Long Week on the Ship

Cruise # 3- For this cruise I had port manning, which means that I couldn't get off the ship for a week. Someone from each department has to stay aboard the ship at all times in case of an emergency. At first I thought it would be awful but it gave me time to study for the shows. Also, I had it on a good week because we had several inspections and training drills that prevented everyone from getting off the ship as early as they normally do. I really didn't miss much at the ports because of the lack of time and it rained in San Juan and St. Thomas.

We had a fun crew activity though. We had a prom in the ballroom. Several of us went out in New York to a thrift store and bought the most hideous clothes we could find. Most of us ended up looking like teachers. This post has pictures of prom. The photo lab took photos as well so I have some of the classic prom pose(guy has hands on girl's hips and turned slightly) with a stairway in the background. I have copies of those but I don't have them in digital form so I'll have to show those to ya'll when I get home.

This week I started running the shows by myself. Liz(english teacher in purple dress) followed me around and made sure I didn't hurt any dancers. We had Marcus Monroe( juggler), Jerome Dabney(Motown singer) and Jerry Goodspeed(ventriloquist). Marcus improvs his entire show and is quite awesome. He is the inventor of the Knortch. It is a lit torch and a knife taped together. He said that he was on Wikipedia under Knortch. Jerome was really good. He sang Temptations, Marvin Gay and other things like that. Jerry Goodspeed was a ventriloquist and that is all you need know about his performance. Another exciting thing that I did this week was I passed my pyro test. I can now blow stuff up without supervision.

So ya'll voted to hear about life on a ship. Life on a ship can easily be described as there is no privacy whatsoever. I live in a closet with one other person. We sleep on bunk beds and I have two lockers. One for hanging clothes and the other has shelves in it. The "bathroom" is tiny. I can touch the mirror on the opposite wall while taking a shower. One good thing is that we have a stewards who cleans our rooms everyday at a cost $1/day. It's similar to living in a dorm. Except for the fact that you can't get away. Everyone sees everyone everyday.

The food on ship is O.K. Some days it can be quite tasty and some days are hamburger days. If you don't see anything you like you can order Hamburgers or Hot dogs. You have specify with buns or you will just get a piece if meat. The crew that serve us are in training. Once they learn English well enough they get promoted to the guest areas. Every once in a while they will serve smelt. This the worst smelling thing I have ever seen. It is basically fried minnows. We don't eat anything fried on those days because it will taste like fish. We are allowed to eat in guest areas during down times so sometimes I will go up Lido Deck and have a sandwich for a late lunch. It's nice because the food is better and you can sit in the sun and eat. Also, we have midnight mess consisting of pizza and sandwiches.

The people on the ship come form all backgrounds. I have met people all over the world. People tend to hang out with the people they work with. Therefore, I usually hang with techs, musicians and fly-ons. The dancers mostly keep to them selves. They are a little snobby but most seem nice enough. We generally hang out in the crew bar and play Wii. The cool thing about the people is that every week there are people getting on and off. So there is almost always someone new and interesting to talk to. When it is someones last week we go to the disco on the 3rd sea day and party til the early morning.

This week is Liz's last so we made arrangements to go to Nick and Nora's Supper Club. It costs $40 but it was well worth it. It is a 5 course meal. This is the kind of place that puts the napkin your lap for you. At the beginning of the meal, the chef brought out a tuna sorbet. It was weird but good. The rest of the meal you could choose. I had crab cakes, escargot, New York strip steak and cheese cake. Also, I ate some of Jenn's(The lighting tech) lobster. We also shared an $85 bottle of wine. I learned that there is huge difference between cheap and expensive wine. It was probably the best meal I have ever eaten.

Picture #1-L to R, Back: Me, Liz(my handover)and John(lounge pianist) Front: Melanie(trumpet player)

Picture #2- Me and John

Picture #3- L to R: Me, Beth(automation Tech), Liz(my handover), Jenn(lighting tech), Ben(sound tech and boss)