My new ship is nice. Granted, it’s one of the oldest in the fleet and comes with its fair share of troubles, but it’s still nice to be on a ship of a different class than Radiance. The one thing I missed the most while working on a Radiance class ship was the back deck. This is a crew only area in the back of the ship where you could relax and enjoy some fresh air without having to worry about guests. Another reason to have these areas is for the smokers. Letting the fresh air take care of smoke is so much easier than what the Radiance class does. They have a smoking area at the back end of the crew bar and they try to filter out smoke. This doesn’t work perfectly, and there is always the scent of tobacco smoke lingering in the surrounding area. It even leaks to part of the mess since they share a wall and an emergency exit. The closest thing we had on my last couple of ships was an open deck in the front, but the guests could peer into the area from the helicopter pad. It’s mostly used for smoking and sunbathing. It’s also not the best place to socialize at night. Due to its location, it needs to be basically unlit at night to give the bridge officers the best view possible. The glow of a light could ruin their night vision or obscure an object without lights such as land or an unpowered ship. It’s kind of like when a driver doesn’t want a passenger to have the overhead light on while driving at night. It’s distracting and dangerous. Now, not all ships have a “back deck” in the back. Some ships have it in front but have them covered and out of the public eye.

Royal Caribbean is known for coming out with the biggest cruise ships in the world. A few years ago, I checked and saw that of the ten largest cruise ships in the world, Royal Caribbean had the 7 of those spots. That’s certainly impressive, but that’s not what I want. While I haven’t been on the larger ships, I do know that the Radiance class of ships makes basically as much as the largest ships in the fleet. What I really want is a ship about the size of Radiance class but just new. These ships are getting old and sometimes a refresh isn’t enough to cover the age of the systems. It would be great to have the latest bells and whistles and all the research that has gone into the larger ships in a smaller package that can fit more docks. As much as I gripe about working on Majesty of the Seas, it was one of two ships in the fleet at the time that could go to Cuba. Now, all the ships in the fleet are too big to squeeze into the bay and fit on the dock. Sometimes, the only dock able to accommodate us is the one for shipping. In these cases, most of the dock area is off limits due to safety and we get bussed to town. The farther we are from a facility, the more likely it is we get bussed. A neat thing I learned while working for American Cruise Lines, their ships can tie up in the heart of a city. I enjoyed walking to various parks and attractions because we were right there. Oh, and a back deck of some kind would be great on this new ship design.

In case anyone is wondering, I’m doing the exact same route as last contract, now on a smaller ship.