Cruising The Seven Seas: Zoran's Dream Come True!!

Zoran’s Dream Come True!

30^th August 2011

There’s one good thing about having training at 8.30 in the morning, every Barcelona… it gets you out of bed. If we didn’t have the training, we’d all sleep in late. None of us were sure where to go after the training. Some of the guys had to go out on gangway.

Sandra and I managed to wake up late for training. Neither of our alarms went off. Alex, the new hire, called us from the gallery to check where we were. After training we were getting ready to go out and managed to fall asleep. I did put my alarm on and it went off – typical. Whitney called and woke us up again. The knock on the door woke us up for the third time! We couldn’t keep our eyes open.

Going up to the mess with Whitney we had something to eat and had a chat about where we could go. It was the penultimate Barcelona so we had to make the most of what little time we had left.

Back in the corridor Hernan and Sandra wanted to go to La Sagrada Familia. Zoran came into the cabin and asked who wanted to go to Barcelona football stadium. Hell yeah!! I’d already been to La Sagrada Familia and from what Sandra and David told me the stadium sounded like a great place to visit.

In the end Zoran, Hernan, Sandra, Alex and me headed out into Barcelona. I finally managed to get my brother’s birthday present in the post… only two days after his birthday - better late than never I guess!! We hopped on the train and strolled along to the stadium.

On the train - Me, Sandra and Alex

Barcelona stadium didn’t look as grand as I thought it would. I’ve previously been to the Chelsea football and Twickenham rugby stadium and they were immense pieces of modern architecture. This stadium seemed old and more like it belonged to a small-time football team rather than one of the best in the world. Zoran however was in his element! He was going nuts – it was like all Zoran’s Christmases and birthdays had all come at once!

Campo Nou - Me, Hernan, Zoran and Alex. Barcelona (Spain)

Zoran and Hernan

Standing outside the stadium we all had our photos taken before going in to buy the tickets. Sandra wasn’t going in again as she’s already visited the place. Alex wasn’t going either because he had no idea who Barcelona FC were. He’d never heard of the football team. This left us with our mouths dragging our ankles. So Hernan, Zoran and I coughed up the €22 entry fee – it might sound expensive but it’s something you’re only going to do once. Plus, when we went inside we found out it was well worth the money.

Zoran was a little too excited!

We got our Tickets - Campo Nou - Barcelona FC Football Stadium

Inside we skipped the museum and got to the most important part – the pitch. Running up the stairs to get a good view we started snapping away taking endless amounts of pictures. Zoran was estatic. Showing us his arm was covered in goose bumps, his hair standing on end.

Of course we had to have one of Hernan’s famous bum photos! Climbing to the top of the stadium both Zoran and Hernan dropped their pants enough so that when they lifted their arms to put them around either other their bare white arses were exposed. I had to unfortunate job of taking the photo whilst rolling up laughing!! There was also a licking of the nipple but we won’t go into that!

Mes Que Un Club

After spending about half an hour or more by the pitch we went back inside to have a look around the museum. Zoran grabbed my Nikon D90 and started photographing everything and by “everything”, I mean everything! The trophies were unbelievable. There were a couple which were half my height (5’1). They must have weighed an utter tonne. There was a golden football trophy and even a golden football boot. Finally prising my camera out of Zoran’s hands I managed to take a couple of photos including some of the information that was provided with the trophies/photographs.

I got a photograph that I think my Dad would highly approve of. There was a huge trophy which Barcelona won in 2005-06 in the Champion’s League. The match was played in Paris and Barcelona beat Arsenal 2-1 in the finals. As my Dad’s a die-hard Tottenham Hotspur supporter, I thought it’d only been appropriate to record that little piece of history for him.

Another piece of info that I came across was what was put across as Barcelona’s “Struggle with History”. It was about the football club during the Civil War. Here’s what it said:

“Commitment to Justice and Democracy

FC Barcelona was committed to social, political and cultural reform, initiated by the Republican Catalan government. The official club newsletter in October 1932 made the club’s position clear: “Our club’s popularity includes elements that are not related to sport”. Participation in political and cultural acts formed part of this commitment.

At the beginning of the Civil War, the club’s employees were faced with the threat of having FC Barcelona taken from them, prompting them to make an important committee decision that ultimately saved the organization. The committee demonstrated its firm resolve not to break away from its pre-war leadership.

The 1930s were marked by political instability and general crisis, which inevitably took its toll on FC Barcelona. During this decade, the club endured many cataclysmic events, which included its founder’s death, the Second Spanish Republic, the Second Civil War and the assassination of its president, Josep Sunyol. In summary it was a period characterised by uncertainty which saw a reduction in membership and cancellation of some players’ contracts.”

Heading down the stairs, we went past a green-screen (I think that’s what it’s called) where two photographers were posing people for their photo. They were then digitally imposed onto an image where they are standing next to and posing with one of the football players. The photos looked fantastic.

Walking past we walked through the conference room where there was another photographer taking photos of people lifting or standing next to one of the many enormous trophies.

Next we snaked our way into the changing rooms which were huge. Half was lined with lockers. On the opposite side were two therapy beds and on the far end a Jacuzzi big enough for about 5 people. There was also a white board of the football pitch for the coach to use.

