Boobs In or Out?

Boobs in or out?

3^rd April 2012

For the last two weeks, we’ve been planning a team activity in Cozumel. At first we were talking about renting cars, doing something fun, something different. Carolee spoke to the crewmembers working at Port Adventures, who arrange tours for the guests. At Port Adventures, they had a few options for us. The first was renting dune buggies and second was renting quads and riding through the “jungle”. Lastly, we had paintballing. Most of the team hadn’t been paintballing before but we needed Csaba, the Business Manager, to make the booking. We couldn’t do it ourselves.

The night before, Csaba said he couldn’t book any of the three events because there weren’t any spaces left. Basically, he’d left it to the last minute and all the spaces were taken. This was later confirmed by a member of Port Adventures. Already disheartened by the pay slip we’d all received, this was just another blow to our moods. We wanted a team activity to give us an energy boost, a sense of life rather than feeling like we’re flogging a dead horse!

Unfortunately, the only option left was to get a taxi to the beach, we chose Alberto’s where we went last time, as the food was good and there were water sports available. Speaking to some of the team after the meeting, hardly anyone wanted to go. Great.

Arriving in Cozumel, Mexico, the team, excluding Maryna who hadn’t turned up, met up and headed to the taxi rank. The weather wasn’t great. It was a muggy, cloudy day with the odd spots of rain. It matched our moods perfectly!

At Alberto’s we all had something to eat and got onto the subject of swimming trunks. You see, Kate and I were laughing at Mark’s overly tight and very short swimming trunks. Csaba said that it’s normal for Romanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians etc. to wear dinky swimming trunks or nut-hugging speedos. No one else around the table agreed!

I'm apparently abnormal by their standards for wearing board shorts and not bikini bottoms. What the men in Europe wear, in their terms are shorts, not swimming trunks or board shorts, are just out of the question and weird in their eyes. The discussion went on and on and in the end, neither of the sides could agree. So, we’re just going to carry on pointing and laughing at each other’s swimwear. Especially in my case, as I’m female and wearing men’s board shorts!

Chilling on the sunbeds for a bit, Kate and I were struggling to stay awake. The sea was freezing cold and no one, except for Mark was crazy enough to dip their feet in, let along wade in any further. Speaking to Kate and Ani, we all wanted to go to the supermarket and use the internet. I wanted to upload some photos and speak to my Mom. Mark had to get some things as well. Not much was happening on the beach and we’d separated into two groups as per usual. It can be quite frustrating doing a team activity when half the team doesn’t particular get along. The two halves kind of put up with each other for the sake of work. During free time, certain people will avoid others like the black plague.

Gathering our stuff, Kate, Ani, Mark and I left in a cab and back into Cozumel. We got what we needed from the supermarket. Kate went off to No Name Crew Bar, Mark stayed using the internet with Maryna in the supermarket’s café.

Ani and I went off in search of a leaving present for Diva. We couldn’t find anything she’d like though. It had to be something small, small enough for her to get inside her jam packed suitcase and relevant to the cruise or its itinerary.

Looking at a little stall, Ani had an idea. After the vacation, Diva will be going to Wonder and won’t be visiting Disney’s private island of Castaway Cay. So, why not get her something from Castaway Cay, something like a t-shirt, signed by the entire team and maybe some of the characters?

Rushing back on board, we didn’t have long to get ready for set up. As it was Pirate Night, I was shooting LSP which doesn’t tend to be too busy. Boy, was I wrong! I don’t think LSP has ever been so busy for me on a Pirate Night. It was good fun though. To be fair, it was mainly all the Spanish speaking families coming to the studio.

During the last session of LSP, I had a lady come in with her daughter. The lady had whopping, blown up lips and a face as stretched as Bridget Jones’ spandex pants! Laying on the floor, one side of her top fell off her shoulder, exposing the entire left hand side of her bra (and therefore 75% of her gravity defying breasts!).
For someone who looked like she was in her 60’s it seemed unnatural to be wearing skimpy clothes with your bra and boobs falling out. Politely and as secretively as possible, I pointed over to the lady’s top “Ma’am, your shirts slipped. Do you want to pull it back up onto your shoulder?” Shock horror! She was not impressed by what I’d said. Looking down, she did this strange patting across her chest, as if to make sure it was all in place “No! This is part of my look”. Wow… certainly not the reply I’d expected and even less when you’re having your photo taken with a child of maybe 10 years old. I’d be telling my mother to cover up!

In the dining room, I got pulled over by a female guest, who had her photo taken with her two daughters on LSP a couple of nights ago. “I have a bone to pick with you.” OK, so what have I done now? “You didn’t tell me that my cleavage was visible”. The lady was wearing a low cut corset top… of course her cleavage was visible, when she lied on the floor. I thought that was her intension.

Not saying a word, the woman, who must have been in her late 40’s to early 50s said “Every man on that deck must have been walking past, staring, looking at my boobs.” Trying to avoid the shock look across my face, the words “wow, you think highly of yourself” floated through my head. Apologising, I hypocritically said, I cannot tell people when to cover up or not as it’s down to people’s opinions.

To give her an example, I used the lady I'd just photographed on LSP. I’d asked a lady to cover up in my studio when her shirt slipped, exposing her bra and she got offended. As soon as I said it, the woman knew exactly what I meant. It’s down to personal opinion, not mine. Before I left, she called again “next time, tell me. I don’t want men gawking at my boobs”. Saying nothing, I smiled and shuffled off to the next table.

In another dining room, I met the plastic lady and her husband, who resembled a plastic surgeon. Getting a photo of the table, I noticed a gold and glass jug on the table. It looked like something you’d find in Ancient Rome. Sometimes, guests buy things in port and request to use it at dinner, so I thought this was one of the cases. Asking if the jug was theirs and commenting on how lovely it looked, the guy shook his head and said it belonged to the dining room. “Oh really? I’ve never seen it before.” Smugly, he replied “That’s because not everyone can buy a $300 bottle of wine”. Disgusted at his arrogance and flippant manner, I abruptly thanked the family for letting me take their photo and walked out the dining room, unable to conceal my feelings which were plastered across my face. The buggers had spent more money on a bottle of wine than we’d earned in one week!!