The Last of the Last

The Last of the Last

25^th October 2011

Here we are. Our day has finally arrived. Well, nearly. For Hernan, David and I, this will be our last day of work on the Mariner of the Seas… and Reuben was determined to make us work! The other photographers signing off usually finished at 17.00, but Reuben was making us work until 20.00. We felt cheated that we couldn’t start drinking and celebrating before 20.00.

All three of us were working from 7am until 11. We were all, absolutely shattered and willing the day to move on quicker so we could, hopefully have a quick nap to catch up on the lack of sleep. That however, was wishful thinking. 

After displaying all the photos from formal night, we opened the gallery and watched the early bird float in. Selling wasn’t going too badly though to be fair. At least we had a chance of getting our wages up a bit more before we signed off.

After an hours break for lunch I was back in the gallery, selling. 14.00 came by and I was back in the cabin packing some more things into my suitcase. Sandra was watching me which always give you a heavy heart because you’re in two minds about leaving. Over the moon that you’ll soon be “free” but sad because you’re going to be leaving some great people behind, not knowing when you’ll see them again.

At 14.30 the three of us headed up to the Staff Mess for the sign-off meeting. I was surprised by the amount of people who would be signing off in Civitavecchia! Raissa from Bar, Anna from Spa, Alberto from Explorations! It became apparent that this was going to be a massive turn around before the transatlantic. A whole new team would be coming onto the ship. It was quite an eye-opening experience.

After the meeting we all had a list of things to complete before we could sign off tomorrow. The one thing everyone had to get sorted were their suitcase. David, the over excited sod, was already packed. Hernan hadn’t even started and I was half way through. 

After a couple of hours we’d managed to squeeze and cram everything into every nock and cranny in our suitcases. David had already taken his luggage to security which was going to be in a lock up for the night. Hernan and I would take our cases during the second window.

We all popped along to medical to collect our papers, only to find we’d collected them a month ago. Oops! 

Next stop was getting a signature from security to say we didn’t have any keys to be handed over. Some of security were surprised to see us three going. “Miss Blue” as they called me was leaving the ship… and they thought I was here for longer. “I wish!” and “you’ve gotta be kidding me!” were floating around in my head. It's like having a split personality!

Our final, two hour stint in the gallery was going at a snail’s pace. At one point, I honestly thought the clock had ran out of batteries. It hadn’t. Time was just moving that slowly. Going into Reuben's office we all wanted to do our appraisals before the end of our shift. No chance. We had to do it after. That was a royal bum note as we wanted to start the party early.

As soon as the clock struck 20.00 there was a sudden burst of cheers, whooping, and jumping up and down before Hernan, David and I sprinted out the gallery and down the stairs to the Photographer’s Corridor.

That’s it. Our work on the Mariner of the Seas was done. Contract over.

Whitney was outside the cabin waiting for me. She sat around talking to me while waiting for the security to start scanning bags. Come 23.00, I was ready to fall to sleep with boredom of waiting. Time was slowly ticking by. 

Whitney helped me take my luggage over to security. Prashant was on the nightshift and looking a bit of a sad sight. He seemed sad that I was leaving. He’d been a good friend while I was on board. Prashant helped me take my luggage to the lock up once it’d been through the scanner. Just before leaving, he told me he’d come to Back Deck and see me before finishing his shift. No doubt he’d be there to end the party!!

Once that was done,  Whitney, Hernan and I headed back to the corridor. All we had to do was wait for the others to finish work and we’d be hitting Back Deck for the sign-off party!

Nearly Finished Packing...

My Venetian Mask from Naples

Cabin 4437 - My Home for 6.5 Months

Cabin 4437 Mascots

Sandra's birthday present from Whitney:

My Stitch

La Bamba and Stitch

 

Last Gangway

Last Gangway

24^th October 2011

Dragging ourselves out of bed, Hernan and I were the only ones due on gangway. It was our last gangway… for now, anyway. It would be the last time either of us were dressing up in costume for a long time. 

Disney have crew members who dress up as the characters... it's not the photographers job! I won't lie. Dressing up on gangway is one of the best parts of my job so I’d certainly miss it! Having said that, full costumes like Mickey Mouse, in the Bahamian heat is enough to make anyone think twice about dressing.

While Hernan and I were on gangway there was a red drill taking place. That wasn’t the only bit of action going on. I was dressed up in what we are told is the typical Cretan attire. A personal tour guide asked me what I was dressed up in. When I told her, she flew off into one. Apparently my outfit has nothing to do with Crete and looks more fitting in Switzerland or Germany. She had a point if I’m honest. “If you go out into Chania (Crete) you won’t see people wearing those clothes” she told me. I couldn’t help reply with a bit of sarcasm at such a daft comment, “Really? If you go to Spain do you think all the girls will be wearing Flamenco dresses? Scots wear kilts all year around?” Of course not. 

