Israeli Security & Weapons!

Israeli Security and Weapons!

25^th September 2011

Ashdod, Israel

Dione, the AMP, woke me up this morning, knocking on my door. I was late for the tour. Then it clicked. I didn’t have my Sea Pass card to get off the ship. Calling Explorations! they cancelled my spot as a tour escort to let someone else take my place. I felt bad about not being able to go out on tour. Even Paco (AMS) and Dione (AMP) were going on tour to try and maximize our counts and then there was me… unable to get off the ship and help. All because I'd be an idiot and lost my Crew Card.

Taking a walk around, I couldn’t find my card anywhere. With nothing else to do, I jumped back into bed for 45 minutes until 08.00 when the Crew Office opened. However, when I got to the Crew Office it was closed with a sign on the door saying the office wouldn’t be open until 09.30 because of Israeli security.

Back in the cabin and Sandra was awake and getting ready for work. She was shooting the rail after the rush and neither of us could see the point of it. Usually the grand majority of the ship will go on the Israel tours. These two ports of call are what the guests come on the ship for. 

Talking to Sanela, who'd been on gangway, today was no different from the rest. There were about 45 tour buses lined up outside the ship. In other ports you’re looking at about 15-20 maximum.

Asking Sanela how this morning had gone on gangway, she told me all about the problems they’d encountered. Israeli security honestly drive us insane! We have our own ship security. The Israelis come on board with their own port security and guests have to get through not one, but three security checks (our ships, Israeli security on ship and Israeli security at the terminal). 

If you’re crew, it’s even worse. We have an additional security check where we have to walk through a metal metal detector, once we’re on Israeli land and before boarding the ship (where we got through the ship’s metal detectors). If you've got a bag, they'll put everything out of it. Electrical goods will be checked - lenses taken off camera bodies, laptop CD-ROM drives opened and someone even had to turn on their computer to make sure it didn't blow up... I've never heard of anything so crazy in all my life!

This morning, Sanela and Camila were at the front of the queue to get off the ship. It’s mayhem. The guests gather and then stamped off the ship like zebras during a lion chase. Ship security asked the Israelis if the two photographers could get off the ship to get ready for the guests and get their picture. They replied, “no, they are crew. The guests get off first. The gangway isn’t clear for crew to get off the ship yet.” What the hell! Security tried to explain that they were working but the Israeli security weren’t having it and made Camila and Sanela drag the rail to one side and watch all the guests disembark from the ship. 

Once the guests were off the ship, they were allowed off. There’s nothing you can do. Ship security did their best to explain but, in cases like these, they have to take their orders from Israeli security. 

If something like this ever happens, and let's face it, it’s not the first time, we are told to call Reuben. Did they? Nope! Instead, Camila started giving shit to both the ship’s and Israeli security. Our security told Camila to keep her trap shut. That's like telling a fat person to leave the chocolates alone!! Israeli security obviously weren't going to let anyone get away with such a thing. In fact, they did the worst thing possible to screw things for, not just Camila, but Sanela too. “Crew can’t get off the ship until 11 am”. Neither of them were going anywhere!

Sanela picked up the rail and did what she should have done in the first place, called Reuben. One thing is for sure, Reuben wasn’t a happy bunny. I lost my Sea Pass card, so the team was down a member on tour. Now, Camila and Sanela didn’t get out for gangway so our image counts were going well and truly down the drain. 

Somehow, Camila and Sanela managed to get off the ship before 11.00 and onto the gangway. They came back with minimal photos though.

Popping into the Crew Office I asked for a new Sea Pass card. I thought it’d be a simple case of printing a new one off. Obviously not. That would be too easy! I was told I needed to go next door to Crew Finance and pay $30 for a new card. What!?! 

Going back into the cabin, Sandra was just going out with the rail and I recounted what Crew Office had said. She couldn’t believe it either - $30 for a new card. It didn’t help that I had 2.5 cruises to go before vacation!

Collecting $30 from my safe, I paid for my new card and then got into a second queue and waited to get to the Crew Office desk. Sandra joined me in the queue. Handing over the receipt the lady in Crew Office printed me a new Sea Pass card. Sandra asked about the paperwork for the Seaman’s Book. I’d forgotten all about it, and picked up my forms too.

It was back to the cabin to pick up our ship certificates (crowd management, lifeboat/raft safety and ship safety). 

Next it was a trip down to medical to have the certificates and our medical documents photocopied. 

Filling out the two forms Crew Office gave us we headed back to Crew Office again. Checking it through she said the Seaman’s Book would take a couple of months to get to us. Are you serious? We already had our visa pictures taken, they needed to be sent down to the office too. 

There’s one good thing about being a photographer, we get the pictures done for free! My Seaman’s Book would be sent onto Disney and hopefully be ready sometime at the beginning of my contract. 

When Image recruited me they said that there was really no point in getting a Seaman’s Book. It was your choice. It wasn’t until Reuben told me about the benefits of getting one, that I realized I needed a Seaman’s Book. Seaman's Books enabled you to get huge discounts on your flights home. For $50, it was a good little investment. 

Always get your Seaman’s Book on the ship. It’ll only cost $50. Off the ship you have to attend training courses which you’ll also have to attend on ship. The prices for the courses differ depending on which country you’re from. Some cost a couple of hundred dollars while others can apparently amount to $1,500.

With a new Sea Pass card on my key ring and my Seaman’s Book finally in the process, there wasn’t anything else for me to do apart from grab something to eat. 

