Too bad you are not on next week’s cruise…

My first week went by in a flash. The best surprise was waking up the after my first night’s sleep at sea and not having motion sickness. I was not prone to that sort of thing but I didn’t know if the ships movement would affect me. I soon learned that the S/S Norway was the most stable ship on the waters and had the smoothest ride of all ships at sea.

Besides learning all the day to day activities and duties for a Broadcast Technician, I had to learn my way around the ship. The crew is not permitted to use the guest elevators, so staircases where the method of transportation up and down. I used to take the stairs two at a time to get to the upper decks…in those days. There was one crew elevator in the forward area of the ship, which I mentioned earlier and months later I discovered another crew elevator which was at the aft, (back of the ship) but that was smaller than the forward one, if you can imagine that being possible, and always full of room stewards with their bags of sheets, towels and pillow cases.

The guest staircases were also an adventure. There were 6 stair towers in all. There were 16 decks on the ship.

The reason that there was a variety of staircases going to and from different decks was that the original ship, the Transatlantic Liner, S/S France had a class distinction and not all the guests were permitted to go to all the decks. When the ship was converted to a cruise ship and renamed the S/S Norway, the guests were all permitted to travel throughout the ship no matter what cabin class. Interestingly enough, there were stair cases that led nowhere.

Their were two main dining rooms, the Windward Dining Room which was originally the First Class Dining Room on the S/S France located Mid-Ship, in the center on Atlantic Deck. The second was the Leeward Dining Room located aft, also on Atlantic Deck

As I was going past the Windward Dining Room once, I was stopped by a guest, who said,

“Hey Sonny! Why do I have to eat in this dining room when I would rather eat in the other dining room?”

‘This’, meant the Windward Dining Room and ‘the other’ meant the Leeward Dining Room.

Remember protocol, I said to myself.

“Sir, if you wish to eat in the Leeward you can ask your Maître D to see if there is table available for you. He can change your dining room.”

“But,” he replied, “my cabin is here and the other dining room is far so away”.

“In that case, you can check with the Front Desk and see if there is a cabin available closer to the Leeward Dining Room for you.”

“I don’t want to change my cabin”, he hollered at me, “I like the one that I am in!”

Remember protocol…and patience.

“You can always call the Bell Station and they can furnish wheelchair to take you to and from the dining room when needed.”

“I don’t need a wheelchair! I’m not an invalid!”, he hollered back to me.

OK, running out of options, here.

“You know what Sir?” I answered, “Too bad you are not on next week’s cruise. That’s when we are having a moving sidewalk installed on this deck to go between the dining rooms, and that would solve your dilemma. Sorry.”

Time to walk away...quickly. As I left, I realized I might have been a little rude. Rule of thumb was, if you screwed up, own up to it and let the Cruise Director (CD) know what you did, because if the CD found out from another source, let’s say the Hotel Director (HD), it was not going to be a happy day all around.

I went directly to the CDs office, which was my destination prior to my meeting this guest. I said to the CD,

“You might get a report back from a guest about my possibly being rude to him”, and described the exchange I had with the guest. The CD looked back at me and said, “Was it a tall elderly man with a blue polo shirt and tan shorts?”

“Yes it was”, I replied.

“Don’t worry about it”, she said, “The same guy called me over by saying, ‘Hey Missy, go get me some extra towels and pillows.’

I dodged that bullet.

Friday meant the Private Island was our final stop before arriving in Miami. It was a small island that the cruise line leased and created a day at a private beach for the guests, who usually came back to the ship totally sunburned.

Later that evening as I walked through the North Cape Lounge, I saw my hockey team mate Jacques, sitting at a table with his wife. He motioned me to sit with them and have a beer. Have a beer! What a great idea! For the first time since I had arrived on board I realized how quickly the week had flown by and I had not stopped to relax at any time. A beer sounded like the best idea at that moment. I sat back and we traded hockey stories. I relaxed for the first time in a week.

After a great night’s sleep, Saturday came around and I was about to start my second week at sea. I was starting to like this job a lot!

Find something that you love doing and you will never work a day of your life.

*Names may have been changed to protect the innocent!