The tour guide was then telling me to get out of my outfit as what we were doing was fraud. How the hell she came to that conclusion, I don’t know. Apparently Hernan and I were wrongly trying to extract money from the guests by having them pose with someone who isn’t even relevant to the country. She was perfectly okay at extracting money from the guests by taking them on private tours!

Hernan and I tried hushing the woman up by telling her that we didn’t have a choice as to what we wear on gangway. We are told to, by our managers. Just as she was going into yet another lecture, guests started spilling out the ship. Trying to make the women quiet I said, rather abruptly “Look, the guests are coming, we have a job to do, and so do you. Why doesn’t everyone just keep their mouths shut!” My patience was very nearly up! 

Luckily the lady went silent, but not for long. She soon turned on security on the podium telling her that we shouldn’t be doing this. Somehow, Precious managed to get her to shut up!! Her constant wittering and complaining was about as annoying as the high pitched buzzing of a mosquito flying around your ear!!

By the end of gangway Hernan and I had 220 which obviously wasn’t a good result but compared to normal, we didn’t do too badly.

Straight after the drill was an all crew meeting in Studio B. The Captain and other officials of the Mariner of the Seas were telling us about what would happen and the changes made once the ship arrives in US waters. First of all, no food or drink could be consumed outside the ship. We couldn’t even take our coffees out onto the open deck outside the Staff Mess. Not even a can of coke! It all seemed very strict.

Next topic was about keeping our cabins and corridors clean. No parties in cabins and corridors are allowed but of course they are going to take place. We were told to tidy up after ourselves. “Your mom isn’t on board to clean up after you” we were told. Up on the projection screen and multiple TVs surrounding the studio flashed up photos of a dirty corridor. The sight hit us like a slap in the face when we realize it was the Photographer’s Corridor. We all cracked up, sniggering and trying to hide our faces from any Officers. Someone was saying our corridor is now famous! 

The picture, however, was taken when Zoran and Fabio’s cabin had been flooded so they had to leave some stuff outside while waiting for the carpet to dry. Who took the photo? We had our suspicions but couldn’t be sure. We did, however, want to give that person a pat on the back. Although it was supposed to be a serious matter, we could only see the funny side of it all. A couple of the spa girls were laughing, they too had recognised our corridor. Looking over towards us crying with laughter only confirmed it.

One good thing about Chania is that they have free wi-fi in the port which we can use from Deck 5 Aft. Sandra, David and I were all perched on our chairs, trying to contact the outside world, keeping warm with a coffee and finally, the connection was so slow, we lost it. To add salt to an open wound, the heaven’s opened up yet again and started raining.

Later during the evening, it was the last formal night for the three of us. We were all overly excited. We were like kids on too much caffeine and colouring. Hernan and I could at least say we’d caught up on our sleep a little while the others were doing set up but, in all honesty, a new found adrenaline had kicked in. 

I was up on Deck 5 Centrum which surprised me. I thought I’d be on my beloved ship background. Strangely enough, I’ve become very fond of the ship background. Although please to be on my favourite centrum, I was secretly disappointed for not being on ship. There’s no pleasing some, hey!!

The night sped past. Whitney, Svenja and Ashleigh popped by the studios to see us. Although I was over the moon about going home, getting some rest and relaxing, it started to dawn on me what I’d be leaving behind. Like everything, the Mariner of the Seas had it’s downsides. Having said that, the thing that made working on the ship great were the people. The people that I’ve met throughout my time here are priceless, they made the job fun and I’d sorely miss them when I sign off. 

My fingers were crossed, hoping I’d be able to see and work with or/and alongside those people again. The saying “all good things must come to an end” popped into my head. Never a truer word said.

Svenja, Me, Ashleigh and Whitney

Centrum Deck 5

All Blacks

All Blacks

23^rd October 2011

Another early start, another gangway and more laughs with Zoran. As we are finally in Athens, Zoran is, of course, the Greek God. Sanela is decked out as the Greek Goddess with Hernan shooting her. We had a ridiculously high target considering very few people would be getting off the ship due to the recent problems in Athens such as strikes, protests and demonstrations.

We were all freezing cold, bobbing up and down to keep warm. Zoran was being his usual stupid self on the gangway, doing some ridiculous poses that made everyone from security to guests laugh.  I won’t lie, we were spurring him on. 

We were getting seriously frustrated at people’s refusal to have their photographs taken. We didn’t see why it was such a huge problem. It’s only a quick photo! I can’t remember who’s idea it was but, due to the refusals, we decided to jump on the shuttle bus that was slowly filling up with guests. There was nowhere for them to run… they were all ours. Jumping on the bus, Zoran did a few poses and played the clown which got everyone laughing. Within no time at all we had photographed everyone on the bus. Who’d have thought they’d get their picture taken on the bus with a Greek God? More to the point, who’d have thought that a Greek God would be on public transport?

