New Day. New Start

New Day. New Start.

23^rd May 2011

Here we go again! Before going to bed at 04.30 this morning I watched the Mariner of the Seas sail into Civitavecchia port. It’s quite a surreal feeling watching the ship arrive in a different country so early in the morning. A few ships were already there and the port’s lights were glistening on the water surface – it’s very hard to describe unless you’ve seen it.

Today is the beginning of a new cruise – the 13 night Holy Cruise. Again the vast majority of our guests are Americans. In second place are the guests from the UK with Canada following in third. A new hire is due to arrive today – whether he does or not is another matter. He’s a Croatian lad named Zoran. I can imagine it’ll be quite hard for the others to have another new hire on the team. OK, Hernan and I aren’t so much “New Hires” anymore because we’ve been here over 5 weeks but at the same time, we are still photog1s and have a lot more learning to do. So having one more is probably going to be tough on them.

Last cruise I had a bit of a hard time and was down a fair bit. This cruise I’m determined to keep myself upbeat, do what I have to do and make the most of everything. Let’s face it, not everyone gets a chance to do this job. Out of all the applications I’m one of the few that got the job. I’m travelling the world, taking photos and getting paid for it!! Enough said. To get back up on my feet I think I need to be a little more positive, not take guests rejections so much to heart, keep moving forward, sponging up any advice I’m given, get off the ship as much as I possible and have more down time (time alone). Stu’s also said if I’m down about anything or want to talk, I can always go to him. That’s a huge bonus as he tends to offer good advice. I wish Lee was here as he was another one who’d always give you excellent advice.

Embarkation went well this morning. I was there for five hours and time seemed to fly by. Whenever I hear English or Spanish people talking I ask where they are from. There are a few cockneys on this cruise – it’s a good thing in a way. The downside: English do not like having their photo taken, they see it as a form of harassment! Most of the Spanish speakers are from South America but there was a couple today from Austurias, Spain (Fernando Alonso’s home town). There’s also a family from Argentina whom now live in Cadiz, Spain and know the town I’m from! It’s crazy thinking these people have been to the place you see as your home town and you meet in another part of Europe or in the middle of the ocean. Crazy! I love it.

Now I have a short break before I start photographing Sailaway with Luci. She’s asleep so I thought I’d make the most of the time and have some down time. At the moment, I’m sitting on Back Deck with a can of coke, my headphones stuck in my ears with Paramore blaring, typing up my blog updates.

I’m getting in the mood for sailaway. I love shooting Sailaway! It’s very candid, great fun. You literally walk or dance up to people, get them to stand together and take their photo. The scenery as we leave port is beautiful and we always get great shots. Another department do activities on the decks so upbeat music is blaring and you can just dance about and bop towards guests. It’s the whole atmosphere. Everyone’s in a party mood and if you’re the same, the guests respond well.

Right, it’s time for me to go and get my camera equipment for Sailaway. I’m not 100% sure what the rest of the day has in store for me. My schedule is in my cabin. That reminds me, I’ll get some information on the places I’ve visited, type it up and post it on here. That way you can read up on the history and culture of the places we’ve been to. I’ll update later if there’s anything interesting to post. If not, I’ll get started on writing up our ports of call information.