CREW OFFICE - CREW SHIP BLOG

2011-04-02T18:39:00.000+01:00

Life of a sailor?

I assume that most people that read this blog have an interest in cruise ships, cruise ship jobs, or cruise ship jobs for someone else. Well, good news. Crew Office has expanded into the recruiting market. We just launched http://www.crewoffice.com/, a network that brings recruiters and cruise job seekers together. It is free, and has just opened for beta testing.

We are currently working with several cruise line employment recruiters to set up their accounts to view members profiles. Right now is the beta testing phase and an excellent time to come by and take a look around!

The site is a social network tool which brings together recruiters and cruise ship job seekers from around the world into one place and has everything needed to help job seekers find jobs, and recruiters find candidates. I am even going to incorporate a resume service in the next few days. All the tools you need to do everything from job post to video interview are all on the site.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in cruise ship employment or recruiting for cruise lines I invite you to go to http://www.crewoffice.com/ and take a look around.

If your a recruiter interested in a recruiter account and how it can help you open a membership and drop me a message and I will be happy to help you get set up.

Happy cruise job hunting!

2010-05-13T15:23:00.006+01:00

End of contract

Well, day after tomorrow I go home. This contract is at an end. It wasn’t a bad contract, and the itinerary was quite nice, not very repetitive, with a nice mix of locations. I managed to survive a long crossing (I hate crossings) and had some nice spring weather in the Mediterranean. For us, the itinerary is really important. Not because we want to go to nice places, but because where you are, and how long you are in that port can have a significant impact on your work day. An early arrival can mean earlier shifts; a long late stay can mean welcome back functions for tours and other special events. A later arrival can mean a calm morning and maybe an extra hours sleep. An early departure in mid day can mean certain onboard outlets will be busier than normal. Everything is tied to the itinerary, or schedule. Of course we all have ports that we love, and hate. And we do try and get some free time for the ones we like, and can take on duties and shifts for others who want to go off on days we hate.

For those of you interested in where this contract took me, here is the itinerary. I joined on January 25th on a sunny warm day in Acapulco. Seems like forever ago. Oh, and I put some personal opinions on the ports in as well. Just this crew members opinion mind you.

25-Jan-10 Mon D ACAPULCO MEXICO 9:00 18:00 IT'S OK, BIT TRASHY
26-Jan-10 Tue AT SEA
27-Jan-10 Wed A CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO 11:00 23:00 LOVE IT. GOOD MOVIE THEATRE
28-Jan-10 Thu AT SEA
29-Jan-10 Fri AT SEA
30-Jan-10 Sat 177 E/D LOS ANGELES USA 5:00 17:00 HATE IT BUT IT'S AMBER'S HOME TOWN, SORTA, SO LIKE IT BASED ON THAT.
31-Jan-10 Sun AT SEA
01-Feb-10 Mon A CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO 19:00
02-Feb-10 Tue A CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO 22:00
03-Feb-10 Wed AT SEA
04-Feb-10 Thu D TOPOLOBAMPO MEXICO 4:00 23:00 GREAT PORT AREA
05-Feb-10 Fri D MAZATLAN MEXICO 13:00 19:00 I NEVER GO ASHORE
06-Feb-10 Sat D PUERTO VALLARTA MEXICO 9:00 16:00 OVERDONE
07-Feb-10 Sun AT SEA
08-Feb-10 Mon AT SEA
09-Feb-10 Tue E/D LOS ANGELES USA 7:00 23:59
10-Feb-10 Wed AT SEA
11-Feb-10 Thu AT SEA
12-Feb-10 Fri A CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO 7:00 15:00 ALSO GREAT PLACE FOR A TATTOO
13-Feb-10 Sat AT SEA
14-Feb-10 Sun D ACAPULCO MEXICO 8:00 16:00
15-Feb-10 Mon D HUATULCO MEXICO 8:00 17:00
16-Feb-10 Tue D PUERTO CHIAPAS MEXICO 8:00 19:00 GREAT PORT AREA
17-Feb-10 Wed AT SEA
18-Feb-10 Thu D PUNTARENAS COSTA RICA 8:00 18:00 HATE IT
19-Feb-10 Fri AT SEA
20-Feb-10 Sat Panama Canal Transit PANAMA 5:00 19:30 ONCE IS OK, TWICE IS TOO MUCH
21-Feb-10 Sun D CARTAGENA COLOMBIA 12:00 19:00 GOOD TERMINAL COFFEE
22-Feb-10 Mon AT SEA
23-Feb-10 Tue AT SEA
24-Feb-10 Wed D KEY WEST USA 13:00 19:00 LOVE IT
25-Feb-10 Thu E/D MIAMI USA 8:00 18:00 HATE IT
26-Feb-10 Fri AT SEA
27-Feb-10 Sat AT SEA
28-Feb-10 Sun A SPANISH TOWN BVI 9:00 18:00 TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
01-Mar-10 Mon A ST. BARTS FWI 8:00 18:00
02-Mar-10 Tue D ROSEAU DOMINICA 8:00 18:00 NOT A FAN
03-Mar-10 Wed D CASTRIES ST. LUCIA 8:00 18:00 TYPICAL
04-Mar-10 Thu D ST. JOHNS ANTIGUA 8:00 18:00
05-Mar-10 Fri D ROAD HARBOR TORTOLA 8;00 16:00 GOOD PLACE FOR OVERPRICED EVERYTHING
06-Mar-10 Sat D CAYO LEVANTADO DOM. REP. 10:00 18:00
07-Mar-10 Sun D GRAND TURK TURK & CAICOS 8;00 16:00 THE BEST CRUISE STOP IN THE WORLD IF YOU LIKE THE BEACH
08-Mar-10 Mon AT SEA
09-Mar-10 Tue 180 E/D MIAMI USA 7:00 18:00
10-Mar-10 Wed AT SEA
11-Mar-10 Thu D GRAND TURK TURK & CAICOS 9:00 16:00
12-Mar-10 Fri A CAYO LEVANTADO DOM. REP. 8:00 17:00
13-Mar-10 Sat D ROAD HARBOR TORTOLA 11:00 19:00
14-Mar-10 Sun D ST JOHNS ANTIGUA 8:00 18:00
15-Mar-10 Mon D CASTRIES ST LUCIA 8:00 18:00
16-Mar-10 Tue A ROSEAU DOMINICA 8:00 18:00
17-Mar-10 Wed A ST BARTS FWI 8:00 18:00
18-Mar-10 Thu A SPANISH TOWN BVI 10:00 18:00
19-Mar-10 Fri AT SEA
20-Mar-10 Sat AT SEA
21-Mar-10 Sun 181 E/D MIAMI USA 7:00 18:00
22-Mar-10 Mon AT SEA HATED IT
23-Mar-10 Tue AT SEA HATED IT MORE
24-Mar-10 Wed AT SEA HATED IT MORE THAN THE DAY BEFORE
25-Mar-10 Thu AT SEA THOUGHT MY HATE COULD NOT GET ANY WORSE
26-Mar-10 Fri AT SEA HATE GOT WORSE
27-Mar-10 Sat AT SEA ALMOST WENT BLIND WITH HATE
28-Mar-10 Sun AT SEA TOTAL HATE FILLED MY SOUL
29-Mar-10 Mon AT SEA HATED IT LESS AS LAND WAS IN SIGHT
30-Mar-10 Tue D FUNCHAL (MADEIRA) PORTUGAL 8:00 23:00 REALLY COOL, LOVED IT.
31-Mar-10 Wed AT SEA
01-Apr-10 Thu D CASABLANCA MOROCCO 8:00 16:00 AH, ITS OK, BETTER IN BLACK AND WHITE WITH BOGEY BEING COOL.
02-Apr-10 Fri D MALAGA SPAIN 9:00 23;00 I LIKE TO SAY "MALAGA"
03-Apr-10 Sat AT SEA
04-Apr-10 Sun 182 E/D BARCELONA SPAIN 6:00 20:00 LOVE IT
05-Apr-10 Mon D VALENCIA SPAIN 8:00 18:00
06-Apr-10 Tue D PALMA DE MALLORCA SPAIN 7:00 14:00
07-Apr-10 Wed D MARSEILLE FRANCE 8:00 18:00 ITS OK
08-Apr-10 Thu A ST TROPEZ FRANCE 8:00 23:00 ITS OK
09-Apr-10 Fri D MONTE CARLO MONACO 8:00 23:00 SUPER FINE
10-Apr-10 Sat A PORTOFINO ITALY 8:00 18:00 GREAT PIZZA
11-Apr-10 Sun D LIVORNO ITALY 8:00 20:00 NOT BAD PIZZA
12-Apr-10 Mon A AMALFI ITALY 13:00 20:00 GOOD PIZZA AND ICE CREAM
13-Apr-10 Tue A SORRENTO ITALY 8:00 18:30 PIZZA ADEQUATE
14-Apr-10 Wed 183 E/D CIVITAVECCHIA ITALY 5:00 20:00 HATE IT
15-Apr-10 Thu A LA SPEZIA (5 Terre-Carrara) ITALY 8:00 20:00
16-Apr-10 Fri A PORTOFINO ITALY 8:00 18:00
17-Apr-10 Sat D MONTE CARLO MONACO 8:00 23:30
18-Apr-10 Sun A CANNES FRANCE 8:00 20:00
19-Apr-10 Mon D LIVORNO ITALY 8:00 19:00
20-Apr-10 Tue A AMALFI/Positano ITALY 12:00 23:00
21-Apr-10 Wed A SORRENTO ITALY 8:00 18:00
22-Apr-10 Thu A TAORMINA ITALY 8:00 16:00
23-Apr-10 Fri D CORFU GREECE 10:00 18:00 TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
24-Apr-10 Sat D KOTOR MONTENEGRO 8:00 18:00 FANTASTIC
25-Apr-10 Sun D SPLIT CROATIA 8:00 18:00 NICE
26-Apr-10 Mon D KOPER SLOVENIA 8:00 20:00
27-Apr-10 Tue D VENICE ITALY 8:00 GREAT PLACE TO WALK
28-Apr-10 Wed 184 E/D VENICE ITALY
29-Apr-10 Thu D VENICE ITALY 16:00
30-Apr-10 Fri D DUBROVNIK CROATIA 11:00 18:00 ANOTHER GREAT PLACE TO WALK
01-May-10 Sat D CORFU GREECE 9:00 16:00
02-May-10 Sun A TAORMINA ITALY 8:00 18:00
03-May-10 Mon A SORRENTO/Capri ITALY 8:00 23:30
04-May-10 Tue A AMALFI/Positano ITALY 8:00 18:00
05-May-10 Wed D CIVITAVECCHIA ITALY 8:00 20:00
06-May-10 Thu A LA SPEZIA (5 Terre) ITALY 8:00 18:00 I LIKE TO CALL IT SPAZ
07-May-10 Fri D LIVORNO ITALY 8:00 20:00
08-May-10 Sat A PORTOFINO ITALY 8:00 18:00
09-May-10 Sun D NICE FRANCE 8:00 12:00
A MONTE CARLO MONACO 13:00 23:00
10-May-10 Mon D MARSEILLE FRANCE 8:00 18:00
11-May-10 Tue D PALMA DE MAJORCA SPAIN 12:00 18:00

12-May-10 Wed 185 E/D BARCELONA SPAIN 4:00

2010-05-10T10:55:00.002+01:00

My cabin steward said I could…

Not all crew onboard a cruise ship know what’s going on. That’s not a slander. It’s the truth. You should be aware of information you get onboard, or more specifically, you should be careful where you source your information.

Onboard the ships I have heard more crew “guess” at an answer they did not know than I have heard give the right answer. Even on the web, as I browse through other crew blogs and websites I am amazed at how liberally some of them toss out false information, or misrepresent the lines they work for. Most of them rarely ever made it past dining room waiter, or cruise staff, and maybe worked onboard a year or two, but they will tell you every answer you want to know with absolute authority. It’s the evil “assumption” that is to blame. Crew members, or ex crew members, assume that something must be correct and so they tell it that way.

Onboard the ships, it is not uncommon for the stateroom stewardess to be asked questions ranging from dining room issues to destinations issues. It is true that many of these excellent workers do their best to answer your questions, they make excellent assumptions, but they are the experts in taking care of your room and not in the dining room menu and not in the disembarkation procedures. If you want to know about tours, go ask the tour staff. If you want to know about disembarkation, go ask the reception desk who to talk too. I know many feel that as cruise line representatives they should know every answer and be responsible for every complaint you have. But it isn’t possible.

A passenger once complained about the safety of a boating tour, and asked who was in charge so they could complain, the steward told them to talk to the Captain. The steward assumed that since the Captain was in charge of our shipboard safety, he must also be in charge of the tour boat saftey. The correct answer would have been " I believe the shore excursion manager could best assist you".

The reception desk is in place to assist and guide you. They will help you find out whatever you want to know. However, it is worth pointing out that if you have an inexperienced receptionist, or a new one, your information might not be exactly accurate. If you think perhaps reception has not given you the most up to date information, or if you have received conflicting information, then ask for the supervisor. No one will be angry if you do.

I am not saying that crew do not have a responsibility to have correct information, they do, and as long as they follow these three golden rules there will never be a problem;

1) Do not make things up.
2) Do not guess or assume.
3) If you don’t know the answer, tell the guest you don’t know and that you can help them find out, and then go ask your supervisor.

Sadly, not all crew follow the three golden rules.

One time, on one line I was working for (which I will not mention) I was standing at the reception desk when a person came to enquire about a tour refund on their account. The receptionist printed the account out, looked at it and hummed and hawed over it. Finally the receptionist said to the person;

“This is very complicated, I can see that you should have refunds but they are not on the account yet, our accountant will be applying them overnight and then you can have the credits moved to wherever you like”.

The person looked confused, but chose to not pursue the issue, which they should have because;

1) Room statements are not complicated, if they are then you need to see someone who can fix that ( supervisor).

2) You can not “see” from a room statement if a person is “due” refunds, you can only tell that if you check with the refunding party, IE: if destinations are going to refund someone, you need to call destinations and ask when the refund will occur.

3) There was no accountant working at night on this cruise line, the receptionist made that up.

4) You can not always have credits moved to wherever you like, there are often rules attached to refunds and credits.

( all this would vary slightly line to line)

The point is that this receptionist did not know what was going on, and did not give the information the person needed. If you get information that is confusing and makes no sense go to the right people, or if you’re talking to the right people ask for the supervisor. Don’t just accept the confusion and assume that the credit, or whatever you’re depending on, will magically appear.

I know, I know, it's their job to know these things. I am just telling you that quite often, they don’t. We don’t all get together and talk about stuff, and interdepartmental communication can, at times, be unsuccessful.

The moral of this story is; consider the source of all onboard information.

If you’re asking your waiter when you should meet for your tour, consider the source.

If you’re asking your destination staff if the pasta has seafood in it, consider the source.

If you’re asking a man in coveralls fixing a pipe where the best shopping ashore is, consider the source.

If your asking reception about financial issues and the reply is more akin to a senate hearing on tax reform than information about your bill, then consider getting ANOTHER source.

2010-05-07T12:02:00.012+01:00

Madiera Lovers and the end of contract

I am, at long last, in the final few days of a long contract. I think I have written about it before, but the last cruise of your contract can be the most tiring of all. The preparation that goes into leaving is quite extensive. You must prepare your handover to your replacement; ensure your departmental responsibilities are all in order and your “house is clean”. You need to think about packing again which is rather a pain; even though we do it so frequently you would think we are used to it. You need to get your flights and make your plans for getting home from your repatriation airport and you need to attend sign off meetings and do all your sign off paperwork. You can never just “walk off” a ship, you have to be cleared, “debriefed”, paid, searched, approved, and escorted. It’s not as easy as when you disembark as a passenger and just wait for your color to be called. If only it was. You need to return your lifejacket and safety information packet to the Safety Officer so it can be reissued. You need to collect your medical reports from the clinic because you need them again to sign on your next ship. If your medical is expiring they will tell you and give you more paperwork to take with you for completing a new medical. There are many things to think about and do, in addition to your normal duties. Combine this all with the fact that you’re at the end of your contract, a little more tired, worn out, older and crankier than you were at the start of your contract!

It is true that some people, normally brand new to sea, are sad to leave. But most of us are quite happy to disembark and long for the comforts of our own homes for a few months rest. Homes where we can live life on our own terms, be in charge of our own destiny and safety, eat what we want to eat, dress how we want to dress, and act how we want to act. Even though most of us are so used to doing it at work that even at home we find ourselves greeting strangers on the street, smiling all the time and opening doors for strangers.

Once, when I went out with my wife I was waiting to get us a couple drinks. She walked up behind me and asked me I was doing and I told her I was waiting to get our drinks. She looked at me funny and reminded me that I don’t have to wait for the guests to leave the bar; I could go and order whenever I wanted too.

On another subject; I think the best thing about travel is all the photo opportunities. The best thing about High Definition digital photography is that sometimes even a shot you thought was junk, that you took while touring a half day stop somewhere, can be a treasure. I was looking through some pictures I recently took in Funchal Madiera, and I was looking at one shot that seemed a waste of SD card space when something caught my eye. As I zoomed in, and zoomed in, and zoomed in, a great shot was actually available. It had everything, the ship in the background, the lovers in a tender embrace, almost a perfect moment. I added a touch of selective coloring and et voila, there you have it, an image good enough to grace the cover of a Valentines Day card. Of course the “ecoponte” recycle bin sign kind of bothers me and I was going to Photoshop it out but didn’t.

Maybe this gives you some ideas on saving some of your own "less than best" travel shots.

2010-04-22T10:31:00.005+01:00

Life on a Volcano

It’s hard to believe; especially now in the wake of the eruption of the Iceland Volcano, that people willingly live under, and on, massive volcanoes. In fact they live on active massive volcanoes that are actually erupting. Taormina is shadowed by the largest active volcano in Europe, Mount Etna. Mount Etna is an active, erupting volcano. In 2007 it erupted violently enough for the 400 meter high plume of lava to be seen from space. In 2008 it did it again this time followed by more than 200 earthquakes in the area. I mean, why? Why would you live on this beast? If you ask me you are taking your life loosely in your hands, and asking for trouble. But, what will happen if Etna does erupt powerfully enough to destroy Taormina? We will see it on CNN and hear about the tragedy that destroyed the poor citizens of Taormina and how unfortunate and tragic it is, when really, they were asking for it. Just my opinion but honestly, would you live this close to an active spewing Volcano that has destroyed villages in this century? Would you let your children play around its crater of hot lava? No? So then why would you live on it? It is beautiful, but why risk it? Click on the image to see a larger version, yea it's another panorama, I'm going through a phase...

2010-03-31T00:07:00.015+01:00

Fun in Funchal

Finally, after 8 days at sea, we reached land! Funchal, in Madiera, is quite a lovely little town. I went wandering to see the sights and was really impressed with the beauty of the place. I took a couple panorama shots which, I think, underline that beauty. Click on them to see full size. On a " cruise tip " note I should add that when you walk from the pier to the town you will be hassled frequently. NOT by the cab drivers as you would expect, they won't say a word to you, but by the people selling fishing tours, catamarans, and surveys. Yea, the surveys I don't understand either, but on my walk from the ship, at the furthest point of the pier, to the town I was asked about fishing, catamarans, or surveys 7 times ( and it's only a 15 minute walk). So, when in Funchal, enjoy the great scenery, restuarants, and shops, but be prepared to be harrassed by the local "three". Maybe just wear a t-shirt that says; "NO fishing, catamarans or surveys...Obrigada"!

Also, you will see exchange offices everywhere so do yourself a favour and exchange your USD ashore, not onboard where you eat a service fee as well as an inflated exchange rate.

2010-03-29T21:12:00.006+01:00

40 Miles on the Panama canal

Unrelated to the current crossing; around the end of February I was onboard the Regatta and we were transiting the Panama Canal returning from the Mexican Riviera to the Caribbean. Now many of you have transited the Panama Canal and know all about it, but many of you may not know that one of the cool things about the Panama Canal, of which there are many, is the high definition webcams they have set up at several locks shooting in real time. What this means is you can go online and watch ships transiting the canals, which is very cool. What is cooler is you can log in and watch your OWN ship transiting the canal while you’re on it. So of course being the type of guy I am, I decided while we were transiting the canal to log in to the online webcams, and then do a "time lapse" of our transit. I have to say it turned out pretty well ( that being said by a neophyte video editor). I have uploaded it here. The problem is you only get one shot at doing something like this, and looking back I can think of a couple things I would have done differently. For example I would have time lapsed the whole day instead of just our transiting in order to make a cooler video. In any event hear is the video I made. Hope you like it. If you’re transiting the canal soon and want to film your own transit AND want to know how I did it, drop me a note with your email and I’ll send the details. ( The video has sound as well).

2010-03-27T19:13:00.005Z

Day 4 of 8 crossing the Atlantic

Water, water everywhere. 4 days into an 8 days crossing. A crew member takes in the view.

2009-05-11T10:03:00.014+01:00

Kotor of the HILL people!

In a very secluded part of the Mediterranean, on the coast of Montenegro, is an absolutely astonishing little place called Kotor. The name sounds more like a barbarian hero.. like Conan.. " I am KOTOR of the HILL people!" But in fact it’s a primeval town, first settled by ancient Romans in 168 BC. Over the centuries Kotor has been controlled by several different empires but the most significant was the Venetians who ruled Kotor from 1420 to 1797. It was the Venetians who built the amazing walled city that you see today. ( please click on pictures to enlarge)

The old town itself is completely surrounded by huge defensive walls, and as you look up the three hundred meter mountain that Kotor sits at the base of, you can see that the massive walls completely enclose not only the city but the mountain itself. At the very top, with a commanding view of the city and the bay, sits the fortress of San Giovanni, or St. John, which was the Venetian stronghold. The Venetian influence also extends into the old town architecture. All the buildings and narrow streets are very reminiscent of Venice… without the water.

The great thing about Kotor, is that even though it is a UNESCO world heritage site, you can still climb the one thousand steps to the top and go inside of the fortress and explore. Nothing is blocked off and nothing is barred from the public. Probably it should be in order to protect this amazing ruin, but right now, you can still climb it and explore it. You do have to pay two euro per person at the entrance to the climb up to the fortress, but that’s all.

Today I was lucky enough to make the climb with three beautiful girls (brilliant motivation if you’re a guy…); Amber, who you have met before, Claire and Linh. Here they are at the entrance gate to the climb up the fortress, kind of doing a Charlies Angels thing... I said kind of. Claire and Linh work in the Spa, and Claire is actually the onboard fitness instructor. Yea, I know what you’re thinking; pretty fearless move to go on a thousand step climb with a fitness instructor, but she was kind and didn’t take off sprinting up the steps like a gazelle leaving us all behind. Instead she maintained a moderate pace and let us all feel much more fit than we probably are. Of course on the way up, everyone we passed knew Claire. It seems almost all of the guests who have been frequenting the gym also wanted to make this climb, and they all made sure to let Claire know that after this climb they wouldn’t be making it to the gym. In fact, I think I’ll be skipping my evening gym session as well… don’t tell Claire.

The climb isn’t as punishing as it seems when you first look at it, but if you’re not fairly active you might find it a bit of a test. If you do ever get to Kotor and make the climb to the fortress my advice is try and take the little side paths and explore on your way up. Don’t just follow the normal path or the people in front of you. There is plenty to discover all the way up (or down). At one point where the normal path went right, we went left. We passed a man coming down this path who told us in three languages that there was no way through (he just kept trying until he saw understanding dawn on our faces), but we went anyway. It turns out there was a way through, you just had to climb up some very steep ancient stairs, pinch through a narrow remnant of a corridor and climb through what looked like an old fortress window. Most amazing of all was that while we were trying to find a way through we came across a huge chamber cut into the mountain. It was a little scary in fact. It was very dark inside and we had to actually enter the huge room so our eyes adjusted and we could see a little bit. I, of course, sent the girls in first to check for spooks and spiders. This is them entering the spooky room.

As you can see it was an amazing chamber, it kind of reminded me of a scene from Beowulf. This is the kind of room they gathered in; a huge fire roaring and torches alight along the walls. Everyone eating and drinking and partying… of course then Grendle came and killed everyone for making too much noise.

There is something eerie about standing in a room like this, with so much history. What was this huge room? Who entered here? How many centuries has it stood? What things went on inside these walls? There is also something eerie about standing in an ancient stone room with a 30 foot ceiling when it’s dark and you can’t see what’s looking down at you (yea, that’s right, I’m talkin’ about SPIDERS again…). If you ever do make this hike, take a flashlight with you. If you find the big scary room it will come in handy.

It took us about forty minutes to make it to the top and St. Johns fortress. If you’re going to make the climb give yourself two hours or a bit more to allow for side path exploration and all of the photo stops you will make. You might want to take some water along with you as well. It’s a bit strange to me but with all the little grassy areas along the climb not one local has thought to open a little refreshment stand! On a sunny hot day like today, after climbing all the way up, I would easily drop six euro on a cold beer. This is my third season visiting Kotor and not once has anyone thought to get a few fit high school teenagers to carry a couple coolers of ice, coke and beer to the top and sell it for 300% profit. It kills me that no one is doing this. If I lived here, I sure would.

All in all I would say Kotor is a must see, and St. Johns fortress is a must do, and when you get back to the bottom you can reward yourself with some of the best pizza and ice cream in the med, all available in the old town.

2009-05-07T13:31:00.018+01:00

Santorini; calm within chaos

Santorini, Greece sits 980 feet above the water, on the edge of a sheer cliff. It is essentially sitting on the rim of a colossal volcano, an ancient one, overlooking the central lagoon that is the caldera leftover from a massive explosion that took place around 3600 years ago. This tablecloth from the Stani Tavern pretty much gives you the idea.

To view Santorini from the sea is impressive. All along the tops of the remaining volcanic islands the white buildings are densely packed together giving the illusion from a distance of a dusting of snow along the tops of the cliffs.

Many visitors to Santorini arrive by cruise ship, as we did, and visit the main town of Thira. After a tender ride from ship to shore (cruise ships can’t dock in Santorini) you can make your way up the 980 foot cliff face to Thira either by cable car, donkey, or on foot. I personally recommend the cable car; for only three euro you are whisked quickly to the top and the view as you ascend is brilliant. Also the cable car doesn’t reek, defecate enroute, or try and clobber your legs against the road walls as it climbs, unlike some of the more disorderly donkeys. Going up on foot is also not recommended, again mainly because of the donkeys… or more accurately what they leave behind.

Santorini is a truly popular sightseer destination in Greece, well known for its startling views, and wicked night life. We were day trippers so we couldn’t enjoy the celebrated night spots, but I have it on good authority that if you enjoy nightclubs and bars, Santorini will not disappoint you.

The narrow streets of Santorini, typical of many old Greek towns, are snugly filled with shops, restaurants and clubs… and tourists. It is hectic and chaotic, yet it is easy to find some peace and order amid the chaos if you look for it. Almost everything in Santorini is along the Cliffside because every restaurant, club, bar, and hotel wanted the best views and so everyone clamored for their place along the cliff edge. As a result, it is not hard to find a nice patio bar or restaurant sitting on, or even extending beyond, the edge of the cliff allowing you an amazing panoramic view of the lagoon below. There is something particularly serene about sitting in the sun, with a beer in your hand, and looking down on the world. Even though you are surrounded by the buzz of the busy Greek town, all the chaos can not penetrate your “cone of silence” as you survey your kingdom.

Of course, caveat emptor; be aware that the better the view, the higher the prices will be. We were sitting in a lovely location with excellent view as you can see from these pictures, and a simple Greek salad was ten euro. That’s about twice the price of a restaurant further in from the edge.

All in all however, I would say Santorini is deserving of its reputation. Even for a day tripper or cruise ship traveler it is an amazing place to witness, and it has something to offer everyone. But if your leery of heights, you may want to stay to the inside streets and away from the cliff edge cafes and bars.

2009-05-05T16:16:00.007+01:00

Einstein’s not dead; he’s slinging Doners in Kusadasi.

For me, Kusadasi never gets tired. You can get everything you need and it’s all within walking distance of the port. No taxi, bus or trouble required. Of course the vendors can get on your nerves sometimes; with their constant requests for you to come into their shop or restaurant, but then again they are always happy and (usually) polite, and the attempts they make at guessing where you’re from are always entertaining. Today I was from Chicago and my friend Amber was from Japan, at least according to the vendors. Then again I would rather have storekeepers inviting me in, asking me what I want and guessing where I am from than ignoring me like in many western stores.

Every time I come here I see something new added to the shopping or eating experience, today it was Einstein’s. While we were walking around and browsing the street shops we were also on the hunt for a Doner place for lunch when we came across Einstein. We passed by him at first, but like two small elementary particles we were drawn back to Einstein. It turns out the service was great and the food was good, and of course the prices were relatively low (pun intended). So if you are going to Kusadasi and want to enjoy a good Doner served by Einstein, I recommend him. When you’re done your lunch I promise Einstein will be happy to pose for a picture with you like he did with my friend Amber. (She does look a little Japanese I suppose).

You have to admire the capitalist business model that Kusadasi has become. Whatever you want, literally, is available with a smile. Over the years this tourist port has adapted to what the visitors and tourists want. Not just the cruise ship tourists but all tourists. If last season several tourists asked around for a “jingle jangle” then the next time you visit Kusadasi I guarantee you there will be three “jingle jangle” shops open. They want to sell you what you want to buy. Everything from genuine articles to genuine fakes all conveniently available in one easy to access place.

Of course some very entrepreneurial vendors branch out and offer several types of service or sales from the same store front. I couldn’t help but be impressed by Billy’s Jewelry and Real Estate. As my friend Amber put it, “not looking for any land, then how about a nice new watch”?

Of course Kusadasi, and Turkey in general have much to offer any visitor; thousands of years of culture and history, and of course apple tea and hookah’s. But if you’re anything like most of the crew onboard the cruise ships and you just want to do some quick shopping and barter for some great deals and have a nice lunch, then you can’t beat Kusadasi.

2009-04-22T15:04:00.005+01:00

Pirates

I doubt there anyone who hasn’t heard about Somali pirates these days. The stories and images are all over CNN, FOX news and other media outlets. Everyone is well aware of the dangers. Questions are being asked, war ships are being dispatched, and plans are being laid. Of course to me it is a great concern because I work onboard a potential target!

We all know the statistics are in our favor. I think it is around one percent of the total shipping traffic going through the Gulf of Aden being attacked, and ninety five percent of that is slower ships cruising at under fourteen knots. But still, when going into that area of the world, we THINK about it, it becomes very real. These brazen pirates have attacked everything from small boats to massive tankers and even cruise ships and military ships! They will try and take anything that presents an opportunity. They are jackals of the sea. They hunt in packs and work together. They are organized, desperate, lawless and absolutely without regret or conscience.

It makes you wonder why we glorify pirates of old. Black Beard, Blue Beard, Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, and of course the man who adorns the popular brand of rum Captain Morgan. They may seem like colorful historical figures, but they were criminals the same as the Somali pirates. They were probably worse in fact; I don’t think they had a rule about not killing hostages. Then again how long will the Somali pirates?

I feel horrible for those hostages still in captivity, the ones that are not in the news; the ones that are not from rich countries or rich well known companies. There are literally hundreds of seamen being held by the Somali pirates in Somalia. They are held not for five days but for months and months as negotiations drag on between desperate pirates and countries unwilling or unable to pay for the safe release of their citizens. They suffer months and months of sparse rations, little water, physical and psychological abuse. How do we even know that all of these seamen, the captive hundreds, are alive?

