Dragon's Lair - All Crew Party

Dragon’s Lair

14^th July 2011

Compared to normal we had a late arrival in Haifa. Arriving at 10am, crew couldn’t get off the ship until 12, unless they were escorting the tours! Great! David, Camila, Luci and I were hoping to run to the supermarket before going out on tour. However, we didn’t find this out until we were on the gangway and getting called back by senior security who told us to go back onto the ship!

Fede was shooting Sanela who was dressed as the dolphin. Their counts were very low. Sanela wasn’t putting in any effort to get the guests to have their photo taken. Fede was smudging as much as he could but it was like flogging a dead horse! He was getting nowhere. Sandra had more counts on the rail which is a real rarity.

Getting back onto the ship, we went for something to eat before going to the Savoy Theatre to get our tour group. Ritesh, Camila and I who were going on the same tour. Fabio would be going on another a little later on. 

Speaking to someone from Explorations! we later found out that I wasn’t on a Spanish tour and Camila wasn’t on a Brazilian (Portuguese speaking) bus. This kind of buggered things up! The South Americans love having their photos taken and will buy almost everything. The Americans and Europeans won’t. We were in for a hard job getting people to have their photo taken.

Meeting my tour guide I asked if he could let everyone know I’m the ship's photographer and if anyone wanted the photo taken, to give me a call. In return Amir asked if I could email him some photos of himself working. Of course I would. 

Getting onto the bus, he introduced me saying “We have Lou here, our tour escort and photographer for today so if you want photos, go to her. Call her over.” The more I spoke to Amir, the more I liked him. He was very knowledgeable and a pleasure to talk to. The group I was with on tour were also a delight. Some people were a little off but overall, they were a great bunch.

On our second stop we arrived at one of the places I really wanted to visit. The previous day I’d pointed it out to Luci. Today I got my wish, we were finally at the Bahia Gardens… but could only get a look in from the top. Still, beggars can’t be choosers. 

The views from Mount Carmel were breath taking! Grabbing my camera, I positioned myself on the steps where I had a great view of Haifa city and the cruise ship in the background. Smudging like crazy, my image count soon started heading up and up. While photographing guests I was also taking my own photos of the gardens, temple, city and ship. I was photographing everything! The Bahia Gardens are stunning. A real must-see if you ever go to Israel.

Moving on, we to The Stella Maris Church where we spend about 30 minutes listening to our tour guide giving us a somewhat overly informative history of the place. As interesting as it was, the temperature was soaring and the guests were growing tiresome. They wanted to see the places rather than know the history of it all.

We arrived in Acre or Akko, as the Israeli’s call it, and went into the tunnels running under the town, that were discovered only 15 years ago. A lady had a problem with her plumbing and called the plumber. The plumber started pulling up the flooring to get to the problem and came across the tunnels. More and more is slowly being excavated with new findings on a weekly basis. I cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of the tunnels. 

You’re given an over load of information while on tours and it’s sometimes so hard to remember it all. Or, put each name to the location. 

Going through the tunnel was quite amusing. I was the shortest on the tour and people in front of me where having to bend down to get through the passage ways. Me, being 5’1, I just walked straight through without a problem!! There were two occasions where I had to bend down for a short period of time. At one point I thought an American guest was going to have to get on his hands and knees to crawl through a passage!! He had to bend down for the entire walk through the tunnels. You see, there are some advantages to being a short arse!

Thankfully, the tours in Haifa were only half day compared to the usual 12-13 hour tours. Heading back to the ship, I wanted to get a group photo. I told the tour guide so he could get into the photo as well. He announced the group photo idea on the microphone and even told the guys to stand on the left of the bus. Amir was fantastic getting everyone together. All I had to do is get people to move in and take the photo. Overall it was a great day.

