Happiness can be found in the most unlikely of places. If only one remembers to turn on the light.
~ Professor Dumbledore
It has now been confirmed that none of the crew can go home in Florida, except for a handful who actually live there and don’t need flights. Some of us are also stuck for other reasons, Canada is not the only country that has closed its borders. Several of our crew members couldn’t get home even if they wanted to. And many, many of us want to. Amras and I are in a fairly good position: We are going to be here together, and we don’t have anyone at home depending on us to be there. The majority of our housekeeping and bartending staff are not in such a lucky place – many of them have children and spouses at home that they desperately want to get back to. So all we can do at the moment is be there for each other as much as possible.
Just at the moment, I suspect we are all very much in ‘game face’ mode. We still have guests onboard, and our priority is getting those guests home safely. They are, after all, still on vacation, and they deserve the best service we are able to give them.
The day after tomorrow we dock in Florida, and the guests debark, and then we don’t have to worry as much about ‘game face’. We can be honest. At least with each other.
I suspect that the moment we pull away from Florida, a lot of us will burst into tears, a lot of us will sleep for at least a day and a half, there will probably be at least one massive party to release the built up pressure, and then the cycle will repeat itself for however long it takes.
The world is pretty crazy right now, but – in the midst of all this chaos – I am continually amazed by the sparkling points of golden beauty I still see that give me hope for the human race:
- Rogers’ wireless and Fido Wireless have waived all international and overseas roaming calls, including on the maritime cruise signal until the end of April. Meaning any one of their customers can call home without having to pay hundreds in roaming charges (as a side bar, this means that Amras’ and I will be reachable through my cellphone for the duration).
- WestJet providing rescue flights to get Canadian citizens home
- Stores offering “seniors only” shopping hours all throughout Canada so that those who are more vulnerable have better access to supplies without risking their own wellbeing
- Entertainment venues offering streaming services of previous live productions because their current seasons are gone.
- Disneyland and Disneyworld giving away all their surplus food to foodbanks and those in need. An act that would normally be pointlessly illegal, finally being allowed.
- Resteraunt giving away any food they have instead of letting it spoil during forced closure
- Thousands more people giving blood across the world, especially in Italy
- Whole communities of spontaneous “balcony opera” in quarantined Italy
And many many more.
Times are hard. Times are scary. Really scary. Horribly, terribly scary. But in the seemingly endless darkness, there are glimmers. This is the time when we need to take Mr Rogers’ famous advice to the next level – it’s time we stop looking for the helpers, that’s advice we should give our children – for us, it’s time for us to start being the helpers.
Find the good my friends, stay strong, and find the good.
Thank you for the update and understanding how worried we are for your safety.