Cruising The Seven Seas: Mariner of the Seas Vs. Vision of the Seas

Mariner of the Seas Vs. Vision of the Seas

7^th October 2011

Here’s the day we’ve all been waiting for with baited breath. Our final overnight in Istanbul is here and as usual we’d be causing a chaotic circus on gangway. I was hoping to be the Turkish Belly Dancer as it was one of costumes I’d never worn on gangway before. It was also the costume Luci and I spent 3 hours searching and bargaining for in Kusadasi for. According to Sanela, she’d already asked Reuben if she could not be the belly dancer and I’d asked if I could be. In a way it only seemed fair… but Reuben doesn’t do fair!

This morning’s Istanbul gangway went like this: David was dressed up as the Camel with Zoran shooting him. Sanela was once again the Turkish Belly Dancer or Turkish Princess as Reuben calls it. Hernan was her shooter. Camila was to shoot the ring. Sandra was shooting the rail. I was free shooting – everywhere. My instructions from Reuben were to shoot everything and everywhere – Windjammer, pool decks, upper decks, gangway etc.

Good Morning!

Our target for gangway in Istanbul is usually around 1,500. Last Istanbul we missed the target by only 100 photos. Today though our target was outrageously ridiculous. Reuben told us all we needed to get 2,000 images from the Istanbul gangway. Throughout the team there were a mixture of shocked and amused expressions on people’s faces.

It was freezing on gangway!! This is the coldest I’ve known it to be in Istanbul. The only person who wasn’t affected by the cold winds was David who was as snug as a bug in the Camel costume. Sanela was freezing and had to go in on a couple of occasions to try and warm up. It wouldn’t be hard for her to catch a cold, flu or worse at the moment.

Belly Dancer, Shooters and Camel

There were plenty of gangway highlights. The first was probably the rail getting caught by a gust of wind and toppling over. Sounds another normal, until Sandra, who jumped at the sound of the rail crashing against the ground, managed to take a step back on fall over!! What did we do? Take numerous photos of course! What are photographer friends for?

Sandra Tripping Over the Rail

Sanela Helped her Up in the End!

Every guest must fill in a shore pass card which they collect while getting off the ship. For some reason, people always think they can use the rail as a table to fill out their shore pass card. "No, I don't want my photo taken, I just want to fill this out on here (the rail). Where is the ship from?" "If we tell you, we'll have to take your photo as payment". Believe it or not, guests can get quite annoyed at us for that one.

One man in particular decided to take things a little too far. He was, of course, the German man who has been causing trouble through the entire cruise for a number of different departments. Sandra asked the man to move away from the rail if he didn't want his photograph taken. He ignored her and continued to fill out his shore pass card. Asking again, going closer, he looked up at Sandra and told her "fuck off, you little shit".

Telling him to move, more forcefully, Sandra attempted to move the rail and get back to smudging guests. The German burst into rage, shouting at Sandra in German and raising his fist. The rest of the photographers surrounded Sandra, especially the lads. Stepping back, someone took a quick photo of what was happening for proof, just in case. People were actually waiting to have their photos taken on the rail, while others had gathered to watch the freak show unfolding!

In the end, we managed to get the bloke away from the rail and out of our sights. Still he was shouting in German, calling us all shits and to fuck off. Before leaving his got up close to Sandra's face, sneering "You are something that belongs in a toilet!" That became our infamous quote for the day and was repeated on several occasions followed by a burst of laughter!

"You're something that belongs in a toilet" - Sandra's Face is PRICELESS!

Towards the end of our gangway, someone shouted something, making heads turn. It was Lee!!! Lee’s new ship, Vision of the Seas, was in Istanbul for an overnight stay too. We’d planned to meet up and go out as one huge photog team. Lee had to go get some work done in the gallery and we were finished on gangway. We’d arranged to meet later.

After having lunch, Sandra and I went to bed for 2 hours to catch up on some well-deserved sleep.

Both of us wanted to pop out and use the internet. Trying to call Lee, OceanPhone wasn’t letting me connect to Vision but instead putting me through to Adventure of the Seas. Running over to his ship, I saw Fede and Alex from Miami training in the terminal shooting embarkation.

Back at the Vision’s ship security, they told me no one was picking up the phone in Lee’s cabin. Security did, however, say they’d pass the message on to him.

Halfway back to the Mariner and Lee was running behind me, trying to catch up and shouting my name. It wasn’t long until he was out of breath and had to walk the rest of the way haha. Lee was still doing things on board so couldn’t come with us.

Instead we’d arranged to meet Vision at the Mariner gangway. The plan is: Vision of the Seas photogs come to our Back Deck for a drink. All of us would then go to Vision’s staff bar for a drink. That way, we'd be able to see some of the ship. Afterwards we all head out for a night on the tiles in Istanbul city centre. Lee said he’d have the team over here at 23.45. Deal.

Back on the ship Sandra and I were ready to head out to use the internet. Calling Whitney we asked if she wanted to tag along. Usually we go to Nargilem, but today we went somewhere a little further down. The set up was quite different. We were sat on elevated areas, on cushions and a miniature table in front of us. If you didn’t cross your legs… you wouldn’t have space to squeeze them in. Oh well, we had a laugh with it all. When in Istanbul… do as the Turks do!

We had to get back to the ship for 21.00 as Sandra had a surprise birthday to photograph in the dining room on Deck 3. Whitney was then going to meet her friend from Spa on Vision. I'd wait for Sandra and start getting ready for our night out.

At midnight, Lee and the Vision of the Seas photographers (minus 2) were waiting for us outside the ship. Unfortunately the original plan couldn’t take place. Talking to security they said no one from another ship could go on board. They didn’t know why though. Running back on the ship I yelled to the others that Vision couldn’t come on board. I was a bit disappointed by the Mariner’s turnout. Out of 10 photographers, only five were coming: me, Sandra, Zoran, Camilo and Sanela.

