Closing Time – At Sea – [05/19/2014]

Posted on May 19, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

bartenderWe’re drinkin’ and we’re dancin’
But there’s nothin’ really happenin’
And the place is dead as heaven on a Saturday night

A long time ago, back when I was a very different person, when I was only just taking the first steps into becoming the woman I am that so many of you know, there was a bar…

It wasn’t much of a place, calling it a hole in the wall would probably be an understatement, it was a dive in the classiest sense of the word. But the music was just loud enough to realign your heartbeat when you needed it, and the bartenders knew your order before you asked. The shooter bar in the corner served everything from JD to custom mixed drinks that were made up on the spot and always ran the risk of tasting like too many more. The dance floor was big enough to actually dance, and the speakers were high enough to jump up on if there was no room on the floor – which ,back in the day – there often wasn’t. It didn’t matter if you didn’t know anyone, it didn’t matter what you wore or who you loved, nothing that happened in that tiny space was judged or held against….

You’re in the Moulin Rouge babe, dance your heart out, your next month’s rent depends on it.

Lines were crossed, bridges were built, firsts came and lasts went. Lives changed. Friendships grew, friendships fractured. The Crew changed and ebbed but the core of us remained the same over the years. And which corner we were at sometimes shifted, but no matter where we were, no one ever contested our ownership of our table in the corner. I lost track of the number of times a round would appear in front of us without asking for it…

What are we toasting to?

For our sins baby, for our sins…

Always to seal a deal or seal a fate…

There are shadows in my life I am not proud of – such is the case with everyone’s life – but I don’t like to think of who I might have become without that place to escape to. I don’t like to think what might have happened if I hadn’t had a place where the music was louder than the roar of the dragons. And somehow, even though it had been going steadily downhill for years since it was renovated, even though the most loyal of us could hear the death rattles underneath the thump of the speakers…we never thought it would actually disappear…

But too many of us grew up, too many things changed, and last night when the last person walked out those nondescript doors and heard the thud of their locking at their back…it was for the last time.

I’m one of those that has grown up, ships have changed me, life has changed me ,and for those of you who have at one point or another smirked and said that you wished you’d known me back when black was my favourite colour – the truth is you probably don’t.

But for my part? I just wish I could have been there to say goodbye….

Here’s to the Johnny Walker wisdom runnin’ high…

Posted in Below the waterline, Reflections, Vacations/Shore-Side | 1 Comment

Yee-haw – At Sea – [05/15/2014]

Posted on May 17, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

countryCountry girl shake it for me girl
Shake it for me…

 

There are a lot of people who smother giggles at the fact that I like line dancing…what most people don’t realize is that I model the way I line dance after the scene in the remake of Footloose (“hey mister won’t ya sell me a fake ID?”)…and once I know the steps, I kind of tend to forget that I’m in front of a bunch of people who are stumbling through the steps behind us.

The DJ on board at the moment is the same one that worked with me on my summer ship, so I know the steps to his stuff. When they scheduled me to be upstairs tonight figured it was in for a dime in for a dozen, dug out my favourite pair of worn blue jeans, buttoned up my blue and white cowgirl shirt and flipped my hair into double ponytails…I mean if you’re gonna go country, you may as well go all the way.

Yes, it’s only line dancing, it’s hardly difficult, but there has been a LOT going on in my world off-page behind-the-scenes world right now, and sometimes? I just need to disappear into something, even if it’s showing off to something as simple as a line dance…

You…didn’t look like a librarian up there missy…

Thanks…they let me out once in a while 😉

Posted in Grand World Voyage 2014, Summer Contracts | 1 Comment

Drink Up! – Vancouver, Canada – [05/17/2014]

Posted on May 17, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

martiniThe line I work for is – as most of you know – one of the more conservative in the industry. We don’t cater to the party crowd and we really don’t try to. If this were the old days of cruising, we would be much more along the White Star Line model (er…only with better luck). But perhaps twice a year, even on the flagship, we find ourselves in a position where we have to make an exception.

Y’see, the ship can’t sail empty. I’m not sure exactly why, I will never understand the red tape of it all, but it can’t. So when we have one day ‘left over’ at the end of the Panama Relocation Cruise, the company sells that night. Just that night.

