Cruising The Seven Seas: Another One Bites the Dust

Another One Bites the Dust

23^rd September 2011

Picking up the schedule, it didn’t take us long to notice one thing: Fabio’s name wasn’t there. What was going to happen became obvious and hit Zoran like a tonne of bricks. Reuben said he’d made a mistake but we aren’t completely blind...

Coming in from gangway with David and Hernan, Fabio told us there had been a Master’s Hearing and he’d been fired. Paco was in the corridor supervising Fabio like a child. Fabio looked downtrodden and Zoran didn’t know what to do with himself. Both of them got on like a house on fire.

Waiting around, Fabio had an unpaid bar bill which, if it wasn't paied, Roal Caribbean would send him home without his luggage. Hernan, Paco and I gave him some money to pay off the bar bill. There was some money left over, just in case he needed anything at the airport.

As Fabio was due to sign off in a week, he'd transferred all his money back home to Brazil. That way, he wouldn't have to carry a stack of notes around in his pocket. It was a safer option.

What we all saw as an utter disgrace was that Fabio wouldn't be paid for this cruise. Previously, he hadn't been fired and while pending investigation, Fabio was made to work like the rest of us. Five days, for what? Nothing! We also found out that Image didn't have to pay him anything because he was fired. That can't be right, surely?

Saying goodbye was hard. There were times where most of us could throttle the bugger, but like I said before, you don’t want to see someone go and especially not in these circumstances, even if they brought it on themselves. Giving Fabio a hug, we saying goodbyes. Zoran and I walked off before Fabio was disembarked. We didn't want to see him leave. There were a few tears from me and Zoran didn’t want to stick around. Zoran hates goodbyes and this was a particularly hard one for him.

For the rest of the day, the team was silent. A few people were asking how security had been informed about Fabio’s state. A couple of us, including myself, were pissed at security, even though we know they were only doing their job. We were just being biased, I guess.

We've always had a good relationship with security but now, it had been diluted. Walking past, one security member said "hi" and told me to cheer up. Looking at him, I raised one eyebrow. I couldn't trust myself to say anything. It was a bit hard to cheer up when your team mate had just been fired. Security just shrugged and gave me a weak smile. I know it’s not his fault, but he was in our firing line, along with the rest of security.

Trying to lighten the mood, there were a few jokes and banter about having a cursed cabin in the Photographer's Corridor. Stu and Fabio both lived in cabin 4439. Was the cabin cursed?

Reuben told us a story about one of his previous ships. There was a cabin that everyone said was cursed and whoever lived there got fired. Reuben lived there for a short period. He’d just got a promotion followed straight away by a warning. Due to the warning, he lost his promotion. Maybe he was right?

On the other hand, it might not be a cursed cabin. Maybe, just maybe, the curse came from the cabin mate? Even Zoran laughed at the prospect that he could possibly be the devil in disguise! After all, Stuart and Fabio were his cabin mates and while living with Zoran, were both fired!

Some good news did come about today. Five days ago, I sent my credit card details off to pay for my flight home. Since then, I hadn’t heard anything from the company which was increasingly worrying. Finally, while going to 4 Seasons, my usual internet café in Rhodes, I got the confirmation of my flight details and payment. BINGO!!!

Later on, there was a meeting with Reuben in the office. I won’t go into details but we were told a version of events, which were completely different to what Fabio had told us. Which was true and untrue, we’ll probably never know. It was simply a case of have a guess, see which version seemed the more truthful or take both sides with a pinch of salt. Personally, I’m taking things with a pinch of salt but there are some doubts, I won’t deny it. However, we’ll be leaving those questions and doubts unasked and unpublished!