Still in Cologne!

7th of March 2015

Hi Everyone,
First thing I did last Sunday was take the schedule we got in the room apart! It looks stupid and it isn’t easy to read since everything is printed the wrong side up. So now I just take the schedule I need for that one day and leave the rest in my room, why bother with things I don’t need yet?!
It turned out that I will not be having 16 day cruises all the way to the south of France. I will have 8 day cruises, like last year, but this time I will not be going back and forth in one cruise. One cruise will be from Amsterdam to Basel, where we will say goodbye to one group and where we will say hello to the next group, who will be going back to Amsterdam with us. So it will be much the same as last year. I already heard from several people that this is the best cruise, lots of overnights, so you can also go out to see the cities. Which sounds good to me!
The first “real” cruise starts at the end of March or the beginning of April, we will have a christening of the ship first. We’ll have to wait and see how that goes!
I’ve managed to say hello to a lot of familiar faces last Sunday, it was nice to see them all again! But to be honest most people, especially cruisedirectors were too busy saying hello to eachother to talk really. But that’s okay, I only wanted to know if they were going my way this season, but all the cruisedirectors I know are either staying in the south or going somewhere else! O well, I did meet my Hotelmanager and he is really nice!!
We’ve had a busy week so far, first half was more a Avalon-Family talk and that felt quite good! They do see things differently and it does make you feel part of a family. We all want the same things and we’re all going in the same direction. It was good to talk about things we came across last season and be heard. They say they’re going to listen and discus the things we have pointed out to them and come up with solutions. It sounded sincere, but you always have to wait and see!
At one point I was having breakfast with a CEO from the marketing department in Denver and he commented on my English! Then he told me he was going to be in the Netherlands with his family this July, where should he go?! So I told him about a couple of things and later I made a little list for him, with website addresses and everything, he really appreciated that! Point for me!!!
A couple of nights ago we had dinner with all Heads of Department, the HM, the Chef and the Housekeeper. Unfortunately we don’t know who our Maitre’D is going to be. I thought it was a good dinner! The HM asked as all about ourselves and he told us who he is and how he likes to work. For instance he said that he never gives an answer to a question right away, unless of course it’s a matter of life and death, but instead he thinks about it and he’ll come back to you later. He says he doesn’t mind answering all kinds of questions and he’ll be asking me questions as well! Later I told him that I hoped I was able to learn from him and that I really liked his thinking before answering things…sometimes you answer in a certain emotion and you have to change your decision…so I hope I will be able to learn that too!
Yesterday I had a pretty bad day, the more information I got, the more nervous and inadequate I felt! But today I’m doing better! I got a refresher course sort of this morning for the computer system and that really helped! Some other good things about invoices too, but this afternoon was shit. All of a sudden there was nothing for us to do…
This afternoon I had lunch with my HM and again he said some amazing things!! He wants to know about the work I do, he wants to watch with me while I do it and then he wants to try himself, so he can take over when I’m not there. He wants to send his reception team on an excursion with the guest, so we know what happens and are able to answer questions about it! How cool is that??!! Last year, Jayson and I always planned to go, but we never got around to it, because we didn’t want to leave the other behind, plus we didn’t get any support from our HM! I hope we can actually get to do this!!
This morning I also met my second receptionist! I was on one of the ships talking to Geanina and she was there too. Her name is Csilla, she was a nighty last year and trained to become a second. She seems really nice. Not sure which country she is from, but I’ll find out when the season starts!
I’ve asked my HM to consider giving me a cabin by myself. Jayson said that all heads of department were entitled to their own room, but that only applies for the HM and the Chef, so fat chance! Anyway, I told him about what happened last year and that I was definitely not doing that anymore! I also said that since I have to use my brain a lot with all the administrative work, I’m a person that needs to have a quiet place to regroup so to speak. I told him about how I’m sharing a room with someone who snores right now (yes, I have won the jackpot again!) and I will not be able to keep that up for an entire season…Unfortunately for me, so far there are 10 women on board, one of them has a relationship, so they want to be together of course…so we’ll see what happens, I’ll keep my fingers crossed anyway!
So this afternoon I sat outside at the back of the ship, enjoying the sunshine, reading my book and drinking tea! It was really nice!!
It is unfortunate that my roommate snores and has smelly feet, but other than that, she’s really nice! She will be on one of the toughest stretches to the Black Sea.
Tomorrow and Monday we will have some kind of First Aid training, from 8:15am to 6:15pm. Don’t feel like doing it, but I guess it must be done. We’ll also see how that goes! On Tuesday morning I will go back to Arnhem.
Then I got an email that I need to be standby from March 15th, which means I’m most likely to start somewhere between the 15th and the 19th.
It’s going to be a new ship, so I will have to make and print all kinds of signs, make sure everything works and so on! I have been able to get some information from the other receptionists and we have shared some files we have been using from last year. And when I’m home I will start making all the menus….fun job!!! As of this season there’s to be an allergy explanation on all the menus and all the breakfast and lunch signs, according to European law…so everything we did last year has to be redone. Thank god this ship is new, it will not feel like I have made all those signs for nothing!
That’s it for now, talk to you later!
Love
Linda