Bahai Gardens, Haifa, Israel

Bahai Gardens and Haifa Port

Our Tour Guide

Ciry of Haifa and Mariner of the Seas

Tunnels of Acre

 At about 23.30 Camila called and asked if I was ready for the all crew party. I’d completely forgotten about it!! Climbing into the dress I’d bought in Kusadasi and painting my face as quickly as possible, we were all ready to go. Fabio and Zoran were filling themselves up on vodka and red bull and said they’d join us later. Camila was borrowing my Greek Goddess dress.

I’d never been inside Dragon’s Lair before. It’s the ship’s night club for guests. By 00.30 the place was packed with crew dolled up to the nines and dancing the night away. Of course, being photographers, we took one of the cameras and started snapping away. The drinks were in full flow at crew prices and it wasn’t long until we all hit the dance floor.

At one point Camila and I went back to the photographer’s corridor in search of Fabio and Zoran, they still hadn’t made an appearance. 

Fabio thought it’d be funny to give me Stu’s Israel visa “as a souvenir”. Somehow we got onto the subject of Stu and sat around chatting for a bit. Me and Zoran got a bit emotional, well, mainly me. Zoran told me a few things that I didn’t know. I don’t know everything, he’s saving that for another day when he’s sober and can talk properly. It made me understand a few things that had happened but I won’t go into that. Zoran and I sat about in the cabin for about an hour reminiscing about the good times when Stu was around. The  random crap we used to get up to during the night, after work. 

One thing was for sure, some things might be easier and more relaxed but both Zoran and I really miss Stu. We miss coming back to the cabin after work, sitting about, talking and laughing. I miss the stories from South Africa, random jokes and dancing eyebrows. Picking ourselves back up, we both headed to Dragon’s Lair with Zoran’s missus in tow.

Towards the end of the night, the party was in full swing and a rather large amount of booze had been consumed by most! All the photographer’s along with a couple of the guys from shops and girls from Spa were dancing together in a group. 

Later on, everyone had paired up with their other halves. Turning around, David and Regina were slobbering over each other. Looking the other way, Fabio had got his wish and was munching Camila’s face. Zoran was doing the same with his girlfriend. 

Whitney tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the side of the dance floor. There was a couple laying on the sofa chairs, drunk as skunks and almost getting down and dirty!! My mouth dropped open before I burst out laughing!! 

Everyone was with someone and Whitney and I were the only singletons on the dance floor!! We were the only ones without a guy or girl on the ship. So, making a joke of it, we decided we’d be a couple for the night and spent the last three or four songs dancing together having a giggle. Thierry from Shops kept coming over, dancing on me and getting a little too raunchy. Luckily enough for me, people from Photo and Whitney kept spotting it and dragging me away to dance with them. No matter how much I moved away from him, he’d follow. They all had a good laugh at my expense… and I’m not going to lie. I found it hilarious… he was too drunk to take a hint.

Calling it a night at 4am, I left the others to it and headed to bed. I had the morning off in Ashdod for selling the most GTP and 15 Packages (12 GTP and 7 15’s) and wanted to make the most of it. Hernan also had the day off for taking the most couple shots in Ressi. All in all, it was a fantastic night!!

Camila, Me, David & Sandra

Sandra & David

Me & Ashleigh

The Dave!

Fede, Sandra, Dave and Whitney at Dragon's Lair

The Dave, Sandrita and Hernan

Fede and Sandra

Fede and David

Sandra and Ashleigh (Spa)

Our Two Favourite Spa Girls - Whitney and Ashleigh

Brothers from Another Mother

Raissa (Bar)

Gina (Spa) and Hernan

Rafa (Shops)

Eve (Spa) and Fede

Sandra and Fede having a dance

Couples Dancing - David and Regina

Sandra, me and David

"Couple" for the Night: Me and Whitney

Regina, David, Thierry and Me

Me and Fede

Fede and Sandra

Group Hug!

Me and Whitney

Sandra, Camila, The Dave, Lou, Annek & Ritesh

Half-Way Point!

Half-Way Point!

13^th April 2011

Here we are, still at sea and cruising to Haifa. This is our second sea day. 