Hernan was getting a little restless and wanted to get off gangway as soon as possible. No one was coming out and the odd few that did, didn’t want their photos taken, no matter how silly the poses. Whitney had the day off and came to join us for the last 45 minutes or so. She had her photo taken with us both. A rare opportunity considering she’s always working in the Spa. When she isn’t, she’ll catch up on sleep, hardly ever getting out of bed before gangway ends.

We all know Reuben has been checking out clock-in and out times. Every time we enter or exit the ship, we have the punch in our Sea Pass Cards (Crew ID). All the times are logged into security’s computer system. We waited in the freezing cold for the extra five to ten minutes before going in just so it shows up on the system that we didn’t go in early.

Hernan didn’t give a crap and left the gangway. Sanela didn’t want to go in early but Hernan had her Crew ID (the Goddess didn't have pockets) so she was obliged to leave and get back on the ship. When they left, they only had about 300 images. 150 off the target.

Zoran and I decided to stay on longer, until the end. When the end came we only needed 20 more images to hit 400. Might as well make it a nice round figure… so we stayed on passed our time. Whitney was creasing herself up laughing at some of Zoran’s antics. Once we hit 400 we were done. Finished.

Whitney agreed to meet me at the photographer’s corridor. We popped up for something to eat. The others were nowhere to be found. They weren’t in the mess either. We found Sandra who didn’t want to come with us as she’d just got back off tour and was shattered. She was hitting the pillow. As we were leaving the ship, Prashant from security had a message for us. It was from Zoran. Zoran had gone up to the Staff Mess and wanted us to wait for him.

We waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing. We didn’t have a lot of time so we headed out without him. He’d know where we were. Making our way over to O’Connell’s, the place was packed. I didn’t expect it’d be so crowded, we could just about get in. Not only that neither Whitney nor I thought it’d be packed with New Zealanders. The Rugby World Cup was playing. Everyone in the pub was an All Black. The game was nearly over. Suddenly there was a countdown. Everyone in the pub was counting down. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Blast off…. An enormous roar of cheering erupted. It was over. The All Blacks were the Rugby World Cup Champions. Eve will be over the moon!

My laptop had no charge. Sandra must have unplugged it. Damn! The weather was crap. Rather than having a walk around, we decided to head back to the ship. Whitney wanted to go to the Spa to get her hair washed – lazy bugger. On the other hand, I was so shattered, all I wanted to do was sleep.

Later on, I was scheduled for the gallery. It was a long, dragging, boring night. There wasn’t enough space to display the new photographs. The stack was growing. So, we spent almost the entire night condensing photographs, trying to make space for the new ones. We got a few up, but not nowhere near the full amount. For the entire evening we had guests coming in to ask for the latest gangway pictures. Needless to say they weren’t impressed that we hadn't display them yet. Tough. We were desperately trying to find space for them and it was virtually impossible, unless of course, we took some down.

Alex going on Tour

Sandra going on Tour

The Greek God

Whitney and I

Classic Zoran!!

Begging!!

Whitney and God

Port-Bloody-Manning!

Port Bloody Manning!!

22^nd October 2011

Never has Port Manning annoyed me so much before! I had no idea that I was Port Manning until I punched my card into the machine to leave the ship for gangway. “Lou, you’re port manning. It’s okay, you’re working” So here I am, in Kusadasi where I wanted to go out shopping with Sandra and visit the small island off the coast. Fat chance of that now!

Originally I was supposed to be shooting Hernan, the Persian Prince on gangway while David shoots Sandra as Cleopatra. That didn’t happen as David got out of bed late, Hernan did too and didn’t have his costume. Sandra and I were ready to go so we headed onto the gangway together. Hernan and David finally joined us on the gangway 30 minutes later. You’d have thought that Hernan would remember to get his costume from the lab the night before after having to do so for 6 months!

The strange guest, who picked me up and started jumping up and down with me in his arms yesterday, did the exact same thing to Sandra. I couldn’t help but laugh at the scene in front of me. Of course photographic evidence of the scene was taken and uploaded onto Faceook!! 

Sandra and I were running around like blue arse flies, both smudging and having a laugh. On a couple of occasions Sandra’s patience worn thin at guests rudeness. We did a good job at perking ourselves up again by quietly taking the piss out of the guests when they’d gone or the gangway had fallen quiet. You either laugh or cry and scream at the top of your lungs. My temper was wearing thin, I have virtually no patience. It's a sure sign that I needed to go home for a break soon. Recharge the batteries and restore my patience.

Leandro came out and started shooting the ring. It’s always hard shooting the ring, especially when you have two costumes dancing around. Leandro though was giving it a bloody good shot.

