Charlie's Angels?

Charlie’s Angels?

6^th July 2011

Mariner of the Seas has, once again, sailed into "night off" port. Sadly, we are in Istanbul for the last time. Some of us will be coming back at a later date but most won’t. 

Apparently still a chance we might go to Egypt so I was treating this Istanbul as my time. I was determined to make the most of it. Getting out of bed early after formal night is always incredibly difficult but I managed to do my 4 hour stint of work. I did however nod off a few times. 

This morning, we were all up early, some were on gangway and others in the gallery displaying. 

Walking along the Photographer’s corridor, I was stopping at every single cabin making sure everyone was awake. Fede was already up and ready to go. Hernan was still in bed fast asleep with five minutes to go before we started work. Waking him up, I waited around until he was out of bed. Knowing Hernan, if I turned my back while he was still lying in bed, he’d go straight back to sleep. David was semi-conscious. 

Zoran was completely unconscious! Walking into Zoran and now Fabio’s cabin Zoran was still crashed out. Fabio was calling for Zoran to wake up from the top bunk. The stench of vodka and red bull was rife and of course, both were absolutely pie-eyed. Pissed as farts. Fabio rolled over and decided to go back to sleep… sod off! I grabbed the bugger’s leg and tried dragging him out of the top bunk. 

After a bit of squealing, he was finally prepared to climb out of bed and get ready for work. Zoran was stumbling around making random snorting noises. Fede was trying to help him into his camel costume but it proved to be a real challenge as Zoran could just about stand up unaided. Going back into the cabin, I made sure Fabio hadn’t gone back to bed. He hadn’t and was stumbling about getting dressed.

Running back to my cabin after work I had to do the laundry before going out. The aim was to be out of the ship at 13.00. Chucking all the washing in the machine, I went off for something to eat with Fabio, Zoran, Luci and Camila. 

Going back to the washing machine, it hadn’t drained properly so I put it on for a spin. The clothes were still wringing wet. Another spin. Chucking everything into the tumble dryer I headed up for a nap. Returning an hour and a half later some bugger had removed both my lights and darks from the tumble, chucked them into a basket and put their drying in. I was fuming!! Grabbing my stuff, removing the clothes from the tumble, I chucked mine back in. 

Camila, later on went to get the whites from the tumble but the darks were still wringing wet thanks to the washing machine breaking down. Sod it, we were going out and collecting the clothes from the tumble later. We were losing our precious time off!

It was now 17.00… so much for leaving the ship at 13.00! Jumping in a taxi Luci, Camila and I were on our way to the Grand Bazaar. 

While talking to Camila earlier on the decks, I found out she’d never been outside Brazil. Pointing out a few places from the ship, I said we’d go out and about so she could see some of the sights Istanbul has to offer.

Arriving at Grand Bazaar our first task was to find Camila a new pair of shoes. The pair she bought with her weren’t going to last five minutes and were proving to be too uncomfortable and unstable. Camila was in her element at just the sight of Istanbul. She was jumping around in the taxi, taking photos of every other building.

We had a long walk around the Grand Bazaar before finding a shoe shop just outside the market place. 

Next we headed back into the Grand Bazaar for another meander. There was a fair amount of reminiscing. Walking past the Turkish “Aladdin” style outfits Luci and I were laughing about when we were considering buying it for Hernan to use on gangway.  The Turkish hats that we wanted to get for Stu’s Turkish Prince gangway costume. The belly dancer costumes that were hanging from the walls, giving us the idea of including it to the gangway circus. They were reminders of good times, even if they are now tainted, we couldn’t help but smile. 

Stopping off at one shop, I wanted to get something to send to Uruguay for the parents. I’ve been slowly filling up an envelope for a while with photos, information on our ports of call, post cards and other bits and pieces. I needed one more souvenir to finish off the package before sending it in Naples which would be the next stop after two seas.

As I said in one of my previous blogs, in both Istanbul and Kusadasi you are hounded to go into the shops. Most of the time the owners say the same thing “Hello, where are you from?” “Excuse me lady. I want to show you something” and so on. Occasionally someone comes up with something original. Walking past one shop, the owner tried getting our attention by shouting out “Hello, excuse me… Charlie’s Angels. Please, I want to show you something”. Charlie’s Angels? The three of us burst out laughing! For the rest of the day we were referring to ourselves as Charlie’s Angels and rolling up laughing. As someone suggested later on, we needed a photo of Charlie’s Angels in Istanbul!

