Monaco!!

Monaco!!

14^th August 2011

Late last night when we got the schedules Sandra and I saw we weren’t working until the afternoon. Cannes, France was our next port.

Sitting at Back Deck having a drink after work we decided we should make the most of our time off and go to Monaco. Monaco is on the top of my “Places to Go” list so I was up for it. We needed to get up early, pretty much as soon as the ship arrived in Cannes.

Waking up later than we’d planned (08.00) we quickly got dressed and ran up to the Staff Mess for some breakfast. Returning to the cabin to grab the loaded camera bags and drinks we ran into Hernan. He now wanted to come with us. Originally we hadn’t invited him simply because he takes so long to get his arse in gear. Finally we were all ready to go. As we jumped on one of the first tenders, it wasn’t long until it was full and we were on our way.

Camila was doing her own version of free-shooting. It was more paparazzi shooting than anything else. Leandro was bopping around in the dolphin costume with Fabio shooting him. Obviously we had to make a quick stop to have our picture taken with the dolphin.

The train ticket to Monaco wasn’t as expensive as we’d originally thought it was going to be – 12 euros return. Monaco was an hour away. Sandra was getting a few strange looks for doing her make up on the train. Hernan and I were kidding about her trying to look her best in order to find a rich, old man to marry. Next she started plucking her eyebrows - she's definetly looking for a rich man!

Once we arrived, the cameras were out and we were going trigger happy! There was so much to see!! Everywhere you looked there was something to see and plenty of Formula 1 plaques, statues etc.

Walking around and straight away I spotted something that looked familiar. The Monaco Grand Prix pit lane. I was in my element!! We didn’t have long in Monaco so we were rushing around like Chinese tourists.

Sandra wanted to go to Prince Albert’s Palace which was right at the very top. As we were doing the long walk up towards the palace the views of the port and mountains were excellent. Nearing Prince Albert’s Palace was the Aquatic Museum of Monaco (Musée Oceanographique de Monaco). The building was massive with a huge banner at the entrance with a photograph of Prince Albert on his wedding day. Sandra and I wanted to go inside, not only were we dreading how much it’d cost but time was running out fast.

Hernan was complaining we should go back to the train station and he had a point. We carried on speed walking up towards the palace. Monaco was full of tours from different ships: Disney, Princess, MSC and of course our ship, Mariner of the Seas.

While speed walking around we managed to stop off on a couple of occasions for a quick photo. Walking along a narrow street for about five minutes we came to a huge opening. We’d finally made it to the Royal Palace which made Buckingham Palace look like one bedroom council house!!

Checking the time, we really needed to run back to train station as quickly as possible. We were still snapping away while trying to half run half jog to the train station.

Finally arriving at the station, the train wasn’t due to arrive until 13.13. We had a 30 minute wait. Hernan and Sandra were working on setting up the studios at 14.00 - they were already late. The train was due to arrive in Cannes at 14.13, it was a 15 minute walk to the port and then it could be another 20 minutes waiting for the tender to fill up. If you think that’s bad, you’ve then got to queue up and punch your card into the ship’s entry machine and get through security!

While waiting I ran upstairs to have a look in the small souvenir shop. I’d had a quick look in one of the shops in Cannes and the prices were ridiculous. Monaco was special, but there was no way I was paying €5.50 or more for a magnet!! Going inside there were so many magnets that I wanted to take with me. The price tag made your eyes water a little, €4 a go but it was Monaco and a once in a life time opportunity! Paying for a single magnet I ran back down to Sandra and Hernan who were waiting on the platform.

Literally a minute or two later, our train pulled into the station. We spotted a couple of people from the ship who’d spent the day in Monaco. Only difference was, they didn’t have to work that day.

When the train stopped in Cannes we were back to speed walking towards the ship. With the port in view Sandra and Hernan pegged it off to get to the tender. I wasn’t starting until later and carried on speed walking. Getting on the tender I saw Hernan and Sandra – their running to get onto the tender had been for nothing. We waited for about 15 minutes until the tender was full and boy, were the other two late!

