Where to Travel

On By D. EndoIn Comparing, Cultural, Ports, Ship LifeLeave a comment

When I was helping with a tour once, I heard a father lecture his kids about how lucky they were to be in the midst of so much culture and they should appreciate it. It was clear that this was not their idea of a vacation. Being surrounded by history simply did not interest them in the way it interested their father. As a result, the kids seemed bored and had started to mess around. Now I’m not saying that learning about a different culture is boring and it’s better to go somewhere else, but if you get to choose where you go for vacation, I’m finding it best if you understand yourself.

When choosing a vacation, ask yourself what you want to get out of it. If you’re choosing for a group, will everyone also find something they enjoy? Cruising to an island beach is a great choice for a vacation if you’re into that. Keep in mind, there may be nothing to do on the beach except lie in the sun or swim. The Caribbean and the South Pacific is perfect for this kind of get away. Maybe you want you want to immerse yourself in a foreign culture or use learning history as your way of escaping. Europe and Asia hold some incredible ports. Perhaps you want to see the majesty of nature. Alaska, Norway, and New Zealand have some spectacular views even if they are seasonal and a little cold.

Do your research. How long do you want to spend at sea? How long can you stand with your group? I personally dislike the 14 day cruises. It’s not like I don’t have fun, but it’s just such a long time to be out. It might be better to stick to a weekend cruise and see how you like them. How much do you want to pay? Some things get included in the price while others will cost you a pretty penny extra to add to your enjoyment. How big should the ship be and, by extension, the crowds? Big ships also mean more people flooding off when you get to a port. For some places, that doesn’t matter, but other times, this may ruin a vacation.

These are just some of the things that go through my mind when someone asks about cruising for the first time.

Oh, and the ship might move. Some people are under the impression that with these modern cruise ships are so big, you won’t even know the ship is at sea. This is a friendly reminder that you will be in the middle of a large body of water and attached to nothing. River cruises might get away with no rocking, but all bets are off for seas and oceans.

¿Dònde Està la Biblioteca?

On By D. EndoIn Cultural, PortsLeave a comment

As I walked around Lìmon this cruise, I ran into a problem. Back in high school, I took two years of Spanish. I did fine in the classes, but I never learned it well enough to have a full conversation. Now I kind of regret not trying harder or studying more. I’m used to being able to go into a restaurant near the port and having someone speak at least enough English so I could order what I want. That was not the case in Costa Rica. The food served in the restaurant I had entered was cafeteria style, which seemed to be a popular choice for restaurants there. Nothing was labeled or priced like most of the places I’ve been. I was fortunate enough to have a dock worker who seemed to be fluent enough in English to order for me. I ended up with some fried fish, beans, rice, and fried plantains. When I got to my drink order, it took me a little bit of time to decide between a local drink and something I’m used to. I ended up ordering some root beer as I thought that would be a safe choice for both me and the cashier who did not speak any English. The bottle even said root beer on the side, but it still took a while to communicate what I wanted. The flavors were alright, but now I’m curious about some of the street food stalls they had. I might have gone to them, but I had no small bills and Costa Rica does not have a currency system that matches with the US dollar like the Bahamas or Panama.

I probably don’t need to tell you just how useful it is to learn a foreign language if you want to work on an international cruise ship. I’m still surprised how many of our adult guests do not speak English at all, even though we are an American company. I’ve had to rely on Google Translate a few times now to communicate with guests. And then I’ve had the crew members from the Philipines start talking to me in Filipino which I have absolutely no experience in.

If anyone was wondering, the only thing that has really stuck with me from Spanish classes is the joke of how to ask where the library is. I don’t think I’ve ever had to use that question at any time.

Guest Entertainers

On By D. EndoIn Ship LifeLeave a comment

In addition to our own shows, we get guest entertainers to add variety to a cruise. You may wonder what kind acts do we get. We’ve brought on board a wide variety of acts from singers and tribute bands to jugglers and balance acts. We’ve had a fair number of magicians and ventriloquists as well. Every cruise also has a couple of comedians as well.