It was getting late and the Grand Bazaar was starting to close. Rather than heading back to the ship for a while, we jumped into a taxi and made the short journey towards the Mariner of the Seas.

Now was the moment we’d all been waiting for. It was the time to use and abuse the internet!! Within close proximity of the port is an café/bar called Nargilem. The place is decked out with sofas and filled with nargilems (hence the name) which are large bong-like smoking pipes with flavoured smoke, something Luci loves.

Just as we were going in we spotted David in our usual spot (you’ll always find us near a plug socket!). Joining him and within a matter of seconds we’d all whipped out our laptops. Luci was the only one who couldn’t get online because apparently there’s a maximum of seven computers allowed to access the internet from the bar. While constantly trying to connect she sat around for two hours editing her photos in Photoshop and smoking a pipe.

I made the most out of the connection speed and started to upload the photos we’d taken from Istanbul and other ports of call. Sometimes, if the internet is slow, it’s almost impossible to upload photos to the blog and/or Facebook. Like I said previously, we were using and abusing the internet to the max. 

I finally managed to get in contact with the parents and had a good chat with them. There are a few things I need to speak to them about but never get the chance to as I’m always with someone. It’s also hard getting in touch with them due to the time differences. At the moment they are five hours behind us and it usually increases to six. When we are in the ports, my Mom and Dad are still tucked up in bed.

Fabio, Zoran and Ritesh popped in to join us. Fabio and Zoran were still mashed. The vodka was in full flow for these two. We didn’t expect anything less. As booze is so expensive in Turkey they’d filled up their blue Royal Caribbean water bottles with vodka. We later found out they’d guzzled two bottles of the stuff in one night… along with 25 red bulls. I’m surprised they didn’t have a heart attack from all that red bull! They left to go out for a walk and take some photos. Ritesh stayed to use the internet. It wasn’t long before Zoran and Fabio were back, armed with 150 photos of themselves being prats and more vodka. How they get away with it, I’ll never know.

Earlier on in the day Fabio had come into Hernan’s cabin. Hernan and I were sitting about talking, wondering what we could all do for the day. Fabio held a piece of paper in his hand and told us both he’s been fired and asked for help packing his suitcase. Fabio told us he’d been caught drunk on the gangway and been breathalysed. We didn’t believe him until Fabio walked into the corridor and started crying. Hernan and I looked at each other somewhat shocked and bemused. As soon as Fabio saw the look on our faces he burst out laughing. The fucker! It wasn’t enough that one of our team mates had recently been fired, that Fabio, who is always as drunk as a sailor (no puns) was joking about the subject. Although we laughed at his idiocy, we knew it wasn’t funny. With Fabio and now Zoran too, it wasn’t long until someone would get the boot for drinking. The photographers were under watch due to our excess drinking so these two were ticking time bombs. When shit hits the fan, it’ll hit the fan for all of us, not just Zoran and Fabio.

While sitting in Nargilem I was asked if I’d heard from Stu and Jeni. I was speaking to Jeni on Facebook and she’s arrived home after doing a bit of travelling through Italy and France. She’s finally met her nephew who was born during her time on the ship. All she’d seen of him previously were photos and snippets from the webcam. As for Stu, we’d heard nothing and by the looks of it, he hadn’t been online. Did the bungee jump cord break?

There was even a call from Becks. Although she told me some bad news, it was great hearing from her. Things got a bit emotional before hanging up. I miss Becks like there’s no tomorrow and I really wish we were on the same ship, especially when things are going bad or we’re having a hard time. 

Luci and I got onto the subject of Istanbul when Jeni and Stu were still around. We really missed the pair of them and that’s not just me, but the entire team. Although we had Camila who is a real blast, we missed our previous team mates and nothing could or would take their place. Saying goodbye to people like Stu and Jeni while not knowing if or when you’ll see them again is hard and something I doubt I’ll ever get used to.

Popping back on board at 2am to get the washing out the dryer, I bumped into Regina. She was in a foul mood, crying her eyes out. She’d finished work at 1am and had an argument with David. Apparently David and some of the other photogs were waiting to go out. They’d waited until 1am for Regina but she couldn’t give them an indication as to how long she was going to take before she was ready to hit the town. On that note, David said they were leaving as he’d made the others wait so long and didn’t want to make them wait even longer, especially if they didn’t know how long she was going to take. 

