My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my current, former or future employers.
Tuesday, December 2024 (I know I said January in the title, but I didn’t do enough in December for December in Rotterdam to get its own post, so it’s squeezed in here)
For the first few weeks on MSC Preziosa, I would spend the morning printing the invitations for my American cocktail party and then head out on the town. One day in December, I didn’t have much time, so I asked the information lady in the terminal if she had any suggestions for a place where I could find some good local food.
“The Hotel New York!” she said.
I was a bit disappointed that this place was just next door – I was prepared to go out on an adventure! But I decided to take her advice. I ordered a cherry holiday cocktail,
a pastrami sandwich that came with a poached egg (I love a poached egg) and a mushroom croquette (which seemed like a very local choice). The waiter asked if I wanted white or brown bread. I asked his advice. He said he preferred the white bread, but the brown bread was more traditional. Well, I must go with the traditional choice!
The bread was a little dry (lesson learned – just go with the waiter’s recommendation in the future) and there was just a thin slice of meat – clearly, I wasn’t in the US anymore! It was a very nice sandwich and the Wifi was lightning fast! I had a feeling I would be back here.
The next week I’d figured out how to use MSC’s shuttles, so I took one in to see where it went.
It took me to a food hall that I’d seen on YouTube! Before joining the ship, I watched a few YouTube videos from people who had spent a week on my ship, going to the same ports. When I had seen this place on the video I got really excited – I wanted to go there, and here I was!
There were too many choices: cheese, things made of coconut, coffee shops, Japanese restaurants, and a bunch of weird food that I didn’t recognize! Finally I was so hungry that I picked a spot with rooftop seating above the stand, ordered a sandwich, connected to the WiFi and re-watched the YouTube video. They had gotten dumplings. I wanted dumplings! So I found the place and ordered a second lunch.
Then, for dessert, I got Dutch pancakes.
I was so full that I couldn’t eat any more, so I toured the Cube Houses across the way. The Cube houses were built by a famous architect. It was an interesting concept.
They were designed to build community. The houses had two or three levels meant for families and encircled a courtyard with a school, shops and gathering places. The furniture all had to be specially designed and the angles of the windows looking up and down were pretty cool. The top had windows to look up at the sky. Washing the windows was quite a task. The sound insulation was excellent – inside the houses and in the courtyard you couldn’t hear the outside traffic. All in all, I thought it was an interesting concept, though a bit excessive.
On New Years Eve I wasn’t sure what would be open. Earlier that week, a guest told me there was another food hall right across the street from the terminal! I needed to check that out!.
I loved the vibe of this place. There were more food stands featuring cuisine from all over the world. I went with Mexican – I hadn’t had that in a while. And I got the monthly beer special on tap.
Then I wandered over to another bar and saw a Crème Brûlée Martini. I had to try one of those!
It was absolutely as delicious as I thought it would be. I loved this place. I ended up coming here almost every week to use the WiFi to upload pictures and download podcasts. Having somewhere so close to the ship that had such a great atmosphere and endless food and drink options really floated my boat (if you will).
I was so happy. It could have been the alcohol (which has a tendency to amplify my natural happiness), or it could have just been that I was having a great time. Northern Europe did not disappoint – even in the winter.
I started texting my friends, wishing them a Happy New Year. Then, I got a voice note back from my friend Lauren, my favorite Entertainment Director from Diamond Princess. She had left Princess after the restructuring of the Entertainment Department and joined the Villa Vie Odyssey – a residential ship.
I found this fascinating. Guests… er… residents live on the ship as it slowly goes around the world. The ship often stays overnight in places, so even with lots of IPM (crew staying onboard for safety) it doesn’t really matter because there is more time to go ashore. She went into great detail about the state of the ship – it’s very old and it’s very tiny. She was getting everything organized and actually, if I was interested, she was looking for a Right Hand Man to do ALL OF THE ENTERTAINMENT.
