Super Heroes and Villains Crew Party

Super Heroes and Villains

26th May 2011

Photos from Mariner of the Seas - Super Heroes and Villains Crew Party.

Mustafa, Hernan, Lou-Lou and Lauren

Pirate and Super Girl

Super Girl and Cat Woman

Crew Party - El Zorro, Super Girl, Cat Woman and Pink Tinker Bell

Crocodile Dundee!

Photogs: Fede, Zoran, David and Ritesh

Zoran, Me, Fede, Hernan, Ritesh and David

From Above

Me and Jorge

Super Girls!

Drunken Pirate Hernan

Pirate David

Super Girls and Clark Kent...

To Super Girls and Super Man!

Ports of Call - Haifa, Israel

Haifa, Israel

General Information

Israel’s third largest city, Haifa is located in north western Israel and lies along the Bay of Haifa overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The city, with a population of around 240,000 inhabitants is built on three levels on the northern slopes of Mount Carmel, ascending from the port section and waterfront area through the foothills of Mount Carmel, the residential and business district and rising to the summit where the fine residencies and resort hotels are to be found. The city is sometimes called the “San Francisco of the Middle East”.

Haifa is a pleasant, sophisticated modern city and has two universities, numerous museums, parks, gardens and theatres. It is also a centre for international trade, commerce and heave industry. It has the country’s biggest deepwater port and the principle industries are steel foundries, food processing and the production of chemicals, textiles and cement. A prosperous city with good beaches, it is an ideal base for visiting numerous biblical and archaeological sites in the region.

History

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 felt 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 the city in 1799 and in 1839 Ibrahim Pasha, the great Egyptian general and viceroy, captured Haifa. In 1840 the city was surrendered to Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. Close to the end of World War I, in 1918, British forces occupied the city. This was also the time of the legendary Lawrence of Arabia. In the 1930’s the massive immigration of Jews seeking refuge from Nazism in Europe brought many to Haifa where they became the majority in a formerly Arab dominated city. In 1933 the deepwater port was developed under British mandate while in 1939 Haifa’s petroleum refineries were constructed. During the Palestine War of 1948-49 Haifa, with 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 in Haifa was the first territory secured after the Israeli declaration of independence and it became the early industrial centre of the young country, Israel.

Places of Interest

1.       Dagon Silo and Archaeological Museum is located on Plummer Square. This is one of the most unusual granaries in the world, looking something like a modern Crusader’s Castle, storing about 90% of the country’s grain. A small museum is the tourist centre lobby.

2.       Clandestine Immigration and Navel Museum can be found at 204 Allenby Street. The exhibits explain the times of struggles of immigrants into Israel during the British mandate.

3.       The National Maritime Museum at 198 Allenby Street contains models of vessels from ancient days to the present.

4.       The Mecht Museum is located in the main building of Haifa University with a permanent exhibit entitled “People of Israel”.

5.       Elijah’s Cave, across Allenby Street from the Maritime Museum, is believed to be where the prophet hid from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. It is considered holy to Christians and Muslims as well as Jews.

6.       The Mane-Katz Museum at 89 Yefeh Nof Street contains exhibits of the Paris Jewish Expressionist.

Beyond Haifa

Baha’I Shrine and Gardens are located halfway up Mount Carmel on Haziyonut Avenue, southwest of the city. This is one of Haifa’s most impressive attractions. This is considered to be the world centre of the Baha’I faith. It contains the tomb of the first prophet.

Acre (Akko in Arabic) is located across the mouth of Haifa Bay and is an interesting combination of cultures as Romans, Crusaders, Arabs and Napoleon all passed through this region. Highlights are the Crusaders buildings, which include the Knight Hospitallers Quarters.

Galilee and Nazareth are several hours journey include through an area rich in religious history. Tiberias, the Sea of Galilee, the Mouth of the Beatitudes as well as Jesus’s boyhood home are found in this area.

Jerusalem is one of the most fascinating cities in the world, as well as one of the most beautiful. It is certainly one of the most holy. The capital of Israel is full of historical sites, religious shrines, markets and warm coloured stone architecture. Nearby, you will find the town of Bethlehem with the Church of the Nativity, built over the cave where it Is believed that Jesus was born.

Caesarea is one of the most important archaeological sites in the region. It was founded by King Herod in 20 B.C. to honour Caesar Augustus, and served as the capital of the Roman providence for nearly 600 years. Caesarea is also where Peter baptized the first gentile convert and where Paul was imprisoned for two years while awaiting trial in Rome. Today, Caesarea is filled with ruins and excavations continue.

Local Customs

Bargaining: Bargain only in markets (both Arabic and Jewish) and not in stores.

Tipping: Generally a 10% to 15% gratuity is the norm in restaurants. In the more modest locations, small change is all that is required.

Local Cuisine: A variety of international kitchens can be found. Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Hungarian and, of course Jewish kosher food is served in local restaurants. As for fast foods, hamburgers and pizza can be found, but falafel, hummus and kebabs are the most common.

Drink Specialities: Tea and coffee are the most popular beverages. Arab tea is said to be the best and can be flavoured with mint or sage. “Coffee” usually means Turkish coffee. “Nescafe” is used for instant coffee. Soft drinks tend to be expensive. As for alcohol, the Israelis do not drink very much but is can be found. Wine is usually drink only on holy days. The local beers, Nesher, Goldstar and Maccabee are very popular.

Local Currency: The national currency is the new Israel Shekel (NIS). The Hebraically correct is shekelim but even Israelis when speaking English tend to Anglicise and use “Shekels”. The “old Shekel” was dropped in 1985 as part of a rescue plan to reduce inflation. The new shekel is divided into 100 agorot. There are coins of 10 and 50 agorot and 1 and 5 NIS, and notes of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 NIS.

Useful Words

·         Good morning – Boker Tov

·         Good afternoon – Achar-ha-Tzahoraim Touim

·         Good day – Yom Tov

·         How much? – Kama

·         Thank you – Toda Raba

·         Please - Bebakasha

New Day. New Start

New Day. New Start.

23^rd May 2011

Here we go again! Before going to bed at 04.30 this morning I watched the Mariner of the Seas sail into Civitavecchia port. It’s quite a surreal feeling watching the ship arrive in a different country so early in the morning. A few ships were already there and the port’s lights were glistening on the water surface – it’s very hard to describe unless you’ve seen it.

Today is the beginning of a new cruise – the 13 night Holy Cruise. Again the vast majority of our guests are Americans. In second place are the guests from the UK with Canada following in third. A new hire is due to arrive today – whether he does or not is another matter. He’s a Croatian lad named Zoran. I can imagine it’ll be quite hard for the others to have another new hire on the team. OK, Hernan and I aren’t so much “New Hires” anymore because we’ve been here over 5 weeks but at the same time, we are still photog1s and have a lot more learning to do. So having one more is probably going to be tough on them.

