New Cruise, Fresh Start

New Cruise, Fresh Start

3^rd October 2011

After such a terrible cruise we were hoping this one would be better. Reuben didn’t hold out much hope saying things wouldn’t improve a lot because we’re coming to the end of the season. The team however, were optimistic.

Going out for embarkation, the original photogs decided something needed to change. Our strategy. We did things the way we did when Sandra, me and Zoran were still junior photographers. All three managers came out to see how our set up was and to give us a few tips. We told them about the strategy we were going to use and they agreed. Here's the plan: there were to be three smudgers (1 main and two co-smudgers) and three shooters. The main smudger gets the people to stop, keep them in line and get their sea pass cards off them. The main smudger then hands the card over to one of the main smudgers who takes it over to the studio they are smudging for.

For once, everything was going smoothly. Everyone knew what they were doing and where they had to be. We were clocking up counts and had to beat 600 - the count from out last cruise. The guests seemed better than they did on the last cruise. People were friendlier, younger and the general vibe was good.

Zoran and Sandra went in for lunch with Sanela and Hernan replacing them. That’s when things went to pot. Hernan and Sanela didn’t follow the procedure for whatever reason they had and everything fell apart. It was a bit like a domino effect. Hernan started calling people down to his studio, and as soon as one left, they all went rampaging. It turned into a disaster. We’d had a good run but it didn’t last long.

Just as I was going in for my lunch break, I saw someone looking lost. I asked if he was crew. The lad just looked at me and said “I’m looking for the Image Group”. Wow! Once again a replacement arrived on time. Ivan, our new hire, fresh from training in Miami had arrived. Sandra was over the moon when she found out he was Colombian!

During the pax drill Darren and I were laughing and counting down the days until we signed off. This was our penultimate pax drill. Darren’s station is by the telephone which is situated right underneath the alarm bell. Guaranteed the phone would ring and a second later, the fire alarm would sound - right in his ear! It always has be in stitches!! It's the highlight of Pax Drills for me!

Just as we were closing the gallery for the night, we had a quick meeting. We had a feeling that things would be different, better on this cruise and we were right. During embarkation we’d achieved 960 images with a 93% swipe rate which was absolutely fantastic.

Were we optimistic about this cruise? HELL YES!