Productive Day

Productive Day

29^th February 2012

During the meeting last night a couple of items were changed on the schedule. The Photo and Character managers decided to prepare us for the ships 4 and 5 day cruises, starting within two months or so.

I was selected to photograph Mickey and Minnie Mouse at 08.45. The studio light had to be set up beforehand so I was dragging myself out of bed at 07.30 to get everything set up on time.

Dragging my pentab and camera equipment up the stairs was harder work than usual. I’d only had about 6 hours sleep and felt completely drained. Not being able to sleep until around 3am, thanks to Monster didn’t help, either. Actually I craved Monster in the morning, simply to give me a kick up the backside!

During the one hour set shooting Minnie and Mickey Mouse, we only got 138 photos. It was more successful than many of us had expected, but nowhere near as busy as usual character sets.

The two greeters escorting the characters were as tired as I was and had no idea what they hell they were doing here. Only difference was, they’d found out about this change at the beginning of the cruise, not at midnight like the photographers.

Making the most out of the time I had spare after shooting, I grabbed my dirty washing and headed down to Laundry. Three out of four washing machines were empty – result! Normally you have to guard the washing machines and dryers. The second one finishes its cycle, the clothes out and yours in. Getting both washes on straight away was an added bonus.

Back in the cabin I had more of an urge to be productive. Picking up the phone, I called my bank in England. My credit cards had both been denied and I desperately needed to know why. The previous attempt at calling ended in failure after being on hold for a silly amount of time. When on ship, the calls are far more expensive and I didn’t want my calling card running out half way through the call.

Almost straight away, I was put through to someone in the calling centre. Today seems like my luck is in! It turns out, my landlady from my address in England hadn’t been forwarding on my mail to my Grandparent’s address, as promised. Instead she’d been noting the mail as “receiver no longer resides at this address”. For security reasons, the bank blocked my credit cards. Within five minutes my credit cards were open and working.

Enquiring about changing my address, I got the reply I didn’t want to hear, “you’ll need to come into your local branch to do that”. I had to explain again, for the second time, that I was at sea working on cruise ships and that wasn’t an option. Possibly over exaggerating things a smidgen, I told the man I wouldn’t be coming back to England for at least another year. The next reply was the best “I’m going to send you the paperwork to change your address. All you have to do is call the hotline, state a reference number and they’ll do all the necessary work”. And guess where that letter is going to? My address in England... where the landlady is sending it all back to the bank. Grand!

Chucking my hair up, it was time to jump on a tender and make the short trip to St. Thomas port. Every St. Thomas we are paid at 13.00.

By 13.30, I was in the port and at one of the local banks Rama had recommended. The first the ATM wouldn’t accept my card as the numbers on the Ocean Pay card weren’t embossed, like a credit cards.

At another bank I managed to get it working. I tried to withdraw $250 and failed. Checking my balance I got a message, I didn’t want to see “-.50”. Looks like I hadn’t been paid and was just charged 70 cents to check my balance at an ATM. What a rip off this Ocean Pay is! Not getting paid really put me in a low mood. I really wanted to just have a mooch about and look around but unfortunately, I had to go back to the ship and get ready for work. I’m working all these hours to not get paid? It was disheartening.

Towards the end of the night, I was in the lab. Dave was there and I told him what had happened. Andie had sent him a copy of my financial statement. Dave printed out a copy for me. Looking through it, my flight cost me $586 which was nothing compared to what it could have been. I’d be expecting the flight to be around $1,000 or more. That was good news, I guess.

Here comes the bad news, my first two pay checks, both for around $280, had been used to pay off my flight. Two weeks wages gone to pay for my flight. Still, that doesn’t bother me because at least it’s done and dealt with. The thing that annoyed the hell out of me is that I wasn’t informed that the money would be deducted from the moment I started work. If I had, I’d have bought more money with me. Been more prepared. Usually, Image give you a week’s wages and then start deducting what you owe. At least that way, you have a bit of money behind you.

Speaking to Dave about it, he told me it was now the way Image do their deductions, to make sure they get their payments as quickly as possible. We have no control over our money, it’s all down to Image. When would I next get paid? St. Thomas in two weeks. Two weeks without money. It’s ridiculous! Speaking my mind, Dave asked “you don’t really need money though do you? What are you going to spend it on?” “Calling cards and internet minutes so that I can contact home to make sure my sick Mom is okay.” Now that is one way to leave someone speechless! I felt sorry for Dave, because like he said, there’s nothing he can do about it. It’s true, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

If anything good came out of today, it was the fact that I now have clean underwear for a week! Oh, and I stepped foot in St. Thomas.

If I had money or wanted to get into debit with my credit cards, St. Thomas would be a fantastic place to come back to and shop until you drop! Designer labels and great quality clothes at duty and tax free prices! Guess who wants to take me shopping for more girly things and make up? Cookie!

Minnie Mouse and her two Greeters - Krystal and Eric