The previous night was formal night which didn’t go to plan. Things were slow, we didn’t get as many photos as we needed so we’ll have to make up for the counts elsewhere. 

After the second Ressi Jomar told us there’d be no pizza as the crew members making it are still kicking up a fuss. Of course we kicked up a fuss as it meant most of us hadn’t eaten for round 15 hours. Jomar’s suggestion was that we were all to close our studios at 11.20, download our images and head straight up to Johnny Rockets where he’d be taking care of the bill. 

Later we found out it was Jomar's birthday as a treat he wanted to take the team to Johnny Rockets! Happy Belated Birthday to the Big Boss Man!!

Getting back to today, I’d been in the gallery for most of it, and managed to sell quite a few photo packages. I think it’s around five or six but I’m hoping to upgrade them all to a bigger package (more expensive) at a later date. The GTP where all photos are put onto a CD is causing everyone so much aggravation so I’ve given up pushing it. I’ll upgrade at a later date if there’s a cause for it. Until then, I’m pushing the smaller package which is straight forward and brings next to no hassle.

While in the gallery, Jomar and Luci told me I was switching the evening with Camila. There’d been a major change in the schedule. There was to be a crew table sale. We’d be selling alongside the shoppies. 

We originally had 20 cameras to sell but Luci sold one just before going down to the table sale.  I only had one model to sell and I had no idea which camera it was! Was I worried? Hell yes! Taking five minutes before the sale, I looked over the camera and had a play. I knew enough to push the camera and it was a freaking great compact too! 

With 19 units to sell at a discounted price, I was determined to flog the lot!! Playing around with the camera I was tempted to buy one for myself. The Olympus camera had a 12.5x zoom, numerous “magic” setting such as fish eye, pin hole, punk etc. It was an excellent camera and for $199.95, it was a bit of a steal. If there are any left after the sale…

Soon there was a huge buzz around my table and people were snapping the cameras up with memory cards and cases. They were flying off the table and Luci couldn’t bring down the receipts quick enough. It was mainly the Filipinos that were buying the cameras.

One guy made me laugh! He asked me what was good about the camera, so I told him. The guy then had the audacity to tell me “you’re only saying that because you’re selling the camera. Olympus is shit. Nikon is a good camera”. I told him that yes, although Nikon is a good BRAND of camera, Olympus is excellent and still one of the top selling brand. I also pointed out that the price was good and today would be the only day that crew would be able to buy cameras at a discounted price. He turned around to me, sneered and said “yeah yeah, whatever man. What would you know about cameras?” Erm… hello! Last time I checked I was the one with “PHOTOGRAPHER” on my name badge while yours says “CABIN ATTENDANT”. I had to laugh in the guy’s face… what a retarded comment to make!!

At the end of the night, things started to slow down and we had three cameras left to sell. I spotted a friend from Spa and called her over. She wanted the camera but only had cash. All transactions had to be made on Crew ID Cards. Sod it! Taking the money, I charged for the camera on my sea pass card. 

By the end of the night we only had one camera left, the display camera. The place was dead by 23.30 and Luci was tired and called it a night. So in the space of three and a half hours I’d managed to sell 18 cameras along with numerous memory cards and cases. It’s a shame I couldn’t get rid of the last one but it was still a job well done! 

Upstairs eight cameras had been sold which bought a total of just over $8,000 in. We’d succeeded our camera sales target and it was only day 3 of the cruise.

In the end I decided against buying the camera. As much as I wanted it, my parents bought me a Canon compact camera a year and a half ago for my 23^rd birthday. Plus when I go out, I use my Canon EOS 400D as well as my compact. Although my Canon compact might not be the latest model or have all the mod cons like the ones we are selling, it’s still a good camera and does its job. 

Looking back on it, I’m still 50/50 about buying the camera so it’s a good job I didn’t buy it. Plus, why buy a compact camera when you are saving up for a Canon 5D Mark II?

Towards the end of the night Ritesh informed us all that it was his birthday. He used my sea pass card to buy some after shave. Later on, we divided the amount up between the rest of the team and split the bill. We did the same for Jomar’s late birthday present.