Sitting down and talking to Regina, I tried calming her down a little bit. I could understand why Regina was so upset, that they’d just gone out without her. At the same time, I could see the opposite side of things, they’d waited and decided enough was enough. If they’d been given a rough indication as to how long it’d take Regina to get ready, they’d have either waited or met her somewhere outside. As Regina confessed, she is used to being treated as a "princess". Nothing like this has ever happened to her before.

Going back out, I’d invited Regina to come along. I knew she wouldn’t, she wanted to go out and party. I didn’t have that kind of money and, call me tight fisted, I wasn’t prepared to pay anything between 8-10€ for a beer! Even if I had Lewis Hamilton’s wallet, I’d still find paying those prices offensive!

At about 4am we decided to call it a night and head back to the ship to get some rest. Camila had training at 10am. You’ve got to love the new hire training. It’s always at the most inconvenient time! Luci and I were talking about going out again tomorrow to show Camila around some more. Setting the alarm for 11am, we could get ready while Camila was at training and head straight out. It was a plan… but how well it’d hold up tomorrow when that alarm went off was another matter!

Me & Camila - Heading back to the ship at 4am

Charlie's Angels - Lou, Luci & Camila :-)

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey

Hagia Sofia, Istanbul

Sweetcorn Stand

Istanbul City Centre

Amazing View from the Crew Deck Area

Next day, before starting work, decided to have dinner at Johnny Rockets and watch the Mariner of the Seas sailaway from Istanbul.

Sandra and Fede

David and Me

Sailaway View from Johnny Rockets

David, Lou, Sandra and Fede at Johnny Rockets - Istanbul. Turkey

Sailing Out of Istanbul

Sandra and Fede

Captured at an Odd Moment... Eating Ice Cream or Ass?

Hernan, Shooting Sailaway, Came to Steal our Food!

Missed the Target

Missed the Target

11th June 2011

Good Morning Istanbul!

This morning Stu was dressed up as the camel and on gangway at 07.00 along with Fabio (shooter). Jeni who was dressed as the dolphin was teamed up with Fede. David soon joined the others on the gangway shooting the rail.

As before, during our previous trip to Istanbul we had to get an image count of 1,200 images. If we hit the target we’d get the afternoon and next morning off until 17.00. If not, we’d be hitting the gangway the next morning to get the image count.

To change things around a bit and increase our chances of hitting target, I was scheduled for a late gangway. I was taking over from David on the rail.

Walking out onto the gangway Jeni informed me things hadn't gone too well and that I was their last hope. 

The costumes had nearly four hundred photos each while David was scrapping one hundred. I needed to get the rest of the image count, approximately 300 photos. We all knew that was going to be impossible. Jeni wanted me to try and get 100 or more. That was a challenge in itself. 

I started at 10.30 and most of the tours had gone. By 11.30 I was left to my own devices on the gangway. Slowly I started racking up images and then it suddenly dried up. After a couple of hours no one was getting on or off the Mariner of the Seas. 

Talking to security they told me 220 people were left on board. To make matters worse the heavens opened the rain lashed down. Two more tours were coming off the ship so I smudged as best as I could to get the image count up. I was 30 images off 100. Roughly, every other person from the two remaining tours needed to be photographed. How did that go? Well, I managed to get 5 shots. 25 images were needed.

Asking security to check again, there was roughly 170 passengers left of board. The rain was getting heavier and the temperature dropping. Picking up the rail and slumping it on my shoulder, I headed back inside to call one of the managers and put on another layer of clothing.

Checking the schedule Luci and Reuben were out on tour. Reuben was the man I needed to talk to. I was reluctant to call Ritesh but had to. With an hour remaining on gangway, Ritesh asked me to get the image counts from the other gangway photographers and let him know our current total. In total we had approximately 886 images - too far off the target. 

Ritesh reminded me we needed at least 1,000 to get the rest of today and tomorrow off. Even though it was raining I was sent back out onto the gangway for at least another half an hour. After about ten minutes of smudging in the rain and getting nowhere, Ritesh came out to see how I was getting on. 

