Indonesian Independence Day

Indonesian Independence Day

17^th August 2011

Why do formal nights always fall on the same day as the big crew parties? Tonight is both formal night and the Indonesian Independence Party on Back Deck. It was going to be a long day!

First up Sandra and I were on gangway as Spanish Flamenco dancers. Zoran and Sandra were paired up and were working the Savoy Theatre before joining Fabio and myself on the gangway. 

As soon as Fabio and I stepped on the gangway we had problems from none other than La Bruja. To everyone else that’s the new M&R who made the last one seem reasonable! This M and R obviously didn’t care about revenue and only about the guests. She takes the whole “Guest is King” thing way too seriously.

Standing on the entrance of gangway we saw her watching us and it wasn’t long until she came swanning over with all her airs and graces telling us we couldn’t stand where we were. We had to stand at least 15 metres from the gangway entrance so we didn’t block the guests. Partially blocking the guests so they have to have photo taken is part of our job. 

The guests were slowly trickling out so I walked over to one, smudging “let’s get your picture” with my arms open. They took their picture. Again, she came over shouting "get back". The question I was getting asked was “do all English people take the rules too far?” Pretty much all the managers I’ve met and worked with in England take their jobs and rules way too seriously so yeah, maybe!

A few more guests came out so I walked over again. Jomar told us not to pay too much attention to La Bruja (the witch) and for us to get on with our job and get the counts. This was going too far though. She came over and stood in front of me telling the guests to go straight ahead and get on the shuttle bus. 

More guests were coming out now and there was a steady flow. As she stood in front of me she was repeating the same things like a broken record. Fabio watched on shaking his head. There was nothing we could do but keep the distance and do what she ordered. We’d probably lost about 70 shots by the time she’d finished waffling on about this, that and the other.

As time we on we were slowly and I mean slowly, racking up counts. Both her and the Italian Activities Manager were ushering people to go straight past us and get onto the bus. La Bruja came over a few more times to have a go moaning we weren’t keeping our distance. 

One young female guest came out and laughed that she didn’t want her picture taken. Joking about, I ran after her and grabbed onto her arm saying “oh yes you do!” She started laughing and turned to have her picture taken. As she turned around she nearly bashed into La Bruja. Here she was again to tell us what we can and cannot do. “You cannot touch the guests or grab them. The girl didn’t want to be touched by you. It’s something Brand Quality picked up on. You’re too forceful on the guests.” She rambled on. 

Going back to our jobs she came over and announced we were not allowed to smudge. We couldn’t tell the guests to have their photo taken but ask them. “Would you like to have your photo taken?” If they didn’t, we were to direct them towards the shuttle bus. So we couldn’t block the guests, touch them or smudge anyone in for a photo. Basically we had to get a 500 image count by simply asking people if they want their photo taken. Did she really think that was possible?

If she’d seen what Zoran and I were like in Chania, Crete she’d have thrown a fit!! We were chasing the guests up and down the gangway, running around like headless chickens. I was grabbing the guests that day. Grabbing them by the arms and turning them around towards the camera. It was all in good nature and the guests were laughing their heads off having a great time. They loved it. Some ran away and when we chased them a bit, they stopped and had their photo taken simply because we’d been daft enough to run after them. Guests then followed suit and everyone had a laugh. That’s what gangway is all about. The pictures from that particular Chania, sold. Not necessarily because the pictures were good, they remembered the laughs they’d had. As Image always says “We are here the capture memories”.

Sandra and Zoran soon came out to replace us. They’d had a break before coming onto gangway. We were going to rotate Flamenco dancers as the gangway was too small for two. The sun was beating down on us and the Flamenco dresses were so heavy. Neither Sandra or I sweat buckets but this day we were. Beads of sweat were trickling down our backs and foreheads. The air conditioning of the ship was welcomed with open arms. During the 15 minute break I quickly downed a can of Fanta in an attempt to wake up. Fabio downed two vodka and red bulls.

Heading out again and La Bruja had been over to Sandra and Zoran about the way they were working even though we’d passed on the message. She was getting on the guests nerves too shouting at them which way to go and then changing her mind, sending everyone in the opposite direction.

During one of my gangway breaks I laid down on Zoran’s bed and fell asleep. Fabio had to wake me up 10 minutes later. I was shattered, sweating like a pig and getting grazes on my shoulders and hips from the dress. 