Handing me some money, Ritesh insisted on buying drinks for everyone on back deck. His card was blocked so the money was going on my sea pass card. After paying for a camera, two bottles of aftershave and cigarettes I was $-408!!! Getting the money I was owed, I shoved it all onto my card to get out of the red. Fede brought his Canon 5D to back deck and we all had a laugh, taking photos, having a drink and celebrating Ritesh’s birthday.

Ritesh’s birthday wasn’t the only thing we were celebrating. On the 13^th April, Hernan and I joined the Mariner of the Seas in Rhodes. Today is our three month “anniversary”. We’d been working on the ship for three months. We’d finally reached our half way point and that in itself deserved a drink… any excuse hey!? The night rolled on into the small hours of the morning. 

Calling it a night at 3am, some of us had to be up early for tour and others would be on the gangway. It’d be our last visit to Israel so I intended to go trigger-happy on the guests while taking as many photos for myself and family as I possible could.

Whitney (Spa) and Sandra

Sandra, Fede and Whitney

Drinks at Back Deck - David and Sandra

Sandra, Camila, Whitney and Fabio

Luci & Sandra

The Girls - Sanela, Camila, Luci, Sandra and Lou

Back Deck: Sandra, Fede, Whitney and Fabio

Fede, Luci, Jomar, Fabio. Sandra, Camila and Myself

Smudge! Smudge! Smudge!

Smudge, Smudge, Smudge

21^st June 2011

Today we all had an early start. Mariner of the Seas is docked in Haifa, Israel and we needed to get a good image count. 

Haifa gangway is like a zoo, a madhouse! After Israel, things go to pot, our image counts, gallery purchases and profits go down the pan. The guests either tighten the grip on their wallets or run out of money from buying too much holy water, or both. 

This was the final push so we doubled up. Jeni was shooting the ring, I was on the rail and Stu was smudging for us both. David is the “new age” camel. Stu can no longer dress up as the camel because, according to Mike, he’s naturally too tall and wearing the camel’s head takes him up to something loopy like 7 foot. There’s too much of a gap between the guests and camel’s head. Shooting the camel was Fede.

Stu started smudging for me until I had a reasonable count while Jeni was struggling. He switched to Jeni to give her a hand. Reuben soon came over and started helping me smudge. During a quiet moment on the gangway he checked my images for faithful exposures and cropping. A mad rush came with everyone running around like headless chickens looking for their tour buses. Reuben started shooting and between us we smudged as much as possible. 

I’m far more comfortable smudging in Spanish. For some reason, I find it so hard in English. When speaking in Spanish I have no shame, naturally wave my hands around and speak louder (or shout) than I do in English. At one point Stu got a bit pissed at me for not smudging enough. Someone's always got to complain.

Towards the end of our four hour stint on gangway, Mike came out from the ship and told me to follow him. Reuben picked up the ring Jeni was using and carried it down to the opposite end of the ship. 

The ring was set up so the guests were close up foreground and the entire length (or 95%) of the Mariner of the Seas in the background. Some port agents apparently don’t allow you to go that far away from the ship if you’re working so Mike had to clear it with Israeli security first.

For the next hour and 15 minutes I was roasting in the Israeli sun like a chicken!! None of us bother slapping on suncream in Haifa as the ship always provides us with shade for the entire gangway stint. Big mistake! There was a small area of shade, provided by the terminal's roof ledge, that I was running to for refuge during breaks from guests getting off the ship. 

Stu came down with a bottle of water and to see how I was getting on. There was about 45 minutes left so he stood around keeping me company and doing the odd bit of smudging. Most of the time he took the pee out of my accent and how I say “photo”. He’s South African though… he isn’t one to talk!! Nowadays if I tell him to repeat “yes” or “off” in his thick South African accent, he tells me to fuck off!! Charming. I guess it does contain the word "off"...

The images I was getting were bloody good though so I took a couple of stock shot like images to put on the blog and send to the parents. Slowly but surely I was back to racking up more images.

