I have given it a bit of thought about if I wasn’t a techie and still wanted to work on ships. We often tell people we’re like a floating Las Vegas casino. Basically everything that would go into running a casino has an equal job on the ship plus a few extras. If something breaks, obviously we can’t call for a repairman like we would on land. That being said, if I were to try to pick a new job knowing what I know now, I would probably try to pick a job that would give me a good amount of time in port. Given I don’t have the technical knowledge to work on the marine side, I’ll be sticking with the hotel division as I don’t know what I don’t know about ships.

The obvious choice for me is cruise staff. My schedule wouldn’t change too much from what it is now, and activities are heavily reduced when we are in port, meaning I wouldn’t have too much trouble getting off the ship. They don’t necessarily need any particular skills except a willingness to dance and talk in front of crowds. Then there is the retail side. I might apply to work the shops on board. These close while in port due to taxation laws while not in international waters. This is also why the casino portion of ships are not usually open while docked. Though I don’t have the skills, being an orchestra member is appealing. You definitely won’t be performing while a majority of the guests are off the ship, and there is no reason to have to stay on the ship in a duty role. Another obvious choice would be being a part of NextCruise sales force. They don’t seem to do a whole lot while we’re in port, though judging by their office hours, they must keep someone on the ship. Then there’s Shore Excursions. One might argue that the morning gets eaten away by dealing with guests, but it still seems pretty solid for seeing what the port has to offer. Given my history of children’s theater, one might assume Adventure Ocean is right up my alley, but I would really rather not deal with kids, especially when kid counts are high.

Well, that’s all I can think of for now. I’m not sure how I would handle being a sports staff, and I am no where fit enough to be a singer in the production shows. If this peaked your interest on working on cruise ships, remember: we’re always hiring!

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.

The number one job of everyone on the ship is safety. After all, if the worst were to happen, it’s not like we could gather everyone in a parking lot after we evacuate. This past week we had our annual US Coast Guard inspection. We do an emergency drill for them to show our readiness in the event of an emergency. During this drill, we have no guests on board so no one can be excused from participating due to attending guests’ needs. The Coast Guard then has various officers around to observe how well we do are duties and then quizzes us to make sure we know what our equipment does and how to use it properly. Once the drill is complete, we can let passengers onboard, and they continue to make observations. Any time you get on a ship, you must go through the safety demonstration. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first cruise or you’re a back to back cruiser who has spent thousands of nights on cruise ships. You still have to listen to the information. It’s kind of like going to an amusement park or an airplane and having to listen about how to put on a seat belt. This ensures that no-one can say they didn’t know what to do in the event of an emergency. Just like some of the more fun flight attendants, I try to sneak in a few jokes to keep it bearable for the Pinnacle member who has to sit through this every single time.

The Coast Guard inspection happens once a year unless something weird happens. You can fail it if proper procedures are not followed or the crew is not knowledgeable about safety. I’ve heard about it happening on others ships. They can even cancel sailings with passengers until the crew are ready and can demonstrate everything properly. The senior staff took this all very seriously and ramped up the difficulty of the questions to make sure we knew everything we were supposed to. We have to know things like what kind of fire extinguishers are on the ship and what kinds of fire they can be used on. We should know what equipment to pull out of a life boat before we start loading passengers onboard due to how hard it is to access the storage areas once the boat is full of bodies. We have to be able to demonstrate how to start the engines on the life boats in case the normal driver is out. It can be a lot if you’re not used to it. I’m just happy the ship passed with flying colors.

We’re getting close to the end of my contract, and I don’t think I’ll be able to extend out this time. A bit of a disappointment, but oh well, these things happen.

Oh, man. I was down to the wire for my medical this time. Given the amount of work needed to do on the ship and how isolated we are, it’s no surprise that cruise ship companies want you to be healthy when you join so they don’t have to worry about you keeling over while onboard. I don’t have to get this every single time I go out to sea, but it is often enough where it can be annoying. You don’t have to be the picture of perfect health, though they do prefer that. As long as everything is being monitored and nothing too crazy is going on, they can let some conditions go. I now have a better understanding of how long the process should take if I have the time. What was hard this time is that I had to drive 3 hours to an approved clinic. Last time, it was a 20 minute drive, but I guess that place is no longer a part of the list of approved care centers. If I have more time, I might make a day of it, but I found out that not a lot of stuff stays open really late over there.

One nice thing about this new contract is that I’m pretty much going to places I’ve already been, so there isn’t the need to go out, explore, and spend money like my last contract. Instead, I’ll just go to my favorite hang outs when I get off the ship. I might even stay on the ship if I don’t think the port is all that interesting to me. It will be so nice to just relax in a port. The only downside of my current contract is that I started in Los Angeles, and that is also where my contract ends. This ship is scheduled to do Alaska in the summer and Caribbean in the winter. I caught them as they headed to the Panama Canal. I asked if I could extend out, but the company says it’s too early to make that decision. I hope they can at least extend me out a couple of days so I can walk off the ship and be driven home without taking a plane or worrying about baggage weight restrictions.

I’ll try to keep you posted if they extend me out. Here’s to hoping.