And so today is day two that the ship has been locked down in OPP level 2 code red. Day three took us over the 2% threshold and further into the bowels of inescapable biohazard malignancy. We’ve had multiple resurgence spike of GI cases on the ship. 8 in the last 3 hours. 5 in the evening, 11 overnight, and we’re getting worse. Essentially someone touched something nasty and that gets inside their face which then gets the nasty on something else which someone else picks up and puts inside their face= major shitstorm for everyone. Literally. So, as a manager, I’ve had to designate a team member (aka Susan) as our OPP vital oxide representative. She gets to spray everything than anyone touches with super cleaner. How exciting. Another consequence is that we are no longer allowed to use any of the guest areas except when on duty. No gym, buffet, pool, but then, why would I want to? I’m sorry, I don’t want to have diarrhea out of every orifice of my body
So here I sit in my room during a major 24/Lost marathon, enjoying the ship’s TV “how to properly wash your hands” video of the day. Its hysterical. Its just movies of people washing their hands, over and over…and over. They interlock their fingers, and rub them in and out, in and out. Flip, repeat. Interlock those fingers, now caress in…out.... Notable Quotables:
“Wash your hands for 20 seconds before rinsing. That’s about the time it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song…Twice.”
“Now, how to wash your hands and keep them clean in order to help you stay healthy, it’s really simple, but really powerful.”
It’s inane…it’s insane…it’s….insnane…Twice.
Otherwise, things on the Summit have definitely been memorable in my first two weeks. I’ve been going to these ridiculous trainings, and they really take the cake from my other ships. Before I was under the impression that it was useful information that needs to be, at the very least, cemented in my mind if I already knew it as fact. But today, for example, I had to go to a training the simply reinforced the importance of going over safety with my team members. The training didn’t actually cover any safety, just its importance. This is not a fun topic to start the day off with. Another training covered why it’s important to not put shampoo down the sink (cause it hurts the BUGS! {??}). And a further more explains how you don’t want crowds screaming uncontrollably in an emergency (keep So, needless to say, some of my free time has been spent doing things I would not have otherwise have wished to do. But, those blissful moments when you do get to do those things you want to do, and you step out into the sunshine, and onto the sand. Well, let’s just understand that makes it all worthwhile. The Caribbean beaches are what dreams are made of. And the rum punch will knock you out. And the best times are had when you can just bee line away from the ship, leaving all the worries of work behind you. I’ve heard other auctioneers say, and it kind of true, that it’s absolutely devastating to run into clients when you’re off the ship. It ruins your whole day off. Its weird psychology, this sales thing.
Some fun we had was in Antigua, where they had a nice beach, and St. Maarten, where they have the best coconut smoothies right when you get off the ship (and shhh, sdont ask too loud to have rum put in there too). There are several Canadian musicians on the ship (all of them!) and Nick turned 30, so we went out for an Indian lunch followed by a beach nap. It was beautiful. In St. Kitts I took the team out to lunch at a nice balcony Caribbean joint overlooking the main square. We drank ginger beer and had some local food. That was pretty special to me. Just getting to sit around and relax at a local Caribbean balcony, watching the streets go by. Also, in St. Kitts I got my eyes examined and some frames picked out but will have to wait till Puerto Rico to get the lenses made (cause they will not do express in St. Kitts). In St. Lucia I wandered around until I found an ice cream shop (passion fruit) and that was pretty much the extent of the experience I want to have in St. Lucia…for now.
