Starting to Get Settled

Okay, so I figure that I should give this blogging thing an actual try, so that I don't have to send as many emails. Of course, I do still like getting emails! For those of you that don't know, I'm working a six month contract with Royal Caribbean on the Brilliance of the Seas. The ship will be travelling around the Caribbean for the first bit, and then Europe for the last while I'm onboard.

So, getting on the ship was definitely an experience in itself. I found out a week and a half before I was to be on the ship that I actually had a contract. So, that meant lots of running around and renewing my passport, getting a medical done, medical tests, and shopping for things I would need for the next six months.

I finally got everything in, and by three days before I was to get onboard, I finally had everything in and realized that it might actually happen that I would get on the ship. But of course, even getting to the ship had its difficulties. When I arrived in Miami, the hotel that I was told to call for my shuttle told me that I wasn't on their list, so that I would have to contact my recruiting company at home. $40 in phone cards to home and lots of messages with the company, I found an emergency number to call, and figured out that I was put in another hotel.

At the hotel I was put in a room with another girl from Guyana who was supposed to work in the kitchen. Then in the morning we boarded a bus, and had an hour drive as they went to all the hotels to pick up crew for two of the ships. Then when we finally got to the pier, there was lots of waiting and scanning our luggage, then they finally started letting us through to get on board. Of course, I wasn't on their first list, so I had to wait aside even longer to get through.

By 11am I was onboard, and filled out more forms, they looked over my medical tests (for syphilis, hepatitis A,B,&C, as well as tuberculosis, and my cholesterol among others...). Then I was picked up by someone from my team, and it was on to training right away!

So, since then I've gone through lots of trainings, the first cruise I had one pretty much every day, for things like Royal Caribbean standards, lifeboat and safety training, harrassment training, drug and alcohol policy training, and on, and on, and on...

Anyway, I've mostly been working on getting used to life onboard now, while trying to get everything figured out for the job. I'm doing alright, but it's just figuring out who to call when things go wrong, or how things get done here. I feel like I don't know anything, and I'm having to ask a lot of questions, but I guess that's the only way I'll actually learn. Today they let me know that I am picking things up quickly, and they're not used to people doing it so fast, so that made me feel good, and I know I'm doing okay so far.

I don't know if/how often I'll be able to publish photos, because I don't think I can on the ship, but later on I'll see if I'm able to in ports.