St. Patrick's Day, American?

St. Patrick’s Day, American?

17^th March 2012

It’s turn around day again and the cruise we are just finishing has been a great one! We smashed our target by $14,000. We have an overall green streak through our targets, GTP, photo and retail. This usually doesn’t happen. If GTPs (images on CD) are high, photo sales tend to be low and vice versa.

Unfortunately, I missed my folio target by 8. Selling folios was a bit more tricky this cruise as I've been in the lab for a couple of evenings. Although I was pushing, no one was biting. Maybe it just wasn’t my cruise. I’m also going to try and blame having cold-like symptoms for the past couple of days, too!

Ani has been removed from our embarkation team and replaced with Cintia. This is so each embarkation team doesn’t have too many new hires. We've now got an equal amount.

The date meant nothing to me, until I started seeing a sea of green coming flooding towards us. It’s St. Patrick’s Day! Kate and I, lost in our ship bubble, couldn’t believe it was St. Patrick’s Day already. Some of the outfits worn by the guests were classic! Green wings, false ginger beards, flashing four leaf clover antennas and so on.

Kate was originally smudging as I was still feeling ill and my voice was still weak. She soon got bored and wanted to switch. I can do a better smudging job than Kate because of the way we had to smudge on Mariner of the Seas in Europe, where you almost had to force people to get their photo taken. Having said that, she needed to learn how to do the job, whether she liked it or not. How else were you going to learn?

Changing over, I was holding up the line, asking a mental list of question. One girl, who must have been my age, was decked out all in green, glitter and four leaf clovers. She was American, but I know many have a mix of English, Irish and Scottish in them, so I asked “Do you have Irish in you?” “No why?” she replied. “Because St. Patrick’s Day is an Irish holiday.” She looked confused before adding “oh is it? I thought St. Patrick’s Day was American”. Needless to say, I shuffled her off to a studio as quick as possible. Somewhere along the line, the girl has to have Irish in her somewhere after such a comment!

Embarkation, as a whole, went as smoothly as sailing through rough sea on a small dingy! We were plagued 

with problems from the start. First off, Kate packed the wrong camera for Inna. Her personal camera is a Nikon D300S which can only be used for Ressi. For embarkation she needs to use someone else’s camera, a Nikon D300 which is compatible with the pentabs we use. For the entire session she shot on her memory card, meaning we didn’t get any card swipes for the kiosk. It’ll make the photos harder, for us and the guests, to find.

Before beginning embarkation, Inna and I posed as a couple in front of Cintia’s backdrop. It's her first embarkation so we needed to show her the cropping, what to do and most importantly, what not to do. Kate was taking the photos of Inna and I, before showing Cindita the cropping we needed and how not to crop off the “2012” on the backdrop.

Getting on my knees I posed as a child. As there is a huge height difference between the child and "2012" on the backdrop, we told Cinita, it’s the only time she can crop it out. She was to zoom in and take the photo of the kid. Kate took a photo as an example. Any questions, we told her to ask either Kate or myself.

Kate, while she was smudging hurried me along with “Chop, chop, shoot faster”. This aggravated me ever so slightly, as I know for sure that I’m the fastest shooter on this embarkation team. Ressi wise, I’m one of the fastest shooters along with Carolee. Replying, I smiled “now you know how I feel when I’m smudging, holding a huge line!”

When we’d swapped, I got a tap on the back from someone in the terminal. She asked us if we could stop splitting the families (we shoot one family and then one of the children). The queue was backing up too much and another 1,200 guests would be arriving soon. Signalling to Kate, she started snapping family pictures only. Going over to Inna, I told her the same. Confused, she did as she was told. Upon seeing how long the queue was, Inna realized we didn’t have the time to split, If we carried on we’d risk losing a huge chunk of the guests, irritated and tired from travelling and standing in line for so long.