Last cruise I had a bit of a hard time and was down a fair bit. This cruise I’m determined to keep myself upbeat, do what I have to do and make the most of everything. Let’s face it, not everyone gets a chance to do this job. Out of all the applications I’m one of the few that got the job. I’m travelling the world, taking photos and getting paid for it!! Enough said. To get back up on my feet I think I need to be a little more positive, not take guests rejections so much to heart, keep moving forward, sponging up any advice I’m given, get off the ship as much as I possible and have more down time (time alone). Stu’s also said if I’m down about anything or want to talk, I can always go to him. That’s a huge bonus as he tends to offer good advice. I wish Lee was here as he was another one who’d always give you excellent advice.

Embarkation went well this morning. I was there for five hours and time seemed to fly by. Whenever I hear English or Spanish people talking I ask where they are from. There are a few cockneys on this cruise – it’s a good thing in a way. The downside: English do not like having their photo taken, they see it as a form of harassment! Most of the Spanish speakers are from South America but there was a couple today from Austurias, Spain (Fernando Alonso’s home town). There’s also a family from Argentina whom now live in Cadiz, Spain and know the town I’m from! It’s crazy thinking these people have been to the place you see as your home town and you meet in another part of Europe or in the middle of the ocean. Crazy! I love it.

Now I have a short break before I start photographing Sailaway with Luci. She’s asleep so I thought I’d make the most of the time and have some down time. At the moment, I’m sitting on Back Deck with a can of coke, my headphones stuck in my ears with Paramore blaring, typing up my blog updates.

I’m getting in the mood for sailaway. I love shooting Sailaway! It’s very candid, great fun. You literally walk or dance up to people, get them to stand together and take their photo. The scenery as we leave port is beautiful and we always get great shots. Another department do activities on the decks so upbeat music is blaring and you can just dance about and bop towards guests. It’s the whole atmosphere. Everyone’s in a party mood and if you’re the same, the guests respond well.

Right, it’s time for me to go and get my camera equipment for Sailaway. I’m not 100% sure what the rest of the day has in store for me. My schedule is in my cabin. That reminds me, I’ll get some information on the places I’ve visited, type it up and post it on here. That way you can read up on the history and culture of the places we’ve been to. I’ll update later if there’s anything interesting to post. If not, I’ll get started on writing up our ports of call information.

Dazed

Dazed

22^nd May 2011

It’s the last day of the cruise and we are in Naples, Italy. My schedule wasn’t allowing me any time off the ship which was a bit of a downer. 

Strangely enough, I woke up at 8.30 so grabbing my bag and laptop I ran to the café near the ship. After two sea days I had to get off the ship for a while. Sometimes it feels like you are stuck indoors at home or a hotel with no way of getting out. Plus, I wanted some time for myself.

Running off the ship Stu was dressed up as an Italian pizza chef and looked hilarious. He grabbed me for a photo – no makeup, hair not brushed and looking like I hadn’t slept for a week. Oh well, if it got the image count up a little further…

Today I would have quite happily have gone back to England and Spain to see my friends. Most of the time I’m happy where I am, doing what I’m doing. However I do get the odd days where I miss the real world, driving, green army banter, friends and just doing the everyday things people do.

Obviously the parents weren’t online due to the time difference between Italy and Uruguay. There wasn't much to do so to brighten my day I skimmed through the Daily Mail Online. After reading that tabloid you always think to yourself "Yep. My life isn't so bad after all". I swear the crap the tabloids print is getting worse! I’m getting to the point where I don’t know who half the people are. I guess that’s part of ship life – you have very little idea as to what’s going on in the real world. I had another go at my ImageU competencies. I had three to go but only managed to pass one out of two. The second exam I failed by one question scoring 7 out of 9. It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth when you keep failing by one question! I’ll get there in the end though.

For some reason I’d woken up completely dazed and felt almost jet lagged. I felt like I didn’t know where the hell I was at one point! To make things worse I was on a bit of a downer. Little did I know that things were going to get so much worse. More than I’d ever like to admit.

At 11am it was time to head back to the ship and get ready for my first stint in the gallery – 5 hours and there was no one on the ship. It was the last day so obviously everyone would be enjoying the last port of call before heading home. At one point there were five of us in the gallery with nothing to do, we’d displayed the new images and condensed the old. We were just standing around with nothing to do. We took it in turns for 15 minute breaks. At one point I ran down to David and Fabio’s cabin to watch 15 minutes of the Spanish Grand Prix. Vettel was leading by 2.04 seconds with Hamilton and Button in second and third.

Later, during the evening we all started our second stint in the gallery. All the photographers were there. Everything went pretty smoothly but there wasn’t a mad rush like we’d originally anticipated. Most people had come in to get their photos and frames during the sea days. We were closing at midnight and even at 23.30 people were still coming in asking for reprints!! It was crazy. Trying to tell people that it was a bit late for reprints didn’t always go down to well.

In the end I managed to sell three CDs with prints. The number wasn’t too bad. Stu sold four in one night! My three were during the entire cruise! By the looks of things he’s come out on top and sold the most. It’s strange, I’m competing in something where I do not earn. All the other photogs from P2 up will earn a team commission. Hernan and I as photog1’s don’t earn a cent. I guess I was just being competitive and trying to improve my selling techniques.

Stu and I finished at 23.30 while the others closed the gallery at midnight. I headed up to SOB for a drink and Stu popped in an hour or so later. I spent most of the night speaking to him about different things both personal and professional. Apparently people have been asking him if I’m okay. He’s just told them to give me some space and I’ll be fine. I’m having a bad time with guests comments, rejections and things are getting me down.

Tomorrow is a new day and the start of a new cruise. Things will be better – hopefully.

Aches & Pains

Aches and Pains

21^st May 2011

Okay, I’m finally up to date with my blog entries. Go me!

Today didn’t start off too well. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good either. Our schedule was changed at the last minute. Our clocks went back an hour as we are heading back to Italy. Paco our AMS said that instead of starting work in the gallery at 08.30 we were going to start at 07.30. Our dreams of an extra hour in bed were soon dashed.  

Hernan rang my cabin at 7.15 telling me to get my arse of out bed. We had to be in the lab at 7.15 to pick up the prints. He was heading down to get started. Me and Luci were to meet him there. Normally it’s me waking Hernan up! 

My back and shoulders were in agony today. Each day it’s getting worse. Normally it’s my lower back that gives me the odd batch of trouble but today it was in between my shoulder blades and up towards my neck. There’s also a pain in my shoulders. I don’t think my shoulder has properly recovered from what I’d previously done in the studio.

Anyway, in the gallery we started displaying the colossal amount of prints and taking it in turns to go for breakfast. Stu wasn’t in the best of moods this morning and snapped at me for having a laugh and joke. Apolgising, Stu commented that today, because of last night, he wasn't in the best of moods. Apparently things aren’t getting better. 