Everyone seems to agree it is time to solve this problem one way or another, but still nothing seems to be getting done about it. More patrol ships to patrol an impossibly sized area, and allot of talk, but no real action. I am not a politician and I don’t claim to understand the intricacies of world politics, but Somalia has been a lawless society without a government for over eighteen years and it doesn’t seem like it is going to change any time soon.

I say arm the ships. Give them guns to fight! But then, there are those who cry out “No, you will only escalate the situation and it will become an arms war and people will get killed.” So what does that mean? Does that mean the current situation of hundreds of people being taken captive, seemingly forever, in lawless Somalia is acceptable? I say let it escalate. Let it escalate as quickly as possible until the U.N., the U.S., Russia, China, ANYONE is forced to take serious action and go to Somalia and END the problem. Besides, I don’t think I am the only one who would rather take my chances with a weapon fighting off pirates than end up sitting in a dirt cell in lawless Somalia for six months or a year wondering every day what my fate will be.

Why can’t we just sail a couple U.N. flagged destroyers in to the port of Eyl (The pirate stronghold city in Somalia) and TAKE back the score of captured ships anchored there? THEN negotiate for all of the hostages at one time from a position of strength? THEN when all the hostages are out proceed to destroy burn and sink every single thing that even looks like it could float or be used for a pirate attack. After that was all done, we could leave a little smiley faced card that says “Have a nice day.”

I mean we are not talking about a country here; we are talking about a land more like the Mad Max movies than anything else. NO law or government for more than eighteen years! War lords and criminals, total chaos, this is what we are talking about. There will be no “negotiating” to bring this problem to an end.

Enough is enough. After all it is not like Somalia is holding up one country, it is holding up the world for ransom. Nationality does not matter to them. I think it goes without saying that if Somalia pirates were somehow threatening the worlds oil supply somebody would have rolled in there and taken over a long time ago.

Yes, yes I know what you’re thinking. You want to tell me I don’t understand how things work and how that wouldn’t be possible and etc and etc. But listen; I will be sailing through the Gulf of Aden, on a ship that has been attacked once before. Unless you will be doing the same, maybe you can’t quite understand why there are some of us who want these pirates taken out, sunk, disabled, chained up and locked up. I know they are desperate and poor. I know they are young and trying to survive. I can sympathize and understand up to a point. But when it starts to become so real it could affect me, my family, my friends, and my livelihood then my compassion comes to an abrupt end. I suddenly just want them gone by any means. You want to become intimate with the reality of pirate threat? Get on a ship and sail into the Gulf of Aden. You may never see a pirate, but you will feel the reality of it none the less.

I want all those hundreds of seaman, who are just like me and the people I work with onboard, to be returned to their families. Imagine what their families are going through. It’s almost like waiting for a prisoner of war to be released. Imagine months of wondering, every day, just wondering if they are alive, if they are hurt, if they are hungry, if they are thirsty. They wonder every day if they will ever see them again, all because the civilized and powerful nations of the planet could not agree, decide or commit to a course of action to stop these gangsters.

Enough is enough.

2009-04-06T17:34:00.007+01:00

The Hindenburg, Nazis, and the most interesting cruise ever conceived. It’s all in the Virgin Islands Daily News.

I never really knew much about St. Thomas history. I never really cared much to be honest. I knew it was a typical busy Caribbean cruise port loaded with ships of every line disgorging eight to twenty thousand tourists a day depending on how many ships are in. I also knew it had a good Chinese food restaurant close to the pier. That’s all I needed to know.

In short; St. Thomas is an efficient tourist machine that can handle all of our cruise industry needs for tourist and crew member alike quickly and easily (and with a smile).

But why is that? Why can they? How did this come to be? This is what I had never cared about; the how’s and why’s. Then by accident I happened across an old newspaper page in the news archive of the Virgin Islands Daily News.

It was a full page advertisement for “the most interesting cruise ever conceived” posted by Cyril E. Daniel; his phone number was 174 and also 175 (he must have been very successful to have two phone numbers). As you can see the ad was for the S.S. Macoris, a French cruise ship departing round trip from St. Thomas in August of 1933. And don’t forget “NO PASSPORT REQUIRED”. This was, after all, a cruise that took place seventy seven years ago.

Seeing this interesting ad made me start thinking about St. Thomas and its cruising history. I started reading through the archives of the VIDN. Reading about some of the most interesting history of the world while at the same time learning about St. Thomas and how it became the cruise hub of the Caribbean. I was fascinated by it. The scans of actual newspapers made it feel more like being there. It made the history feel “more genuine” than a text book. I would read the old articles and get such a deep feeling of the time.

I learned that St. Thomas didn’t just happen to become the most popular Caribbean cruise port in the Caribbean by chance. No, there were many, many factors that lead to it. Not the least of which was the desire of the population of St. Thomas to BE the number one cruise destination in the Virgin Islands. They have always studied the rankings. Look at this snippet of “where they stand” from September 8, 1961.

Of course St. Thomas had a rich and long history and was a major port for trade before cruising became chic. But around 1860, with the development of steam ships and the ability of countries to import directly without stopping in St. Thomas, things began a slow downturn.

Eventually, the grand American and European flagged transatlantic ships began making stops in St. Thomas in the 20’s and 30’s. This made things look bright for the small Island, but not for long. The war in Europe broke out, and all the grand liners were converted to troop carrying ships and this immediately put the breaks on what could have been prosperity for St. Thomas. An excerpt from the Governors report of 1940 printed in the February 1, 1941 edition of the VIDN points this out.

I found it amazing to see an small story for the newest American “dealer of destruction”, the B-26 bomber, on the same page. This means that St. Thomas was analyzing the cruise industry and how they could capitalize on it even while the world was at war!

One very small snippet of world news, before it happened, also caught my eye in the archive. It is a small mention that another type of cruise ship, the dirigible Hindenburg, was on its way to New York. Printed almost a year to the day it would explode in Lakehurst. There are several mentions in the archive of when the Hindenburg is making trips around the world. Perhaps the USVI had their eye on trying to capture some of that cruise traffic before the tragedy on May 6, 1937.

Of all the articles I read in the VIDN, one short article on the cruise industry stood out more than the others. It was probably written by the editor and manager of the VIDN at the time, Mr. Melchior. It was published in the May 28, 1946 edition. It is a brief and succinct point of view piece on “The tourist trade”. You could also consider it a fifty six year old state of the industry speech.

Probably unnoticed at the time, this small piece is visionary. It sums up exactly what St. Thomas needed to do, and did do (for the most part), to become the Caribbean king of cruise ports. Well done Mr. Melchoir (or whoever else wrote it), and well done Virgin Islands Daily News for helping St. Thomas remember over the past eighty years that cruise ships, and cruise ship passengers, do not have to come to St. Thomas. They choose to come. What was said in this article sixty three years ago is still as true as ever today. It leaves no doubt that St. Thomas was very concerned for the future of its tourist business, mainly the cruise ships, and is definitely at least partially responsible for the number of modern cruise ships sailing the waters of the USVI today.

The article is a bit big to post so I will leave the link instead. I encourage you to read it. It is very insightful. I have left several other links to items I found of interest in the archives of the Virgin Islands Daily News. I hope you enjoy reading through the past as much as I did. Thanks to the Virgin Islands Daily News, I am looking forward to returning to St. Thomas, one day, and appreciating a little more deeply what it is they have built (and also having a good Chinese…and buying a good camera…).

The tourist trade. It is May 28, 1946. The first cruise ship since the end of the war is coming to St. Thomas. The Stella Polaris. What can St. Thomas do to ensure the growth of this valuable and essential industry? Are they ready?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qqoNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ei4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2353,2979351&dq=cruises

May 24, 1941. Hitler and the Suez! An article reporting on Hitler’s plans to take the Suez and the battles over many of the now popular cruise routes like the Dardanelles.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aK0NAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ki4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6367,4368280&dq=nazi

August 29, 1947. A good season ahead. This article talks about the return to cruising of many of the converted troop ships, and mentions the very first cruise ship sunk by the Germans in the war, a Cunard ship.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NK0NAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gi4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2638,1251748&dq=cruises

January 3, 1951. Good news for the cruise business. Furness agrees to extend the ships time in port so more people can shop and visit.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0uEJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iUMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5206,81546&dq=cruise+ship+entertainment

March 9, 1956. Ashes of cruise director strewn in harbor entrance.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IFQKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wkYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4078,1203487&dq=cruise

January 5, 1965. Drugs found onboard the S.S. France in St. Thomas! Heroin.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ImMJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y0cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1751,174690&dq=cruise+ship

October 16, 1967. 11 ships to call in October! Bringing more than 7000 tourists! This includes the Queen Elizabeth carrying 1200 passengers. Of course today, it would only take two or three ships to make seven thousand tourists. Very soon, with Oasis Of The Seas, one ship by itself will bring five thousand.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ke4JAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zUQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3630,3062707&dq=cruise

August 27, 1969. Just when, how and why did Florida become the centre of gravity for cruise ships? Blend the new jet airlines with cruises into a cruise flight package.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BWMJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=o0cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3052,4132102&dq=cruise

May 28, 1974. Jump forward in time seven years, and 326 ships are due over the summer.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uXIJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eEcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2368,2898037&dq=cruise

November 7, 1980. Jump forward another seven years and 571 ships are due to arrive. The constant efforts of St. Thomas to become the leader in the Caribbean over the past thirty five years have paid off.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=b08KAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nEYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4801,1016866&dq=cruise

May 28, 1980. The largest cruise ship ever to resume calling in St. Thomas.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HxoKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fkcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5091,4165578&dq=cruise

To search through more of the VIDN archive, it is easy to use google. Go to:

http://news.google.com/archivesearch/advanced_search?ned=us&hl=en

Under “find results” type in a word like ‘cruise” or “war” or etc.
Under “date” type in a year range like 1930 – 1950
Under “source” type in “virgin islands”

2009-04-03T20:13:00.019+01:00

S/S United States

Will this great American icon be torn to shreds? She is one of the few classic and historical liners still around, and after escaping the indignation of the scrap yards for the last forty years, her luck might finally be running out. The SS United States is owned by NCL ( Norwegian Cruises owned by Star Cruise Lines). They once had plans to restore her and put her to work on the Hawaii run with NCLA, but of course we all know what happened to NCLA, and the plans for the SS United States died along with it. So now she is berthed in Philadelphia, rusting away while her fate is decided. Rumor has it NCL (Star Cruises) has said they will not sell the ship for scrap, or to a foreign owner, but I wouldn't bet on that.

Why not just sell her to a foreign owner so she can be put to service as a low cost party cruiser like so many other old cruise ships? Well because! This is the SS United States, the greatest ocean liner ever built in America!

She was a technological marvel of her time. Built with heavy subsidization by the government and built to military standards she actually was a duel purpose vessel. You could say she was not a passenger ocean liner at all but a military ship used as an ocean liner when not on active duty. That’s why she was so amazing. She had duel engine rooms in case of attack. No wood onboard, all fiberglasses so she was fireproof. She had extensive aluminum used in the superstructure so she was light and was over powered for speed. She was compartmentalized in such a way that half the ship could fill with water and still float. She was the fastest ship built. She could do twenty knots in reverse and her top speed of 44 knots full ahead was classified for years after her construction, and still holds the record for cruise liners. She was the first to utilize five blade propellers; the fact is she was a surprise weapon on stand by in the cold war era because of her great speed being able to transport thousands of troops in half the time it would take any other country. All of this, plus her name and the fact she was made in the USA makes her a national icon. You can not simply sell a national icon like the SS United States to just anyone, not if you don’t want tomatoes thrown at you.

I have thought about it, and I am the first one to say how much I love classic old liners, but we need to be realistic. They are just that, classic old liners. Look at the Norway, which was the old SS France, and the pride of France at one time just like the SS United States was the pride of America. There will be nothing at all left of her but pictures and memories. She is ripped apart on a scrapping beach in Alang, India. Her great history cut up and sold off.

There is an effort to preserve the SS United States as a hotel, or a museum, and still some talk about making her a viable refurbished cruise ship. Let’s be honest. None of that is financially viable. She has been stripped to the bones. Her four steam engines, although still onboard, would never be used. You would have to rebuild completely preserving only her outline. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Even then, she would not meet the quality of the modern cruise ships and would require constant repairs and maintenance. To make her a hotel or museum would also cost millions, millions that would probably never be recouped in revenue afterwards. Not to mention that NCL (Star Cruises) probably also wants to recoup the millions they have spent keeping her tied up all these years. A hotel or museum is not going to make that kind of money. They say it is costing $1000.00 per day to keep her tied up. Who can afford that these days? That is irresponsible money handling.

It is true, that 50 years ago the SS United States was a symbol of the nation that built her. But she is not that SS United States any more. For all intents and purposes she is dead. It would be more cost effective and more realistic to just build another SS United States much the same way Cunard has rebuilt the Queen Elizabeth. She has been tied up and wasting away for forty years! Over twice as long as she was sailing! How long must it be until we realize it is not financially viable to restore her? It has not been so for four decades. I doubt that will change.

But at the same time, she is a grand old lady and can not simply be sent to Alang like the terrible way the Norway was wasted. Horror of horrors no! So what to do? How to stop losing money on her while she rusts away tied to a pier, but at the same time preserve her for all time with the dignity due a statesman?

Sink her.

I can hear it now… WHAT! Sink her!! You’re MAD!

But think about it. Make her into a national park. It’s good for the economy; a national park makes jobs and creates tourism which brings in money. It’s good for the ecology, its good for the recreational divers. It’s good for everyone. You can place a placard, a memorial, anything. We all know artificial reefs are good for the planet. So let’s take the great lady and save her the indignity of Alang. Let her serve a purpose and become a memorial all at the same time.

Granted, she would need some clean up done before then, but it would be allot cheaper and more financially responsible than refurbishing. It would be a gift to the planet, maintain her dignity, and create something people could use for centuries to come. After all she has already had all asbestos removed. Unlike the Norway which had not.

Of course, if you think me insane and feel that she should be saved, and if you think it can still happen, you should visit the following web site and get involved.

http://ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/SSUS/blog/ss-united-states-online-petition-launched/

http://www.ssunitedstates.org/

Above image is borrowed from this website

They have an online petition, take donations, and also suggest other ways you can help save her. It’s also a good read about the SS United States. I am going to join the petition myself. I think she should be a reef, not saved, but I do NOT want her to go to Alang. That's just rude.

This YouTube video is done by them as well.

2009-04-02T13:03:00.006+01:00

Catch a bus to the aft end

Talking about the Oasis, and pondering her general splendiferousnes, got me to wondering about the Freedom ship. Remember the Freedom Ship? More of a city at sea complete with an airport on top? I always suspected a con, or if not a con perhaps just grandiose dreams. Anyway, I went back to the website, and sure enough it had an update on it. A year old rather indignant lecture about how they are not a scam, which to me clearly indicates a scam, and an icon promoting the supposed CEO of Freedom Ship Inc, Norman Nixon, for President. It doesn’t say president of what, but one would assume the United States. (http://www.freedomship.com/)

It is obvious this is not real. Everything about it is wrong from the start. The web page is weak and has no substance. You need only look at the “itinerary” page to see a hastily put together map showing a rudimentary world cruise itinerary, as done it seems by someone who has never even been on a cruise, to get the full feeling of a con. The details of the “real estate” section and the inconsistent general rules of occupation feel like they are meant to put across a false feeling of organized legitimacy. Of course the biggest tip off should be the lack of financial information or financial direction… well that, and I have never seen anything about it on FOX news or CNN. Although it DOES have its own YouTube video!

But if it's a con or not isn't the point. The point is it's an intriguing idea!

Isn’t a version of the Freedom ship where the next logical steps in cruising are leading? If the economics of scale prove bigger is cheaper (do you see anyone building smaller ships these days?), and if a new world financial order is developing in which responsibility and accountability are paramount, then isn’t this one possible future? Ok maybe not a community and “way of life” as described in the Freedom ship information. I don’t know how well that would fly financially unless it was a retirement community. But what about a massive, slow moving resort and entertainment park at sea? Wouldn’t it be great, for example, if Disneyland was always on the move? I don’t mean a teeny representation of Disneyland like a Disney cruise ship (as great as they are). I mean DISNEYLAND baby, the whole supercalifragilisticexpialidocious experience! Everything except the parking lot! I have four kids. The cost and logistics of traveling to the nearest park is prohibitive. But what if it was coming to me? How about it kids? Should we embark the Disney Gigantasourous for a week? We can embark just outside Porto and get off four days later in Lisbon then catch the train home? Oh.. and in two months the Six Flags Holyhumungus will be passing our coast again as well, just in time for summer!

Technologically it must be possible already. After all we can float massive oil rigs, and what about the four floating airports in Japan with MegaFloat runways? Granted the airports don’t move, yet, but the oil rigs do. (http://www.srcj.or.jp/html/megafloat_en/index.html)

Oasis represents a clear quantum leap from any other cruise ship build and is a natural evolution. Oasis evolved from Voyager. Voyager evolved from a class before that, and so on. Once Oasis class proves itself a financial success then the next logical step is to build upon that success. You could build more of the same, but eventually you must evolve and compress the success of multiple Oasis class ships into the next evolutionary class. Finally, at some point however many generations and classes down the line, you have something that is very much like a five hundred acre floating resort and entertainment park at sea, complete with airport and transit system. Something so large you can catch a bus to go to the aft end.

The only thing required for anyone to build a ship even bigger and better than the previous one is a person with vision, a solid business model (something to evolve from), massive financial backing, and some uber ship builders with a facility in which to build something that has never been built before. The evolutionary process generally provides for all of that as well. If you had the resources for the first, you can generally find the resources to improve on the second.

I don't think Freedom Ship Inc is real. I doubt a bunch of engineers with no experience in the cruise industry and no previous track record could just worm hole forward to a point that industry leaders have not yet reached… but maybe they are trying. I will reserve benefit of the doubt to be fair, but I won’t be sending them any cash.

Either way I think it’s an idea that’s coming, or at least a similar version of the idea. I think the only real question is which cruise leader or resort tycoon (or combination) will do it first?

2009-03-21T20:19:00.004Z

Paradilla please

It is a vegetarian’s nightmare. It’s a place where cows outnumber humans 3 to 1. A place where sheep outnumber cows two to one. A place where more beef is consumed per capita than any other country in the world and you can’t walk two feet without hitting a steak house or barbeque pit. Yes, Montevideo is truly a unique city in South America. Where Christmas is called “family day” and the national drink is tea, Montevideo is quite unlike the hulking countries of Brazil and Argentina which surround it.

Today we went to do what everyone does when in Montevideo; no, we didn’t go shopping for leather goods, we went to eat barbeque beef and drink sangria. Of course it makes sense that in a country where cows outnumber people leather would be plentiful and cheap, but we were not in the market for that particular bovine byproduct.

You are never disappointed with the beef in Uruguay, and the barbeque pits have been barbequing beef in the traditional open flame wood barbeques for centuries. A good piece of meat, a hot fire with good wood (and of course a handful of rock salt) and viola! A meat feast fit for a meat loving king. Wash it all down with a pitcher of sangria and watch the tourists and locals walk by in the avenue. No afternoon could be better.

Of course, you’re going to have to deal with the drummers. You see, unlike Argentina which has little black history, Uruguay has been home to African Uruguayans for hundreds of years. Freed slaves from Brazil immigrated into Uruguay and became part of the culture. So now, wherever you go in a tourist area, you are destined to hear the energetic sounds of the candombe. Candombe ( which means "place and dance of africans") is the drum beat developed by the musically inclined descendants of the freed Brazilian slaves, and it does not seem to be in any danger of fading away. This means that while you sit with your friends at a steakhouse or barbeque enjoying your sangria and massive slab of beef, your conversation will be periodically drowned out while a wandering group of colorfully dressed candombe musicians stops and hammers out a rhythm or two for you. This instantly reduces any conversation to pantomime and sends sound wave ripples through your glass of sangria. I can’t say I am a huge fan of the wandering drummers, but others seemed to enjoy them and the musicians made a fair dollar from the tourists. A little tip; Make eye contact, raise a camera or give a smile and the wandering drummers will stay and entertain you even longer. This might be handy if you’re vacationing with your mother in law or having lunch with your boss.

Of course carrying the name “The oriental republic” it is not surprising that Uruguayans have a small obsession with tea. Everywhere you look, like the hooka in a Turkish café, you see tea cups with silver straws. Uruguayans love it so much many of them carry tea cups and straws with them wherever they go. Yerba Mate is the tea of choice, and not being a tea lover myself I have never really gotten into the swing, but if you find yourself in Montevideo, you might want to try the national drink obsession while you’re swaying to the rhythms of the candombe… After you have had your beef and sangria of course.

2009-03-16T19:39:00.003Z

Ushuaia all over again

It’s been almost seven years since I was in Ushuaia last, and nothing has really changed. It’s still cold and windy, it’s still the southern most port in the world only a stone throw away from the south pole ( or so the wind feels), and it still has only two Western Unions. Yes, just like Ushuaia, nothing has really changed for me in the past seven years, and just like seven years ago I am still trudging about the world in search of Western Unions to send money from.

Even though it's seven years since I was here last, and even though it has probably been fifteen hundred or so different port calls in between that last visit and now, just like an old matriarch elephant remembering where a water hole is, my aging creaky brain seemed to instinctively remember where the Western Union was.

I left the ship, instantly began to shiver in the fifty degree temperature, battled the wind down the long pier and headed in the direction my gut sent me. Yes, it all seemed familiar, too familiar. The memory is a funny thing, sometimes it remembers absolutely wrong, and sometimes absolutely right. This time, it was right, but hard to believe. Had nothing changed in seven years? The dangerous crosswalk with no traffic light outside the port was the same. The long steep climb up the side street to the main road San Marin still had uneven concrete half steps and uneven sidewalk. Everything I looked at was exactly the same as I remembered it from seven years ago, just a little older and more faded; just like me.

Well, at least I knew where I was going. I climbed up to the main street, looked down to my right for the Correo ( post office) and sure enough, there was the familiar yellow Western Union sign outside the same old post office building. As I walked to the post office and climbed the old wooden steps, I started to remember something else; and as I rounded the doorway and walked inside the building the lineup of around 50 people didn’t surprise me.

I also remembered that seven years ago I was able to use US dollars, but I am old, so not trusting my memory entirely I did the “rude tourist” and forced my way to the front of the line to ask a quick question; well two actually. After asking the girl if she spoke English and having her say “yes”, I asked if I could send American Dollars by Western Union. The girl at the counter nodded her head. Fine, I went back to the end of the line and waited my turn. It did not take so very long, maybe twenty minutes until I was at the counter. I told the girl I would like to send money with Western Union, she smiled, reached under the counter and handed me a Western Union form. Then she asked me to go to the table to fill it out so the rest of the line could move on. Ok, I WANTED to ask why they don’t put the forms out so you can fill them in advance, but I didn’t. I just took my form, went to the table, filled it out and got back in line with a new group of fifty people. While standing in line the second time, I looked around the post office and I swear the same posters and bulletins are on the wall now as seven years ago. In fact, I am pretty sure the girl I spoke to was also here seven years ago. She seemed very familiar.

Finally, when I made it to the counter the second time, I presented my form, my passport and my cash. She looked at my form, looked at my passport, looked at my cash, and told me pesos only. You can imagine I felt a little flabbergasted and angry, but, I have been around. I have been in many countries like Argentina and I know very well that getting upset will not change anything. The only way to win at this was to do it their way. Fine - I smiled at her, the same girl who told me dollars were ok; I smiled at her and said thank you, and left the post office to go change my money.

I found an exchange house just a block up the street, right where I remember it being, which probably means I went through this seven years ago. Wish I had remembered that more clearly. I stood in the line at the exchange for about fifteen minutes, got to the counter, handed over my passport and my cash and waited. I waited patiently while the girl at the counter eyed my money. She rubbed it. She bent it. She tried to smudge it. She held it up to the light. It was obvious she was very suspicious of the American hundred dollar bills. This is not unusual and happens in many countries. Finally, after she decided to accept most of the bills, she handed back several that she wasn’t willing to change. Fine, ok by me. I exchanged what she would accept and headed back to the post office to join the line of around fifty people for the third time. This time, my memory was working a little better and I got ahead of the game by FIRST getting a new form and filling it out with the amount I wanted to send in PESOS, not Dollars. I was confident. I stood in line and watched the girl at the counter. I observed her as one might observe a rival before meeting them in battle. It could be my imagination, but I am pretty sure she was observing me as well.

After about twenty minutes, it was my turn to approach the counter, but just before I could, my rival threw me a fast one and closed her window. Now I was suddenly faced with a new opponent, a man who sat at the window on the right. Ok, fine. I prepared for the worst and went to the counter. I handed him my Western Union form, my passport, a neat stack of Pesos all arranged head up and out in a neat stack, put my pen down on the counter beside my passport and waited. He took my form, read it over, looked at the Pesos, looked at me and asked me in Spanish if I worked on the ships. I replied that I did (in English) and he nodded and began to type.

A rush of victory filled me. I had won! It was only moments before he was handing me a Western Union receipt and confirmation and calling the next person in line. I stood to the side of the line for a moment, basking in the warm glow of my success. I put the receipt and my passport away in my pocket, and headed out into Ushuaia all over again. The next thing on my agenda before returning to the ship was to go to the Farmacia and get some Nurofen (Advil), I seem to remember one just down the street that wasn’t too much of a hassle…

2008-09-14T15:23:00.000+01:00

The ultimate shipboard rip off

I can’t believe it. It’s finally happened. The nickel and diming has finally gone too far. Princess Cruises is going to launch the “ultimate ships tour” and charge you $110.00 dollars for the privilege! So, what you used to get for free, you can now pay $110.00 per person for! What do you get? You will see the engine control room, the bridge, maybe backstage, the galley… I mean, come on! These things used to be done regardless. When I worked for Princess we used to have regular bridge and galley tours as well as backstage tours! I have to be honest, when I worked in shore excursions for Princess we used to JOKE about a paid tour of the behind the scenes… I never DREAMED someone would do it one day.

Hey I have an idea!! Why don’t they start to offer the “ultimate CREW experience tour”? You want backstage? This is REALLY backstage. For only two or three hundred dollars you can spend your cruise in a crew cabin with two other REAL crew member, work 12 hours a day scrubbing floors, cleaning toilets or wiping down in the engine room. You can take your meals in the crew mess with all the other crew, work extra hours cleaning for USPH inspections and stand in line with all the other crew for an early morning I-95 immigration inspection. You want “Ultimate behind the scenes?” This is it!

Honestly, I don’t blame Princess. If they didn’t do it first it would have been RCI or NCL. But where is this industry going? Will we eventually get to the point when we will start providing one ply toilet paper, but for a dollar a day more you can have two ply? Will we all become EasyCruise? Will we start charging for housekeeping, blankets, and pillows? Will we automatically assign everyone to an emergency life raft, but for a few more dollars you can be assigned a life boat?

In my opinion, cruise lines like Princess should be PROUD of their amazing beautiful ships, and should be happy to let people see the goings on for the ticket price. After all, it isn’t Princess Cruises, or Carnival Corporation who builds these ships… it’s YOU. Your money, your ticket price and the money YOU spend onboard. YOU build these ships. If you’re a repeat customer, the least they can do is let you see what your money helped them to build FOR FREE.

However it is genius marketing because they are only accepting a “limited” number of people each cruise, increasing the demand by creating a supply shortage. I bet you anything that the limited number turns out to be exactly the number of people who apply to go on this ultimate rip off. Just like the famous Princess Art Auction last, final, and absolutely final auctions. They will keep doing them as long as people turn up, all the while calling it “limited”.

So now there is a cost behind EVERY door and a fee for EVERY little thing onboard. Be sure you check your statement carefully. The day may soon come when you start seeing a daily charge for the hand sanitizer you use at the gangway, and an extra twenty five cents for the paper your statement was printed on.

2008-05-27T14:22:00.001+01:00

The Love Boat…soon will be making another run...

I think I have mentioned before that when I was younger I was a huge Love Boat fan. It’s probably the main reason I ended up working at sea for Princess Cruises. When I first joined Princess I tried and tried to get a contract onboard the Pacific Princess, the original Love Boat. All my coworkers would tell me I was crazy and not to do it because she was old and not up to the standards of the newer ships in the fleet, but still I wanted to have my time onboard the ship that Doc, Gopher, Julie, Isaac and of course Captain Stubbing sailed into all of our hearts. I never got the opportunity. I was onboard her several times of course visiting friends when we were in port together, and it was true what my friends were saying, she was getting older, but still there was something about her. After all, she was the Love Boat!

Despite everyone telling me how she was smaller and older, they all had fantastic stories about their time onboard her. It seemed to me it was a different Princess Cruises when the Love Boat was sailing the seas. Everyone that had sailed her seemed to have enjoyed their time onboard and they all had great experiences and shared a crew camaraderie that is not common on the big ships anymore. Even the small ones really.

Oh well; to me the Love Boat will always be a legend. I happened to be in port with her just the other day and noticed she was sporting some new colors. The old Love Boat has been reborn yet again! There is still life in the old girl yet. After she left the Princess fleet in 2002 she went to Spanish operator Pullmantur, and as of a month or so ago she is now flying the livery of Quail Cruises, a brand new Spanish cruise operator. Judging by their flyer it looks to be a bit of a party line. Drinks included and shooting for the younger market segment. Look out EasyCruise, other people are gunning for your demographic!
( Download the Quail Cruses brochure here: http://www.quailtravel.es/img/crucerosOK.pdf )

I am a bit surprised she’s been chartered by a new start up, but pleased all the same. After all she is 38 years old. Perhaps Quail Cruises have given her a bit of a refurbishment and oiled some of her squeaks and plugged some of her leaks. I hope they sail her for some time to come because for me it will be a lonelier sea without the original Love Boat still sailing around somewhere.

2008-05-25T17:00:00.002+01:00

EasyPeople

EasyCruise has finally come out with another ship, EasyCruise Life. She started sailing last month. The concept of easy cruise is .. well, easy. Minimalist cabins, pay for the cruise passage only, pay for everything else onboard from food to housekeeping services. Also, they maximize the port time sailing for only a few hours at a time. Basically it’s an express bus service to a series of destinations so you can enjoy the time ashore, not onboard. It’s for those people who don’t really cruise for the ship but for the destination. But still… are the prices that great? I randomly chose a cruise from their website;

Port of embarkation
10/07/2008 Thu
Depart 19:00 Marina Zea, PiraeusAegina 21:00 - 03:00
11/07/2008 Fri
Mykonos Town, Mykonos 12:00 - 08:00
12/07/2008 Sat
Parikia, Paros 11:00 - 08:00
13/07/2008 Sun
Kamares, Sifnos 12:00 - 02:00
14/07/2008 Mon
Embark from 14:00 Marina Zea, PiraeusDepart 03:00
15/07/2008 Tue
Itea (for Delphi) 12:00 - 04:00
16/07/2008 Wed
Vathy, Ithaki 12:00 - 06:00
17/07/2008 Thu
Gaios, Paxos 12:00 - 07:00
18/07/2008 Fri
Agioi Saranta (for Butrint) 12:00 - 08:00
19/07/2008 Sat
Corfu Town, Corfu 10:00 - 05:00
20/07/2008 Sun
Preveza, Greece 12:00 - 05:00
21/07/2008 Mon
Argostoli, Kefallonia 12:00 - 08:00
22/07/2008 Tue
Zakynthos Town, Zakynthos 12:00-02:00
23/07/2008 Wed
Kiato (Mycenae, Corinth, Nemea) 09:30 - 02:30
Port of disembarkation
24/07/2008 Thu
Arrive 07:00 Marina Zea, PiraeusDisembark 09:00

This cruise would cost me an astonishing $1800.00 USD per person! For that price I get one Standard cabin with window that has twin beds with duvet and en-suite bathroom with shower. Approx 12 sqm. ( see picture) Sleeps up to 2 people. Considering it is not much more than a bus service, isn’t that price pretty close to a normal budget cruise? I mean I found 14 day Mediterranean cruise on Fred Olsen for the exact same price, but that includes food, housekeeping and other standard services so in reality the Fred Olsen cruise would be cheaper! So, what exactly is the benefit to EasyCruise these days? Of course EasyCruise tends to be in port more, but the other lines have real ships. Then again, this EasyCruise Life actually looks like an ok ship on the inside… comparing it to a real cruise ship might be like the difference between a hotel and a motel I suppose.