Once gangway was over we all headed back onto the ship. Stu and I went upstairs for munch while the others went back to bed for a few hours. 

I had until 17.30 off so it was a chance for me to get my washing done. Borrowing Stu’s detergent I managed to get it all done relatively quickly! Sara (Mexico) the singer from Boleros said there’s a cheap supermarket nearby the port. Chucking my lights into the dryer and darks into a bag, I ran off towards my cabin to drop everything off. 

While charging down the I-95 I bumped into Jorge from Explorations! He was being transferred tomorrow to work in the Baltics and needed to bue a suitcase. We arranged to meet on the gangway in five minutes to find a suitcase and get some shopping in. 

Finding the suitcase was much easier than finding a supermarket. There are plenty of clothes, leather and delicatessen shops. Finally we found a supermarket that looked more like a garage from the outside. Everything was so much cheaper than in Europe so I made the most out of it, keeping in mind that I had to carry it all back to the ship. I finally managed to find washing detergent, a 3litre bottle of Persil for $6. In Europe it’d cost you an arm and a leg! Next time we need shopping, we’ll save it until we’re in Haifa.

Back on the ship I had a couple of hours to spare but didn’t quite know what to do with myself. Stu was now on his private tour with the large, Honeymoon family. Jeni was catching up on her beauty sleep. Hernan, Fede, Sandra and Eve were at the beach. I’d had enough sun for the day and decided against going to the beach. The last thing I needed was a lobster red body followed by shedding my skin like a snake!!

Making the most out of the time I jumped into bed for what was supposed to be an two hours and turned into three and a half. Gathering my stuff up I headed to Back Deck for a while. I’ve been a bit behind with my blog updates due to our hectic schedules.

When we are in port we can’t sell a lot of our products due to tax reasons. So today I was surprised when Reuben put me on table sale to sell cameras. Once everything was on the trolley to take up to Deck 11 we said we couldn’t sell anything until we were out of the port and asked what we were supposed to do. Reuben hadn’t realized that sail away was 22.00 and it was now 17.30. Either way, I had to set up and just promote what we had to offer. I had to turn a couple of people away as I couldn’t sell them a camera. 

During the evening, a guest came back to purchase a camera and mentioned my name so the commission would go to me. Someone else came back to the gallery and bought one from Stu. It’s kind of frustrating when you’ve pretty much sold a camera but can’t close and charge because you’re in port. It’s worse when they buy from someone else and you loose your minimal commission of $4

Reuben has also confirmed that he has a definite date as to when he’ll be leaving the ship. Our previous manager Jomar will be returning to the Mariner of the Seas from vacation. Reuben is being transferred to the Oasis of the Seas. Although Rueben likes the small team - Oasis of the Seas has 27 photographers while Mariner of the Seas has a team of 10 photogs - he’s pleased to be going to Oasis. Fantastic money, or so I'm told. Not many people can say they’ve been the manager to a team of photographers on the second biggest cruise ship in the world. Reuben will be disembarking in Kusadasi in three days. 

Good luck to him.

Smudger: Stu on the Rail (with half the Ring)

And there's the other half of the ring

David The Camel, Haifa (Israel)

Character & Shooter - David & Fede

Our BM Reuben

Reuben & Mariner of the Seas, Haifa (Israel)

Mike & Reuben - Sample Shot

The Set Up

Laundry Mayhem

Laundry Mayhem

30^th May 2011

The captain of the ship has switched our days in Israel around. Originally we were in Haifa and then Ashdod. Both Israeli ports are big tour days for us photographers, so we all had to be on top form. 

Last night was formal night and we all went to bed at about 2am so getting up at 6am was a real challenge. Most of the team were on tour. Stu was dressed up as the camel on the gangway with Fabio shooting. Jeni was on the rail while I was working with Zoran on life ring. Rather than both trying to shoot, I let him have a go and just smudged for him. Even though I’m not the greatest myself it gave him an idea of what to say rather than “can I take your photo?” To be honest, Zoran seems pretty cool.

