A peek into the life...

July 11, 2010

To start things today I’d like to mention that I haven’t planned on writing every month but it seems that the timeline of my post is about that long. It’s funny how things turn out that way.

So things have been going well on the ship. I’ve gotten into a groove here and it is almost automatic. There are things I’d like to improve in, mainly the amount of exercise I do. I was doing well keeping up with my running twice or sometimes three times a week but I have been bad about it lately. My eating habits were up and down for a while and even now they aren’t always great but I am making more of an effort to do better. I can see that I feel much better on the night I sleep more.

This may seem like something weird when I mention getting enough sleep. It is difficult to explain how easy it is to stay up late on the ship but it happens. I’ll admit that half of the time it is my own fault for going to the crew areas after work to catch up with friends from other departments. Other times it can just be from my work schedule. Many nights we finish our work around eleven at night and get something to eat. Then we have the option to go to the crew bar to mingle afterwards or even just hang out in our corridor talk to our neighbors.

The crew area is set up a lot like dorms with just a bit less space for the rooms. The hallways are thin enough for just two people to cross if go at an angle. There is no real hang out area in the living areas but there is a crew bar that has a smoking section and a large seating area with a dance floor for discos. Yes, I said discos. That’s what they call it when they have a particular night for using the lighting and DJ booth to play a theme for the night. Other nights they mix it up by having a Wii hooked up to a projector or even a karaoke machine for singing. Those nights are usually quieter.

The only other event that rivals disco night is live music night. That’s when the performers take the time to play and sing current and classic live music that the passengers would shit their pants if they heard. A lot of rock and pop depending on who performs.

That’s the update for now. More to come… maybe in less than A MONTH!

Making Friends

June 12, 2010

In my last entry I mentioned how I needed to feel comfortable with things around the ship and the layout. After another month things have been moving forward in good ways. Now that we have arrived in Alaska and made the trip back and forth a few times I can see a rough pattern emerging. The pattern not only covers my work schedule but also the people I see and spend my free time with.

I have been making friends and recently have started making plans with them on a more consistent basis. This is what I have been looking forward to since I got here. From the beginning I have had a good team and even after a few people finished their contracts and were replaced I have still had fun with the people that replaced them. I have also had a good time getting to know crew from other departments, which in my opinion is absolutely necessary.

I have to admit that I have been fortunate to make friends out of the spa department. Recently I have spent time with a few of the girls there and gotten to know them while out in the cities we visit. It has been a misconception that I did it just to get free treatments (which isn’t completely untrue) but it is mainly because they are the ones that tend to be more fun and interesting outside of my own department. The girls are usually very nice and can be a good source of gossip. And hell, I won’t lie, hanging out with a bunch of attractive women in general ain’t bad. Ha ha.

But even with all these things moving forward there is still a bit of adjusting going on with more people leaving soon and new crew coming to replace them. It won’t be huge but things can always change without anyone expecting them. Although I have started to make some good relationships I’m still waiting to see if there is that one solid friendship that will come out of this contract. I guess I have been spoiled a bit by my last two ships but it is all a matter of time before I can see if I will be as fortunate as before.

My Time On the Diamond - Month One

May 8, 2010

It has been just over a month now and things have been going well. The team is full of good people and the general mood is positive. I think the fact that this is the third time I’ve been on a ship has helped me transition into the lifestyle a bit faster.

I still haven’t gotten completely comfortable but I’m learning the ways of the ship and getting to know more people. The first challenge for me is always adjusting to the layout when I arrive. Most of the time the ships are all fairly similar among the passenger areas with just a few things “out of place”. When it comes down to it, the crew areas are the ones to adjust to.

The cabins for most of the staff are in the front of the ship with the crew cabins on the bottom decks. That is always the same. The crew mess is usually in a different spot but it tends to be near the rear or “aft” of the ship. After that it’s about finding your way among the corridors from place to place.

That's all for now. More later.

- Jose

My Trip To Hong Kong

Tampa to Chicago:

So the flight to Chicago was not too crazy. I fell asleep for most of it. When I woke up I had a half hour to go and spoke to 18 Y/O with experience in soundboards from working in a church. He was also an Apple fan and had an iPhone. We made small talk but he dominated the conversation with info of his family’s boats, camera, and other things. Finally arrived in Chicago but but got lost for a bit. Walked around a while to pass the time but finally sat in terminal for flight and plugged in. Overheard one of the few Americans in the terminal (sitting behind me) talking about child. He ended up plugging in next to me and we started talking about the iPad. Got to know him a bit.