On the upside I managed to sell a couple of portfolios and a frame. Selling the GTPs is pretty much for nothing. I earn nothing, zilch, nada on it. Only photog2s and 3s earn from it.

I was working in the gallery from 07.30 to 13.00. When I got back to the cabin Luci was asleep and straight away I woke her up. She’s getting fed up of me always waking her up. I can’t help it though, I’m trying to be as quiet as a mouse and I still wake her up. In the end I grabbed my laptop and headed up to Back Deck for a couple of hours until she started work. 

Sitting on back deck is great some times. It’s got huge open panels so it’s like a half-way feel to it. You're covered, but there's so much open space, sea breeze, you feel like you're outside. I can sit there with a can of coca-cola, my music and laptop typing for hours. I love it, it’s my new place to go when I want some down time.

After Stu finished work I popped over to his cabin to pick some of my stuff up. I’m hopping cabins at the moment as Luci is still ill. I really don’t want whatever she’s got. So yesterday I spent my free time at Stu’s and also got ready for formal night there. I spoke to him for a bit and although he’s not in the best of moods, I now know why. 

We took our V.I.C. Cards (gold award cards) that Reuben gave us for selling the most amount of frames (1 each) to the Crew Office. Stu had one from the previous BM too. We both for $10 free at Johnny Rocket and Stu got a $5 calling card. Free food – and Johnny Rockets have the best Oreo ice cream. It’s the best place to go if you want to become seriously, morbidly obese with the less amount of work/energy.

Jeni has asked me if I want to move into her cabin with her. She did share with Natasha. Originally  Luci was talking about moving in to Jeni’s where it’s quieter as the photographer’s corridor can get pretty loud during the evening. I’m not too sure what to say. I love living in the photographer’s corridor (Jeni, Stu and Paco’s cabins are situated in another part of the ship) but I think I need to move out because, as I said, Luci’s getting ratty with me constantly waking her up, getting in late etc. Suggestions are welcome to say the least.

For the entire evening I was working in the gallery. Although it’s not bad there wasn’t much to do except wait for the mad rush to come. In the mean time we had a muck around and a laugh. In between that I was sorting out the photos, filling in the gaps and making as much space as possible. I was doing pretty well until another flood of people came into the gallery from the studio. 

Luci and I had a one hour stint in the studio for the last session. She managed to get 40 images while I could only take 27. Mind you, I did have a good natter with a Welsh couple when my deck was completely deserted.

A small group of us (me, Stu, Jeni, Newman, David and Fede) were planning on going to Johnny Rockets after work for dinner. Our dinner break was scheduled for when the Staff Mess was closed. 

Just before we were going to leave at 23.30 Reuben told us that there was a small meeting in the lab. We all ran down to the lab hoping to get the meeting over and done with before Johnny Rockets closed. Constantly checking our watches our hopes of food were  dashed. Five minutes to midnight… would Johnny Rockets stay open? We rang to check if they were still open, fingers crossed people were still in Johnny Rockets eating. No chance. They were closed.

Jeni came over to Hernan’s cabin later carrying a large opaque bag. Jeni and I were on a mission for food. We headed up to raid the crew and staff mess of any food they may have had. Quickly popping into the slob chest we got some bits and bobs. The sandwiches weren’t out yet. Every night the crew mess have sandwiches at about 1-2am. This food actually comes from the guest café. What doesn’t get eaten is the brought down to the staff area and we can help ourselves. As you can see, we really are at the bottom of the food chain. Getting some cereals from the staff mess we headed back down to crew mess for bread. The rolls were out! Jeni went rushing over for sandwiches and I was hot on her heels to be honest…. Until we got there and saw they were all salmon!! Dried bread and cereals for dinner. What a meal!!

Do You Speak English?

Do you speak English?

20^th May 2011

It’s the night I love to hate… formal night! The only good thing about the night is that it does tend to go quickly – if all goes well.

Tonight I wasn’t supposed to be shooting in the dining room. We are trying to keep a studio open for the last minute arrivers who want their portrait taken just as we are going into Ressi. Luci was signed off sick and I’ve been feeling rough all day. I think I’m starting to catch whatever she has. I was to take Luci’s place in the dining room and shoot her section.

My first two stints in the studio were shooting the Titanic backdrop which went pretty well. Again, I wasn’t exactly the fastest but the quality of my work is getting much stronger. At the moment I’d prefer quality over quantity. When the quality is up to standards I’ll concentrate more on getting my shoots up to speed.

Even though they are effectively my bread and butter, a handful of Americans are starting to get on my nerves. Some are a great laugh and I enjoy speaking to them but last night took the biscuit. A group of Americans were standing behind me, watching and talking to me in between shoots, fine. Not a problem. There were a few couples who apparently couldn’t understand my accent or phrases. For example, I asked one couple to stand side by side and link arms. So the stood in front of each other and muddled their arms up into some weird entanglement that didn’t look human. More Mr. Tickle spaghetti arms that anything else. The American guy I’d been speaking to came forward when he saw I was getting frustrated and said “Guy, look” and he held out his arm for me and we linked arms. Two seconds and the couple I was photographing were in position. The lady, however, was amazed “oooh, you mean link arms. I’m sorry, I didn’t understand.” What do you say to that? Clean your ears out love? They blamed it on my English accent – I’m talking “properly” and formally. I’m sure they hear my accent and decide they don’t understand. It’s either that, or they don’t listen. I even do actions but they still don’t get the idea. I don’t know what to do, I’m going to have to talk to Stuart for some help.

Later on I had another American couple who really upset me. More than I ever thought possible. I was posing them, speaking loudly and clearly as well as doing the actions. The man looked totally bewildered and disgusted! It was like I was asking him to put his wife into some sordid erotic position that's illegal in most countries!! He looked at me and loudly, over pronouncing every word “I’m sorry but I just don’t understand you”. He then looked at his wife and asked “Does she speak English?” then up at me again and asked, somewhat frustrated yet amazed, the same question. Do I speak English? That was it! Gritting my teeth, I walked over to the guy and and plastered a massive smile on my face and overly cheerful told him “Of course I speak English and on top of that my English comes from the Mother Land - England”. Not only did he understand perfectly but his face dropped like a tonne of bricks!! Picture perfect. Now that was a real Kodak Moment! It’s no wonder he wasn’t smiling in any of the photos. 

I didn’t necessarily mean to be rude or more to the point sarcastic but I was rapidly losing my temper over people who were just refusing to listen or being ignorant. Last night it was like they were pushing and pushing until I got to my limit. I have no problem understanding the Americans, Scottish, Irish, Australians and people who speak English as a second language and they don’t have a problem understanding me. It’s just the Americans. Why?

