Hello Again

August 3rd 2014
Well, it is August already, time sure flies!
I have had my two weeks of being a Senior in Jayson’s place and I did pretty good if I do say do myself! The first week we had Sabine for Cruise Director and she was a real dragon! Absolutely no communication! Every day something was wrong, mostly because she didn’t talk to us or she wasn’t around for us to ask her anything! I mean I know it was my first time as a Senior, but this couldn’t all be my fault. Luckily the HM thought the same! And then at the end she send me this email saying how we were such a great team and how well we were doing in Jayson’s absence…as if he’s the entire reception team… Then later the HM told me that she had said that when she realized Jayson wasn’t here, she was worried, but that we did alright in the end! Anyway, I was glad when she was gone and so were most of us, thank god that was her last cruise here!
The second week we got Tony and he’s a real nice man, that week went absolutely great! Except for the fact that our printer wasn’t working! Tony likes to make copies of everything for the guests, so he has at least a pile of handouts every day…he wasn’t too happy about the printer being out, but neither were we and it all worked out in the end. I managed to close accounts and make reservations for taxis, very happy that Jayson is back to do that last bit, because the lady that takes the reservations was a total bitch! First time I called I couldn’t understand what she had asked me and she started screaming at me!! Next time I will tell her to start speaking Dutch to me! At least I was trying and in the end I did everything right, so it wasn’t a big problem, she was probably just not having her day or something.
Jayson got back last Monday, late at night! He was supposed to come back in the evening, but his flight in Frankfurt was delayed and he missed his flight in London to Paris. Then he was told to get a hotel for the night, because he couldn’t get another flight. But he’s from the Fillipines and his visa isn’t valid in London, England is not part of the Schengen treaty, so he could not stay in London. Or he would be like Tom Hanks in The Terminal! So he explained his situation and of course they were glad to get rid of him! He got the last ticket back to Paris, where he came on board at 12:30 am, just as I was closing the accounts.
I was glad to hand him back his job on Tuesday! Tony and I managed all the departures, which I thought would be chaos, but we managed! There were only a couple of people with pre-arranged transfers and then there were 3 big groups that needed transportation. Tony took care of the groups and I handled the taxis. In the end it all went as smooth as ever!
When they were pretty much all gone I went back to my own job and left the closing of the cruise to Jayson. It was good to go back to what I was doing before. I kind of liked being a Senior, but I was also very nervous about it. Especially Mondays and Tuesdays, for some reason those days were always more stressful being a Senior. I guess it has more to do with me then being a Senior, but I managed to get through it. Haven’t had any complaints yet.
Last Tuesday we got the new group in the afternoon with Yvette as the Cruisedirector…now Yvette is stress…can’t explain it, but I feel it, as soon as she walks into the ship, there’s stress in the atmosphere..very annoying.
But I ended up getting a great gift from her! On this cruise one of the suites was empty, normally a Cruisedirector is supposed to as guests if they would like to have an upgrade. But this time she took the opportunity to take that suite for herself and she’s right! But her room would be empty and she thought it was a shame that no one would use it. So she asked us why we wouldn’t take it and I said I wouldn’t mind, especially since I’m sharing a cabin with the hairdresser and her boyfriend just got back on the ship afte a two week vacation. The hairdresser was already cranky about not being able to get him back in the cabin, because I’m there. Which is understandable, but it makes me feel like a guest in her cabin and an unwanted one at that.
So she said it would be a great idea, but I’m a crewmember, we’re not allowed to be in the guest area. So she said she would talk to the HM about it, she offered her the cabin first, but she didn’t want it and then she suggested I take it, so the hairdresser and her boyfriend could be together.
And she agreed!!! I asked her if she wouldn’t get into trouble with the company, but if no one is going to tell them, then who’s to know! So I got my stuff and moved to the Cruisedirector room, which is on the 3rd floor!! The hairdresser was of course happy about it and so was I!!! One week of not having to be afraid of hitting my head at the ceiling because I’m in the top bunk. A week of not having to be afraid I’d break my neck climbing out of bed ànd one week of not having to listen to episodes of Friends in Hungarian!!!