Back outside and M&R finally left the gangway. As soon as she was out of sight we ran to the entrance of the gangway and did everything we weren’t supposed to do: smudging, grabbing and blocking the guests. In 30 minutes we had taken 120 images. Compare that to the 10 we took in 1 hour of asking the guests if they’d like their photo taken. The woman was out of her mind. 

By the end of gangway we had hit our target but boy, we worked our arses off in the last hour and a half to get those counts. You lose your dignity and respect for anyone and start throwing your arms around everyone, catching and pulling them in for a photo.

Back inside and Sandra and I took a quick shower before heading back off the ship. We needed to get to Carrefour which was a good 20 minutes away. As soon as we stepped outside the sun was beating down on us and the humidity was making everyone break out in a sticky sweat.

Today was also Zoran’s 28^th birthday so we needed to get him a present and vodka, the original plan turned into the last resort present. Popping into Carrefour Sandra bought a Canon compact camera for €89. There’s no way we’d pay the prices the ships are asking for!! Tax or no tax. Getting a few bits and pieces we didn’t have long so we headed straight to Springfield. Looking around we were trying to judge Zoran’s clothing size. I found a cap for €3.95 down from 15.95€. In the end we walked out with a t-shirt, long shorts and a blue belt for Zoran. 

Back on the ship and we had just over an hour to sleep. We definitely needed our beauty sleep, especially if we wanted to go out afterwards. It’s a good job we don’t have windows in our cabins or else my phone would have gone flying through it when the alarm went off!!!

I was back shooting and situated on the Centrum on Deck 5. We managed to finish Ressi off early so Hernan and I quickly ran down to Back Deck for a cigarette and drink. I told him that some of the guys from Laundry had asked me to bring my camera. Turns out, he’d been asked by one of the party organizers if he’d take photos that night. Hernan asked me if I wanted to join him taking photos which I was more than happy to do. I was over excited about the prospect. It’d make a change taking photos of people who want to be photographed. We called the organizer to let him know that I was coming along and we’d split the money 50/50. One of us needed to be there at midnight – that would be the troublesome part.

At the end of the night, I quickly broke down my studio at 11.15 instead of 11.30. There was a parade going on so my shooting area was completely choca-blocked with guests. There was no way I’d be able to take anyone’s photo until after the parade and by then we’d be due to close. 

Hernan bought my studio case up and we rapidly chucked everything inside before taking it to the lift. We partially dismantled Sandra’s studio on Deck 5 too. It was 11.40 and I needed to leave. Hernan was going to cover me if any questions were asked.

Running to the lab Ritesh lent me his Nikon flash gun and some batteries. David lent me his Nikon D300 and lens so there was no Image equipment involved. Both Ritesh and David would be popping down later.

Arriving on Back Deck I phone the organizer who couldn’t hear a word I was saying over the noise. It wasn’t long until Edi spotted me and came walking over with a beer. 

All of a sudden music came blaring out from the speakers and all the Indonesians darted to the projector screen. The Indonesian flag appeared on the projector screen that they’d formed a semi-circle around. All saluting, they began singing their National Anthem. Although it may not seem like such a big thing, if you’d have been there you’d know exactly what I’m talking about. I didn’t know there was so many Indonesians on board – mainly because they work behind the scenes. Just seeing them all singing their National Anthem and the atmosphere surrounding them was immense. I know many British people who don’t even know their own National Anthem. The Indonesians were so patriotic and proud of their country!

After the anthem Edi called me over to where the other guys in Laundry were. Standing on a chair they were about to start the traditional Indonesian belly dance. It’s completely different to the sort of belly dancing we are used to simply because the girls weren’t half naked!! Most of their belly was covered. The belly dance went on for about 10 minutes. The traditional clothes are absolutely lovely. The girls looked great. 

Next came another traditional dance which was called something like the Kayak Dance. There were a couple of men in the middle with the two girls. Surrounding them were topless men with small white lines on their foreheads. They were all chanting and waving their hands in the air. If you haven’t seen it before, Google it. It’s worth watching.

As soon as the traditional side was over the live music started. Quite a few of the Indonesian crew members had formed bands. Each of the bands (I think there was about 4) took it in turns to do a few numbers - mainly well known rock songs. Some were better than others but it all just added to the great atmosphere. The atmosphere really was electric!!  98% of the Indonesians were up jumping, dancing around and having a blast.