As soon as Ritesh walked over to me he yelped “oh fuck man, it’s raining”…. Yeah, I did tell you that, Ritesh. He stood by me as I tried smudging people into the rail. I was trying to make a joke of the rain, especially with the English guests “get a photo in the rain… it’s not like you get a lot of it in England”, “it’ll be a great shot to send home… no one would believe you’ve travelled all this way to get rained on”, “why are you running away? It’s not like we don’t get enough rain in England! You should be used to this by now”. Plenty of laughs but no photos. Ritesh soon realized that I wasn’t going to get a single image and not by any fault of my own. No one wanted a photo in the pouring of raining. Grabbing the rail we headed back onto the ship. He did warn me however that we could be working tomorrow on the gangway as we didn’t reach out target. Now that ladies and gents is a first class, royal kick in the balls!!

Jumping into bed for a bit, my head was banging, chest sore from coughing and I simply couldn’t get warm. I grabbed my book, Pure Evil, which the mama had bought me for Christmas and started to read. I dropped off to sleep in no time. A couple of hours later Ritesh walked passed and woke me up. Looking at me as if I had two heads asked me if I always slept in my uniform. The way he said it didn’t go down to well “no, falling asleep in my uniform is what sometimes happens when I’m reading and tired”. He just walked off looking utterly disgusted. Maybe next time I should close my cabin door? I hate closing the door. The place seems so enclosed, the complete opposite to what I’m used to.

Just as I was getting out of the shower Jeni knocked on my door with Regina, David and Sandra in tow. They were all going out to the usual internet haunt. Quickly getting ready we all headed out. Hernan, Fede and Stu joined us later. Hernan’s been down about something recently but won’t tell me… he keeps saying “tomorrow, tomorrow”. I knew that was a Spanish attitude but I didn’t realize it was Argentinian too!

Not long after the other three arrived Stu stormed off because he couldn’t get online and the guys in the bar weren’t much help. He's been so snappy lately but no one can pin point what's wrong.

Returning to the ship at 8.30ish we all met up a little later in SOB. Some people were already half cut – I won’t mention any names! Zoran was in SOB looking for Stuart who promised he’d help him out with his competencies. 

I didn’t fancy going out with the other photographers. It was not because I didn’t want to spend time with them. Istanbul is so expensive and I don’t have the money. I’m trying to pay off my security deposit, uniform and camera as quickly as possible. Last payday all my money went to pay Image off… Reuben was nice enough to give me a dollar for a coca-cola though!

Zoran and I headed out to use the Internet at Nargilem. I knew roughly where Stu would be and let’s face it… trying to find someone who is 6’7 wouldn’t be too hard. Within five minutes we’d found where he was. I wasn’t sure whether I should stick it in the place were Stu was or to go to the usual place. In the end, I joined Stu and Zoran for a bit and got on with blogging. 

Stu called me and turned his netbook around to show me something… he was reading my blog! My blog isn’t something I thought the team would read or even find out about. It’s posted on my Facebook but I never thought they’d give it a second glance let alone read it from start to finish. Stu reckons he'll "understand me better". If Stu reckons he’ll be able to understand me better by reading my blog then so be it. One thing that pleased me was that he actually gave me a compliment telling me I was a good writer… and even asked when the book was coming out. I knew is wasn't sarcasm for the simple reason that he's South African! Three people today have asked me when the book is coming out. Is that a hint? I told him there’d be things in there that he probably wouldn’t want to read but he’d read it anyway and wasn’t offended in any way, shape or form.

Zoran got on with his competencies and it wasn’t long until he’d finished the Photog1 section. Photog2 is quite a bit harder so he’d have a couple of goes at the tests. If he failed Stu and I jumped in to help him out a little by explaining how things were done. No matter how long you’ve worked or studied as a photographer for, Image is completely different. It’s like starting from square 1 and doing everything differently.

By about 5am we had helped Zoran finish off his competencies. To be fair, he didn’t actually need that much help. It was mainly on the usual suspects: Studio lights and Quantum flash. 

Getting back onto the ship we spotted Regina and Jeni. Jeni couldn’t go back to her cabin as it was “occupied” for the night. Regina soon went to meet David and they disappeared off to bed. It was just Stu, Jeni, Zoran and me. 

We sat in the corridor for a while just chatting and having a joke. The plan was to go up to Deck 12 and watch the sun come up over Istanbul. None of us had done it before and this was Jeni’s last Istanbul. The idea went to pot as soon as Stu mentioned going up for breakfast at 6am when the crew mess opened. 