Flight Capacity is 374 with 176 seats actually occupied.

Chicago to Hong Kong:

Flight was long.

In an effort to simplify I decided to start my stopwatch to keep track of the time of the flight and also log what was being done as the hours rolled by. These are my notes.

Before takeoff I sat down and was happy to find out I would have my own row. The flight had a lot of people on board but near the back my fellow passengers and I were able to spread out and enjoy our space. It was a good start in my opinion. I had a long night of preparing my luggage so I was tired and dozing off while the plane was getting prepared for takeoff. I was able to stay awake to begin my stopwatch but didn’t last long after that.

0 Hours 0 Minutes: Plane takes off.

4 Hours: The stewardess taps my shoulder waking me up to fill out a small immigration form for the Hong Kong airport. This form, though simple in construction, was more evil than I could have imagined. Instead of being made from the standard ingredients that most paper is made of it had an ingredient that somehow only let someone fill out three letters before making any pen obsolete. At first it fooled me to thinking my pen was out of ink. This actually made me upset because I was using my favorite pen. Then after using my backup pen I began to see the evil games the paper was playing. I only had the patience to attempt filling out half of the form before deciding to wait until later to finish.

5 Hours 28 Minutes: (At this point in the flight all of the windows have been shut since almost everyone on the plane is asleep) Another passenger open his window and I decide to follow his lead. A bright white light fills my area of the plane and I see glaciers outside. I ask the stewardess where we are. She is not sure and calls the pilot. He says we are over Alaska on our way to Russia. Photo should be attached. For a while I read to pass the time and play with my iPhone.

8 Hours 50 Minutes: I decide to get some sleep so I can be rested for my arrival. This is when I appreciated having my own row that much more.

10 Hours 30 Minutes: I wake up with a stiff neck and a sore side from having an arm rest in my ribs. I rearrange my body and pillow. I go back to sleep…

11 Hours 36 Minutes: My eyes open and this time I feel good enough to stay awake. Time to play with the iPhone some more.

12 Hours 30 Minutes: After failing to get the top score on three levels of games I decide to stop playing with my iPhone. Around this time I try to finish filling out the evil form I received earlier. I decide to borrow a pen from the stewardess near me. After another feeble attempt at writing more than three letters I decide to involve the stewardess. She looks at me with the sad face that a teacher has for a student that cannot add 2+2 correctly. Luckily, the evil paper is not above giving her problems as well and she quickly joins in my frustration. She proceeds to use two more pens. In the end my form has blue, black and red ink scribbled on it. To relax I decide to go on my computer and organize my music on iTunes.

13 Hours: I realize that my battery has a good charge but I won’t be able to recharge it at the hotel because I have an American plug and they have Asian sockets. This is something I didn’t plan for.

14 Hours 43 Minutes 2 seconds: The plane lands in Hong Kong.

My Time Off

I was not sure what would happen when I flew back to Tampa but I wanted things to go as quick as possible. The situation when I got home was not a bad one but more frustrating than anything else. The people I dealt with at the Princess head office were actually very nice and helpful along with the doctor I ended up getting checked up by. What was frustrating was the timeline of it all. I was planning to be home for a few day, maybe a week tops. That was not the case at all. In all, I was in Tampa for two and a half months.

Long story short, getting appointments and coordinating payments for the doctor and the tests was what took the longest. Once those were taken care of things went by quickly.

I was checked in to the hospital for a biopsy and things went as well as they could have.

Currently, I have a kidney problem that has them leaking protein into my bladder. It is easily treated with medication but the doctor told me I needed to follow up at least once a month to track my progress. Otherwise I was cleared to work. This was the best news I had up to that day.

After some more phone calls and e-mails I finally was ready to go back to work. I initially tried to go back to the Island Princess and I contacted my manager there. Unfortunately, all the spots had been filled and I would have had to wait another month to go back there. The combination of debt and lack of money led me to decide to find a ship sooner.

I emailed the head office and literally within an hour I received a phone call telling me I was assigned a new ship. It was the Diamond Princess and it would be in Asia for a month before heading to Alaska. At this point I was in shock. I was so excited I could not contain myself. My family was jealous and I couldn’t wait to leave.

Now I had to get ready for my trip.

Princess Cruising: Season Two

After two months of relaxing and doing a bit of freelance work I went back to the cruise ship world. I joined the Island Princess where I went to Aruba, Columbia, bits of Central America, the Panama Canal and Jamaica.