There are three lovely Australian girls on the cruise. While Stu and I were breaking down LSP one of the girls came over to speak to Stu. She said “I don’t know if you have a girlfriend but could I give you my email address please?” She told me before that she really liked him and asked if he’d go to Dragon’s Lair (the ship's night club) with her on the last night of the cruise to party. I was hiding my face, getting on with breaking down and trying not to let out a giggle. The poor guy didn’t have the heart to say anything along the lines of girlfriends and simply muttered “yeah, sure” and took her email address. Once she’d walked away, Stu came over and told me what happened, I was in fits of giggles ribbing him “Awww Stu, you’ve got an Aussie fan.” “Wow, you’d better keep in touch with your Aussie girlfriend – email daily so you don’t let her down”. Watching him go all embarrassed mixed with utter confusion only made me laugh more. Jeni joined us; we told her what had happened and she joined me making jokes. If Stu was the type the blush, he’d have been as red as a lobster with sunburn!!!

Later when all work was done I retold the "Do You Speak English?" story to everyone including my BM. Every single one of the team burst out laughing. Reuben went bright red in the face. I never thought it was possible to see an Indian go red - it only made me crease up more. 

Stu had to give his opinion on the matter and said even he finds it hard to understand me sometimes especially when I speak “my English” which is when I don’t speak “properly”. If I speak to an English member of the crew from Kent/London and go ten to the dozen, he doesn’t understand. That again, annoyed the hell out me. There were my chances of asking for his help out the window. A few things were said and I gave up speaking properly and reverted to “my English” and what did I get back? Afrikaans from Stu and David. Before losing my temper I walked out the office. 

Not long after, Stu called me back because my pentab had been left in the office. Hernan had been the last to use it and hadn’t bothered packing away my equipment. My temper was reaching boiling point. Stu took my case off me and opened it to pack everything away "properly". He saw the radio slave still attached to the camera and told me not to do it. Another Stu lecture. Again, I pointed out I hadn’t been the last to use it. Turns out the antenna was bent and could have been completely put out of use. This made me fly into one. My temper had reached boiling point! Rather than say anything in English I said all I had to say in Spanish, they didn’t understand but they knew I wasn’t a happy bunny. Reuben told me not to worry as I wasn’t the last person to use the equipment (we are responsible for our own equipment but have to let other people use it if they are shooting in our studio – go figure!)

Later on Stu knocked on my cabin. Now it was his turn to be pissed off. He’s made a bit of a cock up that could cost him his job but a few things had been said about his shooting. Stu is by far the best at thinking outside the box. Or, as he puts it “thinking outside the box that the box is in”. He’s the best shooter on LSP and comes up with the best poses featuring a number of different props including people perching on upside down chairs – sounds strange but the results are great! 

The mangers reckon he’s getting slack and maybe the compliments he gets are just them being nice. What the hell?! His cock up was trying to help a crew member and get some money in for Image, for our team. The lad had a huge amount of images to print but had forgotten his crew card. Stu just punched the lad’s name into the computer but got the surname wrong so he refunded the money. According to Stuart, he was going to wait until the next time when the lad came to pick up his photos with his crew card and then charge him. Rueben had spotted it on the system and pulled Stu up about it. Even though Stu came clean and apologise Reuben wasn’t happy. 

There was a joke made to Stu about him losing his job which obviously didn’t go down to well. Stu always takes his job seriously and does the best he possible can. For someone to say that to him, it was far from a joke. There was no way Stu would have seen the funny side of it all. Stu hung about speaking to me for a bit but he was really down which isn’t like him at all. It worried me a bit. Soon Stu was out the cabin and searching for the crewmember to get his Crew ID. I was to call Stu the next morning for the Crew ID code and make the charge. At least that way it’d get done straight away, first thing in the morning. Until then, I hope Stu doesn’t let it get him down too much. I know it will though.

Lazy Turkeys

Lazy Turkeys

19^th May 2011

So much for getting up at 10… I ended up getting up at 12.30 before waking Stu. Lazy isn’t even the word but then again we only had 7 hours sleep. Quickly showering, Stu met me at my cabin. Along with David, Ritesh, Fede and Hernan we headed up to the Staff Mess for something to eat. 

David was on the hunt for trainers for the gym… I swear it’s an excuse not to go to the gym! Hernan and Fede were off for a wander before Fede had to go into the lab and start printing. Ritesh needed to pop to Western Union to send money home to India. We were pretty sure there was a Western Union of the way to the Turkish bar/café we use so Ritesh came with Stu and me.

Once again I spoke to the parents before they headed out. I’m starting to make a habit of getting my Mom out of bed. There’s a 7 hour time difference between us so it’s always early whenever I call. Having said that, I’m such a Goddess that my Mom is obliged to drag herself out of bed to speak to me. 

Becks sent me an essay of an email. She’s all good except for the odd bits and pieces here and there. I understand where she’s coming from. It’s a shame she’s not on the same ship as me. I miss talking to her. When things get you down, it’s good to have someone you know and trust to talk to. Even though we haven’t known each other for a long period of time, we are both on the same wave length and similar in many ways so get on really well. I’ve told her next time she’s got a problem or needs someone to talk to, to just email me and I’ll get back to her as soon as I get online. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with her in England. It’s going to be such a laugh!!

I was determined to finish my competencies and Reuben wanted them done by the end of Istanbul. I was on a failing mission. Time was running out. Stu was helping me as much as he could but there were three sections that I kept failing. With the clock ticking I was getting more and more frustrated. I needed to read through the entire "lesson" again before doing the exam but there simply wasn’t time so it’d have to wait until Naples. Rapidly packing up we headed towards the ship. The queue wasn’t anywhere near as long as we’d anticipated.

Again Stu and I ran to our cabins to shower and change into our uniform. We were meeting in the lab in 20 minutes to collect the prints for the gallery. Three bags full of prints and we were on our way to the gallery to meet the others. In two groups we took it in turns for lunch. One group went first while the other started to display and then vice versa.

We had a meeting with Reuben who asked how much we’d sold. When it comes down to selling the Get The Picture (GTP) Fabio is in first place with 4. I’m in second place with 2. Stu has started to catch me up and I’m desperate to go head-to-head with Fabio. If we sell more than 5 we get dinner for free in the guest’s dining room. Very posh! 

Reuben’s told us to push the engraved photo frames priced at $32. He gave us a rough idea on the speech. We are having a bit of a competition to see who sold the most within the night. We aren’t competitive are we!? At the end of the night, only three were sold. Rueben, Stu and I each sold one. As our prize Stu and I were given "reward cards" to take down to the Crew Office. There, we'd pick up our prize which could be anything from a $10 voucher for the internet to 10% off Johnny Rockets. 

It was all good fun, once I’m given a rough idea how to pitch. I’ll pitch and push as far as I can go… sometimes the guests put their hand in their pocket sometimes they don’t. It all goes hand in hand. You win some, you lose some.

Some people enjoy sitting around all day behind an office desk which is okay, I’ve done it before. I love the running around part of the job. The running around, competitions, incentives and selling! It’s hectic and you're running around like a headless chicken on a mission but it’s a huge part of the fun.

