Cruising The Seven Seas: Planning Ahead

Planning Ahead – Fail!

31^st August 2011

Our seven day cruises are finally coming to an end. Palma de Mallorca is the last port of call, tomorrow is a sea day and afterwards the guests will be disembarking in Civitavecchia. This is our last time stop in Palma de Mallorca. The next cruise will consist of six days.

We’ve only been into Palma de Mallorca city once so Sandra and I wanted to make the most of our time left and have another wander around. Before we could do that Sandra and I were decked out in our Spanish flamenco dresses. Zoran and Sandra headed out onto the gangway while Fabio and I took the Savoy Theatre.

Things started off really slowly but after about 30 minutes, started to pick up. The Italians didn’t want their photos taken saying the usual “Gia fatto” (they’ve already had their photo taken - bullshit). As they were coming out the Lotus Lounge I positioned myself at the bottom of the stairs and literally started throwing my arms around the guests so they had no choice but to have their photo taken. It’s the best way of getting the stubborn guests in for a photo.

Fabio and I were darting in between the stairs coming down from the Lotus Lounge (Deck 5), Savoy Theatre entrance and exit which was at the other side of the theatre. We were all over the guests like a rash. It was gone 10 o’clock by the time we made it onto gangway and we had 280 images. Our target was 250 each but all of us agreed to stay on to get 300.

Zoran and Sandra obviously had less than us as the gangway is slower but they’d done a bloody good job. They had 180 images. Luckily for all of us La Bruja wasn’t about to keep her ridiculous rules in force. We replaced Zoran and Sandra so they could have a break. They needed one too. It was so humid outside, especially in our costumes.

Guests were passing saying they didn’t want their photos taken. I was on the lookout for someone I knew would have their photo taken or could be easily grabbed. As a couple of guests passed, Fabio called over “jump in”. There was a little girl walking along so I quickly stepped in everyone’s way and put my arm around her. With a cheesy grin and a snap of the shutter release button, I moved onto the next person. Then the train of people started. All I had to do was say "hi" and put my arm up for them to walk straight into. Piece of cake. It wasn’t long until my arm was aching from lowering and raising it so many times.

When Zoran and Sandra emerged from the ship we had 405 images. With the images from both photographers we’d smashed our target. We told Zoran to go back into the ship as we were all done, but he wanted to stay out and get his 300. About twenty or thirty minutes later Zoran and Sandra came back into the corridor. They’d hit their target within no time.

Zoran, Sandra and I popped up to the mess for something to eat before getting ready to go out. Fabio had already collapsed into bed. Zoran decided to do the same.

Jumping on the shuttle Sandra and I headed into the city. The cathedral there is massive but it was too crowded to visit, we'd run out of time too quickly. All the ships in the port had tours going on which made it pretty hectic. We took a couple of photos before heading off.

We had an email to send to Image, so were looking for somewhere with wifi. Normally it’s easy to find but in Palma de Mallorca, it’s not the case. In the end we found the restaurant we ate in on our first trip to Palma and used the wifi there.

I’ve had two quotes from international removal services and the prices are worlds apart. £166 and £580. There’s not a huge amount to move from England to Uruguay but there’s enough. Just before leaving I had a look at Iberia flight prices from Rome to get a rough idea as to how much I’d be paying. The prices were astronomical!! $2,688 for a one way ticket! You must be joking!

Time was ticking and we needed some well-deserved sleep before formal night. Heading back towards the shuttle bus we stopped off in a couple of souvenir shops. Of course, I had to pick up a magnet! Looking around I found a little something to send to the parents in Uruguay. Just as I was heading to the checkout Sandra called me. She’d found a cow mug. It even had a bell on the front with “Milk” across it. If anyone knows me, they’d know that I couldn’t resist buying it!! A cow Palma de Mallorca mug to match my cow pyjamas... What a sad case!

Back on the ship and within no time we were tucked up in bed for a couple of hours kip.

Formal night went really slowly. Deck 3 was also the quietest level. Usually, it's the opposite. Ritesh was 15 minutes late for the meeting. Jomar couldn't help but laugh at Ritesh's hypocrisy after he had a go at three of us for being 5 minutes late the previous formal night.

While everyone was shooting Ressi during the second seating, I was in the gallery. I managed to sell a 15 package while the rest of my time was spent condensing. As I was condensing the Lady Corsica photos, a women was talking to her friend behind me. Her daughter had had her photo taken with Lady Corsica and they were looking for the print. “Oh yeah, the girl just threw her arm over her (daughter) shoulder and forced her to get her picture taken”. It’s a good job my back was turned to them but I couldn’t help smiling to myself. What a great comment!

Popping into the office to speak to Jomar I told him about the flight prices and asked if he had my sign-off date. He’s heard nothing from Image. Typical. He told me I could extend my contract and get a cheaper flight from Texas. The catch was that the extension would come out of my vacation. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. First I can extend, then it’s denied and now I can extend but the additional two – two and a half weeks will come out of my vacation. What part of that seemed logical or fair? My vacation was already being cut short by one week because of going to Disney World for training. If it was cut more I’d be losing 3-3.5 weeks out of six. Some of their rules seem to be made up as they go along.

Just as I was leaving I asked Jomar if I could go back to shooting. He said he’d schedule me for some shooting but didn’t want my wrist to get over worked and sprained again.

Setting up my studio, Zoran came over to talk to me. Camila had caused a scene in both ressi sessions. Apparently she went into hysterics because Zoran denied her help as she went into ressi 30 minutes early and he wanted to finish his side by himself. So, Zoran told her to wait by the dining room door and photograph any guests entering. Second session she did something similar, closing her studio early and taking Sandra’s side of the dining room where it was practically all Italians. Nothing had been swapped around at the last minute, the dining room set up had been planned at the meeting.

At one point in the third session, a guy tried taking a photograph of the people I was posing in my studio. Putting my hand out to block the photo I told him he couldn’t take photos with his own camera in the studio. He flew into a rage, screaming and shouting at me. There were three Italian couples waiting to be photographed and one couple told him that I was the one taking photos so of course, he couldn’t use his own camera. He didn’t listen and carried on ranting. I told him to leave my studio which just infuriated him even more. Taking my picture he said he was going to put in a complaint at Guest Relations and stormed off.

Looking at the guests in the queue and there were only two couples left. They gave me a sympathetic smile before walking off. Now my studio was empty. Telling the others what had happened, all I was told was “next time call security”. That’s a lot of help. How do I get to a phone when I have a guy screaming and shouting at me in my studio? “Please wait there while I go and make a phone call to security”? Alone in my studio and everything had finally taken its toll – I burst out crying. I couldn’t help it so busied myself looking through the previous sessions photos on the pentab.

At the end of the night I was shattered and emotionally drained. I wasn’t the only one. Sandra was exactly the same and had also been in tears. Why? Neither of us know. All she said was, she’s drained and frustrated with things. What should have been a good day turned into a real upper and downer day. Tomorrow’s are final day of this cruise so hopefully things will go better.