While all this was going on Hernan had joined me and we were both running around getting photos of everyone. Hernan was jumping up on stage photographing the band (drummer, guitarist and lead singer). 

As soon as we told one person we were taking their photo about 10 or more others would jump in. Everyone wanted their photo taken which is fantastic from a photographer’s point of view, especially as our current job consists of mass rejection. Within no time I had 160 images while Hernan had about 220. 

While we were taking endless photos, Indonesians kept coming up to us with bottles of beer, thanking us for coming to their party and taking photos! All the Indonesians were so friendly!

Most of the Indonesians work out the back, meaning they all had to be up at some ridiculous time in the morning. At 01.30 the party had ended and everyone started scattering about to help clean up the place, take down the decorations etc. 

Hernan and I took the opportunity to quickly get some of the free Indonesian food – there wasn’t much left but what we tried was lovely. Spicy but really nice. 

Even after the party had finished Edi and the other guys from Laundry kept bringing us drinks. There were a few laughs at me running around taking photos with a bottle of beer wedged in my jeans waistline. I was starting to feel bad about only knowing Edi and Iguani’s name. The other’s names are so hard to pronounce and some are as long as my arm!

Not only was it Indonesia’s Independence Day but Zoran and Sary’s (singer from Boleros) birthday. Some of the other photographers were sitting down at the far end of Back Deck so I went over to join them. Sandra had given Zoran the present we’d bought earlier on in the day for him (belt, long shorts and a t-shirt) which he loved. The shorts we’d bought him were on the small side so he’d have to get a pair that fit him next time we’re in Palma. 

Fabio was as drunk as usual so there’s nothing new there. There were 12 bottles of beer and Smirnoff Ice on the table for us all. Hernan cracked me open a bottle and there were a couple of “Cheers” mainly for Zoran’s birthday. Hernan and I had a private little "ching-ching" for a job well done. Next we just had to call the organizer again, arrange a time to meet to hand over the digital images and collect our money.

Seeing Sary, I went to join her for a bit. It was the end of the night and I was completely shattered. Sarah was completely smashed and counting down the days until she goes back home to Mexico. It’s going to be sad seeing her leave but as she says, she’s tired and needs the break. She’s quite frankly had enough and promises she won’t be coming back to the ships to work again. It’s now taking its toll on her. I don’t know whether she means on her as a whole or her voice (she’s by far the best singer on the ship).

Calling it a night I headed back to the cabin absolutely drained. It was all well worth it though… as you can see from the blog entry – 4 pages long!! 

One thing is for sure, the Indonesian Independence Day party gave India’s a good run for its money and in my humble opinion came up trumps. All in all it’s going to be one of those nights you’re going to remember for a long time… and I even have the 66^th Indonesian Independence Day t-shirt to prove and remember it by! And it’s all thanks to the guys in Laundry.



66th Indonesian Independence Day

Hernan at Work

Some of the guys from Laundry

Iguani (Laundry)

Edi (Laundry)

Happy Birthday Sary!!

Let's not forget about Zoran...

Couple Posing at my Centrum Studio

Happy Birthday Zoran!

Zoran's 28th Birthday

Indian Independence Day

Indian Independence Day

15^th August 2011

Our AMP, Ritesh, had been going on about the Indian Independence Day party for weeks and the day has finally arrived. This is supposed to be a huge party on Back Deck… and he was right!!

The night had been slightly complicated and not many people knew what they were doing. At the last minute a studio was erected on Back Deck to take portraits of the crew who attended the party. Camila and Ritesh were taking it in turns to shoot. This wasn’t something that had been put on the schedule. 

Leandro, Hernan and Fabio were all photographing an event in Studio B for the Italians on the ship. This was expected to go on until about 01.30. Alex the new hire was shooting in the Casino – yes, we are obviously desperate for counts! 

Sandra and the rest of the team were hanging around in the gallery waiting for the Italian guests to come out from the party. This was all apparently last minute until we looked at the schedule and saw we’d all had a much longer break during the day than usual. It’d obviously been planned but we hadn’t been told about it until the last minute.