Once gangway was over at 11.00, I punched my card into the machine and security told me what I already knew “Lou, you’re port-manning”. Every time I went in or out of the ship for gangway, I was reminded by security that I was Port bloody Manning! 

Sandra and I blew Hernan and David out of the water when it came down to counts. Sandra and I worked our backsides off and got 422 as a result. Hernan and David just managed to scrap to 200 images.

Going into the office to download my pictures I told Reuben I was port-manning. His reply was “I know. The days were swapped, that’s all”. From what I understood it wasn’t a case of it being swapped around with someone else. Clearly a misunderstanding on my behalf. Didn’t make it easier though, I desperately needed a suitcase and wanted to get something for my Mama’s birthday as I’m due to go home in only 4 days. Looks like my last day in Kusadasi is going to consist of looking at the port from Back Deck!

Making the most out of the day, I spoke to Whitney at lunch and she arranged a time for me to go up to Spa and get my eyebrows waxed. Bloody hell, the girl’s rough when it comes down to pulling the wax strip off your face but the results are always great!! Once the redness goes away, of course. The rest of the day I spent packing and typing up blog entries.

Sandra was out and on a mission for me. This is why I love my cabin mate so much. She’s gone out in Kusadasi to buy me a small suitcase/holdall. Going back into the cabin and she’d found a perfect holdall on wheels. Not only that but she’d bought me a blue and red scarf. The best bit came when she laughed about having got us dinner. Opening the bag, Sandra had managed to smuggle two kebabs onto the ship! Excellent!!

My stint on LSP was dead. This was the hour where I was supposed to be photographing the guys from Murder Mystery. Wrong day!

During an hour’s dinner break I met Sandra in the Mess. She was heating up our kebabs, an “original” and “chicken” – Sandra wasn’t quite sure what the "original kebab" included and neither did I. We shared the kebabs, half each and cor blimey! They were munch! Turkey and Greece rival each other in the food department! Looking around at the food on offer in the mess tonight, made our kebabs taste so much better too!

While in the gallery, a man I’d originally sold an Olympus to, came in looking for Reuben. He’d been complaining about the battery life. According to Paco and Reuben the man had been in every day complaining. Apparently I hadn’t tested the camera for the guy or set it up which is completely untrue. 

I asked the guy if he’d charged the camera for a good 12 hours for its first charge like we recommend. The reply I got was “it got a good charge”. It was a politician’s answer. In the end, the guy was creating such a scene that Rueben told me once the man returned with the camera, in immaculate condition with all the packaging etc. to simply refund it. 

This was the second camera I’d sold and refunded within two cruises. The first was the Argentinian lady - yes, the one who got me kicked off the bus in Lindos and who Hernan warned me about. She'd got a bee in her bonnet about the picture quality of the Olympus not being as good as the five year old camera she got stolen in Lindos, Rhodes. Now this American. The owner of the camera obviously hadn’t charged it long enough and the battery wasn’t lasting. Paco and Reuben both told the man they wouldn’t sell him another camera due to the problems he’d had with the Olympus. 

Usually, we don’t refund cameras unless there is a technical fault which has to be spotted within the first 48 hours. Not when you purchase a camera at the start of the cruise only to return it towards the end.

Once everything had been refunded the guy turned to me and said “Louise, hand me the Canon 100HS and Nikon”. What the hell? He was ignoring what Reuben and Paco had told him. I didn’t know where I stood or what I could say or do. Excusing myself for a moment, I told the man I urgently needed to turn in the refund reciept to the manager's office. Relaying the story to Reuben he called Paco to speak to the man.

In the meantime I got on with sorting out the gangway photos for Leandro who was displaying. The guest, ignored Paco, waving his hand around and told me “just get me to cameras. I want a camera”. Paco told me not to move and to carry on with what I was doing. I felt stuck in the middle and without a way out. The whole performance seemed so unprofessional and unnecessary. At one point, both Paco and I thought the guest was going to swing for him. Paco, refusing to sell him a camera because of the amount of trouble he’d been, backed off, warned for me not to sell anything to the guest and walked off to call security. The guest looked at me, bright red in the face, slammed his fist down on the counter before stormeing out towards Guests Relations.

Going into the office, Paco told me he thought the guy was going to swing for him. I did too. Paco and Reuben had already lodged a complaint against the guest. Speaking to Reuben, I commented that I wasn’t going to bother selling any more cameras as it was the 2^nd I’d had to refund. 

The cameras are all set up in front of the guests and set on Auto. They are told to charge it up for at least 12 hours for the first charge to ensure maximum battery life. If they don’t do that, it’s not my fault and I am in fact, working for nothing when the cameras are refunded. The $4 commission gets flushed down the drain! It's not a huge commission, but one of our biggest. It's disheartening.

