It was hard getting up this morning at 730 after going to bed around 230, but I drug myself out of bed for MORE TRAINING! This morning was fire safety training. After going over some materials in the conference room, we went up to the aft mooring deck to learn how to use different types of fire extinguishers and hoses. It was really awesome shooting the fire hoses off the back of the ship. They had so much power that the safety officer had to put his hand on my shoulder so I didn't get knocked backwards from the water jet! There was a Carnival ship mored directly behind us and we could shoot from our ship and hit their bow (not sure if Carnival would approve of this)!
After training I went to get some lunch. I saw someone that was on my Quest team from the night before so I sat with Cynthia who is from Brazil. It's nice not to eat alone! We were also joined by one of her friends, Ian from Chili, who is the ship's International Ambassador. Part of his job is to translate for the Captain, so every time the Captain makes an announcement over the PA system, he repeats the announcement in five different languages. Amazing!
It's currently 1215 and I'm debating whether I want to take a nap or go exploring in Barbados. I don't really have any work to do until 1900 and it feels great to just sit in my bed and do nothing.
Edit: I went on land in Barbados, hence this being posted now!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
8.2
Last night I went to the Captain's Reception, a formal event where guests can have their picture taken with the captain, get FREE drinks (this is a popular event), watch some entertainment and meet the first officers. As this was a formal event, I had to wear a tuxedo. The event began at 1900 and as of 1700 I didn't yet have one. Val pulled some strings with someone in HR and I was able to get one from the uniform shop in time for the event. I only had to get the jacket, shirt and bow tie because I'm just going to use my pants and shoes. After we shot enough footage of the event we went up to the broadcast room and edited the segment for the Cruise in Review DVD until around 2330.
Today is a sea day and the Captain made the decision to go to Barbados tomorrow so hopefully the weather will hold out. The seas have been rocky on and off but as I write this things are relatively calm. The cruise director has asked us (the broadcast techs) to display weather maps on one of the TV channels so guests can understand why we have been altering our course, so at least I'm always aware of the latest and greatest weather developments!
This morning I had, you guessed it, more training! This training was about protecting the marine environment and telling us everything RCI does to ensure safe disposal or discharge of all waste products and chemicals. It was actually pretty interesting to learn how they process all the grey and black water for discharge into the ocean. They also discharge the leftover food after it's been processed. Coming from Ithaca I am very experienced in separating my garbage into 4,000 different categories, so I'm sure I won't have any problem abiding by their policies. We also learned about different chemical reactions and proper sterilization techniques. Disease outbreak is taken very seriously and there are so many different places around the crew areas to wash your hands.
This afternoon we shot the International Men's Belly Flop Competition in the deck 11 pool. Luckily the weather held out so we were able to hold the competition. After that we shot some footage on the sports deck before it started raining. From there we went to the Vortex club to shoot this thing called "Gotta Dance" which apparently is this hip hop dance started by the Nicks cheerleaders who then sold the dance routine and music to RC. Today they taught people the dance and then tomorrow at 2000 in the Centrum (midship area that is an open area 10 decks high) they suddenly turn on the music and the passengers start doing this routine they learned similar to a flash mob. Should be interesting.
This evening we shot a short video with the cruise director explaining and highlighting some day 5 activities. Later after dinner they held this rock and roll event with a dance contest in the Centrum. It was pretty crowded and all the guests seemed to have a great time.
After the rock and roll event was over we dumped it into the Avid and then I went back to my cabin to change for a crew party starting at midnight. The event was called Crew Quest, which is a spin off of a game that is played with the (adult) guests in the Safari Lounge. Basically it's a team scavenger hunt where the host asks for different items or actions. Once the team finds the item or performs the action for the host they get a certain number of points depending on the order that they completed the "quest." I joined the Activities Staff team as I had met one of them at lunch earlier that day and they invited me to be on their team. The crew version of this game was, as you can imagine, a tad bit more intense. It started out with things such as "two different colored shoe laces" or "currency not in the form of USD" and towards the end was essentially things like "two guys each wearing a bra on their hands and knees barking like a dog" and a girl wearing men's clothing so I'll let imagine what happened as the night wore on… It was all really fun and my team won!! In fact we crushed everyone by 26 points!
Today is a sea day and the Captain made the decision to go to Barbados tomorrow so hopefully the weather will hold out. The seas have been rocky on and off but as I write this things are relatively calm. The cruise director has asked us (the broadcast techs) to display weather maps on one of the TV channels so guests can understand why we have been altering our course, so at least I'm always aware of the latest and greatest weather developments!