Hernan and Zoran in the Changing Rooms

Game Strategy

Carrying on we finally arrived at the edge of the football pitch. Looking up the rows of seats seemed endless. Standing at the bottom looking up, allowed you to see the true scale of the stadium and it was by far the biggest I’ve ever seen. Again we pranced about taking photos and having a look around.

Tunnel to the Football Pitch

Message to Zoran's Friends in Croatia

Heading upstairs again we went into the commentators box. Of course we had to get some more photos and Zoran was still like a kid at Christmas.

Zoran in the Commentators Box

Commentator's Box

Walking down the snaking slope towards the exit, we had a great view of the surrounding area. Hernan pointed out there was a cemetery opposite the stadium. Hernan being Hernan had to make a joke commenting “that’s where all the Barcelona football players are buried”. Zoran was stunned by the fact that, in Spain people are buried into a wall rather than in the ground. He was looking for tombstones in the ground rather than rows upon rows of walls lined with plaques.

At the exit we met up with Sandra and Alex. It was time for Alex to head back to the ship as he had work at 18.00. Hernan and I had work at 19.00 but decided to head back to Las Ramblas and the ship early. Sandra and Zoran had the entire day off for being Employee of the Week and 1^st runner up so they stayed on. Later Sandra told me she’d managed to drag Zoran to the Torre de Calatrava. The photos she took look absolutely fantastic.

Having a quick walk along Las Ramblas I bought a t-shirt before jumping on the shuttle bus. Alex had already gone and Hernan had gone over to the shopping centre.

Back on the ship, I quickly changed and had something to eat before an entire night in the gallery.

Most of the gallery needed condensing. The Cannes photos from gangway had finally been displayed but Barcelona's were still sitting in a pile.

There were two shows going on in Studio B so we had to stay in the gallery for longer than scheduled to wait for the guests from the last seating to come through the gallery.

The sales results were disappointing. The Italians flood the gallery after the shows but don’t actually buy anything. They’ll poodle around, group their photos and congregate in big masses talking to other Italians. In the meantime we have to stand or walk around trying to look busy while keeping an eye out for people taking snap shots of the photos we take. It’s getting more and more common and we’ve been having plenty of problems with it.

In one particular case we’ve had to remove the photos of one English family from the display panels. I asked them to stop taking photos of their professional photos and asked the lad to delete the pictures from his camera. He did, but not with some lip from his Dad. Taking the photo out of his hand I walked off with the entire family (3 “kids” who were all in their 20s and their parents) who started giving me shit as soon as I turned my back.

Paco saw me walking away from them and asked me what had happened. I told him. He’d previously asked them to stop taking photos three times so enough was enough. I threw their photo in the trash and Paco told me to later remove the rest of their prints. He told me to keep an eye on them.

The most orange looking girl with terrible hair extensions was giving the most lip. I glanced over at them and they were all watching me with the tangoed fool sneering shouting loud enough for me to hear “what the fuck's she look at” I heard the word “disrespecting” which is another favourite word for English people around my age. Nowadays people expect respect rather than having to earn it.

Some of the guys had a good laugh at the way they were dressed for formal night – they looked more like common tarts. The biggest laugh was provided by the over the top fake tan which made the girls bright orange and you can’t forget the faces caked with thick, thick make up. I had to explain to the Sandra and Hernan that was how typical English girls looked. They had a certain look about them that you could spot from a mile off.

It’s not just the English but also the Italians. The Italian guys for example are always looking smartly dressed and a lot of the time wearing incredibly tight pants and overly plucked/waxed eyebrows. They have a very, very metrosexual look about them. You'd mistake many for being gay if it weren't for their wives or girlfriends.

After work there were only a few of us in the office and Jomar had an announcement to make. Because of the recent events involving Camila, Jomar was being transferred to another ship. This was his undeserved punishment and he was really upset about it. The news hit Fabio more than it did the rest of us, especially as they’ve worked two contracts together. Jomar will be leaving us next Barcelona and Reuben our previous BM will be returning.

Apparently Reuben was settled and happy working on the Oasis but he too is now being transferred to a smaller ship. They see being sent to smaller ships as a demotion. It’ll be great to see Reuben again as I always got on well with him and he's a great manager too. Having said that, everyone made the same comment “be prepared to lose all of you free time” and it’s true. Reuben worked us to the point of exhaustion but as time went on and we improved in certain areas, we could see our work was reflected in our wages – not by a huge amount but it's better than nothing.

At the time when Reuben was the manager we were one of the top ships in our fleet. Since Jomar got back our ship had sunk (no pun intended) to 42^nd place, in other words: last. In the previous week, we’d had a meeting where Jomar told us the score and explained where improvements were needed and how we could go about it. We skipped a couple of places and went up to 40^th spot. Not good but it’s a start and certainly better than 42^nd. Let’s hope with Reuben back we can climb our way back up to where we feel we should be. Also we’ll be back on the 12 and 13 night cruises so hopefully our wages will be on the up again.

I’m not a huge fan of Jomar but at the same time, after everything we’ve seen and heard, he didn’t deserve the possible demotion or pending transfer. Most of the team agree on that one. However, the office has made its mind up and there’s nothing that can change that. As Jomar said, this had tarred his name and position as a BM and now he’d have to try and work his way back up the ladder.

It’s a shame that such a fantastic day had to end on such a low note. Today was really a day to remember and in more ways than one. We also have the 200 images we took to remember it by. For Jomar, all we can say is, we wish you the best of luck. As for Reuben: see you soon!