I don’t know. To each his own. I have never worked for them and never cruised them so I have no first hand experience. I was just interested to see a new ship and amazed to see the price of a Greek Island cruise. I thought EasyCruise was supposed to be a super cheap minimalist cruise focused on maximized port time. Didn’t they used to sell cruise transport for around 20 euro’s a day or something? I found a web posting from last year where a fellow says he got a week of Greek island cruising in this same category cabin for 200 euro. Maybe the Sky TV “cruising with Stelios” made them popular and raised the prices. Or, maybe it’s because like Stelios says himself in this video.. now they have to figure out how to make money from it”.

All in all it DOES look like fun…. Actually, the party scenes remind me of P&O Australia cruises. That's is another REAL cruise line you can go on for the same price or less, and they seem to party the same way and also have the younger demographic.

I once applied for a job with EasyCruise, back when the EasyCruise line was just being talked about. I thought it sounded exciting. I am glad I didn’t get the job because the line did not grow as predicted. I remember during the initial telephone interview the fellow I was talking to said to me “ So your from Princess, I normally don’t hire Princess people, they all have something about them which I don’t like…” To which I replied “ You mean training, quality and intelligence?”. I never got a call back. I can see now from this video and others like it on YouTube, they were never looking for quality experienced people. They were looking for EasyPeople.. I’m not quite sure what that is… but I know it’s not me.

UPDATE: As of end of 2009 EasyCruise was sold. Guess it was a REALLY good thing I did not get the job!!

2008-05-23T22:31:00.000+01:00

"That's not a lie! It's a terminological inexactitude...also a tactical misrepresentation." Alexander Haig

I found an interesting cruise related site. I am not certain if I like it, or if I want to give it my support. What I do know is the webmaster running it is working long hours and is certainly dedicated. I can appreciate that. I also find the whole website terribly amusing because I work in the industry it reports on.

It seems to me you tend to find two kinds of cruise related website or blogs these days; either they are preaching the glories of cruising and how amazing and wonderful ALL cruise lines are with a site or blog laden with advertisements cruise deals and so many special offers you find it hard to navigate (all geared to make the owner money of course). Or you find a website or blog determined to expose the cruise industry as a demonic industry governed by the Dark Lord himself, ALSO heavily loaded with advertisements.

This frustrates me because being a member of the cruise industry I know the truth, and the truth is that like everything in the world there is good and bad to be found. Yes the crew work long hours, yes there can be discrimination onboard, yes citizens of some countries have longer contracts and etc. There are very reasonable explanations for all of this.

The website I came across however is decidedly one sided. The site reports exclusively on the bad things that happen at sea. It tells of missing people, murders at sea, accidents, dangers, bad crew, discrimination, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – MASS HYSTERIA! (Yes that’s a quote from Ghostbusters)

On the one hand, I find this one sided reporting of the industry to be EXTREMELY amusing! Then on the other hand I find it very disappointing for being so single minded and narrow focused and at times even unfair. Yes I know that what is said on this website could at times be true. I have been crew purser, I have been logistics, I have been on the admin side of things. In fact many of the ATROCITIES at sea reported on this site have to do with P&O Australia. I have worked for P&O Australia and I know what is true and what is not. Still, deep inside I know that there is always more to be said.

Look at it this way; you could launch a similar site about anything. “True stories of COPS behind the scenes”, “True stories of what goes on at the HOTEL”, “True stories of the MORGUE!”, and etc and etc. It is often easy to find the entire negative in any individual venture. Then again looking at this site you see the amount of material posted is EXTREMELY limited considering the size of the cruise industry. In my opinion this points out that on the whole the industry is good. After all how many cruise ship employees are working at sea right now? I don’t know for certain but the figure is in the area of two hundred thousand or more not counting those on leave yet the crew complaints listed are numbering in the 2 digit range. This must indicate something right?

Like I said I know firsthand that many of the things reported on this site can happen. I have seen many of them happen myself. I think my point is that they are not ALL prevalent and do NOT dominate the industry. Some crew ENJOY the job and have a good time. Not all cruisers have problems.

So my bottom line is this; this website amused me, made me ponder the cruise industry and gave me pause to think... ALSO they have an EXCELLENT listing of video from crew video to rough sea to sinking ships. Based on that alone I think it is worthwhile for all cruise enthusiasts to take a look. HOWEVER, please use your common sense. Keep in mind SCALE! Just because it reports this or that, consider it against the size of the whole industry. Just because you see video evidence of ONE crew party do not judge all two hundred thousand crew over it. If things were as bleak as this website points out, we would be seeing these reports on CNN, FOX and MSNBC... Not just cruise bruise.

So visit, enjoy, learn a little, but keep your perspective.

A word of warning; this site reports news relating to crimes on cruise ships which may or may not be factually based and are very serious and often disturbing. I do not vouch for the accuracy nor support the claims of the web author. I just found the site interesting, even if overly one sided to the negative. What do you think?

www.cruisebruise.com

2008-05-23T08:12:00.000+01:00

So close, but yet….

They say home is where the heart is. If that is true, then I guess my home is Portugal, specifically Lagos Portugal which is in the Algarve. Why? Well because that’s where my wife and kids are now. We moved there from Romania some time ago. Mostly for the kids because it’s a beautiful resort area full of beaches and of course my kids love the beach.

Why do I even mention that? Well, because we are stopping in Lisbon, Portugal today. This morning we sailed in passing under the “25th of April Suspension Bridge” which is almost an identical twin to the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and coincidentally was built by the same people. Built in 1966, it is 2.2 kilometers long and crosses the Tagus River which flows into the Atlantic. The bridge was originally named after Portugal’s dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, but after the revolution which cumulated on the 25th of April 1974 people started calling it the 25th of April bridge. It was pretty rainy and bleak this morning when we sailed in, so the photo is not that spectacular, but trust me; it is an impressive bridge. Even more impressive is Lisbon’s Vasco da Gama bridge which is an amazing seventeen kilometers long and is the longest bridge in Europe. However you can’t sail under that one. ( Partial picture of Lisbon below)

It’s a strange feeling being in Lisbon because I am so close to my family, but still so far. Lagos is about 4 hours away from Lisbon, too far for me to go visit because I would never make it back to the ship on time for sailing. Unfortunately this is the only Lisbon stop we will make and even though it was planned for Andreia to come and visit me on the ship and bring our oldest son along, Murphy and his laws got in the way and that won’t be happening either. So, here I am, in Lisbon, so close to home and yet so far.. oh well. Only a few more days and I am off on leave anyway. I think I will survive.

Lisbon is a nice city, but honestly, I am not much of a huge city lover. Lagos and the whole Algarve area on the other hand is wonderful. If you like beaches, blue water, shopping, festivals and fun. Give Lagos a try. It’s really a great place with two thousand years of history. In fact, Lagos was originally populated by Celts and the name Lagos is from the Celtic language. Maybe that’s why I like it, we share a common ancestry. Then again, maybe I like it because my kids like it so much. If you have kids, Lagos is a great resort for the family. ( My triplets playing in the waves in Lagos)

2008-05-21T09:26:00.000+01:00

79 AD

"Ash was falling onto the ships now, darker and denser the closer they went. Now it was bits of pumice, and rocks that were blackened and burned and shattered by the fire. Now the sea is shoal; debris from the mountain blocks the shore. He paused for a moment wondering whether to turn back as the helmsman urged him. "Fortune helps the brave," he said, "Head for Pomponianus." by Pliney the younger (ad 61-113)

One of the most impressive things to see in Europe these days, well, assuming you don’t live in Europe, and also assuming you are a bit of a history buff; is mount Vesuvius and it’s two historic ruined cities Pompeii and Herculaneum. We have all heard the story of the devastation that took place almost two thousand years ago, and many of us have been there to tour the ruins of the once great cities and witness first hand the tragedy of the contorted body casts of the victims.

But did you know that Vesuvius has not been silent since that historic eruption in 79 AD when Pliny the Younger watched from Misenum as his uncle, Pliny the Elder, sailed his fleet of Quadriremes war ships across the Bay of Naples to rescue Rectina and as many people as he could from the doomed land? No, in fact, Vesuvius has erupted more than one hundred times since then! The most recent eruption in modern times being in March 1944 when Vesuvius erupted with enough force to destroy the surrounding villages of Ottaviano, San Sebastiano El Vesuvio, and Massa di Somma, not to mention eighty eight U.S. B52 bombers with engines clogged from the ash. ( this photo of Vesuvius erupting in 1944 by Jack Reinhardt, B24 Tailgunner during WW2)

Today however, only sixty years after it’s last eruption, people live carefree along the bottom of the great volcano. A little over three million of them in fact. The mountain is quiet, and actually seems to radiate a sort of calm over the area as it slumbers.

For me, Vesuvius is one of those famous historic sites that brings your imagination to life. Seeing this peaceful mountain now, and then remembering the destruction and devastation it caused and the cities it destroyed can bring Goosebumps to your skin. This powerful ancient beast not only killed thousands with it's massive eruption, but made it’s own ancient snapshots of some of its victims, forever freezing them in time so that future generations like us could still bear witness to its power two thousand years later. ( The cast of a man who seems to be covering his face from the rushing cloud of ash, instantly preserved in time, a snapshot of destruction left to us by Vesuvius)

Today, you can actually climb to the top of Vesuvius. Have an intimate relationship with this infamous mountain and follow the spiraling path to its rim. It is a historic national park area now. If you have never had the chance to see Vesuvius in person, you know what I always say. Go, go now. It’s worth the effort.

And what became of Pliny the Elder who in 79 AD sailed his ships across the bay to study the phenomenon of the erupting Vesuvius and rescue the people? Well, the wind was not cooperative. Favorable to those who wanted to go to the danger yes, but unfavorable to those who wanted to escape. I will let Pliny the Younger tell it in his own words, the words of the only surviving eyewitness account that is considered reliable;

“They tied pillows on top of their heads as protection against the shower of rock. It was daylight now elsewhere in the world, but there the darkness was darker and thicker than any night. But they had torches and other lights. They decided to go down to the shore, to see from close up if anything was possible by sea. But it remained as rough and uncooperative as before. Resting in the shade of a sail he drank once or twice from the cold water he had asked for. Then came an smell of sulfur, announcing the flames, and the flames themselves, sending others into flight but reviving him. Supported by two small slaves he stood up, and immediately collapsed. As I understand it, his breathing was obstructed by the dust-laden air, and his innards, which were never strong and often blocked or upset, simply shut down. When daylight came again 2 days after he died, his body was found untouched, unharmed, in the clothing that he had had on. He looked more asleep than dead." Pliny the Younger

2007-09-27T13:46:00.000+01:00

5 + 2 + 7 + 9 = ?

I guess you can go back to Constantinople…because here I am again.

The ship is in Istanbul again, only one more trip to this enigmatic city before the end of the season. Of course, Istanbul is a GREAT place to happen to be if it is a special day for you… like for instance a landmark birthday... this picture is of a friend of mine onboard, her name is Inga and she is the Crew Resource Manager. Behind her you can see the Bosphorus Bridge stretching between Europe and Asia. Anyway, Happy Birthday Inga!

I have blogged on Istanbul before, so this time I will give you some interesting information about the city. Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and is divided in two by the strait of Bosphorus. This means that Istanbul is a city that actually sits on two different continents, Europe and Asia. The Bosphorus Bridge connects the city and actually joins the continents as well; pretty amazing really.

Istanbul was established around 660 BC. It was around AD 330 that Constantine the Great renamed the place to Constantinople. Can’t blame the guy... if I ruled an empire and my people called me “Stuart The Great” I would probably call it “Stuopolis”.

Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine) and the richest city in the east. Incredibly, the 4th crusade sacked Constantinople on the 12th of April 1204.

On a side note, anyone familiar with the "23 enigma" or Jim Carey’s new film The Number 23?? (see this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H24V-u7fNJM)

( A view Istanbul from the top deck of M/S Nautica)

The reason I ask is because April 12, 1204 is 12/4/1204 that is 12+4 = 16 and 12 + 4 again = 16 and 16+16 = 32 which is ..wait for it…..

23 backwards!! AGH!!

I went up to the top deck this morning and took some pictures of the scenery around the ship for you. It was a busy day in the Bosphorus as you can see. M/S Nautica is at home when in Istanbul because Nautica was named in Istanbul and blessed by a priest, a rabbi and an imam in a naming ceremony that took place at 10:00am on November 22, 2005

10 + 1+1+2+2+2+5 = ?

( Cruise ships in the Bosphorus)

By the way, these pictures were taken today, on Thursday, 27th September. Thursday is the 5th day of the week in the Judeo - Christian calendar:

5 + 2 + 7 + 9 = ?

DOH!!!!

2007-09-22T17:08:00.000+01:00

We are the travel industry

The travel and cruise industry is wild with activity these days. Look at cruising for example. How many new cruise ships will be launched in the next two years?

Fifty Seven!! Fifty Seven more ships. New ships for every line! There are already about 350 cruise ships sailing the seas and now there will be 57 more.

Look at this link for complete details. http://www.cybercruises.com/orderbook.htm

It seems to me that the smart thing to do is find a way to cash in on some of this activity while there is still time.

Even the concept of “residential” cruise ships has spread. Who among us thought The World (the worlds first residential cruise ship) would be the only one of its kind? Well, think again; the Orphalese is launching in 2010.

www.theorphalese.com

So how can the industry fill so many cruise berths? How does it keep going and not just sink?

Because not only are current cruisers returning, new cruisers are being born every minute. The cruises are more affordable, tailored to people with short periods of time who want high activity, and most important of all, cruise information and booking services are more affordable and more available than ever. The ability of the travel industry to deliver to the consumer is increasing every day. It is simply easier and cheaper than ever to buy a cruise.

This is due in no small part to the ONLINE travel sales industry. This is one of the hottest growing markets in travel today. It used to be only sites like Orbit, or Expedia that catered to online shoppers, but now, through the ingenuity of huge companies, ANYONE who has a passion about travel and wants to earn some money can have their own online travel business!

Online travel sales have gone through the roof. I personally know people who are opening their own online travel sites. Did you know you can have your own, fully flagged, supported and effort free online travel business for only $500.00? This blew me away! No technical knowledge required and all training and support provided. You can run this business from your own home! I learned of this a few days ago. I was so amazed that the industry had moved this fast that I told my friend Mario about it, and already he is planning on getting his own site!

The way Mario sees it, not only can he earn commissions off of sales to other people from HIS OWN travel site… he can purchase HIS OWN travel, flights, vacations and hotel stays through HIS OWN site and get the great deals available to travel agents and get commission on HIS OWN sales reducing the cost of HIS OWN travel. Now … I’m not quite sure how it all works but I am pretty sure he is on to something… Mario is always finding the deals!

How many cruises do you take? Maybe you should invest $500.00 and then every cruise you book for you or your family at least you get something out of it! Be your OWN travel agent… you know they always get the special treatment onboard.
Take a look at an actual operating site. This one isn’t mine by the way, but it is a friend of mines so feel free to use it for booking travel if you want to!! www.clickcantravel.com
This is exactly what you get for $500.00. I find it amazing; it’s a great travel site and even takes care of travel insurance! Who needs a live TA anymore? If you’re interested in learning how all this works and how to get a travel business of your own online look at www.travelcanclick.com it will tell you all about it.

SO what’s the point? The point is that with the every day cruise consumers able to simply and effortlessly become the cruise sellers… you can see how the market will self perpetuate. Cruisers are not only buying cruises these days; they are SELLING them as well, to themselves, to their friends and family, their colleagues at work, and as a boutique business they run from home on the side. Selling travel to earn money for more travel and buying travel from themselves… for great prices and deals.

I predict that soon the Expedias and Orbits of the world will fall to the wayside, and independent online boutique travel agencies will become the engine behind the travel business. After all why would you use one of those big boys when you could get the same great prices from your friend or family member travel website? Or better yet from YOUR OWN site where you can get great deals as an agent?

Cruise groups, those people who always cruise together or have annual events. Why go with a TA now when you could have your own group site for your travel needs? Book from yourselves; imagine NEVER having to say “but my travel agent told me…” again?

The internet has truly changed the world. The cruise sellers ARE the consumers who ARE the sellers…we are the travel industry now. There is no more THEM and US.

2007-09-09T08:56:00.000+01:00

The Family

It is often asked, how can a man, or a woman work at sea when they have family at home? Well, today I will not go into the reasons this can happen. Look at me as only one example. I had a family quite literally out of the blue. When my wife told me she was pregnant with triplets money became the most important thing in either of our lives, far outweighing anything else.

We are doing an eastern european itinerary right now. Making stops in Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia and other places and this causes allot of excitement in our crew because many of them are from these places and it is giving them a chance to see their family. Their husbands, wives and children often come to the port we are in and visit them. In many cases, they come onboard at one port then follow the ship port to port until it is to far away to reach any longer. Stretching out the time they have to be together as long as they can.

In most cases these couples have been together for a long time. Old sailors and engineers whose wives have been waiting for them at home for most of their marriage, their children usually teenagers or young adults, often times married themselves bringing grandchildren to visit.

For the past week we have had many family visitors. I see them up in Horizons passing through while getting their ships tour when I go for morning coffee. I often get to meet meet the kids, and the wives or the husbands of these crew. I see the glowing pride in the crew members face, be it a young newly joined crewmember showing his parents around, or an older long time employee showing his teenagers or grandkids around, they are always bursting with pride. They are so happy to show the ones that love them what they do, and where they are and what their job is for all that time they are away from home.

But the question that always is asked is how can this can work? How is it that people can be apart so long and so often and still remain in love?

I have actually been wondering that myself these days. So I asked many of the family I met how they feel about it. I asked wives how they get by all the time without their husbands. They told me it was hard but that it was worth it, they needed the job and it paid for things that needed paying and the time the man was home was rewarding. It’s the answer I already knew.

I asked a man who stays home while the wife works the same question and he told me that she made more money working at sea than he did and so he stays at home in Croatia while she works at sea. He raises the kids. They are a young couple, so I asked him if he thought it would work forever and he said he hoped they wouldn’t have to do it forever, but they will make it work as long as they must.

I met the woman of one sailor who has been working on ships for 30 years. They have stayed together and raised three children, all of which are now married and they have 9 grandchildren! I asked her for advice. I told her about my family and how I am never home and I asked her what the secret to making it work is. She told me there was no secret, just that it took them allot of work. “I work as hard as him” she told me, “we have both worked hard and suffered separation but look at my family. We have a wonderful happy family that we cared for well” and she was right. They had taken the best option life gave them, as crappy as it was, and made the best of it.

I had to ask the nagging question though. I wanted to know if she loved him, after all these years of being apart. “Of course I love him. But after all these years I love him more when he is away than when he is home”. I thought she was making a joke and I laughed, but I felt immediately bad because she wasn't laughing. “What do you mean?” I asked her. “When he is away, I remember to easily that he did what he had to do, as I did what I had to do, for us. He gave up being with his children, he gave up being with me, he gave up having a home so that the kids and I could have all that. How could I not love him?”

You see many of the people who work on ships, they are single and young and having an adventure. But there are also many, many like me, who started out that way and then life took strange turns. I make more doing this than I have been able to make working on land. For the sake of my kids, I continue to work at sea.

You know I am not a sentimental guy, but because I recently had problems in my personal life this sailor's wife touched me deeply. The sailor is my new hero. He is a Bulgarian who I have only ever seen as one of our sailors onboard. But now I know he is the strength behind a family, and it worked. Not only did he work hard and give up allot, he made it work! That is amazing. He managed to keep them all together, and by the looks of it, they are not unhappy. I am sure it wasn’t easy. I am sure they had some hard times. But this man achieved something I consider miraculous. He has fulfilled a role in life that any man should be proud to fulfill. His wife raised a family alone with only her hopes and commitment to hold onto. These are wonderful people. I think next time I see him sitting in the corner of the crew bar ill buy him a drink.

So next time your on a cruise look closely at the crew. Almost all of them have a family at home they are working to support. They are all heroes. It’s a hard life to be away all the time when you don’t want to be, but the money is good. And as everyone knows, money is the one thing you can’t be without when you have kids.

P.S. recently someone left a message asking how to contact me... but they didn't leave ME an email address. So I don't know how to contact them? Anyway. leave me a way to reach you.

2007-07-15T13:41:00.000+01:00

You can’t go back… to Constantinople.

As a cruise ship employee, who is going on 11 years at sea, I can tell you that when you’re an old man of the sea like I am, you loose all track of time. I have written before about the illusion of time, and how crew can loose complete track of it. The day of the week is lost to what port of the week it is, what month it is depends on how many months into your contract you are or how long you have left before your leave time, and the years are measured more by the number of contracts you have done than by anything else. Eventually, the years slip past as well and you can only really gauge the passage of time by the changes in the ports you stop at, or at least the changes in the way you perceive them.

For example, when I came to sea on my first contract I was doing the Mediterranean run with Princess Cruises. Barcelona to Istanbul and all stops in between. I fell in love with Istanbul. It was a beautiful, exotic place. The port area where we docked was huge; it was loaded with duty free shops, busy with trucks bringing supplies to all the small cargo ships jammed into tight berths along the pier. It was noisy, busy, and crazy and it was a 24 hour operation.

Now, on another ship, with another line, I return to a season of Istanbul turn around days but Istanbul does not feel the same. It’s been almost 7 contracts (around 5 years) since I was here the first time and my memories must have become glamorized in my aging brain because now Istanbul seems more like a tourist trap. Aggressive salesmen at every turn, outrageously priced restaurants where nothing on the menu has a price until you get your bill at the end of the meal (my bad for thinking a tourist would be treated fairly), and of course, lets not forget the beer. There is a small café right on the pier where the cruise ships dock. It is not fancy at all, and really only the crew of all the cruise ships and tankers go to it for a beer now and then or a quick kebob and when I visited the first time you could also get a large Efes beer for one dollar. Now that same Efes, in the same place that hasn’t been washed, upgraded or hired a waiter in 5 years costs four dollars. That’s more than a cost of living price increase, that’s a “let’s hose the cruise ship crew who come here and support us” price increase.

The harbor where we dock is still busy, but the duty free shops that used to be everywhere are all gone and only empty run down buildings remain. Where there was access to shops or a nice photo opportunity large ugly fences have been erected. You can still take a picture of the nearest beautiful mosque, but only if you don’t mind a bit of an “obstructed view”. The pier itself is seeing allot more cruise ship traffic these days and from the harbor area, at least, that puts just a slight twist on the beautiful scenery. The Blue Mosque, seen in the distance beyond the big red lips and gaudy paint job of an “unnamed” cruise ship, is still impressive, but somehow…. It’s not what I remember from my first time here.

I don’t know. I guess Istanbul is still Istanbul. I suppose that when I first came here I had never traveled, was wide eyed and excited and was taking it all in with a different pair of eyes. I think I was seeing Constantanople..Ancient, exotic, mysterious and mystical.. Now, I just see Istanbul for what it is, no better and no worse.

The band “They Might Be Giants” was exactly right when they sang “You can’t go back to Constantinople”. It’s been a long time gone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQrKZcYtqg

2007-02-14T22:14:00.000Z

Baby onboard.

Several readers have asked me what happens if a crew member gets pregnant while working onboard a cruise ship. Well, it does happen occasionally that a crew member gets pregnant. After all if you’re onboard for four to ten months with your husband, or boyfriend, then there is always the chance of it happening. When a woman joins a ship she must take a pregnancy test as part of her physical so no one is pregnant when they join. But allot can happen in ten months.

There was a time not too long ago when most of the cruise lines had quite a harsh policy on pregnancy. It usually meant dismissal from the company, and you had to pay for your own flights home. This policy bred fear, and that caused many problems. I know of one time onboard a cruise ship when a girl who was terrified to loose her job and couldn’t afford to pay for her own flights home actually concealed her pregnancy. She had planned on leaving but was going to wait and keep earning money as long as she could. Her timing was off however and to everyones surprise, early one morning she gave birth.

Luckily all cruise ships have doctors and nurses onboard and the baby was born healthy and without complication. Well, there were some complications, not the least of which was the paperwork the ship had to do! Just what nationality was that baby? Was she the nationality of the ships flag? Was she the nationality of the waters she sailed? Was she the nationality of the mother? In the end it turned out the baby was now a citizen of the ship itself and is to this day living onboard the vessel. NO, I am just joking with you! It turned out she was the nationality of the ships flag, with duality of her monthers nationality.

As a Human Resources professional I am happy to see that recently fantastic policy changes have come around throughout much of the industry and on many lines now if a women gets pregnant it is treated as a medical situation and does not mean dismissal. Most (not all) companies will pay to repatriate you home as well because it is treated as a medical situation. Also, it’s now usually up to the doctor onboard to decide when you must go home and when you do you can relax knowing that you will be re-employed when your ready. The doctor can also now decide if you are fit to work for a little while still just like in the real world. I mean lets face it, a healthy woman in the first 3 or 4 months of pregnancy is not a liability, why can’t she continue to earn money like women do all over the world in a land job? Not all jobs onboard are physically taxing.

I know many people will now ask what is to prevent a woman from getting pregnant on an American flagged vessel so she has a better chance of getting into the country. I suppose some people would consider it, but remember to work on an American flagged vessel, you must first be American.

In any case it is not a common situation, but it is one the industry has finally started to address and deal with. I applaud the lines that have made these changes in the pregnancy policy. Just because most cruise lines hire from third world countries doesn’t mean they have to maintain policies like a third world country.

It is new policies like this, as well as the new trend toward employing HR professionals onboard ships to ensure the crew are well trained, well maintained and well satisifed, that goes a long way toward improving and enriching the passenger experience. After all, it's not just an old adage.

A happy and satisfied crew really does make for a happier guest.

2006-11-28T16:36:00.000Z

Cha-Cha-Cha- changes…

So what’s different exactly between Princess Cruises and Oceania Cruises? What differences have I noticed since I left the Pacific Sun and joined Oceania Cruises onboard the M/S Regatta? Well, plenty actually! After all the market segment is not the same. Princess lives happily in the “premium” cruise market and Oceania Cruises is a unique one of a kind “upper premium” cruise line floating (mind the pun) between the premium lines and the luxury lines.

I am onboard the M/S Regatta. I am doing a job called Crew Resources Manager, which is to say the HR Manager onboard. I am responsible for crew development, training and welfare. We have just repositioned from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean and we are now on day 2 of an extraordinary 25 day journey from Miami, through the Caribbean, up the Amazon to Manaus and then back to Miami. This is Regatta’s first Caribbean cruise of the season, and my first Caribbean cruise ever with Oceania Cruises. Because Oceania Cruises does not cruise the standard itinerary many of the lines do during Caribbean season, I find that I have hardly been to any of the ports listed on the cruise itinerary, so at least the cruise will be a new adventure for me!

Tomorrow is the first port of call after two sea days; Spanish Town in Virgin Gorda. I can tell you we are all looking forward to it because after seven days at sea crossing the Atlantic, one hectic day embarking in Miami and two more sea days as we head out on our Caribbean season, we are all looking forward to some time ashore!

My plan is to post a journal of our progress. I will see if I can get some pictures from each port we visit and post them so you can all arm chair cruise along with the Regatta and I. You will meet some of the crew, hear about some of our adventures and learn more about what makes Oceania Cruises and the cruise industry in general tick.

For now I want to tell you about one of the first differences I noticed when I came onboard the Regatta; the Grand Dining Room. I have seen many cruise ship dining rooms before, some huge, multi leveled and ornate. Some small and not so nice. But the Grand Dining Room on Regatta simply blew me away when I saw it for the first time. Tastefully decorated, but not overdone, it is elegant and comfortable.

There were no guests present when I first toured the ship, but the room was set for dinner service. This is when I noticed for the first time the amazing difference. Every table gleamed with Christofle silver and Riedel crystal and of course the famous Versace china plates! It was an amazing beautiful table! None of the other cruise lines whose dining rooms I have seen ever paid so much homage to the table setup. I had read in the Oceania Cruises press releases while researching the company about the trend setting “perfect table”, but reading about it just didn’t do it justice.I knew immediately that I would feel very comfortable in this company. Everything they do seems to say “we're paying attention”. I am very happy I made the decision to join this company.

During passenger drills on embarkation day my safety position is in the Grand Dining room mustering guests. Half of the guests come into the dining room and take a seat with their life jackets on, the other half go to the Regatta lounge. The tables are always fully set in preparation for dinner following the drill, and it makes me laugh to see how many guests just HAVE to sneak a peak at the bottom of a plate to see if it really is Versace. They always look quietly pleased when they discover that yes, it really is Versace. I often wonder how many of them, like me, had not even known Versace did china until they came onboard Regatta?

It’s funny, you would think that with bulky life jackets on someone would knock down a glass or bump something on the fully set table but no one ever does. Guests are very careful not to disturb the table setting because it gleams like artwork. They all just sit and look at it, and of course talk about it and the dinner to come. It is a bit cruel perhaps to tease people by seating them in the dining room, stomachs groaning for a meal after their journey to reach the ship, and not let them order until drills are completed… but at least it helps build an appetite!

2006-06-11T00:28:00.000+01:00

I’ve been away

Sorry. I have been away awhile. I have so many things going on right now and just have not had the time to do my normal daily routine!

In the next few days I will have some interesting stories to “blog on” about but right now
I am just so busy getting ready to leave the ship. Yes, that’s right. Finally getting ready to depart the old Pacific Sun and move on. I will blog on it all in a few days.

I was looking at peoples responses to my “Fantasy cruise” question. The question was if you could take any ship, and put it on any “dream” itinerary you wanted, what you would pick.

I always find these types of surveys fascinating. It’s a little peek into the collective mind of the passengers. Maybe you will find it fascinating as well?? Here is a random selection of 60 of the 500 or so responses that came in (as much as my blog column space would allow!) The replies are cut and pasted directly from the survey so mist-spellinks and such are not my fault.

The most original "dream" listed in my opinion was this first one. What the heck is an Aranui 3? Sounds to me more like a "plug" than a dream cruise but hey, why not? I support plugs. Maybe you should all check it out at www.aranui.com. If your like me you have never heard of it before. Interesting. Not MY particular taste, but interesting.

Dream number two, by Kingbob, also ranks with me but I gotta tell ya, getting a ship that size, with that many crew and passengers in and around Asia is SUCH an incredible administration hassle!

