June 27, 2011

LABADEE, HAITI

Second time in Haiti. This time I got outside, but didn’t really get to see anything. I was posted as an Island Greeter for our guests…only problem is…I’ve never been here before. So loaded with a map and with my inner Irishman’s sense of blarney, and with my ears peeled to hear any snippet of directional instructions from others, I did my best for two and a half hours. Of course, I have never had any problems asking others for information, so anytime I had a question I could not answer I just took the guest to the information booth and listened in…filing away the information for later.

Haiti is a beautiful island, from what I could see. Labadee is a private reserve owned by Royal Caribbean. It is a bit like Animal Kingdom in Orlando with the archetypal buildings and colors. It is completely private, so the only non guests on the island are employees. There are cabanas, aqua parks, zipline rides, jet skis, etc for the amusement of guests. There are also retail centers, restaurants, bars, and 4 beaches to choose from. Plenty of snorkeling I hear, and even a private crew beach, so those crew members lucky enough to have the day or morning off can relax and swim in their own private cove. I look forward to the chance at some point.

From ship you take a long walk down the pier to the main staging area. From here you can pretty much see everything. It is very hilly and full of vegetation everywhere. The mountains come right down to the water and are covered in tropical trees. There appear to be paved paths everywhere through the area, swtichbacking up and down the hills from cove to cove. This is what lends it the Animal Kingdom appearance. You are seeing an idealized Haiti, which is indeed what most people want…much like the idealized Key West people expect at home.

I have to admit, it was wonderful to get out in the open air again and get some sun. The water looked very inviting, but was the same blue green as our waters back home, though much deeper more quickly. There were no long stretched of waist deep water like you get around our islands.

Last night was the first Sea Day of the voyage, and as such we were very busy. Again I had the Rising Tide Bar duty. I had a really nice insult from a woman. There was a problem with one of the doors, and when there are alarms the bar won’t move. I was busy fixing it when a well dressed woman said to me…”It seems that they would make this so that any idiot could work it.”

I smiled and said “they did indeed, ma’am, but as I am the smart one I will also fix it.” Which I did.

Yesterday afternoon I had my first parade. I had no idea what to do, which seems to be common with me so far. They schedule me for things I have never done and say just show up. So I did. I had stanchion duty for the parade, which means they gave me a costume, which was very brightly colored and consisted of an over tunic through which I stuck my head and arms. The stanchion was a large pole with a stylized African lion on the top. This I was to carry around and dance with during the parade. So I did. They certainly do costumes right on this ship. I am also posted to a Dreamworks parade where I will be escorting Shrek around as his “wrangler”. Basically making being his mouth and eyes. They cannot speak of course, so I speak for him and make sure that he knows where he is and who is behind him. Wouldn’t want Shrek stepping on any small children! My costume is a bright yellow and blue Renaissance/classic story book artist, with tights, puffy sleeves on a tunic and beret style hat with a feather. I will also have as a prop a painters palette with brush. My improv skills will be used during the parade to pretend to paint what I am seeing…as I dance and watch Shrek at the same time.

Last night was a photo op with the Captain of the vessel. He is a very tall Norwegian, good looking in a rugged Viking way, and as it was a formal night he was in his dress whites. He has a very interesting sense of humor and seems to be very approachable. I would also guess that when called for he would out do any General in imposing needed discipline. Altogether someone you would not want to cross, but very affable when you are doing your job.

He usually comes early to his photo ops, which indeed he did, which allows more people and more time for photos. Afterwards there was a champagne reception on the Promenade deck with music provided by the ship’s band and two of the singers from Hairspray. It was also the night for any honeymooners to have their own reception in one of the clubs, so everyone looked splendid in their best clothes. Two examples stand out in my mind. There was a young Japanese couple on their honeymoon from Tokyo who were wearing traditional Japanese wedding kimonos. I saw them first in the Captain’s photo line. The woman’s kimono was absolutely beautiful, and I kept my eyes on them to see what the Captain’s reaction would be. As they approached him the bowed very politely, opened their fans and stood on either side of him. He bowed in return and I could tell he appreciated the outfits.

Another group was from India, and the women had the most beautiful black silk saris with gold embroidery. Stunning.

After all this, it was time for the Family Fun hour…which of course I had never done before, and the one person from the Youth Staff who was there had also never done it.

After a bit I called my manager, the Activities Director, and asked for help. She hurried down from the Captain’s reception and gave me a few hints. The main purpose was to allow the families with children to do some fun activities, so with mic in hand, off I went improvising on what Amy had suggested in the way of games. Bless her, she stayed around and acted as DJ as I bounced and danced around creating a sense of excitement for the teams of children and their parents. Games ranged from teams of four holding hands and passing a hula hoop around, to dancing to the Macarena, to playing Freeze Dance…which is much like musical chairs, except that you dance and move around until the music stops, then you freeze. The last person to move is out. This the children insisted playing twice. So since the first dance was just for children, and they did so well, I insisted the parents join in for the second to see if they could mind as well as the children!

Everyone seemed to have a really good time, even the parents, and afterwards both Amy and Sabrina, who is our office manager for the Cruise Staff, said they were amazed at how with a few words or hints I would spin something out and make it look like I knew exactly what I was doing. They both complimented me on my energy and ability to get people involved. That is two compliments in five days from Amy, so I feel that I am doing well. Well, what the heck…you put a mic in my hand and point in me in the right direction and I’ll do anything!

After this, in the same bar, we had the honeymoon reception. This is for newlyweds only, and the reception consists of a raffle with free tickets, and wedding cake and petit fours with champagne. Again, never having done it, apparently the purpose is to mingle with the guests, compliment and congratulate them on their weddings and thank them for choosing Royal Caribbean as their honeymoon. Walking around the tables I greeted and talked with them all while serving them cake. We are allowed to drink champagne with them and nibble on the treats, but I realized that some of them were covered in nuts, and the ones that weren’t had been next to the ones that were…so decided that no matter how appetizing the treats looked, it was better to abstain than end up in medical using the epipen if one of the treats should have contained peanuts.

Next up, in an hour or so, is me teaching country line dancing…this should be rich as I have never done it before. I have learned the Cuban Shuffle though, which is a standard line dance on the ship. There is so much to learn…