Short Straw & Kebabs

Short Straw and Kebabs

18^th May 2011

Istanbul has finally arrived! Mariner of the Seas will be staying overnight in Istanbul so we usually get the evening and morning off depending on how well our sales are doing and if we our hitting targets. In short, we weren’t doing either. 

Last night Reuben made a deal with us. The guys on gangway needed to get 1,200 images or more. If they reached their target we’d all get the next morning off. To ensure we got top whack we had two costumes – Stu dressed as the camel with Fabio shooting and Jeni as the dolphin and Luci shooting. David and Hernan were out later with the rail and Turkish flags.

Fede and I drew the short straws by the looks of things. My straw was by far the shortest! We were both on tour, Fede’s was five  hours while mine was ten!! I was doing the Classical Istanbul tour. 

After formal night and going to bed at 2am (or 3am in Fede’s case) the last thing you want to do is get up at 6am. On the bus I managed to fall asleep – nothing new there then. I had to try and get as many photographs as possible but no one really held out much hope. During these long tours, the guide whizzes around and you have practically no time to stop and look let alone have people stand together for their photo. In total I came back with a whopping 19 photos. Everyone was shocked when I said the amount of images I’d taken. I’d have taken more but there were only 20 people on my bus. Usually 40 people (give and take a little) will go on this particular tour.

To be fair it was pretty hard going but it was great being able to see some of the sights of Istanbul. Previously, speaking to my Dad he’d told me I must go to the mosques and Saint Sofia so I was pretty pleased I’d managed to get there…. Even if it's just to gloat and do the "Been There" chant (what else are daughters for?) I tried my best to get as many stock shots as I could to email the parents. Unfortunately I forgot to remove them from my memory card before taking it down to the lab. 

WARNING: If you're a cruise ship photographer, every time you take your memory cards to the lab, your memory card will be formatted, deleting everything on it. It doesn't matter what photos are on there, they will be deleted. It’s a royal pain in the arse, I can tell you!

During the day we stopped off at a Best Western hotel for lunch. The menu is interesting to say the least. Starters: rice, humus, bread and something that was in between a spring and sausage roll. Needless to say it was lovely. The main course was by far the best though. We had a “traditional Turkish dish”…. Kebab meat with rice and mash potato. Traditional and typical aren’t the words that spring to mind when I think of kebabs. In England, a kebab is the sort of junk food that you buy with your last remaining pennies after stumbling out of a night club as drunk as a skunk! Now I was eating the same in a nice hotel restaurant. It’s like going to a nice restaurant and getting McDonald’s. Things didn’t quite add up. I could help but break out into a smile.

Another highlight of the day, although maybe a random highlight, in one day, we crossed over to Asia, twice. Istanbul straddles the European and Asian boarder with the Bosphorus running in between. To cross the other side is an enormously long bridge, the Bosphorus Bridge, where the traffic, we are told, is always terrible. Most people live on the Asian side as it’s cheaper, nicer and safer while commuting to the European for work. The houses are very higgledy piggledy like they are in Spanish villages. Some of the building work could have bought a tear to even a “cowboy builder’s” eye.

I wondered how the others were getting on. It’s times like this when I miss having my mobile phone. Or should I say a working mobile phone? If I were in England or Spain I’d be texting or making a quick call to see how things were getting on. Not only that, but I’d be able to contact Becks a little more. Instead I'll to wait until I'm back onboard at 6pm.

Last stop of the tour was to the Grand Bazar. The tour guide gave everyone “free time” so everyone darted off to do their own thing. I was left standing there with my camera dangling around my neck and no extra photos. I gave up. There’s no way I could chase everyone around such a huge, bustling market. It was impossible. 

So, there I was in the Grand Bazaar with two hours to myself and I’d forgotten my laptop. I took the chance to put my headphones in and have a mooch around the world famous market. Passing one shop I saw a Tottenham Hotspur football shirt and thought of my Dad. They are all “fake genuines” and I was tempted to buy one and post it to Uruguay. Then I thought, what’s the point? The postage would cost more than a real football shirt. If I can get the right size, I’ll get one on our last trip to Istanbul. Presents for the Mama is easy, consider it done! I’m aiming to cover her fridge/freezer with magnets from all the countries I’ve been to. I’ve got to get Mama something else too, but I’m not 100% sure what. 

During my way through the bazar I saw pairs of funky, Turkish earrings. The price was cheap enough, but you can’t settle for the first price they give you. I got it down by 2TL (Turkish Lira) which is only about a euro. My haggling skills need improving. Having said that, paying 2€ for a pair of earrings is a bargain by anyone's standards, especially European. Thinking back to the U.K. if you'd found these earrings in Claire's or somewhere along those lines, you'd be paying around 8GBP.

Back at base Luci was still ill. I’m worried I’m going to catch her virus and it’ll make its way around the team. Once one member of the team has a bug or virus, you can be sure that it'll make it's way around.

The good news was that we had smashed our target by about 350 images so not only did we have the night off but also the following morning. No work until 5pm and then we were all in the gallery condensing and displaying images. Nice and easy, even if it's a little tedious, but you can't complain!

Luci and I headed out to our favourite Turkish place, Nargilem. It’s open 24/7, sells a wide range of weird and wonderful Turkish tea, no rip off prices and a fast internet speed. Stu was already there. I got to speak to the parents and contact a few people from England and Spain. 

The blog was finally updated too! I’ve been getting so behind with not being able to get online or working so much that I can’t even find time to type up the updates. It's either blog or sleep and I'm not going to lie, sleep wins 98% of the time! 

Luci left at about 1am, I was falling asleep so I ran back for a cold shower before heading back out again. Stu was doing his P3 competencies while I finished my P1 and started P2. By 4am my battery had ran out and we were shattered. I was determined to finish my P2 but no chance – it’d have to be tomorrow. We headed back to the ship for some much needed shut eye and arranged to meet tomorrow and finish off the competencies before heading out somewhere in Istanbul. How I love our 24 hours off in Istanbul!! 

 

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, Turkey

ET Phone Home!!

ET Phone Home

15^th May 2011

The more I come to Rhodes, the more I like it here. My first impressions of the place weren’t exactly great but we are on the opposite side of the island. One of the best things about Rhodes however is the internet connection. Rhodes wins the gold medal for the fastest internet connection by a long shot.

We had another team lunch today. The idea is that the team do an activity together but for the sake of arguments we always end up going out for a meal. We all tried typical Greek food, except Newman, Jeni’s boyfriend who had spag bol. I just picked the most abnormal sounding thing on the menu which turned out to be chicken kebab on a skewer! Bloody munch! Absolutely amazing! Once again Fede bought his camera with him and it was Ritesh’s turn to go trigger happy. He was snapping anything and everything. I think it’s safe to say the Canon 5D Mark II has another new fan. Canon really does rain on Nikon’s parade!