And the dream cruises were...

The Aranui 3 - Passenger Freighter from Tahiti to the Marquises. This passenger freighter sails 16 times a year from Tahiti to the remote Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. If you love the tropics, have a sense of adventure, and don't need to be constantly pampered, this is a wonderful itinerary. All meals, wine, shorex, & tips are included. It even has a pool. You just cannot beat French Polynesia for scenery and relaxation.

I think the new FREEDOM OF THE SEAS makes a great choice for a fantasy cruise. We've cruised a lot of places so I think my preferred routing would be a very port intensive cruise through Asia, where we've not sailed: OSAKA - SHANGHAI - TAIPEI - HONG KONG - HO CHI MINH CITY - BRUNEI - JAKARTA - SINGAPORE with a couple sea days thrown in. KingBob/Orlando

Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas 10 Nights Europe

Tahitian Princess form Honolulu to Papiette

Tahitian Princess Tahiti

HAL Sandal, Baltic

Oceania Nautical, any world cruise itinerary

Freedom of the Seas - 10 days cruising the south pacific – Bora bora tc.

So far I have only been on the Sun Princess, but that or any of the newer Princess ships would do, especially in an aft mini. I think the Tahiti/Polynesia or Australia/New Zealand cruises would where I would want to go. Thanks.

Golden Princess on a 30 day cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Australia via the Caribbean, Panama Canal (you said fantasy), Hawaii, Tahiti, and New Zealand.

Panama Canal HAL Oosterdam

Any Princess ship that travels to the Med.

Crown Princess. I would choose the Mediterranean with long stops, two days, in Rome, Florence, and Venice with a stop down in Port Said in the Aegean Sea.

QM2 Around the world

Oceania in French Polynesia, Marquesas/Cook Islands and Fiji.

Okay, if I picked a ship currently sailing today I would pick the Constellation. Why? Because I love Celebrity and Constellation is their newest ship. I would sail the Med/Adriatic with my favorite stops being Venice, Dubrovnik, maybe Split and a few Croatian islands (can you tell I want to go to Croatia). NOW...if I could sail a ship of the past (this IS a fantasy right?) I would choose one of the ships of the old Italian Lines either the Leonardo Advance or the Michelangelo. My parents never stopped raving about those ships of the Italian Lines. Oh, and the itinerary wouldn't matter to me.

I would be right with you on the Insignia!

Oceania, any ship on any med run that included Monte carol and was at least 14 days long.

QM2- From Australia to Greek Isles to Italy

Norwegian Pearl Anchorage to Vancouver

Sandal or QM2 doing the Viking Circle (N. Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Fare Island, Norway)
Mariner Of The Seas on an expanded Caribbean itinerary with at least 5 sea days.

Any Princess ship that sails in Alaska All Princess ships are great that is the nine times that I have sailed the only way to take a vacation. Ron P.S. How about a big discount for are 40th weeding university can you swing it for us ?? I love your blog.

I'd want the Penthouse suite on Celebrity Summit to Alaska.

Radiance of the Seas to Hawaii or Europe

Barcelona Nice *2 nights Rome *2 nights Naples *2 nights Venice *2 nights Santorini *2nights

I would be on the "old" Royal Princess on a Holy Land cruise.

Freedom of the Seas, with only 1000 people on board, with 1500 crew, and a 180 day around the world trip!

Regatta, with the whole ship to myself sailing the best of the Caribbean.

We would choose the SS Norway in the Caribbean as she was before Star cruises bought her.......

Crystal Harmony - 31 Days Bangkok to Venice transiting the Suez canal with stops in the middle east, east Africa and south Asia (and of course the med) Europe and the Mediterranean.

I have cruised on the Sapphire Princess, so naturally I would want to go back to our same balcony cabin, but this time, instead of the Mexican Riviera, I would cruise the Adriatic and stop at the island of Bract to visit my husbands relatives who still live in the family home that his father left as a youth to come to America. Then, I'd head north to Ireland and take a launch up the River Shannon and visit the town where my grandmother was born before her parents packed their belongings and immigrated to America.

I would pick something very similar... either an R-class or the saga rose (with a younger crowd) lol. 10-day med Rome Athens with a stop in Egypt.

Coral Princess - Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific Islands, Hawaii, Los Angeles or San Francisco

Southeast Asia/Malaysia/Singapore........Coral Princess

Pacific Princess Sydney to Hong Kong 21 days

14 day cruise on the ncl star to Alaska

The newest Celebrity (now Constellation) or Princess (Crown)ship doing an Eastern AND Western Mediterranean, concentrating on Italy and Greece.

Dawn Princess~~~Greece to Venice

I would choose a world cruise. See the world from a cruise ship. I would probably love to do it on one of the Grand Class ships of Princess. One that has lots of stuff to do.

HAL Prinsendam, Mediterranean

Regent PG to Tahiti. (Never been on either, but LOVED the Regent Navigator).

Caribbean Princess in the South Pacific

Freedom of the Seas Hawaii

Silver Shadow - England, Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia

Silver Seas World Cruise

I would choose a r/t la/Hawaii on the sapphire princess but with overnight stops in all ports and an evening sail past Kilauea lava flows

Regent's Paul Gauguin on its Tahiti itinerary. That's my dream cruise!

Celebrity century.... in the penthouse (heck, it's free) doing the British Isles and western Europe capitals. Oooh...

Oceania Insignia Athens to Hong Kong

Oceana Insignia would also be my choice my voyage would take me from Nice to Venice though......

The Paul Gauging in Tahiti.

Tahitian Princess (or sister ship) through Asia. Great ports on a smaller ship but with all of the luxuries.

Any Princess ship in the Mediterranean. Let me see all the Roman and Greek ruins you can possibly find (and those Greeks and Romans got around.....this could keep me on a tour for a very long time!)

Radisson's around the world cruise - let's dream big!!

An Oceania ship sailing in the South Pacific

I would sail Barcelona to Athens, on the Sapphire Princess.

2006-06-04T00:57:00.000+01:00

Norwalk onboard cruise ships – the straight poop.

Ok, ok, lame title, but I had to do it.

There have been a few ships hit hard by Gastro (gastrointestinal illness) recently. Most notably the Sea Princess which was actually laid up for a bit to do a cleaning. I wanted to talk a little about Gastro onboard to dispel some of the myths and fears people have.

The bug everyone is afraid of is the Noro virus, or Norwalk bug. It’s a gastrointestinal virus and makes you quite ill for a few days. You will get diarrhea or vomiting, or both, and will be weak and ill for usually 24 to 72 hours.

This Noro virus, I have been told by our trainers onboard, is one of the most common stomach bugs on the planet. It is not harmless because it makes you sick, but unless you have a previous illness, or are very old it isn’t something that is going to do you much harm at all. It’s like a bout of stomach flu, certainly not a good time, but nothing to live in fear of.

But if that’s true, you may ask, why all the press about it and why do the cruise ships have all these procedures and protocols and secret codes (level red) in place? It’s because a cruise ship is an enclosed environment with many people inside it. Noro spreads rapidly and easily, normally through hand to mouth contact, and so a few days at sea when the virus is onboard and nobody is leaving the ship can see a rapid spread amongst the population.

What happens on most cruise ships is pretty simple and standard. At embarkation you fill out a health questionnaire. It will ask you if you have vomited or had diarrhea in the past little while. You shouldn’t lie about it because saying yes does NOT mean you can not cruise or that you will be put in quarantine. It means the ships doctor is going to come out and ask you some question’s and assess you. So if he comes out and you tell him that yes you DID have diarrhea this morning but then again last night for dinner you ate the hottest spiced curry you ever had in your life and chased it with 6 bottles of beer, then I think he will pretty much call the “all clear” on you. They also eliminate travel sickness, and other things. If they think it is warranted, they will ask you to go into quarantine for 24 hours (maybe more) as soon as you board the ship. Just as a precaution. You should agree to this without complaint because if the doctor thinks you might NOT stay in your cabin for the period of time he has asked he will deny you boarding, and yes, they are able to do that.

If you are onboard and you come down with symptoms the same thing happens. You see the doctor, he clears you or puts you in quarantine for a period, and the “sanitization” begins. This just means your cabin will be treated or “fogged”. This means a team of guys in hazmat looking uniforms come in and use a special virus killing cleaner on everything. Sometimes they put in a little machine that “fogs” this cleaner in the air misting the whole cabin. They may or may not do this and more.

If there are incidents of vomiting or diarrhea in public areas of the ship you will see it treated, at least on princess ships, like a chemical spill. The area will be cordoned off, the hazmat looking guys will come in and spray and clean and sanitize and keep the area cordoned off for about 2 hours after they are done.

Should there be more than one or two cases of gastro onboard the ship will usually go into a level RED. This is not a scary horrible thing. It is a good thing. It is to prevent the gastro from spreading and ruining your cruise! It means we start doing certain things, or rather stop doing them. Crew will stop touching passengers, not even hand shakes take place. You can not serve yourself any food, crew will be banned from public area’s, you will see three times more cleaners in the public areas all cleaning like mad with virus killing cleaner and little masks and gloves on. Basically level red means we try and reduce the amount of person to person contact, person to food item contact, person to physical item contact as much as possible until there are no more cases reported to the medical clinic. Then we go back to green level.

It’s important to realize not all gastrointestinal illness onboard a ship is Norwalk. It might be reaction to the travel, the food or any number of other things. But we treat it all as if it WAS Norwalk. Also, most cases of Norwalk on ships originated from OUTSIDE the ship. Many cases are contracted on airplanes for example but your not on the plane long enough to see the symptoms, and so the poor cruise ships take the wrap as gastro causing menaces, but it just isn’t so.

If a cruise ship reaches a certain percentage of sick passengers, and I honestly don’t know that number, but I think its around ten percent (3% before you report it to CDC) then the ship will be stopped like Sea Princess. Passengers sent home and the whole ship will be sanitized. They do this because it will become an endless cycle otherwise. The virus will be alive onboard and pass from one cruise to the next. I have heard stories of older ships from the past that had Noro onboard for years.

Tips to protect yourself? Wash your hands ALLOT! And stop sticking your fingers in your mouth! That’s about all you can really do in my opinion. I live onboard and I don’t live in fear of it. There is ONE bit of advice they give to passengers which I think is REALLY STUPID advice. They say to not hold the hand railings on the ships stairwells! You’re on a ship that moves. Would you rather risk a broken neck, paralysis and even death from a bad fall than have a little diarrhea? For god’s sake hold the hand rail, especially in bad seas, and then go wash your hands before you eat.

If you’re wondering, yes, crew gets quarantined as well if we show symptoms. In fact if we have ANY indication in the slightest of diarrhea OR vomiting we MUST report to clinic and we WILL be quarantined for 24 to 72 hours. If you do NOT go and they find out you are fired. It is a simple rule. We are VERY careful onboard.

Oh by the way, you should not worry about reporting the symptoms of gastrointestinal illness to the ships medical center because all ships I have heard of do not charge for services when it is a gastro related issue.

Have you read the cruiselife articles yet? Get your copy on the top right of this web page.

2006-06-02T06:36:00.000+01:00

That's just... weird.

It’s my birthday today, and yes, I feel old. In fact, not only is it my birthday, it is also the official birthday of the ship I am sailing on. What do you think that means?

To me, and my now aged senile old mind, (what was I talking about..?) it seems really… ironic. Pacific Sun was “delivered” on June 2nd 1985 as the Carnival Jubilee. Today she is 21 years old. Me? Well I was “delivered” to Heather Mclean on June 2nd 1965. Today I am 41 years old... (Oh my God...)… And here we both are - the Pacific Sun and I. Both Geminis, both sailing around Australia, both celebrating (if celebrating is the right word) a birthday, and both working for a living and “spinning our props” trying to get somewhere.

You know what else is really weird? When the Jubilee was only four years old in 1989, and eight years before I even went to sea on cruise ships, I was downtown Vancouver with a friend of mine (Jim). We were room mates living in Whistler and whenever we went to Vancouver I would force Jim to come to Canada Place cruise ship terminal (then only three years old) with me to check out the cruise ships. I was always looking for the Love Boat. The Love Boat wasn’t there this particular day, but the Jubilee was, and being a cruise ship lover I was I was quick to point out to my buddy Jim that the Jubilee definitely wasn’t the Love boat, in fact, she looked a little “unexciting” to me and gave me an odd feeling. Even the name put me off; it reminded me of old things and Jubilee anniversaries… of course, karma being what it is, sixteen years after my cutting and amateur critique of her, here I am onboard her 2nd incarnation. THAT's weird AND ironic. Do you think there is some things in life that are just fated and that’s why I felt “funny” when I saw Jubilee all those years ago at Canada Place , and why I can remember our encounter so vividly today 17 years later when I am onboard her and sharing a birthday onboard?

Wow.. things that make you go hmmmm.

But enough lamenting over age and irony, I am curious about something. Please take this survey and tell me;

Imagine you won a cruise and everything was free, the flights, the cruise, everything. You can choose ANY ship in the world and have it cruise ten days in ANY itinerary you want; you could even put the Freedom Of The Seas in the Middle East if you wanted to. Also assume you will get an equally nice balcony stateroom no matter which choice you make. So in other words it’s free and all things would be equal, or as close to equal as they could be between the different lines and levels. Which cruise ship and itinerary would you choose to cruise on? For example if it was all free and my room would be great, I would choose the Oceania Insignia, Venice to Athens. What would your choice be?

I will blog the results later.

Click here to take the fantasy cruise survey

2006-05-30T08:08:00.000+01:00

Questionable

A cruise ship is a unique environment, not only for the workers, but for the passengers as well. It’s not surprising that the strange environment brings strange questions into peoples minds. Sometimes, however, the questions are so funny you can’t help but have a little laugh. If you REALLY try hard you can see what the person was actually trying to ask, or how the question does make sense in its own way, but still they make you laugh. I thought you might enjoy hearing some of these questions. These are the top twenty “strange and funny” questions I can recall being personally asked by passengers, or hearing asked.

Do these stairs go up and down?
Obviously the person thought that the starboard side was one direction and the port side the other.

Is there a lift that will take me to the front of the ship?
No idea what they were thinking…

What time will we see the whales?
We get asked this so often you wouldn’t believe it. I think people are trying to ask what is the best time of day or best time / location during the cruise… at least I hope they are.

Do crew live onboard?
You know. I never really know how to reply to this.

Why don’t you have a newspaper shop onboard?
This is another I have been asked several times and just can’t for the life of me figure what they are thinking.

On the return journey will my cabin change to the starboard side?
OK, this one seems pretty silly at first, but when you think about it… no, still silly.

You have five all day tours available in the next port, can I book more than one?
Well… yes… you can book them…..;o)

Is your ice cream fresh or frozen?
I have been asked this one twice. I think they want to know if we make it or buy it… but … still makes me go hmmmm.

What country are we in when we are sailing in international waters?
Lilipud.

I left my computer unplugged at home; will I still be able to check my email?
No comment.

Can I buy Alaskan dollars at the Pursers desk?
Certainly sir… the exchange rate is $100.00 American for ten Alaskan, let me just get my monopoly money... excuse me…I mean ALASKAN currency out for you. ;o)

Passenger; if we’re sailing west will it stay light all night as we follow the sun?
Reception; only if we’re traveling at 500 knots, but I think the Captain will keep us at 18 for this cruise..

Passenger on Grand Princess at sail away: why does the bridge have more windows looking back than forward?
Me: Because that’s Skywalkers disco sir, the bridge is on the front of the ship.

Do I have to turn off my cell phone when we are sailing?
Only until we reach 30 000 feet altitude.

Purser’s desk reception; what’s your berth number?
Passenger; I don’t have any children.

Check in staff in Istanbul; can I have your passport sir?
Passenger: yes, but it’s an American passport, is it good here to?

Passenger; there is something wrong with my cabin phone; it beeps about every 30 seconds.
Reception; that’s your message waiting sir.
Passenger; but I didn’t leave any messages.

If you’re using the ships tenders to take people ashore, will you still have enough life boats to hold everyone if there is an emergency?
Sigh.

My tender ticket is blue 1, but all I see is orange tenders.
Another sigh…

Passenger; you sent me luggage tags for Amarillo, but I don’t live in Texas.
Reception; yes sir we gave you yellow luggage tags, Amarillo is Spanish for yellow.

2006-05-29T06:41:00.000+01:00

Cotton menagerie

Very busy these days so today is a “photo blog”. I read someone on Cruise Critic ask what ever happened to the towel animals onboard cruise ships. It seems on some ships that the towel animals the room stewards used to do are becoming extinct. Well, not on Pacific Sun. In fact, not only do you get a new towel animal in your cabin every day, at the end of the cruise they put a zoo on display in the atrium!

2006-05-26T23:14:00.000+01:00

The long and the Shorex of it

Do you ever take shore excursions when you are on a cruise? Ones through the ship I mean, not the private ones that many seek out to save a dollar and risk their lives but the actual real shipboard excursions. If so here are a few pointers for you on making your shore excursion a success.

It all starts in the selection of your tours. Hopefully, whether you have pre-booked your tours or waited until you’re onboard to buy them, you will have researched a little bit and know what it is you are getting yourself into. If you pre-booked your tours then your tickets will be waiting for you in your stateroom when you board the ship. Look for them, open them, READ them and confirm they are the tours you booked. You will notice when your reading your ticket that it not only has your name and your tour written on it, it also tells you when to meet and WHERE to meet on the day you take your tour. This is where you need to do a little research IN ADVANCE. It’s no good to you if your ticket tells you to meet in Davey Jones Locker at 9:00am if you don’t have a clue where Davey Jones Locker is right? So BEFORE 9:00am on the morning of the day you really should make sure you know where it is you’re supposed to meet.

Regardless of whether or not you meet on the ship, or meet on the pier, you need to have your ducks in a row. I can not even start to tell you how many people show up late, have nothing with them, are missing cruise cards, or spouses, or water, or clothing, or need to go to the bathroom, or can’t find the tickets and they always say the same thing, “the buffet was busy and I NEED to have breakfast don’t I?”. Yes you do, however if your tour is at 9:00am maybe you should be going for breakfast a little earlier than 8:30am? Maybe the night before the tour you should do what we all make our children do Sunday night before school. Lay your stuff out! Make sure you have all the clothing you will need for the tour, your cruise cards, your wallet, your medications, your glasses, your suntan lotion, your water, your TICKETS, your husband, your children, your port guide, your binoculars, your camera and everything else you will need and have it ready for a quick get away in the morning. Have your breakfast but keep your family tied to you! So often at the meeting point people are wandering around calling out aimlessly the names of their husbands, wives or children. Here are the quick answers to the questions you will ask if that happens to you; no we can not make an announcement for them, and NO we have not seen them amongst the crowd of hundreds waiting to go on tour and no we can not stop what we are doing and help you look for them.

All the little details of your tour that your going to think about and want to talk about with the very limited shore excursion staff who are very busy trying to wrangle 1500 passengers on 500 tours can ALL be answered from the tour information available on the ship or by the shore excursion staff BEFORE the morning of your tour. So basically what I am saying is if you want to talk about the air conditioning of the bus, or your health problems and why you must sit in the front of the bus, or ask if any food will be served on this tour then the best time for that was BEFORE the morning of the tour.

If you book your tours onboard all of the above applies to you, however when your booking your tours remember these little pointers. Yes you CAN book more than one tour in a day but you should really ask at the shore excursions desk for advice before you do so. Also, every shore excursion department has a sold out board right beside the desk. CHECK the sold out board BEFORE you drop your booking form into the drop box! Look for the sold out tours first and save yourself disappointment later.

I also want to mention cancellations. On most cruise lines we use the same tour operators so the rules are usually the same. You can NOT cancel. That’s it. The only way you can cancel your tour is if you do it 24 hours in advance. Now remember my friend that is 24 hours in advance. You can also cancel if you have seen the ships doctor and he advises you to cancel. Now remember that is the SHIPS doctor, not your daughter who is a nurse or your doctor from home who you telephoned; only the SHIPS doctor. The other cause for cancellation is if the ship does it for whatever reason. Otherwise all tours run RAIN OR SHINE and you just can not cancel unless it’s one of those three ways.

Finally I want to mention the complaint process. If you have a legitimate complaint we DO want to hear it. Sometimes the best indication that a contracted shore side tour operator is not keeping up to the standards we expect is when the passengers complain and advise us. So complaining is a good thing. However having said that you should check the details of the tour before you do so. If your going to complain that the tour bus was not air conditioned and it says right in the tour brochure that the bus is not air conditioned then there is no point complaining about it because we already know, and you should have read the information. If you want to complain that you had to hike a long way over rocky ground and the tour information clearly says you should be physically ft and will walk a long way over rocky ground, then again, not much we can do. If on the other hand the information says you will be taken in an air conditioned bus and only walk 5 minutes on a paved sidewalk but during the tour you are actually transported by wet Llamas and have to walk three hours over a mud field then by all means please complain to us because that tour operator is not keeping up his end of the deal!

The tours onboard are in my opinion all excellent. They are carefully chosen, safety audited, and constantly enjoyed by crew who will then complete detailed evaluations of the tours they take on behalf of the ship. I never recommend a private tour to anyone because I can not guarantee the safety has been checked and that the staff, and equipment, is legitimate and high quality. By booking a ship sanctioned tour you are assured of all these things. If the ship does NOT offer something you want, then talk to the shore excursions department for help. We can guide and advise you on booking outside of the ship and help you get the best safety, price and quality. Try the ship tours and ships advice first, in the end you will be glad you did.

Remember, a ships tour that runs late will always have a ship sitting in port waiting for it when it finally turns up. A private tour that’s late usually returns to an empty pier.

2006-05-24T01:36:00.000+01:00

The last original concept in cruising

I was trying to design a unique “virtual” cruise line last night, and you know what? I couldn’t do it. The cruise industry is so alive right now that as far as I can tell, every possible concept in cruising has been taken.

I think the most recent, and possibly the final “original idea” for a cruise line was conceived and implemented by Island Cruises. Island Cruises concept is “be yourself”, whatever you want to do, dress formal, dress casual, whatever. They call themselves the “pioneers of casual cruising” and the line is a joint venture between RCCL and First Choice Holidays (www.islandcruises.com).

Oceania Cruises by comparison is on the other end of the scale, also launched in 2002 like Island Cruises but they champion the more elegant and sophisticated “country club casual” ( much more my style ;o) with high end personalized service, award winning cuisine and destination cruising (and a cool flash butler on their website www.oceaniacruises.com ). Perhaps that was the last great concept in cruising to launch with huge success. But then again we have recently seen easyCruise launch with fair success, but they are more like the Sienfeld show of cruising in that a LACK of an original concept, IS their concept.

It seems whatever you want in cruising these days you can find. Not even mentioning the major mega lines and their subtly different levels of service and luxury from celebrity down through RCCL, Norwegian, and all the lines of Carnival Corporation. If you want huge ships, tiny ships, fast ships, slow ships, casino ships, cruise lines with everything or a cruise line with nothing you can have it. Is there anything that hasn’t been done?

You can find active lifestyle cruising for the 30 to 50 set available from Ocean Village (www.oceanvillage.holidays.co.uk). Tramp steamer cruising is available for the adventurous spirit in a hurry to get nowhere (www.freighterworld.com). Nude cruises are everywhere (http://www.cruisenude.com/). Even a Russian ice breaker adventure cruise and Emperor Penguin Safari is common place these days (http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/). You name it and some cruise company has done it, or is doing it, or is talking about it.

Is their anything yet to be added to the smorgasbord of choice already afloat? What do you think? Email or post your comments or ideas on a cruise concept you would like to see that hasn’t been done yet. If you can think of one that is. Maybe we can pool our ideas and create a virtual cruise line after all and inspire the next brave cruise entrepreneur into action!

2006-05-15T06:30:00.000+01:00

Tamale, the crazy wife beating jumper of Pentecost Island

Legend has it that perhaps hundreds of years ago (or more), nobody knows for certain, a village man named Tamale on Pentecost island used to beat his wife. He beat her enough that she used to run away from him but, alas, Tamale would always go and bring her back. One day, presumably after Tamale beat her, she ran away again and hid high up in a tree. Tamale came to get her and stood at the bottom of the tree shouting up to her that if she came down she would only get beaten a little bit, but if he had to come up to get her she would be very sorry. She refused to come down and tamale went up the tree to get her, but as he reached for her she jumped from the tree. The jump didn’t kill her though and tamale was so angry that she ran from him and so shocked that she survived he wanted to prove he to could jump as well, so he did, and he died. He didn’t realize that his wife had tricked him and put Liana vines around her ankles to break her fall.

To this day, during the harvest of the Yams, the men of Pentecost Island perform the N’Gol ritual, or “Land Dive” to show all women they will not be tricked again, and to ensure a fertile earth for the Yams of course. Boy’s as young as 8 years old have even made the jump.

It did not seem very much like bungee jumping to me, and it looked to like one of the jumpers hit the ground before his “vines” went tight and he bounced about 5 feet up into the air. He survived mind you.

I put a quick video clip of a couple jumps in my box. You can download it free if you want to see from the address at the bottom of this article. The quality isn’t great because it was so high overcast and bright that the contrast kind of sucks, but you can see the second jumper DEFINATLY hit the ground and bounce before his vine goes tight. It’s only 1.9 megs so it’s a fast download.

You can hear someone laughing in the background, I assure you it is not me or my adventure team for the day (Graham and Heather came with me to see the leapers) we were more stunned than entertained. You can see in the pictures here the tower they build.

The whole jumping thing seems just a little crazy to me. They build this rickety looking tower, and tie plants around their ankles and jump. Of all the jumpers I saw today all of them walked away in pain. I mean, honestly, just because something has been done for centuries doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Maybe they SHOULD consider building a bungee tower and using some bungee themselves? Keep the ritual intact and save some broken bones? Heck, they could even charge the tourists then to take part in the ritual to remember Tamale, the crazy wife beating jumper of Pentecost Island. Anyway, if you ever get out Pentecost Island way in April and May be sure to go see the N’gol ritual. I don’t think there are many places in the world where people are still this crazy.

Free video download at: http://www.box.net/public/s6s4e5ducx

2006-05-14T23:59:00.000+01:00

Might as well stay onboard

When you work onboard, sometimes going ashore can be a fantastic experience, and sometimes it can be a pain. Take yesterday for example. Yesterday we arrived in Luganville, which is in Vanuatu in the South Pacific. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had just had three days at sea so everyone was looking forward to getting off for a bit. Our adventure ashore party consisted of me, my wife Andreia and our friend Heather. We had big plans when we left, but unfortunately none of them really worked out. We spent about 45 dollars traveling up and down the island in a cab looking for something that would impress us, or at least hold our interest, but unfortunately nothing did. We went to two different beach locations, checked out the touristy sights AT the locations, but in the end, we just decided to just go back to the ship and suntan on deck for the rest of our break.

When you work onboard, and live onboard for 6 months at a time it’s not the same as it is for passengers who can’t wait to get back onboard. To us it seems almost like a crime to not take advantage of every opportunity you can to get off the ship. I think this picture of my wife with the ship in the background sums up our feelings about going back onboard in a nutshell. Oh well, it was a nice day on deck as well, and the hamburgers were good.

Today we are going to try and go to see the crazy “Land Divers” on Pentecost Island. These are the guys who climb a 60 foot home made tower and jump off of it with vines tied around their legs. It is the forefather of bungee jumping actually, without the bungee. If we make it you should check out tomorrow’s blog, I will post some pictures and video of them for you.

2006-05-10T22:00:00.000+01:00

Dear SBM

The best part about working at sea is being on leave. If you’re single, when you’re on leave then you are ON VACATION. I mean, full on vacation and you use it to the limits. You are a free spirit and you can do whatever you want. You don’t work for a month or more at a time. After all you have earned your time off! Besides, you’re probably going back to sea again in not too long so you got to make use of the time off you have. You schedule all your activities into the time you have and stay as busy as possible. A good example of this is the email below. I emailed a friend of mine who just got off a ship asking “what are you doing?” and this is the reply I got.

“Dear SBM,

My friend Tanya flew in from Tennessee and I was at Universal Studios all day. Great day. Met up with some friends from the company, Julie and Jeremy and Irving, for dinner at the end of the night and saw Mission Impossible three. I’m driving to Santa Barbara today for wine tasting and then up to SFO to drop Tanya off at one of our ships in dry-dock. I'll be dropping her off and then heading to Vegas for a week and then going back to LA. I’m house-sitting in Beverly Hills for 4 days after that and then back to my house for 3 days before I join. I need to enjoy this leave since I only did one week on my last leave due to unforeseen circumstances. Don't worry; I'll write soon. I'll check my messages when I’m in LA again.Talk to you soon

2006-05-09T23:15:00.000+01:00

Onboard currency trading with your room steward. Aka: tipping money

If you are going to tip your room stewards, or anyone onboard for that matter, you should try and use only clean, fresh, unmarked American bills. No rips, no pen marks, no creases. The reason for this is that in Eastern Europe and the Philippines the exchange houses will not give full value on money that is marked or ripped or OLD. I have even had it happen to me; they will rip you off and give you 75% value. I have been to these places and exchanged money myself and I know it to be true. During payroll onboard the Eastern Europeans and Philippines crew even ask to be paid in clean, 1998 series bills because other series have a higher counterfeit instance and they often get less value for it as well. Sure it’s money making scheme by the exchange houses but there is NOTHING you can do about it.

If you tip in old, damaged bills they must exchange it onboard first and this can be a hassle as crew offices do not mind changing currency but just changing old for new sometimes isn’t always possible.

Also, tipping in “fun” or collector money is pointless. A $2.00 bill will not be exchanged by an exchange house in eastern Europe or the Philippines. Some crew offices won’t even take them. Yes, I know, your all getting angry now and saying “but this is good honest American currency”, well this is true but these people are not Americans nor are they in America.

In fact, even if they try and exchange money ashore in America old for new, or $2.00 bills for $1.00 bills they are treated like money laundering drug dealers because not everyone in the USA trusts a foreigner these days, let alone a foreigner on a temporary seaman visa trying to “clean” some money! You may want to argue that with me, but if YOU owned an exchange house and an Indonesian, South African, Romanian, Russian, Philippine or Malta citizen came to your window with a crumpled handful of 1000 dollars in old American money and asked to exchange it for new American money, what would you honestly think? We don't even have passports, just I-95's which look fake because they are on cheap tissue paper and ship ID cards. That's it. Would YOU trust these crew and not suspect them?

It is true that if they have a bank account in their home country they can exchange the bills but remember many crew in these countries do not have bank accounts. It is not the same in all countries as it is in the USA.

So do the crew a favor. If your going to tip I recommend new, clean $1.00 bills, or $5.00 or $10.00 they are easiest to exchange. $20.00 have a very high counterfeit rate so they are harder to exchange.

I read some comments from a person who was going to experiment and see if crew would take a two dollar bill. Well they probably will, but if you want to experiment properly offer them a choice of a two dollar bill, or two one dollar bills I am betting they will take the ones. ;0) Also, if your going to offer two dollar bills versus a single one dollar bill, then you would have to ask the Crew Purser how many two dollar bills of yours he ended up with because the crew will go right down and exchange them for "real money". They will not take them if they think the Crew office will not change them.

Also, if you don't have American money in good shape, and if you have them, Euros are very much prefered at exchange houses in Philippines and Eastern Europe, and Canadian money is exchanged for value almost everywhere as well because it is very difficult to counterfeit. The VERY NEW American money just released is VERY hard to exchange because the world is not used to it yet. So using American, a few years older but in mint shape is best for crew.