$50 a head for the overnight trip to Seattle.

Ladies n’ Gents welcome to the (unofficial) booze cruise.

At least that’s how we often think of it.

Really, there’s not a great deal for the passengers who are only on for the evening to do, so we open up the bars, open up the resteraunts, and once we hit the international highway between Canada and the states, we open up the Casino, the upstairs lounge turns into an all night party.. and we just kind of…let them play.

The first time I encountered this phenomon was on the smallest ship in the fleet several years ago now, and to be honest I was so wrapped up in my debark (that was the contract from hell for me) that I didn’t really give it much thought except for the fact that the slowness of the passenger turn around was between me and my plane home (dangerous place to be, between disembarking crew and our way home after 6 months!). The next time I worked a one-nighter was at the end of the GWV in 2011. We had a different cruise director that year, and it was before the days of prohibition, as I recall his statement for the evening went something like this:

Ladies n’ gentlmen, cover your name tags, tonight you’re not on show.Tonight, you’re not crew. Behave yourself, don’t go wild…but …have fun.

Not often you hear your boss say something like that.

This year though, I find I’m not really in the party frame of mind. I might swing by the nightclub upstairs and see how it’s going…but I’ve got a long couple of days ahead of me while the CD is away…and, party or not, I think it’s best that I get my sleep while I am able…

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So Close And Yet…. – San Diego, California – [05/13/2014]

Posted on May 14, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

library2Embark day is always crazy, and some are crazier than most. This morning the ship was boarded by USPH (as I’ve said before, you don’t mess with US Public Health), and USCG (and you really don’t mess with US Coast Guard!), and Immigration and border control for those who had only joined this past FLL….

And then on top of all that, the immigration process was delayed because several guests decided not to attend – how one can somehow miss the fact that this was a mandatory immigration inspection for all passengers, when we tell them by every means possible (letters to each cabin, PA announcements, reminders on the TV etc etc) that it is occurring is beyond me. And then on top of that crew shore leave was denied for nearly an hour and a half because of one solitary crew member who somehow missed his memo to go to Immigration. Now, with the passengers management is very kind over the PA reminders, no matter how frustrated they may be – when it’s a crew member holding up ship’s clearance? Well, let’s just say that’s a different story.

Sadly, by the time shore leave was granted it was far too late for me to make my way next door to the Maritime Museum, so the towering masts of the Tall Ships that reside there are now teasingly out of reach, visible just outside my office window (the museum is about a ten minute walk from where we dock), but they may as well be on Mars for all the chance I have of reaching them today…too bad so sad.

Thankfully, as far as work itself goes, this is a remarkably quiet embark day. The delay in debarking led to a delay in embarking which means that just when the place would normally be overflooded with guests it’s lovely and peaceful and and there is very little for me to do except make sure the last of the returns are checked through and that the shelves are straight for the hordes when they do arrive.

Heeere we go again!

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Spring Fling – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – [05/11/2014]

Posted on May 11, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

AP547Three words: Spring Break CABO!! ~ Legally Blonde: The Musical

Actually, I have IPM today so Cabo isn’t in the cards for me. Instead I can only see it from my office window, teasingly out of reach.

Fortunately I’ve been here before. Twice. The last time was last season, when I went on my swim with the dolphins experience. Which was a lot tamer than my first visit here in 2011, on my first voyage on the flagship. I remember all of that day (including the Irish pub where my camera was stolen) – my companions at the time most likely don’t, so it’s probably best I keep the details to myself 😉

Never the less, I like Cabo. It’s a port that doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is, and that’s sometimes very refreshing.

For my part, things have been blessedly quiet at work these days. Since the closing of the GWV (which, as it turned out, closed to rave reviews, despite all the difficulties), the flagship has slipped easily back into being just another ship in the fleet; quiet and unassuming, with nothing to particularly differentiate her from any of the others. We’re still having theme night parties upstairs, but they’re not very heavily attended, and too often the team is the only ones on the dance floor as this seems to be a very spectator heavy crowd. As an example? This was the first time I’ve sung for a crowd that said not a word to me afterwards…they’re a very stoic bunch for lack of a better way of putting it.