Just as I was going into the corridor Hernan and Sandra were flying out of their cabins. Talk about a quick change! I hadn’t even seen them go through security. They both ran up to set up – which they were an hour late for. Checking the schedule I realized that I wasn’t due to work until 15.30. I thought I was working at 15.00. Saved!

Jumping into a cold shower, I got dressed into my day uniform and headed to the lab to get the prints. It was formal night so at 17.30, I had an hour break in which to get into my tuxedo and have something to eat.

Returning to the gallery and it was going to be a night of displaying, condensing and serving Italian guests. I was back to pushing the packages and sold three of The 15s. I even managed to sell a 15 package to an Italian family in my mix of Italian and Spanish. For that, I gave myself a mental pat on the back!!

The night dragged a little bit and the day’s events were starting to catch up on me. I was bloody shattered! Once formal night was over; the gallery closed and all the studios broken down, Sandra and I each took a camera bag and left the others waiting for pizza.

I’d gone up beforehand and was told to come back in 10 minutes. Fabio and Hernan went up after 10 minutes and were told to come back in 20. Every single time we have a problem with getting the pizza in, no matter what time you order it.

Sandra and I headed off into the Crew Mess (or the Zoo, as some people call it). We’d had enough of pizza and the waiting around that came with it so we’d been asking a friend or two to bring us something from the guest’s dining room. We didn’t expect dinner and desert though!!

After work, most of the photographers were heading up to Back Deck for a drink or two. I couldn’t face it, my eye lids were just about staying open. People were commenting on how knackered I looked so I was on a one way ticket to my bed for a couple of hours kip before it was time for gangway!!

Tendering

Zzzzzzzzz

On the Train to Monaco

Monaco!

Formula 1 Galore

First Monaco Grand Prix Plaque

Monaco Grand Prix Pit Lane

F1 Circuit

Port

Hernan's Bum Note

Part of Prince Albert's Palace

Crack Goes The Wrist

Crack goes the Wrist

5^th August 2011

Due to David and my poor performance in Genoa, we weren’t scheduled for another gangway. Instead we were lumbered with setting up the studios. Camila was on the gangway today dressed up as a dolphin. Usually we use the Sailor for the Cannes gangway but there’s been a switch. We were below are image target and the dolphin is always popular on gangway. I’m not sure if the guys on gangway hit their target. 

Originally a few of us were going to try and go out for a bit but because of the schedule and it being formal night we decided to catch up on our sleep and get ready (mentally) for a long evening shooting. 

As much as I love gangway, doing both gangway and formal night is physically and mentally draining so it was a welcome break.

Within two hours, five of us had set up all the studios. The meeting was at 18.00 so we had a couple of hours to laze about. There was no point in going out in Cannes. If we didn’t have to tender to the port and back, we’d have gone out. Tendering takes times while you wait for the boat to fill with guests etc. It can easily take 20-30 minutes each way. We didn’t want to chance it.

Surprise, surprise! I was on Titanic again while the new hires were all on good back drops or centrums. Finally caught up on sleep, I was full on energy and smudging like mad. It wasn’t long until I didn’t need to smudge. There was a queue of about 50 people at my studio. For once it was proving to be more popular than LSP. That never happens! I was supposed to close my studio for Ressi but there were so many people waiting that I carried on shooting. 

Ten minutes later Sanela, Camila and Leandro came up and were watching me pose the guests. Camila walked over to the guests at the front of the line, pulled my studio sign in front of them and said something. She pointed out the times on the sign boards and then told the guests the current time. I was trying to eavesdrop while concentrating on posing the couple in front of me and get through the queue as quickly as possible. 

The couple Camila had spoken to came into the studio and asked if my studio was closed. Camila had told the guests my studio was closed! This had confused the guests a bit. It was contradictory, I’m shooting in my studio while someone is saying it’s closed. I was far from happy! How dare someone come into my (or anyone’s studio) and tell the guests in the queue, especially those at the front, that I’m closed and they can’t have their photo taken. If anything it’d be the person shooting in the studio to say that they are closed.