After lunch our BM, Rueben, took us to a lovely ice cream place called Four Seasons with speedy internet. Sometimes when the places with free wifi get crowded the speed slows right down. This place was empty! The people were so friendly too. It’s a place we’ll be going back to in a hurry! 

Today I finally got to talk to my parents. Even though it wasn’t for as long as I’d have liked it was great to hear from them again. I’ve been slightly down for the last couple of days so being able to speak to them made me feel a hundred times better. For some reason there were a few tears when my Dad answered my call so I was desperately trying to make sure he didn’t find out. Later on, back on the ship, I had to drop a set of keys off at Rueben’s cabin and he commented that I looked a lot more cheerful – and I certainly felt it too!!

During the evening it was crew rock climbing. A couple of us had a bit of a giggle at Stu. His Image beach shorts are very Daisy Duke! Stu walked into Hernan’s cabin and ordering “Don’t judge me! I have very long legs”. Well, when we looked around and saw just what he meant we rolled around on the floor laughing. More because he felt the need to announce that he was wearing short-shorts! 

Although I was tempted to go rock climbing, I’d been gearing myself up all day to go for a run. When you’re parents call you tubby, chubby or fatty, you know it’s time to do something about it! Plus not being able to do my jeans up spurs you on a little. While the others were climbing I went for a run on the running track (top deck). Towards the end my ankle decided enough was enough. I managed five laps and then another two walking to cool down a little. It wasn’t great but little by little I’ll run further and longer. 

Quickly making my way around to the rock wall I wanted to see some of the photographers going up. The wall is a lot higher than I originally thought. They’d all climbed and abseiled down by the time I’d got there and were playing basketball. Everyone was heading to SOB afterwards. I was a sweaty betty and had a face as red as a Coke can!! A shower was more than needed before hitting the pub!

A little later everyone was up SOB for a few beers. Felipe is still teaching me Portuguese. Well, he speaks to me mostly in Portuguese while I reply in Spanish. I can understand most of it but knowing the vocabulary to be able to answer back is something I really need to work on. I’d love to be able to speak Brazilian Portuguese and add another flag onto my name badge (the flags on your name badge indicate the languages you speak). Regina said she’s going to help me learn Portuguese. They had a good laugh when I said the few things I could say in Portuguese: a kiss, bye, go with God (God bless) – all of which I’ve picked up from listening to Luci speak to her family in Brazil. Usually we raise our drinks we salute “Arriba, abajo, al centro, a dentro” which is Spanish for “Up, down, to the centre and inside (drink!)” now I can say it in Portuguese. I was pretty impressed with my little self when I perfected that one! Other than that, the only other thing I can do is count to 10. I have a loooong way to go!

Regina, Stu and I were the last ones standing! We dropped Regina off at Hernan’s cabin and Stu picked up the Turkish Prince’s costume for tomorrow’s gangway. I spoke to him for a while and finally everything seems to be sorted. Next time he’s going to point out what I’m doing wrong, show me where I need to improve for P2 but try not to be so overly critical. Let’s see how long that one holds for… until then, I can’t complain as he is trying to help me. For someone willing to go out of their way to help me improve and get to P2, I’m incredibly grateful!!

Team Photo. Bottom: Fabio, Hernan, Paco and David. Top: Reuben, Lou, Luci, Jeni, Fede, Ritesh and Stuart

Mariner of the Seas Photog Team - Rhodes (Greece)

Jeni

Luci

Stu

David

Greek Goddess

Greek Goddess

14th May 2011

As you can guess we are in Greece today. After formal night and finishing at 1am it was a struggle dragging myself out of bed at 5am. The only bonus was that I was dressing up as a Greek Goddess. 

Tugging my bed sheets off at 6am and numerous failed attempts I managed to get the sheet to look something along the lines of a toga. In the end about three people were helping me as I wasn’t quite ready when the gangway opened. We used my belt to fasten the sheets around my waist. If there was a strong wind, the guests would be getting a glimpse of my very unflattering cow pyjama shorts. Lou from Spa lent me a wired head piece with white flowers and greenery wrapped around and a Greek style bead bracelet.

Stu arrived a little before we headed onto the gangway and helped me sort the sheet a bit more to make sure it was secure. Stu was also in costume – a Greek God. He was luckily enough to have a Greek God costume. A bed sheet was simply used to go across his back and drape around his arms. In true style Stu wore his dirty Converses which stood out like a sore thumb against the whiteness of his costume. This caused a few laughs amongst the guests.

Jeni was shooting the rail. David was photographing Stu. All were shooting at the back exit of the ship. This was where all the tours were departing from so the area would be busy. Luci was shooting me at the forward exit. This exit was for guests who were going out and about on their own. Our section was far quieter but most people were saying yes to have their photo taken. Having said that, we weren’t giving them much choice. As soon as they walked out I’d put my arm around them, literally trapping them into having their photo taken, while Luci took the shot. She was standing there ready so the second the guest looked up, she’d take the photo and we’d move onto the next. People were lining up to have their photo taken; what one does, the other follows. Most guests just joined the queue without knowing what it was for.

When things didn't go quite to plan or I'd freeze up a little with nervous, Luci was straight on my case. "Grab them!" and "Don't let them go!". Having Luci on your case can be hard going but it makes you push that little bit harder to get over your nerves, get the job done and get her off your back! Luci's a great teacher to be fair.

Towards the end of the 4 hour stint on gangway Stu, Jeni and David came up to our part. Stu had a moan at me for not smudging enough. That was kind of ironic as Luci and I had the quietest section yet double the photographs!! When I started smudging he told me to not smudge the guests he’d just had a photo with. This boy was doing nothing but complain and nag me and it was starting to get on my nerves. For a while we were both having our photos taken with the guests. Athena on one side and Zeus on the other.

After gangway Luci and I headed to a great little café to use the internet. The café makes its own pizzas and pastries. The food is absolutely delicious! The place was empty so we had a reasonably fast internet connection. Unfortunately the parents weren’t online. I’m used to not seeing them all the time but I do miss speaking to them every day or every other day. Maybe another day.

Back on the ship I was in gallery. Stu was displaying the prints from gangway so I thought I’d give him a hand. The gallery was fairly empty. It was great seeing the gangway photos in print! Again, everything that I did was wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t have done, but I pointed out that it feels like he’s now being overly critical. Some of the images were about half a centimetre out and he’d move them along so all the prints were directly in line. It was the small nitty gritty things that he's picking at. Stu quitely reminded me, rather needlessly, that I’m a Photog 1, he’s Photog 2 and it’s his job to show me how things are done and how to do it properly. He’s only trying to help. That may be true, but it still feels like everything I do is wrong and it’s putting a real downer on me. When Stu talks really quietly, you know he’s doing it to avoid an argument – not that I was looking for one! I just wanted to know why the hell he was on my case so much. Hernan doesn’t get the same amount of shit I do. Thankfully a couple of guests came over so I could get away from him for a bit. I have no idea what’s up with him at the moment. Normally Stu’s a great laugh and I love working with him but at the moment, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Natasha left the ship today. As nasty as it may sound, there were a few sighs of relief. Before she’d resigned she’d been giving so many people grief and it only got worse when she handed in her notice. I’d quite frankly had enough of being spoken to as if I’m a servant and getting shouted at. David and Hernan were the same. On embarkation she had a go at Hernan for something that wasn’t his fault. He asked a couple to stop and have their photo taken and completely buggered up his English and took a couple of seconds to recompose himself and carry on. By then, two couples had walked past. She said he wasn’t doing his job properly etc. It’s easy for someone who only speaks one language.  Even though I speak fluent Spanish, I sometimes fluff my words and get muddled up. And yes, sometimes you do have to take a second or two to recompose yourself when you get nervous and/or embarrassed about not being able to get the right words out at the right time, and more importantly, doing it quick enough! Hernan’s English is getting much better – sooner or later he won’t have half as much troubles as he does now. It’s just a matter of time and practise.

