My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
May – June 2024
As I’ve mentioned previously, my energy healer had been telling me for over a year that she kept seeing me in Japan. I was looking forward to seeing what the Universe had in store for me.
Though my 11-hour flight was delayed for a couple of hours, it didn’t really matter to me- my clock was about to be turned upside down. I was scheduled to leave San Francisco at 11am and arrived about 11 hours later at 3pm in Japan. I only managed to sleep for about 20 minutes on the flight, but luckily the plane had plenty of Oscar-nominated movies that I hadn’t seen yet. When I got off the plane, I visited the bathroom and I was delighted to find the fancy Japanese toilets I had heard so much about here in the airport!
There was even a baby seat so parents could set down their extra kids!
I had been given instructions that told me to find the port agent before I went through immigration, which was a relief. Well, lucky me, I had 2 people to escort me through immigration! Because I was entering as a seafarer there was a special process and my guides escorted me to the front of the immigration line.
I collected all of my bags (it’s always a relief when all of them show up), and had the whole shuttle bus to myself for the 15 minute ride to the hotel where I was given my room key and the hotel staff insisted on delivering my luggage to the room. I had only been there about an hour, but I was starting to see why everyone said I would love Japan – I felt like a VIP!
In my small but efficient room, I found that I could hardly keep my eyes open and couldn’t figure out why I had decided to try to stay awake until the provided dinner was available. I fell asleep at 5pm and managed to sleep until about 3:30 the next morning.
I boarded the bus with the rest of the joining crew for the bus ride to the ship. We were over an hour from the port where the Diamond Princess was docked. As we drove along the highway, I noticed that Japan was very lush and green. On the highway there were signs that had pictures of a knife and fork, which I assumed meant that there was food available at that exit, but I wondered why they didn’t use chopsticks for the sign. The bus drove us right up to the ship and we boarded the vessel right onto the deck 4 gangway while all of the guests went through immigration at the terminal.
On the Diamond Princess there are two Cruise Directors – a Japanese Cruise Director an English Cruise Director. I was curious to see how that dynamic would play out. The English Cruise Director, Dave, picked me up from the meeting point, but then Mikiko, the Japanese Cruise Director, gave me a tour of the ship and my Emergency Duties. She tried to teach me how to say some Japanese phrases, like ‘good morning’ and ‘nice to meet you’ but my jet-lagged brain was having a hard time taking everything in. I admitted to her that I had been learning Japanese using Duo Lingo, but that app starts with how to say ‘water’ and ‘sushi’ rather than teaching how to say ‘hello’.
My friend Yukie, who I worked with on the Golden Princess in 2020 was disembarking that day, and I moved into her cabin. Still we had a moment to quickly greet each other and take a picture before she had to go join the other leavers.
My cabin on the Diamond Princess is between the Officer’s Mess (where we have our meals), the officer’s laundry and the Ward room (a bar just for officers) and just below Club Fusion (the lounge where I host most events). I was immediately smitten with this ship. On the Enchanted, Caribbean and Golden, our cabin is at the front of the ship, while the mess is all the way at the back. Sometimes I would be hungry but the food felt so far away. I loved how close the mess was to our cabins on the Coral Princess, and here it was even closer.
After the Sail Away Celebration, we had a meeting where I met the team (this photo is actually from Sports Day on our second cruise, but its the one where most of us are together):
Masataka and Dave
For the first few days, I had to study the schedule to try to remember these names which contained sound combinations I was unfamiliar with. We had Masataka, Masahiro and Hiroshi, so Dave suggested that Masataka go by Taka so the western guests wouldn’t get confused – that way we could have a Taka, a Masa and a Hiroshi. Fortunately, I was soon able to get to know everyone well enough to be able to tell them apart. Once again I’m the only girl on the team (besides Mikiko, the Japanese Cruise Director) and I’m the only one who’s not from Japan besides the DJ (and Dave, the English Cruise Director).
The Team:
Mikiko, the Japanese Cruise Director, is always poised and elegant. She has been the Japanese Cruise Director for Princess for 11 years and is a constant on the Diamond Princess for the Japanese seasons. She is only the second female Cruise Director I’ve worked with, and even in the little time we’ve had together, I’ve learned so much from her. As a manager she is very kind and easy going – she very gently encourages us to meet her high-quality expectations. She has even taken me out to show me around Japan. I especially appreciate how she has started mentoring me to become a Cruise Director myself someday.
Masahiro (Masa) joined the same day I did, though he had been on the Diamond Princess before, so he knew his way around. While I flew 11 hours across the ocean, he took a 2 hour train from his home town to join the ship. Masa talks just like our local Mexican bartender at the Freeport Grill in California– staccato and high energy, which I find very entertaining. Masa is organized and energetic and I am always happy to host an event with him.
