Two for the price of one

The following are two separate posts written on two separate days. Sorry for the mess, but sometimes these things happen.

(Sunday, 5pm)-

So I get the feeling I am boring the living hell out of some of you. Luckily, I can write that off as my brilliant writing style and my uncanny ability to convey my personal feelings to the reader. There are only so many hours in a day, and trust me, the days at sea are chock full of repetition and a lusting for change.

Last night we had what we call at sea a full on “Brightstar Alert”, which (for all intents and purposes) is code for a very serious medical emergency. By design, there are 2 fully licensed American doctors on board as well as 5 very well trained full time LPN’s. There are a lot of considerations when it comes to the guests’ health, and unless something catastrophic happens, we sail on to the next port.

We did not sail on. One of our guests had a full on stroke and the Captain had no choice but turn tail and head towards the port of Miami. What struck me most about the whole ordeal was the utter indifference on the part of the crew (and I was one of them). A human being had a life threatening (and at the very least, life altering) event, and the crew spent the evening bitching about the fact t we would miss the port of Cozumel the next day. The lot of the entertainment department spent the evening on deck 4 forward smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. I again, was one of them. There is something about living in such close quarters for so many long hours that fosters a very strong “us against them mentality”. You almost get to the point where you feel the people you are serving are almost robots and as long as you stick to the company formula, you have done your part. You have to keep in mind that a lot of these people have been on this ship for over 7 months with little or no days off.

It turns out the guest had a full on stroke which is why we had to make quick tracks back to mainland. He and his luggage were unceremoniously debarked in Miami (during out intro show), no one was really the wiser, and we set sail soon after.

Thanks a lot for smelling almonds (or burnt toast, I forget) Mr. Stoke, way to ruin it for everyone! I had a pretty relaxed week ahead me and to make a long story short we had to reschedule all of the ports of call. I guess it is what it is, it’s not like I don’t have 7.5 more months of this bullshit to deal with, heh heh.

Tuesday, 3:10am

Although I frittered away the entire day in bed, today happened to be a pretty decent day. I slept through the crew tender (Belize does not have a dockable port, so we have to anchor 9 miles out and rely on boats called “tenders” to bring us ashore) so I really didn’t feel any need to get my lazy ass out of bed. In retrospect, I probably needed a good night’s sleep anyway, especially after hearing the anchor going in at 6am (this is much more the ordeal than previously stated, as the anchor room is on the other side of my wall now since I moved). I got up mid afternoon and sunned myself on the forward crew deck. I then went downstairs and had a surprisingly edible meal in the crew mess.

It made it through 2 magic shows without fucking up even one cue, and even though the magician ridiculed Buffalo on stage, I did not crush his head like a watermelon. I did mention after the show that his production singer and fly tech were from the Queen City, and if he wanted to play that game again, I could easily make his skull into a lovely looking seafood salad. I do hope he knows I was joking (or was I?).

After load out (and 30 minutes looking for a stray bingo ball), I made my way to the crew bar. The usual mix of awful European techno and “Latin beats” abounded, but I was in much too good of a mood to care. Luckily they did not play the latest “black eyed peas” album over and over as per usual. I put back a few Strong bows (yes folks, they do indeed have Strong bow) and played some darts with the bass player in the show band ( I bought me a set in Canaveral last Saturday, and I think I have found the hobby I was in desperate need of.) After winning two and losing two, I ended up where I started the day, deck 4 forward.

The stars were absolutely astounding and I again had that feeling of being where I wanted to be. I had a long conversation with the sound tech about the entertainment business (26 years old and she doesn’t think she is a stagehand, and thinks the long hours are bullshit, heh heh heh….welcome to technical theater, kiddo) . I tried to impart any wisdom I had, listened to the young girl from NYC go on and on, and finally had to get out of dodge. As far as days go, I’ll take it.

I have the day off tomorrow so I am getting off this wretched ship and seeing Costa Maya, Mexico. I do promise the lot of you pictures, and I hope all of you are doing well.

Keep it on the reel,

Seabag