Celebrity Summit: Starring You!

The first week on board is always going to one of the most hectic, but a rare occurrence happened at the start of my third contract. I was given a two day “handover” where I cruise with the auctioneer and instead of a couple of pages explaining the processes (because each ship is vastly different), I get to see first hand, relieving some of that hectic pressure. More importantly, we auctioneers get to learn a little bit from each other. Auctioneers are always showmen, and as such, have very vibrant personalities (or at least they should). Our personalities are wildly varied, and you’ve usually never met anybody just like us. So it was a real good time swapping stories, and philosophies about our experiences in international fine art auctioneering. Luke was a really cool guy to spend some time with. Our first night we took the whole team out for dinner at the Summit’s specialty restaurant, the Normandie. It is decorated in honor of the famous cruise liner the S.S. Normandie, and even has old relics and decorations from the ship on display in honor of the fine tradition of luxury ocean cruising. The food was pretty good, four courses, and of course it was lobster night, which is something I never shy away from. Anyone know what a thermadore is? Anyways, I got to see his auction too, which was helpful for me to get back in the mode of auctioneering. I was afraid I’d be a bit rusty, but I managed well enough 

The ship is simply gorgeous. Its different from the other ships I’ve been on in that there is no large public area such as a promenade, or centrum. Its very segmented, but offers a lot more class in the variety of areas it features. There are all of these strange little rooms that I’m still discovering, such as the Conservatory…Miss Scarlet, with the revolver. The food is very decent even at the buffet. Things have distinct flavors, which is a bonus, but also diversity that makes sense. Curries and stir fry are on the Asian side, while your spinach, fig and grilled turkey salad (yum) is found in the European fare. As far as ship life goes, this is an improvement.

Elizabeth is the name of a 500 pound bronze ostrich that I had to offload this morning in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was created by an artist named Nano Lopez who is famous for his bronze "Nanimals." Elizabeth is life sized and requires 6 people to move her off the ship. This was my first official task as the Art Director aboard the Celebrity Summit. It was hilarious. Puerto Rico is gorgeous, and kind of ridiculous to think that this is part of America. It is not. But hey, I don't need an I-95 like the other crew to get off the ship. There are definitely advantages to being American. The weather is gorgeous, my ship is as classy as they get and I just found out all my training carries over from the Rhapsody which is a huge relief for my first few weeks aboard. Makes life a hell of a lot easier. There are crew fitness classes 3 times a week which I hope makes me real sexy, and healthy options for room service as well. Veggie burgers and "Healthful" salads. Theres also a sushi bar which makes personalized rolls for you, which are surprisingly good. That is very exciting.

Susan is my assistant. She is 22 years old, from Winston-Salem N.C. and she loves horses and Doctor Who. I'm going to leave it at that, and see where it goes.

My goal for this contract is going to be a focus on success. I take this ship as a wonderful opportunity to do well, but also as a sort of new trial run for me. Ships can simply be quantified as good or bad (for auctioneers) depending on many different factors, but mostly two big ones. Capacity and price. I did pretty good on the Rhapsody with what I had, it was a small ship with a very low price to cruise. I was happy though with my performance, I did not fail, and in the end she took me to Australia. So hey. Naturally, the chance has been laid before me to further that success on a better ship (slightly larger in capacity with a much heftier cruising price tag). I strive to exceed everyone’s expectations on the Summit, including my own. To reach that pinnacle, if you will (oh geeze). I also want to look really sexy on the beach, so I have to be careful about the whole food glam thing. The fascination with all the food wears off pretty quickly though, but as such there’s a personal fortitude that’s required. A certain discipline. Thankfully they have a café in the spa with healthy minded proportions (Shrimp, avocado, and tomato salad anyone?), and its fucking awesome. That’s my plan. There’s also a veggie burger on the room service menu, so lets fucking do this. Who’s with me? As Monica puts it, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.

I’m just very excited to be on the Celebrity Summit. I’ve been gushing since I got here, but it feels so right for me. I couldn’t have hoped for a better placement at this point in my career. The crew life hasn’t really shown a lot of promise, but maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t need to party all the time. Not anymore. Maybe its time I move on with being a real person. What about a nice regime of gym, reading, writing, studying (art), and entertainment (24, Lost, The Wire, 30 Rock, Doctor Who, and various films) with a little bit of island fun thrown in for good measure? The craziest thing for me is the itinerary. We’re in exotic ports 6 out of 7 days a week, and each week those ports vary. With my working hours, there’s no way I’ll be able to experience it all. But for instance, on every other ship I learned my itinerary and ports of call within the first 15 minutes of my ship assignment. Here’s a week into it, and I’m still looking at my chart to see where the ship is sailing. I’ve never known anything about half these places. Dominica? What? St. Lucia? Who? It’s crazyness. With my personal goals for this contract I don’t know how often I’ll get to explore these places, but I definitely will find some time here or there, and one thing is for damn sure. New adventures lay ahead…and that is what motivates my life.

This last day in St. Maarten (the Dutch side) I mozied into the "Number 1 Gift Shop" because I was looking for a nice little night light for my cabin (I can't sleep in total darkness, I find it confusing). Lo and behold I find the perfect thing...A Chinese lucky ship of good fortune. Its beautiful. Its Golden, plastic, and has Christmas lights on it. When I took it to my room to plug in, its great...for about thirty seconds before it starts blinking. This was the worst thing that happened to me all day. After a nightmare filled nap of bad luck blinking ship, I looked at the lights on the damn thing. Usually blinking lights have a signifier light, one that blinks the circuit. Using my ingenuity I shorted one of the sockets without ruining the circuit, switched the signifier and BOOM. My good luck is about to set sail (with a steady glow). I learned that good fortune requires just a little bit of work...and alot of golden.