I know some Americans are going to get offended now, because they think I am insulting them about the US dollar. I am not, its just the facts of life. Not everyone wants or takes the US dollar like so many people believe. In fact, I am in Sydney Australia today and before I could even pay to get online I had to exchange my American money for Australian because they don't take American here.

Don't miss out! Information you won't find in a public blog! Get your copy of the Crewslife Articles Issue #1 and #2 available now!
https://www.bitpass.com/gateway/00000EB0/Crewslife_Articles_-_Issue_2.pdf

2006-05-09T00:58:00.000+01:00

You can't get there from here.

It is probably not a surprise to you, but crew doesn’t always know what the heck they are talking about. Just because they are crew you shouldn’t take what they say as the “word’. I mean, your room steward is WAAAAYYY out of the operations loop, so is your bar server and your casino dealer. They have little or no idea what is going on when it comes to the operation of the ship and other policy. For example, if we miss a port, crew along that level find out the same time you do through the captain’s announcement. If you hear them discussing something what you’re hearing is a guess, or personal opinion, not the facts.

You see there are just too many crew for EVERYONE to be in the loop all the time. In fact we operate on a “need to know” basis most of the time. Only department heads, supervisors and officers are really kept in “the loop” about all things.

Also, you may not know it but most crew actually live by the “grape vine” of information. Urban Legends are considered factual. If one crewmember gets disembarked one day and nobody knows why it is not unusual to start hearing rumors the next day from all sorts of crew none of which are true.

Onboard, for example, if I am sitting in the bar chatting with my friends we always confirm information with, “where did you hear that?” You decide how much credibility to give the information based on who you heard it from.

The whole point is don’t take the little things you overhear onboard as the truth. If you hear something and want to confirm it go ask the reception desk, they will know and if they don’t they will find out.

This goes for simple onboard things as well. Every crewmember onboard does not know where tea is being held, or where the art auction is, or where the wine tasting is. There are 900 crew onboard these ships and most of them don’t have deck privileges unless they are working, so they usually don’t know where anything is scheduled to take place and if they have never read the daily activity sheet they will really be lost. So asking the first crew member you see on deck how to get somewhere or where something is will probably only frustrate you.

My advice is always the same; reception desk. Don’t go to them, just call them. There are phones all over the ships. Grab the nearest one and say “Hi, I am on deck 6 beside the wheelhouse bar. Can you tell me how to get to the wine tasting from here please?” It’s easy and you will save yourself allot of aggravation if you ask the wrong crewmember.

Remember that just because they are crew doesn’t mean they know what’s going on oboard. The person you ask might be a Portuguese fireman checking a fire extinguisher. He may be an excellent fireman but he may also have poor English and know nothing at all about what the heck goes on onboard the ship. Read your daily activity paper, call the reception desk or ask the crew who WILL know. Who will know? Your Cruise Staff know everything about the daily activities onboard and where everything is. All officers will know where everything is but not necessarily what’s going on onboard. The reception desk will know everything about everything.

2006-05-07T00:35:00.000+01:00

Clearing up Clearance.

Have you ever wondered why you have to stand in long lines for immigration and customs at the airport when you travel, but onboard a cruise ship you seem to just sail into port and get off the ship without any trouble at all? It’s because you did go to immigration and customs when the ship arrived in port, well sort of, actually someone else went for you. That person also went for the other two thousand passengers onboard. It was the Administration, or Passenger Logistics Officer, or “Practica officer” as they are sometimes called.

The Admin officer is responsible for arranging all clearances for the passengers, and for the ship itself. This doesn’t just mean for arriving, it means for departure as well because a ship must have clearance to leave.

Preparation for your first port call clearance begins the instant the ship sails on the day you board your cruise. Passenger lists are sent electronically to the port authorities which are then checked thoroughly by them. Ships certificates and information is sent along with information on ships licenses, deck officers (drivers) and engineers onboard. Declarations of passengers’ health, agricultural and quarantine forms, cargo forms, drugs onboard manifests, and everything else you can possible think of is sent AHEAD of the ships arrival. Many ports, like the US, require 96 hour, 48 hour AND 24 hour notices of arrival. By the time we arrive into any port no matter where in the world it may be, the local authorities know everything there is to know about you, the ship, the crew, where we came from and where we are going. But it isn’t over yet.

As soon as we arrive into a port the local authorities meet the ship and come onboard. They are taken to a “clearance” room where all the same paperwork that was sent to them in advance is neatly laid out. All the passenger and crew passports are available to them for inspection and the entire ship is at their disposal for inspection. Often times while one set of authorities is checking paperwork and passports with the Administration officer another set will be touring the ships stores, garbage area, refrigerators, medical dispensaries and etc to ensure we meet the local quarantine and health regulations.

The immigration and customs authorities going over all the passenger, crew and ships paperwork will ask questions, double check items and eventually if all is in order stamp and approve the passengers and ship for clearance. It is only AFTER this has taken place that you will hear the “Welcome to whatever port” announcement and be allowed to leave the ship.

It all happens very fast and this is because we are expert at getting it done quickly. Also if the ship has called into the port previously then the authorities will have a certain level of ‘trust” in us and will allow passenger clearance upon arrival before they have completed all the formal inspection of the paperwork and ship. If it is a ships FIRST call into a port then it could be some time before they are finished.

So next time you are waiting in line at the gangway to get off the ship and cursing the ship for it’s “poor organization” and mumbling “ this is the worst thing I have ever seen” as I have heard MANY passengers do over the years, remember it’s NOT US! If we had our way we would let you off the second the gangway was rigged. But we can’t. We all have to wait until the local authorities say you can go. And remember. WE NEVER ASK YOU TO LINE UP, so why do you? Just relax, have a coffee or sit in a lounge or ANYTHING. What makes you want to rush to the gangway and line up to wait? When clearance is granted we will make the announcement and you can get off at your leisure. And yes, your tours will wait if clearance is delayed. Relax. Be calm. Have patience. It’s a cruise after all. ;0)

In the next Crewslife articles I will tell you about some of the “other” things that happen in clearance proceedings and the interesting ways we speed it up.

Crewslife Articles Issue #2 Now Available! Articles include:
Motivated by money
Wedding ring
Price of clearance
I'm getting off!
Are you really full?
Only .99 centsAnd more! Download now from: https://www.bitpass.com/gateway/00000EB0/Crewslife_Articles_-_Issue_2.pdf Or from the right of the page!

2006-05-04T22:08:00.000+01:00

NCLA - My Home Away from Home

After yesterdays guest blog by my friend Cara, another long time friend of mine Mahalo Momma (Fern) emailed me HER review of the Pride Of America and asked me to post it for all the people considering an NCLA cruise. Enjoy!

Not sure to expect on the POA ( Pride Of America)? Let me give you some inside information that might help you onboard my favorite ship.

Whatever your travel agent or friends have said let me tell you, you will have a fantastic vacation if you follow my advice. I have been sailing on the Pride of America for many cruises and I think I have the info you need.

If you like to drink and want to bring your booze onboard, than don’t sample your product. Keep the bottle sealed or else it will be disposed of when you get onboard and this will only upset you. When you get to the ship they will screen your bags and look for alcohol. They will then ask you to come and claim your suitcase with security. The Security will keep your hard alcohol until the day before the end of the cruise and then release it to you before you leave. If you bring wine or champagne they will let you claim it 24 hours prior to your wanting it for a $15.00 corkage fee. It’s all in the fine print but trust me; they find it all, even the stuff you think you can sneak on in your carry on! (not that I have tried ;0) )

You won’t be able to go to your cabin right away when you arrive because since NCLA line doesn’t have any immigration requirements the people that just cruised before you have just left the ship and you have to wait until your room is prepared. Announcements will be made letting you know when your deck is ready for occupancy. Don’t sweat it. Just enjoy a drink in one of the many lounges until you are ready or make your restaurant reservations for the voyage. Remember if you are on the Luau on Monday (as most of us always are) you won’t need a reservation for that night. The restaurants onboard are excellent. If you want free, than there is Little Italy on Deck 11 aft, the Cadillac on Deck 6 amidships, or any of the Dining Rooms (Skyline and Liberty). For a night of awesome cuisine, check out East Meets West (Deck 5 amidships), Jefferson’s Bistro (Deck 5 next to the Photo Gallery), or Lazy J (Deck 6 next to Napa Wine Bar).

The first night most people head upstairs for sail away at 8pm. Many people fly in from the east coast and head to bed early so not much is going on around the ship. The next day is Hilo. Understand that all the ports are working ports so don’t expect them to be beautiful with swaying palm trees and hula dancers when you disembark. All working ports around the world are full of containers and trucks. You have to leave the port gates to see the beauty. Hilo has excellent tours to the Volcanoes. Enjoy them. If you want to do your own thing then remember it is Sunday and many of the shops are closed. When disembarking the ship please keep in mind that all the vessels have to use an outside security company who man the port. This company is called AKAL and they can sometimes puff their chests out a bit too far and like to make your life a bit difficult by making you stand in long security lines. We have to abide by their rules and regulations and I seriously doubt they ever took seminars on customer relations. With that in mind you will be fine.

The next day is Kahalui, Maui where we overnight until 6pm the following day. This is a beautiful port with great excursions snorkeling, scuba diving, and the crazy road to Hana. Remember most of the guests enjoy the evening at the ship’s organized Luau which is private and fantastic. Don’t miss it!!!

Tuesday is formal night which means lobster night. You can experience this in the Main Dining Room but if you want a change of scenery go to Lazy J Steakhouse and get yourself a whole lobster!!!

If you decide to rent a car I suggest Dollar Rent a Car. From my experience, all the other companies cost more and Dollar has a great selection and there is a shuttle from the port to the car rental place. The location, around the corner, closes at 11pm which is great if you go on the Road to Hana and want to drop the car off that night. Also keep in mind that the town of Paia is on the way to Hana and there are some great restaurants. If you want to pick up some sandwiches there is a health food market with an amazing deli. Willie Nelson has a bar here as well!

If you want to go where the crew go, (they usually know a good bar!) most of them tend to hang out at the Ale House close to the ship at night or they end up at the Maui Mall across the street and catch the latest movies.

Kona (Big Island) is a tender port. We do not dock alongside. If you want to leave the ship early and you aren’t on an organized shore excursion than pick up a tender ticket from the Mardi Gras Show-lounge on Deck 6 forward. If you are leaving later in the day, than don’t worry about getting a tender ticket. Tender tickets are to make sure everyone doesn’t vacate the ship all at the same time. It provides order in the fairest way possible. The tender doesn’t take long and Kona provides fantastic excursions. When I was there I went on a new excursion through the ship that allows you to walk into the caves of the lava, walk through a lava tube underground and also to walk over the lava. It is Incredible and surreal. If you don’t go ashore or if you are back on in the afternoon than head over to the Chocoholics Buffet….bring your sweet tooth. When you get back on the ship the Captain will make sure you see the lava flow. At around 10pm when we are sailing the Captain shuts all the lights off on the ship and we head close into the shore line to view the lava flow. Just awesome!

Nawiliwilli, Kauai is our Thursday port and we overnight here as well. What a great name, Nawiliwilli! I just like saying it. This is an easy port and this is the port where you see the palm trees from your balcony. Around the corner from the ship within walking distance is a great beach and scrumptious restaurants (Duke’s, Portofino’s). If you want more of a selection there are shuttles that will take you to Anchor Cove which has more shops and JJ Broiler (a great bar and restaurant). You can rent Harley Motorcycles from this port, enjoy the shore excursions, take a helicopter ride through Mokihana, take a trip to Poipu Beach on the South Shore, or just enjoy watching the chickens run wild….WHAT? Why are chickens and roosters running around wild??? Remember back when their was a big hurricane in Hawaii? Well the Hawaiians like to fight their chickens (as cruel as that may seem) but the chickens and roosters all got out of their cages during this hurricane and ended up FREE!!! So they ended up multiplying and now there are chickens and roosters living in harmony in Hawaii. What a great end to a story. Do you know why the Chicken crossed the road? To get to the Rooster!

If you wonder what the crew are doing this overnight in Nawiliwilli (most people are curious about this) then check out the Tavern near the ship. If they aren’t their they are at the only bowling alley in Hawaii. Disco Bowling!!

The next day we sail at 2pm. Find your way onto either deck 6, 11, 12 or 13 around 5pm. We will hug the Napali Coast and take in some of the most breathtaking views you will ever see. Look for the rainbows. I have always seen one when we do this and once I saw a double-rainbow.

Trust me, this is a great ship and a great cruise! You will have a great time if you allow yourself to hang loose!

Aloha
Mahalo Mama!!

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2006-05-03T22:33:00.000+01:00

U.S. Flagged: Cruise-liners for US

I am very happy to have another guest blogger today, my most excellent friend Cara has returned from her contract onboard the NCL America ship Pride Of America so of course I asked her to blog a bit for us about "why should Americans cruise on this American flagged cruise line?".

Why cruise on a U.S. Flagged ship as opposed to all the others that are foreign flagged? Well, why not ask why you should cruise the islands of Hawaii like you’ve never seen them before? Why not ask why provide jobs for over 10,000 Americans? The answer of course is; because now WE CAN.

Thanks to Norwegian Cruise Lines America, Americans can show allegiance and support to the cruise industry in our own country on Pride of America, Pride of Aloha and Pride of Hawaii. You can sail from Honolulu round-trip without having to agonize for 5 sea days sailing from Los Angeles round-trip just to enjoy Hawaii. No more waking up at 5am to go through Immigration. No more wondering whether or not your message to your room steward is understood because you aren’t sure they speak your language very well and no more crew behind you speaking in a foreign language. You are now with your own countrymen and women enjoying your holiday.

American crewmembers are different, this is a definite because American’s like to chat and share. They like to share their adventures and stories with you and make you feel at home. It’s in our nature. You might even come across a crewmember from your hometown! You feel right at home when you vacation onboard an American flagged vessel instead of feeling like you’ve stepped onto a foreign port.

These ships not only see Hawaii’s beautiful ports of call like the island of Maui, Kauaii and the Big Island but get up close and personal to Pele, the Volcano God. These ships hug the Napali Coast like you’ve never experienced. The tours available allow you to take a helicopter to places you’ve only read about in books. As an American who has worked for years onboard, and in the corporate office of a foreign flagged cruise line, working onboard NCL America was really an amazing experience for me.

I will tell you some more about NCL America and Pride Of America in the blogs to come, but if you have any questions about Pride of America you can email them in to crewoffice@sent.at

A hui hou!
Cara

The Crewslife Articles are HOT! get your copy of issue one before it is no longer available.

Crewslife Articles are an extension of the Crew Office blog. Articles for the curious cruiser who wants to know in a bit more detail what it’s really like to live and work onboard a cruise ship for ten months of every year. Issue one is only .99 cents. Download the first issue of the Crewslife Article Series now on the right of the page or from this direct link!https://www.bitpass.com/gateway/00000EB0/Crewslife_Articles_-_Love_and_Sex_Issue.pdf

2006-05-02T05:26:00.000+01:00

Picture team spirit.

I once thought I should be a photographer onboard. I did go to photo school after all, but instead I went the way of the Pursers and probably shouldn’t have. All of the photographers I know onboard have a pretty good time, the stresses of the job are not as intense as some other departments and they always seem to be a pretty happy group no matter what ship it is. They do put in some long hours mind you, but then so does everyone onboard.

Onboard this ship they do an “Island Night” shoot. Two of the boys dress up and head out to take portraits with the passengers. It’s really popular and the passengers love it. Pictured here are two of the intrepid onboard photographers who did the last island night. I understand by the end of the night they had 8 wedding proposals between them and they didn’t pay for a drink the entire night they were out shooting. No, just joking. There’s allot of spirit involved when a couple of straight guys dress up in drag and take one for the team. The dancers who normally would have done it have left the ship and I guess when the torch fell these two brave lads picked up the flame in support of their department, and had a great time as well!

Way to go boys. That’s onboard spirit for you. And if you think that’s great team spirit, you should see them play football with their heels on; incredible.

Dry-dock days

I was asked what happens to crew when the ship is in dry-dock. Well, they are not all sent home like you might think. In fact the majority of crew remain onboard the ship and work. Generally a few hundred crew will be sent home, those who are close to contract end. But for the most part we stay onboard and work. You need the crew. All the accommodation staff has to help clean the ship and “put it back together” so to speak. Same with galley staff in the galley and gift shop workers in the shops. We all usually have specific duties we do while we are in the dry-dock.

It can be an interesting, even fun time because the ship has no passengers and it is ‘shut off” so to speak. Bars are closed, restaurants and shops closed, no shows going on – nothing. But it’s far from quiet. 24 hours a day it’s banging and welding and drilling and pounding. We lose air conditioning so it’s hot and smelly; we loose half the power and sometimes all of it. We loose plumbing and have to share toilets. It’s actually quite harsh conditions that probably do not meet the company’s obligation to living standards for the crew but they sure don’t put us in hotels. You would think we would be able to relax a little and go about our work in our jeans at least since no passengers are around, but no. Unfortunately for all of us in admin or “officer” uniforms its still uniforms only because although we loose the passengers there are a few hundred contractors onboard instead doing dry-dock work. Believe it or not they have all the same troubles passengers do. They actually come to the desk and complain about the cabins they get. The whole ship will be a mess and they all want outside cabins. It’s amazing really.

So even though you would not think so, a dry docked cruise ship is pretty much business as usual for us. We work every day as normal. If we are very lucky our department heads will arrange a couple days off for each person on a long dry-dock. That usually makes the discomfort of not having ANY facilities ( air, plumbing etc) worth it. Having even 24 hours in a row off and free of the ship when you have been onboard and working for months straight is an amazing feeling of freedom. A dry-dock is also a little fun because we get to go out at night, which we can never do otherwise. Whenever I am doing dry-dock I go straight to the movies because it’s something I never get to do otherwise.

There is also some other cool things about dry-dock. I mean how often do you ever see one of these ships out of water? It is almost unnatural to look at. I was on the Grand Princess during dry-docking once and was actually able to walk underneath her, to the very middle of the keel and put my hands flat against her belly. How many of you can say they have touched the bottom of the Grand Princess? It was a bit scary really because the ship just sits on these large wooden crates, much like when you put your car on blocks. It’s not very high so there is not allot of head room and getting to the middle of the bottom of the Grand was a long way in! But it was worth it.

So for us a dry-dock is a change of pace, and usually means allot of work. They are not something we look forward to EXCEPT for that (hopefully) couple days off and going out after 5:00pm for a change!

Be sure to order your copy of the new Crewslife Article series!

Crewslife Article Series #1 – The Love And Sex Issue: Articles included:

Love Among The Sailors – directors cut. ( A less censored revisit to the popular blog article)

OH Those Russian Girls – and French girls and Mexican girls. (Does crew ever visit the professional girls ashore?)

F.A.Q – The answers you want

What’s A Sweetheart Like You Doin’ In A Dump Like This (dating onboard for personal advancement?)

Three On One ( A man who’s onboard affairs caught up with him)

Download the first issue of the Crewslife Article Series now on the right of the page or from this direct link!https://www.bitpass.com/gateway/00000EB0/Crewslife_Articles_-_Love_and_Sex_Issue.pdf

2006-05-01T06:34:00.000+01:00

Life below: The cabin situation

Very busy these days so just a short blog on cabins.

Not all cabins are created equal for crew. Not all ships are created equal either. You can consider crew cabins and the way they are appointed much like passenger cabins. For passengers the more you pay the better the cabin. Well for crew it is almost the same. The more you GET paid the better the cabin. Although on older ships it’s hard to tell the difference sometimes. Crew accommodation was not as important to the companies as it is now, so cabins on new ships are always much nicer than this.

Onboard the Pacific Sun, as you can see, the cabins are quite small and not at all the same standard as onboard other newer ships, but still, they have a homey quality and after you slap some pictures of the kids on the walls and your wife spreads all her products all around the room, it might as well be your bedroom at home.

On this ship, my cabin is actually smaller than shared crew cabins. If you made it little bigger and put bunk beds where my bed is then you pretty much have a ratings or “regular crew” cabin. The cabin I have right now is in fact about the same quality level as a ratings cabin onboard some newer ships so that gives you an idea.

I must admit when I first boarded and saw my cabin I was a bit surprised. Having just come from the Coral Princess where the cabin I had was like a palace compared to this cabin. But then I didn’t have my wife onboard with me on the Coral, and she can make any cabin shine like home no matter how tiny. ;0)

Officer and staff ranks are lucky because we get a room steward who cleans once a day for us. As you can see mine is very good with towel animals.

2006-04-29T00:33:00.000+01:00

It's a long way home.

I know that this blog might get me in trouble with “the man” but I have gotten many emails from you all about this issue so I will blog on it today.

I wonder if cruise lines are perhaps a little bit unreasonable when it comes to contract lengths. I mean, what do they base the length of a contract on anyway? Why is it 6 months for some and ten months for others? I would understand if it turned out that 6 months was the “optimum” contract length for rotational purposes but then why is 6% of the crew force on ten month contracts? Why is this industry standard?

Is it because this is the limit they have discovered that certain nationalities can stand before they go stark raving mad? Why not be a revolutionary, industry changing cruise line in your treatment of crew and go with four month contracts? I for one would be happy to trade off my company paid flight for a four month contract. I am sure others would feel the same.

I know, I know… we all knew what we were doing when we signed on, but circumstances often play a role in decision making. Take me for example. I wouldn’t be out here any more if I could help it. I would rather be home raising my children. But I can’t work in Romania, and the difficulty of saving enough to move to Canada so I can stay home and work has proven to be really quite difficult. So I keep coming back. Circumstances have made it this way. It’s my only option right now. Why not just go to Canada and get a job and then bring the family over? Because if I work in Canada we have two costs of living to look at, mine and the family’s. This way, working at sea, at least I have no cost of living. For me four month contracts would be great, more time to spend with the family.

Let’s not forget that 65% of the crew has families at home. The cruise lines must realize this and also realize that 60% of those family workers are on ten month contracts! Ten months mind you! Why do they do it? Because they are from countries where there ARE no jobs. So they get a job on a ship and they do everything they can to hold onto it in order to feed their family. They essentially give up their family in order to feed them. Can you imagine being away from your wife and children for ten months? Then getting six weeks home and then gone again? Yes, yes, yes I know we all knew what we were getting into. My question is, in the year 2006, at the start of the twenty first century why don’t the cruise lines try and be a little more compassionate or understanding of the needs of the people who make up the crew?

I am not saying put everyone on four month contracts. Maybe some people don’t want that. How about this; open ended contracts? Whenever you want, after however many months, you can go to your crew office and fill out a “request for replacement” form. This form then goes into circulation and they start looking for a replacement for you, when one is found you are scheduled for disembarkation. Open ended. You decide. All I am saying is their must be a better way. A way that is more humane. Certainly even people without family are being stretched to the breaking point at ten months. At least using an open ended system would give everyone a “way out” if they wanted it. It would keep everyone happier. Why not? There has got to be a better way than just towing the hard line and telling people “you don’t like it? 1000 other people want your job.”

I don’t know. I know we all signed on for it. I know we all knew what we were getting into. Sometimes though, I just wonder why in the year 2006 some cruise line or other has not put any effort into trying to make it a better deal for crew. There has got to be a way to improve on the existing system. Maybe improving on the system would cost the cruise lines money? So what? In this day and age isn’t it about time they spent a little more on improving employee conditions? Isn’t that supposed to be the better way to go in the long run? If these lines can afford to build an 80 million dollar mega ship every year, can’t they afford to spend a little time and money on trying to improve things for the majority of their employee’s?

If all the cruise line companies shore side workers, managers and corporate leaders were suddenly told as part of their condition of employment that they could not see their families or loved ones for six to ten months at a time, I think we would see some rapid changes in the industry. Don’t you?

Let me know your thoughts on this one. Maybe some of you have some good ideas that some cruise line executive might consider. You never know. Stranger things have happened. ;0)

2006-04-26T23:42:00.000+01:00

Nickle and diming.

It’s quite common now to hear angry or complaining passengers say that cruise lines these days are “ nickel and diming” the passengers to death. It’s true to some extent that these days on the mid level lines there is a charge of some kind attached to everything, but it grows out of necessity, because there are those passengers who in turn nickel and dime the cruise lines!

I know it’s not all passengers, and many of you are probably unaware of the fact that many passengers just refuse to pay for anything. For example I have been asked each one of these questions by passengers, and I don’t even work on the desk! These questions have been asked of me as I was walking through passenger areas on my way to do some job or other. Sometimes the question is preceded by an “excuse me”, and sometimes I just get called with a “hey you” and have the question blurted out. It’s been my experience that the people who are interested in having questions like this answered are not often overly concerned with pleasantries. ;0)

Q: How can I save money on shore excursions?
A: Well sir, I am not in the shore tours department but I am sure if you go to the Shorex desk they will show you the lowest priced tours if you ask them. And will also have some advice on local activities that are not part of an organized tour.
Q: I don’t want to ask them, they’re just salesmen after my money. Are private tours cheaper than ship tours?
A: I am sorry sir I wouldn’t know that off hand. I would recommend the shore tours desk.
******
Q: How can I get some freebies onboard?
A: Excuse me? I don’t think I understand
Q: How can I get some free stuff? There is always free stuff available on cruise ships but you have to ask.
A: Oh, well I don’t exactly know, perhaps if you go and ask at all the different departments like the shops and the photo department they can tell you better than I can.
Q: What do you do?
A: I am the IT manager onboard
Q: Computers?
A: Yes
Q: How can I get free internet?
******
Q: I was overcharged on the talkies I rented
A: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that if you go to the Pursers desk they can assist you.
Q: No I tried they refused to remove the charge
A: How much did they charge you?
Q: $5.00 per walkie talkie
A: I believe that’s the correct charge
Q: No the sign said $5.00 per unit; a unit is two walkie talkies
A: I think the term unit might refer to one device
Q: No, it means two because what good is one walkie talkie?
A: How long did you rent them for?
Q: Just for yesterday
******
(Passenger in embarkation in the terminal)
Q: Can I bring my own coke onboard?
A: Yes, I think so, but coke is available onboard
Q: Yes I know but we don’t like to spend any money onboard
(Sent her son to the store to buy coke)
******
(While cruising South America)
Q: Would it be cheaper to do my laundry if I took it ashore when we are in port tomorrow?
To this question I had no immediate reply. I wanted to pretend I didn’t speak English but finally managed to respond
A: I’m sorry I don’t know, I am not certain Port Stanley ( The Falklands) even has a public laundry.
******
Q: I heard that often times there is a crewmember who is a hair stylest and does crew hair for cheap?
A: Yes that’s true. Usually one or two crew was experienced salon stylists or barber when they were at home and they do often cut hair onboard for crew.
Q: Can I get an appointment?
A: No I am sorry it’s not a company sponsored service. However we do have an excellent salon onboard the ship if you want to get your hair done
Q: No, I don’t want to be overcharged.
******
(I overheard a passenger speaking to the florist onboard at his display)
Q: Can I buy day old roses
A: No, I am sorry we do not grow the roses onboard so all our flowers are stored in a cooler and are already a day old. The price we sell them at is the only available price list.
Q: What about these ones you have on display ( he had a few sets of 3 roses in a vase pre-made) are the display ones cheaper?

Again, this is not all passengers. In fact it is probably a very small percentage of them. Sometimes though, when an angry passenger complains to me that we are overcharging or “nickel and diming” everyone, I wish I could put them in a uniform and walk them around the ship for a little while so they could see the “nickel and diming” from another perspective! ;0)

There is nothing wrong with being a bargain hunter. My advice to those people who enjoy looking for the little perks in life is simple. Ask at the reception desk, ask at the shorex desk, and ask at the gift shop. Basically ask at the right places. Don’t just grab any crewmember and try to get the skinny on saving a buck. And read the daily activities guide! Any department having a promotion will list it clearly for all to see.
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2006-04-26T00:47:00.000+01:00

Get a job

It’s simply unbelievable how many cruise employment agencies or scams there are on the web. Everyone, it seems, who has ever stepped foot onboard a cruise ship and received pay for it has written a “manual” which they want to sell. Or they have a “behind the scenes video” they will give you for “free” if you register with them for only $69.00. Usually the information you get from them is garbage. They will tell you a few cruise line addresses, tell you to write a resume, tell you a bunch of positions onboard that you can apply for as if it is a smorgasbord of possibilities and all you need to do is decide which glamorous job you want. They will tell you can earn up to $6500.00 tax free dollars a month. They will tell you exactly what you want to hear to get your $29.95 or more from you.

It’s usually not hard to tell if the places you browse through are legitimate or not. Look for these tell tale signs of a scam;

Do they want to sell you a guide or a CD-ROM of information? If so, don’t bother with them. The guide information will be useless to you. You will pay to get information you could easily get for free from me, from the Crew Office forums, or from 100 other websites out there. Paying for a “guide” is throwing away money and if you INSIST on doing it please throw your money over my direction and I will answer your questions for you. (I will answer them anyway but if you insist on throwing away your cash here I am…)

Do you have to pay to register? Then it is probably a scam. Why? Because the cruise lines pay the real recruiters for each person they recruit. The real ones do not charge you, the unemployed potential recruit. If they are charging you, they probably have NEVER placed a person with a line or they would not be taking your money. Be very wary of ANY agency you have to pay to get a job.

Do they have a cheap looking website? If they do it doesn’t mean anything so don’t judge a book by its cover. For example Page Marine Crews, a Canadian recruiting agency has THE worst website I have ever seen. It is very amateur indeed, yet they are a legitimate recruiting agency that I would highly recommend. (http://www.pmcmarine.com/). On the other hand I have seen some scam sites that have very high quality websites.

Do they offer to put you in their “extensive database”? If so, look for the scam. After all, the more extensive the database the more buried your information will be. Besides, cruise lines do NOT go browsing through people’s databases looking for employees. They use recruiters for that so if someone says they will “list” you or “post” your resume you should be skeptical.

Bottom line is you can normally tell they are legitimate because they will tell you right from the start what JOBS they are recruiting for. They will display a list of positions. Scam sites will usually just advertise to you;

“Do YOU want to live the glamorous life of a cruise ship employee? Travel the world and get paid? Spend your afternoons on exotic beaches, be a Cruise Director on a cruise ship. If you have ever worked in a hotel then YOU TOO can work onboard a cruise ship”

If they have ANY type of “sell” on their website like this, you’re reading a scam site. It’s worth saying again that in the USA and CANADA legitimate recruiters will not charge you anything.

So how do you find your way through the jungle of scam sites to land a cruise ship job? Well, same way you get any job. Apply. Contact the legitimate recruiters. Send your resume to the cruise lines. Look on employment sites. Here are a few you can trust.

www.employment.princess.com/employment/job_shipboard.html
www.image.com/index.htm
www.rollingpinjobs.com/
www.cast-a-way.com/
www.connectjobs.de
www.berkeley-scott.co.uk
www.pmcmarine.com
www.hcareers.com
www.apolloships.com

I highly recommend www.connectjobs.de and also www.berkeley-scott.co.uk
I have dealt with them myself and they are fantastic. In fact I like them so much I might contact them and ask them if they want to submit a short article about cruise jobs!

There is another whole article that could be written about fees you will have to pay if you get a job, medical fee, visa fees and etc. But I will blog about that another time.