This morning I had, you guessed it, more training! This training was about protecting the marine environment and telling us everything RCI does to ensure safe disposal or discharge of all waste products and chemicals. It was actually pretty interesting to learn how they process all the grey and black water for discharge into the ocean. They also discharge the leftover food after it's been processed. Coming from Ithaca I am very experienced in separating my garbage into 4,000 different categories, so I'm sure I won't have any problem abiding by their policies. We also learned about different chemical reactions and proper sterilization techniques. Disease outbreak is taken very seriously and there are so many different places around the crew areas to wash your hands.
This afternoon we shot the International Men's Belly Flop Competition in the deck 11 pool. Luckily the weather held out so we were able to hold the competition. After that we shot some footage on the sports deck before it started raining. From there we went to the Vortex club to shoot this thing called "Gotta Dance" which apparently is this hip hop dance started by the Nicks cheerleaders who then sold the dance routine and music to RC. Today they taught people the dance and then tomorrow at 2000 in the Centrum (midship area that is an open area 10 decks high) they suddenly turn on the music and the passengers start doing this routine they learned similar to a flash mob. Should be interesting.
This evening we shot a short video with the cruise director explaining and highlighting some day 5 activities. Later after dinner they held this rock and roll event with a dance contest in the Centrum. It was pretty crowded and all the guests seemed to have a great time.
After the rock and roll event was over we dumped it into the Avid and then I went back to my cabin to change for a crew party starting at midnight. The event was called Crew Quest, which is a spin off of a game that is played with the (adult) guests in the Safari Lounge. Basically it's a team scavenger hunt where the host asks for different items or actions. Once the team finds the item or performs the action for the host they get a certain number of points depending on the order that they completed the "quest." I joined the Activities Staff team as I had met one of them at lunch earlier that day and they invited me to be on their team. The crew version of this game was, as you can imagine, a tad bit more intense. It started out with things such as "two different colored shoe laces" or "currency not in the form of USD" and towards the end was essentially things like "two guys each wearing a bra on their hands and knees barking like a dog" and a girl wearing men's clothing so I'll let imagine what happened as the night wore on… It was all really fun and my team won!! In fact we crushed everyone by 26 points!
8.1
This morning I woke up around 645 and hopped into my mini shower. As I was showering I suddenly noticed that I was standing in water. Not a small amount of water that normally collects when you shower, but probably about 3 or 4 inches of water. It suddenly occurred to me that my drain was not draining. I quickly turned off the water to assess the situation. I was standing there covered in soap not able to see a thing without my glasses but didn't want to turn the water back on as I had already begun to flood my phone booth of a bathroom. So soaking wet I quickly tiptoed into my room and grabbed a cup. I began bailing my bathroom floor into the toilet. After a few minutes I had taken the water level down enough to turn the water on a bit to get the soap off of me. Now I was running late so I quickly put on my uniform and ran to the other end of the ship for my training session.
It is amazing how much safety training I am required to attended. This morning I again had about four hours of safety and security training. I got to met the captain (Captain Karen). Last night I found out she is the first woman to be captain of a cruise ship! We were also introduced to the first officers of engineering, security, safety, medical and HR. There are so many acronyms and code words my head is already starting to spin. Announcements over the PA system such as "Alpha Alpha Alpha, zone 5, deck 7, port" means Alpha=medical emergency and zone 5 = fire zone 5 (there are seven fire zones on the ship created by bulkheads and fire and watertight doors). Every employee has an emergency card that declares what the crew member's duty is and the location they should report to in each type of emergency (medical, fire, grounding/collision and security threat).
This morning the first safety officer showed us how to operate fire and splash doors. We then went outside and I had completely forgotten we had changed locations and walked out onto the deck to see beautiful water and the island of St. Croix. I could also see a ball park right off of the beach! We were shown all the different types of life and rescue crafts as well as the passenger muster stations. Later in the week I'll also be trained in fire, survival, crowd control and first aid. It's going to be a busy week!
It is amazing how much safety training I am required to attended. This morning I again had about four hours of safety and security training. I got to met the captain (Captain Karen). Last night I found out she is the first woman to be captain of a cruise ship! We were also introduced to the first officers of engineering, security, safety, medical and HR. There are so many acronyms and code words my head is already starting to spin. Announcements over the PA system such as "Alpha Alpha Alpha, zone 5, deck 7, port" means Alpha=medical emergency and zone 5 = fire zone 5 (there are seven fire zones on the ship created by bulkheads and fire and watertight doors). Every employee has an emergency card that declares what the crew member's duty is and the location they should report to in each type of emergency (medical, fire, grounding/collision and security threat).
This morning the first safety officer showed us how to operate fire and splash doors. We then went outside and I had completely forgotten we had changed locations and walked out onto the deck to see beautiful water and the island of St. Croix. I could also see a ball park right off of the beach! We were shown all the different types of life and rescue crafts as well as the passenger muster stations. Later in the week I'll also be trained in fire, survival, crowd control and first aid. It's going to be a busy week!