Telling Cintia wasn’t so easy. “Shoot one photo of the family and then move them on.” “Ok, but I have to take a photo of the children too.” “No, one photo of the family. No splitting. The line is too long and we aren’t shooting quick enough for the amount of people coming through”. “OK. So I will just take one photo of the family and no splitting”. Yes! Cintia is a bit of a parrot and always has to repeat what you’ve just told her. Standing by her for two shots, she took one photo of each family before moving on.

Back at the line, I turned around to send another family over to Cintia’s backdrop only to find that she’d gone back to splitting families as soon as I’d left her studio.  Going back over again, my patience was wearing thin, in fact, everyone’s was.

“Cintia, what did I say about splitting families?” I wanted to make sure she’d actually understood me and my English accent. “You told me not to split the families and to take only one photo.” “So why are you splitting the families?” She stared at me blankly for a couple of seconds before adding “So you don’t want me to split the families?” “No! Just shoot one photo of the entire family. The queue is too long!” “Okay, then I will do just that. I will only…”

Looking over my shoulder, a huge crowd had got sick and tired of waiting and walked straight through, by passing us and onto the ship. Once one family goes, others follow and it becomes a struggle to get it back into a pattern.

Cutting Cintia off, “Look, less talking, more shooting.” As she began to repeat what I’d just told her, I had to snap again “Just shoot!” before running back to stop the line of people and getting things back under control. I felt rude and disgusted at myself for snapping at Cintia. It's frustrating when a new hire doesn’t do what you ask them to do, or more to the point, what we have to do. Repeating everything you say doesn't help, either.

Finishing at 14.30 I got on the laptop and started typing up some blog entries and just unwinding. Still, I felt bad for having to tell Cintia to talk less and shoot more. It was needed. You always have to tell Cintia things three times, as well as her repeating everything back to you three times! Going online, the photos from the Mariner of the Seas days put a smile on my face. They were great times and always a brilliant way to cheer me up!

Before going to Shutters at 18.30, I popped into the lab to get some more embarkation prints. Diva called me over. Sitting down she said she needed me to take control and become the leader on embarkation as I am the most senior photographer. The problem with Inna’s camera shouldn’t have happened but that was Kate’s fault as she packed the embarkation bags, I was told. Diva also said, either Kate or I should have come down to the lab on our break, if either of us had one. It was Kate with a break, so she should have reported it to Diva. If only we had a phone for embarkation in case anything like this happened.

Next came the subject of Cintia. I was asked why we didn’t show her how to crop or shoot embarkation. This nearly knocked me off out of my chair. Explaining, I told her how Inna and I were posing as a couple and then on our knees as children. Kate took the sample photos and showed Cintia the cropping. Later Kate stood in front of the backdrop and told Cintia to take a test photo so she could see her cropping. According to Kate, her cropping was fine.

Looking at the photos, all Cintia’s were terrible. The adults for the most of them were fine. She hadn’t allowed for children though and a few of them had been cropped at the neck!! Some looked like passport style photos, their bodies have been cut off at the upper chest. Plus, a huge amount of her children photos were out of focus and deemed un-displayable. In short, everything was a complete disaster and as the senior photographer within this embarkation team, I was there answering the questions.

Upstairs in Shutters, Carolee also told me she’d taken Cintia through the embarkation photos in the lab the night before. She should have had a rough idea of how to shoot embarkation based on the samples Carolee showed her. Plus, we took her through it on the actual day. Why were there so many fuck ups?

If she doesn’t understand what someone says, even though her English is brilliant, to say something. Ask. We are sure she understands what we say, but doesn’t actually listen to a word of it. This cruise, another spring break week, had the potential to be a money earner, if such events carry on taking place, then we won’t be hitting target and therefore our wage packets could be one to two hundred dollars short!

Finishing up in Shutters at 22.30, I went to my cabin to change clothes and grab my memory cards. I wanted to use Photoshop and edit some of my photos for a while.

Last embarkation day, a week ago, I had to change cabins and move out from Cookie’s. It was a sad day leaving Cookie’s cabin as I got on with her like a house on fire. Now my cabin is on Deck 6, a crew cabin stuck on the end of a guest’s corridor. It’s a huge cabin so I’m not complaining!