Back on the gangway we bumped into Reuben, Paco and Dione. Lee had never met Reuben before but had heard plenty about him. Everyone stood around for an hour or so chatting and getting to know people in the other team. It was great how everyone from each team got on so well. Everyone clicked immediately. So in total, there were five photogs from Mariner and six from Vision.

Jumping in taxis we all met up in Taxsim Square. Nearby a massive football match had just finished and everyone was leaving the stadium. Apparently the match was between two rival teams from Istanbul.

First thing first: food. Nearly everyone was starving. Most places were closed. Some popped into McDonald’s (as you do when in Istanbul) while the others found a kebab shop down the road. Sanela was probably the most difficult person to find food for as she’s a vegan. There was no other option for her but to eat McDonald’s chips.

The weather was chilly and we wanted to find somewhere with reasonably priced drinks. Sandra knew one place where the music was good. However, they wouldn’t let one of the Vision photographers in because he was wearing “the rival’s football shirt”. It was for his safety, apparently.

We walked into another place where the drinks were cheap but it was a tiny dingy place. The locals were trying their hand at karaoke… and boy was it an insult to our ear drums!! We left pronto!

Downstairs was a quite bar that didn’t look too bad. Going inside we made sure there were prices on the drinks menu. We’d finally found somewhere to have a few drinks. Sanela surprised me, she usually doesn’t touch alcohol but tonight she was letting her hair down and sinking a couple of Baileys. The majority of us were on 750ml glasses on Turkish beer. Pretty nice beer too. For the next couple of hours we sat around drinking, chatting, having a laugh and getting plenty of photographs.

Fede and Sandra

Leaving the bar we went for a walk around. The prices were unbelievably expensive so we decided to go into an Off-Licence and get a bottle. Armed with a litre of Absolut vodka and a stack of coke cans we walked off looking for a place to sit. It didn’t take long to find one.

At the entrance of Taxsim Square is a semi-circle fountain where we all parked our bums. Sanela and I weren’t drinking vodka. I was more than happy with my can of coke, having a burping competition with Lee. Mariner’s photographers know what I’m like and they accept it. They’ll miss my manly burps when I’m gone! Vision though, couldn’t stop laughing with a couple of people saying “you’re so English. All English do is fart and burp”. I wouldn’t go quite that far…. But I can see where they are coming from. Lee and I aren't exacting setting a good example, are we?

As we were sitting down a Turkish guy came over and asked what we were doing there. Were we on holiday? We explained we’re ship photographers. The guy was drunk and I had an idea that things could go badly. I didn’t know why, but I could smell trouble brewing.

Individually the Turk asked where we were from. One of Vision’s team replied “Brazil”. The Turk got excited, yelling “I like you. I like your country”. It was almost like someone trying to do a Borat impression… and they were doing it bloody well too. I leaned over to Lee and whispered “Borat”. Lee knew exactly what I was on about, agreed and started laughing.

Lee was the next to be questioned. "Where are you from, my friend?" "England." “I don’t like your country. It’s shit. You make wars. I don’t like you.” Wrong thing to say! Lee is very English and very patriotic. I, however, couldn’t give a damn about the country I was born in. Spain is my home and I still see myself as more Spanish than English. I started to giggle… but realized that Lee hadn’t seen the funny side of things. A debate started and a few of us thought it'd end in a fight!

The Turkish guy moved on to Sanela, asking where she was from. He didn’t like Sanela for being Serbian either. “Too many politics”. Well, that’s the wrong thing to say to Sanela who says she’s studied Political Science in a Texas University. Luckily another guy came over and dragged the drunken Turk away. Good timing too as a bust up was well on its way!

Group Photo - Mariner Vs. Vision

It was time to head back to the ship. Jumping in two taxis – how we did it, I’ll never know, we made it back to Vision in one piece. We stood outside Lee’s ship for an hour or so talking and saying numerous goodbyes. I got a bit upset about it. This was quite possibly the last time I’d be seeing Lee for a very long time. I’m about to go on vacation and will be joining Disney Wonder which will be on the opposite side of Americas to the rest of the ships.

Alex (who I went to Miami training with) from Vision was just coming back from a night out with his boyfriend when I saw him. He gave me a huge hug. It’s strange, it’s like I’ve known Alex for years… rather than 7 days at training. It feels like you know them so well and you’re welcoming back a long lost friend. Alex’s boyfriend started to get annoyed because he was giving everyone else more attention. It wasn’t long until Alex put his tail in between his legs and retreated on to the ship.

Finally saying our goodbyes - again, we all walked back to our ship. What happened next, I really cannot say. As much as I want to tell… I can’t because of certain people within Mariner photog team and Image. What I will say is, for the people who do know and were there, I never knew Sandra had it in her!!! That girl has balls, cojones!

Back on the ship, we shuffled Sandra through Security hoping that nothing was said. Precious and Prashant had just started work so it was all fine. Us photographer’s get on really well with security, especially Precious and Prashant. Being on good terms with security is essential, especially when you've just been very naughty and done something you really shouldn't have!

It was nearly 06.30 and we were shattered. Breakfast started at 06.00 so we went up to the Crew Mess. Sandra and I just chucked off our clothes, got into our PJs and went straight to bed. We couldn’t stop laughing at what Sandra had done. All in all, it’d been a brilliant night, one that we’d remember and refer back to for many years to come. One day… hopefully not too far from now, we’ll meet up again for a repeat and I'll be able to tell you all what Sandra actually did!

For more gangway photos, go to: http://cruising-seven-seas.blogspot.com/2011/10/istanbul-gangway-madness.html