Southernmost Point
18th March 2012
Originally I was due to have the day off in Key West, but that didn’t go to plan. I was working the evening.
We docked late, so meeting Ani and Maryna in the Mess, we hurried off the ship as quickly as possible. It took time as the crew have to wait behind a curtain, peeping through, until there were no guests coming.
Security gave us a wave and a sudden burst of crew members quickly rushed over to the gangway exit. The moment guests started appearing, we'd have to wait again. Frustrating isn’t even the word!
We docked late, so meeting Ani and Maryna in the Mess, we hurried off the ship as quickly as possible. It took time as the crew have to wait behind a curtain, peeping through, until there were no guests coming.
Security gave us a wave and a sudden burst of crew members quickly rushed over to the gangway exit. The moment guests started appearing, we'd have to wait again. Frustrating isn’t even the word!
Looking at the map, we didn’t have a lot of time, two hours, so we decided to walk down to the Southernmost Point. The name says it all really, but it’s the Southernmost point of the Continental United States of America. It’s location is only 90 miles from Cuba but 150 miles from Miami. On a clear night you can apparently see the lights of the shore streaming along the horizon. I’m not 100% sure whether it’s just at night, but it wasn’t clear enough for us to see anything during the day.
We stopped off at a shop on the way there and I ended up walking out with three pairs of earrings.
Moving along, we found Key West’s Butterfly and Exotic Birds Conservatory. Walking in, we saw the price list, $12 for adults. Walking over to the lady, I asked how much it was for crew, thinking we might get at least a bit of a discount, if we were lucky. We were more than just lucky, for crew, it’s free plus there’s a 20% discount in the gift shop.
Moving along, we found Key West’s Butterfly and Exotic Birds Conservatory. Walking in, we saw the price list, $12 for adults. Walking over to the lady, I asked how much it was for crew, thinking we might get at least a bit of a discount, if we were lucky. We were more than just lucky, for crew, it’s free plus there’s a 20% discount in the gift shop.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go in as we wanted to get to the Southernmost Point. The lady at the Butterfly and Exotic Bird Conservatory told us to get there quickly as there’s usually a queue from here to Cuba! She gave us a stamp anyway, suggesting that if we have time, to pop in and have a walk around.
Arriving at the point and there was a long queue, but not as long as we’d expected. Apparently it’s usually much longer. We waited about 15 minutes and got two girls behind us, were nice enough to take a couple of photos of all three of us together before we returned the favour.
Heading back to the ship we stopped off at a small café to get a drink for the walk. The owner seemed confused by the mix of our accents and asked where we were all from; England, Hungary and Belarus. "How do you know each other, being from different countries?" "Cruise ship crew members." People are always intrigued by us crew members and have dozens of questions to ask. The main question, "what’s it like to work on cruise ships" and "how much time do you get off?" People are also shocked when we say around three hours and no days off. Mind you, we always get a mixture of sympathy and “hats off to you” for doing 6-8 month contracts with no days off and limited free time.
Back on the road, and Key West changed from modern day America to Old-Age America within a snap of your fingers. Key West is a place that intrigues me. It’s completely different from any of the other places we stop at. Plus, two sides of Key West are two completely different worlds. One part is a normal, slightly tourist America where the most advertised item is Key Lime Pie. The other side is full of souvenir shops promoting t-shirts and other clothing items with KEY WEST scribbled across and novelty slogans. I still haven’t found a better slogan than on the shirt in St. Thomas "You can have me chest, but don’t touch the booty!“ However, I’m not paying $20 for a strap top!
Maryna wasn’t working until later on in the evening, so she headed off in search of the supermarket while Ani and I walked back to the Disney Magic. We were both on set up.
There are still plenty of places for us to visit in Key West, the only problem is, we doubt we are going to have enough time to get around everywhere… and that’s just on the main land.
There are still plenty of places for us to visit in Key West, the only problem is, we doubt we are going to have enough time to get around everywhere… and that’s just on the main land.
Back on board, it was the last time we were going to be in Key West for two weeks. Next cruise, another Western Caribbean, is a 6 rather than 7 night cruise. We’ll be skipping Key West and sailing straight to Grand Cayman.
The rest of the night was spent in between LSP, deserted as usual, and helping Cinta shoot chracters which to be fair, was a disaster. Dave came down to watch and asked how she was getting in and it wasn’t good. As we were watching it took her 13 attempts to focus the camera before shooting. It was painful for everyone watching!
Later on, I was told by the greeters that Cintia was snatching the guest’s Key to the World Cards and snapping at them. Why? I don’t know. What do you do? Again, I don’t know. I’ve been on her case all night about cropping and not shooting the backs of kid’s heads so I really didn’t want to point out something else she was doing wrong.
Later on, I was told by the greeters that Cintia was snatching the guest’s Key to the World Cards and snapping at them. Why? I don’t know. What do you do? Again, I don’t know. I’ve been on her case all night about cropping and not shooting the backs of kid’s heads so I really didn’t want to point out something else she was doing wrong.
Everyone except Cintia is now a Photog 2 so Rama told me my wages were to be lower than before, when we hit target. Basically, we have more people to share with. Rama, trying to be encouraging, told me to hurry up and get sorted for Photog 3. This through me into a bit of a rage though. My competencies are done, I was told to learn to print and I have. I’m hitting my targets, helping the new hires, taking responsibility. What more do you want from me before I can have my checklist for photog 3? Rama apologized and said there was nothing he could do, but he’d speak to the new BM Csaba.
Later on, Csaba, Dave's replacement, came over and asked who was P3. Only Carolee, who was leaving soon. Rama quickly piped up and said I was ready for P3, I just needed to do my checklist. To this, Csaba nodded and said he’d get something sorted when he takes over. Looks promising and all thanks to Rama!
At the end of the night, a few of us went upstairs to Deck 5 for a drink. It was pitch black which threw Csaba. He knew parties on Royal Caribbean. Now he's arrived on Disney Magic and learnt Disney’s way of partying. Drinking on the front deck in absolute darkness, expect for security’s occasional torch light, when they made their way around everyone, making sure we were behaving well and still sober.
Speaking to Csaba, he asked why I wasn’t Photog 3 already, so I explained everything that had happened recently. Asking me whether I can set up, I said yes. Printing Ressi, I told him I probably could print Ressi but have never done so before. Then it came to the crunch. They need a Photog 3 because Carolee is leaving soon so someone has to replace her and Csaba wants someone with experience.
Not only that, Diva the AMP is leaving in two weeks and there is no one to replace her. We’ll be without an AMP for maybe weeks up to a month as Image hasn’t sorted anything out in terms of replacements. By the looks of it, I might be promoted to Photog 3 to do the AMPs job. There was me thinking I was going to become the new lab rat. Instead, it looks like I’m going to be the lab rat filling in the AMP’s shoes and Diva has very large shoes to fill. She`s another machine, like Dione, who whacks prints out in no time. Me, I’ll be spending until early hours of the morning printing!
Not only that, Diva the AMP is leaving in two weeks and there is no one to replace her. We’ll be without an AMP for maybe weeks up to a month as Image hasn’t sorted anything out in terms of replacements. By the looks of it, I might be promoted to Photog 3 to do the AMPs job. There was me thinking I was going to become the new lab rat. Instead, it looks like I’m going to be the lab rat filling in the AMP’s shoes and Diva has very large shoes to fill. She`s another machine, like Dione, who whacks prints out in no time. Me, I’ll be spending until early hours of the morning printing!
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| Southern Most Point - Maryna, Me and Ani |
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