I was doing a crew sale down on the I-95 which is something I look forward to. Tonight wasn’t the case. I’d pointed this out before the crew sale and no one had paid any attention. Due to cruising within the European Union we have to charge tax which depends on our home port. In this case our home port is in Italy and their tax is 20%. For seven weeks we have to include 20% on all prices whether it’s to crew or guests. We have three more weeks of charging tax before we go back to being a tax free haven. The question is, if you were crew, would you buy something with 20% tax when in three weeks you can buy for much less? No, unless you have shit for brains, that is!

I had two cameras to sell on the crew table sale. A blue Canon 100HS and a red Nikon S1600. The price was $175.95 but with the tax it went soaring to $211.14. Notice the slight difference? I managed to sell one camera to an Italian guy. It actually hurt me to ask him to sign the receipt once I saw just how much tax he was paying. $51!!  

 In total I managed to sell one camera, two camera cases and one memory card. Most of the time I sat around (luckily enough I found an old bar stool) with nothing to do. A few members of crew were making snide comments about the prices and tax but, what could I do? In a way, I don’t blame them but at the same time, don’t take it out on me! A couple of the guys from laundry went past and kept me company for a bit.

Sandra came down to help me pack up. She wasn’t surprised by the results. It rankled a bit. My first camera sale was a massive success. Luci was permanently running up and down the stairs with handfuls of receipts. All the cameras except for the one on display got shifted along with endless amounts of memory cards and camera cases. So in comparison, the second camera sale was a major disappointment. It was a stupid time to hold a camera sale.

Back in the office Paco said the guys no longer had to stay in the gallery until silly o’clock in the morning. I was done for the night and left the others closing the gallery. We were all supposed to meet in the corridor and head up to the Indian Independence Day party. 

I must have dozed off because when I woke up Sandra was back in the cabin and speaking to Fede over the phone. A few had congregated in the cabin and were all speaking to Fede over the loud speaker. It was great hearing from him again since he’d got home. Once again I managed to fall asleep. Sandra woke me up at 2am once she’d finished talking to Fede. Quickly changing my clothes we headed up to Back Deck.

The place was going nuts! Half Back Deck was lined with Indian food while the other was choca-blocked with free drinks. All the Indians working on the ship were dancing away in their traditional attire. A couple of crew members were trying to teach Hernan typical Indian dance moves which mainly consisted of waving your hands in the air. He was enjoying himself though and the atmosphere was pumping. There were quite a few non-Indian crew members trying to learn how to dance “Indian Style”. The alcohol was in full flow and everyone was having a great time.

An hour later Sandra and I were ready to leave. We were both shattered after a long day’s work and we had to be up early the next day. Grabbing a couple of free cans of Fanta we headed down to the cabin and were tucked up in bed within 5 minutes flat.

The next morning I found out that the party carried on until 04.30. Normally the latest a party will go on until is 03.30. Would the Indonesian Independence Day Party rival the Indian’s? We’ll see!

Independence Day

Independence Day

13^th June 2011

Today is Independence Day in the Philippines. The majority of the crew on board are from the Philippines and they’d organized a huge celebration on back deck with free drinks, food and music. The party started at 23.00. Only problem for us was, it was formal night!

Slipping out of bed at 8.30 I headed up to Pool Decks to start shooting. Not many people wanted their photo taken, especially the younger guests. Severe hangovers, no make up and flashing lights don't mix too well! Having said that, I was still stacking up the shots which was surprising. 

There are two girls who always dress up during the evening and make their way around the studios. The sisters, from America, always arrive at the studios in the most stunning outfits, anything from stunning dresses to ball gowns with tiaras to tuxedos. I feel sorry for whoever is paying the bill but they certainly look the part!! Stu and I had been trying to guess their ages. One in particular looked about 15 but I was dubious as to whether or not she was. She looks younger. I thought she was about 14. She spotted me, came over and gave me a cuddle. She’d lost her grandmother and had been looking for quite some time. What shocked me the most was that she was getting to such a state about it, at one point she was about to cry.  

Leaving my job I walked around the decks with her, trying to find her Nan. While walking around I was asking a mix of questions: some about her grandma to get a better idea as to where she had been and could be. The others were to try and calm her down a bit. Nan had to be around here somewhere!

