SHORT STORIES Leaving the S/S Norway, A Sad, Sad Day & Dinner at Le Bistro, sans Bob…

Leaving the S/S Norway, A Sad, Sad Day.

I got off ships in March of 2000 and it was very emotional to see the Norway sail away without me. I was saying goodbye to my shipboard family, but especially, Sarah was sailing away without me on board. We had made a plan that I would go to Smith & Wolensky’s, a steak house which was the last building on the channel as the ships sailed by into the Florida Straits. As big as the Norway is, it would be a challenge for me to see Sarah up in the crowd of people who line the decks when the ship sails out of Miami. We decided that she would stand on deck  where there would be less people and easier for me to spot her.

Here is an interesting fact about ships sailing in a channel. You would think that when a cruise ship sailed through the channel it would raise the level of the water. Makes sense to me. Actually it is the opposite. As a ship sails through, the water actually recedes and pulls away from shore. This is due to the turning of the propulsion system which draws water through it and raises the ship. In doing so the water pulls away from shore.

When the Norway went through the channel it pulled more water away from shore than any other ship. It was quite a sight to see.

But on this day I wasn’t looking at the water line. I walked out onto the concrete blocks in the water so that I could be seen from the ship by Sarah and I could look for her on deck. I had both my still and video cameras in hand.

    S/S Norway sailing out of Miami

    S/S Norway sailing out of Miami

                                 Jerry waving with Sarah next to him

I scoured the decks looking for Sarah but could not see her. The ship goes through quite quickly so I didn’t have much time to see her. I spotted a very big, tall person waving wildly and realized it was Jerry, one of the singers from the Theatre Cast.   And there next to him was Sarah. I started to wave back and suddenly a huge roar came from a group of people on board and they started to wave wildly, calling out to me. It was the entire cast of singers and dancers that Sarah worked with. They had all come out to support Sarah as they knew it was quite an emotional moment for her. It was also an emotional moment for me and suddenly the tears were flowing down my face. Sarah was sailing past on the Norway and I wasn’t there. This was the first time we would be apart for any length of time since we started seeing each other. There was so much going on that I forgot to take pictures or video, as the Norway sailed out. I took a couple of quick pictures and then turned on the video camera just to catch the rear of the ship as it passed by. It was tough seeing the Norway sail away and I watched until it became a spot in the distance.

I slowly walked by to my car, still emotional. I started the car and drove back to the Best Western Hotel, my new home away from home, and started my new life working shore side.

Dinner at Le Bistro, sans Bob…

This is a story Sarah relayed to me. It follows the above story of when I got off the Norway and started my new career shore side.

Sarah and I had a standing reservation for dinner at Le Bistro every embarkation night. On this particular night she kept our reservation but went with Andrew one of the singers from the theatre cast. They sat at our regular table and Zoran was their waiter. Zoran greeted them as professional as ever, but Sarah felt he was a little cold. As the dinner went on Zoran never really was the warmed up or joked with them. And then it hit her. Sarah was sitting at our table with Andrew and I wasn’t there. Zoran was thinking that Sarah was seeing someone else and he wasn’t happy about that. The next time Zoran came to the table Sarah said to him “Zoran, have you met Andrew, he is a very good friend of Bob’s. I spoke with Bob today and he said to say hello to you.”

 Suddenly Zoran eyes lit up and he became his friendly old self. He had thought that Sarah was seeing Andrew now that I was no longer on the ship. When he found out that this was not so, he was happy that Sarah and I were still together. As I have said before, we all take care of each other.

*Names may have been changed to protect the innocent!*