PLEASE CLICK HERE AND TAKE THE "RETIRE AT SEA" SURVEY. IT IS ONE QUESTION AND WILL TAKE ONLY 30 SECONDS. THANKS!

2006-04-25T05:38:00.000+01:00

The old man and the sea.

Here is something for you cruise addicts to ponder while you count the days until your next cruise. Have you ever thought of living onboard cruise ships when you retire? Sell your house, bank the cash and board a ship to journey the world for the last few decades of your life?

It’s already happened in at least three cases I know of first hand, and you read allot about it these days. If you seriously consider it, it DOES make some sense.

On average, nursing homes (retirement homes & communities) run about $188.00 per day. If you look into it you will see you can fill a year up on a cruise ship doing some very nice itineraries for around $135.00 per day. If you factor in several weeks or a couple months a year visiting family your per diem drops even lower. Factor in senior discounts, frequent cruiser bargains and special seasonal promotional offers and you might even be able to get it under $100.00. On top of it you get to have as much adventure or rest as you feel you want. You receive excellent service and treatment. You have fantastic medical services available to you. Your meals are all fit for a king (no mashed peas to be seen) and you can make hundreds of new friends never being alone. The drawback of course is that you can’t have a little place with a garden to tend too, and your cabin isn’t going to be huge. But you certainly wouldn’t be wasting away.

What about a purpose built ship? If you love cruising but don’t think permanent residence on a cruise liner is your bag how about a purpose built retirement vessel? What if some company took a small to mid sized vessel and renovated it specifically as a floating retirement cruise ship and set it off journeying to destinations chosen by the residents? So you had all of the facilities of a regular cruise ship, but the ship was purpose built to suit a retirement community? You might end up paying a bit more for that, perhaps a per diem of $1.88 or a little higher, but then again the environment would be specific to your needs as a retired traveler.

I was asked this question a day or so ago and it’s been on my mind. I am so curious about it I made another survey! Please let me know your thoughts on cruise ship retirement.

Click here to take the survey

2006-04-23T22:55:00.000+01:00

Baby onboard.

Several readers have asked me what happens if a crew member gets pregnant while working onboard a cruise ship. Well, it does happen occasionally that a crew member gets pregnant. After all if you’re onboard for six to ten months with your husband, or boyfriend, then there is always the chance of it happening. When a woman joins a ship she must take a pregnancy test as part of her physical so no one is pregnant when they join. But allot can happen in ten months.

There was a time not too long ago when most of the cruise lines had quite a harsh policy on pregnancy. It usually meant dismissal from the company, and you had to pay for your own flights home. This policy bred fear, and that caused many problems. I know of one time onboard a cruise ship when a girl who was terrified to loose her job and couldn’t afford to pay for her own flights home actually concealed her pregnancy. She had planned on leaving but was going to wait and keep earning money as long as she could. Her timing was off however and early one morning she gave birth. Luckily all cruise ships have doctors and nurses onboard and the baby was born healthy and without complication. Well, there were some complications, not the least of which was the paperwork the ship had to do! Just what nationality was that baby? Was she the nationality of the ships flag? Was she the nationality of the waters she sailed? Was she the nationality of the mother? In the end it turned out the baby was now a citizen of the ship itself and is to this day living onboard the vessel. NO, I am just joking with you! It turned out she was the nationality of the ships flag.

Recently fantastic policy changes have come around throughout much of the industry and on many lines now if a women gets pregnant it is treated as a medical situation and does not mean dismissal. Most (not all) companies will pay to repatriate you home as well because it is treated as a medical situation. Also, it’s now usually up to the doctor onboard to decide when you must go home and when you do you can relax knowing that you will be re-employed when your ready. The doctor can also now decide if you are fit to work for a little while still just like in the real world. I mean lets face it, a healthy woman in the first 3 or 4 months of pregnancy is not a liability, why can’t she continue to earn money like women do all over the world in a land job? Not all jobs onboard are physically taxing.

I know many people will now ask what is to prevent a woman from getting pregnant on an American flagged vessel so she has a better chance of getting into the country. I suppose some people would consider it, but remember to work on an American flagged vessel, you must first be American.

In any case it is not a common situation, but it is one the industry has finally started to address and deal with. I applaud the lines that have made these changes in the pregnancy policy. Just because most cruise lines hire third world citizens doesn’t mean they have to maintain policies like a third world country.

2006-04-23T01:25:00.000+01:00

Pacific Sun

I get asked quite often about the difference in product between a Princess cruise and a P&O Australia cruise. It’s hard to answer because they are such different things but I think if you’re a beer drinker you could say P&O Australia is Budweiser and Princess is Samuel Adams.

On P&O Australia ships the majority of passengers are Australian. I suppose for Australians it’s easier and more affordable to take a cruise that departs from Sydney or Brisbane or Melbourne than to fly around the globe and pick up a ship in Port Everglades.

The general passenger population is quite young as well. I would say 25 to 45 years is the standard and so the atmosphere is quite high energy and it’s more of a party environment. For example island night onboard a P&O Australia ship is quite busy and is a real party scene. Two or three cruises ago it was raining like mad but it didn’t stop anyone. There is no covered area on this ship like a grand class Princess ship, but island night went on as normal. Everyone was in their grass skirts and coconut bras dancing and having a good time in the rain. It may be the easy going nature of the Australian’s, or it might just be the mood of the ship. I don’t know, but the rain didn’t stop anything.

The ship carries allot of passengers for a smaller vessel as well. At around 40 thousand tones she carries in general around 1900 passengers and 600 crew every cruise. So the energetic atmosphere is only added to by the sheer numbers. All the bars are always hopping and the shows are always full. (I know what you’re thinking, and oddly enough – no, they hardly ever fight for deck chairs)

Of course all the things you would expect on a Princess ship are on this ship as well. Occasionally you can notice small differences in the way things are done. For example in the gift shops onboard Pacific Sun you can buy fantastic electronics. Everything from flash drives to MP3 players to camera’s to a flat screen television! I love that. I don’t know why Princess doesn’t do that. I have to say as well that the pizza is the best I have ever had onboard any ship. I don’t know why and it is probably because of the pizza cooks we have onboard right now but WOW! The pizza is fantastic. At the Pursers desk, unlike Princess Ships, you will have to put money onto to your cruise card to be able to charge on it. But this is soon being replaced by the same system we use in Princess.

The ship itself is older, but she is very well maintained. I think she has a nice feel and she has a very nice line and looks good. In a couple of months it’s dry-dock for Pacific Sun so she will look even better after that.

Princess is more upscale, has a different feel. You expect to hear Bocelli played on embarkation day and have a string quartet in the atrium. Onboard Pacific Sun they play top 40 songs on embarkation day and there is no atrium group at all. We do have formal nights and you must dress smart casual in the dining room, but other than that its flip-fops and shorts and all the girls have corn braided hair after the first island stop.

We do more sea days than on most Princess ships and 80% of the ports are tender ports. A lot of the ports are “island” stops as well. So the itinerary is really all about sunning, snorkeling and diving. Some of the regular stops include Noumea, Ouvea, Vila, Mystery Island, Isle Of Pines, Luganville, Wala and Pentecost Island.

The product is a hit, that’s for certain. We are always full. To me, it feels in a way like “entry level” cruising. But with the Pacific Sun soon to enter dry-dock and the Regal Princess soon to be sailing for P&O Australia as the Pacific Dawn that might change. I am sure she will add a new feel to the P&O Australia cruising scene. Her size and amenities alone will make a real impact on the product. I think the best merge of Princess and P&O Australia must be in the Pacific Princess which serves double duty for both fleets. Sailing the Pacific Princess gives the Australian market a good opportunity to sample a Princess cruise without flying around the globe to do it.

We have just introduced an Onboard Sales Manager (OBSM) onboard Pacific Sun as well. So now the Australian cruisers are getting a look and introduction to the rest of the Princess world and bookings are going well just like onboard a Princess ship. I haven’t seen many “Princess” passengers sailing onboard the Pacific Sun yet but I know they are marketing the P&O Australia brand to the American cruisers.

I’m curious to hear what any Princess cruisers who have sailed Pacific Sun thought of the brand? Leave a comment and let us all know!

You can check out the P&O Australia fleet at this website:

http://www.pocruises.com.au

2006-04-22T00:52:00.000+01:00

TRAIN! And I don’t mean the kind that goes choo-choo.

I have blogged before about how some cruise lines have excellent training programs for new hire crew. But what cruise lines are actively ensuring that their managers are properly trained and have the knowledge they need in all procedures to supervise, motivate and guide their staff?

There was a time long ago in Princess when a person would have to serve some time doing every job in a department before they would be allowed to promote to the next rank. This ensured that all managers knew all the duties of their department. That time has passed and now managers are promoted by some other formula. Perhaps the fleet grew to fast and they needed too many people too soon. Some people do receive some training when they promote. For example there is a training course for new Senior Assistant Pursers, but when I was promoted to this rank I was never offered the training and received only a 2 day handover and was left to “figure out” the position. So I know that not everyone gets that training. There is certainly no retraining course available to them and should they require some re-training during their careers, for whatever reason, they will not be offered it.

I believe that when people no longer had to learn every job to be promoted the law of diminishing returns kicked into effect and managerial quality started to drop onboard. The law of diminishing returns basically says that any person being trained will only retain around 60% of what is taught to them. Then they train someone else who retains 60% and so on and so on until finally you end up with a company full of people who don’t fully understand their job and have a knowledge base of only 10% or 15% of what they should know. Then you start to hear the “I was never told that” and “I was never shown that” line of reasoning when a problem occurs. The solution to this is train the trainer programs or retraining programs.

When the law of diminishing returns has run unchecked for to long it is not the managers who suffer for their lack of knowledge, it is the staff or CREW who suffer for their manager’s lack of knowledge. You end up with a situation like we had onboard only yesterday. A person in reception had to work 14.5 hours without eating lunch. Why? Because they had trouble with the duties they are responsible for. When this junior person went to the supervisor for help the supervisor told them “I don’t know. I have never done that job”. When she went to the senior supervisor she heard the same thing. This person is a junior person, and is the only one onboard who knows how to do the job she has been given. She was trained to do the job by someone who didn’t know how to do it, and when it went wrong for her she was in trouble and not a single person onboard could effectively help her with it. She had to make up her own solutions which may or may not be the correct solutions. She finally went to her cabin at 3:00AM after a 14.5 hour day and slept until 6:30AM when she went back in to work again to see another manager who could help her with a separate issue she was having because the night manager had not known how to help her ( due to lack of training). Then she went back to her cabin at 7:30AM and slept until 8:45AM when she received a telephone call in her cabin and was told she had to go back in to work because a passenger had a question relating to the job she does and no one else except her could answer it because nobody but her knows that job. She got up, got dressed in her uniform and went in to work again and answered the simple question. She then went back to her cabin at 9:30AM to try and sleep for two more hours because her next ten hour shift was starting at 12:00 noon, two hours later. This junior person, on a first contract, had to go through all this because the onboard managers are not knowledgeable in everything they need to know. The receptionist had no support and was left to fend for herself. The law of diminishing returns has been allowed to run unchecked. Do you think this person who is constantly lacking managerial support is going to stay with the company? Would you stay?

I have to point out that occurrences like this, where a person works so long without any support or help, are rare in this company. But when they happen it is my opinion that it is always due to inexperience and lack of training. It’s not fair to the untrained managers and it’s not fair to the employees who suffer the most for it.

I know training costs money, but doesn’t it cost more money if you fail to train?
Training the trainer and regular retraining of the basics is, in my opinion, a critical necessity for a companies continued success. The law of diminishing returns costs a company in every way. It costs people, resources, and results in passenger service that is less than what it could be. At the end of the day, that means money lost.

2006-04-21T06:12:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth! Long may you reign!

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page4817.asp

2006-04-21T05:04:00.000+01:00

Smoke STILL gets in your eyes.

Smoking onboard is a hot and controversial topic. I felt the need to add another blog on it.

I think that smokers who cruise feel like they are being treated like second class citizens (or steerage class passengers) and non-smokers can be intolerant sometimes.

It is only my opinion, but I think smoking MUST be allowed onboard because a large percentage of passengers still smoke. I just don’t think it is the cruise lines right to ban all smoking. But I am of two minds because I am well aware that smokers do pose a serious threat to the safety of the ship.

Crew members are allowed to smoke in their cabins and in designated shipboard areas. Mind you a crew member can only smoke if BOTH (or all) crew members living in the same cabin smoke. If one is a non-smoker then it is automatically a non-smoking cabin.

Remember that crew members are trained in fire safety. We are lectured regularly about smoking and its safety hazards. But STILL, despite the training smoking related safety violations are still reported. Things like cigarettes incorrectly disposed of and burn marks on floors in crew areas where crew have put cigarettes out with their shoe and etc. So if this goes on with TRAINED crew who are well aware of the dangers of fire onboard a ship and well aware of the fact that smoking IS a fire hazard (if not properly controlled), how much of an onboard risk are smoking passengers who are untrained?

As a crew member I have asked more than one passenger to move to a designated area for smoking and I have chastised more than a few who insist on throwing the cigarettes overboard. YES people regularly toss them over DESPITE us asking everyone NOT to do it for SAFETY reasons. Why do they do it? I mean really why on God’s earth would you do that?

So to me smoking does not boil down to a “smell” issue it boils down to safety. And if you look at it from a safety point of view I think the cruise lines are more than justified in forcing ( yes forcing) smokers to smoke ONLY in designated areas and NOT in cabins. I still don’t think a total ban will work or be good public relations, but designated area’s chosen for safety and convenience to sufficient ventilation should be outlined.

Here is something VERY controversial as well. I ALSO think smoking on open decks should be absolutely, totally banned and that ban should be enforced to the limits of the ships ability to do so. I have SEEN passengers throw cigarettes overboard. I have SEEN them drop a still burning smoke on the open deck. One time on the Sun Princess I was on the aft mooring deck with some other crew on a sea day and a burning hot cigarette butt came flying in from OUTSIDE and hit one of the crew I was standing with! If even one person can not manage respect the safety of two or three thousand other people then it must be banned. You don’t agree with me? Maybe you don’t think one or two people acting irresponsible should ruin it for everyone else who smokes? Then step up to the plate next time you are on a cruise and you see a smoker drop a cigarette. Remind them about the Star Princess.

I might sound harsh. But I live and work on these ships. My chances of being on a ship in distress are greater than the average passengers. I do NOT like to see my safety or the safety of my fellow crew or the ships passengers ( or the hundreds of children onboard) compromised because a smoker feels it’s ok to disregard a basic and crucial safety request.

Please don't think i hate smokers. I don't. like I said before I am married to one. I am simply saying that smokers ( passengers and crew) need to be aware that they are an onboard fire hazard as long as their cigarette is burning. Be aware of that, that's all I am asking.

2006-04-19T22:33:00.000+01:00

Screaming like an idiot never got Fred Flintstone anywhere.

It’s been my experience onboard ships that if you want to get something done, a problem corrected or attention to a certain issue you have to know how to express that to the right people. Just getting mad and screaming like Fred Flintstone at a Water buffalo meeting will get you nowhere fast.

Onboard you need to go to the Pursers / Reception desk. Here are the top ten things I think you should do when you get there in order to have the best possible attention paid to your problem.

1) Have the right attitude. It’s so important to not freak out at the receptionist/ J.A.P/ P.S.A because if you do you’re automatically reducing the chances of efficient service. If you freak out at someone your making them feel like your enemy, your target, your punching bag and they will not feel any empathy for you and you want them to have empathy. You want them to think to themselves “Oh poor Mr. Jones. His whole cruise might be affected by this problem” and feel for you when they start acting to solve your problem. Besides the person on the other side of the desk didn’t do anything to cause your problem, they are going to try and help solve it. Be nice.

2) Be nice, but not a pushover. The people on the desk are busy, even if they don’t always look it they are. So human nature being what it is if you have TOO nice an attitude and keep saying things like “When you have time” or “If you think of it” or “whenever you can” or “If possible”, then you might end up on the bottom of the list of things to do that day. Be nice, but make it clear that you do need some action on the problem. Set a time for follow up, something like “ Ok Helen, so I will check back or call you back at what time about this?” be sure they know you won’t be letting it go.

3) Make absolutely certain the person you’re talking to understands you. I don’t mean understands your feelings, I mean your words. The people on the desk are usually not from countries where English is the first language. Even if they seem to speak English very well, you need to speak clearly and use simple common words. I don’t mean treat them like they are stupid because they are not, I mean don’t use local slang, don’t slur your words, and don’t speak to quickly. Some nationalities have accents that are difficult to understand. Strong Australian accents, English Geordie accents, deep southern drawls and etc can be difficult for some people to understand. A good rule of thumb is to try and gauge the accent of the person you’re dealing with. If you think they have a strong accent and have trouble understanding them, they probably will have some trouble understanding you as well.

4) Take names. Be certain to get the name of the person you spoke with and if possible get the names of the people THEY plan on speaking with on your behalf and write them down. There is nothing that holds up progress more than a passenger who comes to the desk and says “I came already the other day and spoke to a girl”. We need to know who and when so that IF the ball gets dropped and your issue forgotten we can track down the person responsible and pick it up again.

5) Make sure to get a plan of attack explained to you. It should be standard procedure for the person behind the desk to tell you what they plan on doing to help you. “OK Mr. Jones, what I am going to do is call the ECR and ask them to build you a whole new ship, and if that fails I will ask them to yadda yadda yadda…” You need to remember this plan of action along with any names. When you follow up you can see how far along the plan went and if necessary be able to tell a supervisor or a different desk person what was going to happen so they can pick up the ball for you at the right stage and not start all over again. Ideally the ball will never get dropped but the desk is staffed with shift workers and it’s possible the next person you see and speak to didn’t read the handover book or maybe the first person you spoke to didn’t properly hand over your problem.

6) It’s possible you might not feel any confidence in the person you are speaking to at the desk. I think that you must give them the first chance to solve your problem because that is their job, but if you feel no confidence at all in them or if you have tried already and not gotten any help then you should go to the next level and speak to the supervisor. Sometimes, and I only say sometimes, a particular front desk supervisor might not want to come out and deal with passengers on the front line, others will jump up and sprint out to see you. It depends on the person. I recommend that you see the supervisor face to face so that you can be sure they understand you (as above) so if they don’t want to come out right at that moment when you ask (maybe they are to busy) ask for an appointment.

7) When dealing with the supervisor. Do all the same things as above and ask for a timeline! Always, always get a timeline on the action they plan toward your problem.

8) Asking for the big boss. I honestly can not think off hand of any problems serious enough to demand to see a senior manager onboard. I mean honestly some passengers think that the senior managers (First Purser and PSD) are not aware of the problem but nothing is further from the truth. They are perfectly aware as they are approving and guiding the people you have already spoken to. So demanding to see them serves very little purpose. They have already been spoken to, and they advised exactly what action to be taken, so you really do not need to see them. NOT! Of course you do! All that stuff I just said is true, but if you’re still not satisfied you must keep asking for an appointment with the senior manager of the department. Why? If everything I said was true what more can they do? It’s all about EMPATHY. Until you see that person, and smile and tell your story, you can’t get them to have empathy for you and that’s what you need. Face time is valuable time. If you’re still unhappy after all the other steps above then you should ask for an appointment to see a hotel senior manager. But again be nice and ask for an appointment.

9) When nothing will work. If you have done everything I said, and seen the senior managers, and still no satisfaction came your way; there is nothing more you can do onboard. You must now wait until the end of the cruise and call passenger relations. By this time you will have definatly been given a passenger relations card. I always wonder though, when we DO give these cards out to passengers, why don’t they ever call right away while they are still onboard the ship? Call them up and say hey, here I am onboard the cruise ship and I have seen all the managers onboard and they can’t help me, what can you do for me? I have no idea how successful it would be because I have never seen anyone try it, but I sure would try if it was me.

10) Keep your head. Finally, this is not so much a tip on complaining as it is a reminder that we are not the enemy. I am all for calm and reasonable complaining if you believe you have been wronged in some way, but remember we are not the enemy trying to ruin your cruise. We want to help you. Everyone you talk to from the desk to the senior managers want to solve your problem. No one is going to lie to you or try and fake you out on some issue or another. If they tell you they can’t do something because of X Y Z issues, then they can’t do it. Be reasonable. Work WITH the ship to solve your problem. Be WILLING to make compromises and bend. You might get more than you bargain for if you do. Give the ship the chance to solve your problem and don’t be a rigid unmoving rock on any issue. Always go with the “what can you do to help me” attitude and you will end up saving your cruise, and solving your problem. If your to rigid and demanding and expect absolute satisfaction I think you will be very unhappy for your entire cruise.

So these are my tips on how to effectively complain. It’s all my opinion but if you give it a try it will probably work out for you just fine.

CREW OFFICE FORUMS: CLICK HERE
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2006-04-19T00:41:00.000+01:00

Smoke gets in your eyes

I hear so many complaints, problems, comments, board posts and conversations about staterooms that smell like smoke because someone smoked in the cabin.

If your stateroom smells like smoke when you get into it all you need to do is tell your room steward. He will clean it. If it isn’t good enough then tell him or ask for his supervisor. They will do everything from clean the carpets to replace the curtains to change the mattress if they have to. They understand you don’t like the smell. THEY don’t like it because of the extra work and costs involved when people smoke in the cabin. No one is going to argue or fight with you about the fact that it is a problem.

All I ask is that people who are complaining about the smell be a little understanding. If you arrive at your stateroom at 2:00pm, your cabin steward has had perhaps a grand total of three hours to clean not only your cabin of the past occupants, but EVERY CABIN IN HIS SECTION! That’s a spring clean to each cabin! Do you think they can achieve wall washing, carpet cleaning, and curtain laundering all for all the cabins in that time period? The ENTIRE SHIP is cleaned between the time people disembark and the next group embarks. It is a massive undertaking.

Now I am not saying it’s your fault he only has three or so hours, it’s not. This is the time allotted to the crew by the company to get the job done and the system in place works just fine, except when it comes to “extra” issues like a cabin that was heavily smoked in.

Now don’t start going off on me please about how that’s one more reason smokers should not smoke. This blog isn’t about right or wrong. I don’t smoke but my wife does smoke and I love her so I am fine with smokers. The blog is about helping NON-SMOKERS and SMOKERS alike understand that the level of cleaning required to eliminate smoke smell often can NOT be preformed in the time period allowed before you embark. This is why they will take these extra measures for you AFTER you embark if you complain about the smell.

Don’t get mad at the staff. They are doing everything they can with the tools they are given by the company (that’s all cruise lines). But being humans they can only get so much done in a few hours.

Also, I have blogged before about HOW to complain properly and I will just touch on this again. I read comments from people who say I called the desk or left a note and “nothing, nada – not a single call” was received in return. Or you try and ask for a generic person to complain to like “Tell someone from PR to call me”. Most people on the desk from India, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Spain or any other country which does not have English as a first language might not have a clue what you asked them to do and it will get lost. If it doesn’t it might get passed on to a supervisor who might take it way to literally and say “PR? We don’t have PR people onboard; they will have to call Los Angeles. Give them this passenger relations business card”. You see? It is EASY for your complaint to get lost. You must always complain properly. I will touch on how to complain properly in order to get results again in tomorrows blog.

So again let me say I am not defending or cursing smokers. I am just enlightening those who don’t like the smells to the reality of the situation. It is hard on everyone to get these cabins in acceptable shape again. It takes time.

Why don’t they have non-smoking staterooms? I don’t know. I think in my opinion it has to be an all or nothing because other ships / lines have tried a partial split before and failed.

So I will end this very blog this controversial issue by making two suggestions.

1) SMOKERS – Please remember that your smoking in the cabin is making it hard to clean the cabin and hard on the next passenger who uses the cabin. And all the extra work and cleaning and replacement of linens, carpets and curtains is only adding to the ticket price, your ticket price. If you have a balcony door open it when you smoke ( don’t throw your smoke overboard though) and if you don’t have a balcony you could consider ( I said consider, only consider) smoking in a lounge or a smoking area onboard.

2) NON-SMOKERS – Please be tolerant of the situation. The cleaning crew will do all they can for you. You will catch more of those flies with honey. If you still smell it after the first clean ask again for more. Ask for your carpets, walls and mattress to be changed if you must but don’t shoot the messenger. And to get better service complain properly. I will tell you how again in the blog tomorrow.

I figured there will be MANY opinions and comments on this blog so please use the Crew office forum I posted a new forum call SMOKING ISSUES just for this.

CREW OFFICE FORUMS: CLICK HERE
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2006-04-18T05:22:00.000+01:00

Today, the forum, and the illusion of time.

Today

Well. We skipped a port today. Mystery Island. The weather was just too bad and it would have been dangerous to tender in. It’s a shame really because I was really looking forward to getting off the ship! I have been onboard for so long I am starting to look like a cave dweller. I was looking forward to a nice sunburn! Of course with the weather as it is there wouldn’t have been any sun to get burned by anyway. It’s been allot of sea days so far on this cruise. Three in a row after Sydney, yesterday we were in Vila but I couldn’t get off, and now today is another sea day. Tomorrow is Isle of Pines, hopefully that will be a better day. Isle Of Pines is beautiful and the beach is massive. I was going to do a nice “what’s the big mystery about Mystery Island” photo blog today but it seems Mystery Island will keep its mysteries intact.

Forum:

Have you all had a chance to check out the new forum? The link is on the right hand side under “links”. A few people have joined and posted so life is starting to breathe itself into the boards. Joining is easy. Just make a post and its automatic membership. If you haven’t yet visited please do. Some interesting topics so far and feel free to add topics you would like to discuss. Don’t post your questions for me in comments on the blog because it’s hard to reply. Use the forum.

When you join you will be listed as a PSA (Passenger Services Assistant) which is a no stripe position. With your progressive posts your rank will climb through Junior Assistant Purser (half stripe), to Assistant Purser (full stripe), to Senior Assistant Purser (two stripe), to 1st Purser (three stripe) and then Passenger Services Director (four stripe, managing director of all hotel operations). The first member to reach PSD level will win a Pacific Sun Hat and T-shirt.

Also anyone who is not yet signed up for the Crew Office E-Zine? If you have not signed up yet get your name on the list quick so you don’t miss out on the first issue coming out soon!

The illusion of time

You know, a funny thing happens when you work onboard. After a little while, I am not sure how long exactly but I am guessing about three to four cruises, you loose touch with time. Not the hour of the day but the date. It’s funny but I rarely ever know what day it is. After all it doesn’t matter to us what day it is. It doesn’t matter in the slightest. What matters to us is what itinerary day it is. For example;

“When are drills this cruise?”
“ In Vila”

“When is the back office meeting?”
“Sea day two at 18:30”

“When’s payday?”
“Sea day 3” (or sometimes) “The sea day after Vanuatu”.

But it gets worse than that. Everything and I mean everything onboard repeats itself every cruise. So you can also tell what day it is by simple little things like the lunch in the mess. I am always disappointed when I walk in and see this certain funky sauté’ of scallops in the buffet because I don’t like it. “Oh it’s that day again” I will mutter because that means at dinner it will be seafood lasagna which I also dislike. If it's Vila you know right away it's man overboard drill, full crew drills ( sometimes just technical) and crew rounds.

You can also tell what day it is by looking at the cruise staff. If they are dressed like cowboys, you know its country western night and therefore must be sea day 3 on this itinerary. If they are in grass skirts its island night and port Vila. If they are in pajamas then it must be pajama party night and so on and so forth. The same goes for the photographers. Are they dressed like pirates? Then you know island night is upon us.

Ask any of us though what day of the week it is and the chances are good we will not have a clue. Nothing is ever gauged by the days of the week. If it’s a 10 day itinerary, our “week” is ten days long. The first day of the week for us is the turn around port and the last day is the day before that turn around port. Even if the itinerary is a revolving or alternating one, it is the same. We live and breathe by the itinerary.

Depending on the itinerary day we know exactly what to do from the uniform to wear to what time cocktail parties will start. It's an enitre cyclical structure. Sometimes something different might happen which confuses us all. For example for officers, if you sail after 6:00pm on a turn around day ( maybe the ship is delayed for whatever reason) then the rig of the evening is whites. You will see officers in red sea rig ( white shirt and black pants, the normal uniform for tropical evening sailing) who then have to go change uniforms. Change is good, but only in real life. Onboard the ships it confuses us.

What about days like today you might be thinking, when we miss a port? It’s still Mystery Island today – we just didn’t go. ;0)

2006-04-16T22:45:00.000+01:00

Bottled or tap, sir?

When you’re on your next cruise, don’t be afraid to make suggestions to ship staff if you have a problem and you know how to solve it. I mean, many of you are very experienced cruisers and in all honesty there is a very real possibility that you know more about the product you’re sailing on than the person on the other end of the phone or the other side of the desk.

It’s not surprising that this is possible considering many cruise lines, Princess included, put their most inexperienced people on the reception desk. Princess at least provides a comprehensive training program to provide a solid knowledge base to new employees, but many other lines do not and new people often have to learn on the job. So if the person you’re dealing with doesn’t know the answer, and doesn’t pursue an answer for you, it doesn’t mean there ISN’T an answer.
This isn’t to say all reception people are inexperienced, but when it comes to people on the desk they might be brand new, or they could be 5th contract. Even if they are experienced people it’s still possible you might know something about cruising that they don’t.

A perfect example of this happened just two days ago. A passenger required some “distilled water” and for whatever reason only “distilled water” would do. The person they called on the purser’s desk just happened to be Sue, a very determined individual. The first thing Sue did was ask if bottled water would be ok. The passenger said no, that it had to be distilled water. So Sue went in search of distilled water. After calling the bar department, the food and beverage department, room service and accommodation she had really exhausted all her possible options. Sue asked her superiors, she asked her friends, she asked everyone if there was any “distilled water” on the ship and no one could help her. I certainly would not know the answer. In fact all of us thought bottled water would be ok. So after having tried everything possible to find some distilled water she had to call the passenger and regretfully tell him that we were unable to get distilled water for him. The passenger then offered up some advice that might have saved the poor reception girl allot of trouble.

He said to her – “Did you call the engine room?”.

Now I am telling you, not one of us thought about the engine room as a possibility for getting distilled water. It was a very unusual request and in this case the passenger had done it many times before. In fact he had gotten the distilled water on every cruise he had ever taken, so his experience in this matter was greater than all of ours put together. Had he simply mentioned this tidbit of information at the start it would have been much better for everyone. So when you’re cruising, if you think you know something that the staff you’re dealing with doesn’t, don’t let the “system” scare you off. Don’t be afraid to say right from the start that you know what can be done, or who to call, or what to do. Make the suggestion and ask that it be looked into. It might just make your cruise, and the crew member’s day, go allot smoother.

Free Form Forum:

I am starting to have trouble keeping up to all the emails and comments, so I started a forum. It’s not a typical forum like the one cruise critic; it’s more specifically tailored to this blog and the whole “behind the scenes” thing. Please feel free to post your questions about ship life, ship employment, and anything else and I will respond to them all. Of course the joy of a forum is that we have many regular readers of this blog who are also crew, or were crew, and many experienced cruisers and I am hoping they will all be willing to respond to forum posts with their knowledge and experience and stories as well. The forum is brand new and a lonely, empty place right now so please start posting!! You can still email me with your questions, I just might take a little longer to reply now. Who will be the first to post? Look under links on the right of the page for the entry to the forum or click this link;

CREW OFFICE FORUMS: CLICK HERE
Hosted by Runboard.com

Regal down under?

