The next morning I took a taxi from my South Beach hotel to the Miami Cruise Ship Terminal. I really didn’t know what to expect but was I enjoying my last taxi ride for the next month if everything went along as scheduled. The position I took with the cruise line was as vacation relief which meant I took over for the vacationing TV Coordinator during his one month vacation. That was the intention. What eventually happened was the S/S Norway became my ship, my home, for the next three years. I never got transferred to any other ship in the fleet. There was one thing about the S/S Norway, you either loved her or you hated her, but you were always loyal to her. I became one of the lovers. And if ever you are at a bar and someone dared disrespected the Norway, be ready to get beat up very badly. I’ve seen it happen, I’ve made it happen and still do to this day. We don’t stand alone in that line, do we Alex? But that’s another story.
We went along Collins Drive to Ocean Drive. My driver wanted me to get a taste of South Beach. From what I saw, I think I was 6 to 8 hours too late as Ocean Drive was pretty deserted. The tour was appreciated but I was anxious to see where I would be working. We turned onto 5th Street and then onto the Macarthur Causeway. Once on the Causeway I got my first view of the S/S Norway. Across the water there she was docked. Very Big and Very Blue. At 1035 ft long she was the longest Cruise Ship of its time. She stood out from the other smaller white cruise ships.
The taxi dropped me off at pier number 1 and I pulled my bags out of the car and up to the Crew Gate. More paperwork was shown and I was allowed through. Once on the pier I got to see up close how really big the Norway really was. I stood there staring at the ship and from behind me I heard, “Make your way to the Crew Gangway and wait there.” I walked up to the Crew Gangway, bags in tow and waited there. Many of the crew was getting off the ship, so I waited for a break in the line. A head poked out from the entrance and yelled out, “Are you Robert?”
“Yes”, I replied. The head turn back into the ship and yelled, “Hey Patrick. Your replacement is here.” Another person stuck out their head and said, “Hey, are you Robert?”
“Yes”, I replied, again. “Great!” he said and disappeared back onto the ship.
There finely was a break from the off loading crew and I dragged my bags up the gangway and took my first step onto the S/S Norway. The security people checked out my paperwork and then instructed me to turn right at the entrance way onto Biscayne Deck and go down to the Pursers Office, “you can’t miss it.” This simple phrase, ‘you can’t miss it’ always made me believe that if there was a chance, you would miss it. I passed a group of crew members who were lined up trying to get off the ship. There were people in all sorts of garb. Some in blue or white boiler suits, some in waiters’ outfits, bar outfits and so on. I also passed the area which I would soon learn, called Slime Alley where the garbage was offloaded from the ship. The deck was really slippery going through there was a stench in the air. Then, there was the sign, Purser’s Office.
Once at the Pursers Office I handed over my paperwork and was given more to fill out. I was then told, ‘turn right out the entrance and go to the Key Steward’s office, on the left side of the deck to get your cabin key. “You can’t miss it.” There it was again!
On my way to the Key Stewards office, I passed an area of this deck which I was soon to learn about, called Biscayne Heights. This was an area that had 14 crew cabins. It would play a very significant part in my ship and shore side life. But that’s another story.
The Key Steward handed me two keys, one for my cabin and the other was for the Broadcast Center, the BCC or TV room, all of which it was called. He told me to go left out the door and make my way to the crew elevator and go up to International Deck and my cabin, “you can’t miss it”……
With my bags, paperwork and keys in hand I found the crew elevator. This was the smallest elevator I had ever been on. It was about 2 ft wide and couldn’t hold more than 4 or 5 people. With me and my luggage, that was reduced to 3 people. Up to International Deck I went. Luckily it didn’t make a stop on the way up.
When the door opened I stepped out, moved my luggage onto the landing and looked left and right. Next to the elevator was the staircase, which was only wide enough for one person. Welcome to the land of the narrow. Do I go left or right? I chose right which was correct. I opened the door leading to the deck and as I did a very tall blonde guy with a white golf shirt and ship logo was coming through. His name tag read, Timmie.
“Hi” I said. “Can you tell me where cabin I -1012 is?”.
“Are you Robert?” was his response. Wow! I’ve been on the ship 30 minutes and everyone knows my name! Is this ‘Cheers, where everyone knows your name?’
“Yes I am”, I said. “Great!” he replied. “I’m Timmie the Lead TV Coordinator. We will be working together. Your cabin is right here.”
I walked onto the deck and my room was right across from the Crew Door. A landmark, remember that, I told myself. Timmie opened my door and there it was. My room for the next 30 days. The door was 24” wide and right in the entrance way was a closet that was also 24” wide. To the left was another door which led to the bathroom. It consisted of a toilet next to my door, a standup shower and across from that a sink. There was another door which led to my neighbor’s door. Timmie informed me that I would be sharing this bathroom with him as he had the cabin next to mine. Next to the bathroom door was a small dresser with 3 drawers. Across from the dresser was a small fridge with a VCR and TV on top. There was a single bed with a 3 level shelf across from it.
It was small and I wondered if my claustrophobia would set in. Timmie then said, “We are lucky to get these cabins. They may be small but at least we don’t have to share a cabin with anyone. Most crew has at least one cabin mate with some either 4 to 6 crew in the same cabin.” OK, claustrophobia will be put on the back burner. Here it was.
Home Sweet Home.
I dropped off my bags in the room, took an 11 X 8 ½ note pad with me and set off with Timmie for a ship’s tour. The whole thing was a blur with me taking notes and recording land marks. “Here is the Pursers desk, this is Checkers Cabaret, then the gift shops. After that it is Club International and then you go out onto The Great Outdoor Restaurant where the buffet is. Above is Olympic Deck and the basketball court. Down below is the pool deck and below that is the crew deck” We took a spiral stairway down one deck to the pool area.” Timmie continued, “When you go through these doors you pass The Bistro restaurant and that leads into North Cape Lounge. This is the Back Bar and the guy behind the bar is Hannibal. Hey Hannibal” Timmie said. I looked over and saw a man whose head was barely above the bar. “TIMMIE!!”, he called out as we passed. “After this you have the Photo area and then into the casino. Outside the casino is the Saga Theatre. Let’s take these stairs down one deck and I’ll show you the Cruise Staff Office.”
Let me make something clear here. Timmie was 6 ft 4 inches tall. I am 5 ft 8 inches. When Timmie takes a stride, I’m taking 2, so it was a sort of an Abbott and Costello scene with me taking notes and landmarks and trying to keep up with Timmie. We went down one deck and turned left and another left and got to a door marked Cruise Staff Office. I looked across from this door and made a note of the cabin number there. Another landmark. No one was in the office so Timmie said “Let’s go to the Broadcast Center on Viking Deck”
We made our way back to the staircase we had come down, but now went back up 2 decks, made two lefts, then a short distance and turned into a small entrance hallway. I looked at the cabin door across this hallway. It was marked ‘The Royal Suite.’ Another landmark. Timmie unlocked the BCC door and walked in. I took one step into the room and stopped in my tracks. I looked around and said to myself,
‘OK Rio! What the &@%# did you get yourself into this time?’
*Names may have been changed to protect the innocent!
No comments:
Post a Comment