July 2, 2011

FTL TURNOVER

Feeling better today, bored as all get out. I am off duty until 4PM when I go see the ship doctor again. Because I am unfit for duty I am unable to get off the ship, which is all right, except that it would be nice to see the sun again. On a good note, I BELIEVE I may have a single room for a week. It is noon and I have not received a new cabin mate. That would be sweet! I may even get lucky enough for a couple weeks, which would be even better. Luis, who was in the room before me, went three months by himself in the room. That would be best of all!

Anyway, back to ship life…I keep thinking of things I want to write about, and by the time I get to the computer they have been erased from my mind. I need to start carrying a pad of paper with me to jot down the ideas as they occur.

At the Comedy show the other night, the one where someone vomited in the hall, I also had an odd experience with a guest. I feel that there is nothing more annoying than standing in line with no information, and for such reason I make a point of talking to the guests in the standby line and keeping them informed. The rule, which I stick to, is 10 minutes prior to curtain the remaining seats open to all, and whether or not you have a reservation is null and void. Well, that night the Frozen in Time ice show was late getting out, and I knew that there would be people in there that had reservations and thru no fault of their own would be late getting to my doors. It is literally the next venue over, so I figured to be fair to them I would hold the standby line for a bit to give them a chance to scurry over and get in. forward arrow

As is usual late in the cruise, as I am finding out, there were plenty of seats left, so I knew that all my standbys would be getting in. I told them this, and informed them I was going to wait just a couple minutes for the above reason. That being done, and the time allotted spent, I opened the seats for the standbys and let them all in. As they were entering a gentleman began to berate me…ON THE WAY TO HIS SEAT…that he felt misused and wanted to complain that I had kept the standby line waiting an extra three minutes. When I informed him that he was getting in anyway, he said that that did not matter, it was the principal. I asked him if he had been in the ice show and I had not given him a chance to get to the next show, how fair he would have thought me. His wife was tugging at him and casting me apologetic glances. I told him I felt sorry he felt that way, and to enjoy the show. Honestly…you are on your way to your seat, and you are complaining???

I still have not found a duty that I dislike, or even a situation that I felt I could not handle. I am beginning to think more and more that I could do this. Now that I am able to talk, however briefly, with home it is even easier. A month has almost gone by. I am one-seventh of the way through my first contract and it gets easier every day. I no longer feel that I am running to every station, and am even cutting my time short…though I still get each place a few minutes early. I want to be cautious here and keep in the front of my mind that I am not a ‘Salty Dog” yet.

I had an idea which I brought to Amy last night when I was in the office doing my time cards. I had thought what a great idea it would be to have an Idol competition for karaoke, like Aqua Idol. Apparently they have tried it before, but go figure, people got upset when they were not winning….OBVIOUSLY they were amazing singers and should have won. What they did was take one winner from every night’s Karaoke and on the last night of the cruise in the big theatre have a vocal throwdown judged by cast members of the shows. Sounds brilliant to me…but like the gentleman listed above, everyone feels they should be the winner, the one in the door, and they were getting negative ratings on cruise comments so the Cruise Director stopped that. Amy thought having a one night competition that you have to sign up for would be a good idea, and said I could bring it up at the meeting today. That made me feel good that she was taking my suggestion seriously.

We can’t use the term Idol in the competition, so I am thinking Caribbean Superstar.

I know what I meant to mention earlier, when I was talking about the rolling of the ship…I am glad that my stomach is strong and I am not susceptible to sea sickness. I was pretty sure I was good, but you never know. I remembered, however, that back in my salad days in college when I was drinking heavily that I enjoyed the spins…for some odd reason…and that if I could get through that then the rolling of a ship should be no problem.

From my cabin I can hear the mooring ropes mechanisms roaring, so we must be getting ready to set sail.  It looks very much as though I will be having the cabin to myself for the week!  Bliss!