Aye Aye Sailor!
31st July 2011
Aye Aye Sailor! That’s right I was scheduled to dress up as the sailor for gangway today in Cannes. Unlike last week I actually made it to the gangway! It was the first time I’d travelled to a port by tender (the port is too small for the size of our ship).
The overall gangway was much different from what I’ve experienced at previous ports. Usually people are constantly coming in and out of the ship, even if they are trickling through. Today is was a mad rush when the tenders arrived and then we’d stand around for 5-10 minutes with nothing to do.
The attitude of the guests also seemed different. Getting people to stop for their photo was much harder than usual. Once we got into a routine, I was literally just holding one arm out to stop the other guests to walk into the photo. My other hand was held to my head saluting, looking straight at the camera with a smile plastered on my face.
Once one person said no, everyone would and a stampede would start. The guests would be pushing and shoving to get off the gangway. Sandra (shooter) and I would have to smudge our arses off and I was even blocking people, standing in their way or holding my arm out.
Normally we have to let crew go passed, unless they want their photo taken. Today, it was different. We had to grab the crew for a photo, whether it was to keep the queue going with the guests in line and following suit or to start things off again. Some guests were trying to get around us which at one point caused a stampede and Sandra and I struggled to get everything back under control.
One member from Laundry came along and was about to walk past. Grabbing him I managed to quickly whisper an apology, but I had to get everyone or else the guests would make a run for it. He laughed and didn’t mind, so the other members of laundry join in with the fun and got their photos taken. As a small token for helping us on gangway and cleaning our costumes - for free and some times at short notice - I took gave them their prints later in the day.
The attitude of the guests also seemed different. Getting people to stop for their photo was much harder than usual. Once we got into a routine, I was literally just holding one arm out to stop the other guests to walk into the photo. My other hand was held to my head saluting, looking straight at the camera with a smile plastered on my face.
Once one person said no, everyone would and a stampede would start. The guests would be pushing and shoving to get off the gangway. Sandra (shooter) and I would have to smudge our arses off and I was even blocking people, standing in their way or holding my arm out.
Normally we have to let crew go passed, unless they want their photo taken. Today, it was different. We had to grab the crew for a photo, whether it was to keep the queue going with the guests in line and following suit or to start things off again. Some guests were trying to get around us which at one point caused a stampede and Sandra and I struggled to get everything back under control.
One member from Laundry came along and was about to walk past. Grabbing him I managed to quickly whisper an apology, but I had to get everyone or else the guests would make a run for it. He laughed and didn’t mind, so the other members of laundry join in with the fun and got their photos taken. As a small token for helping us on gangway and cleaning our costumes - for free and some times at short notice - I took gave them their prints later in the day.
Our target was 600 images but we didn’t reach it. Instead we got exactly 500 images. In fact, none of us hit our targets but we had a good go at it and most of us got near. However, getting near your target isn’t always good enough. I suppose it could have been worse!
While working gangway our new hire arrived. We nearly have a full team! Leandro Kenji Sato. He’s originally from Brazil (half Japanese) and attended training with Camila in Miami so she’s over the moon that he’s joining our team on the Mariner. He’s also from the same part of Brazil as Luci. For a couple of days until Luci leaves there’ll be four Brazilians on the team. What we really of need are more Italian speakers, although Hernan’s soaking up the lingo like a sponge!
As soon as we were back on the ship we headed up for something to eat. We were starving. Sandra and I bumped into Hernan, Zoran and David who were going to the beach. They gave us rough directions to the beach they were going to and included the unnecessary detail saying it's “saggy tits heaven!” Not what we wanted to hear that before eating! The lads have a great time sitting on the beach looking at the sea of boobs and a royal laugh at the saggy pairs getting dragged across the sand!
After eating we quickly got changed and met in the photographer’s corridor. Sandra and I managed to jump on a tender just before it left.
This was the first time I’ve been able to have a look around Cannes. Walking along the seafront we kept our eyes open for the guys but couldn’t find them anywhere. The place was packed. We walked along some more, had a nose around the small shops selling everything from spade and buckets to souvenirs. In the end we gave up looking for the lads and decided to park our bums on a quieter but still jam packed beach.
This was the first time I’ve been able to have a look around Cannes. Walking along the seafront we kept our eyes open for the guys but couldn’t find them anywhere. The place was packed. We walked along some more, had a nose around the small shops selling everything from spade and buckets to souvenirs. In the end we gave up looking for the lads and decided to park our bums on a quieter but still jam packed beach.