After breakfast we went back to the corridor. So I didn’t wake Luci up I was also going to be staying at Stu and Zoran’s. Jeni and me jumped into Stu’s bunk while Zoran climbed into his own. Stu got one of the blankets and a pillow from his bed and crashed on the floor. There was literally no space to manoeuvre then again, that’s what you get when you pack 4 people into a shoe box!

Lazy Turkeys

Lazy Turkeys

19^th May 2011

So much for getting up at 10… I ended up getting up at 12.30 before waking Stu. Lazy isn’t even the word but then again we only had 7 hours sleep. Quickly showering, Stu met me at my cabin. Along with David, Ritesh, Fede and Hernan we headed up to the Staff Mess for something to eat. 

David was on the hunt for trainers for the gym… I swear it’s an excuse not to go to the gym! Hernan and Fede were off for a wander before Fede had to go into the lab and start printing. Ritesh needed to pop to Western Union to send money home to India. We were pretty sure there was a Western Union of the way to the Turkish bar/café we use so Ritesh came with Stu and me.

Once again I spoke to the parents before they headed out. I’m starting to make a habit of getting my Mom out of bed. There’s a 7 hour time difference between us so it’s always early whenever I call. Having said that, I’m such a Goddess that my Mom is obliged to drag herself out of bed to speak to me. 

Becks sent me an essay of an email. She’s all good except for the odd bits and pieces here and there. I understand where she’s coming from. It’s a shame she’s not on the same ship as me. I miss talking to her. When things get you down, it’s good to have someone you know and trust to talk to. Even though we haven’t known each other for a long period of time, we are both on the same wave length and similar in many ways so get on really well. I’ve told her next time she’s got a problem or needs someone to talk to, to just email me and I’ll get back to her as soon as I get online. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with her in England. It’s going to be such a laugh!!

I was determined to finish my competencies and Reuben wanted them done by the end of Istanbul. I was on a failing mission. Time was running out. Stu was helping me as much as he could but there were three sections that I kept failing. With the clock ticking I was getting more and more frustrated. I needed to read through the entire "lesson" again before doing the exam but there simply wasn’t time so it’d have to wait until Naples. Rapidly packing up we headed towards the ship. The queue wasn’t anywhere near as long as we’d anticipated.

Again Stu and I ran to our cabins to shower and change into our uniform. We were meeting in the lab in 20 minutes to collect the prints for the gallery. Three bags full of prints and we were on our way to the gallery to meet the others. In two groups we took it in turns for lunch. One group went first while the other started to display and then vice versa.

We had a meeting with Reuben who asked how much we’d sold. When it comes down to selling the Get The Picture (GTP) Fabio is in first place with 4. I’m in second place with 2. Stu has started to catch me up and I’m desperate to go head-to-head with Fabio. If we sell more than 5 we get dinner for free in the guest’s dining room. Very posh! 

Reuben’s told us to push the engraved photo frames priced at $32. He gave us a rough idea on the speech. We are having a bit of a competition to see who sold the most within the night. We aren’t competitive are we!? At the end of the night, only three were sold. Rueben, Stu and I each sold one. As our prize Stu and I were given "reward cards" to take down to the Crew Office. There, we'd pick up our prize which could be anything from a $10 voucher for the internet to 10% off Johnny Rockets. 

It was all good fun, once I’m given a rough idea how to pitch. I’ll pitch and push as far as I can go… sometimes the guests put their hand in their pocket sometimes they don’t. It all goes hand in hand. You win some, you lose some.

Some people enjoy sitting around all day behind an office desk which is okay, I’ve done it before. I love the running around part of the job. The running around, competitions, incentives and selling! It’s hectic and you're running around like a headless chicken on a mission but it’s a huge part of the fun.

Short Straw & Kebabs

Short Straw and Kebabs

18^th May 2011

Istanbul has finally arrived! Mariner of the Seas will be staying overnight in Istanbul so we usually get the evening and morning off depending on how well our sales are doing and if we our hitting targets. In short, we weren’t doing either. 

Last night Reuben made a deal with us. The guys on gangway needed to get 1,200 images or more. If they reached their target we’d all get the next morning off. To ensure we got top whack we had two costumes – Stu dressed as the camel with Fabio shooting and Jeni as the dolphin and Luci shooting. David and Hernan were out later with the rail and Turkish flags.

Fede and I drew the short straws by the looks of things. My straw was by far the shortest! We were both on tour, Fede’s was five  hours while mine was ten!! I was doing the Classical Istanbul tour. 