Sandra and I closed up the gallery. I headed down to the cabin before everyone else. Inside my cabin was Whitney, she’d been waiting for us to finish work and had a present for David. A laughing dog (teddy) that rolls around the floor. Listening to it, it seemed fitting for David as his loud laugh was contagious, like the dog’s. 

Next Whitney handed me my presents. I hadn’t expected presents from Whitney at all. I opened the little pouch and found two pairs of dangling earrings and a Mariner of the Seas magnet. They are perfect. The idea of leaving was starting to get to me now. I’d be leaving these guys whom I’d become so close to over the months and now saw as a family.

David, Laura from Bar, Sandra and Zoran were soon in the cabin. How we squeezed everyone in, I don’t know. We got a video of David hollering at his laughing dog which started everyone off. He loved his present…. But wasn’t prepared to name his dog after Whitney.

Sandra told me she had an early present for me. Reaching under her bed cover she pulled out a Mediterranean scrap book and kit. Zoran came in with a stack of 5x7 prints he’d printed while in the lab from my 6.5 months on board the Mariner of the Seas. It was my present from the Mariner of the Seas Photo Team. Trying not to get emotional, I gave everyone a huge hug.

Although it’s nothing compared to what Sandra had given me… I handed Sandra her signature card. While she was upstairs in the gallery I’d popped into the lab on Reuben’s instructions to get us a signature each for our high image count on gangway today.

Settling down, I couldn’t wait to get started on my scrap book. It’s something that’ll always remind me of the good times during my first contract with my first team and fantastic friends on board the Mariner of the Seas.

Sandra's Turn to be Bounced About!

Athena in Rhodes

Athena in Rhodes

21^st October 2011

Due to the mounting problems and riots in Athens we aren’t 100% sure if we’ll make it to the port. In case we don’t make it to Athens in 2 days time, Reuben has put me on the gangway in Rhodes as the Greek Goddess to try and maximise counts. Hernan is also on the gangway dressed in his favourite costume, the Spartan mini dress.

David was shooting me while Sandra was photographing Hernan. There was a bit of running around from me and David and things were going really well. Most people seemed to be in good humour while some were the complete opposite. 

I love working on gangway but it gets incredibly hard when you have rude guests, especially those who snap “No” in your face when you try to get them in for a photo. One of the worst things is when a guests puts their hand in your face to decline a photo. You try and make a joke out of it, even if it is a sarcastic one. Sometimes you have to make a joke to avoid losing the plot and screaming blue murder!! As I said before, there’s only so much mass rejection and denial you can take.

By the end of gangway at 11.30, each costume had roughly 350 images which wasn’t bad.

Originally I was supposed to be Port Manning but Paco contact someone to get them to change it as it’s my last cruise. 

Getting ready, I headed out with Camilo, Hernan and David. Four Seasons had completely changed compared to the last time I was in Rhodes. It’s now reopened as a restaurant rather than a little café/bar. It looked expensive so we carried on down to another bar that Hernan knew of. It wasn’t long until Las Lauras from Bar joined us. Sandra was upset about a few things and wanted to be alone, opting to stay in the cabin.

Rushing back to the ship I had 10 minutes to get ready for set up. Hernan arrived later than I did which Dione wasn’t too happy about seeing as it’s always him arriving late.

Later on during the evening, it became clear that Reuben had cocked up the schedules. The production cast came to the gallery looking for LSP to have their Murder Mystery photos taken. D was shooting Spanish Light. Reuben soon realized that he’d cocked up and scheduled me to shoot LSP on the wrong day. I was supposed to be shooting the Production Cast tomorrow but it was supposed to be today. Now.

Dione came up to the gallery. Instead of changing the background and lighting like Reuben wanted, Dione had another idea. This is where you can separate the average AMPs to the Master AMPs like Dione! Rather than changing the backdrop, Dione got D and I to turn the entire thing around. He set up two backlights and upped the power for the main light for the characters. Fiddling around with the backdrop lights, I took a test shot of him and realized what he’d done. The back of Spanish light is cream so Dione had used lowered aperture to over expose the backdrop and get it pristine white.

Taking over from D, the Murder Mystery group wanted individual shots as well as a couple of groups. Not a problem. The last time I shot Murder Mystery with the previous cast, all I had to do was take the picture. The Production Cast were all dolled up to the nines, knew their characters and posed themselves. This wouldn’t be the case with this particular lot. They seemed to have no personality and wanted me to pose them! Sorry to say this, but they had no originality or personality! Each one went through their characters, telling me the plot. This allowed me to pose them accordingly. 

The group shot was probably the hardest. One of the Production Cast caught on to the look that I was going for and the final image I wanted to achieve. I loved every minute of it, if I’m honest. It reminded me of the days when I was at college and had the run of things. I was able to experience, be original and try different things rather than doing the standard, run-of-the-mill McDonald’s photography that I’d been doing for the past 6 months. One thing is for sure, Dione wins AMP of the Year hands down!!