Dolphin Tuna

Dolphin Tuna

9^th May 2011

Chania, Crete

My complaining has finally paid off! Hernan has been dressed up on the gangway at least once every cruise. While talking to Reuben I joked that it wasn’t fair he got to dress up and I didn’t. I think he was shocked that I wanted to dress up as most people don’t. So today my wish was granted… I was going to be dressing up as a dolphin for gangway in Chania, Crete. To make things even better, Stu was shooting me on gangway. If Stu’s around on gangway, you instantly know it’s going to be a laugh. The first time I did gangway in Crete, Stu and I were shooting the wheel. It was my first cruise so he was trying to give me as much information and help as possible. The big question was, did it pay off?

After our little photographer’s corridor party I crawled out of bed at 06.30. Gangway was in 30 minutes. Luckily I didn’t have to look presentable so I climbed into the dolphin costume wearing my pyjamas and hair scrunched up into a ponytail. My ipod cable was threaded through the arm of my costume so I could dance to my music on the gangway.

At 6.50 I had no idea where Hernan was so I crept into his cabin and like usual, he was still asleep. This time he had someone wrapped around him. Waking him up wasn’t easy. That boy can sleep the sleep of the dead!! Accidently I managed to wake the both up. Luckily I didn’t wake Fede. Hernan finally flopped out of bed but while getting ready for gangway, laid on the floor and fell asleep... again.

Stu was supposed to be in the photographer’s corridor but was a no-show. While kicking Hernan to wake up I was calling Stuart. He  sounded anything but wide awake when he finally picked up. Security were late opening the gangway so things were going our way. To get in the mood I was blasting Paramore into my ears. A little while later I got a kick from Hernan… I’d fallen asleep! Once Stu arrived it was time for the show to begin.

With the dolphin head on it’s quite hard to see where you are going or what you’re doing. It’s great fun though. Dancing around the gangway, shaking your booty and the more ridiculous you look, the better: the more the guests laugh. Some people tried running away from me… so I ran after them, as you do. A couple of people dodged me and while walking away thinking they’d missed us, I’d creep up behind them and simply place my flippers on their shoulders. Stu and I were rolling up when a few people let out a shriek. The American’s were happy to pose with a dolphin. English just don’t like the cheese of it all. They are more reluctant to have their photo taken anyway, so you just have to put your arm around their shoulders and make them. That way they have no choice in the matter. One person barged past me and nearly knocked me over! Now that would have been funny!

Stu was shouting out to people “give the dolphin a hug… we all love dolphins – we all eat tuna don’t we?” He was also asking guests if they thought I was a dolphin or porpoise and whether they knew the difference. Everyone knows Stu is the camel on gangway so they asked why he wasn’t dressed up. Next came the “what’s the difference between a camel and a dolphin”… I would post the answer here but it’s a little rude and very crude.

Inside the costume was sweltering and sticky. In addition, the Velcro holding the costume together at my shoulders, kept coming undone exposing my pyjamas. Stu was forever doing it up whilst playing silly buggers with me. After an hour and a half on gangway we got 185 images, our target was 200. We didn’t do badly, next time we will do better but it could have been much worse. Natasha didn’t get close to her target shooting the rail.

After gangway it was time to have a snooze. There was no point heading into Chania (or Xania). The port is a bit of a way from Chania town centre and I didn’t want to rush around trying to contact everyone.

Tonight was formal night too so sleep was needed as it was going to be a long night. At 14.00 we were all setting up the studios – eight in total. My first two stints were in the gallery. There were two ressi sessions in between shooting Bars and Lounges. To finish off I was shooting on the Titanic backdrop.

Everything was going well until I went into the dining room. I was running late as I had to wait for Paco to get back from shooting Captain’s Table. The first table I approached, a couple, told me someone had already been around to take their photos. Scanning the room I spotted Fabio. I rushed over to find out what had and hadn’t been done. He told me Natasha had finished my side and her own. As she wasn’t the fasted at shooting Ressi I thought something was wrong. So I headed to the opposite end of my section in the dining room and went over to a table. I asked if they’d had their photo taken, they replied no, so I took their portraits. I did the same with the next two tables and both denied having their photos taken. It became obvious that my section hadn’t been done so I started working my way through the tables. Halfway through my section I had a look around and there was no one to be seen. Once I finished my section I left to find everyone was back in their studios. This annoyed me as the rule is you don’t leave anyone behind in Ressi. If you’ve finished your section, you go and help somebody in theirs and we all leave together.

Gladiator!!

Gladiator!!

8^th May 2011

Kusadasi, Turkey

Today was another tour, this one was only four hours. Stuart got the short straw and got a 10 hour tour. Of course, he came back absolutely shattered. 

My entire tour took place at Ephesus… the place is massive and we had access to the terrace houses (for entry there’s an additional fee). Oh my word, it was so hot in Ephesus it was untrue, so humid. The site itself is fantastic!! The tour guide studied business administration at university in England and travelled the country quite a bit so he loved telling me all his stories. He was a great laugh and “I joke… I like to joke. See, I joke”. Fantastic! Having a super tour guide makes a huge difference and makes the day that extra bit special.

Here’s an interesting fact about Kusadasi. The name means “Pigeon Island”. "Kusa" translates to pigeons and "Dasi" is island. Originally and obviously the island was known for its huge amounts of pigeons. Kusadasi, believe it or not, also became well known and popular after the 9/11 attacks. It’s also renowned for being one of the safest places in Turkey. We were all given a map of Kusadasi an Evil Eye pin and a clay tablet ticket. The tour guide told us the Evil Eye in Turkey is used to ward off evil spirits and bring you luck. That, and keeping the mother-in-law away. The tablet tickets were used when Ephesus was the largest civilization in the region (2^nd Century B.C – 5^th Century A.D.). 
The clay, engraved tablet was used by spectators to enter the theatre. On the tablet's facade are two engravings, one of a smilings face, the other, crying. This was to symbolise the drama and melodrama found in the theatre's performances.

