Back To Europe!

Friday 8^th April 2011

Today we all did our final test. If we failed it was a “chicken or beef?” situation. If we passed
we’d be off to join a cruise liner somewhere in the world.

Out of the group 5 people didn’t pass and are going home tomorrow! The rest of us…. WE PASSED!!!! Now it was just a case of seeing where in the world we’d be going to join ship and if we were going with anyone from the group.

So, instead of going to the Caribbean like it said on my original letter of employment (which is basically just to get you into America for training) I’m heading back to Europe. On Monday I’ll be flying with Hernan from Argentina to Rhodes, Greece!!

The cruise liner we’ll be joining is the Mariner of the Seas (Royal Caribbean). Here’s a little bit of history:

Mariner of the Seas made her maiden voyage on 16^th November 2003 and has a maximum passenger capacity of 3,807. The ship’s length is 1020 feet weighing in at 138,279 tonnes. Finally she has a cruising speed of 27 knots.

Some of the features the cruise liner has are absolutely amazing! Rather than listing them all, here are some of the best ones:

Ice skating rink

Rock climbing wall

In-line skating

Themed bars and lounges

Casino Royale

Golf Simulators

9 hole mini golf

Full size basketball court

Day spa and fitness centre

Herne and I  will be joining ship on 13^th April in Rhodes (Greece). The Mariner of the Seas will be nearing the end of its cruise but while we are on board we’ll be travelling to:

13^th April: Rhodes, Greece

14^th April: Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

15^th April: Chania, Crete, Greece

17^th April: Naples, Italy

18^th April: Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

Next cruise is 11 nights and we’ll be heading on another, but similar route:

18^th April: Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
20^th April: Athens (Piraeus), Greece

24^th April:  Istanbul, Turkey

28^th April: Naples, Italy

29^th April: Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy 

Next is a 12 night Mediterranean Holy Land cruise:

29^th April: Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

30^th April: Naples, Italy

2^nd May: Athens (Piraeus), Greece

4^th May: Hafia, Israel

5^th May: Ashdod, Israel

7^th May: Rhodes, Greece

8^th May: Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

9^th May: Chania, Crete, Greece

11^th May: Naples, Italy

Originally we were supposed to be going to Alexandra, Egypt but with the way things are going there the cruise liner has been diverted to where there is more money to be earned! Shame, I’d love to have seen Egypt but maybe another time!

On a few occasions we will be docking in the same ports as other Image photographers working on other cruise ships. I’m not 100% sure where everyone is going but hopefully I’ll get to see some of the people from training, even if it’s just for 5 minutes! It’d be great to see them again!!

Unfortunately Becks won’t be on the same cruise ship as me, which was inevitable. She’s not 100% sure where she is going yet, she has to wait until Monday to find out. We think rather than the Disney Cruises (like we originally thought) she’ll be heading to the Caribbean. If I don’t get to see her, which I probably won’t, we’ll have to meet up while we’re back in England. I’m really going to miss her, we were the dog’s wotsits at smudging together on gangway!

When we finally got back to the hotel I tried on my uniform… it makes Asda’s look snazzy! Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration but, honestly, the uniforms might look good in theory but in reality they are absolutely awful! Some of my clothes are too big even though I sent my measurements to Image a few days before leaving England. For some reason, I have two men’s “Large” polo shirts and they look like nighties on me! They nearly reach my knees and the short sleeves come passed my elbows! The best outfit is the tux!!! I look like a hard-core butch lesbian!! They jacket is a size too big and with me being so short, it makes me look fat and shorter. Lovely! The dickey-bow tie isn’t anything to scream about either haha. I ran around the other rooms telling people to try on their uniform as some of the sizes weren’t right on me. They have the same problem too! Becks has been given a size 16 dinner jacket (I got a 6). She tried mine on and all she needed was one size bigger. Pavlo tried on his tuxedo jacket and it’d be a better fit on Pavarotti!!! We spoke to one of our training mangers at dinner and he said there was definitely nothing he could do about the uniforms, especially if people are leaving tomorrow. As Herne, Becks and I are leaving Monday afternoon there’s no chance of getting any changes to our uniform! Looks like I’m going to be wearing a polo shirt that’ll no doubt be sticking out the legs of my shorts!! I’m really not looking forward to wearing the uniform, especially as it’s so uncomfortable. Wearing it in the summer heat is going to be close to unbearable! In the words of Andy, one of the guys from Image who trained us: Ship Happens!!