and did a dramatic introduction for my last event — Beatles Music Trivia with Matt. I wanted to go to Liar’s club but I didn’t make it. With a bag and a half packed, I ran upstairs to help Miss Champagne change her dress for the last time.
After the show, all my friends were there, so I had to have some drinks with them!
Finally I convinced the last people at the bar to help me pack. Clara happily picked through my things like a garage sale, and eventually I kicked her out after she suggested I throw away too many things that I was attached to.
I was so tired. I set my alarm, and then slept through it for the first time ever, got my bags packed late and got out of the room so it could be cleaned for my replacement who had arrived before I woke up. I went down to sign the beautiful appraisal that Matt had given me only to find out that it needed to be signed the day before. Without my sign-off, it looked like I didn’t approve. Matt said that if I had acted the way I did that last day he would have fired me long ago. And then we hung out at the airport together for six hours waiting for our respective flights.
I joined the Caribbean Princess angry, frustrated and determined to turn my attitude around. Everyone who had worked on other ships (who was pretty much everyone I worked with) said the Caribbean Princess was the hardest ship they had ever worked on. I thought this was great, because wherever I went next, it would be easier than my first contract had been. But I was back on the ship the bosses on shore were watching closely from shoreside. Only this time, I was surrounded by the ghosts of my friends. I missed them a lot and everything I did reminded me of doing those things with them. Plus I wanted to see the world and now I would be going back to the same Caribbean islands I’d been to over and over again. I wanted a new environment, I wanted to work with new people, I wanted a promotion and I wanted to be creatively challenged. I vowed that if I was still a junior in the Caribbean in the spring, I wouldn’t come back. Very slowly, these things shifted. After I was promoted I found myself frustrated that I was still mad and lonely even though I’d gotten the thing I’d wanted most. I made new friends. I got a new Cruise Director. After every activity, Matt would give me little notes on how to do better. Sometimes I would sit in the back and he would tell me what was working and what wasn’t working on the stage in front of us. We would go to lunch in the buffet or ashore and I would pick his brain about performance strategy. He told me how he adjusted his character as Cruise Director based on the laughs in the audience on opening night. My creative muscles were getting some exercise again. Three days before I disembarked, I had stayed at the bar a little longer than I should have considering we were doing a drill the next day and we would be evacuating my muster station (that was a big deal– there were important people on board) the next morning. I randomly checked the Crew Self Service website and my rotation had changed. I would be joining the Golden Princess in Vancouver. I messaged my mom who quickly responded that Ron Voyage had already started looking up the itinerary. I was going to Australia and New Zealand! I floated through the rest of the week. I was obnoxiously happy. After a year and a half of being disappointed about where I was going next (first that it said I was going to Alaska instead of Australia and New Zealand, no the Caribbean, then that I was still a Junior, then that I would only get one month vacation after working an eight month contract, then that I was coming back to the Caribbean for a third contract) I was so excited. People who had done the itinerary before gave me some pointers of things to do ashore. I’ll do a little cruise to Alaska with a stop in Ketchikan, I’ll be in Victoria when my mom is home (she lives just across the water), I’ll sail into San Francisco, then do two stops in Hawaii, then the gorgeous Pacific Islands before going back and forth between New Zealand and Australia. I’m going to cross the equator and the national date line, but more importantly, I’ll get to see a part of the world that I’ve never seen before. So now at the other end, I’ve gotten everything I wanted in the beginning. I just hope it stays that way.