My tour group was only small, around 22 people, including myself and tour guide. One of the hardest things about touring is you have to split your time in between photographing the guests and keeping the group together and moving. You'd be surprised how easily they find it to get lost. One American guest did just that! He was darting all over the place with his Nikon D90 taking photos. Twice he stood in the way of my shots. As the tour is continuously on the move you have to shoot relatively fast. When he walked into my shot, the guests I was going to photograph walked off to keep up with the tour guide. It's incredibly frustrating to say the least! Anyway, the guy walked off taking photos and got completely separated from the group. It was only 30 minutes afterwards that his wife noticed he was gone… just shows how much she loves him!

Coming out of the terrace houses the lady came charging over to me and started shouting that I’d lost her husband and that he was missing. The tour guide didn’t seem to bothered and said he’d show up sooner or later, plus, he should have stuck close to the rest of the group. This is another reason why I loved this tour guide!! He didn’t pussy foot around the guests.

The terrace houses themselves were absolutely enormous! One thing I didn’t realize was that the Romans were so obsessed with being clean. In Spain and many other countries we have what’s called as a Siesta. Spanish think of it as a time to eat, sleep and relax. The siesta period originates from the Romans. Between 3 and 5.30 the rich people (the poor had to use public baths in the morning) would go to either the public or private baths and sit the entire time soaking and washing. At the entrance of the houses were baths where people would wash as soon as they walked through the door. The baths themselves looked more like decorative, semi-circle internal fountains build into the property wall.

The public bathrooms were great too! Along the back wall was a long marble bench with holes. The rich people would pay serious amounts of money to have a seasonal access to the toilets where they’d perch their bum rather than squat like peasants. Living in those times, compared to nowadays, must have been great if you were rich! Now, it seems like pure madness. Having said that, I'd love to take a step back in time and see it all with my own eyes. Absolutely amazing.

We visited the theatre which is being removed stone by stone. The government are moving the entire thing so that it can be used for future concerts despite public uproar. Sting once held a concert in the ancient theatre. There was big trouble too apparently. Spectators were nearly crushed due to others pushing towards the stage.

Towards the end there were a 10 minute show featuring two Roman gladiators, slaves and Royalty. The sword fight didn’t last long and the emperor gave the thumbs up. Bit unfortunate! When the Emperor gives the thumbs up at the end of a dual, it’s to signify whether the loser lives or dies. Thumbs up and he lives. Thumbs down and he dies a nasty death. Most of the crowd were willing for thumbs up, me and a few others were the opposition.

Every time the tour stopped for a couple of minutes, I was darting around to get the guests' photos one of the many ruins. Although I did the best I could, I didn’t do too well. Only 24 images.

After the tour we had a 30 minute period to use the rest rooms and have another look around. I was getting a few nasty comments about people being sick and tired of us photographers sticking our cameras in people’s faces and so on. Although I can understand it, they have no obligation to buy anything and it’s also my job. It’s just what I have to do to get my image count and hit targets. With 20 minutes left I gave up, you can only put up with so much nagging and bad comments before you need to step back for a bit; not only for the guests as they still have a few days left on the cruise but for yourself and your personal sanity! As Rich once said, it’s mass rejection.

I took the chance to have a drink and walk around some of the little shops that were located outside Ephesus. Of course I had to get some magnets! The Turkish flag, evil eye and Ephesus moment. Three for five euros - pretty good if you ask me. There was even a camel outside Ephesus. 1 euro to stand next to the camel and get your photo taken.

Back on the bus and the missing American had finally made his appearance. His wife pointed at me so I commented “Oh someone’s found you, where were you?” Wrong thing to say. The guy went off on one! “Where were you? Your job is to make sure we don’t get lost and you didn’t find me to tell me that we were moving on”. Rapidly losing patience I had to explain that my job was not to walk at the back of the group and make sure everyone sticks together. Instead, I’m there as the group photographer. I work for the photography department. Next I had to try and politely explain that although I do stand at the back of the group and usher people on, if he wants to take it upon himself to walk off I can’t be held responsible. I can’t separate myself from the group in case I get lost too so there are limits. If he wants to walk off then it’s his responsibility. The guy asked for my name so no doubt he’s going to put in a complaint/bad comment about me. I wasn’t rude but I had to cover my own arse and state the fact that although I’m the escort and photographer, he needs to use common sense rather than expect someone to hold his hand and wait for him to take photos.

Once back at the ship I told our new BM Reuben about the situation, just so he had an idea of what was going on. He told me not to worry – at least my new BM is prepared to give me his backing. A group of us were talking about the ruins and momuments when Reuben came out with a great comment: “In my country (India) we have ruins and everyone call it poverty. In Europe, they have ruins and everyone calls it culture”. The guy cracks me up! 

Our new AMP also went on a tour and only got 20 odd photos. At least now he can see just how hard it is on these tours and it’s not us being slack and lazy about it all. Although we can tell him again and again, he needed to experience the lack of willingness we have from guests. Virtually no one wants their photo taken.

Afterwards I headed out to Starbucks to meet Luci to use the internet. Unfortunately by the time I got to Starbucks there were so many people there the internet connection was so slow. For me, I couldn’t even get online. Fail. 

We took the opportunity to have a walk around the local mini bazaar. Some of the clothes in the shops are beautiful. There was a white, Greek style, cotton dress that I wanted until he guy told me the price, 24 euros. Although the dress was nice, those type of dresses are sold in the markets in Spain for half the price or less! Luci wanted to get some cotton parachute pants so we went into another shop where I spotted a lovely maxi dress. It was so nice, I loved it… but all my hopes of buying it were dashed when I asked for the price. 45 euros. Everything on that side of the market was way overpriced but there were people buying.

We headed over to the opposite side of the bazaar. The side was much cheaper and there was room to bargain. As I can’t steal Rich’s aviator sunglasses anymore I found a nice pair and got the price down to 10 euros. Luci keeps laughing and calling me a Bubaloo (that’s how it’s pronounced anyway. The word means idiot and provided by the Filipinos) as I haven’t taken the glasses off – unless it’s for work on board the ship. Luci didn’t manage to get any pants but she did buy her brother a Turkey top for US$5 instead of 10. 

Every shop has belly dancer outfits, some pants and some dresses. Both of us thought it’d be a great costume for gangway. Maybe that way we’d be able to have Hernan or Stuart as a Turkish prince and me or Luci as belly dancers. We’d get so many photos it’s untrue. Later on I spoke to Reuben and he thought it was a great idea, so when we are next in Kusadasi or Istanbul, Luci and I will be on a mission to find a costume and heckle the price down to the ground. Even though I don’t have a wash board stomach, I’m all for dressing up if it brings more revenue and a packet full of giggles. After all, you only live once so I might as well shake my booty on the gangway while I still can!

Tourism at Ephesus, Kusadasi (Turkey)

Gladiators

Genuine Fake Watches - Ephesus Market