After formal night and going to bed at 2am (or 3am in Fede’s case) the last thing you want to do is get up at 6am. On the bus I managed to fall asleep – nothing new there then. I had to try and get as many photographs as possible but no one really held out much hope. During these long tours, the guide whizzes around and you have practically no time to stop and look let alone have people stand together for their photo. In total I came back with a whopping 19 photos. Everyone was shocked when I said the amount of images I’d taken. I’d have taken more but there were only 20 people on my bus. Usually 40 people (give and take a little) will go on this particular tour.

To be fair it was pretty hard going but it was great being able to see some of the sights of Istanbul. Previously, speaking to my Dad he’d told me I must go to the mosques and Saint Sofia so I was pretty pleased I’d managed to get there…. Even if it's just to gloat and do the "Been There" chant (what else are daughters for?) I tried my best to get as many stock shots as I could to email the parents. Unfortunately I forgot to remove them from my memory card before taking it down to the lab. 

WARNING: If you're a cruise ship photographer, every time you take your memory cards to the lab, your memory card will be formatted, deleting everything on it. It doesn't matter what photos are on there, they will be deleted. It’s a royal pain in the arse, I can tell you!

During the day we stopped off at a Best Western hotel for lunch. The menu is interesting to say the least. Starters: rice, humus, bread and something that was in between a spring and sausage roll. Needless to say it was lovely. The main course was by far the best though. We had a “traditional Turkish dish”…. Kebab meat with rice and mash potato. Traditional and typical aren’t the words that spring to mind when I think of kebabs. In England, a kebab is the sort of junk food that you buy with your last remaining pennies after stumbling out of a night club as drunk as a skunk! Now I was eating the same in a nice hotel restaurant. It’s like going to a nice restaurant and getting McDonald’s. Things didn’t quite add up. I could help but break out into a smile.

Another highlight of the day, although maybe a random highlight, in one day, we crossed over to Asia, twice. Istanbul straddles the European and Asian boarder with the Bosphorus running in between. To cross the other side is an enormously long bridge, the Bosphorus Bridge, where the traffic, we are told, is always terrible. Most people live on the Asian side as it’s cheaper, nicer and safer while commuting to the European for work. The houses are very higgledy piggledy like they are in Spanish villages. Some of the building work could have bought a tear to even a “cowboy builder’s” eye.

I wondered how the others were getting on. It’s times like this when I miss having my mobile phone. Or should I say a working mobile phone? If I were in England or Spain I’d be texting or making a quick call to see how things were getting on. Not only that, but I’d be able to contact Becks a little more. Instead I'll to wait until I'm back onboard at 6pm.

Last stop of the tour was to the Grand Bazar. The tour guide gave everyone “free time” so everyone darted off to do their own thing. I was left standing there with my camera dangling around my neck and no extra photos. I gave up. There’s no way I could chase everyone around such a huge, bustling market. It was impossible. 

So, there I was in the Grand Bazaar with two hours to myself and I’d forgotten my laptop. I took the chance to put my headphones in and have a mooch around the world famous market. Passing one shop I saw a Tottenham Hotspur football shirt and thought of my Dad. They are all “fake genuines” and I was tempted to buy one and post it to Uruguay. Then I thought, what’s the point? The postage would cost more than a real football shirt. If I can get the right size, I’ll get one on our last trip to Istanbul. Presents for the Mama is easy, consider it done! I’m aiming to cover her fridge/freezer with magnets from all the countries I’ve been to. I’ve got to get Mama something else too, but I’m not 100% sure what. 

During my way through the bazar I saw pairs of funky, Turkish earrings. The price was cheap enough, but you can’t settle for the first price they give you. I got it down by 2TL (Turkish Lira) which is only about a euro. My haggling skills need improving. Having said that, paying 2€ for a pair of earrings is a bargain by anyone's standards, especially European. Thinking back to the U.K. if you'd found these earrings in Claire's or somewhere along those lines, you'd be paying around 8GBP.

Back at base Luci was still ill. I’m worried I’m going to catch her virus and it’ll make its way around the team. Once one member of the team has a bug or virus, you can be sure that it'll make it's way around.

The good news was that we had smashed our target by about 350 images so not only did we have the night off but also the following morning. No work until 5pm and then we were all in the gallery condensing and displaying images. Nice and easy, even if it's a little tedious, but you can't complain!