I replaced a photographer that quit so I was well received by the photo staff there. It’s not easy for a team to run while being a person short. This was also the first time I was able to work with an American on the photo team. It was good to have someone from the States. Everyone else was horrible, ha ha. Actually the team was a lot of fun. I made some good friends quickly and I had a good time getting to know the rest of the crew on the ship as well.

The schedule was different since there were more days on the cruise. I went from seven-day cruising to ten-day cruising. It was nice because there were days with more time off to relax. The main difference was the atmosphere on the ship. People were friendly but not many of them showed up to mingle in the crew area after work. At first it was a little quiet for me but eventually I made friends and started have a good time.

It was around this time that things turned around for me. To be honest, I am not a heavy drinker in terms of taking in a lot of alcohol at any given time. I consider myself a social drinker. But because of the type of lifestyle that cruise ships offer, it is easy to be a social drinker and find yourself at the crew bar every night drinking a lot. That is where I found myself after only just a month of being onboard.

I wasn’t getting considerably drunk but I was being consistent at showing up at the bar after work and having a few drinks each night. This combined with the heat of the area, eating too much of the unhealthy options at the buffet and not drinking enough water took its toll on my body.

At first I noticed my shoes were getting tighter but I thought it was from the standing. Then one day after going out in the sun I came back to the ship to find my feet had grown to a point where I had no ankles. That’s when I decided to see the shipboard doctor.

After a blood and urine test it was determined I had a problem with my liver and kidneys. Essentially my liver was being affected by the drinking and my kidneys were leaking protein into my urine resulting in low levels of protein in my blood. I was told to stay away from alcohol and any meat to try and restore balance.

For a while it wasn’t so bad and I was getting better. It was a bit difficult to stay away from meat but I was able to avoid alcohol easily despite going to the crew bar on a regular basis. I grew to like cranberry juice and most people didn’t know I was sober. Don’t know if that is a good thing.

After a month and a half of a new diet my liver was completely healed but my kidneys had leveled off and were still leaking protein. The doctor decided to make an appointment with a specialist in Ft. Lauderdale. When the day came and I saw the specialist it did not go well. When I was done with the consultation I was told I would not be returning to the Island. Through a series of evens it was decided I would return to Tampa and get things sorted there.

I stayed overnight and flew back to Tampa January 20. That is when my struggle to get back on ships began.

*Side note. I did not mention too much about the friends I made but they were a great bunch. I seriously had a great time and grew to make close relationships. I plan to visit many of the people from there in the future. I am trying to keep up with the blog so I decided to only skim the surface on my experiences aboard the Island Princess to explain my medical situation.

I am still alive!

So I have been horrible at keeping up with my blog. For that I apologize. The good news is now I am starting to understand what I can write about and how to keep up with it all.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Many of you who actually signed up for this may have been keeping tabs on me using facebook (which has turned out to be the best way for me to keep in touch) but it doesn't necessarily give you the whole story of where I've been. Let me give everyone here a "quick" recap on what has gone on in the life of Joe.

Alaska turned out to be a very beautiful place. I enjoyed my time there, even while working. The cruise life is very interesting and is difficult to explain. That is why I have much to talk about in future posts. Most of my writing will be a documentary of what is going on but I also plan to just shoot the breeze and talk about the friends I make and drama that goes down. (That's kinda the same thing isn't it?)

In terms of timeline, I worked on the Star Princess from about June 7 until about September 13ish. Basically an entire summer in Alaska. I was one photographer on a team of thirteen with three managers. I technically worked seven days a week but not all of them were seven or eight-hour days. Some were like five or six hour-days. Twice a week I had twelve-hour days because of "Formal Night". No one likes that night. Anyway, on my free time I either visited the cities of Alaska, slept or went out at night drinking at the crew bar. OK, I'll be honest. One of these I did way more than the others... and it wasn't sleep... or visiting Alaskan cities. In my defense it wasn't every night.

But seriously, I made friends from different parts of the world and enjoyed myself for three and a half months. When I left it was hard to believe it happened so quickly. Sure it was hard work. But the funny thing is, most of the time you just remember the good stuff.

So that was Alaska. I still have to fill you in on what has happened recently but it's getting late. I might also post an entry later from a word file I wrote while in Alaska. If memory serves me right it talks more about my schedule and what I did on the ship. That way I don't have to write that stuff twice. I'm also going to try and post a few pictures. Nothing crazy yet but I'll be getting the hang of this soon enough. Enough for now. Take Care