After work, I got on with packing my suitcase. Tomorrow I’d have to go out in Kusadasi and get another, smaller suitcase. The packing is almost done though. Hernan hasn’t started and David is 98% packed already!! The Final Countdown really is on...

Getting Picked Up & Thrown Around by a Guest on Gangway

Chech out that Tash!!

Flying Photographers

Flying Photographers

20^th October 2011

It’s one of the many sea days and another formal night. This is my penultimate formal night and once again the prospect of going home is making me feel like a kid at Christmas! It won’t be long until I can see the parents, relax, sleep in a proper bed, in a room with a window allowing natural light to stream through in the morning and best of all, not having to wake up in the morning to a screaming alarm clock! At the same time, in the pit on my stomach, I’m feeling nervous and dreading leaving the ship because of my team who have become great friends, almost family, especially Sandra. Out of all the team I’d say I’m closest to Sandra and Zoran. We do a lot together and naturally gel well.

I was scheduled for what I thought would be a usual stint on table sale at WindJammer. Looking at the schedule again, I was due to be there for a whopping 3.5 hours!! Not even the clocks going forward would save me from having to stand on my feet for three and a half hours. Let’s hope one of the Spa girls were oustide Windjammer doing their table sale to keep me company!

In the end, after all that time I only sold an Olympus camera plus memory card, two tripods, four sets of AA batteries and a camera case. People didn’t feel the urgency to buy. How can I give someone to urgency to buy a camera apart from “we only have these left in stock”? Not only did it seem so cliché, but I think people have heard it so many times before, even if it was true, they wouldn’t believe it. I was racking my brains for something else to say to make the interested guests buy. I failed, obviously.

The good thing about being on table sale in the morning was that I get to miss set up. I did feel sorry for the other guys on set up as Zoran is off for medical reasons. Zoran is in serious pain with his hip and he’s not one to complain. Seeing him hobbling along in the Staff Mess made me realize how bad things actually were. It still didn’t stop me or anyone else from poking fun at him, mimicking him. He took it on the chin with the usual “fuck you. Go get a tan” and so on. The team’s banter is sometimes what makes the day go quicker and makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable. If I didn’t have such a laugh with my team, I don’t know how I would have survived six months on board!!

Tonight I was situated on Deck 5 with Leandro and David. Again, I was shooting my beloved Ship which I now classified as “my studio”. Leandro (Kenji/Sato) and David were shooting the Centrums. As always all three of us missed our targets by long shots. 

By the end of the night, with about 45 minutes to go before we closed, Leandro came into my studio, jumping in front of the ship and generally mucking around. It became a bit of a game with us both taking it in turns and jumping about taking photos. We even tried to use it as a way of getting the odd person walking past, to come in and have their photo taken. It didn’t work though. They just laughed and carried on.

The Mexican singers from Boleros came over to talk to me and get their photo taken. They are such a lovely bunch and gave me a good laugh in the studio. One is quite a lot shorter than the rest, so for a joke, I gave him a small posing box to stand on to bring him up to the other’s height. Just for evidence, I had to take a full length shot to show he was standing on a posing box which had everyone laughing and poking fun at him.

Once the night was over, we took some pizza down to Zoran who was still lying in bed with a bad hip and bored senseless. On the way back from the lab, walking down the I-95 (main strip running from one end of the ship to another) it felt strange that I soon wouldn’t be here. People were walking past me, smiling, nodding their hellos, with the odd “are you photographers finally finished for the night?” and everyone asking everyone how their night had been. It’s a bit like walking around a little village! The Mariner has become my second home.

Four Days, Two Formal Nights

Laura

Four Working Days Left!

That's TWO formal nights to go!

Me, Sandra and David - Ressi Time

Centrum 1 - Svenja, Moi, Ashleigh and Whitney

It's Official - just kidding

Flying Paparazzi Leandro-Paquito

Flying High

Los Mexicanos de Boleros :-)

Counting Chickens

Counting Chickens

19^th October 2011

This is our last trip to Haifa and Camilo and I are on tour. This is also Camilo’s first tour – he’s been chucked in the deep end! Holy Land tours are an all-day event, lasting 10-12 hours. Luckily enough, after the tour, you get the rest of the evening off.

In the Savoy Theatre I spoke to Monica, the Explorations! manager as neither of our names were on the tour escort list. Apparently she hadn’t received a reply from Reuben, meaning that neither of us were supposed to be going on tour. Crap! A couple of tour escorts hadn’t turned up and there were a few empty spaces. Luckily enough we were squeezed in. 

I was hoping to have Camilo on a bus close to mine so I could show him the type of photographs we needed to get. To this, Monica replied “all you have to do is take a photo…” if only it was that easy!! This is like saying, all she has to do is get people onto a bus.