I felt sorry for her but didn’t think it was the behaviour of a 14 year old. When I asked her how old she was, she obviously saw just how amazed I was… she was 12! At 12 my mother would never have let me out the house wearing a face full of makeup, false nails and skimpy, clingy clothes. I’m 24 and still get the “put some clothes on talk” if I’m wearing a low cut top! To be honest, when I was 12 I was still wearing Wellington boots, old jeans and polo shirts (like a farmer) running around the fields with my dog!! 

Just before the Walk for Wishes was about to start she spotted her Nan and ran over for a big cuddle. That brought out just how young she really was. She’s a lovely girl but just seems to be trying to grow up too quickly.

An hour after I started my shift Fabio came up to start shooting Walk for Wishes. Walk for Wishes is a mile long walk (5 laps around the pool deck). The crew sell Make A Wish t-shirts for $20 a go and they literally sell like hot cakes. The shirts fly off the shelves. 

The walk is led by Captain Flemming and other senior officers. The money raised the Make a Whish t-shirts goes to charity, Make a Wish, which supports terminally ill children. So many people took part that there wasn’t a break in between the front and back of the pack. It was a continuous ring of white shirts… a great chance for us to get shots.

Regina was working on the pool decks and got dragged in to do the walk, just as my shift was ending too. I had a couple of minutes left so I joined her for two laps before heading down to the staff mess.

After a quick break and we were all on for set up. Once again I was shooting what was originally Luci’s studio Centrum 3. I think my favourite is probably Centrum 1 out of all the studios. We finished set up at 15.15.

At 17.00h we were all in our tuxedos and sitting in the office for a meeting. Ritesh gave us a talking to about getting double shots. Fabio apparently had 112 double shots out of 380 odd. I had 23 out of 78. One thing that got me was that if there’s a group of people you are supposed to get more than one shot. You’re also supposed to reshoot if you think one of the people in the frame blinked. So now I’m not sure what the hell to make of it all.  Do I just take one photo of a group and let them get reprints? That’s of course if someone from the group doesn’t buy it first. I was also told Luci used to get about 300 shots on her Centrum. I didn’t even make it to 200 and I needed to do better. I love the whole name and shame approach they take on the ship. You can really get humiliated in front of your work mates if they fancy took them... which is does and often too!

In the studio I did my best to get as many photos as I possibly could. I didn’t get 300 photos, I did get over 200 though.  In Ressi I didn’t do the best either. I was concentrating more on getting group/table shots. Most of the people I asked for couple shots didn’t want one but were more than happy to get a group picture.

Popping into the lab afterwards I had to speak to Ritesh about my images. Everything was wrong with my Ressi shots. At one point he even said “the first photo is over exposes but the next aren’t”. I had to explain that I took the image at 1/60 (the shutter speed we use in ressi) but there was too much light coming through the window so I upped the shutter speed to 1/200 (as we are told to if there is too much light). He just stared at me blankly, confused. 

Next my cropping was bad. I’d left too much space on the side for group shots, exposing too much table. What else was I supposed to do? I didn’t want to crop in too closely and cut peoples arms off. As for exposing the table… it’s a bit hard when you’re trying to get 10 people into a horizontal shot.

We finally finished at 01.00. I was completely shattered to say the least. A group of the photogs headed to back deck for the Philippines’ Independencne Day party. While popping in and out of cabins, talking to people, Stu called me in to check a photo he was editing in Photoshop.

Laying in bed, reading and relaxing, Luci was woken up by the music coming from one of the photographer's cabins. Never wake Luci up, she turns into a pitbull! Annoyed beyond belief, Luci told me she was going to call security.

Book in hand, I stuck my head into the cabin with the music playing to give them a heads up that Luci would be calling security if they didn't turn the voulme down. The last thing anyone wants is to get their collars felt by security. On top of that, this sort of thing breaks the team up, causes bad feelings. Living and working in such proximities it hard enough without ill feelings.

Going back into Stu’s cabin I asked if I could come in for a bit and read my book until Luci had either calmed down or gone to sleep. Stu was still editing his photos. I was reading and trying stay awake. I failed miserably and fell asleep. Stu woke me up and couple of times but it didn't take long for me to drop back off again and finally let me to sleep. 

Stu headed off to back deck to enjoy what was left of the Independence Day party and woke me up when he got back to the cabin. He was about to leave me sleeping in his bed and sleep on the floor! Grabbing my stuff, knowing Luci would be asleep, I sneaked back into my cabin and climbed into bed. Work was only 6 hours away and I desperately needed some shut eye.