Luci and I headed out to our favourite Turkish place, Nargilem. It’s open 24/7, sells a wide range of weird and wonderful Turkish tea, no rip off prices and a fast internet speed. Stu was already there. I got to speak to the parents and contact a few people from England and Spain. 

The blog was finally updated too! I’ve been getting so behind with not being able to get online or working so much that I can’t even find time to type up the updates. It's either blog or sleep and I'm not going to lie, sleep wins 98% of the time! 

Luci left at about 1am, I was falling asleep so I ran back for a cold shower before heading back out again. Stu was doing his P3 competencies while I finished my P1 and started P2. By 4am my battery had ran out and we were shattered. I was determined to finish my P2 but no chance – it’d have to be tomorrow. We headed back to the ship for some much needed shut eye and arranged to meet tomorrow and finish off the competencies before heading out somewhere in Istanbul. How I love our 24 hours off in Istanbul!! 

 

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, Turkey

Chillaxing in Istanbul

Chillaxing in Istanbul

25^th April 2011

Day 2 in Istanbul. 

Hernan and I have finally finished our training. We now have our certificates in basic first aid, safety and fire fighting and crowd management. All we have to do now is a test which we’ll do in Naples, I think. The certificate for crowd management lasts 5 years while the basic first aid, safety and fire fighting lasts a life time!

We’ll be at sea for two days before reaching Naples. Only 3 more days until Rich and Lee sign off… not looking forward to it. We’ve got a good little group.

After training Luci, Stu, David and I headed into Istanbul to a Turkish café to use the internet. We’ve been here for about 2 hours so far. This time the prices are rather cheap.

A Turkish man is just walking down the road with a massive, and I mean massive, tray loaded with rolls. Everywhere you look there are stands or people walking around selling corn on the cob, pretzel style bread and roast chestnuts. It’s a completely different lifestyle to what I’m used to. I still can’t get my head around eating cucumbers covered in salt!

I’ve spoken to the parents again, they are leaving for Uruguay tomorrow so getting in contact with them will be a lot easier once they are home. Dad told me off for swearing – I doubt I’ll ever be too old for a nagging. It was good to hear from them again.

Later on today or tonight after work I’m going to download some of Hernan’s images from the toga party and team lunch… I wish I’d taken my camera. Now I’m going to take my baby Canon 400D everywhere I go. 

Before dinner Fede got some smashing photos on his new toy: Canon 5D – the image quality is amazing. I want it! I want it! I want it! Hmm… I’d better get my arse in gear, earn some commission and save to get that camera. Apparently the best place to go for cameras is St. Maartins…  God knows when I’ll get there but at least I’ll have plenty of time to save up!

Right I’d better get back to the ship and get ready for work. I might try and squeeze in another nap. Taking naps is a big thing in ship life. You don’t get a lot of sleep so you take naps here and there to catch up. Since I’ve been working on the Mariner of the Seas the longest I've slept is probably about 5 hours. The shortest… 2 and a half hours! Pro Plus is seriously needed! The motto in our department: Work Hard, Play Hard!

Take care and I’ll update as soon as possible although it might be when we reach Naples.

Madonna, Shakira and The Beatles

Madonna, Shakira and The Beatles

24^th April 2011

Today is the start of our 2 day stay in Istanbul, Turkey. So far, it’s been a real laugh. Istanbul looks absolutely fantastic! The city is dotted with impressive, massive mosques. Some are more impressive than others. We have another couple of trips here so hopefully we'll have plenty of time to look around the city. The sea is infested with jelly fish! There are hundreds of the buggers floating around the ship and port. At first I thought it was a foam on the surface but it was a mass gathering of jelly fish! I guess swimming is out of the question…

Once a month we are given US$20 for a team activity. This month we were going out for a team lunch. We found what we thought was a traditional Turkish place for our team lunch. Inside looked amazing: carpeted sofas, authentic looking tables, bowls of fruit and nuts. Each of us tried a Turkish pipe (Nagile). Most of us tried apple but a couple of others tried banana which was horrible. Jeni’s mint and lemon was the best. It’s basically flavoured smoke/tobacco and if you go to Turkey, you have to try a Nagile. 

We had a great laugh, had our photos taken etc. Jeni, Luci and I got a shock when we went into the men’s bathroom (as you do) to find it was just a hole in the floor. There was no way we were squatting over that so we had to cross our legs and wait.