David and Zoran were upstairs in the mess. They told me they’d have problems getting off the ship and nearly didn’t make it. David always has untold problems with Israeli security and we all joke it’s because he’s black. The thing is though, we believe it too! They treat him like a terrorist! He’ll get through all the security, have to empty his bag, a metal detector swiped over his body (even if he’s just been through a metal detector without setting it off) and asked dozens of pointless questions like “where are you going?” “why do you work on the ship?” “what are you going to do in Israel?” “do you have a weapon on you?” It’s laughable. I wish someone would say "yes" to the last question!

After having something to eat, there was a message from Reuben on the answerphone. Heading up to the office I was given a job to do. I needed to fill out two and a half cruises of time cards as he hadn’t bothered with it. The new M&R was picking up on it. I needed to log everyone’s shift times for one and a half months. You do the maths: 13 people, 7 days (2 and a half months) and 3-5 shift entries. This was going to be one tedious job. 

I told Reuben I’d be in the gallery at 17:30 to help Zoran display so that he wasn’t doing the job on his own as scheduled. Also, that way I can make up some of the hours lost from not going on tour. No problem there. I was originally intending to just go into the gallery at 18.00, have an hour break for dinner and just stay there until closing time. Reuben said not to worry but to concentrate on getting the time cards done.

Back in the cabin, Sandra was back inside and frustrated. She’d been standing outside for an hour and only took 4 photos. The guests were off the ship. Apparently someone needed to be outside in case any guests were going out on their own accord at a later date. The few guests that trickled out the ship didn’t want their picture taken but wanted all the information we had on the shuttle buses, taxis and where to go. It’s frustrating. The rest of the time Sandra was left standing about, talking to the security officers on the entrance podium. Even they were asking why the hell she was there.

We wanted to get off the ship for a bit. Quickly getting ready, we jumped on the shuttle bus to go downtown. There’s not much in Israel if you’re not on the tours. Reuben had already warned me that I was port manning in Haifa, which is why I was scheduled to go on tour in Ashdod.

We got through Israeli security on the ship with without problems. I was told to be careful with my visa as it was starting to look a bit shabby after being folded and shoved in my pockets one too many times. We collected our bags from the x-ray machine. Our ship security just watched us punch our Sea Pass cards into the machine, gave us a smile and wished us a nice day. 

Off the ship, we were asked for ID by Israeli security. Seeing we were crew, they sent us to another metal detector. Our bags were placed on the side table while we walked through. Luckily, neither of us set the alarm off. 

Turning to collect my bag, an Israeli security officer, was rifling through it, pulling everything out and placing them on the table. She even opened my camera case and then pulled out my wallet. Feeling my wallet, she opened it up and checked all the pockets and even opened the little compartment where I keep my change. Sandra and I were furious!! Turning to us, we got asked the best question ever: “Are you carrying any weapons?” What did they expect us to say? “Why yes… of course, I have a shot gun shoved down my jeans, grenades stashed in my bra… oh and I nearly forgot, I also have plastic explosives wrapped around my waist!” Trying not to laugh at the madness of it all, we gave a simple “no” before grabbing our bags and getting on the bus. The previous anwser would have been so much more entertaining though. I wonder what they would do if someone actually said yes to them. Do you think that's ever happened?

A huge amount of crew members have been refused Visas for Israel. Alex, the new hire photographer from Belarus, is one of them. Zoran later told us it was for political reasons. Nearly all Indian, Filipino and Indonesian crew members had been denied visas. How unwelcoming is that?

Changing up some US Dollars to Shekels, we walked along to the shopping centre. Electronics are cheap in Israel. On a previous trip I’d bought an 8GB SD memory card for 13 euros! This time, after much deliberation, I decided I was going to treat myself to a new external hard drive in preparation for my next contract. Next time, I’ll be more prepared as we’ve taken thousands of personal photos and I’ll be ripping a few DVDs onto the hard drive for sea days and short breaks.

Popping into the store I’d bought my SD card in, the prices had shot up! They no longer had 1.5TB external hard drives. The largest in stock were 1TB which I was fine with. The price for a 1.5TB external hard drive was approximately 85 euros. Now, the 1TB external hard drives were up to 95 euros. The external hard drives were more expensive in Israel than England! How could that be? Tourism in Israel was on the up though so the prices were soaring. The memory card I’d picked up had also doubled in price. Disappointed, I walked away with a pocket full of Shekels and without an external hard drive in my hand.

Sandra needed to back on the ship at 14.00 for another session on the gangway. One thing was for sure, she wasn’t looking forward to it. Getting through security took time. I stayed on board working on the time cards while Sandra lugged the rail outside. Again, our ship security were asking her why Reuben had scheduled her to be outside, in the heat with nothing to do. It was a valid question and one we couldn't answer. She smudged the few guests that came off the ship. For the rest of the time she stood around talking to security. I guess security were glad of the company too, as they have nothing to do but stand around, waiting, when they are on the podium. All they have to do is check the guest’s Sea Pass cards when they are coming back on board.

Sandra gave up and came back in 15 minutes early. I don’t blame her. Later on, she found out that Reuben had got a copy of her punch details from security and checked when and why she’d left gangway. She’d finished 15 minutes early which they saw as the same as getting to the gangway late. 

During Sandra's meeting with Dione and Reuben, both said Sandra should have got a warning this would have been her third log for lateness. Luckily, a log from Ritesh that hadn’t been signed therefore didn’t count. It was from the Barcelona drill when we were scheduled to go on gangway and never made it. Having to ignore it, she got one more log. One more and it’s a warning. From now on she’d have to be careful. 

We did find out was that Reuben was watching us like a hawk. It was something none of us were keen on. Living on a ship is like Big Brother anyway: you’re told when you can and can’t eat, what time you have to be back on board or at work. Now we were having our punch times being checked and how long our gangway breaks are. I’ve always hated the Big Brother idea, that someone is always watching you and no matter what you do, you leave a trail. This though, is getting ridiculous! We are officially living on a Big Brother ship!