Out of Ideas

Out of Ideas

4^th July 2011

Today we are docked in Chania, Crete. 

There’s a big difference today, all on board is at 18.00 for crew and 18.30 for guests. Usually all on board is at 13.00 and 13.30. Most of the time, us photographers, don’t get time to get off the ship so it’s a great chance for us to have a walk around and see some of Chania.

This morning I was on gangway rocking the Crete Girl dress again. Boy, was it hot in that dress but I absolutely love the outfit! There’s always a great response from the guests.

First off David and I were at the Savoy Theatre where we racked up 220 shots. There was a Green Drill today so David had to stop shooting early. I was lucky enough that my Emergency Drill Card had been changed from green to red. 

Heading on to the gangway, Luci took David’s place as the shooter. It wasn’t long before we had a steady stream of people getting their photo taken. Before we knew it, with an hour and a half we’d surpassed our target of 450.

I wasn’t the only one in costume on gangway. Camila, despite scorching in the heat was having a blast in the dolphin costume. 

Originally Zoran was scheduled to wear the costume but Jomar didn’t take into consideration that the outfit wouldn’t fit. Camila and Zoran had to do a swap… not that Camila was complaining! 

David had bought a captain’s hat in Kusadasi and came out of his cabin wearing it one night. It wasn’t long before Zoran snatched it off his head and started using it on the gangway. When people went to get there photo taken on the ship wheel, he’d pop it onto someone’s head. It was especially popular with the kids, as you could imagine.

Ritesh soon came out to have his photo taken with us all. Checking our image count he said there were 129 passengers left on board and allowed us to finish up and go inside. There was still one hour and 25 minutes until we were scheduled to go in. Guests were still coming out so I was more than happy to carry on dancing around and acting the prat but Luci wouldn’t have it.

Once showered and changed we jumped on the bus towards Chania town centre. I have a cracking cold again thanks to the air conditioning so I was desperate to find a chemist as we’ve been told not to go to the medical facility on the ship as it's costing Image too much money!

Getting off the bus in Chania we soon found out that we were surrounded by pharmacies! Chemists here are like corner shops in England. You simply can’t get away from them, they are everywhere you turn – literally! At least now I have something for my cold. I think I’d better start taking supplements because I can’t keep getting colds like this, it’s ridiculous.

This is my second time off the ship in Chania.  The previous trip into Chania was on my first cruise. The internet spot we used to use was closed for refurbishment so Luci and I had a meander around, searching for somewhere to eat and the internet.

We’ve managed to find a nice little Chinese restaurant with a lovely, shaded terrace area. The food is lovely even if it is a bit pricey. As soon as we sat down our laptops came flying out our bags. 

Straight after eating the waiter came over to ask if we could leave a review on TripAdvisor.com We said yes and carried on but the guy was lingering, trying to look over our shoulder. In the end it got a tad annoying so I logged onto the website and left a review… finally he went away!

I’m not due back on board until 17.00 so we’re planning to have a look around, maybe do some shopping and definitely pop into the supermarket – a long list is needed! One thing I must get while I’m here as I don’t know if I’ll be able to get off the ship again anytime soon is a magnet! I have a couple of our team photos to put up. I’m missing one which was Stu’s birthday shot. I’ll have to get that one reprinted. I’ll see if I can get a copy uploaded onto here for everyone to see.

It’s Independence Day in America today, there are a few guests being overly patriotic but it gave us all something to smile about. They were more than happy to parade in front of the camera with their American flag shirts and sunglasses. It was a good giggle. 

Tonight there is an Independence Day celebration for the crew on back deck. I’ll go check it out later on tonight depending on what time we finish work. It’s got to be better than last night’s Caribbean Party.

Back on the ship I had enough time to take a nap. The pills the pharmacy had given me for my cold were knocking me out! I must have turned off my alarm as I only had 10 minutes to get ready for work. Darting around to find everything, I felt like a zombie. 

Arriving late for the gallery and there was all hell from Luci. She gave me my orders so I headed off to get on with displaying more than 2,000 images from Rhodes.

We are behind on displaying images and by the looks of it, making no attempt to catch up. The photos are appearing on the panels 36 hours after they were taken.

While I was in the gallery Sanela was up on the pool decks in costume. Originally she was supposed to dress up as the Crete girl for return gangway. There was only one Crete Girl costume which I was wearing in the morning. There was only a couple of hours between handing over the costume. 

The previous night I’d rang the BM and said it wasn’t fair if someone had to wear a costume I’d been previously sweating in. This goes for everyone. It’s unhygienic. The lads are by far the worse… David was sweating buckets on the gangway in Rhodes and still had to hand over his costume to Hernan for return gangway. Jomar hadn’t realized there was only one costume. Sweating like a bitch in layers upon layers, I was glad someone else didn’t have to wear the costume. 

The other downside was the costume that Sanela would be wearing. Jomar, the BM, was rapidly running out of gangway ideas and costumes so Sanela was told to wear a Spanish Flamenco dress… in Crete, Greece. What the hell? Anyone with any knowledge would know that it’s a typical Spanish dress and has nothing to do with Greece. It was laughable.  Going through all the costumes that had been used, there were only three left: camel (Istanbul), belly dancer (Istanbul) and pirate. 

Pirate is now going to be a last resort costume for Naples. Jomar was running out of ideas very quickly and it showed. He’d made his way through the costumes too quickly and we now have nothing for the final push in Naples before the guests disembark the following day.

Crete Girl - Stairs to Savoy Theatre

Crete Girl in Chania

Me and Stu (Previous Cruise)