For those of you that know my mom, this post will make you laugh...
The last night of our last cruise, we had a pretty big lineup, and this lady comes to the desk, and she was from Canada. She went to someone else, and she said that I had helped her yesterday, or at least spoken with her, so she had brought me something. And just what did she have? Two boxes of girl guide cookies. She said that she was a comissioner, and I replied that my family was in guiding, so I understood. Anyway, this actually did sort of make my night, it made me think of home. Of course, I realize that I might be sort of creating a monster, maybe the next time my mom goes cruising she'll start packing boxes of cookies in her suitcase.
Anyway, only just over 2 weeks until I'm home. I don't have flights yet, but I should know in the next couple of days. I think I'll just have to do like I did last time, and do a bunch of posts once I get home with lots of pictures. I hope everything is going fine in Canada, and hopefully the weather is getting nicer for me.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Randomness
Okay, so I have mostly given up on doing many posts. Just no fun without putting up pictures. I'm getting near the end of this contract, which I think is a good thing... starting to get cranky with the guests.
It really surprises me how many people sort of put their brains in "sleep mode" when they're on vacation. Like the lady who a few cruises ago comes to the desk almost in tears. She had just received all of her bags except for one, and now couldn't remember whether she picked it up from the airport or not. I explained to her that it isn't uncommon for the bags to get separated and arrive at different times to the room. Had her fill out our report for lost luggage anyway, just in case, and had someone call the lost & found at the airport for her. And when she filled out the description of the bag? Bright red duffle bag. How do you miss that at the airport? And isn't it the most important thing before you leave the airport to make sure that you have all your bags, and to make sure that they are in fact your bags? Surprisingly for a lot of people it's not...
Our department is in the middle of planning an all-crew party in the Starquest Disco. Should be fun, but it's a lot of work. This is going to happen next cruise.
Really, lately I don't seem to have too much time to do much of anything. Although I have had time to figure out that if I work out my hourly wage with my salary, I get paid somewhere in the range of $5.50 -$6.80 an hour. And they wonder why we have such high turnover...
I do have a day off next cruise too, which I think I'm taking in Rhodes. Hopefully that will be interesting. Or at least relaxing. This cruise we have lots of kids because of Easter and March break, which is of course bringing out the crazies. Only 7 more days left of the cruise. And then only 2 more cruises left before I sign off, which is still listed as being May 11th.
It really surprises me how many people sort of put their brains in "sleep mode" when they're on vacation. Like the lady who a few cruises ago comes to the desk almost in tears. She had just received all of her bags except for one, and now couldn't remember whether she picked it up from the airport or not. I explained to her that it isn't uncommon for the bags to get separated and arrive at different times to the room. Had her fill out our report for lost luggage anyway, just in case, and had someone call the lost & found at the airport for her. And when she filled out the description of the bag? Bright red duffle bag. How do you miss that at the airport? And isn't it the most important thing before you leave the airport to make sure that you have all your bags, and to make sure that they are in fact your bags? Surprisingly for a lot of people it's not...
Our department is in the middle of planning an all-crew party in the Starquest Disco. Should be fun, but it's a lot of work. This is going to happen next cruise.
Really, lately I don't seem to have too much time to do much of anything. Although I have had time to figure out that if I work out my hourly wage with my salary, I get paid somewhere in the range of $5.50 -$6.80 an hour. And they wonder why we have such high turnover...
I do have a day off next cruise too, which I think I'm taking in Rhodes. Hopefully that will be interesting. Or at least relaxing. This cruise we have lots of kids because of Easter and March break, which is of course bringing out the crazies. Only 7 more days left of the cruise. And then only 2 more cruises left before I sign off, which is still listed as being May 11th.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Stupid Computer
Okay, so I had every good intention of posting not one, but two (yes TWO) posts today, both with pictures... but alas, the internet is not letting me upload photos to the website, I keep getting an error message, and it won't take the pictures. So, no pictures for you. But I did try. I promise.
On the cruising side of things, we just had some more changes to our team. Last cruise two people left, Marcelo, the Brazilian who was here my first contract too, and Hugo, who is from Mexico and is transferring to another ship after his vacation. So we have 3 new team members, since Betsy is covering the vacation of the concierge.
We now have Rosa from Portugal, Nick from Romania, and Simona from Italy/South Africa. We're starting to get a bit of a Romanian mafia going at the desk, we have 2 others as well. Maybe I'll start to pick up some Romanian.