Who knows, perhaps Cabo will loosen them up a bit before the majority of them debark in San Diego. I mean after all, that is what the place is good at.

Cheers dears,

 

Posted in Panama Relocation Cruise, Ports of Call | 1 Comment

Path Between – Panama Canal, Panama – [05/02/2014]

Posted on May 11, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

Dreams on the BalconyWhen I walked into the office this morning I saw land, and yet we were still moving.

No matter how many times I go through it, the Panama Canal still remains a fascinating feat of human engineering. It never really stops being surreal to have a sea day that takes place in the middle of dry land.

Even with my adjusted hours (my office opens a half hour earlier these days than it did for the GWV) I’m still not up early enough to see our passing through the first set of locks. By the time I’m settled in for the day we’re already sitting apparently perfectly still in the lake. Looking out there you could be almost anywhere, the islands scattered throughout the area look like they could almost be reached by a strong swimmer, though I’ve no idea how far away they truly are.

One thing I always forget about this day is the heat. Freya but it’s hot in the Canal. Even with the air conditioning going full blast inside the vast windows of the office funnel the heat inside as surely as a magnifying glass focused on an innocent fly by a particularly nasty toddler. No matter how many times you experience, you never really get used to it.

For now, people are taking a break from staring out the windows, whilst we’re drifting about in the lake there’s not much to see – so a lot of people take this chance to read, or chat with home (thank heavens I remembered to feed the gremlins before midnight so they’ve not acted up lately) – and muddle through their other day today concerns. In a few hours, I’m sure that the library will empty as everyone ventures back out onto the outside decks for the next lock.

Once we were released from our drifting about in the lake, the jungle starts to slide by on either side of us, great towering walls of greenery that block us in snug to each side. It’s easy to forget that there are people around us at all. That there is any sign of civilization anywhere at all.

For me? Just another day at the office 😉

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Typeset – Cartagena, Colombia – [05/02/2014]

Posted on May 11, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

High-Tech-Retro-Pin-Ups-4It’s really so odd to look around the library during a port day and find it completely empty. Y’see, during the GWV the library is busy (well busy-ish) even on port days because there are a great many guests who have been all around the world before and now choose not to get off the ship.

There are still a handful of people of course, especially in a short port like this there are always people who prefer to stay in rather than venture out, but for the most part my port days are back to being dedicated to reshelving and admin. Much as they usually are, and as they were at the beginning of the GWV when everyone was still racing off the ship to see what there was to see.

And I do have a fair bit more admin than I used to. But, I’m discovering that this…centralized…system really works. I mean yes, at first it was a lot more work, and it’s still a lot of responsibility staring me in the face, but at least now when a guest comes to me with an issue I can at least take the first steps towards resolving it then and there rather than having to call a half-dozen different people who may or may not be available in order to take the next steps. Before this I couldn’t even disconnect people from the internet if they’d gotten stuck online!

I’m not…exactly my own boss. I mean I’m still very much part of the entertainment team, and I definitely still have to report to the same series of people I always have. But this is…well, it’s definitely different!

At the moment it seems like every ship is taking this whole changeover thing in a slightly different direction. The “inter-Librarian Distress Network” keeps trying to work together to established some kind of centralized set of guidelines so that when we go ship to ship we know what’s going on, and so far we’re doing a pretty good job of keeping each other afloat until something properly official comes down the pipeline. We’re a surprisingly independent bunch, having operated for a long while without a shore-side supervisor before Toffy came along.

In the meantime, I just kind of keep my head down and do what they tell me…

And continually surprise myself by actually having fun with it….

 

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Sunny & Seventy-Five – Half Moon Cay, Bahamas – [04-29-2014]

Posted on April 29, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

woman-lying-hammock-4985601I’ve always said the same thing about half moon cay: it’s the only port of call that I will instantly make an exception to my “I’m really not a beach baby” state of mind. This port is our own little piece of paradise, and – particularly after the long haul of the GWV – we all would have been fools not to take advantage of it.

The truly lucky thing was that we were the only ship in port, and the flagship – for all her elegance – is small. Huge stretches of that vast white beach were empty, and as I kept walking through the surf I got further and further from the guests enjoying their beverages and water sports until eventually even the sounds of their conversation died away and I found myself practically alone (save for two other crew members, and honestly we know better than to bother each other on days like this). And lo and behold the hammocks were available – which they pretty much never are, if they’re even up.