Fireworks started going off in my gut (and it wasn’t even midnight yet). The more she told me about the worst aspects of the job the more I wanted to do it. I had interviewed for Activities Manager at Princess, but I hadn’t heard back from them yet. I was doing this American Ambassador thing with MSC, but I hadn’t been offered another contract with MSC yet, either. The more I thought about it, I really really wanted to go glamping on a ship and play with Lauren. I told her that yes, I did want more information about this please.
January 2025
In the new year I finally figured out how to be an escort on the MSC shore excursions and I went out on every tour I could – I wanted to do ALL of them! One morning I did a four-hour bus tour of Rotterdam!
I thought this building was really cool – it’s nicknamed the flower pot. I loved how the windows reflect the skyline.
We stopped at the food hall (which I had already taken photos of), I got some different food – a spinach pie and something else I can’t remember.
The night before I had gotten an offer from Princess. They offered me a position as Activity Staff which paid $300 more a month than I had been making before, but I would be sharing a cabin. Taking into consideration what I had unofficially and voluntarily been doing, considering that I was placed on ships at the last minute because there was an urgent need for someone strong (I was told this by the people who had requested me), I considered this not a lateral move, but a demotion. I had seen the list of people who had been offered Activity Manager and the majority of them had not been with Princess as long as I had. I knew what my answer would be, but I decided to take a day and check in with my team before responding (my ‘team’ being my mom, Ron Voyage and Breianne, my energy healer).
I had sent a message to Lauren – I’m in! How do we make this happen?
She told me to send her my resume. I told her I was on a tour in Rotterdam, but I would send it later that afternoon.
Then, I got back on the bus and, of course, I fell in love with this neighborhood:
This is the Pilgrims Brewery which was somehow related to the Mayflower. The guide was pleased to have Americans in the group who would appreciate this history.
I wanted to come back to visit this brewery when it was open, but it turned out that it was always closed on Tuesdays!
This is a farm on a boat:
It’s an experiment that seems to be working well. They ran out of land, so they put the cows on the boat and do all the feeding and milking there.
This building was made famous by Jackie Chan:
He slid down the diagonal part in the movie “Who Am I?”
And then we drove through another beautiful neighborhood with a restaurant that had the best meatballs in Rotterdam. I decided to go there in the future as well. And I did!
After the tour I grabbed my laptop and went across the street to my new favorite hangout in Rotterdam. I sent Lauren my resume, and then when it was morning on the West Coast of the US I talked to my team. Ron Voyage suggested I remind Princess of my value. But the more I thought about it, the more I was so appreciative that Princess was making this decision so easy.
I didn’t want to work for a company that created unnecessary chaos and fear for employees – especially for those who were currently on a ship during the holidays when the Entertainment team works the hardest. I had always felt like I was much more appreciated by the people I worked for directly on the ships than I was by head office, but now Princess had essentially gotten rid of most of those people. They got rid of so many people that they had to hire an outside company to conduct interviews so people could apply to do the jobs that they were already doing. After a series of stellar performance appraisals where I was recommended to step up as Cruise Director and a 30-minute interview with a contractor, I was offered a demotion. Even before Princess had made their decision, I had tried to picture what it would be like if I had been offered Activity Manager – who would I manage? I would have Junior Assistant Cruise Directors (who were not ready to be Assistant Cruise Directors) who would have been offered a lateral move and I would have Assistant Cruise Directors who, like me, would have been offered a demotion. I couldn’t imagine a scenario where I would want to go back to Princess – even if they offered me a promotion on a ship that went to Europe.
Just to call them out so that they would know that I knew what they were doing, I replied to the offer – “Before I respond, I just want to check and see if this is the correct offer, because this is not the position that I applied for.”
They got back to me right away – this was the correct offer.
I clicked decline. “Thank you for the offer, but I have better offers elsewhere.”
And I updated my social media – Kelly O’Laughlin no longer works for Princess Cruises. She is an American Ambassador for MSC (and has been for the last month).
Up until now I had been vague about what brought me to Europe on social media because I didn’t want Princess to know that I was working at MSC while I was interviewing for them. It felt really good to be out of the closet.
Well that was January – there will be more Rotterdam coming your way in the upcoming posts!