Cruising The Seven Seas: Crew Sale

Indian Independence Day

15^th August 2011

Our AMP, Ritesh, had been going on about the Indian Independence Day party for weeks and the day has finally arrived. This is supposed to be a huge party on Back Deck… and he was right!!

The night had been slightly complicated and not many people knew what they were doing. At the last minute a studio was erected on Back Deck to take portraits of the crew who attended the party. Camila and Ritesh were taking it in turns to shoot. This wasn’t something that had been put on the schedule.

Leandro, Hernan and Fabio were all photographing an event in Studio B for the Italians on the ship. This was expected to go on until about 01.30. Alex the new hire was shooting in the Casino – yes, we are obviously desperate for counts!

Sandra and the rest of the team were hanging around in the gallery waiting for the Italian guests to come out from the party. This was all apparently last minute until we looked at the schedule and saw we’d all had a much longer break during the day than usual. It’d obviously been planned but we hadn’t been told about it until the last minute.

I was doing a crew sale down on the I-95 which is something I look forward to. Tonight wasn’t the case. I’d pointed this out before the crew sale and no one had paid any attention. Due to cruising within the European Union we have to charge tax which depends on our home port. In this case our home port is in Italy and their tax is 20%. For seven weeks we have to include 20% on all prices whether it’s to crew or guests. We have three more weeks of charging tax before we go back to being a tax free haven. The question is, if you were crew, would you buy something with 20% tax when in three weeks you can buy for much less? No, unless you have shit for brains, that is!

I had two cameras to sell on the crew table sale. A blue Canon 100HS and a red Nikon S1600. The price was $175.95 but with the tax it went soaring to $211.14. Notice the slight difference? I managed to sell one camera to an Italian guy. It actually hurt me to ask him to sign the receipt once I saw just how much tax he was paying. $51!!

In total I managed to sell one camera, two camera cases and one memory card. Most of the time I sat around (luckily enough I found an old bar stool) with nothing to do. A few members of crew were making snide comments about the prices and tax but, what could I do? In a way, I don’t blame them but at the same time, don’t take it out on me! A couple of the guys from laundry went past and kept me company for a bit.

Sandra came down to help me pack up. She wasn’t surprised by the results. It rankled a bit. My first camera sale was a massive success. Luci was permanently running up and down the stairs with handfuls of receipts. All the cameras except for the one on display got shifted along with endless amounts of memory cards and camera cases. So in comparison, the second camera sale was a major disappointment. It was a stupid time to hold a camera sale.

Back in the office Paco said the guys no longer had to stay in the gallery until silly o’clock in the morning. I was done for the night and left the others closing the gallery. We were all supposed to meet in the corridor and head up to the Indian Independence Day party.

I must have dozed off because when I woke up Sandra was back in the cabin and speaking to Fede over the phone. A few had congregated in the cabin and were all speaking to Fede over the loud speaker. It was great hearing from him again since he’d got home. Once again I managed to fall asleep. Sandra woke me up at 2am once she’d finished talking to Fede. Quickly changing my clothes we headed up to Back Deck.

The place was going nuts! Half Back Deck was lined with Indian food while the other was choca-blocked with free drinks. All the Indians working on the ship were dancing away in their traditional attire. A couple of crew members were trying to teach Hernan typical Indian dance moves which mainly consisted of waving your hands in the air. He was enjoying himself though and the atmosphere was pumping. There were quite a few non-Indian crew members trying to learn how to dance “Indian Style”. The alcohol was in full flow and everyone was having a great time.

An hour later Sandra and I were ready to leave. We were both shattered after a long day’s work and we had to be up early the next day. Grabbing a couple of free cans of Fanta we headed down to the cabin and were tucked up in bed within 5 minutes flat.

The next morning I found out that the party carried on until 04.30. Normally the latest a party will go on until is 03.30. Would the Indonesian Independence Day Party rival the Indian’s? We’ll see!

Half-Way Point!

13^th April 2011

Here we are, still at sea and cruising to Haifa. This is our second sea day.

The previous night was formal night which didn’t go to plan. Things were slow, we didn’t get as many photos as we needed so we’ll have to make up for the counts elsewhere.

After the second Ressi Jomar told us there’d be no pizza as the crew members making it are still kicking up a fuss. Of course we kicked up a fuss as it meant most of us hadn’t eaten for round 15 hours. Jomar’s suggestion was that we were all to close our studios at 11.20, download our images and head straight up to Johnny Rockets where he’d be taking care of the bill.

