Cruising The Seven Seas: Raining on the Red Carpet

Raining on the Red Carpet

4^th September 2011

It’s our last gangway in Cannes, France and it would also be a formal night so getting another chance to have a walk around the city was slim to none. Zoran and I were the first out for gangway, we even managed to jump on the first tender for security only. Normally we missed it but for once were ready at 06.30.

The weather was terrible! The sky was grey and the thick clouds were rolling in. You could see the rain pouring over the island across from Cannes. We were hoping it would come over our way. A gangway in the rain with guests walking across a soggy red carpet could be fun. On the other hand, we knew that the majority of the guests on this cruise wouldn’t stop to have their photo taken if their hair was getting wet!!

I was dressed up as a sailor with Zoran shooting me. Alex the dolphin and Fabio would be along later. There really wasn’t enough space on the short, narrow gangway for two costumes. If things got too busy Zoran and I had agreed with the other two that we’d go up into the car park and chase after the guests. From the car park there’s a great view of the sea, island and ship.

We had strict orders too. No splitting couples up like usual as the sales rate was low compared to the image count. The sailor would go first on the gangway as the dolphin was a much cuter option and most likely to get the most counts. The target was 500 each character and the only people we could split we the South African guests (we had two large groups of them totalling to 220) and children.

Ritesh had also given me strict orders to keep my sailor pants up!! The pants were way too big for everyone. He said he refused to print "75% of the images as my underwear was exposed". Slight over exaggeration but there we go. I was told to wear white shorts underneath which I didn’t have so he’d have to settle with my grey and black cow pyjama shorts!! Finally we had to get a clear background in every photo. No guests passing behind – that would be a difficulty and a half.

It wasn’t long until Jomar made an appearance on the gangway. He told us Reuben was supposed to be signing on today rather than in Barcelona. Jomar could see how hard we were smudging and how little we were getting in return. By 11 Zoran and I had our target. We decided to stay a little longer to help Fabio and Alex out. We left 30 minutes later with an extra 50 shots. Maybe we’d have done better if it didn’t keep raining. On two occasions we had to stop shooting because it got too heavy.

On the tender and the bottom of my pants were soaked along with my trainers. I had no way of drying my trainers either.

Back on the ship we headed up for something to eat before going back to the cabins. Both of us were shattered. We had three hours to sleep before formal night and we were planning to use it wisely!

This would be the only formal night on this six day cruise so we thought it’d be incredibly busy. We were wrong. If it wasn’t for the South African group of 142 we’d have been screwed. They were queuing up at Zoran’s studio on Deck 5. My studio was down on Deck 3 instead of Deck 5. Someone had set it up badly and on the wrong deck.

The tripod head was missing from the production draw and I knew I’d left it there last week. In the end I had to set up and shoot without a tripod. By the end of the night my wrist was in agony. My counts weren’t as high as they should have been and I missed my 500 target by a long shot. Maybe I’d have hit it if I was on Deck 5 but with a deck filled with Italians it was impossible. One thing was for sure, I didn’t try to maximize my counts by over shooting. I kept to what Image wanted 3 shots when it’s busy and 5 if it wasn’t. Some people were coming down with 8 to 10 shots per couple. That was an over shoot on epic proportions and most likely to be the reason why our sales rates were down compared to the image count.

After a long night I popped into the lab with my camera bag. Opening the gladiator I bent down to out the camera inside. At the back of the gladiator and in the corner was the tripod head. Pulling it out I showed it to a few people. The main question was “how did it get there?” If it was attached to a camera, it’d still be attached. I remember giving Sanela’s camera back without a tripod head and putting it in the production draw.

Ritesh saw me holding the tripod head and all hell broke out. Coming over with a huge grin on his face he asked where I found it. When I explained me said “see, you didn’t put it in the production draw. You need to take more responsibility.” I tried to explain that I had left if in the production draw. Sanela backed me up saying I’d taken the tripod head off in front of her when I gave her the camera back and put it in the production draw. That was that. Ritesh went nuts at us, me in particular.
Are you trying to blame someone for your carelessness?
Who are you trying to blame?
When I said I’m not blaming anyone, just telling him I didn’t shove it in the gladiator, things got worse. “Hey little Miss, don’t give me your bad attitude. Fuck man, you’re in the wrong. Who are you trying to blame? Tell me. You need to be more responsible and change your attitude. It’s not my problem or responsibility, it’s yours!”

Next he stood there laughing, trying to make me look like a royal twat in front of everyone. Turning to him I told his the truth “I’m not giving you attitude. This isn’t attitude but I’m getting sick and tired of you trying to make me look like an idiot in front of everyone, taking the piss and laughing at me. I told you, I didn’t put the head in there. You think I did, fine. Nothing I say will change that, so think what you like”. Heading to the door he called me “Fuck man! Don’t walk away from me when I’m talking to you, Miss”. I’d had enough of the patronizing shit so I carried on, ignoring him. Ritesh can kiss my ass!

I’d finally had enough. Jomar was right about one or two things he’d said to me, and it was starting to show. I was dubious at first but now, I’m sure Jomar is right.

Sitting in the cabin, I burst into tears and wanted to call the parents. There was no point calling them if all I was going to do is cry. Getting ready for bed I quickly closed the curtains before the others came into the corridor. I didn’t want to see anyone. Something tells me that things aren’t going to get better any time soon. What I can do about it, I really don’t know.

Photos from the infamous return gangway... I got attacked by Hernan!