I told the guests I was obviously open as I was allowing people to come in to MY studio. I know what the schedule says and yes, I should’ve closed but if I got the image count up by keeping the studio open while I had a massive line, Jomar wouldn’t mind. We needed an image count and I was doing my part to get it up. You can't turn guests away if you're still shooting, it's a golden rule

Camila, Sanela and Leandro stood at my studio for another 10 minutes, they should have been shooting in Ressi. Getting annoyed, I quietly asked them “aren’t you supposed to be in Ressi?” They nodded and Camila told me to hurry up. My temper was running low. First trying to close my studio, second standing around watching instead of shooting Ressi and finally telling me to hurry up and talking to a senior member of the team the way she was, in front of guests. I wasn’t having any of it and Camila’s attitude is starting to grate on a few members of the team. 

At times like this, I wish Stu was around, he’d sort it with a smile on his face. Trying to keep my temper, I told Camila and the other two they needed to go and shoot, I’d join them once I got through my queue. They watched me. “GO!” They finally walked off. 

It wasn’t long until the queue had gone right down and I put the closing sign in front of my studio, finishing off the remaining couple of people in the line. 

Looking to my right I saw Sanela fixing her hair in the mirror. What the bloody hell was she doing? She was supposed to be shooting Ressi. I might not have been in Ressi from the start but I was pulling my weight elsewhere and still working, not fixing my hair trying to skive Ressi.

I joined the others in Ressi for 5 minutes and only shot 26 images. They’d done the lot! Running for a quick cigarette it was back into the studio for another session. 

Straight away there were people standing in line for their photo to be taken. Once the session had finished (which was on time) I went into the office to download my images. Checking what the others had got from their studios, Titanic (my studio) was proving to be one of the most popular. Not only that, I was feeling on top form and taking a leaf out of Stu’s book. I’d been cracking jokes and laughing with the guests so their smiles were more natural and relaxed. This actually came across in the prints so fingers crossed they’d sell.

Towards the end of my second Ressi session I was holding my camera up high, in my right hand. We do this to avoid hitting guests who are sitting down eating. As I was moving along the table motioning for a couple to move in for a photo, a waiter pushed past me. I almost fell forward while the weight of my camera went in the opposite direction. My wrist had been cramping for a couple of days from the amount of images we’d been shooting and I think it’d simply had enough. There was a loud crack from my wrist. A sharp throbbing pain started pounding in my wrist. Even one of the guests heard it. I didn’t stop, I was nearly done. Biting my tongue I shot the remaining three tables without saying much. 

Setting up my studio again the pain was getting worse. I quickly took my test shots and the pain was enough to make your eyes well up. Looking at my wrist, my hand had swollen up like a balloon! Just what we didn't need!

Quickly putting the CLOSED sign in front of my studio, I went into the gallery and spoke to Paco. Straight away he said I’d sprained my wrist and needed to go to the medical. He spoke to Jomar who had a look and said the exact same thing. 

Paco went to get a pink medical slip while I ran to soap up my hand and get my ring off. It took about five minutes to get the ring off! Talk about sausage fingers!

The medical was closed so I rang the nurse on duty. Jomar had to come down and fill out some paper work. He was far from happy but what could I do? The nurse pointed out it was the second accident in two weeks in our department and both had occurred in the dining room. First Zoran, now me. Jomar pointed out something I’d never thought he’d admit. The dining room was too crowded with guests, photographers, waiters and assistant waiters plus the lighting is dim which doesn’t help. 

Getting an x-ray, my wrist wasn’t broken or fractured. Wrapping my wrist up in a bandage, the nurse gave me an injection for the pain. For a small prick in the arm there was so much blood and the pain of the injection rivalled that from my sprained wrist! Am I turning into a wimp or what?!

Talking to the doctor he asked me the question you always get asked and dread at the same time. "Can you work?" He looked at me with a half smile on his face waiting for me to say what he’d predicted. “Yes, I can still work”. His face suddenly changed and he looked confused. He’d expected me to say no. Asking me as if I was as thick as two short planks, how I’d be able to take photos with one hand. I pointed out that although I am a photographer, there are other jobs within our department which don’t consist of holding a camera. I could work on gangway in costume, selling in the gallery, shooting on tripod. Luckily, he marked me off as “fit for duty”.