Opposite my cabin door was a guest sitting on the floor, cuddling a blanket. Walking past, I asked if she was alright. The woman looked out of place. “There’s a funny odour in my room and I can’t sleep. No one’s coming to help me. I can’t sleep in there, I can’t stay in there.” Crying like a kid, cuddling her blanket as if it was a soother, she looked a sad sight sitting on the corridor floor. I didn’t know what to make of it all.

Asking what the cabin smelt like, she told me to go inside. I can’t go into guest cabins, so I opened the door and stuck my head in. It was the air freshener the cabin attendants had used while cleaning and fumigating. Bursting into tears again, the guest wailed that she had a sensitive nose and hasn’t gone for dinner or even unpacked because she can’t go into the cabin. “I nearly fainted when I tried to unpack, the odour is so bad”.

It was a real over reaction. Crying and sitting on the floor wasn’t going to help, that’s for sure. Plus, people were sleeping and I’m sure they didn’t want a crying lady in the corridor keeping them awake. My cabin mate was sleeping too and waking early every morning, I’m sure she didn’t want to be disturbed either.

Walking down to corridor, I grabbed a cabin attendant and told him. He radioed in to find out what was going on. I walked back to my cabin and got changed for the meeting, leaving the lady sitting on the floor…

Disney Magic Vs. Disney Dream

Disney Magic Vs. Disney Dream

17th March 2012

This evening the Captain announced Disney Magic would be passing Disney Dream. It'd only be a breif encounter as we sail past. It's also incredibly rare passing another ship so closely, especially one of the three other Disney cruise ships.

Running up to my cabin, I grabbed my camera and just in time too!

A big thanks to Ani for recording the video for me. I was too short to get the camera above the guests' heads!

Disney Dream

Pulling Up Alongside Disney Dream

I'm No Leader

I’m No Leader

17^th March 2012

Dorel, who trained me for Image in Miami and later boarded Mariner of the Seas for an investigation, has finally left Disney Magic. Dorel came on board to see how things were going and oversee what could be improved.

The first thing he picked up on were the tie wraps we use to secure the backdrops. Most are broken or very old and wearing down rapidly. It was only a couple of days before Dorel came on board, that a backdrop fell on my head, thanks to a broken tie wrap. Luckily for me, the backdrop had be lowered so it was only about 10cms from my head rather than 2 meters!! “We can’t have the backdrops falling on guests heads! That’s a huge lawsuit. It’d break a guest’s head open” etc. A few of us were left with the same question on our minds: what about us? We’re the ones putting the equipment up and taking it down every night!

During the week, we all had a one to one with Dorel. Knowing Dorel, I wasn’t looking forward to mine. I, for one, hate being asked for my opinion, only to be told it’s wrong or someone is offended by it. If you want my honest opinion on matters, but don’t want to hear something you won’t like, then don’t ask! Simple. Remembering what Reuben told me before signing off, I made a mental note to keep my mouth shut, say as little as possible and get away as soon as the opportunity appeared.

When asked how everything was going I replied "good", nodded and smiled at a few things before getting the million dollar question, “what would make your life easier?” “Being promoted to Photog 3”. The reply I got stunned me, but didn’t surprise me, “do your competencies then and you’ll be promoted. It’s all about the time you want to spend working up the ladder”.

Slightly miffed, I’ve had my competencies done since vacation which was one and a half months ago. The story took another turn “That’s because it’s not enough, anyone can do their competencies. You have to prove you are a leader and worth the position as it's pre-management. Show Dave how you meet the promotion requirements, the targets you’ve met, what you’ve learnt and so on. You must prove you are a leader.” I then realized what I should have already known. There’s no way I’m going to get promoted any time soon. I’m one of the many that Image want to keep as a soldier or a "slave" as we say. Turns out, I'm no leader and don't have leader potential either.

Speaking my mind, I told Dorel that Dave had been tracking our targets and I was in green every week. Last cruise, my Moon backdrop from formal night sold 34% rather than the estimated 10% and was the highest seller. I also took the highest selling photo, a single picture of four kids. It was ordered four times bringing its total value to $80. As for the lab, I’m learning more and more each week and it’s now down to speeding up which can only come with practise. All this, I was told, should be passed on to Dave. However, Dave knows about it.