So I moved my stuff, but I had to do it while the guests were at dinner, so it wouldn’t be too obvious what I was doing. I took the back stairs, but of course that led me through the laundry, where some of my co-workers were still at work…wondering why I was moving to the CRD room… And that is when it hit me, “I hope it won’t make my co-workers jealous”….and just like that I wasn’t all that happy anymore.
Of course I didn’t really ask for it, it was offered to me. Then I was also making other people happy by moving out and anybody in my position would have said yes to the room!! So that made it better!haha
So far I’ve been here for a week and it is soooo great to have your own space, to not have to worry you’ll wake someone up, to be able to do what you want to do! And the shower is bigger too, I love it! So eventhough I can’t say that I really like this CRD, she did manage to give me a great gift!
I have two more nights to go in this room, Tuesday I’m back at the Crew Quarters! The hairdressers boyfriend is a sailor, they have separate cabins, where no crewmembers are allowed. All the other cabins are occupied by men, the hairdresser is the only woman, so it is easier for everyone when he moves out and I move in. They don’t like it, but he’s the one with another room to go to, not me. Of course it is going to be a problem, but after all the vacations are done, I hope I can move back to my old room and have it for myself!! We’ll see!!
So I’m writing this story on my tablet, which I bought from the money I got for my birthday, just a day before going back to the ship. I wanted something smaller to bring with me, my 17 inch laptop is just really heavy. I also bought an external dvd player, because I really wanted to watch my own movies. The salesperson said it would work, but he was wrong, the tablet is not “strong” enough to feed it so to speak. So that was a real bummer! Good news was that the salesperson forgot to scan it, so I didn’t pay for it!! My dad sold it online!! My brother has Netflix, so I tried to use his logon password and everything and it worked while I was still at home. Unfortunately the internet connection we have on the ship is too slow, I can’t even get onto the Netflix website, so that was a real bummer!!!
But I also got a wifi extender and that works just fine!!! I wasn’t sure if it would, but the room I’m in now and the one I’m in with the hairdresser are closer to the router, so it really enhances the connection. I’ll have to wait and see if it still works when I’m in my own room, which is further away, but we’ll just have to wait and see. For now it works great! I did bring some dvd’s with me, my co-worker has already watched some of them. And if I really want to see something I can always ask someone if I can borrow their laptop. Then when I’m back in the winter, I’ll have plenty of time to put all my movies on an external hard drive, so I will be able to watch them next season!
I have a tablet with an keyboard, I just can’t work with a keyboard on the screen, I even have problems with my smart phone! The keys are too small, everytime I want the O, I get the I!! So the tablet is pretty much protected. Here in Rouen I went to the Hema and found a sleeve, because I wanted something to put it in, to keep it from getting scratches. It was for a 10 inch tablet, which I have, but of course it was 2 inches bigger and didn’t fit!
In Rouen I have also found a great Arts and Crafts store, so I went there to see if I could find something.. and I did! I bought some felt (?) and some thread and a big needle and now I’m making my own tablet sleeve!!! It takes a bit of time, because felt turns out not easy to work with, but I will get it done and then I will have a unique sleeve!!haha I’ll try and send a picture of it when I’m done!
Well, after this cruise, which ends this Tuesday, there’s 13 more cruises to go until November. The last one will be at the end of October and it will end on 5 November or somewhere around that time. Then we will clean up and store up all our stuff and we will all go home for the winter.
The hairdresser told me that if they want you to come back, the company will give you a contract for next season. If you want to come back you sign it and you return it to them. So we’ll see what happens next. I would really like to work on one of the Paddleboats they have on the Mississippi, so I’m going to start asking how to get there!! From what I’ve seen, they only have cruises in November, so that would work perfectly!! I can do a whole season here and then go to the US in November!
We had a Night receptionist while Jayson and I were on vacation, he’s now working on another ship. We saw him last Saturday and he says he really misses us, the crew, because the people he is working with now are really not that nice to eachother. He says there’s a lot of tension between the people he works with and he has to stay on his toes to keep from making mistakes. So I’m really, really lucky that I ended up here!!! From what I hear it could be a lot worse!! I think we really have a good group here, everyone seems to get along with eachother, no big issues, so I’m really glad!
That’s it for now, I’ll write more later!
Love
Linda