Back to the Start

Back to the Start

13^th September 2011

Hernan and I are nearly there! We’re nearly at the end of our contracts. Today we’ve been working on the Mariner of the Seas for 5 months. Not only that, the ship is docked in Rhodes which is the place where our journey began. It’s the port where Hernan and I signed on. It makes me laugh thinking about it. Five months ago we were walking along towards the ship, mouths wide open in awe at the sheer size of Mariner of the Seas and laughing at Stu and Lee on gangway. Stu was dressed up as a Knight with Lee shooting.

Walking out on gangway, things weren't quite the same. This time I was the one shooting with our new hire Alex from Belarus dressed as the Knight. Rather than being the new hire, I’m now P2 and the most senior team member on today's gangway. Sanela was shooting the rail and Camila free shooting.

Sandra and Zoran were on tour. The schedule for today is slightly strange. Hernan, Fabio and Leandro were only going to be working 5 hours for no reason while the rest of us would be working 10-11.5 hours. It didn’t make sense and those on tour were the least happy about it.

Gangway was incredibly difficult. I had the almost impossible task of trying to teach Alex to smudge. Rather than asking people if they would like their photo taken I was trying to get him to tell the guests to have their photo taken with. Another way, would be Luci's approach to just throw your arm around a guest and tell them to smile for the camera. 

Unfortunately, it didn't quite go to plan and Alex had other ideas. Instead, I was given long lectures about how to smudge guests from Alex. I was close to losing my temper a couple of times and had to bite my tongue.

I couldn’t be more relieved at getting off gangway! Running into the cabin I gave Whitney a call as it was her day off. Gina answered. Whitney had left the ship already. Gina needed to use the internet so she said she’d meet me by the Photographer’s corridor.

It was a beautiful day and great being back in Rhodes. Walking into Four Seasons the owners were delighted to see us. They asked where Luci was and asked if I could pass on their best wishes to her. We’ve all missed having somewhere to go where the people are friendly and prices reasonable.

Getting online, the parents were still in bed. It’s not long until they are back in Uruguay and the time difference won’t be so extreme. Looking around for flights, the prices had just made an astonishing leap. Opening my emails I found one from Crew Travel. Reuben had sent on my details a couple of days ago and managed to get Hernan a cheap(ish) flight home.

The flight was only $1,009.50. Comparing it to the $1,800 flights I’d originally found on Iberia, it was a bargain. The only turn off were the destinations: Rome to Munich, Munich to Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo to Montevideo. Why fly north before flying south? Having said that, if it saved me some money, I’d go for it! At least I’d have 6 whole weeks to relax!! I was getting excited about going home.

Back at work I was in the gallery for the evening. The gangway pictures still hadn’t been printed and guests were in and out of the gallery asking if and when the photos would be displayed. It became frustrating. Ringing down to the lab, there was no reply. It wasn’t long until some of the prints came up to the gallery. 

While displaying Ritesh asked me which white balanced I’d be using. Flash and sun. Apparently I’d used the wrong white balance at a certain time despite what he’d originally said. He told me after work to pop down to the lab. Ritesh apparently wanted to show me a thing or two. We all knew what that meant, he wanted me to fix and print the rest of the gangway pictures… which wasn’t going to happen!