On the ship we are not allowed alcohol in our rooms, which is really odd to me. I should get to enjoy a nice Toddy in my room after a long work day, dammit. Instead I do my perfect push ups express, regularly, as I hope Steve is doing, and know Ryan is too. But, I am a manager after all…and by far the youngest one onboard (by at least five years, which is pretty radical), so I should be able to have the privilege. They had the Celebrity Cruise executives onboard, like the CEO and everything, and so it was funny to meet them with all these 30-40-50 something managers at our three stripe meeting (officers only, bitches). How excited they all were to meet these execs. And here I am, this kid, who’s been with the company for 2 weeks, like “well, its a pleasure to meet you.” I warmed up to one of the VPs. She and I both worked for Disney (Hahahahaha) so we had some understandings there. There is no dancing in the staff bar on deck one, which sucks cause its nicer than the crew bar on the tween deck (sub 2) which you can smoke in and makes you feel like you’re hanging out in the garbage incinerator. We did have a great Valentine’s Day dance party down there and one of the spa girls told me I was the coolest art auctioneer she’d ever seen dancing in the crew bar. Oh geesh. It was fun to let loose a little, and show em what I’ve got as it were (put on the poker face!) ;)
When I was in college, I studied for a summer session in Trinidad and Tobago. For me that was always a very cultural experience, and connected me to the Caribbean lifestyle long before I ever departed there on a ship. So, going to Tobago, again, for me was a sort of looming idea. I didn’t want to ruin that connection I had with that country, or taint it with the cruising cynicism that we crew sometimes develop. Rest assured, Susan and I had quite the experience there. She had been getting threatening phone calls from the doctor onboard, she was missing some tests, and would have to get them in one of the ports or be disembarked. He’s not a very…well, sympathetic individual. He made Susan cry, and I was really put off by a conversation I had with him. Either way, we decided to take Tobago day to accomplish our health tasks. Sort of a medical scavenger hunt on behalf of Susan. Chest X-ray, CBC, and drug test. So what followed was actually a very memorable day exploring the intricacies of the Tobagonian health system. I met a lot of friendly people, saw some sad ones too, and felt like I had stepped back in time, or another country…which is exactly where I am. Sometimes I forget I’m not in America. What would have cost us $360 in Puerto Rico cost us $11 in Tobago. It was all fairly pleasant. Sure, there was some walking involved, some wandering chickens, eating some local grapefruit juice and banana bread, but mostly it helped with my perspective on the world. I’m glad to have furthered my cultural knowledge of the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
My second San Juan turned out to be a pleasant little experience as well. Mike and Bethany, my old auctioneers from Disney, were going to be in town the same day aboard the Norwegian Gem. So I hopped over to their dock, waited for them to come in, and caught up with some long lost colleagues. Not much has changed with them, both their old kooky selves wrestling atop boxes of crackers, but its always nice to remeet old friends. Its necessary. Grounds you a bit. And the more you do a job like this, the more you need a constant. So we drank some margaritas, wandered the streets of old San Juan, and postulated when we might ever meet again. Sometimes you never meet your ships mates again, and sometimes, when the stars align just right, there they are. Oh the fates and the winds…how you must set your sail to thee. We also reminisced about wanting to vomit on everyone all of the time, spewing a perpetual cascade of psychosocial malaise. But that’s the type of people we are.
So I don’t like to talk too much business, but things have definitely been showing some promise and improving. I’m tackling this whole 6 days in port, one at sea thing. Any potential I have for the cruise is sort of flooded over me at the very last minute. So I have to work fast to win them over at the last moment. On my first cruise, the last night, I had an experience I will never forget. A 238K sale that I was this close to clinching. I worked with this guy for three hours on my very best Picasso, Dali, Rembrandt, Chagall, Miro and of course Max. I could taste it, like anything I’ve ever known. And I wasn’t too excited either, you have to play it cool, and I’m pretty sure I did all the right things, but in the end, he was no go. The issue wasn’t money, it wasn’t the worthwhile nature of the art, even his wife said it was a no brainer in, but for him it was a “gut instinct” he couldn’t put into words. You’re supposed to overcome their objections, which I did, but how can you overcome something that is not put to voice or reason. How do you overcome a gut instinct? Oh the possibilities have been going through my head, and it will be the experience that will stay with me till the end. For me, it wasn’t about the commission, but about the ease of knowing I did good. Imagine if I had blown all expectations out of the water right off the bat. I would have been golden for months. No worries, and not just from the home team, but from me. A psychological calm that would have lasted for months. But that’s a shoulda woulda coulda, all I can do is move forward.
And that’s where I am…moving forward to new and distant horizons. There was a volcano that erupted in Montserrat and the seas are turbulent. Ash has been raining down in the sky and has settled over the Summit. A strange haze fills the air…I see this as a sign of change, of promise…an explosion of good things to come.