So my day was a lovely mixture of solitude, ocean breezes and actually having the luxury to lie there and read.

And, when I remembered, plunge up to my neck in some of the most crystal clear, cleansing salt water the Caribbean has to offer…

One of those rare days where everything feels so far away that you can almost almost pretend that none of it is there at all…

This job isn’t always easy – there are days when (like any job anywhere) I want to pull my hair out and simply walk off the playground, but then the universe drops a day in my lap that makes it all worth it and for that I am more than continually grateful…

Posted in Panama Relocation Cruise, Ports of Call, Reflections | Leave a comment

The End Of the World As We Know It – Fort Lauderdale, Florida – [04/28/2014]

Posted on April 29, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

ELVGREN_img_88Just when you think it’ll never come, it’s on top of you. It’s difficult to describe the controlled chaos of yesterday, let alone today. The yearly turnaround from the GWV to the PanCan is something that almost has to be experienced to be truly understood. It’s not just that almost the entire passenger base changes AND that over half the crew changes out, it’s a shift in lifestyles. No matter how much some things may drive us crazy, over four months we have all – guests and crew alike – gotten used to each other’s quirks. For lack of a better way of putting it – we have each other well trained.

And as of 11:30 this morning, all of that changed. 1300 new passengers made their (always somewhat wide-eyed) way onto my floating living room.

The biggest difference being that now the gremlins are – supposedly – completely under my command. With the position change over now complete I’m now officially in charge of the internet café as well as the library itself. It’s a lot of work, but I keep telling myself that it’s nothing I can’t handle. Though it does feel a bit…wobbly. Not the system itself, that’s working fine, just the weight of all that responsibility.

That said, it’s not as if I have much of a choice, people are depending on me, and went people are depending on me I must rise to the occasion.

Calling on my beloved books, perhaps I should just adopt a ‘Zozie d’Alba’ approach to it: “F**k you, I’m fabulous’

Posted in Below the waterline, Grand World Voyage 2014 | 1 Comment

Changing Paces – At Sea – [04/19/2014]

Posted on April 20, 2014 by GypsyShaughnessy

ELVGREN_img_399 more days…4 more ports…and then we hit the season-end turn-around in FLL. No matter how relieved you are when it arrives (and trust me, we all are, much as we all love the flagship, we’d be fools not to acknowledge how much she can take out of us), you’re never really prepared for it, it just kind of ends up on top of you – like an excited child on Christmas morning…

Suddenly you’re aware that there are both a million trillion things left to do and yet you can’t remember any of them when you sit down to do them.

Of course, all of those things that are so looming seem much larger than they are. In my case, it’s prep-work for the next cruise (I’m still here for one more month after this), which I managed to squeeze in last week. This is one of those times when I’m very grateful my position doesn’t require a lot of prep-time for a normal cruise (Grand Voyage is a different story, that takes months, but much of that is by choice). Now it’s just a matter of going through the loan lists and making sure the catalogue is mostly up to date. I’m debating whether or not to run a touch up inventory before I leave here in May, as I won’t be back to the flagship again until January and I want to make sure that she’s in good shape for my replacement – whomever she may be.

For me the only thing I’m concerned about next cruise is that as of April 28th I am truly on my own. For the GWV there are two librarians, two of us to share the slack and split the craziness, and much as me and my partner sometimes drive each other up the wall (we both acknowledge this to be true) we do rely on each other probably more than we realize just to take the day-to-day stress off when dealing with the nasty computer-gremlins.

The upcoming PanCan run will be my first foray into being on my own without an Internet Manager. I’ve had a LOT of help this season, and I do mean a lot, people who have taught me a ton about how to do a job I only had the slightest grip on when I arrived. Half the praise I’ve gotten about how well I deal with technology, how patient I am with people, how I can teach people the basics without making them feel ignorant…that all is a result of having a really amazing trainer…

Who is leaving…in 9 days.

*gulp*

Okay gremlins, we have a deal right? I don’t feed you after midnight, you don’t attack me at work…okay?

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