Later we found out it was Jomar's birthday as a treat he wanted to take the team to Johnny Rockets! Happy Belated Birthday to the Big Boss Man!!

Getting back to today, I’d been in the gallery for most of it, and managed to sell quite a few photo packages. I think it’s around five or six but I’m hoping to upgrade them all to a bigger package (more expensive) at a later date. The GTP where all photos are put onto a CD is causing everyone so much aggravation so I’ve given up pushing it. I’ll upgrade at a later date if there’s a cause for it. Until then, I’m pushing the smaller package which is straight forward and brings next to no hassle.

While in the gallery, Jomar and Luci told me I was switching the evening with Camila. There’d been a major change in the schedule. There was to be a crew table sale. We’d be selling alongside the shoppies.

We originally had 20 cameras to sell but Luci sold one just before going down to the table sale. I only had one model to sell and I had no idea which camera it was! Was I worried? Hell yes! Taking five minutes before the sale, I looked over the camera and had a play. I knew enough to push the camera and it was a freaking great compact too!

With 19 units to sell at a discounted price, I was determined to flog the lot!! Playing around with the camera I was tempted to buy one for myself. The Olympus camera had a 12.5x zoom, numerous “magic” setting such as fish eye, pin hole, punk etc. It was an excellent camera and for $199.95, it was a bit of a steal. If there are any left after the sale…

Soon there was a huge buzz around my table and people were snapping the cameras up with memory cards and cases. They were flying off the table and Luci couldn’t bring down the receipts quick enough. It was mainly the Filipinos that were buying the cameras.

One guy made me laugh! He asked me what was good about the camera, so I told him. The guy then had the audacity to tell me “you’re only saying that because you’re selling the camera. Olympus is shit. Nikon is a good camera”. I told him that yes, although Nikon is a good BRAND of camera, Olympus is excellent and still one of the top selling brand. I also pointed out that the price was good and today would be the only day that crew would be able to buy cameras at a discounted price. He turned around to me, sneered and said “yeah yeah, whatever man. What would you know about cameras?” Erm… hello! Last time I checked I was the one with “PHOTOGRAPHER” on my name badge while yours says “CABIN ATTENDANT”. I had to laugh in the guy’s face… what a retarded comment to make!!

At the end of the night, things started to slow down and we had three cameras left to sell. I spotted a friend from Spa and called her over. She wanted the camera but only had cash. All transactions had to be made on Crew ID Cards. Sod it! Taking the money, I charged for the camera on my sea pass card.

By the end of the night we only had one camera left, the display camera. The place was dead by 23.30 and Luci was tired and called it a night. So in the space of three and a half hours I’d managed to sell 18 cameras along with numerous memory cards and cases. It’s a shame I couldn’t get rid of the last one but it was still a job well done!

Upstairs eight cameras had been sold which bought a total of just over $8,000 in. We’d succeeded our camera sales target and it was only day 3 of the cruise.

In the end I decided against buying the camera. As much as I wanted it, my parents bought me a Canon compact camera a year and a half ago for my 23^rd birthday. Plus when I go out, I use my Canon EOS 400D as well as my compact. Although my Canon compact might not be the latest model or have all the mod cons like the ones we are selling, it’s still a good camera and does its job.

Looking back on it, I’m still 50/50 about buying the camera so it’s a good job I didn’t buy it. Plus, why buy a compact camera when you are saving up for a Canon 5D Mark II?

Towards the end of the night Ritesh informed us all that it was his birthday. He used my sea pass card to buy some after shave. Later on, we divided the amount up between the rest of the team and split the bill. We did the same for Jomar’s late birthday present.

Handing me some money, Ritesh insisted on buying drinks for everyone on back deck. His card was blocked so the money was going on my sea pass card. After paying for a camera, two bottles of aftershave and cigarettes I was $-408!!! Getting the money I was owed, I shoved it all onto my card to get out of the red. Fede brought his Canon 5D to back deck and we all had a laugh, taking photos, having a drink and celebrating Ritesh’s birthday.

Ritesh’s birthday wasn’t the only thing we were celebrating. On the 13^th April, Hernan and I joined the Mariner of the Seas in Rhodes. Today is our three month “anniversary”. We’d been working on the ship for three months. We’d finally reached our half way point and that in itself deserved a drink… any excuse hey!? The night rolled on into the small hours of the morning.

Calling it a night at 3am, some of us had to be up early for tour and others would be on the gangway. It’d be our last visit to Israel so I intended to go trigger-happy on the guests while taking as many photos for myself and family as I possible could.