No wonder so many people leave the company within their first or second contracts. If there is no prospect of moving up, then I’ll move away and onto better things.

Blackbeard's Castle

Blackbeard’s Castle

15^th March 2012

Meeting up with Ani in the morning for breakfast, we arranged to meet up and go out somewhere. Maryna didn’t want to come, but we nagged her about getting off the ship. She spends all day sleeping and never see land! Meeting at 10.30, I didn’t expect Maryna to turn up, but glad to see her opting to come out with us rather than spend the entire day sleeping.

Pretty much straight away we were on the tender. Usually we have to keep standing aside and allowing the guests on to pass first. On the island we started wandering around, away from the sea front. Ani guided us to a steep flight of stairs and said we should explore what’s at the top. Maybe there’s a good view of the coast? Huffing and puffing we reached the top to see that the view was obscured by thick black electrical wires.

In front of us was a huge building “The Historical Tower and Manor Houses of Blackbeard”. We popped in to see what we could find out. The tour manager stopped us and started talking about what could be seen inside. While talking fast enough to break a world record, I wondered if his face was going to turn from red to blue or whether he'd finally give in and breath. Mentally nudging myself, I had to smile, I was more intrigued by the manager talking non-stop until beetroot in the face, rather than the history lesson he was giving us.

The tour took about 30 minutes, but could take up to an hour if you wished or walked slowly. It was $14 for the general public. Ani said she’d pay for me until I got paid at 13.00 that day. Maryna was being difficult and didn’t want to go in, or do anything, for that matter. Pulling Maryna aside, we told her we had to do something with our time, as we only had a few hours before going back to the ship.

The manager overheard our conversation and asked if we were crew members with valid ID cards. When we flashed our cards, he gave us some pretty good news. “You guys get to go in for free! On this island, always tell the people you are crew. Many attractions are free or prices reduced for crew. Always ask.” Bingo!

Putting our wrist bands on and stuffing leaflets in our pockets, we started our little walking tour. Our first stop was the Caribbean World Amber Museum. “Discover the amazing world of amber. From the shores of the Baltic, to steaming tropical juncles, this previous natural substance has been found and treasured for centuries. Look for the Amber Wishing Stone, the Rainforest Room, stunning works of art, jewellery and a spectacular two story high Amber Waterfall consisting of 12,000 amber gems.”

 

Amber Waterfall

Walking around the glass cabinets, I always thought amber was, well, amber. I didn’t realize that it varied greatly in colour from cherry red, amber, yellow, green and even a tinted blue. Ever since seeing Jurassic Park, I’ve liked seeing insects in amber. It seems so surreal, insects have been fossilised for millions of years and preserved intact. There were pieces of amber from all over the globe. There was even a full size chess board and pieces made entirely of amber. The detailing was unbelievable, it must have taken years to get everything perfect!

 

Moving upwards, we climbed even more stairs to get to Lavalette House. It was only a small property, known as Hotel 1829. The guide we were provided with states, the building was “built for a French sea captain by an Italian architect using Spanish motifs with Danish and African labour, Alexander Lavalette’s town house, known as Hotel 1829, is one of the largest residences in King’s Quarter. Look for hand painted Moroccan tiles, a stain glass window by William Comfort Tiffany called ‘In the search of the Promised Land’ and two large 18^th Century Italian chess pieces. The historical kitchen, now the hotel bar, is unusual in that it was built inside the main house. Standing in front of the hotel, you can still see the Captain’s ‘AL’ initials in the wrought iron of the upstairs balcony. The house was a private residence until 1900, when it was opened as a hotel.”

