Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

On cruise ships everyone starts their contract at different times. The production cast is the only group onboard that comes as a unit and leaves as a unit. None of is can be transferred or extend our contracts individually because we were hired as a collective group out of Vegas and through Mike Moloney Productions. This is not the case for everyone else. Anyone that works on this ship comes alone and leaves alone. They have a contract that has an expiration date unique to anyone else’s, and to keep too many new people coming at the same time, people are constantly coming in to replace each other. Transfers and promotions also happen, so if there is a position that needs to be filled on another ship and someone here is extremely good at their job, they will be pulled from their spot on the Century and upgraded to one of the higher-class ships.

Understandably, this makes sense on the business end, but for the people here it can be really difficult. We are starting to get to the point in my contract where people we have made friends with are leaving the ship for one of the reasons above. Waiters who have gotten used to seeing our faces in the dinning area, Broadcasters who have been filming everything we do, Audio Visual Technicians who help is with set changes and costume changes backstage, and even our Cruise Director who organizes our schedule and introduces every show. Were loosing them all to vacations and promotions.

One the one side we are happy for them, that they get to go home and see their families or that they get to make more money on a better ship with better conditions, but on the other side it means that we have to start from square one with a new guy or girl. We loose the people who we have started to call family in this house that moves on water, and it isn’t so easy to get along with everyone when your trapped on the same ship everyday. After this next cruise (of which mom and dad will join me), we loose more people then I care to think about, and though this may be part of the cruise ship life that one must learn to accept, it really sucks.

Becoming Old Hat

Today I drove an ATV around the island of Mykonos, Greece to get to the beach. It was amazing, and kind of scary at first, but altogether awesome. The roads winded up and down the hills so that the view consisted of deep valleys and vast countryside, freckled with white houses and apartments.

The next time I will be visiting this island, I will be accompanied by Ken and Karen Brown. Needles to say I am very excited. I have already started to write down the things we will be doing and seeing at each port.

While in the Mediterranean we switch between two different itinerary. The first includes Sicily,Italy; Mykonos, Greece; Kusadasi, Turkey; Athens, Greece; Naples, Italy; Rome, Italy; Florence, Italy; and Nice, France. The second includes Rome, Italy; Florence, Italy; and Nice, France; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Venice, Italy; Split, Croatia; and Naples, Italy. The ports are becoming more and more familiar. When we get off at each place we now know the right spots to eat where they won’t charge you an extra 5 Euros because you’re a tourist, the places with free Wifi, and the restaurant owners or bartenders that remember who we are and give us specials on dinners and drinks. The languages are getting easier to separate, although every once in a while I have moments where I say Gracias in Croatia, or Merci in Italy, but I usually realize my mistake and laugh enough so that the people I am trying to communicate with laugh with me.

This cruise life can get tedious, especially because of our 12-day cruises, we only have shows every 3 days or so. Diego and I teach a dance class every sea day but that is only about 4 times a cruise. On other mornings we have duties such as Debark (helping the passengers get off the ship), Shore Excursions (helping the guests get to the busses for their guided tours), and Tendering (handing tickets and managing the crowds as the tender boats take groups of guests to the ports we don’t dock in). With all of this there is still a decent amount of time to kill during the day. I used to take long naps, but these would lead to minor comas, and leave me super lethargic for a little less then a week. As of today I have not allowed myself to take any naps anymore, and I have been going to the gym instead. Having this time opened up for me, thanks to my lack of napping, I have been able to get a lot done that I normally wouldn’t. I can do my laundry when it is a manageable amount rather then a load so heavy I can barely carry it down the stairs. I can iron the dress shirts and other things that desperately need it, and that I was ignoring but still wearing, hoping that no one noticed. I have repaired a few pieces of clothing that needed minor adjustments, and I hand washed my dresses, because the dry cleaning hasn’t been repaired yet. I have also been able to enjoy more time on deck 7 (our crew deck, at the bow of the ship) while we sail. Whether it’s a half hour here and 2 hours there, the Vitamin D gives me more then any 3 hour nap could. All in all, not taking naps is helping me make the most out of my experience here, and allowing me to take advantage of everything this hotel on water has to offer.

There are only 11 more cruises left in my contract until I fly home from Miami. In 2, my parents will be here and they will mark the halfway point of this journey of mine.

The first thing I will do when I get home is stand in front of the open fridge. Then I will grab some fruit and plop myself down on the spot in the middle of the couch in front of the TV. 11 more cruises and 111 more days to go.