Hiroshi found me on Whatsapp from a cruise staff group chat and sent me the next day’s schedule the night before I joined, which is just about the best gift anyone could give me. It’s difficult for me to reconcile the person I didn’t know looking out for me before we met with the person I have gotten to know over the last couple of weeks. As I stumbled through this new environment, I loved watching Hiroshi navigate adapting to working with guests from different cultures. This is his second contract with Princess and his first as an Assistant Cruise Director, and he reminds me so much of how I felt when I was first promoted to ACD- where one is suddenly given much more responsibility in situations we are figuring out for the first time. Before working for Princess, Hiroshi was a professional Jazz singer, and when he sings on stage (which lucky for us, he has the opportunity to do so on this ship) he really comes into his own. He is also so charming in everything he does that he usually has a big fan club of guests well before the end of each cruise.
Ryota Toyota – He goes by Toyota so western guests can remember his name (though some guests still believe he is part of the Toyota family). It took me a full cruise before I was comfortable pronouncing his name (though I’m sure I still don’t say it the same way he does). He is the Resident Japanese Entertainment Host. Ryota has been doing the Japan season for such a long time, and he is so good at it, that they bring him here for the Japan season to be an extra member of the Cruise Director’s staff. On my most recent contracts, I’m usually the most senior member of the team and I end up doing a lot of the administrative work behind the scenes, but on this ship, Ryota has that role! It’s been nice having a break from spending those extra hours in the office and having the schedule be a surprise when I receive it each evening. Ryota has not only helped me figure out how to adapt to running an event where 100 guests want to play ring toss, he has also helped guide me around Japan in port, and I’m looking forward to meeting his kids when they come onboard later this summer.
Kosuke joined as a Junior Assistant Cruise Director a cruise before I joined, but he is such a quick learner that I often forget how new he is to the job. He has a great attitude and I definitely think he’s better at his job than he thinks he is. I’m really looking forward to seeing him gain the confidence he deserves. He has been the one who patiently corrects me over and over as I attempt to pronounce new Japanese words (and then immediately forget them).
Dan Falconer. If you’ve read previous posts, you may remember that Dan was my Cruise Director on the Enchanted Princess and then later was promoted to Entertainment Director. He is now a Fleet Manager, overseeing Entertainment Directors, Cruise Directors and Cruise Staff across the Fleet. On the Diamond, he filled in for the new Entertainment Director until she could arrive a couple of cruises after I joined. It is always wonderful to see Dan, and I really enjoyed getting to work with him again, even if it was just for a short time.
Masataka (Taka) is our other first contract Junior Assistant Cruise Director, though he has been with Princess a couple more months than Kosuke. Taka has some very energetic dance moves that always surprise me, and he is my guide to discovering Japanese snacks.
Dave from Manchester is the English Cruise Director, though I only worked with him for about 6 weeks before he went home on a well overdue vacation. I learned a lot from Dave as this is the first time I’ve seen bilingual hosting. It is an interesting dynamic for English Cruise Directors to come on this ship because on most other ships they are the main host. Even if they co-host events or the Wake Show, they are still the main host working with, usually, an Assistant Cruise Director or someone else who doesn’t share the same rank. Here we have two Cruise Directors (though sometimes western guests can falsely assume that Mikiko is just an interpreter). Dave was so good at working with Mikiko and finding compromises where he would normally have the final say. I also learned a lot from Dave about how to be more concise and to the point, and speaking in shorter sentences when everything that is said in English also has to be addressed in Japanese.
Oh! And DJ Magno (though I prefer to call him DJ Mango). The DJ’s first name is Will, but we call him DJ around the guests. He is from the Philippines but he often tries to pass as Japanese. I frequently take up his offer to interpret for me before I remember that he doesn’t speak fluent Japanese either. He is great with the guests and when he does a music set, he gets up and dances with the guests with moves that almost make it look like a Zumba class! He has a great attitude and is a great team player.
So after arriving in Japan, driving to the hotel, sleeping, and then joining the ship the next day, we had two days at Sea, then I was IPM (where I stayed onboard for safety and activities) for our first port. I had been in ‘Japan’ for days but had only seen it out the window! Then I learned that the first port where I could get off the ship would be in South Korea!
It was actually really nice to ease into such a foreign culture by being on the ship. Here there are lots of Japanese people, but the crew all speak English, so I can at least communicate with them.
I’m trying to learn at least one new Japanese word a day. One of my favorite learning experiences was when we were handing out shuttle tickets. It seemed like the Japanese guests were coming up to me and saying “say it again?” like they almost understood what I was saying and repetition would fill the gap of communication. I’d repeat myself in English or direct them to a Japanese speaker next to me. After a few hours, the busyness finally slowed down long enough that I was able to ask Masa what the Japanese guests were saying that sounded like, “Say it again?” It turns out that “Shitei-ken” is “ticket” in Japanese. We found my confusion of the morning hilarious.
Well that’s enough for now. I’ll do more posts of my adventures onboard and ashore in the future, including the three days when I stepped up as Cruise Director.
Arigato Gozaimasu
Wow what a read… great to hear you again Kelly xx