Further up, we had to bypass the Magens-Pedersen Property Archaeological Dig and Britannia House as we were running out of time. The place we all really wanted to visit was Blackbeard’s castle. Here’s what we found out about Blackbeard’s Castle “Skytsborgtarn meaning sky tower was built in 1679 to protect Fort Christian against invaders by land from the north and as a vantage point to spor enemy ships approaching the harbour from the south. Though it’s unlikely that Blackbeard himself used the tower, the Danish authorities kept a sharp lookout for Edward Teach and him brethren of pirates who favoured the duty free port of St. Thomas to convert their boot into gold. In the 18^th Century the tower became the centrepiece of a private residence and was owned in turn by an Irish colonist, a French merchant and a Danish harbour captain who used the top of the tower as his private observatory. Skytsborg is one of the five National Historic Landmarks in the U.S. Virgin Islands and one of the few seventeenth-century fortified towers in the Caribbean.”

Once we’d arrived at the top, we were surrounded by pirates - large, full scale pirate statues. All were named and some explained what had happened to them, for example, Captain William Kidd -  “The Unlucky Pirate – Convicted of murdering one of his crew and hanged in 1701. His body was placed in a gibbet at the mouth of the Thames river as an example to other pirates”.

We walked around, I took numerous photos of our surroundings. The view from the top was absolutely amazing. We had a clear view of Disney Magic, Norwegian (NCL) Epic and Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas. In many ways, it's a shame we didn’t have more time to visit the island as, from the view point, we were pointing out places we’d love to visit and go snorkelling.

Finding Blackbeard’s stocks, Ani and I couldn’t resist putting our hands and heads inside for a photo. Looking around there were so many people getting their photos taken next to pirates, smiling happily. Calling Ani to get a photo, I walked over to a pirate who was holding her gun up, ready to shoot. Getting on my knees with the gun close to my head, Ani took the photo. I had to do something different.

There was only one fictional pirate, which was, of course Captain Jack Sparrow. Having said that, a lot of people thought that a replica of Johnny Depp decked out as Jack Sparrow was in fact a real pirate… no comment!

The queue to enter Blackbeard’s Tower was unfortunately, enormous. We just didn’t have the time. In the end, we had to settle for a quick browse around the gift shop. As usual, we all left with something!

It was nearly time to get back to the ship. We headed down to the seafront and towards the bank. Getting to the top seemed like a mission that dragged on and on. Coming down, we realized how little we’d actually walked. Suddenly, we noticed something which has us all in stitches. Everyone was walking down, except the odd few people. All the cruise ship guests were getting taxis to the top, joining their walking tour and then walking down. Cheats! Mind you, I doubt the mobility scooters would have coped with the inclines!

We sat around outside the bank willing 13.00 to come around. That was pay time. At 13.00, I eagerly queued up for the ATM. My fingers, legs, arms, toes and eyes crossed! If I didn’t get paid this time, I’d blow a gasket!

Ten minutes of waiting and I was at the front of the line. Putting in my card and up came a number that surprised me more than I originally thought it would. Not only had I been paid but there were a much larger amount deposited into my account. Fantastic! I was over the moon. Withdrawing nearly all of it, I stuffed it into my pocket and walked out with a Cheshire cat smile on my face!

While getting ready to go to work, I was reading up on St. Thomas. There’s a huge tourism industry here and a lot of it is provided by the cruise liners that constantly dock in the port. There’s also a lot of places advertising water sports, scuba diving and snorkelling excursions.

Of course, St. Thomas is also a great place for duty-free shopping. Many of the guests come back laden with designer label carrier bags filled with clothes. Cookie always said it was a great place to shop for good quality clothes for excellent prices.

Going back in time, here’s a bit of history on the island:

   “Cooled by the trade wind and terraced with idyllic tropical gardens, this area has been a prime residential neighbourhood since colonial times. As you stroll through the old historical district you can easily imagine what life was like in centuries past.

   The Danes took possession of St. Thomas in 1671 and built Fort Christian. The observation tower, Skytsborg, better known as Blackbeard’s Castle was built in 1678, and guaranteed safety for the area’s wealthy residents who could seek refuge there in an attack by man or nature.

