Everybody Say Bye-Bye

Everybody Say Bye-Bye

29^th April 2011

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

Last night was the final night for Lee and Rich before they sign off tomorrow morning. Again, we had to have another leaving drink for them. Both finished work early and were waiting for us in S.O.B. 
Stu, Luciana, Jeni and I didn’t finish working in the gallery until a little after 01.00h. We were shattered. I sold quite a few IOCDs and folio frames – fingers crossed I get a bit of money this cruise. Poor Fede didn’t finish printing in the lab until 02.45!

This morning Stu and I went up to where Lee and Rich were collecting their passports, ready to sign off. After only two hours sleep I wasn’t quite with it so things didn’t click. It was while shooting embarkation later on that it hit me they’d gone. Lee wasn’t shouting and mucking around with us and the guests. I wasn’t on guard in case Rich ran up behind and tickled me!! As soppy as it sounds I’m glad I met both of them and no doubt I’ll see Lee and Rich soon. Maybe we’ll all see Lee in Cannes if he’s still staying with his parents.

We have a new member of the team, someone who Lee tells me is a great laugh, Fabio. I was only quickly introduced to him so I’m not 100% sure where he’s from but according to Lee he speaks about five different languages including Portugese, Italian and Spanish. In true tradition, no doubt we’ll be heading up to S.O.B. (crew bar) tonight for drinks… plus as it’s the start of a new cruise, it’s payday!

Hernan and I have completed our first, full cruise. We joined near the end of the cruise in Rhodes. It seemed easier this time. You got to know guests and found out what you could and couldn’t say. For example there were a couple of British guests who didn’t mind me being sarcastic and a bit of banter. On the other hand, there were some who would have taken offence.

I was just speaking to Luci and things are a bit of a mess on this ship. David and Fabio are here to replace Lee and Rich but we are still down a photographer. Jomar our BM is signing off in Athens which is only 3 days away. His replacement was supposed to sign on today with a three day hand over period. He hasn’t arrived. Elvis left not long ago, he was our AMP and ran the lab. We still do not have a replacement for him. Another no show. Later on Luci is going to be in the lab on her own and she said she doesn’t have a clue what to do down there. We are slightly screwed by the looks of things!! That could be an understatement though…

Shooting embarkation went relatively well, I was a lot louder than my first attempt which has got to be a bonus. I have absolutely no idea how many images I shot but I think I was near 200. Our target was 900 – I wonder if we hit it? Or even near?

After spending three hours shooting embarkation I popped into the cabin and was flicking through the TV channels to watch the news headlines. It’s too easy to lose track of everything when you’re in the middle of the ocean. BBC News was covering the Royal Wedding. I hadn’t realized today was the Royal Wedding – I thought there were a few more days to go. From what I saw on the news it didn’t seem such a big production when compared to Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding.

My schedule for the next 7 days is looking a lot more interesting! Previously I was simply shooting in the studio, short stints in the gallery and training. Later on today I’m shooting Sail Away with Fabio. Every cruise there’s a party when the ship leaves. Lee summed it up for me last night: “Get in there and shoot the fuck out of it. Just shoot, shoot, shoot. Take as many images as you can”. I’d better get my batteries charged!

During this cruise I'll also be going out on the tours, photographing the guests. I can’t wait! It’ll be great to see some of the places. Again, Lee’s advice was to take as many images as possible to help hit target and because they are big sellers.

Jeni and I have once again been scheduled to attend the parade. We basically have to walk through a throng of people holding flags – someone from every department has to attend. Straight afterwards at about 23.30 we have a team meeting. One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be a long night!

My shoulder is still sore and getting worse so last night I was given the ultimate nagging by Lee and Stuart. I think Stuart went over the line of nagging and gave me a real lecture to get down to the medical facility, if not, he’d drag me down there at 8am. I’ve just got the papers I needed to see the doctor from Jomar. I’ll pop down in a minute and check the opening times. Sod getting another lecture from Stu!! He's worse than your Mother!

**UPDATE**

Not good news. I went to the medical facility and after filling out numerous forms, it turns out I have a “contracted muscle” in my shoulder. The doctor has signed me off work until 6am tomorrow. Even lifting the weight of the camera would make it worse. I asked if I could talk to my BM to swap with someone working in the gallery. She, the doctor, said no, I was to rest or else it’d get worse.

Afterwards I headed up to the photo gallery to give a copy of the medical form to Jomar but he wasn’t around. I rang him and asked if I could swap with someone and work in the gallery, at least that way, I’d be working and the team wouldn’t be missing someone. Even though I’m not a huge part of the team I feel bad because now they are all going to chip in and do my chunk of work. I’d prefer not to take the night off unless I was seriously ill and unable to get out of bed. Jomar repeated what the doctor had said: no, just rest and don’t worry, he’ll sort it.

Stu was setting up LSP so I had to wave the copy of the medical form in his face to show I’d been a good girl and gone to the medical facility. He told me not to worry too much about taking the night off. He commented, it’s better to take time off at the start of a cruise when there’s nothing to sell and they aren’t really busy rather than at the end when things are manic and we need everyone to be hands on. Even though I can see his point, I still feel like I should be up on deck 12 shooting Sail Away rather than sitting on my bunk updating my blog.

It looks like Jeni’s going to be going to the parade on her own as everyone else will be working in other areas. Either way, I’ll still be going to the team meeting at 11.30 tonight. I don’t know what’s going to happen, the only thing I do know is that we’ll be picking up our wages. No doubt I’ll be financially raped by Image again.

Rather than doing absolutely nothing with my time I’ll meet Hernan for dinner as originally planned and then go on the ship’s computer to do some competency work for ImageU. At least that way I’ll be doing something constructive.

Stu is lending me his hard drive to watch a film and rest my shoulder, plus he has a copy of Photoshop CS4 I can use. Being able to use Photoshop is the only good thing to come out of this haha. I can finally touch up some of my images and upload a couple onto Facebook and Flickr tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are in Naples and I’m not working until 17.30 so no doubt I’ll head out with Luci and maybe some of the others for pizza, internet and a wander to take photos. I have to buy another pair of sunglasses too. I got told to take my sunnies off because they are mirrored and when photographing guests, they have to be able to see my eyes. I’m not going to give my opinion but you can probably guess what it is!!

**UPDATE**

Jeni, Luci and I went on a little mission trying all the puddings available in the staff dining area: apple strudel, coconut cake, chocolate cake, pound cake and berry tart with chocolate ice cream. I can safely say that not one of us left feeling anything other than sick and 5kilos heavier!!!!

For some reason I can’t log into ImageU. Paco, our AMS let me use the internet in the photo lab. I’ve tried my usual passwords with no luck and my Image ID is right. Hopefully, Image will contact me soon about accessing the portal. It’s a bit of a pain in the arse when I could’ve possibly finished most of Image 1, if not all of it.

There’s not much I could do. I helped Paco for a while getting the stacks of images from the printer and marking them off the list. I couldn’t take the images up to the gallery as I’m out of uniform and I’m not supposed to be doing anything work related.

When you are at sea and the rest of your team are working, things can get extremely boring. I’m not sure if I can even go up to the 23.30 meeting. I’ll have to give Jomar a ring. If not, I’ll have to pick up my wages tomorrow.

Mariner of the Seas Photogs

Me, Hernan, Rich, Fede, Jeni, Luci and Lee (Fede's Photo)

The Safas - David, Rich & CJ

Lee & Jeni

Left: Stu, Me and David. Right: Jeni, Fede, CJ, Rich & Hernan