I got this picture of the Regal Princess sent to me by a friend. It depicts her as she will look in her new P&O Australia colours when she goes down under!

Anyone else want a blogger in the house?

Since I started this blog, and so many readers have been frequenting my posts, I have been offered positions with two other cruise lines! One was a shore side position and one was onboard. It makes sense that someone would think to do that. I mean it would be a win win situation really. I would get a nice new job and the lines who hired me would get a good employee and some extra publicity as I blogged on about my experiences changing lines and talked all about the new line, how they operate, the new job and etc. After all, a little extra publicity certainly never hurts anyone these days. Well, I am still considering both offers, and waiting to see if any others come sailing in ( no harm in waiting a bit is there?). Anyway, it surprised me so much to receive these offers that I thought I would mention it in case any other cruise lines wanted to think about hiring a blogging cruise ship worker. I mean, it never hurts to mention it… right? Then you guys would all really be in for a great read because then I could finally publish my scandalous “tell all” article series that I couldn’t talk about all this time. It’s all about … Ahem! Never mind. You’ll find out one of these days! ;0)

2006-04-15T07:22:00.000+01:00

In the words of Homer Simpson - "DOH!"

I had one of those days today. A day when everything seemed to be more of a struggle than a dance. I must have been on a low biorhythm cycle or something. It started in the morning when I went up to the passenger internet in the library on deck 8 to reset a machine that froze. We lost the signal and so the system locked while this fellow was using it. When I got there he was waiting for me and told me the story. So I explained to him that the signal was lost and that I would reset the computer and that would fix this terminal. After that the conversation went something like this.

Mr. Smith: So after you reset it I can use it again?
Me: I’m sorry; we don’t have a satellite connection right now so you won’t be able to get online.
Mr. Smith: So why are you resetting it?
Me: To fix the PC, and when the signal does come back this terminal will work again.
Mr. Smith: But I can’t get online now?
Me: unfortunately right now we don’t have a connection to the satellite which we need in order for the internet to work. So the internet will not work for you right now.
Mr. Smith: So when will I be able to get online?
Me: I don’t know when the signal will be back but it is normally not down for very long.
Mr. Smith: But it doesn’t work now.
Me: Right, it doesn’t work right now.
Mr. Smith: Are you sure?
Me: Yes sir. It’s definatly down right now.
Mr. Smith: Can I try?
Me: Yes… OK.
Mr. Smith (after a few minutes of trying): Look. It’s locked on me again!
Me: I see that sir. Let me just reboot the system for you.
Mr. Smith: So after you reboot it can I use it?

"DOH!"

After finally leaving the library I got a call that one of the point of sale machines in a bar on deck was not working. That’s one of those computers the bartenders use to ring in your drink orders. I went up to the bar on the open deck to check it out. I like it when computers on the open deck break because I get to listen to music, be in the sun for a bit and shake off the dust from always being inside the ship. I fiddled around with the machine, checked its connections, ran a couple diagnostics but could not find the problem. I disconnected the machine and took it to my computer work room. I plugged it in and “PING” it worked right away. I thought that was a bit odd but whatever. I took it back upstairs and plugged it in and it didn’t work. I figured the problem must be the location setup so I took another machine from the same bar, slid it down the counter and plugged it in where the original machine was plugged in. It started right up and worked without a problem. I took the original machine and plugged it BACK in. It didn’t work. I took the original machine and plugged it in on the other side of the bar. It worked fine. I took it back to its original location. It didn’t work. At this point I just started to get mad. I took the machine and tried it in three more locations. It worked in all of them. I took two more machines from other locations and tried them in the location that was causing troubles. They ALL worked! No matter how many tests I did that one machine simply refused to work in that SINGLE location. Finally, when I was about to have a heart attack from stress and frustration I just swapped the troublesome machine with the machine on the other end of the bar and now both machines work fine. "DOH!" why would that one machine refuse to work in that one location? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe we sailed through some strange south pacific reverse magnetic flux reality warp or something.

After that I went to the deck 9 onboard boutiques. One of the units that they use to process credit card payments had a broken printer. It sounded simple enough so I thought it would only take me a minute to fix. When I got there everything seemed fine. These printers are funny little things, very simple. They are small, about the size of a coffee cup, all black with no lights or buttons or anything. Just little printers you plug in and they go. Since this one was set up perfectly and didn’t seem to print I went to get a new unit. I installed it and I tested it and – it didn’t go. I got under the counter and pulled out ALL the wiring that connects the little printer to the charging unit, and the charging unit to the POS and the POS to the network. All of it was good. I tested, I diagnosed, I did everything I could possibly think of to do. It didn’t work. After about an hour of testing and replacing and diagnosing the unit I gave up and told the boutiques staff I would be back later. I was going to do some research on these printers and check the set up in another location. She smiled at me, chirped happily and said “OK, no problem” and then proceeded to ring up a charge for a passenger and print a receipt. “OH, you fixed it! Great” she said. "DOH!" I marked it up to another incidence of strange south pacific reverse magnetic flux reality warp and moved on.

After that I had another fellow in the internet. The wireless users might appreciate this. The fellow wanted to use the wireless internet on his laptop but was having trouble connecting. I went to the library to help him out. He told me he had prepared everything and brought everything he needed he just didn’t know where to plug in the modem. It seems he was a bit confused as to how the wireless works and had removed and brought his DSL modem from his house with him. He had the modem plugged into the laptop and was looking to plug it in to the wall just like he does at home. I explained to him that it was not necessary and turned on his laptops wireless networking and selected the ships network and got him online. He thanked me for the help. I was glad that it was a quick and easy fix for him because I was a bit behind in things to get done. I said goodbye and was just walking away when he asked me if we would be refunding the purchase price of the wireless internet card since he was using his own modem from home. “DOH!” I went back to the gentleman, took a seat next to him and started to explain how wireless internet works.

The day ended alright, but not 30 minutes ago I got a call in my cabin from the Pursers desk. There was a Mr. Smith in the internet café and the computer he was using had locked on him.

DOH!!!!

2006-04-13T23:15:00.000+01:00

Golden years

Are we in the golden age of cruising and don’t know it? There has never been a time in the history of cruising like the one we are in right now, this very day. At no time have so many cruisers taken to the seas on so many ships with so many choices and so many ports of call to visit. How many new mega ships are being launched in June of this year alone? The Crown Princess, The Freedom Of The Seas, the Costa Concordia, the MSC Musica, NCL America Pride Of Hawaii and probably more. It was in this very decade that Cunard built and launched another legendary ship the Queen Mary 2 with another, the Queen Victoria, due in 2007. Cunard hasn’t been this active in thirty years! We are in an age when anyone can take an affordable cruise of any duration to any country on any ship they can imagine.

We have specialized cruise travel agents, cruise websites, online cruise services like Cruise Critic, the Cruise News daily, multiple cruise print magazines, cruise television shows, repeats of the Love Boat, cruise employment agencies, and more. The cruise industry even supports the economy of hundreds of towns and cities around the world. As often as the residents of Juneau might complain about us, where would they be economically without us?

I honestly hope that cruising has a long and lucrative future, after all it supports my family, but I don't think that this golden age we are in will last forever. I don’t think cruising is going to loose popularity. In fact I think as it becomes more accessible and affordable it will only become more popular. I do however think the incredible high speed growth of the industry, the increased passenger capacity of the new mega liners (which are now common place), and the trend towards developing larger and larger ships for no other reason than economic common sense will evolve the industry into something much different than it is today.

I don’t know what the cruise industry will evolve into, but I can make a guess. If current trends continue I wouldn’t be surprised if in another ten years all ship crew will be from only the poorest countries of the world. That’s not a bad thing, again its economic common sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if passengers start to choose ships based on itinerary alone because all of the mega ships will be so much alike in facilities and styles (and probably owned and staffed by the same corporation). I wouldn’t be surprised if ships stop traveling such long distances and remain based in certain areas because fuel and other operational costs make it more economically feasible to have shorter distances between ports. I think however that if that happens the ships will take longer to travel the shorter distances, going at slower speeds to save fuel and increase passenger time onboard, which increases revenue. I could also believe that traditional world cruises and amazing six continent voyages will, at the very least, become highly exclusive. I mean after all how many four or five thousand passenger (or more) ships you can you fill for a four or six week cruise?

I think there will always be a market for the Easy Cruise product and we may even see other lines adopt similar ideals. I also think that those lines that are being cautious about their growth and focusing on their product rather than scrambling to build a new ship every year are probably wise. I know if I was a smaller line right now I would be keeping some nuts in reserve just in case another long cold winter hits. After all, the incredible growth and resulting competition of the giant cruise lines right now is a perfect example of natural selection in nature. If there is anojther blow to the industry even close to 9/11 then somebody HAS to come out on top and some others WILL fall away. In fact, now that I think about it, maybe the CEO’s of the giant lines should invest some money and hire some mathematicians to map the dynamics of this rapid growth industry and the potential pit falls? Might pay off. Any edge is a good edge when you're skating on ice after all. ;0)

Like I said, I don’t know what the industry is going to become. I am just making some guesses. I do know that it isn’t going to be the same as the amazing and exciting cruise industry we are all enjoying today. I think we are all lucky to be enjoying it now and I am certain that in twenty or thirty years when ship lovers and cruisers look back at the early part of the twenty first century they will certainly refer to it as the golden age of cruising.

2006-04-13T06:33:00.000+01:00

Running ashore on a wet turn around day in Sydney to get some food when you only have 20 minutes free. A photo journey

It was a raining like mad today in Sydney but we wanted to run across the road to the deli and get some nice toasted sandwiches and salad because my wife loves to eat, but only healthy stuff. So todays blog is a photo journal of what crew do when they only have 20 minutes to go ashore for lunch on a turn around day in Sydney - in the rain.

This is my Wife Andreia ( she is onboard with me) standing in the parking lot outside the Darling Harbour terminal in Sydney- in the rain. We are going to run across the road to that building you can see in the very top left of this picture where there are some deli's.

This is the bottom of that building which is across the street, it is not very busy today because of the rain. It's like a little food court but full of nice deli style places. I have no idea what the name of it is. It's an office building on top.

This is Andreia about to purchase some yummy sandwiches and a couple chicken ceaser rolls.

This is Andreia buying some fruit salads, and yogurt and papaya pudding, at a different one of the deli's.

This is Andreia with her hands full of our lunching treasures as we head back to the ship. She is carrying everything so I can properly document our amazing lunch adventure.

This is Andreia with (hands full) about to run across the road going back to the ship.

This is Andreia inside the busy terminal with a worried face as she approaches security and looks back at me and asks..."did you bring our ID's with you?"

Well, that's the blog for today, a bit boring really. :0) You see I was meaning to do a wicked photo journal of some of the ports we go ashore in and had big plans of a nice " 3 hours ashore..." on Sydney for today... but we ran out of time and besides it was raining, so maybe next time. We are in Port Vila in four days and maybe I will try again.

___________________________________

On another topic, I have not taken the opportunity to “advertise” my own online business yet so I think I will do so now. If you’re interested in having a website, improving your website, or starting an online store; check out my online design business at www.adsro.com

I started this do it yourself website builder site and set the absolute lowest price possible because I was so irritated with website companies that advertise “ONLY 1.00 FOR A FULLY FUNCTIONAL WEBSITE” But then after you read it over you see that by the time you add everything you need its more like 25 or 30 per month. So I based mine on $17.00 a month which leaves me only about $1.00 profit off of every sign up. You guessed it. It is not a huge money maker for me. I am proud however that at least people can get an outstanding website for an outstanding price. I would encourage anyone who doesn’t really love their e-commerce site, online store, or personal website to check out what you can get with my service. I mean it; EVERYTHING you can think of (32 pro features) included for only $17.00 per month including 500 pages and 500 image upload with video upload, all included. It really is an impressive service even if I do say so myself. At least try out the free trial! And be sure to look at the sample websites actually built with this service. It’s a great service and if you like it, please recommend it when you hear someone looking for a website. I am hoping by the time my kids are ready for college it will have made enough to help fund them! That gives me another 15 years!! ;0)

http://www.adsro.com

See the features at http://www.adsro.com/host/page/243.htm

Sample web pages at http://www.adsro.com/host/page/238.htm.

Don't forget to sign up for your copy of the free Crew Office E-Zine. The questions for Tim Rubacky of Oceania Cruises are sailing in, and all the other features are shaping up nicely. it's going to be the nicest cruising E-Zine you have ever seen!

2006-04-12T01:40:00.000+01:00

Dog tails.

We had some sniffer dog's at our last port of call. It made me remember one time when I was working on the Regal Princess, we had a regular stop in Victoria B.C. Sometimes, in Victoria, Canada Customs will bring drug dogs onboard and do a routine search of the crew areas. It’s nothing major just an occasional occurrence that happens to all cruise ships that call to Canada. There used to be this one dog, a black lab, which was always part of the team for a couple months. One day I was leaving my office in the crew area, and this black lab, which was a beautiful dog by the way, stopped RIGHT by me and started freaking out. Not freaking out angry, but freaking out happy! She was wagging her tail, doing a bum dance and finished off by laying down for a belly scratch.

This of course terrified me because I thought it was some kind of new drug dog “alert dance” and that all the bum shaking was her way of alerting her gun carrying handler …”This guy! Nail THIS guy! I smell SOMETHING!”. I was about to start declaring my innocence and accusing the dog of being a bad sniffer, but It turned out that the dog just liked me. The dog’s handler just laughed and said she was a new sniffer dog and something about me just made her happy. I guess it happens sometimes. For three cruises after that every time that dog came onboard she would stop at my office and say hello as they walked past, do her little bum dance, then go to work and proceed to search the ship for drugs. I was always certain that the Customs Officers were going to “take me down” whenever she made her little fuss, but they assured me if she smelled drugs - she would do a completely different dance; nice to know.

Another time when a sniffer dog singled me out was when I was going to join the Regal in New Zealand. It was Easter so I had taken 150 Cadbury Easter Eggs in my luggage to give to friends. When I got into New Zealand I did declare my chocolate eggs to the quarantine officer, and he told me it was ok, but it was possible as I left the airport one of the agriculture sniffer dogs might indicate me ( meaning alert his handler that I had something worth checking out in my bag). The agriculture dogs in Australia and New Zealand are cute little beagles. Beagles are a great dog to use because they have outstanding noses and they don’t freak out the tourists like a giant German Shepherd would. Everyone loves the little Beagles.

Sure enough, as I was walking out of the airport and passed the sniffer Beagles one came over and gave my bag a passing sniff and then moved on. He only moved on about 5 beagle steps however and stopped - and looked back over his shoulder with an expression on his face of slight confusion. The beagle and handler must really know each other well because as soon as he did that the girl handling him asked me (in the most polite way mind you, the Customs and the Agriculture people in New Zealand are amazingly nice and helpful) if I could wait a moment and let the dog sniff me again. “It’s probably nothing” she said to me “but sometimes they like to have a second pass”. Ok, fine by me. I put my bag on the ground and waited for the beagle to blow the whistle on my chocolate eggs and was preparing to tell the story of how the OTHER guy said they were ok (like anyone would believe THAT) as the beagle sniffed my bag again. He stood there for a moment, as if he was unsure about what he had sniffed and he was pondering it while he stared at me. Then he sniffed again, and pondered the smell again while he continued to stare me down with eyes squinting half shut in thought. Finally, as if just “over” the whole thing he turned and walked away with his handler in tow heading on to another bag.

I left the airport, pleased that I didn’t have to explain my chocolate eggs and went to my hotel. It was about 2 days later when onboard the ship I unpacked my bags and inside my suitcase in the very bottom was a small paper bag with 8 orange seeds in it. My son and I had been planting some orange seeds before I left because he wanted to see what would grow, and obviously he wanted me to grow some too and had been sure to slip some seeds into my bag. The seeds were clean and dry, but I wondered if that little Beagle had such a big nose he had smelled the orange seeds? Regardless, I did the right thing and reported my “seed violation” to the agriculture officers on our next call. They said it was ok. The moral of the story; if you’re ever stopped by a little beagle in Australia or New Zealand, give him the benefit of the doubt. That nose is better than an X-ray machine!

For more info on these amazing little dogs go to http://www.maf.govt.nz/quarantine/quarantine-dog-detector-programme/index.htm

This survey on franchises onboard is getting HUGE response! Surprising ones as well! I have received all of your comment on the subject but I am not posting any. The full results and selected comments will appear in the Crew Office newsletter May 1st. Make sure your signed up for your free copy.

2006-04-11T01:45:00.000+01:00

On Deck with Oceania Cruises Tim Rubacky

I know many of you enjoy cruising with Oceania, and I am pleased to tell you that one of our special guests for the Inaugural issue of Crew office e-Zine will be Tim Rubacky, the Director of Corporate Communications for Oceania Cruises.

We are going to do an “On Deck” feature with Tim, and have him answer questions sent in by you, the people who cruise on Oceania ships, or those who are interested in learning more about Oceania.

If you have any questions about Oceania Cruises, or any comments you would like to have heard by Tim Rubacky please send them to crewoffice@sent.at

The deadline for sending in your questions or comments is April 15th 2006 and the full "On Deck" feature will appear in the May 1st inaugural issue of Crew Office E-Zine. Sign up for your free copy now.

2006-04-11T01:24:00.000+01:00

You want fries with that?

Why don’t more cruise lines have franchises onboard? I’m going to play the devils advocate now and I know that this is going to get me a WHACK of angry comments for it, but honestly why not more of what the public really wants? don't we swarm to franchises when we are at home, or even in port? Don't we shop at Tommy Hilfiger when we are ashore? Don't we eat at McDonalds? I, for one, would love to see a McDonalds somewhere on the new giant ships. It would really be a win and win situation because the place would be PACKED all the time, making money (making money from me!), making the passengers and the company happy. I mean the ships all have burger places, so why not stop trying to make a good burger place and give us a burger place we all know and love already? In the words of David Lee Roth “if you’re going to play dress up, play it big time baby”. And why always make the same cloned facilities on every ship? I mean, no matter how big or new or revolutionary companies claim their new ships will be they are never much different than the ones before them. They all have mini-golf, rock walls, burger joints, casinos, themed bars, Italian restaurants, etc. etc. etc.

I would like to see some real franchises open up, and then we would see some real services onboard that everyone wants. How about a real outlet mall? Why not a Calvin Klein, or a Levi’s or a Rip Tide? Why not a Keg restaurant or a Hard Rock café or a Chucky Cheese? Why not a real Starbucks, not just a place that serves Starbucks beans? Why not a FOOD COURT? Have you ever been to any food court in any mall anywhere in the USA or Canada and seen it empty? No, of course not. Why not a real Famous Players or Cinemark or other REAL movie theatre playing first run movies?

I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me but I think that if your going to build massive ships with massive boulevard strolls filled with café’s and restaurants and stores, why not REAL café’s, restaurants and stores instead of made up ones? Wouldn’t a ship loaded with real franchises that Americans know and love fit in perfectly with the Caribbean cruising scene? I think so.

I am definatly not saying I would always cruise on this kind of ship, but it would sure open up the market. Then you would have your high glitz, family style cruising option, and other lines for a more adult and refined style of cruising.

I am curious now as to where everyone stands on the idea of franchises moving into cruise ships. I made a survey. Cast your vote! Maybe we can give the builders of these mega ships something to think about either way.

Click here to cast your vote on franchises onboard!

The results of this survey will appear in the May 1st inaugural issue of Crew office E-Zine. Sign up to receive for your FREE copy ( top right of page)

2006-04-09T23:18:00.000+01:00

Life below: food and entertainment.

So what exactly does the crew do to pass the time? Where do they eat? How do they entertain themselves? After the long days are done and before they lay their heads down to sleep, just what goes on below decks? Ever wonder? Well, it’s not so much different than what you do onboard; we just don’t have all the nice rooms to do it in ;0). Life below decks is not exactly the same on all cruise lines, but from what I can tell from my time at sea and from what my friends on other lines tell me, it is all really quite similar. Most cruise lines have some type of crew welfare committee, crew club or crew relations officer. It’s their responsibility to organize and oversee crew activities. They organize everything from crew tours to bingo nights and discos. Generally there will be some kind of organized event going on every day of the cruise. There is, on almost all ships, a crew bar. Although these days the politically correct term for it is Crew Recreation Room. It is there that crew can go for a beer after work, have a smoke, wear their jeans and slippers and enjoy chat. It’s basically a pub and is usually equipped with at least one large screen TV, a disco sound system and lights and of course a bar. How well the bar is stocked varies from ship to ship and company to company. On many lines the bar is a source of revenue, though drink prices are very low, so a bartender is usually included as well.

The Crew Recreation Room is often where events like bingo are held. Bingo is pretty popular and normally carries a pretty good grand prize pot of around a thousand dollars depending again on the ship and how much the crew club account has in it. There are often mountain bikes available for crew to use, so if you want to go out and ride in a port you can but there are never many bikes so you have to reserve in advance. On some ships you can rent snorkeling equipment. Almost all ships have a video/DVD library to you can get movies from and of course a book library as well. There are many events held throughout a cruise, discos are always popular and there is usually at least one per cruise, two if it is a long cruise. Discos are usually themed so one night might be a traffic light disco where you wear red, green or yellow depending on your relationship status (red is taken, yellow means buy me a drink and we will talk, and green means.. well, you know) and the next might be a uniform swap theme and the cruise after that might be a movie theme. It always changes. Discos aren’t the only activities however we also do karaoke, dart tournaments, band nights, black jack nights, movie nights and a host of other things. Pretty much whatever anyone suggests will be put on for a change of pace. Some ships even allow crew barbeques on the aft mooring deck when the ship is at sea. That’s always fun.

The crew welfare people are always trying to come up with something new to do. Of course we also like to socialize with our neighbors and not all parties and get togethers happen in the Crew Recreation Room. It’s not unusual to see the doors open in the corridor you live in and a lot of the crew hanging out in the corridor, we call this a hallway party and sometimes they can be allot of fun. But then again, other nights the hallways are dead quiet and everyone is in watching a movie or sleeping. Cabin parties happen but they are not popular because the cabins are not exactly huge.

Whatever activity is going on, all crew are welcome and you will see everyone interacting. Deck officers to cabin stewards all attend the discos, and no event is restricted to any particular rank or rating. Of course, try as we might it is never the same as a party at home or in “real life” because it’s an absolute certainty that EVERYONE has to work the next day, and EVERYONE is on active duty and has to control themselves to a certain degree. Besides this at least half the people in the disco, no matter what costume they are in or how fancy they are dressed, will still be carrying their pager!

Each ship normally also has a crew shop. In the crew shop you can get things like pot noodles, razors, toothpaste, shampoo, chips, various snacks and etc. The prices are not too bad and if you can’t get ashore or if you’re not near a good shopping port it’s handy to have a crew shop onboard.

What about our food you ask? Well, the food is great. We tend to complain about it because sometimes it gets boring and sometimes it’s missing the things you would do at home. Like a salad. It’s really hard to get a nice salad in the officer, Staff or Crew mess. But that’s a petty complaint because the food they put out is really quite good. The only difference between the three messes is in presentation. The officer’s mess, for the “officers” or the ones you see in the actual uniforms with stripes on their shoulders is a restaurant style. The Officers mess has tables with nice settings, a couple waiters, a couple televisions around the place and you can order from the passenger menu. On the DOWN side you must be in uniform. No personal clothing allowed unless that IS your uniform. So you can’t go to your cabin, put on your jeans and relax and go for dinner. The Staff mess is for the shop staff, photographers, casino staff and etc. It is normally similar to the officers mess in look, but has no servers and you clean away your own dishes when your finished, of course you can’t order from the passenger menu, but you CAN wear your sweats if you want to, no one cares. The Crew mess is the largest mess and is a cafeteria style but also has some large screen TV’s. In fact it IS a cafeteria. But the food you find in all three is the same and always nice, it is just presented differently. I usually go to all three messes before I eat just to see if there is some tasty dish I might not know about and more often than not the best dishes come from the crew mess. On some ships you can’t wander between the messes like that. It can be a very strict rule that you stay in your assigned mess, but then other ships are more relaxed. It just depends on who the senior managers are and how they enforce rules.

You do occasionally hear crew complain about the food. In my opinion this is due to cultural differences. Because the food they put out is hot, good quality, and tasty. Remember though that in an environment with 30 nationalities always serving the food everyone wants is impossible. One day you put out some curry dishes for the 20 nationalities that love curry and then the other ten nationalities might complain. Put out a beef dish for the fifteen nationalities that like beef and then the other 15 nationalities might complain. You get the point. From what I have seen and heard the F&B department on all the major lines like RCI, NCL, Princess, HAL, etc. do an outstanding job of feeding the crew.

Letter to the editor;

The following are excerpts from a letter I received;

“...Why such different experiences for different people who book the same accommodations on the same ship? I personally think those booking the top suite on any ship should get the type of treatment that the first guy got, and I would have booked the Grand Suite in a heartbeat if I knew I would.”

“...Do crew have this type of power to impact the passengers' cruise experience to such an extent? In these days of the internet, when a passenger is expecting to get the great treatment they read about on the ( company websites) internet, and then they get nothing, it can cause big disappointment and possible loss of business for the cruise line. Do the cruise lines really want to loose suite passengers to other lines?”

This letter will appear in it’s entirety in the May 1st inaugural edition of Crew Office along with our reply. A staff writer is contacting some major cruise lines to see what advice they
have on this issue. Sign up to receive your free Crew Office E-Zine today.

94 years ago on April 10th, 1912 at noon the S.S. Titanic sailed on her maiden voyage from Southampton. Her rule of the seas lasted 5 days until April 15th, 1912.

2006-04-08T01:11:00.000+01:00

Ghost ship.

I believe that on each ship you sail, you leave a little something of yourself behind; a little of your soul. I think that these little pieces of soul stay with that ship forever, even after it is sunk and made a reef for recreational divers, those little pieces of soul stay onboard the ship and keep a part of her alive. Call them ghosts if you like, but I believe all ships have them and the older the vessel, the more ghosts that linger. It’s hard to see or hear the ghosts when the ship is full of people and the engines are rolling and the waves are rushing past the hull but if you have ever seen a ship that is empty, or a ship that is deserted, or even a ship wreck. Then you might have heard them, and felt them - those ghosts.

Not long ago I was onboard the Sun Princess when she was in dry dock in San Francisco. Just a few berths down from us was a great old lady, the S.S. Independence. I love ships and was thrilled to see a classic liner next to us. First chance we got a buddy of mine and I went over to check out the grand old lady.

For fifty years this ship carried passengers. And now (owned by NCL) she sits asleep in a shipyard in San Francisco (Pier 70 I think). It felt almost like looking at an old church when we got close to her. It was evening, and she had no lights on. Her mooring ropes were a bit loose and creaked as the tide raised and lowered her; and you could feel them. The ghosts. You could feel them all through her. If you listened hard enough, you could hear them. Fifty years of passengers walking her decks still. Looking up at her windows I kept expecting to see people looking back at me. We wanted to go onboard and take a look but we were not able to arrange it before the Sun Princess left dry-dock. Maybe next time I am in San Francisco she will still be sitting at pier 70, and I will get another chance. It would have been fantastic, and probably a bit spooky. There is just something about deserted ships.

She is a beautiful ship, and I hope that NCL has some plans for her other than scrap because a classic liner like her deserves a chance for a comeback! I did hear a rumor that they might put her back into service in Hawaii. But it was probably only a rumor.

I doubt if the general public is allowed into the area where she was docked, but if your ever in the area and want to see a classic liner, try and get a peak at the S.S. Independence.

There is just something about old, deserted ships.

Photo’s courtesy of Peter Varty / Gold Coast, Australia.
Info on the ship located at http://www.maritimematters.com/independence.html

Wine sir?

By John Dubbis – Crew Office Staff Writer

We all know that food onboard is included in your ticket price ( with a couple exceptions). In the dining room of any cruise ship you are welcome to have everything on the menu. No one will bill you for it. The wine you have with your dinner on the other hand is not free. Cruise ships often have a wine budget and selling wine to passengers is actually a very high priority to waiters. Some cruise lines even have incentive programs so the highest selling wine server receives a bonus. But just how do these wine selling waiters convince you to buy a bottle or two of vino? I’m going to tell you.

The full article will be in the May 1st issue of Crew office E-Zine. Sign up for your free copy now!

Size DOES matter;

By SBM

These days cruise lines are competing hand over fist to build the largest, most expensive, highest capacity, most amenity packed cruise ship in existence. It all started in 1998 with the Grand Princess, followed immediately by the Voyager class from RCI. Then there was QM2, and now there is the Freedom class from RCI overshadowing all previous ships. What could possible be next? Well, how about a floating city for starters? For all of their size and amenities, the giant cruise ships of today can’t hold a candle to the future - if the future is Freedomship. It's a ship so big it’s got an airport on the roof.

The full article will be in the May 1st issue of Crew office E-Zine. Sign up for your free copy now!

2006-04-06T23:22:00.000+01:00

Does formal night mean we has to talk good?

Everything in me says stay away from this topic… but I can’t. I can’t because you, dear readers have constantly asked for it. Let’s make some waves then and cause a stir, and talk about formal nights and dress codes! I know many people don’t feel the need to dress up on formal nights. I can’t blame them. I can’t say for sure that as a passenger I would dress up every formal night, and as a crew member I really dislike having to go out on a formal night because of my Gopher getup; that same white uniform that male officers have been wearing for 25 years. But still, I think that if you’re not going to participate in the formal night then you should probably eat in the buffet for dinner and stay away from the cocktail party. Am I wrong to say that? I mean the party on a formal night is for those people who WANT to dress for the occasion and create the theme or illusion of going to the grand ball to meet the Captain, why would you go to it if you’re in shorts and sandals? Why ruin the illusion for all the people participating? It doesn’t happen often but I have seen people hovering at the edges of the crowd, in their flip flops and shorts, occasionally without a shirt or maybe in their cabin robe. Like I said, I think this is fine if the person isn’t going to crash the ball, but to come down and ruin the illusion for everyone else just to grab a free cocktail and go back upstairs is, in my humble opinion, not nice.

I have seen some people really stretch the concept of formal attire to its limits on some occasions. I mean honestly, the blue 1970’s ruffled shirt and bell bottom leg nylon tuxedo doesn’t really count as formal any longer, unless it happens to be retro night in the disco, then it would be perfect. One of my PERSONAL pet peeves is the man who thinks no one looks at his feet. He might have gone to the effort of getting a really nice suit, but he didn’t get the pants hemmed and he is wearing runners or loafers when he should be wearing shoes. It’s not that difficult to dress formal. If you have nothing in your closet, and / or you haven’t a clue how too, the solution for men is simple, go rent a tux from your local men’s store or onboard! You can rent them onboard you know. I think men put too much into the whole thing. Save the effort, rent the tux and be done. Then you fit in perfectly and you look great. Any man can look like James Bond in a tux.

Some people, young crewmembers in particular, don’t “get it” when a man wears his military uniform. Not many men do, but occasionally we have retired military Captains, Marines, or what have you and they wear their uniforms and medals. These men are not always retired, sometimes they are young and on active duty, either way I am very impressed by it. That uniform is a mans history and even though he’s retired he is always going to be part of it and it of him. I think they look fantastic and should be proud to wear them. I would. I don’t mean they wear just any old uniform left over; they come decked out in the formal uniform of their rank. Some of them quite flash! Another one of my personal favorites (I am Scottish decent after all) is a man decked out in his highland dress. Most crew I know agree on this one, highland dress (Scottish kilt), if properly done, is very formal and adds a real international flavor to the evening. It also makes it easier for the officers mingling throughout the party to find things to talk about! I always have trouble at the cocktail parties because the art of the conversation sometimes eludes me. I am not the only one I know who sometimes has trouble starting a conversation at a cocktail party. How many times has an officer walked up to you and said “Good evening, is this your first cruise with us?”… It’s the standard opening line. But you could have some fun with it. Next time a young inexperienced looking officer walks towards you at the cocktail party, ask them first if this is their first cocktail party.