Most of our acts have some claim to fame. The comdians are often from comedy competition participants or have been on TV. The singers and magicians have all performed in Las Vegas or have gotten pretty far along in a TV talent competition. Regardless, all of our guest entertainers have something unique about their show. We had a juggler who holds three Guiness World Records, one of which is in regards to how many bowling balls he can kick up to his forehead. A pianist we had played with another famous musician named Liberace for several years. In Russia, we had an entire dance group of a couple dozen peope sing and perform traditional music and dances. I’ve seen a balancing act take a 15 foot ladder and balance it on his face. Even some of the non-guest entertainers are minor celebrities. One of our singers started working on cruise ships because she would get swamped by fans everytime she needed to go to the grocery store. A lounge pianist on the Explorer actually has fans who will book a cruise solely because he is performing on the ship.

Oh, Right… The Blog

On By D. EndoIn Ship LifeLeave a comment

I was going to write in the blog sooner, but I’ve been a bit busy. It really started right after we got to Florida. First we had to deal with the charter cruises. There were over a hundred road cases brought on board. We spent hours bringing them aboard and sorting them. They even made a stage on pool deck. I mean that literally. They raised platforms and added a huge sound system for the bands. Once our charters were done, we had to break down everything and get it all off the ship. That was all fine, but then we went down a stage staff.

Crews operate on a rotating basis. Usually, crew members will cycle out as their contracts are up and new ones cycle in. Entire staffs tend to not change all at once unless the group is a band or the singers and dancers for the production shows. Even the orchestra will follow the usual rotation. In fact, the Music Director mentioned the next few home ports there will be new musicians coming in so he won’t be able to get off the ship to enjoy Florida until next year as he has to stay aboard to meet them. Getting back to new crew members, if there are multiple positions in the same venue that are very similar to the each other, the new crew member is brought in on the same day the old one leaves. For the more unique or specific positions, there is a transition period where the new crew member has a chance to train under the old crew member. This transition period isn’t always necessary as some of these crew members end up returning to the same ship so only notes on the changes are required.

Every now and then, there is no replacement ready to step in once a crew member leaves. Sometimes this is because the person is being sent home due to medical reasons. Other times, it’s because something weird happened with a visa or the paperwork and the replacement can’t come yet. Ultimately, this just means that the people on the team need to step up more than usual to fill the duties of the whole team. Sometimes this can be hard when you only have four people on your team when you’re at capacity. Being a part of cruise division, we had to pull other people to help us during the production shows. Even the cruise director got to work a puppet on the stage to help us out. Things are starting to look up, though. We’re getting a new stage staff today. Soon we’ll be close to normal. I hope.

Adventure is Out There!

On By JoeyIn PortsLeave a comment

You never know what you’ll find when getting off in a port sometimes. I mean, it’s great to plan trips and research where you’ll go. How else will you know that you can see a reef in an actual submarine in Cozumel or see the world’s only cryptozology museum in Portland, Maine? Still, there is something nice in discovering things while simply wandering around. There is a little museum in Philipsburg, Sint Maartin created and run by a man known as “Yoda Guy.” He is an amazing makeup and visual effects artist that has been involved with many great films including Men in Black and, of course, the original Star Wars trilogy. Having made many friendships throughout his career, he was able to get his hands on some amazing pieces of movie history, such as parts of the original scripts for Star Wars as well as some death casts and life casts of famous people. It was a lot of fun.

Souvenirs and Things

On By D. EndoIn Ports2 Comments

As far as souvenirs that I like to bring home, I am now quite partial to magnets and coins. I decided upon magnets that represent the ports of call after my first contract as they are relatively light and easy to transport. When I was packing right before coming home that time, I was having a hard time fitting everything into my suitcase. I ended up buying a second one, and I still was having a hard time making everything fit. My goal this time is to not need to do that. Flights have weight limits for luggage that are more expensive than I want to pay and trying to pack all the extra stuff in my backpack is a bit of a pain. The coins are something I have been collecting for a while. I do not look for rare or old coins, just ones not from the United States. The problem with currency exchange is that you usually cannot use coins when doing a currency exchange, only paper money. While some may complain about this policy, I view it as a relatively cheap souvenir.

There are some ports I do not get off the ship for various reasons and those I do not have any magnets for. It would be easy enough to ask another stage staff or even my roommate to get one for me, but part of the appeal of the magnets for me is finding one that represents what I experienced in the port. I am also trying to avoid rectangular picture magnets as I find that how a magnet is designed and shaped to be important to the experience. Sometimes I just have to make do with what is available. Some examples of places the ship went but I did not get off include the Canary islands, Vanuatu, and St. Johns in Canada.

It is getting really cold in New England and Nova Scotia. In fact, it is raining as we leave Boston one last time. Thank goodness we are changing our itinerary to go out of Florida to the southern Caribbean.