7.31
I woke up this morning around 620, showered and shaved so I didn't look like a mountain man and then proceeded to grab some breakfast and wait for the shuttle to the pier. There were probably about 15 or 20 people who were waiting to join Serenade that were staying at my hotel. Most were speaking other languages and I looked to be the only American. It was pretty clear that most had done this routine before and maybe 2 or 3 were new hires like me. The shuttle arrived and took us on a short 5 minute ride to the pier. As we neared the pier I could see 2 cruise ships and instantly recognized the Serenade from pictures I have seen.
We drove along the pier and I got my first look of my home for 7 months. She's a huge ship. I've never been up close to a cruise ship before and they are very impressive looking! As I ogled at the ship the vans stopped and we all got out and grabbed our luggage. We were met by two officers who checked our passports and employment documents. Then this massive garage door opened and we went inside this warehouse type of building.
We put our bags on X-ray machines and had them scanned. They found my Letherman and other tools (which I'm allowed to have), but I had to check them in through security and will pick them up later. We then lined all of our lugged up in a long single file line and stood shoulder to shoulder against a wall facing the line of luggage. Three officers each with a dog walked up and down the line as the dogs sniffed each and every bag multiple times. It was a pretty intense process but they didn't find anything. We then went to another section of this massive building to go through metal detectors.
After all of the security we finally boarded the ship through the crew gangway on deck 2. We went up to a conference room on deck 5 where we received some paper work and had our medical records double checked. I was given my room key and an emergency card the tells me my position and duty on the ship if there is an emergency. I was then met by Paula, who works in the entertainment division (it has some name but I forget what it is). She told me she was going to show me around because the other 2 broadcast techs were busy at that moment. It turns out there are only two broadcast techs on the ship and I am replacing one of them. There will be three of us for about two weeks and then the person I am replacing will leave.
Paula gave me a quick tour of a few guest areas and then we descended into the crew areas. There is a main passage called "I-95" that runs the length of the ship on deck two. This is the main artery where the crew can move laterally in the ship without going into guest areas. Paula showed me to my room which is forward on deck four. I'll be staying in an ECC (extra crew cabin) for about two weeks until the broadcast tech leaves and then I will take her cabin.
The ECC cabin is very small. It's probably a little smaller than Allison's bathroom and has bunk beds, but I'm told I'll be the only one staying in it. I have a TV and small fridge as well as bathroom with shower. The bathroom sort of feels like something you'd use in an RV.
I'm currently just hanging out in my cabin waiting for Kurtis (the head broadcast tech) to give me a call so we can meet up. This afternoon I will pick up my luggage and attend safety meetings. I'm told my training schedule will be a little different than they normally are this week because RCI executives from Miami are onboard for a few days until we drop them off in Barbados. They are holding meetings that the higher ups who typically train new hires have to attend, so my schedule will be a little screwy.
I met up with Kurt and he showed me the broadcast room as well as the cinema and other areas of the ship where screens are located that we manage. Kurt's a nice guy and has been working with RCI for twelve years. He's friendly and pretty much carries the attitude of "I've been doing this on various ships around the world for twelve years so I'll do whatever I what."
That afternoon I met Val, the other broadcast tech. She's really nice and is actually from PENNSYLVANIA (a small town near Pittsburgh)! She was super pumped to actually meet someone not only from the United States but Pennsylvania. She's worked for RCI for about 2 years. I'll be shooting and editing events with her this week and next. Unfortunately both Kurt and Val will be leaving in two weeks, so I'll be working with some broadcast tech from Romania.
We left San Juan last night and our first port was suppose to be Barbados, but there is a tropical storm forming so the captain made the decision to not go down to Barbados but stop in St. Croix instead. It is unclear where we will be going next as they are still monitoring the storm system. I believe tomorrow may be a sea day until a decision can be made about the next port.
This evening I sat in the broadcast room for the Welcome Aboard show, which takes place in the main theatre. We record the show's using remote cameras and then broadcast it again later though out the ship. Shorty after the ship got underway, I sat in my rolley chair and realized that I could actually feel the ship moving. When you move throughout the crew area's you never have to see outside so I had no idea we had left San Juan. As the show was going on we got an e-mail with the subject line "Secure for Seas." Apparently this e-mail gets sent when the ship may encounter some movement that could cause unsecured items to shift. It seemed that the tropical storm was starting to stir up with waters. The broadcast room is high up on deck 11 so the movement is sometime amplified.
After the show I went back down to my cabin around 00:15 and headed to bed. I actually really enjoyed lying in bed feeling the ship rock and listening to everything creak and moan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)