Pirates in Naples?

Pirate in Naples?

 16th June 2011

By the time I closed my eyes last night, it was time to get up. We had to be on gangway for 07.00. I’d completely forgotten I was shooting the rail and had to run down to the lab with ten minutes to spare, change the flag on the ring and lug it upstairs.

We are in Naples today, so Stu was decked out in his chef pyjama pants (although he swears they aren’t pyjama pants), Italian flag chef’s hat, and a silver platter with a photograph of a pizza selotaped to his hand. While on the gangway, Stu told me to go with him as Fede was helping Luci sort out the cruise DVDs. For the next twenty minutes or so, I was shooting the Pizza Chef, until Fede took over.

On the other exit of the ship Fabio was shooting Sandra, who was dressed up as a pirate. A pirate in Naples? We’ve used all our relevant costumes this cruise so they had to pull something out the bag to get the image count. It’s especially hard on the last day of the cruise. By the end of the cruise, people are sick to death of seeing us and our cameras, so in a way, we are trying to go out with a bang in a final chance to get as many photos as possible.

Zoran replaced me on the rail at 09.00h. I was scheduled to have 3.5 hours off but that went down the drain when Reuben told us last night that there was a red drill. Until a few weeks ago I held a green card (emergency cards) and we literally had a drill every cruise. Now that I’d been changed to red, there’d been a drill scheduled… just my luck!

The drill was at 09.30. There’s a new strategy for the drills; a group of crew members go around asking crew security and drill/evacuation questions. If you get some wrong, you’ll be sent for extra training. Luckily I didn’t get asked any questions… I was simply told to take my hands out my pockets.

Due to the questionnaires it was nearly an hour and a half before we second alarm went off to summon us to our muster station. In total the drill took two hours – much longer than normally.

Running back to my cabin afterwards I threw on some jogging bottoms before heading out with Fabio. David and Regina were going to meet us a little later.

Fabio and I headed to Antonio’s pizza place. It’s a place that Fabio goes to every time he’s in Naples and the owner, Antonio, is so friendly it’s untrue. It’s a bit more expensive than most places but the food is excellent!! I only had an hour and a quarter before having to return to work. David and Regina soon came along and we finally ordered. Regina and I were being “good girls” and sharing a pizza.

Running back to the ship with 15 minutes to spare I ran past Katie, one of the guests, who called me back. She wanted a photo with me and a cuddle. Not a problem! It’s guests like her that make you smile and the shit worthwhile.

Shooting off again and rushing through security, I dragged my uniform on and leaped up the stairs to deck 3. As soon as I got into the gallery Luci told me I needed to rearrange the photos from the second formal night, especially Ressi. Urgh!