   The attacks by man never came, and nature’s destructive forces have failed to put a dent in the Tower. It has withstood Hurricanes and earthquakes and served as a vantage for the deadly fires that swept the town of Charlotte Amalie in the first half of the 1800s.

   The U.S. purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917 to protect the Panama Canal. Today, Blackbeard’s Hill has become a living museum of gracious colonial-era manor houses that are open to the public. They peacefully co-exist alongside residential home of private citizens. Those who live in the neighbourhood are among the island’s elite and you’ll find old-family homes of Main Street merchants, architects, church and civic leaders. Until recently, the governor himself resided in a palatial apartment on the top floors of elegant 1867 Government House on Kogens Gade at the base of the hill.”

Maryna

Ani - Amber Wish Stone

Maryna

Snorkelling Attempt

Snorkelling Attempt

13^th March 2012

We’re finally back on land after two days at sea. St. Maarten for many people is the place to buy duty free goods from jewellery, electronics, booze and cigars. For me, it was the place to get a couple of quotes for my latest investment, the Canon 5D Mark II.

Originally, I wasn’t planning on going out as I was skint, thanks to Image not paying me. I got a call from Ani asking me to meet her in the Mess. She wanted me to go out with her to the beach and for lunch. I didn’t want to borrow any more money. Ani insisted, saying I could buy her lunch after St. Thomas tomorrow, when we get paid. Reluctantly I agreed and I’m glad I did!

Quickly chucking things into a bag and changing into my swimwear we were off the ship and heading to the beach with our snorkels and Frisbee.

We walked along the Dutch side of the island and found a quiet place to plonk our stuff. Strapping on our snorkelling gear, we headed into the turquoise sea. There are so many shelves in the sea that it was only a couple of meters out before I had to tread water.

We soon found out that our original idea of snorkelling wasn’t a great one. Although the water looks a lovely turquoise colour, you couldn’t see a thing. The sea was too cloudy. No worries, we’ll save snorkelling for a different day and port, probably Cozumel.

Instead we spent an hour or so bobbing up and down and floating in the sea relaxing before laying in the sun. It felt good to finally see natural light again, and warmth of the sun rather than the coolness of the air conditioning on the ship. Freedom sprang to mind.

Walking along the sea front again, we headed back towards the ship to find somewhere to eat. First place we stopped at, we couldn’t get the waiters attention and time was ticking so we packed up and left.

Second place, the waiter said the kitchen is swamped and we’d be waiting at least an hour or more for our food. In the end, we stopped off at a place near the ship that Ani recommended.

Before stopping at the last place to get food, we stopped off at the camera store. I desperately wanted to find out how much I’d roughly be spending on a Canon 5D Mark II. When I asked, I got a bit of spill about how the Canon 5D Mark II, is very similar to the Canon 5D Mark III which has recently be released.

Apparently there’s not a lot of changes in the Mark III model and it certainly doesn’t judge the huge price difference. What that price difference is, I don’t know. As soon as I asked, he changed the subject back to the Canon 5D Mark II.

Here we go, the starting price for the Canon 5D Mark II, lens, memory card and camera bag, it was $3,800. Ouch. I mentioned that I’d been it two hundred dollars cheaper online. The price was next dropped to $3,500. Things were looking better. Feeling bad for wasting his time, I said I’d think about it and come back next time the ship docks in St. Maarten (when I actually have the money to pay for the camera).

Pulling me to one side, the salesman asked if I was crew. Upon hearing that I was, he dropped the price again, his final, final price: $3,195. I still can’t believe how the price was dropped $600!!! Getting the man’s card, I promised I’d be back in two weeks’ time. More than ever, I wanted that camera and was so glad that I didn’t have my credit card with me!

When we stopped for something to eat, neither of us had much time, especially Ani who was on set up at 15.00. Adventure of the Seas was docked next to Disney Magic and to my amazement, I saw four people with whom I worked with on Mariner of the Seas. None of them were photographers though.

Suddenly, a women started shouting from right behind me that she wanted some water. “Hey! Hey you! Let’s get some water over here! Hey! Do you sell water or not?” Looking around, at first I thought there was an emergency or something along those lines. Nope, it was just someone with no manners!