Both of us however were on the Nazareth and Galilee tour. Someone came over and introduced himself to me. James, a singer from the Production Cast was also the tour escort on my bus. Originally from Alabama, James is very religious and in his element about going on this Holy Land tour. He also said he didn’t mind herding the crowd around, making sure no one got lost, while I charged around the place getting people pictures. What a star! Camilo wasn’t that lucky as his tour guide gave him the sign and demanded “stay at the back of the crowd at all times”.

Being on tour with James was great fun. He knew a lot about the history of the places and had a huge personality. The guests loved him from the off. The way he got on the bus and gave a quick speech, introducing us and what we’d be doing today, was incredible. There were a few smiles when James said he’d be the one “counting chickens" today. A few other guests looked confused at the prospect of being called chickens!  I’m always a bit nervous about having to introduce myself as the photographer to a bus load of people. Sometimes, the response isn’t that great. More paparazzi!

The guests on our buss were really great and a good portion of them wanted their photos taken. Others didn’t because “we have our own camera”. Okay… not much you can say to that other than, good luck trying to get pictures of yourself and a decent amount of the background in!

A lot of other members of crew were on tour, el Mexicano from Boleros (singer), Kervin from Security, the Tailor and quite a few people from Guest Relations. I took the chance to take a couple of souvenir photos of el Mexicano, Kervin and the Tailor. 

One couple from our group were even good enough to take photos of James and I outside various sites with our camera. Brilliant! We go on these tours so often yet, it's not often we get can our photo taken as a reminder.

By the time we got back to the ship it was 18.00 and the queue to board was massive. Sanela and I were waiting in the queue for a good 30 minutes. My poor bladder was about to give way and the chill in the air was picking up! 

D was dancing around in the camel costume with Leandro shooting him. Hardly any guests wanted to get out of the queue to have their photo taken so D just jumped right into the middle of it all. It was good fun watching D prance around, he was having a laugh and the guests picked up on that fact. Most didn’t want their pictures taken though as they had another excuse of “I’m too tired”. This one though, I can understand, but it didn’t stop Sanela and I getting our photo taken to try and spur on the others.

Once I finally got back on board, I ran back to the cabin to find Sandra sitting on the sofa-chair, Whitney on the floor, and Zoran lying on the floor with his head on Whitney’s lap. There was literally no space to move in our cabin. What the hell was Whitney doing!? She laughed. Whitney was finally sorting out Zoran’s mono-brow and plucking out the excess hair! Zoran’s eyebrows had been driving Whitney loopy for months and she was finally getting her wicked way with the tweezers and Zoran.

Going up to the office, it wasn’t long until I was sent back down to the crew area for not being dressed appropriately!! After an 11 hour tour, all I wanted to do was quickly download my pictures and head back to my cabin. No. I had to wait until 20.00 to go to the lab and download them there. In total I got 94 guest pictures which wasn’t bad considering what we’ve got in the past.

Whitney stayed in my cabin chatting with me until 21.45. I carried on sitting around, relaxing, watching TV and typing up blog entries. Settling down for the night I was going to get a full 8-hours sleep – a luxury on ship! 

It didn’t end well when Eve and Hernan woke me up at 01.30 playing football in the corridor and accidently bashing the ball against my cabin door a couple of times. “HERNAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”…. Silence…. Bliss!

Baptism Area at Jordan River

Tabgha

Group Photo outside Nazareth, Israel

Camilo at Mount of Beatitudes

Sea of Galilee

Jordan River

One of the Many Jordan River Residents

James & I at Tabgha

Inside Tabgha

Back in the Cabin

Getting Plucked!

Watching TV

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

18^th October 2011

Reuben, being a true star, was determined to have a team activity before David, Hernan and I sign off. Rather than having a team dinner or lunch we wanted to something special. Something different. Something we couldn’t do on an everyday basis. Paintball or the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea, of course, won hands down.

Unfortunately D, our Ukrainian new hire was unable to come because of Royal Caribbean training. Alex, from Belarus, was originally denied a visa, possibly because of his nationality and political reasons. This time he was able to pay a fee of $17 for a temporary visa for two days but refused. He’d be stuck on the ship for two days instead. Sanela had already been to the Dead Sea before on a previous crew trip and didn’t fancy coming with us. Instead, she was being sent on tour across Jerusalem.

We set off at 09.45. It was a bloody long drive and we were all relieved when we finally stopped. Unfortunately our relief didn’t last long, the bus driver had stopped at a souvenir store. Either way, it was nice to stretch our legs and get a breath of fresh air. The scenery surrounding us was absolutely mind blowing. 

On the Bus to the Dead Sea

While on the final leg of the journey the bus driver kept slowing down the tour bus, reaching for the microphone and telling us to look in certain directions. Everyone turn to look. “Look Palestinians” before laughing. He was pointing out Palestinians living in utter, utter poverty. Broken down shacks made out of scrap metal and wood bound together and looking about ready to fall over at the slightest gust of wind. It was appalling and not a single person on the bus was impressed or amused.