Getting the schedule for the morning, I was working gangway in my favourite costume: Lady Corsica/Crete Girl. Later on I’d be in the gallery for the evening. 

Speaking to Jomar he sadly told the nurse he was now down another photographer (we still didn’t have a full team). I said I hadn’t been signed off duty and I’d still be able to work, just not take photos. In a way, I thought he’d be glad I’d still be able to work in some way, rather than placing my work duties on the rest of the team. It didn’t work. Saying goodnight, he told me to go to my cabin and rest. 

Hernan was a star and bought me some pizza down – I was starving!!

Tomorrow was another day and I was looking forward to hitting the gangway in Corsica in my favourite outfit. Even with my hand and wrist bandaged up I was going to kick arse and get the image count up and surpass out 600 image target.

Aye Aye Sailor - Again

Aye Aye Sailor!

31^st July 2011

Aye Aye Sailor! That’s right I was scheduled to dress up as the sailor for gangway today in Cannes. Unlike last week I actually made it to the gangway! It was the first time I’d travelled to a port by tender (the port is too small for the size of our ship).

The overall gangway was much different from what I’ve experienced at previous ports. Usually people are constantly coming in and out of the ship, even if they are trickling through. Today is was a mad rush when the tenders arrived and then we’d stand around for 5-10 minutes with nothing to do. 

The attitude of the guests also seemed different. Getting people to stop for their photo was much harder than usual. Once we got into a routine, I was literally just holding one arm out to stop the other guests to walk into the photo. My other hand was held to my head saluting, looking straight at the camera with a smile plastered on my face. 

Once one person said no, everyone would and a stampede would start. The guests would be pushing and shoving to get off the gangway. Sandra (shooter) and I would have to smudge our arses off and I was even blocking people, standing in their way or holding my arm out. 

Normally we have to let crew go passed, unless they want their photo taken. Today, it was different. We had to grab the crew for a photo, whether it was to keep the queue going with the guests in line and following suit or to start things off again. Some guests were trying to get around us which at one point caused a stampede and Sandra and I struggled to get everything back under control. 

One member from Laundry came along and was about to walk past. Grabbing him I managed to quickly whisper an apology, but I had to get everyone or else the guests would make a run for it. He laughed and didn’t mind, so the other members of laundry join in with the fun and got their photos taken. As a small token for helping us on gangway and cleaning our costumes - for free and some times at short notice - I took gave them their prints later in the day.

Our target was 600 images but we didn’t reach it. Instead we got exactly 500 images. In fact, none of us hit our targets but we had a good go at it and most of us got near. However, getting near your target  isn’t always good enough. I suppose it could have been worse!

While working gangway our new hire arrived. We nearly have a full team! Leandro Kenji Sato. He’s originally from Brazil (half Japanese) and attended training with Camila in Miami so she’s over the moon that he’s joining our team on the Mariner. He’s also from the same part of Brazil as Luci. For a couple of days until Luci leaves there’ll be four Brazilians on the team. What we really of need are more Italian speakers, although Hernan’s soaking up the lingo like a sponge!

As soon as we were back on the ship we headed up for something to eat. We were starving. Sandra and I bumped into Hernan, Zoran and David who were going to the beach. They gave us rough directions to the beach they were going to and included the unnecessary detail saying it's “saggy tits heaven!” Not what we wanted to hear that before eating! The lads have a great time sitting on the beach looking at the sea of boobs and a royal laugh at the saggy pairs getting dragged across the sand!

After eating we quickly got changed and met in the photographer’s corridor. Sandra and I managed to jump on a tender just before it left. 

This was the first time I’ve been able to have a look around Cannes. Walking along the seafront we kept our eyes open for the guys but couldn’t find them anywhere. The place was packed. We walked along some more, had a nose around the small shops selling everything from spade and buckets to souvenirs. In the end we gave up looking for the lads and decided to park our bums on a quieter but still jam packed beach.

