Go F12

On By D. EndoIn TerminologyLeave a comment

The other day it struck me as interesting that sometimes we as a society forget the origins of phrases and even lose information that used to be common. Sometimes, no one writes down something because it was common. In the 19th century, Victorians had three shakers at the table: salt, pepper, and the third one. What was the third one? We don’t know. No one thought to write down what was always on the table. Why would society ever forget that common information? We have some pretty solid ideas about what it could be, but we cannot know for certain. Or the phrase with someone to the bitter end. There actually is such thing as a bitter end. That’s the bit of rope that’s tied off to something, such as the part of the anchor line that’s tied to the ship. I grew up thinking that it meant that you were going to be there even when things got terrible. I mean, I guess it still does, but I thought that was the only thing it meant. For a modern example, we say we dial a phone when the phone usually doesn’t have a dial anymore. I imagine a time far in the future where people say they’re dialing a phone and have no idea why they say that. What got me on this thought train was hearing the command to start the show “Go f12” from the production manager. Now, I know why he said that because I was around when our show system was started advanced forward in cues by pressing the f12 key. We have since upgraded our system so all we have to do is click a button. Years from now, I wonder if “Go f12” is just going to be the signal we use to start the show and no one questions why even though no one in the team was around for the old system.

Oh, and it’s going to be a hectic month. We have three weeks of cast install followed by Christmas and New Year’s. I hope I get enough rest.

Still no news about if I get to stay longer, but they have taken my request under advisement.

Back in the Swing of Things

On By D. EndoIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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.

Around the World Again

On By D. EndoIn Goals, Ports, Ship LifeLeave a comment

I made a blunder. I forgot to check, and now I have two magnets for Napoli. Oh well, I guess it wasn’t that expensive. Anyway, I’m about to go home which means I’ll have now gone around the world twice. I’ve had a lot of fun seeing new ports, but now I’m tired. We’ve had a lot of new acts come onboard the ship. There have been many interesting shows to program from the aerial duos to the local groups that have to be kicked off before we set sail. I’m a little sick of some song selections as they are quite popular for acts to select and I can’t wait to get on a ship and have consistency of ports and acts. Really, I cannot express just how tired I am. The worst of it is, I really want to get out in the ports because I don’t know when I’ll be back. My next contract has me seeing new Alaskan ports but also very common Caribbean ports as well. I’m even swinging by San Francisco so I might be able to invite my family on for the day.

Even though I saw so much, I know there are places I was and was not able to see where I want to go. I went to quite a few Asian amusement parks that I want to see again. I had some awesome cuisine from their countries of origin, but that only scratches the surface on what I could have eaten. I went on an African Safari, but I wasn’t able to see giraffes or elephants. The ship sailed past Null Island in the middle of the night when I needed to sleep. Ok, there isn’t much to see at Null Island but still. Doing all of this just emphasizes how much there is to experience out there and how little I have actually seen. I’m no closer to accomplishing my goal of circumnavigating the globe, but I have seen a lot more of the world than I ever thought I would. I keep telling guests that if you had told me even six years ago when I was just starting in the company that this is what I would do, I would never have believed it. I’ve been to Cuba. I’ve been to Japan. I’ve been to South Africa. While I’m sad that this job keeps me away from home, I can’t wait to get on my next ship.

Oh, and I can now add Margherita pizza and carbonara in Italy to the list of things I’ve eaten.

My Challenge

On By D. EndoIn Goals, Ports, Ship LifeLeave a comment

Six Continents down, one to go. The only downside is I’ll have to book my own trip to Antartica since no Royal Caribbean ship has any walking tours on the continent.

I have to say, I’ve really enjoyed my time in Africa. I went on an African safari and had some really good ostrich on a skewer. I saw three of the Big Five while on safari. I’m just missing the tallest and the largest, oddly enough. My constant challenge, as is always on this world cruise, is finding a magnet with the port name. I’ve gotten lucky several times and have only missed one magnet so far since I wasn’t able to go to a place with heavy tourism. One of the hardest things to deal with is the currency. I will say this for the Caribbean, Europe, and Australia, I really miss having a common currency. I now have a bunch of foreign paper currency that I don’t really know what to do with. At this point, it’s doubtful I’ll be going to those places again. I don’t know if I should just hold on to it or see what my bank can do with them. I’m just lucky that the dollar is strong enough to be accepted when my credit card isn’t. Well, I’ll be in Europe soon enough and then I’ll be back home a few weeks after that.

