At the moment I'm sitting on the outdoor balcony at a coffee shop in St. Kitts...somewhere in the Caribbean. Yesterday we were in St. Maarten. The day before we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The next two days are sea days, and then back to Miami on Saturday. Whew.
It's been an interesting few weeks since last I wrote. We had New Years... which was fine. Super long day leading up to it, but considering everything that could have gone wrong, I can't complain.
After the new year I had a bunch of friends leave-- they had only been on board for about 3 weeks as youth staff for the holidays to help handle the 600+ kids on the ship. These were the very first people I met, so it was kind of hard saying bye to my "oldest" ship friends. The good thing is that youth staff come back fairly regularly when the kid count is going to be high, so I'm hoping to bump into them all again! The friend thing is hard on this ship, especially as a manager-- I spend the majority of my time with the same people, and I'm their boss. So....yeah. I can be their friend, but there's a fine line. Living and working on a ship is like living and working in the dorms, in a high school, on a boat. And you can't escape. Don't piss too many people off, because you're stuck with them. All the time.
The hardest part about this job, I'm learning, is that the moment I think I've figured it out, found some rhythm, have a plan-- that's when some ridiculous roadblock lands in my face. Along with the stress of crazy hours and irregular sleeping/eating patterns, and high expectations from the boss as well as my cast and technical team, we've been dealing with some illnesses and injuries, and last week we had to fire one the dancers. The decision wasn't mine, and I didn't actually have to DO the firing, but I was in on the discussions and paperwork and at the meeting itself with the dancer-- who had no idea it was coming. Poor girl, she found out at about 8:30 pm and had to spend the whole night packing so she could leave the next day at Miami. Talk about a stressful day. For everyone. That's one reason last weekend was just the shittiest. The stress of that, dealing with other performers' various issues, trying to make my boss happy, helping everyone get past the fact that one of their friends had been fired, etc etc. Wah wah. Blah blah.
Anywho. I'm one month in. Five months left. Exhausted. But okay. The last two ports instead of getting off the ship I went back to bed! Today I'm in St. Kitts--decided to get off the boat just to stretch my legs and get some fresh air... and find some internet!! It's kind of nice today because we're the only ship here, which means the place is not packed with tourists. At some ports we're often there with 6, 7, 8 other cruise ships, which means a LOT of people. Everywhere. Eh. It started POURING rain as soon as I got to the coffee shop, but it looks like the sun is out again, so I may start wandering back to the ship. It's the biggest thing on the horizon (apart from the volcano), so I'm not too worried about getting back!
I don't have photos to share today. They're on my other memory card which is sitting in my office. Oy.
I have plans for some more exciting posts at some point... but for now just know that I'm alive and pale (what?!) and that I also have plans for working on my tan.
OH, before I forget, at last St. Maarten, last week, I had lunch with a friend and fellow production manager who I know from CMU-- Maddie! Her ship was docked with ours that day, so I got to meet some other folks from other ships, which was kind of cool. This is some crazy lifestyle we live, so it's good to have people in various places-- you never know when you'll need them!
Hope all is well on the mainland. I'm definitely missing the "real" world with all it's "real" things... like driving, and yummy food, and weekends...
-D