Poor Zoran was supposed to join us in Civitavecchia but Image made a real muck up of his flight. Zoran's flight left him with very little time to get from the airport to the port. I'm told it's about an hour and a half to two hour drive from the port. Just as Zoran arrived at the port, Mariner of the Seas was sailing away to our next port of call. Funnily enough, Zoran wasn't alone. A guest's flight had been delayed. Luckily enough the two weren't completely on their own and ended up sharing a hotel room for the night. Both made the most of being in Rome and did a bit of sightseeing during the evening.

The next day, both Zoran and the guest, who I think is from Ireland, got the train from Rome to Naples to meet the Mariner. What a journey, especially if you are a new hire! At least Zoran didn't have to do it all alone! Likewise for the guest, of course.

Later on Zoran went to training so I was shooting the ring. So many people said they’d had their photo taken on the rail which has a life ring so they didn’t want another of the same taken. Point taken. I started smudging for Jeni on the rail.

At 9.30 there were only 356 passengers left on board. We stayed until 10 before calling it a day and heading in. In total we had about 600 images – mostly from the camel. We were now off until 16.00 when we’d all be heading to the gallery to display the images from gangway, decks, formal night ressi and studios.

There was no point going out as there was nothing to do in Israel unless you are on tour or have plenty of time off. Everything is so spread out, we’d spend a fortune on taxis. The shuttle bus only took you to the beach and shopping centre where the park is located.

We were going to go to the park but David’s been ill for the past couple of days. He was feeling ill for a while and when he went to the medical his blood pressure was going through the roof. The on-shore doctor gave him pills and he’s had about five injections. The injections have actually made his arm cramp and seize up so now he's wearing a sling. He's had more medication inside him than a chemist has to offer!!

Most of the crew had gone on the crew tour to the Dead Sea. We obviously couldn’t go as they left while we were on gangway and returning well after we were due in the gallery. It’s a shame but I took the opportunity to get my washing done. How fun am I? If only it was that easy. I had to wait nearly 2 hours to get my hands on a washing machine!! 

For 1,300 odd crew members there were only 7 washing machines and dryers. Two washing machines and dryers were out of order. Putting the washing in the dryer I had to put it on two cycles to get everything dry. By then I had to leave for work. 

While in the gallery I got a call from a Chilean/Spanish crew member to say he’d taken my laundry out the machine, put it in my bags and told me where I could find it. He was worried some of my clothes might go missing as 3 guys started pulling it out the dryer and chucking it around!! It's a fact of ship life that I hate. So many crew members have little or no respect for other people's things. It's even been known for people's washing, or at least certain items, to go missing!

The rest of the evening was a bit of a boring blur. Display took about two hours and there were five of us in the gallery with no guests. The guests were still on tour so we had a laugh at some of the gangway images and mucked about a bit. You'd be surprised by some of the images we take. Or should that be: the memories we capture?

Talking to Stu he said he wanted to wear his armour tomorrow as Rhodes would be next tour. I suggested dressing up as a Crusader as they occupied Haifa at one point. 

Later during the evening he called me to his cabin to tell the about the costume he’d thought up. He was reluctant to show me but put the armour on and cape over his clothes. I’d have to wait to see the entire costume tomorrow in all its glory.

Using our name badges we fastened a bed sheet to his shirt to act as a cape for the meantime. The entire costume did look good so tomorrow should be great! It’d give us a glimpse of what we have in store for Rhodes. 

As most people are on tours they are less likely to have their photo taken as they are rushing towards their buses. Hopefully, with this costume being that little extra special, we'll get people willing to stop and get their photo taken with our Crusader. I’m on tour tomorrow and will be leading the guests towards our tour bus. I'll conveniently lead them over towards Stuart, act like I'm waiting for people to catch up while the others get their photos taken.

May Peace Be With You...

May Peace Be With You...