In other news, I did get to the pyramids, and you would have seen the pictures, but the internet is stupid. Don't blame me, blame the internet. You'll just have to wait for another day to see the pictures.
On the cruising side of things, we just had some more changes to our team. Last cruise two people left, Marcelo, the Brazilian who was here my first contract too, and Hugo, who is from Mexico and is transferring to another ship after his vacation. So we have 3 new team members, since Betsy is covering the vacation of the concierge.
We now have Rosa from Portugal, Nick from Romania, and Simona from Italy/South Africa. We're starting to get a bit of a Romanian mafia going at the desk, we have 2 others as well. Maybe I'll start to pick up some Romanian.
In other news, I did get to the pyramids, and you would have seen the pictures, but the internet is stupid. Don't blame me, blame the internet. You'll just have to wait for another day to see the pictures.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
New Itineraries
Okay, so as many people have pointed out to me, it has been a long time since I made a post. And I have yet to post any pictures yet either... but I have many reasons (ahem, excuses), as to why...
First of all, we had the 2 long holiday cruises. These were 14 & 15 day cruises, which I discovered is far too long to have the same guests onboard. Especially when they are extremely needy guests with lots of complaints. Especially when you have a new supervisor who basically does not now how to do even the simplest of guest services tasks... But really, I would just rather not think about those two cruises now, they are thankfully in the past.
Right now we have started our two new itineraries, which we will be doing until the end of my contract here - May 22nd is my sign-off day, and I am counting down the days already... Basically we have 2 cruises that we alternate between. There's the Morocco & Canary Islands cruise, and then the Greek Isles & Egypt cruise.
Learning about the new ports has definitely been interesting... especially since we don't have all that much information on the ports, but we have managed to struggle through. I finally made it out into Egypt last cruise. We had some technical difficulties the cruise before, with the person who I was supposed to go out with's shore pass going missing. I have not yet made it to the pyramids, but hopefully soon. This time we managed to get to the shopping mall in a taxi, which was quite an experience in itself. As we left the port in the taxi, I started seeing a few carts with horses pulling them. I mistakenly thought that these were just a tourist trap. Not so much. The cars have to share the roads with lots of horses and carts, and driving between the lines is pretty much not a concern for people. Neither is crossing at a corner, or while the light is green, or even while cars are stopped. These people have no fear I tell you. I on the other hand, had lots of fear. I don't think I will be going out walking around any time soon.
Anyway, our new itinerary has been interesting, and I will write more later, however I am doing laundry, and it is just about time to put it in the dryers. We are having problems with the crew internet working in our cabins, so it is a bit more difficult to get online and post lately. Hopefully they will have things fixed soon.
First of all, we had the 2 long holiday cruises. These were 14 & 15 day cruises, which I discovered is far too long to have the same guests onboard. Especially when they are extremely needy guests with lots of complaints. Especially when you have a new supervisor who basically does not now how to do even the simplest of guest services tasks... But really, I would just rather not think about those two cruises now, they are thankfully in the past.
Right now we have started our two new itineraries, which we will be doing until the end of my contract here - May 22nd is my sign-off day, and I am counting down the days already... Basically we have 2 cruises that we alternate between. There's the Morocco & Canary Islands cruise, and then the Greek Isles & Egypt cruise.
Learning about the new ports has definitely been interesting... especially since we don't have all that much information on the ports, but we have managed to struggle through. I finally made it out into Egypt last cruise. We had some technical difficulties the cruise before, with the person who I was supposed to go out with's shore pass going missing. I have not yet made it to the pyramids, but hopefully soon. This time we managed to get to the shopping mall in a taxi, which was quite an experience in itself. As we left the port in the taxi, I started seeing a few carts with horses pulling them. I mistakenly thought that these were just a tourist trap. Not so much. The cars have to share the roads with lots of horses and carts, and driving between the lines is pretty much not a concern for people. Neither is crossing at a corner, or while the light is green, or even while cars are stopped. These people have no fear I tell you. I on the other hand, had lots of fear. I don't think I will be going out walking around any time soon.
Anyway, our new itinerary has been interesting, and I will write more later, however I am doing laundry, and it is just about time to put it in the dryers. We are having problems with the crew internet working in our cabins, so it is a bit more difficult to get online and post lately. Hopefully they will have things fixed soon.
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