July 12, 2011

FALMOUTH, JAMAICA

No need to get off here, there is nothing in Jamaica I want to see. I feel much better, but still have a cough. Susan gave me her Vitamin C tablets, and I have been downing them like candy. Tonight I have the Karaoke Contest, and I have to be on the top of my form.
The day went by quickly, and the Karaoke Contest went well….though it was crazy at the start. I had managed to get four members of the Hairspray cast; Sean, (Edna), Tara, (Tracy), Michael, (Link), and Joel, (Seaweed), to be guest judges. It was the WORST cast of singers ever. But funny with it. There were a lot of things I did wrong, but I took note, and will change things a bit for the next time. At the end Tara agreed to sing “Suddenly Seymour” with me. I was hoping she would, since I wanted to sing with one of the cast members. If this Cruise Staff position gets too much for me, I might consider switching to performer by auditioning.

Curiously, I don’t think of leaving Royal Caribbean. There are so many options and directions to go within the company. I could even transfer to landbased and work out of Miami or FTL. I like the company a lot, and I am enjoying working for the Cruise Line.
I am a bit concerned about my voice. Ship air is so dry below decks. I am going to have to get a humidifier when I am in FTL this next Saturday.


I get confused sometimes between the choices I have set for myself.  Do I go to performing again, or do I decide to go full bore into Cruise Staff and work my way up?  I would like to have my own travel show eventually, or at least be a high-end tour guide for an elite tour group.  Both of those would be better served by continuing on the path I am going.  But I still feel the tug of the stage.  Not so much stage, when I think about it, but performing in general.  I would really like to pursue, at some point, filmwork.  At any rate, I am not going to make any decisions until I successfully complete this contract.

I am five weeks in, and it sometimes feels like so much longer, and so much longer still to go. But then it is time to go to an event, and all I think about is making the guests happy and quickly and efficiently getting them to where they need/want to go.  I hear the troubles other Cruise Staff personnel have with angry guests at venues while they wait in line, and I have to say either I have been lucky and not had any, or I am handling them differently.  The Golden Rule, as my Grandmother taught me, is to treat everyone as you would wish to be treated.  That rule applies in everything. 

I sometimes get chills still when I think of my last place of employment before the cruise line.  It was very similar to what I am doing now, and I thought I was doing a great job, but then for a reason I have never been able to really understand, I was fired.  That caused me a great deal of angst since I thought I had been doing a good job.  I get nightmares sometimes that the same thing will happen again.  It has made me very cautious in a lot of ways.  Suspicious, or distrustful would be another way to put it.  But all that is forgotten when I have a guest in front of me, and all I want to do is help them to the best of my ability.  I've never been afraid of saying "I don't know", or "Let's go find the answer together", and I have been told that is a good thing.  It just seems to me that it's the only way to go about life.  If you don't know something, ask and find out. 

Someone else is bound to ask the same question at some point, and then you will have an answer.  The other thing I have never had a problem with is apologizing if I have done something wrong. 

Oddly enough, I still recommend my previous employer to people visiting Key West.  I hope they take my suggestions and visit the place.

When I am alone my brain whirls around itself in never ending circles....Maybe that is why I like working...it allows my brain to rest.