Stop Off Along the Way - Me, Sandra, Camilo, David, Reuben and Hernan

By the time we arrived at the Dead Sea it was 13.30. We had until 15.00. 

The first mistake a lot of us made was to think we’d be able to walk without shoes. Sandra and I didn’t bother taking flip-flops, instead we opted for trainers. Instead of sand, there was a thick layer of salt. The closer you got to the sea, the thicker the salt, therefore the sharper it became. None of us expected the salt to form into sharp, jagged rocks. It felt like you were walking across broken glass.

Neither Sandra or I could walk across the salt barefoot. In the end we had to put our trainers on. Just as we got to the water line we were going to take our shoes off. Zoran gave us a shout to say the salt on the sea bed was also sharp. Best to keep our trainers on then!

Stepping into the Dead Sea was unreal. It’s very hard to describe the sensation but at first you didn’t think your feet were going to make it to the sea bed. You have to give your foot a little bit of an extra push to get it onto the ground.

Sitting in the Dead Sea is quite possibly the strangest sensation ever. You feel as light as a feather, literally bobbing on the surface like a cork in water. It was impossible not to float. The sea didn’t feel like water either. It was more like a thick, dense oil. There are no waves in the Dea Sea either. 

The huge amount of salt became apparent after about 10 minutes in the water. Your skin started burning, especially any areas that had been shaved recently. Some found out the hard way!! 

While floating, it’s so difficult to put your feet down on the sea bed again. Your feet spring back up to the surface. You literally have to swim/tread water into an upright position, hold onto the sea bed and then get your feet on the floor. A bit of a work out! It’s the most peculiar feeling. 

Hernan managed to get salty water in his eyes and was in pure agony trying to clean it out. I think Sandra and Zoran even had a moment of madness and tried a droplet of water... just see how salty it actually was. Children, do not try it! They were gagging and gasping for the next five minutes!

Next stop, Zoran, David, Sandra and I ran over to the river trickling into the Dead Sea. What did we do? We got absolutely covered in mud! Apparently it’s great for your skin. I think we were more interested in getting dirty and caked in mud. 

We all jumped straight into the river, digging up huge handfuls of mud and literally covering ourselves and each other head to toe. David was having a field day joking that he’d never seen me so dark (be being the whitest in the team). The rest of us took a turn in having a joke at David's expense. "Covered in mud and you hadn’t even changed colour" to “you’ve gone a better tone of colour”. 

Running back to where we’d left our stuff, we snuck up on Camilo, who was relaxing in one of the many chairs dotted along the shoreline. We all looked like something from a horror film. David even started doing the Michael Jackson dance from Thriller. Next we all joined in and started dancing with him! What we must have looked like, I don’t know. We didn’t care, we were just having the times of our lives. Making the most of one of our rare days off.

After getting our photos taken, the mud was starting to dry and harden on our skin. It wasn’t the most comfortable feeling. Jumping in the showers by the sea, it took forever to wash the mud off our skin. Once we had finally got it off, we all had skin as smooth as a baby’s backside! We’ve never had skin so smooth before! 

Caked in Mud - Me, David, Zoran and Sandra

15.00 wasn’t far away so we gathered our stuff up and headed up towards the bus. While heading up to the bus I managed to find a Dead Sea magnet. Another one to join the ever increasing collection of magnets. Before jumping on the bus we all gathered together for a group photo.

Back at the ship, it took me 30 minutes to brush the tangles out of my hair. Salt was going everywhere!! In the end it took two loads of conditioner and more brushing to get all the knots out! Girls, tie your hair up if you go to the Dead Sea!

After getting something to eat with the rest of the team we all sat about, having a coffee and chat.

Later on I went up to join the other photographers at the basketball court. Reuben, Paco, Kenji, Zoran, David and Dione were all there playing basketball with a couple of guests. Zoran didn’t play for much longer, joining Sandra and I on the bench. Somehow Zoran has managed to bugger up his knee again and had a serious pain in his hip. In the meantime I was part watching the match and writing up my blog entries.

All in all, it’d been a great day. A brilliant way to end our last team activity for this contract. The time to leave is drawing closer. We are getting excited. David was over the moon. Nerves are also kicking in for me. It's like waiting nervously for Christmas.

Eve

Camilo

The Dead Sea

Stop Off on the Way to the Dead Sea. L-R - Reuben (India), Lou (UK), Sandra (Colombia), Camilo (Colombia), Zoran (Croatia), David (South Africa) and Hernan (Argentina)

Views Surrounding the Dead Sea



Camilo

Team Photo - Top L-R: Camilo, David, Leandro (Sato)
Bottom L-R: Dione, Me, Reuben, Zoran, Sandra and Paco.