Everyone was shattered from the late nights and early starts so it felt great to be able to lay out in the sun and do absolutely nothing. Sandra and I had a good natter about pretty much everything. She told me a lot of Columbia and what she’d been doing before she came to the ship. 

Sandra wants to have fun, learn, experience things, become more open minded, and see different cultures. In short, most of her friends have kids now (she’s 26) and she wants to enjoy her life before any of that. She wants to go places and meet people before having to settle down somewhere. Opening her own business is also on her list of things to do. 

To talk to someone who is so much like you is like a breath of fresh air. Most of the people I (I'm 24 years old) went to school with have a kid, some even have two or more. Very few people I know want to get out and do something with their lives. They are quite happy slogging away at a dead end supermarket job, roped in by the endless, fruitless possibilities of being management one day. Most of them seem happy about knowing only what was in their back garden. Sandra and I wanted to know what was in everyone’s back garden including our own!

At 16.30 we headed back to the tenders. Crew all abroad was 17.15 while guests were 17.30 so we expected a queue and boy, was it long! While queuing saw signs advertising buses going non-stop to Monte Carlo. I was going to pop in and check the prices but it was closed. I’m determined to get there no matter how much it costs!

We bumped into Fabio on the tender. Well, it’s probably better said that he bumped into us… completely plastered. While tendering back to the ship Fabio had fallen asleep and kept slowly leaning to one side. On a couple of occasions we thought he was going to fall off the bench he was sitting on.

It wasn’t long until we had to change into our evening wear and get to work. We’ve all been rotating between gallery and studios. My first stint was in the gallery before taking over Leandro on our new backdrop “Beach”. It’s actually a really nice backdrop with a Cannes feel rather than a Caribbean. Zoran was on LSP. 

Looking around I saw someone acting strangely on the spiral stairs which twist themselves around the Centrums. The penny dropped… it was Brand Quality sniffing around. Coming to the bottom of the stairs, he stood around watching me. I smiled and nodded (he was too far to say anything to). I was hoping he didn’t look at the bottom of my trousers as they were as creased as tin foil. Maybe I should pay someone in Laundry to iron my clothes? After burning a triangle in one pair of trousers, I'm refusing to iron!

Brand Quality walked half way down the other set of stairs and was watching me from there, as if I couldn’t see him. It’s like Big Brother spying on you! Having someone watching you, waiting for you to cock up was so uncomfortable. 

Just as the was going down the remaining stairs, I disconnected my camera and ran to bridge walk way that separates where my studio and the centrums. I could see Zoran wandering aimlessly on Deck 3. Quickly calling him, I managed to signal that Brand Quality was on his way down. Zoran quickly connected his camera to the pentab and straightened his uniform out. What a load of palava!

Sailor Lou on Cannes Gangway, France

On the Red Carpet at Cannes, France

The Laundry Guys

Edi (Laundry)

I Don't Believe It!

I Don’t Believe It!

24^th July 2011

Another night of four hours sleep and the bags under my eyes are starting to look like huge sacks! This goes for pretty much everyone. As much as I love gangway, I like my sleep… and that means a little more than 4 hours. 

Climbing into the sailor’s costume, I grabbed David’s sailor’s hat. The guests could wear it, if not, I’d stick it onto my head. With my hair tied up and Aviator sun glasses on, Fede, Sandra and I were all ready for gangway.

The ship is too large for the port so we had to use tender boats to get into Cannes. I’d never experienced tendering. Apparently we were supposed to get onto the same boat as security but they left at 6.30!! It would have allowed us to prepare for the guests to come on the next boat. 

At 6.45 we were on the tender and waiting for the guests to get loaded on. Security popped onto the tender to tell us we needed to get to the other boat as it’d be leaving sooner. 