Coming around, she stood in between where Ani and I were sat at the bar. “You aren’t from here are you?” she asked us both. Was it really that obvious? We are both white while the rest of the county isn’t. Our accents might have given the game away too.

Asking where we were from, we turned, replied and turned back. “Are you guests on Adventure of the Seas?” “No, crew on Disney Magic”. “What’s the Disney Magic like? Full of kids?” “It’s good thanks and yes, full of kids.” This is how the conversation continued, all the time Ani and I were replying abruptly and turning around. One look at the women would tell you she’s a real odd ball.

Ani was lucky enough to have to leave early because of set up. Smirking, walked off. The lady stood next to me staring at me for a while longer. “Ok, so you’re still eating. Your friend has left. Do you not mind?” “No, you get used to it. She has to work, obviously she has to go”. “Ok then, well, I’m going to keep you company”. ‘Well, aren’t I the lucky one?’ ran through my mind!!

While eating as fast as I possibly could I listened to the lady’s drivel about how un-luxurious Adventure of the Seas and other Royal Caribbean ships were. This was a load of crap! Mariner of the Seas is pure luxury, especially when compared to Disney Magic. She asked if I’d worked on Adventure, I said no, I’d been on Mariner of the Seas, the sister ship. “Isn’t it very plain and not very luxurious?” “No, I thought it was like a 5 star hotel plus a bit extra”. The reply nearly knocked me off my stool “yes, you’re right, the ships are very luxurious”. OK, it was time to make a move for the crack pot. Saying goodbye and telling her I had to go back to work, she commented that she was going to just sit there, on my stool. Fine.

Just as I was about to board the ship, I was pulled to the side by St. Maarten security and asked to open my bag. The drugs dog was sniffing it and security were pulling things out and turning my bag over. For a split second, I had a bout of panic. Three times on St. Maarten I was offered weed by simply walking around smoking a cigarette. Then there was the nutcase at the bar. Had someone dropped something into my bag? It wasn’t unheard of, especially in the Caribbean and Americas. “Thank you Miss, hope to see you again soon” broke me out of my thoughts. 

Phew! Next time I’d better be much more careful!

Catch Up

Catch Up

7^th March 2012

In the morning the ship was rocking from side to side and none of us were sure whether we’d be arriving in Grand Cayman. There were whispers that we’d be having an extra sea day and missing Grand Cayman altogether.

I was up early at 08.30 for lab set up at 09.00 only to find out that it’d been changed for 10.00. Just my luck! I was the only person not to be informed.

I saw Maryna in the Mess having breakfast and joined her. She still didn’t have a voice and was once again off for medical reasons. This was now the 3^rd or 4^th day. One thing was for sure, it couldn’t continue, especially as she was in her first three months with Image. How the quietest person managed to lose her voice, is still a mystery to us. It’s Pirate Night tonight so no doubt we'll feel the strain of being one person down.

 To make matters more difficult we also have another new hire, Cintia from Macau. It’d be her second session shooting Ressi and her cropping was awful during her first attempt. I’d previously taken her to shoot Palo, shot the first table before taking to to the side to give an example of how to crop. She did fine but when it came to Ressi, it all fell apart.

After setting up the lab and cleaning the printers, I rushed back to the cabin, skipping lunch and jumped into bed for an hour. We didn’t have time to get off the ship, simply because it’s a tendering port.

Joining me for a quick smoke before bed, Kate was all excited “I just looked out the porthole in the Mess only to see the Mariner of the Seas”. I knew they’d be in the port with us, but unfortunately there was no chance of meeting anyone because of the tendering. I don’t have internet access on the ship anymore and unable to contact the other crew members, because I have no money to pay for it. Things aren’t looking too great, are they?

Sleeping for an hour and a half, I woke up refreshed. Showering and getting ready for work, I sat typing up my blog entries. I’ve been getting so behind due to the lack of time we’ve been getting off. Spreading my time between gym, sleeping and blogging has been tough!