Formal nights to me are about more than dressing up. Formal nights are a special time when everyone, in my opinion, should be play acting and fully enjoying their “role”. We should all speak correctly, be polite, men should be gentlemen and women should be ladies and the music should be a string quartet and we should all be passengers on the White Star line in the early years of the transatlantic. I mean after all that’s where it all came from didn’t it? It’s a throw back to another time that we continue in tradition.

As cruising evolves, I don’t know if the formal night will survive or not. Personally I hope it does but I KNOW we all have opinions on it. And even though I don’t always like to dress up in my uncomfortable formal uniform, I do like to know that on a formal night the ladies and gentlemen of the ship are enjoying a toast on deck with the Captain while a string quartet plays, and the civility of cruising that was is alive again... if only for one night.

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2006-04-05T05:34:00.000+01:00

Kusadasi Canine.

I was perusing the fleet news and looking at the upcoming new ships checking out the new Emerald Princess and Royal Princess itineraries. Crew like to see what’s going on early so we can try and adjust our contract dates to get the new ships or the great itineraries on our next contracts. Have you looked at the itineraries of these two ships yet? Who’s EXCITED about the launch of the new 680 passenger Royal Princess in 2007? Have you seen the amazing med itineraries it will be doing?? You all know how I feel about the Med and Med cruising but O.M.G! Check out the itinerary on the Princess website. It is listed under the new press releases. She is going to TROY for gosh sakes! How exotic. I can tell you from my experiences cruising the Med, this is going to be an amazing run and an amazing ship to do it on. If your thinking of booking her, book early.

Looking at her itinerary made me think of one of my favorite ports, Kusadasi, which the new Royal will call into. Absolutely the BEST place I have ever been to for purchasing Turkish rugs and LEATHER. Leather everything, especially jackets, for incredible prices. You can also rent a harley for pretty cheap.

We used to go ashore in Kusadasi allot to have a couple beers and EAT. I mean honestly to crew members every port reminds you of some fantastic food that you had. In Kusadasi it was the incredible seafood FEASTS you can have for really low prices. Open air restaurants and heaps of shrimp and crab and fish and squid, you name it. After the feast and a few beers you regret that your crew and have to go back to the ship and work!

I remember one day my buddy and I went ashore in Kusadasi to find a place called “Shirley Valentines” run by a British woman of the same name, or perhaps named after the woman in the famous movie… we didn’t know but we were aiming to have a couple Effes beer and find out the history behind the pubs name.

We wandered around for quite some time searching for the place. My friend was certain he knew where it was but apparently he was mistaken. I was just about to tell him to call off the search while we still had time for a cold beer when he looked across the street and thought he saw the place. It looked like what had been described to us, a high rock walled open air “pub” with a narrow stone entry down a narrow alley. Ok, so far so good.

We walked into the narrow alleyway, only wide enough for one or two people, and pushed open the black Iron Gate which was the “door”. The gate made an incredible loud creaking noise as we opened it and inside we could see that there was indeed a bar, bar stools, a few tables and…most importantly…Effes beer taps on the bar. We walked into the place and up to the bar… but it seemed closed. There were no patrons or bar staff. In fact the place was completely deserted. We were looking behind the bar to be sure there was no staff around before we decided to leave, and I was commenting to my friend how strange it was that they would leave the place like this without even locking the door if it was closed… when we heard the loud creaking of the gate behind us. We both looked around, hoping to see a bartender who would pour us a long cold draught, and instead saw the largest Doberman Pincer dog that has ever walked the planet; and unless he was an incredible well trained canine he wasn’t here to pour us any beers.

It seems that this sneaky creature had sat quietly behind the Iron Gate as we pushed it open and waited until we were far enough inside to ensure our capture, and then revealed his position by pushing the gate closed and standing between it and us! I felt immediate dislike for the cunning beast. The thing that was most scary about this dog was that he didn’t bark or growl. He just stared at us. I could see he was tied up with a chain, so he only had about 5 feet of freedom, presumably just enough to guard the gate, so at least he wasn’t going to rush us. He was just waiting, and staring. He knew we had to get out via the gate that he blocked and you could see in his black little eyes that he was wondering which of the two tasty morsels was going to try for the exit first. Luckily neither my friend nor I are scared of dogs, but we are not stupid either. It seemed to us, after looking at the situation logically that if we put our backs FLAT against the wall and did the Tom and Jerry wall scoot we should be just beyond the reach of the cunning canine and be able to skirt out the side of the gate.

The thought did occur to us that we could test the beer tap and see if it was working, and then just sit and wait for rescue. But what if no rescue came and we were still sitting at the bar waiting when the ship left without us? It would be a hard thing to explain to the Captain and PSD twelve days later when the grand returned. Almost like telling your teacher that your dog ate your homework. Besides, what if the next person to show up was a large Turkish fellow who would not be happy about us drinking all his beer? They do say owners and dogs become like each other...so we decided to try and escape.

I am not sure how we decided who went first, but I managed to win this one and my friend ended up taking the lead. I followed along closely behind him. The plan being that if the dog COULD reach him I could try and pull him free and then return whatever body parts remained to his family for burial.

We put our backs against the rock wall, and started skirting slowly toward the gate. I remember my friend saying to me "just go slow and don't look into his eyes" and BAM... I looked ( DOH!). I am telling you now, believe me or not, I saw that dogs eyes and I could SEE his little doggy brain working hard to figure out what we were doing... and I could see the exact moment when he did... and he got mad. He got REALLY mad and started tossing a fit like I have never seen. He was tugging so hard on the chain that held him that it sounded like a dinosaur stamping his foot whenever he pulled it tight. He barked, he snarled and he spit his worst canine curses at us but we just kept on skirting the wall as flat as we could make ourselves.

As soon as my friend was in range I realized I had NOT gotten the better end of the deal by going last because I could see how close the dog was to his face and belly with his impressively white and plentiful teeth! It would have been better to have not known this going in, because I admit I got just a tad afraid. But not wanting to look the wuss in front of my buddy I sucked in my belly as far as I could and skirted past Fido’s fury. If you’re wondering how close he really was; I could see he had raw chicken for lunch, some of it was still stuck between his back molars.

We walked casually away from the closed pub doing our best not to look like thieves, because the dog was making such a fuss now everyone was looking at us like we had just burgled the place ( I suspect he was bitter we defeated him). We decided to pull into a little pub for the cold beer we had set out for in the first place and lay low a few minutes. As we sat down a waitress came over and took our order, and as irony would have it, wouldn't you know we were in Shirley Valentines.

I love the Mediterranean. You just never know what to expect.

Click to Take my booking survey

2006-04-04T01:41:00.000+01:00

Whales and Huskies and Bears, oh my!

It’s easy for me to forget while I am assigned to a ship in the lower half of the planet (depending how you look at it) and cruising around Australia, that it is not long now until the first Alaska cruises of the season kick off in Vancouver! In another five or six weeks all of you eager Alaska cruisers will be boarding your vessels and bundling up on deck with a hot drink in hand as you cruise north.

I love the Alaska itinerary. I suppose the fact that Vancouver, one of our main Alaska turn around ports, is home for me makes me biased but how can you not be absolutely stupefied by the amazing sites in Glacier Bay and College fjord? How can you possible ever get bored of sailing the inside passage? How can you not be thrilled by giant hump back whales breaching? How can you not love husky dogs?

It is true that the towns we stop in during an Alaskan cruise are packed with passengers. After all on an average day in Juneau, Ketchikan or Skagway you will see as many as five other cruise ships docked or anchored along side of yours. That translates to roughly twelve thousand passengers and four thousand crew. So shoulder to shoulder crowding is to be expected when you go into town. I admit that all those people can be really irritating. I know the ports in Alaska so well, that when I go ashore I am destination shopping or touring. I know exactly where I want to go and it bugs the hell out of me to have to weave in and out of thousands of people and dodge umbrellas, shopping bags and baby carriages just to walk up the street. It’s when I get to where I am going that I can relax and enjoy my time ashore, because not many other people go and do what I am doing. In fact once you get out of the main town area which is right beside the ship in all three of those ports, the crowds disappear.

I have heard allot of people complain at the end of an Alaska cruise that they didn’t really enjoy it because Alaska is so “commercial” now and too many people are ruining the “last frontier”. I think this is hogwash, because if you just get out and away from the main town where everyone is wandering the streets in a daze buying Alaska T-shirts, cap’s and key chains you will see some of the real Alaska.

I, for example, like to mountain bike. My favorite port in the world for this is Skagway, Alaska. Just past the Miners Gold Rush Graveyard where Soapy Smiths bones rest in the dirt, the gravel road comes to an end and miles of single track bike trail rolls out into the wilderness. I was thrilled when I found it one day when I rode out to the graveyard on my break. After riding out on a trail for only about five minutes I was the only person around. I could hear NOTHING but the breeze, and a few mosquitoes. I was covered in dirt, surrounded by trees, AND I had to ride across a shallow river! It was great. I was MOUNTAIN BIKING ALASKA!

Road bike enthusiasts can also have a great ride from Skagway up the White Pass summit to the Canadian boarder. It’s an amazing ride. There is a ship tour that will drive you UP and you can just cycle down. I recommend this to ALL except the experienced cyclists who can handle a twenty mile slow climb! I rode up with a friend once, it really made my thirty something (at the time) knee’s ache for days afterwards. But what scenery! And the ride down at top speed was so exhilarating I can only pray my sons never do anything so crazy! Most people just coast down, but cyclists like to push it for all they and their equipment is worth. I would not recommend such reckless behavior to anyone…almost.

I am not saying that going off in search of some mountain bike single track or monster road bike climbs will be EVERY passengers dream day in Alaska, but it is a good example to illustrate that you must get AWAY from the towns. Take a tour! I know, I know… Alaska tours are “mighty expensive” as an Alaskan might say, but that’s because they are grand, expansive tours that cost allot of money to run. You can do everything and anything your Alaska dream entails on a tour from riding the famous White Pass railway to helicopter tours that land on actual GLACIERS! Go dog sledding, go hiking, go fishing, go kayaking, go on an airplane tour or go Whale watching! There are LOADS of great adventures to be had. But yes, unless you’re the hearty type who wants to venture off on your own you do have to pay for these tours, but they are worth every penny and if you are making the investment to take an Alaskan cruise I would really recommend you throw a couple tours in as well. You will never regret it.

Something I also recommend to anyone doing an Alaskan cruise is walking onboard. My amazing friend Dawn and I used to go walking around promenade on the Coral Princess last Alaska season. We would walk for a little over an hour, or fourteen times around (which by the way is five miles for you Coral cruisers). During that time we saw the MOST amazing things. Whales breaching right beside the ship, porpoises surrounding us and playing in the ships wake, eagles, scenery, and we inhaled the freshest air we ever breathed. It was wonderful. If you spend the time outside you will see some beautiful things. If you go walking at sail away or just after you can walk, look around AND hear the onboard naturalist comment on the surroundings, even better.

There are SOME things about the towns in Alaska I do like; crew has their favorite places to go in Alaska for a beer and a bite to eat after all. Places like The Hanger in Juneau, The Fish Co. in Skagway, and Steamers in Ketchikan. These are all bar / restaurant establishments with great beer on tap and not too bad prices, although they DON’T offer a crew discount; but, you take the good with the bad right? I also love Ketchicandies in Ketchikan. If you go to Ketchikan and visit Ketchicandies BEWARE their chocolate covered Oreo cookies. They are instantly addictive and they will make you insane. Especially when you run out, and then you freak out, and insist that the Captain return to Ketchikan immediately. Trust me. He won’t do it… ;o) so if your going to risk the monkey on your back and try the chocolate covered Oreo cookies regardless of my warning… make sure you take enough with you when you leave port to feed your new addiction.

2006-04-02T08:06:00.000+01:00

Ship shape shopping ashore.

Have you ever wondered why in hundreds of ports around the world the locals set up shops, markets and bazaars right on the pier? They sell essentially the same things you will get in town, but for a little higher price. They do it because they are counting on two major influences in the retail world; the impulse buy and convenience shopping.

A great example of this is St. Thomas. You all know what that is like, Havensite mall right there beside the ship, convenience shopping at its best. A huge complex selling everything you can imagine (and good Chinese food to). Crew LOVE it, even if we don't want to buy we go look. But we DO buy.

Crew like it when you go to a port and find there is a mall, or market or ANYTHING right on the pier. We love to shop, and even if they are not selling what we want we will STILL go shop. If they ARE selling what we want then look out, you will have lines of crew. We like pier shopping as a little “break” as well, often times we will just “pop ashore” onto the pier to look around, buy a trinket and enjoy a change of pace.

When we DO get time off we don’t get a lot of it; maybe 2 or 3 hours at most in a port. If we want to go and shop, we want to shop. Not spend all our time looking for a store that’s open, that sells what we want, and then have to deal with slow customer service and formalities. We are a harsh bunch, ignore the pleasantries, ignore the fancy store, we just want product and lots of it made immediately available for our browsing pleasure and if it’s brought TO US at the ship, even better. We will buy from you.

Obviously the cruise lines try and help the passengers with their shopping. As you know we have shopping advisors onboard the ships that will direct you to the guaranteed places and best priced stores. These used to be called “port lecturers” but the format has changed and now we have only shopping advisors. After all a port lecturer is really not required because we do have experts on every port right at the Shore Excursions desk and they can tell you anything you need to know, even if you DON’T buy a tour ;0). I know that the onboard shopping advisors can seem a little pushy and sometimes a little to slick… but they really do try and help you. The stores they recommend really are guaranteed and the prices are the best you will get. I know because the crew uses them as well. We are always asking them about prices and best stores when we want to buy diamonds or electronics. Most of them are jewelry experts and I think they are of the most value to you (or us) when it is jewelry that you want to purchase. But they are knowledgeable in other things as well and can always help out at least a little.

I know that sometimes the presentations given by the onboard shopping advisors can seem confusing and high pressure, but they are trying to pack so much information into a small time slot that they really need to cover ground as quickly as possible. If you just can NOT stand the presentations but are considering a purchase of something, it would be worth your while to go see them during their desk hours, or leave a message at the purser’s desk for them. I have seen passengers buy expensive jewelry only to find out it was fake, or misrepresented by the salesman and when they tried to complain to the onboard shopping advisor there was nothing that could be done because they didn’t go to a Princess guaranteed store. I know, I know what you’re thinking... “that sounds like a sell” but it’s true. Trust me, buyers beware!

When I think about shopping and cruise ships, there is one thing I know for certain; if I had any spare cash at all, I would set up a business that catered to the needs and desires of crew members. I promise you, show up on the pier, or as close as you can get to the ship, with the things we want and you will make sales. We don’t care if you’re selling from the side of a van, to us it’s about convenience and price and that’s it.

Take my advice, any entrepreneurs out there with a little start up cash. Show up at a ship selling what we buy from the trunk of your car, a table or a blanket on the concrete and we will buy. Show up with a CATALOUGUE and take orders that will be delivered the next time the ship is in port and your going to make sales.

Interested to know what it is we buy? I’ll tell you.

Men and women’s white shoes; do you know how hard it is for us to find the time to go browse shoe stores looking for the right kind of white shoes? Forget about it.

Electronics; specifically cell phones (top of the line quad and tri band only. We are techno freaks onboard), Stereos, televisions, IPOD, portable DVD players, PSP and etc.

Luggage; A crewmember at the end of a contract always needs a new suitcase.

Philippines food and POT NOODLE!; We love Pot noodle. Bring cases of it and I promise you we will walk of the ship buy 2 or 3 cases and walk back on all in 2 minutes. We LIVE on pot noodles. Remember 60% of crew is from Philippines.

Subway and Domino’s pizza!; Have you ever done Panama Canal on Coral Princess? Remember the big pier in Cristobal where the little mall and market is where all the locals sell? Did you see the little Domino’s Pizza booth? Did you see the line up of crew? That is our favorite 4 hours stop over. Domino’s pizza and a cold beer, nothing could be better after work than that.

DVD’s and music CD’s; We love movies! Better yet do a movie rental service. Bring the movies and let us rent them for a cruise until next time the ship is in that port. But think of some other guarantee than a credit card because 60% of the crew will not have one to leave you. We deal mostly in cash. Cash deposit works best with crew.

I went shopping myself today in Sydney, and so shopping was on my brain so I thought I would blog about it. What did I buy? Toys for the kids, stuffed animals for the kids, cloths for the kids... the usual.

Now if only someone would come to the pier and help with box shipping for me… We were in on a Sunday and the port agent refused to take my box and mail it for me on Monday! So now I have to wait another ten days JUST to get my box to the post office! Hmmm... sounds like another business idea to me. Pier Shipping!

:0)

2006-04-01T00:20:00.000+01:00

Love among the sailors: So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye...

For many crew leaving the ship at the end of your contract can be a sad event, not because they are not ready to get off and live a normal life again but because they are saying goodbye to so many friends. It’s harder of course if you have managed to hook up with a partner during your contract. It starts a few days before you (or they) are scheduled to disembark. You start to think about it, you get sad; depression starts to set in a little. It all just builds up to that day when you’re standing on the gangway with tears in your eyes saying goodbye to your boyfriend or girlfriend. It’s harder, in my opinion, to be the one left onboard. Before I married my wife she disembarked the ship before me a few times and I missed her terribly. There were little reminders all over the ship. Her little running shoes were still in the cabin. Suddenly pizza onboard had no taste, the crew bar was no fun and I just dragged my feet around all day. (I know your wondering if we can try and extend or shorten our contracts so we can go together? yes you can try, but it doesn't always work out.)

It’s like that for most crew when a significant other leaves the ship. But as I have said before not all relationships onboard are significant. I had one close friend who had a new girlfriend the same night his old girlfriend left the ship. In fact he had three girlfriends that contract. He was a happy chappy to be sure! But none of his “girlfriends” ever expected anything from the relationship anymore than he did.

Some crew, like me, have been lucky enough to meet that "one and only" onboard. I met my wife onboard the Regal the same time my buddy ( the one above) was sowing his oats. Shortly after that he met his as well (I think it was girl #4 of his contract).

When you do meet a significant other onboard it is very exciting and romantic because usually one or both of you will be traveling to another country to reunite when both ship contracts are done. My wife is Romanian, and the first time I went to see her in Romania it was magic. We rented a holiday house in the mountains in a small holiday village, spent time in Transylvania and climbed the secret passages in Dracula’s castle. It was a really amazing time. We were lucky after that and Princess put us on a ship together when we returned to work. The company is really very good with requests of couples. It is in fact a corporate policy to TRY and put couples together whenever it is possible. They do make it clear that sometimes it just can't be done. But at least they try. On my last contract on the Coral we had two new first contract Junior Assistant Pursers who were a couple and joined together. The week after that two boutiques staff joined together. I also know several married couples working together in casino, dining room and accomodation.

The nature of the work makes normal lives and relationships almost impossible. It’s not like your gone only three or four months a year, you’re ALWAYS gone. At least six months away and then maybe six weeks home makes it an incredible burden if you have or want to have a family. It might be Romantic to meet someone from another country, but the realities of the situation are difficult.

Look at me for example. I can’t work in Romania, so I keep returning to sea. The goal is to move the whole family to Canada so I can work and stay home with them, but that is such an incredible cost we have been saving for it for two years. Even just the flight cost for four children and two parents is just under ten thousand dollars. So while I return to sea the family stays in Romania where my wife has family to help her. It's a cycle that is very hard to get out of.

It is situations like this and similar ones that makes many relationships at sea a real challenge. All of us that have found “others” of a different nationality have gone through the “immigration paper chase” trying to either get ourselves into their country or them into ours. Sometimes it’s not so hard, sometimes it is near to impossible. I have a Canadian friend living with his “other” in South Africa because getting them settled into Canada was to expensive and difficult. I have two British friends living in Thailand with “others”. I have an Australian friend who can’t seem to get into Britain to be with his "other”… and so on.

Not to say ANY of us regret finding the “others” we did, but when it happens while you are at sea it can bring with it loads of other problems and issues that you never saw coming while you were busy gazing into each others eyes at the disco or pizza place.

I think allot of people might also be wondering how easy it is to fall in love onboard is. Well, personally I think it is very easy. I know people that do it every contract! After all, if you do find and hook up with someone, imagine how it is for them; small quarters, intimate situations. When you do get ashore together it’s to a beach in the Bahaman’s or the Caribbean or Jamaica. It’s lunch in Italy or dinner in Spain. It’s a quick shop in Sydney or jet skiing in Aruba. The stage is set, if you see what I mean and romance blossoms and love comes to town.

I think this is another problem people at sea face. You meet someone onboard, you do these things together and spend four or six months in very intimate situations always the complete focus of each others attention, and then suddenly your in real life. Your attention span widens. You’re no longer globe hopping and the person you see is no longer the exciting wild “zing” in your heart he once was. Or perhaps you were used to being the only person that your “other” could see and now he is home and has friends, family, things he likes to do. What do you do? Wait for the next contract and hope it all comes back or not? What if you DON'T get a ship together? Will you both wait or not?

Life and love at sea pose many problems for all of us. But I think you would find very few people who ever regret their relationships at sea. Even those that din't end well. I know I certainly don’t. Love among the sailors isn’t easy. It has many challenges and pit falls hidden underneath those silver clouds, but in the end it’s always worth it. I don’t have any words of wisdom to explain it or define why I believe it is worth it… I just know it is.

Help train Crew Purser; I have posted the "untrained" version of Crew Purser, which is eventually going to become a fully functional AI chatbot loaded with vast cruise knowledge. Please click the train Crew Purser link on the right and help me by asking a couple questions. Please keep your questions about PRINCESS cruises. Keep them simple as well. The BOT will not have any knowledge yet and will not make any sense but I need your questions to complete it. I will blog on later and tell you what it will be good for. Any travel agents reading can help by asking the top questions people ask YOU about Princess Cruises.

For those that missed it I have decided not to go subscription. All your great emails changed my mind! Thanks for the sound advice Alan Wilson ( Cruise News Daily) !

And to those who have offered to do “A day in the life” from Princess, Celebrity and NCL I will contact you soon.

2006-03-28T12:21:00.000+01:00

The Hookup.

Love Among The Sailors Part 2

Your comments were NUMEROUS so here we go with part 2. "

Crew can meet anywhere. On the job, in the crew bar, at the disco… it doesn’t matter. What matters is they meet. And like I said before, if the “game on” message is received on both sides then the “hook up” takes place. The thing that’s different about an onboard hook up and a shore side hookup is that onboard there is no pleasantry, no chat, no wooing of one to the other. The environment onboard doesn't really allow for that to much. It's mostly work going on after all. If the “game on” message is received then a relationship of some sort is almost immediate. I know it sounds strange but unless you have experienced the onboard culture, well; you can never really understand it.

After the first hook up things will be calm, and casual and neither party will speak of it and only slight glances may be exchanged during the next day or days after the initial hookup. It is AFTER the first hookup that the rules are set. If no other hookup takes place between them, then they are free and it becomes a “one night stand”. If a second or third hookup takes place, then you have moved into the realm of “onboard relationship”. The wording of that is very important. It is not a relationship; it is an “onboard relationship”. This is important to understand because it releases the participants from many of the standard “real life” obligations. An “onboard relationship” means that if you’re married, it’s ok, if your not serious, its ok, if you’re previously hooked up, it’s ok. An onboard relationship means that we are together to keep each other from being alone in the dark during the long night of this long contract. We will go ashore together, have a laugh, have some fun; and nothing more. It’s cold, it’s brutal, and it brings people down to their lowest denominator… but that’s only my opinion. It means we are best friends with benefits until one of us disembarks, then all bets are off. No commitment.

Now, all that being said the question must be asked “what happens after the hookup?” How do two people get together onboard when they all share cabins? Well, first of all we don’t ALL share cabins, but most crew does. So let’s look at that first. In the event, and it is a majority event, that the two people who hook up who are regular crew and share a cabin, what do they do? Do they go to a secret place on deck? Do they hide in a stairwell or in a maintenance closet and have a night of passionate love amidst the brooms and mops? No, in fact they don’t. For some reason that I have NEVER fully understood, they go to one of their cabins. Yes, that’s right; they go to one of their cabins in which a room mate is trying to sleep. I know that right now NONE of you can grasp this, but onboard it is a very common occurrence (PLEASE all ship people reading this send comments and back me up!!!) The “upper berth maneuver” ( cabins that share have bunk beds) is a common thing. What do you do if you’re the unfortunate room mate who must put up with the two post disco hookups? You put in your ear plugs, roll over, and hope to GOD that next cruise it is you who are inconveniencing the other! :0) Of course you can always use the old "towel on the door handle as well, and your room mate can always go visit a friend for a bit!

Now if you’re very lucky and privileged one of the “hook up” party has their own cabin. Then there is no problem and in fact ONE room mate will be very happy to have the other OUT! Sometimes a hook up can result in crew being very happy with their new found private accommodations. Of course this points us to the obvious and we realize that those lucky officers who have private cabins are, most times, highly sought after “hook up” targets.

Now it has to be said again that these are the crew who are "game on". Many crew are happy in a relationship at home and many crew do not jump into the game at all. After all as one reader pointed out there is a lower ratio of women to men and it has been my experience that those who are in the game do not always succeed. I think it was Nurse Betty ( a reader) who mentioned that it was the women who hold all the power in this game as they are limited in number onboard!

But the truth of it is if you don't want to be alone onboard you normally do not have to be.

Tomorrow, we will take a break and move on to a regular cruise topic, and then the NEXT day I will move on to Love among the Sailors part 3. Hope you’re enjoying it.

Also a couple people have sent in comments with questions specific to employment, the girl who has been hired for salon, the I.T guy etc. PLEASE use the askcrewoffice@sent.at email so I can reply to you and answer your questions.

FINALLY to the man who asked what happens when Muster station A is on fire. I researched and asked all the experts. We actually have "secondary muster stations" on all ships. In the event a fire breaks out in one station the bridge or alternate people will advise what alternate station to take or direct passengers to which will be passed on to the stairwell guides as they are directing. If it doesn't make sense or you want more info email askcrewoffice@sent.at and I will elaborate.

2006-03-27T12:22:00.000+01:00

Love among the sailors. Part 1.

OK. You all kept on asking, so here it is; a blog about the more personal side of life at sea. It’s going to be a four part blog because it entails so much. PLEASE leave me comments if you want me to finish the four part series or move on to other cruise related topics! It’s a bit of a “risky” topic… I will probably eat flack for it...this love at sea blog... so I don’t want to finish it if you’re not enjoying it! Thanks.

Yes, it’s true. Not unlike the Love Boat T.V. show of the 80’s, we DO have romance issues going on between crew members. We don’t have issues going on between crew and passengers, unlike you might think, because these days that is strictly against policy. I suppose it might happen on very rare, extremely rare, one off occasions but those would be WILD exceptions to the rule. We do not intermingle romantically with passengers. It just doesn’t happen. It is FROWNED upon by the company to the point that even going in to a passenger cabin for a drink, or having a passenger into your cabin would be instant dismissal. Yes, you can ask crew to dance with you and yes you can exchange emails and numbers and even ask them to dinner, but that’s it. It is a zero tolerance policy. It’s a good rule and I support it, it protects passengers and it protects crew; but I will go into the details on that in another blog.

We DO however interact romantically with each other (other crew), and this happens more than you might think. Relationships between crew are ever present.

In fact relationships between crew happen so often I am not even certain where to begin this blog! No one onboard (among the crew) is alone. It is a fact that even those crew members who are married with a spouse or significant other waiting at home, are usually not alone. They have someone they are with during the contract. This is not only the men onboard, and it is not one nationality over another. It is men and women and all nationalities. It is very common for people at sea to “hook up” with someone, or several someone’s during their contract.

NO, this is not EVERY person in every case. YES some men and some women DO remain true to the ones they love at home. But over the years the most common thing that I have seen among the crew is “hooking up”. Married or not, committed or not, it does not seem to matter. I suppose six months is a long time and people hate to be alone. I know I do. If I am at sea and my wife is at home then yes, I feel very, very alone and very depressed. It WOULD be nice to have someone. For me however this is not something I believe in and I have always, always remained true to my wife. But this blog is not about judging. I do not judge those who choose to be with someone. I am just telling you about it, and how hard it is to be at sea for six months alone. Some of these people are my best friends and I do not judge anything.

PLEASE NO comments about morality and etc. If you have not worked on a ship alone and away from your wife or husband for six to ten months at a time you can not judge. But many of you asked me about this; it was the number one emailed question, so I am blogging on it now ok? (Thanks). Don't forget to comment and tell me if I should finish this series or move on ok?

It generally starts either at your work place onboard, whatever department you work in, or in the crew bar during a disco or what have you. New people on board are immediately “checked out”. Often referred to as “new meat” and some ships even have a “fresh meat” theme disco once a month or so to welcome the new joiners. Now don’t get me wrong. There are not a lot of leering, disgusting rude people ogling all the girls and boys. It’s not like that, but the message put out by 80% of the crew is very clear "I am GAME ON… are you?" If someone replies YES in whatever fashion, then you have two consenting adults going about their own personal business. If however you send out a “DO NOT DISTURB” signal then everyone will respect that. No pressure and no hard feelings. It is an EXTREMELY open minded culture onboard. To each his own. If you don’t want into the dating game then no one will force you. But they will all still be your friends and mates and family during the contract.

Like I said this includes everyone, gay and straight, all nationalities, men and women. There is no particular group who refrains and no particular group who gets involved. There is no division between ranks, and most importantly no one pays any notice. In fact if after a disco your co-worker went home with a someone and everyone knows about it, it’s not like when you’re living a real life shore side. This is NOT real life. No one onboard cares. A casual comment might be made the next morning. You might hear someone say “Oh Jane went home with Alex last night, can you believe it?” and another might say “No, really? I thought she only liked older guys” or etc. But nothing judgmental or wicked will be said. Why? Because it’s the culture onboard. Everyone does it. No one is better than another and no one would presume to try and take the moral high ground. It’s not easy living six to ten months alone on a ship. People hate to be alone.

No one hides their status either. Married people do not generally try and hide the fact. It often serves them better if everyone knows they are married because then they know the person they hook up with understands this is a temporary relationship. Yes, sometimes people get hurt. Men and women both might think that a real relationship is building only to be crushed when the other person tells them “I’m sorry but I am going home to my husband or wife”. Not only that, often times they just hear, “thanks it was fun but my contract is over” even if their partner was single.

Now, on the flip side, many solid and lasting relationships are forged onboard. Often time’s people meet up and BOOM amazing love stories unfold and long term, permanent relationships are built. In fact I met MY wife onboard. And we had an amazing love story. It goes both ways onboard. It’s a world of temporary hook ups and a world of true love all going on inside a nine hundred foot long ship where a thousand crew of thirty nationalities all mingle together for six months at a time. It’s unlike anything you have ever seen.

If your comments are good, tomorrow will be "Love among the sailors part 2; the hook up". if you want me to move on let me know that to. :0)