1 Year Ago Today

1 Year Ago Today

13^th April 2012

It seems unreal that a year ago today, Hernan and I joined the Mariner of the Seas on the small island of Rhodes. Us, struggling along with our suitcases to the gangway, seems like a distance memory from years ago. I still remember meeting Lee and Stu, working on the gangway.

Looking back, we’ve both come a long way since those days. We’re still here, on second contracts and working on Disney Cruise Line ships.

Disney isn’t exactly the place for me and I’m not the only one to have made that comment. Apparently, my style is "too Royal Caribbean". Having said that, the two Royal Caribbean girls (Carolee and I) are the fastest shooters and have the best quality images. I had a long day ahead but for once, I had a more positive outlook.

This morning, I had morning sale plus embarkation. The BM wanted an extra pair of hands during morning sale. The good thing about occasionally doing both Morning Sale and Embarkation is that you’re given the evening off. While working I was slowly thinking up a list of things that I wanted to do in my precious time off. Laundry, blog, watch a film and sleep were all there, but I didn’t think I’d have enough time to do everything. No harm trying to do it all though.

Coming back to the cabin after work, I got online and called the parents. During our conversation I noticed water running down one of the cabin’s wall. Looking up, there was a leak from the ceiling and dripping by the electrical goods and plugs. Getting off the phone, I found one of Ani’s many empty water bottles lying about and lodge it into place in between the wardrobe and ceiling.  Hanging up, I reported the leak. Glancing at my watch, it was 6pm.

It wasn’t long until there was a knocking at the door. Someone was here to inspect the leak. Gathering up my computer, I went to Deck 5 forward to call the parents again.

Thirty minutes past and I was due to meet Ani for dinner in the mess. Back in the cabin, I got a royal shock. All the ceiling panels had been removed and there were now four people in my cabin. Let’s face it, it’s not every day that you open your door to find four Filipinos inside!

Meeting Ani, I told her what had happened. She couldn’t believe it but started laughing. It’s just typical that this would happen on my night off! Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long to resolve the problem. Apparently, it’s the hot water pipe that’s leaking which is a big problem and needs to be fixed as soon as possible. 

Before heading back to work, Ani was kind enough to remind me that today is Friday 13^th. Bad luck, there.

At about 7.15pm I slowly strolled up to my cabin, opened the door and found someone still working on the leak. He seemed irritated that I should come back to my cabin. Asking why I wasn’t working, I replied that it was my night off. Asking how long he was likely to be, he became even more irritated and ended my hopes of having my cabin back soon with an abrupt “I don’t know.”

Next stop, the lab. Was there anything I could do in the lab? No. Mike told me to go away and find something to do, or go to sleep. I’d been up since 5am and hadn’t had a nap. He had a point, I was dog tired but where could I sleep? Kate’s cabin! Calling Kate, I met her in Shutter to collect the room key.

Slumping into her bed, my tiredness was exaggerating my crabbiness. I decided to set the alarm for an hour and fifteen minutes time. Before the meeting at 11.10pm, I wanted to check on my cabin, surely it couldn’t take that long to fix a leak, could it? We’d soon find out.

Sleep got the best of me until Kate’s cabin mate Claire walked in and woke me up. To be fair, she jumped out of her skin to find me laying in Kate’s bed. Giving the shortest explanation possible as to why I was sleeping in Kate’s bed, I rolled over and dozed off again.

Walking up the stairs from Kate’cabin, I bumped into the two Filipinos who had been fixing my leaking ceiling. Both all smiles, they told me the problem was fixed before adding that the carpenter would be along shortly to put the ceiling panels back on. I couldn’t believe it. At 9.30pm and the problem still wasn’t sorted.

Slinking off to my cabin in a sulk, I slumped into bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Turns out, I’d only been sleeping for twenty minutes, when I was woken up by a thudding knock on the door. Opening up, it was the carpenter to put the ceiling panels on.

Grabbing my things I headed down to the lab again. This time for the meeting. A bad mood was an understatement! I was ready to lose the plot at the drop of a hat. The whole episode was to everyone’s amusement though, especially Csaba’s who constantly brought it up during the meeting.

One good thing did happen. Once we finished the meeting and got back to the cabin, there were no Filipinos in sight, all ceiling panels were attached to the roof and there wasn’t a single drip coming from above. Needless to say, my bed was calling me. It’s just a shame that we’d have to clean up the masses of soaked foam and attempt to dry/clean the carpet tomorrow.

The day definitely wasn’t in my favour today… oh, how I love Friday 13ths!

Tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow is another day… let’s hope things start off on a different foot...

Royal Caribbean - Mariner of the Seas (1st contract)

Disney Cruise Line - Disney Magic (2nd contract)