4^th May 2011

Yep, today was the Holy Tour! Mariner of the Seas is in Haifa on the north west coast of Isreal. Here’s a bit of information on the city: Haifa is the third largest city and is situated along the Bay of Haifa overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The city has a population of approximately 240,000 inhabitants and spread over three levels of the northern slopes of Mount Carmel. At the top of the summit are the finest properties and hotels. It is often referred to as the “San Francisco of the Middle East”.

The information guide Royal Caribbean published says the city is “a pleasant, sophisticated modern city with two universities, numerous museums, parks, gardens and theatres.” It is also the centre of international trade “commerce and heavy industry”. Haifa’s port is the largest in Israel. The main industries are steel foundaries, food processing, the production of chemicals, textiles and cement. From what I’ve been told there are a few good beaches and large number of religious historical sites throughout the region.

Now for some history. This information was taken from the information guide provided by Royal Caribbean.

“Haifa is first mentioned in the Talmud around the 1^st to 4^th Century A.D. when it was referred to as Sykaminos, Elijah. The Hebrew prophet fled to this city to escape the wrath of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, hiding in a cave near the waterfront. In 1100 the town was conquered by the Crusaders who then called it Caiphas. The Crusaders built the first of several monasteries above Elijah’s cave.

Napoleonic forces took over the city in 1799 and in 1893 Ibrahim Pasha, the great Egyptian general and viceroy captured the Haifa. In 1840 the city surrendered to Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. Close to the end of World War I, in 1918, the British forces occupied the city. This is also the time of the legendary Lawrence of Arabia. In the 1930’s the massive immigration of Jews seeking refuge from Nazism in Europe bought many to Haifa where they became the majority in a formerly Arab dominated city. In 1933 the deep water port was developed under British mandate while in 1939 Haifa’s petroleum refineries were constructed. During the Palestine War of 1948-49 Haifa, which its key port and industries became important to both Arab and Jewish defence forces who fought to control the city. The Arabs surrendered in April 1949 and Haifa was the first territory secured after the Israeli declaration of independence and it became the early industrial centre of the young country Israel.”

This is probably one of the most religious tours we have, after all we are working on the Holy Cruises. The tour Nazareth and Galilee – Jesus Ministry would take approximately 9.5 hours. We’d stop off at Galilee, the region where Jesus spent his youth, River Jordan, Mount of Beatitude, Tabgha, Capernaum and Nazareth.

We all had to obey the following instructions: “Guests should dress conservatively when visiting sacred sites. Clothing should cover the shoulders and knees.”

The bus drove us to a tourist site located next to the River Jordan. The site contained everything religious possible: holy water, sand from the holy land, thorn crowns (with certificates of authenticity – how, I’ll never know) key rings, magnets, jewellery, bibles etc. In the River Jordan people were baptizing themselves. It’s US$50 to baptize yourself and you receive a certificate too. How authentic the certificate is, I’ll never know. There were two tour buses with Koran guests. According to Fede about 50% of the Koran guests were baptised!! Everything was incredibly expensive so many people were steering clear, especially crew. The brave hearted ones were racking up enormous bills. Everywhere you looked there were numerous signs, leaflets, billboards etc. featuring the same phrase: MAY PEACE BE WITH YOU.

Taking photos was quite challenging at times. We were at locations from anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes.

The tour guide was always on the go walking to the next segment of the tour or back to the bus. People thought if they stopped for a photo they’d lose sight of their group. It did happen on a couple of occasions.

I’ve got a few photos which I’ll upload. Next time I go on this tour I’ll be more prepared as to where to take photos, know my way around better and more information on each site. Luci gave me some good tips on how to get people to have their photo taken when they are on the go. I’ll have to remember it for next time.

By the time we all got back, around 18.00h we were all completely shattered. At 23.30 we had retail training (they know how to choose their times!) Although some of it was useful, I knew most of it from working for an estate agency. Having said that, selling properties is very different from cameras. The tactics are different. Plus, I need to study the pros and cons, features and benefits of each of the cameras we have on sale. Not only that, we need to memorize as many of the PLU codes as possible. When the training ended at 02.00 hardly anyone could keep their eyes open.