Everyone was shattered from the late nights and early starts so it felt great to be able to lay out in the sun and do absolutely nothing. Sandra and I had a good natter about pretty much everything. She told me a lot of Columbia and what she’d been doing before she came to the ship.
Sandra wants to have fun, learn, experience things, become more open minded, and see different cultures. In short, most of her friends have kids now (she’s 26) and she wants to enjoy her life before any of that. She wants to go places and meet people before having to settle down somewhere. Opening her own business is also on her list of things to do.
To talk to someone who is so much like you is like a breath of fresh air. Most of the people I (I'm 24 years old) went to school with have a kid, some even have two or more. Very few people I know want to get out and do something with their lives. They are quite happy slogging away at a dead end supermarket job, roped in by the endless, fruitless possibilities of being management one day. Most of them seem happy about knowing only what was in their back garden. Sandra and I wanted to know what was in everyone’s back garden including our own!
Sandra wants to have fun, learn, experience things, become more open minded, and see different cultures. In short, most of her friends have kids now (she’s 26) and she wants to enjoy her life before any of that. She wants to go places and meet people before having to settle down somewhere. Opening her own business is also on her list of things to do.
To talk to someone who is so much like you is like a breath of fresh air. Most of the people I (I'm 24 years old) went to school with have a kid, some even have two or more. Very few people I know want to get out and do something with their lives. They are quite happy slogging away at a dead end supermarket job, roped in by the endless, fruitless possibilities of being management one day. Most of them seem happy about knowing only what was in their back garden. Sandra and I wanted to know what was in everyone’s back garden including our own!
At 16.30 we headed back to the tenders. Crew all abroad was 17.15 while guests were 17.30 so we expected a queue and boy, was it long! While queuing saw signs advertising buses going non-stop to Monte Carlo. I was going to pop in and check the prices but it was closed. I’m determined to get there no matter how much it costs!
We bumped into Fabio on the tender. Well, it’s probably better said that he bumped into us… completely plastered. While tendering back to the ship Fabio had fallen asleep and kept slowly leaning to one side. On a couple of occasions we thought he was going to fall off the bench he was sitting on.
It wasn’t long until we had to change into our evening wear and get to work. We’ve all been rotating between gallery and studios. My first stint was in the gallery before taking over Leandro on our new backdrop “Beach”. It’s actually a really nice backdrop with a Cannes feel rather than a Caribbean. Zoran was on LSP.
Looking around I saw someone acting strangely on the spiral stairs which twist themselves around the Centrums. The penny dropped… it was Brand Quality sniffing around. Coming to the bottom of the stairs, he stood around watching me. I smiled and nodded (he was too far to say anything to). I was hoping he didn’t look at the bottom of my trousers as they were as creased as tin foil. Maybe I should pay someone in Laundry to iron my clothes? After burning a triangle in one pair of trousers, I'm refusing to iron!
Looking around I saw someone acting strangely on the spiral stairs which twist themselves around the Centrums. The penny dropped… it was Brand Quality sniffing around. Coming to the bottom of the stairs, he stood around watching me. I smiled and nodded (he was too far to say anything to). I was hoping he didn’t look at the bottom of my trousers as they were as creased as tin foil. Maybe I should pay someone in Laundry to iron my clothes? After burning a triangle in one pair of trousers, I'm refusing to iron!
Brand Quality walked half way down the other set of stairs and was watching me from there, as if I couldn’t see him. It’s like Big Brother spying on you! Having someone watching you, waiting for you to cock up was so uncomfortable.
Just as the was going down the remaining stairs, I disconnected my camera and ran to bridge walk way that separates where my studio and the centrums. I could see Zoran wandering aimlessly on Deck 3. Quickly calling him, I managed to signal that Brand Quality was on his way down. Zoran quickly connected his camera to the pentab and straightened his uniform out. What a load of palava!
Just as the was going down the remaining stairs, I disconnected my camera and ran to bridge walk way that separates where my studio and the centrums. I could see Zoran wandering aimlessly on Deck 3. Quickly calling him, I managed to signal that Brand Quality was on his way down. Zoran quickly connected his camera to the pentab and straightened his uniform out. What a load of palava!
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| Sailor Lou on Cannes Gangway, France |
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| On the Red Carpet at Cannes, France |
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| The Laundry Guys |
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| Edi (Laundry) |
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