Running around to the other tender hub, I punched my card in. All of a sudden I was surrounded by security and officers. “Sorry Lou, you’re port manning”. WHAT!? I told them I was working on the gangway. The new M&R manager, Marie, came over and told me I was port manning and therefore wouldn’t be getting off the ship to work on gangway. She told us Jomar should’ve informed us that I was port-manning. Simultaneously we all turned and replied “Jomar doesn’t tell us anything”. Marie didn’t look too impressed.

Looking at me she informed me the tender boat would be leaving in 5 minutes and I’d better go find someone to wear my costume. Just as I was about to leave she called me back. I had a can of coke in my hand. “Next time I see you with a can of drink in your hand you’ll receive a warning. The I-95 is a guest area”. Since when has the I-95 a guest area?? It’s the main strip that crew use which runs from one end of the ship to the other. I didn’t have pockets so couldn’t put the can anywhere else. If I did have pockets, I wouldn’t have put my can inside… my pants would fallen down!!

Ringing Jomar, he had a go about me walking around with a can of coke. What the hell? I heard myself repeating Victor Meldrew’s infamous quote: I don’t believe it!! 

Jomar told me to tell Hernan he’d be taking me place as sailor. He was already working as the sailor from 9 to 11.30 and I didn’t fancy waking him up and giving him five minutes to get ready and onto the tender. “He’s asleep?” What a question! You went to bed at 2am. It’s now 7am and you don’t have work until 9am. Wouldn’t you be asleep? Common sense is obviously lacking! 

In the end after much confusion Jomar told me to let Fede he’d be free shooting alongside Sandra. Running back to the tender station, the boat had already left. Sanela who was supposed to be shooting the rail was nowhere to be seen. Late as usual.

Jumping back into bed for a couple of hours, I slept until 9.30. Getting my laptop I sat on Back Deck for a bit typing away. At least I had a few hours to update my blog. In fact, I had more than a few hours. I wasn’t scheduled to work until 6pm. 

A couple of hours later Camila and Luci came onto Back Deck to get me. Popping up to the Staff Mess we had something to eat before sitting out on the deck for a  while. 

Camila couldn’t go out as she was not fit for duty. Her hand is swollen like a balloon and the doctor’s don’t know why. Luci wanted to go out but had a lot of work plus she didn’t want to leave us on board. 

Watching the world go past, I was so upset I couldn’t get off the ship. This was the one port I was desperate to see! Talking to Eve, she said Monte Carlo was an hour away by train. It didn’t make me feel any better! 

The sea in Cannes is like a yacht’s motorway. It was so busy. Some of the private yachts going past were unbelievably impressive… and half the size of our ship! We were all shopping for our future yachts for when we marry an old, overly rich man. You didn’t think we’d be on the lookout for Prince Charming did you? 

The day was lovely and sooner than later, the only ones who were on the ship were those who were port manning. I wasn’t the only one saying “I Don’t Believe It!!!”

Rather than spend most of my time pulling my hair out, bored out of my box, I decided to make the most of my time… by sleeping. To add insult to injury, it was formal night. The first formal night so we were predicting it’d be busy.

Once again, I was on Titanic. If it’s not Bow, it’s Titanic. Still the new hires are getting the good back drops or Centrums where most of their photos are coming out completely out of focus. It didn’t make sense but I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

During the evening, Hernan told me Lee’s parents were on the gangway to see us all. They asked where I was. I don’t believe it!!! Lee’s parents who were guests on the ship when I first joined (and were absolutely fantastic) were on the gangway and I didn’t get a chance to see them. That kind of upset me. It’d have been great to see them. Maybe next time? I hoped so!

We were finally on our way to our next port, Corsica (France). Maybe Jomar will give me Cannes off? I’m owed two days off due to good comments. That way I’d have plenty of time to get out, jump on the train to Monte Carlo and snap away! I can’t wait!

That’s not the only thing we have planned. People were parasailing and nearby was a small island where the properties are apparently enormous and completely out of this world. For 50 euros you can be taken to the island and go scuba diving for 3 hours. Some of the guys are planning to go scuba diving next time. While they are at the bottom of the sea, Hernan and I will be high in the sky parasailing! 

Bring on the good times!