Tomorrow we are in Ashdod, Israel which is roughly an hour away from Haifa. All the guys who went on tour will be on gangway and gallery tomorrow. The others will be escorting tours in Ashdod.

Non Stop

Non Stop

3^rd May 2011

Today has been pretty much non-stop. After a couple of hours sleep, it was up at 8 am for training. We only found out the night before that we had training. As I was walking past the message board on my way to S.O.B I saw my name at the bottom of the list. Hernan, Retish (our new AMP) and I had training from 9-10am. Great!

Trying to wake Hernan up was a challenge. He wasn’t even in his own cabin. Ringing somebody else's cabin was rather awkward to say the least! There was a bit of a switch around last night due to some bed hopping – welcome to ship life! Ship life really is a knocking shop at sea!

Just as I was walking into the training room I heard the trainer saying “Don’t worry, I understand if the photogs haven’t been told about the training. Let them sleep. I’d rather they do their training another day with plenty of notice than them falling asleep in class”… just as I was about to turn around and sneak out the door she caught me. “Lou, you’re photo aren’t you? Oh good, the others must be coming then, right?” I double checked David wasn’t on the training list (he thought he was). The lucky git went back to bed for a few hours. Before that though David to run and wake the new AMP up. Poor guy didn’t realize he had training. In the end, we all made it to training – as for falling asleep, a few of our heads were nodding. Marlene (Guatemala) from Guests Relations fell asleep a couple of times. She’d just finished a night shift and was sent straight to training.

The training went on until 10.45. As it is a sea day there’s very little to do so catching up on sleep seemed to be the best option. At 12.15 I was up and getting ready for a four hour stint in the gallery. I’ve sold quite a few folios, 2 cameras (2 in one morning), camera cases and memory cards this cruise. After an hour break it was back into the gallery for another two hours. Today my 2-4 hour stints in the gallery are split up by 1 hour breaks. Handy.

Now I’m on my 2 hour dinner break before I go through to 12.30 or 01.00. Including training I’ll have been on the go 11-12 hours.

Tomorrow we are in Haifa, Israel and I’m out again shooting tours. I thought the tour in Greece was tiring. This time we are all sent to separate places and my tour will last 9.5 hours. I’m so glad I get the evening off. I’ve got to head back to the gallery before retail training so I’ll try and get some more details on tomorrow tour.

**UPDATE**

Retail training has been moved to tomorrow. There was a crew only show tonight in the Savoy theatre. By the time I finished work and showered the show had already started. A little later I headed down to the lab. Fede was going to give me a hand with cropping: a few tips and how much space to leave and how the final image would look after cropping. Let’s hope I do better next time. He did say my positioning and exposure were excellent so I’m happy about that. Positioning people and getting the exposure right can be hard in Ressi as there’s not always a lot of space to maneuver. Sometimes getting further away from your subject isn’t always an option.

Jeni had to lend me a short sleeve top for tomorrow. In Haifa the tours are all based upon religion. At all religious sites everyone, without fail, must cover their knees and shoulders. All but one of my shirts have sleeves and guess what? It’s in the dirty washing (my suitcase is my dirty washing basket now). So next time we are at port I’m going to have a look around the shops for a few short sleeve tops as I’ll no doubt be doing the tours again.

As Jeni and I have both been complaining about how fat we’ve become we decided to finally do something about it… rather than just talk about it. It was midnight. We headed up onto Deck 12 where there is a mile long running track circling the swimming pools and spa. As we are so terribly unfit we only jogged for 15 minutes and walked a couple of laps to cool down. It was quite hard running against a strong wind, you don’t seem to get anywhere. It’s more like you’re jogging on the spot! After jogging we headed down to the Crew Mess for juice and cereals (as you do). By the time we headed back to our cabins it was about 2am… waking up tomorrow at 6am for the tour is going to be a real nightmare!! Wish me luck!