A couple of hours later we got the bill which was stated in Turkish Liras. Jomar, the BM, asked for the amount in US Dollars… US$500 in total!!!!!!! Gobsmacked wasn’t the word! We asked them to check again and tried to count up what we’d had. In the end we really couldn’t argue and Jomar had to pay up – obviously, he wasn't a happy bunny. It’ll teach us not to check the prices before going in somewhere or even asking how much something is beforehand. After being financially raped by Turks most of the team headed back to the ship.

Mariner of the Seas Photog Team

Rich, Lee & Luci

Hernan

Jeni & Rich

Mariner of the Seas Photog Team

David

Luci and I jumped in a taxi and headed to the Grand Bazaar to have a poke around the market. It’s absolutely amazing, a completely different way of life. Every two minutes you are getting stopped “Excuse me lady” “Where are you from?” To be fair, most of the people left me alone, they weren’t really interested in the little blonde scruffy girl. They were more interested in the hot Brazilian. The men were trying everything to get our attention, especially Luci’s. The best names were Madonna, Shakira and Angelina (Jolie) – they are as similar as chalk and cheese! 

Neither of us had a lot of money which was a good thing or else we’d have bought half the market! The only thing I got was an Istanbul magnet so I can start putting photos on our cabin wall. The market holders sold pretty much the same things but if you're a first timer, go, as it's something compeltely different from the norm: bags, clothes, woven boots, leather jackets, magnets, hand crafted wallets and purses, nagiles, Turkish sweets, tea and so on. There were stands selling small cucumbers which were peeled and salted - they didn't look particuarly appertizing but were selling like hot cakes. We are coming back again soon so maybe next time I’ll get a few post cards for people back home. If only I could find a post office!

As Lee and Rich are signing off soon and we are staying overnight we headed out for their leaving do. Well, the first leaving do. No doubt we’ll have another one the night before they sign off. Originally we were going to Windjammer (on the ship) but we were told we couldn’t as it was only open for higher ranks so we ended up heading to Johnny Rockets “Everybody say hellooooooooo”. Every so often they’ll put this one particular song on and all the waiters working there will all dance together. It’s all very American cheese but hilarious. Stu was dragged up to dance. We were crying with laughter! I think Fede has a video of it, if not I’ll try to get some photos.

We had a few drinks up in S.O.B. before getting off the ship. While in S.O.B. Lee took over the music and was playing non stop Beatles. No matter where the guys are from, they ALL knew the lyrics and were singing along together. The best was “Yellow Submarine". Everyone changed the lyrics to “we all live in the Mariner of the Seas”. 

Hernan was doing some of his humping cowboy like dancing and pole dancing on a pool cue. We were in stitches. Stu’s attempt at getting us all to do strawpedos or Stupedos failed. He can neck a bottle of Smirnoff ice in 3 mouthful. 

We jumped into a taxi and headed into Istanbul. It was a Sunday so the place we were looking for, Babylon, was closed. While walking aimlessly we found a small shot bar so we popped in for a quick shot… The Turkish equivalent of Apple Sourz warmed us up nicely! It was freezing outside! 

We walked back to a club we’d previously walked past – it was a bit of a last resort. We ordered our drinks and after 3 attempts found out how much the bill would be: 10 euros each drink!! A beer was 8 euros but we just split the bill evenly. The drinks were too expensive so we finished up, took some photos and left. Walking around Taksim Square, the place to go in Istanbul apparently, we found another club. Going inside the drinks were just as expensive. 

Rather than spend an arm and a leg on booze we headed back to the ship where the drinks are only a dollar or two. We carried on having a drink and laugh on back deck until about 3am. I’d managed to lock myself out of my cabin! Hernan and I had to be up at 7am for life raft training while the rest of the team weren’t working until the evening.

David, the new guy’s great, his laugh is so addictive. He’s fitting in well and he’s finally got his luggage!! Overall, we have a great team, it’s gonna be a shame seeing Lee and Rich go. I think I could even miss Rich stabbing me in the ribs and tickling me. Oh, and we can’t forget the head nuggies! 

Getting up for training is going to be  a royal bitch tomorrow!!!!!!!!!

Istanbul from Deck 12 - David, Fede & Me

Before Johnny Rockets

It's Good To Talk!

Lou, Fede & Hernan

Johnny Rockets: Me & David

Stu & Lee

Fede, Hernan, David & Myself

Argentinians... Different from the Rest!

Lou Lou :-)