You would not believe how hard it is to find a simple magnet with the port magnet. The hardest I had to look for one on this trip was in Osaka when I went to Universal Studios there. It was amazing and I highly recommend going there if you get the chance. I went to pretty much every store looking for something with either Osaka or Universal Studios Japan written on it. None of their magnets could be identified specifically from that theme park. I was just about to give up when I saw a Hard Rock Cafe by the City Walk entrance. I bought my most expensive magnet there at about $20 for a single magnet that could represent my time there. Lucky me.

Anyway, now I’m looking forward to delicious Italian food.

The New Plan

On By D. EndoIn Ports, Ship LifeLeave a comment

There’s never a dull moment at sea. We’re currently heading toward Dubai with stops in India. It’s been quite exhilarating to explore places I never thought I’ld go. If you told me ten years ago, this is where my life was heading, I wouldn’t believe you. Of course, I probably said the same thing when doing children’s theatre and touring up and down California.

Anyway, as we head to Dubai, there’s been a snag in the itinerary. The original plan was to head for the Suez Canal and spend some time in the Eastern Mediterranean. Due to instability in the area, it is not safe to use that route. Instead, we are going the long way around Africa. There are some guests who are upset to the point where they are getting off in Dubai and having their own adventures before rejoining the ship. Others are staying on the ship and just going with the flow. To be fair, those that are staying aboard will be able to say they sailed around the world taking no short cuts through canals so that’s something. I will say, I’m a little disappointed about not being able to go see the pyramids or visit Athens again. There was a painting of the acropolis in Athens that I really wanted to buy but decided not to last time I went through the area. I regret that decision. Someday, I’ll go back to Athens and will be able to get one but not this cruise. We eventually will get back to our original itinerary, but this does cut down on the Mediterranean ports to make up for the time traveled around Africa.

I’m excited to go to Madagascar and Cape Town among other places. Perhaps I’ll try for a wild safari while we’re there. I’m not sure what to expect, though I am happy I don’t have to worry about a yellow fever vaccine since I already got one. A lot of guests were not expecting to need it until the itinerary made it mandatory when visiting certain ports. I saw long lines in medical, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so full.

I can’t wait to say I’ve walked on six continents.

Work Comes First

On By D. EndoIn Goals, Ports, Ship LifeLeave a comment

Well, I was thoroughly disappointed on this second trip to Australia. I was told when I was thinking about joining cruise ships that one of the benefits was the amount of travel you get to do. There should a an asterisk next to the travel because of the potential problems with that statement. For example, one of the biggest ships in the fleet is doing three and four day cruises to the Bahamas. This means they are seeing the exact same ports over and over again. The route is leave from the east coast of Florida, go to Nassau, go to Coco Cay, and back to Florida. I should know. I’ve did this route as part of my first contract with Royal Caribbean. It does come with some benefits to new hires. You can easily get things you may want or need as your home port is never too far away. I didn’t have to worry about a language barrier anywhere I went as English is the most common language in the Bahamas. It did get boring. Thank goodness I got a change in itinerary.

Anyway, back to Australia, the last time I came through the area, I wasn’t able to see the Great Barrier Reef due to weather. I was all set to go on a crew tour and they had to cancel because the weather was too rough to even get ashore. I was super excited because I would have minimal duties that day as we were staying quite late so it wasn’t worth it to have an evening performance in the theater, so we made it a movie night instead. Seeing as I didn’t have to rush back for a rehearsal, I booked a ticket to go see the reef. The weather was going to be hot but nice for traveling. Everything was all set. Then came time to get off the ship, and here is another instance of that asterisk coming into play. If I was able to get off the ship by noon, I probably would have made my tour, but there is one thing that needed to happen before I could do that. I needed the captain to permit shore leave to the crew. In order to get that to happen, all guests who wanted to leave the ship right away needed to be off loaded first. Due to some difficulty in this process, I could only wait as time ticked away. By the time shore leave was granted, it was almost 1 PM. There was no way for me to make it to the boat to take me to the reef. I ended up just wandering in the town, which I often do. It wasn’t all bad, but it could have been better if I could have gotten off the ship by the time I wanted. Maybe next time.

I have decided that I will only buy tickets for things when I know I can do them. I may miss out on some things that sell out early, but at least I won’t waste as much money regarding missing a sight seeing trip.

On the bright side, I was able to go to Disneyland Hong Kong and see pandas, so this cruise was not a complete loss.