Now that’s a nugget!
The Annual Inspection
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.
I can see my ship from here!
Who Should Work on a Ship
I totally forgot to post since I got really busy. I ended up getting a temporary promotion which meant more of my free time was spent in training. On top of that, I was planning the final mission of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Now I need to look for more players to start a new game.
Having spent time working on ships, I realize that this job is not for everyone. There are some great reasons to work on a ship. There’s the obvious travel that you don’t have to pay for. You also get free room and board with an all-you-care-to-eat buffet with a wide selection for meals. There’s also a lot of interesting people you can meet from the crew and for backstage people, guest entertainers. Some people only work on ships while others have credits such as being finalists on America’s Got Talent, opened for other performers in Las Vegas, or are related to other celebrities. We had someone onboard who was the child of a famous singer as well as a friend of Bruno Mars and knew him before he was famous. The other day, I was surprised when a comedian showed an old “Got Milk?” commercial that I remember seeing while growing up. It featured a terrible magician performing in a nursing home. One of the benefits I always will tout to people is that I have zero commute time. As long as you know alternative routes, you can avoid most backups while rushing to get from one end of the ship to the other.
There are plenty of drawbacks as well. You are away from home for months at a time, meaning you can miss a lot of stuff. There are celebrations, holidays, and birthdays that you can’t attend with your friends and family back home. Some are lucky enough to have their families come on during those times, but it is not common. The company tries to let you talk to your family back home via the internet, but it’s not the same as being there in person. I ended up missing large portions of Dungeons and Dragons campaigns while I was away. I still enjoyed the games I played, but I missed a lot of the story and shenanigans that I was informed about later. You also need to have enough discipline to keep everything in moderation. I’ll admit I’ve had some meals that were way too big because it tasted so good. I had to push past the food coma to do my next task. My position also does not have a true back up on this class of ship. If I get sick, there’s no one to fill in for me. I’ve had to suffer in my booth during shows with a cold since it’s not really enough to pull me off duty.
Eh, I’d still choose to work on ships if I had to pick all over again.
It’s no crocodile, but it reminds me of my old home.
New Shows
A common question we get asked is how often does the show change on the ship. While the cast changes out, the shows stay on the ship for years. Every time the cast changes, we go through a process we call “Install” which I have mentioned earlier. The entire cast does a swap out to keep the integrity of the show. A director will come on to ensure the original vision is still there. In some of the minor details, the new cast can change things, but the show should be pretty much the same today as it was when they first put it on the ship. Us techies come and go piecemeal as our contracts start and end. Our production shows end up costing millions to install on a ship from set pieces and costuming to licensing the music and any images used. Everything needs to be designed and placed deliberately on the ship. One of the primary concerns is storage. With how big some of the set pieces can be, there is a battle between shows on how much space any given show can take up. On Explorer, they have a massive set piece which basically separates the orchestra into giant cubby spaces. That is an all hands on deck kind of set up. You need a lot of hands to push the pieces, people to page the curtains and at least one person whose sole job is to be a spotter in case we snag on something. While that show takes a bunch of floor space backstage, the second production show on that ship uses a lot of batons to fly backdrops in and out but has fewer physical pieces. Since we have 3 shows on the ship, our third show, Tango Buenos Aires, takes up the least floor space as well as uses the fewest unique backdrops. I still think Tango Buenos Aires is our best show and I would enjoy it more if I didn’t have to concentrate so hard on running it. Interestingly, this show is a rented show, which I didn’t know we did until they installed it on the ship. This means the show is more akin to a guest performance that has an extended stay on a ship. In fact, we are down to only two guest entertainers brought on instead of three. Usually we bring on a comedian and two performance acts for our week long cruises.
I’m fairly certain our current shows have been here for at least a decade and there are not indications of the company wanting to change any of them out. I only feel one of the sections in the shows we have feel irrelevant, but the rest seem to be going strong. My best guess is that these shows will stay on the ship until it retires in who knows how long.
Anyway, I’ve been rambling. I’ve been told to wait a bit longer to hear back about extending. I miss the days when you knew pretty soon after you made your request if they were going to accept it or not. They seem to be struggling a bit since a lot of techs never came back after the pandemic. I can’t even tell if they’re leaning one way or the other.
Someday, I might see a real one.
My New Year’s Resolution 2024
I resolve to eat less and sleep more.
The Routine Blues
After going on the world cruise, I’m now relaxing by doing one of two itineraries. We’ve mostly been doing Western Caribbean runs with ports in Mexico, Belize, and Honduras, and we’ll start again doing Bahama runs later this year. I have to say, part of me misses going to new and exciting ports every time. There was so much to do and see. From finding a small restaurant while wandering Yokohama to going on an African safari, I was busy exploring every chance I got. It was exhausting. Sometimes, it was nice to be stuck on the ship to catch up on sleep or laundry. For one of those cruises, we had 8 port days in a row. I usually only pack enough clothes to last me a little over a week, so I was cutting it a bit close. Everything was so new on that contract. Now, it’s the opposite.
I’m only getting off the ship a couple of times a week even when I can get off. I’ve been to the ports we’re going to many times, and we’ll be back there soon enough. For that reason, I don’t feel like spending money since I have to pay tourist prices for everything off the ship. Even the onboard specialty restaurants have lost their luster for me. It does help that they don’t have a late night Johnny Rocket’s on the ship anymore. Goodness knows I would be going there way too often. Since I’m not leaving the ship all that much, I think I might try organizing a Dungeons and Dragons group on the ship. I’ve tried playing games with my immediate coworkers, but they don’t always have the drive to play like I do. I’m sure if I reach out, people will come. Even before, one of my players was talking about it and caught the interest of someone from engineering. Unfortunately, I was never able to talk to this person to ask him to join. I’m hoping being able to advertise a group will increase the likelihood of a game happening. I have plans for three games I would run. The first would be a new player campaign group with pre-written characters playing adventures from a book of beginning campaigns I got off of Kickstarter. The campaigns won’t last too long before I end it and start a new one. Hopefully, I can cycle through a bunch of new people and give them a great introduction to the game. The second will be a drop-in campaign with a western theme, where I could take anyone who was available to play. The final would be on would be a group that uses an app that randomly generates a dungeon. The best part about this one is that I could participate since I don’t know what is in the dungeon since I did nothing to prepare it. All I would need to do is facilitate the game which is a lot easier. Plus, there is also the chance that there are other people who are able to DM like me but don’t get a chance to due to not having enough players. I’m just super excited for the possibilities.
Oh, and my New Year’s resolution this year is to lose weight and to be more social.
I’m dreaming of a warm Christmas. Just like the ones I used to know.
Shore Leave 