4! 4! 4 Blogs in One!

The following are four blogs I've written over the course of the last month!

Movin' On Up

3/27/10
Alright, after 6 hours layover in London we finally arrived in Amsterdam where three of us were bused out to a nearby hotel. Here we were served dinner while awaiting the rest of the crew arriving that night. So after another 4 and a half hours of hanging out in a hotel conference room, we finally boarded the bus for the 2 and a half hour ride to the ship in Eemshaven, Holland.

During dinner, ironically, I sat across from the other broadcast assistant, Laura. She will be my colleague and roommate for the next three months, at least. She's nice and we seem to get along well. She's a real go-getter. She stands out more than I do since she's just come from a Solstice class ship so she knows all the equipment and layout of the ship. I'm trying. Jetlag and trying to catch up is slowly taking its toll.

So the Eclipse: 14 decks (no deck 13 as it's unlucky), 1200 crew, shared bunk bed room, top bunk again, porthole this time (YES!), amazing broadcast adjacent to the theater, sweet ass manager, etc. I like it so far. It's my first day onboard and Sandy - my manager - said the real work starts very soon. So as of right now I'm just trying to get through my morning safety trainings and learn where stuff is all the while dealing with the crazy land guys around the broadcast. I saw one friendly face who I will be seeing everyday for the duration of my contract - Danny the French Canadian ITV Manager.

Oh and for those of you who were wondering, yes I did cry when I left the Summit. Obviously. I held it together really well for a while there. I had breakfast with some of the acapella, Anna and ITV Dan (different ITV Dans). I had coffee with Susan the art associate from North Carolina and then Brian, Dan and Anna kept me company before I had to wheel my way down to the gangway. It wasn't until Anna hugged me and told me she didn't know what she was going to do without "her midget." Then I had to scrunch up my face to refuse the tears. She walked out of the room and I let a few fall, still doing good. Then Brian and Dan each wheeled one of my suitcases to security and waited with me until the Crew Administrator called for me to leave. Hugging my two favorite guys on the ship was too much for me. I made them leave right after the hugs cause I didn't want them to see me lose it. I saved that for the cab. There was a good 5 or 10 minutes of crying. Seriously, is anyone surprised?

So yea, I'm here. Everything's new so it's nice to be the first to use the cameras, sleep in my bed, walk these halls, etc. After this weekend the cast and more of the entertainment department will be here. I anticipate more expected and unxpected friendly faces. My girl Sara from the Summit gets here Monday. I can't wait. We're going to tear this place up. Get ready Eclipse!

4/14/10

Not even a month has gone by and I can't believe the things that have gone on here.

Eemshaven, Holland is basically a shipyard. Nothing else. There is absolutely nothing else here except the windmills. Not the cute Dutch windmills, though. These are the white, pointy, industrial windmills. There is one place in walking distance here, and that is the Seafarer's Mission. This place has internet and a bar, along with being a mission. So of course you see the crew travel out in high numbers once the working day is through to partake in a Grolsch (local brew) at what we call "the church." Yes, this has spawned terms like, "let's go and wash away our sins," "we need to go pray tonight," and "who wants to worship later?" Do I feel like a sinner? Yea, but I work on a ship, so I felt like that before.

On a side note, the best phrase uttered at the church so far is, "I need to control, alt, delete my thoughts." Yea, said by a fellow Spruce Creek Alum who's helping install the broadcast. Small, small, world.

Close towns? Deilfsil, at least I think that's how it's spelled. Great place for quick shopping. We had one night out there when I first got onboard. Me, Laura, ITV Danny, and Isaac the Production Manager. We had Heineken's at the Anker. Great little pub with a sweet dutch bartender. The old men there kept telling me how glad they were to have an American in the bar. I still maintain it's not hard to be an American abroad. Maybe it's just that I'm an American braud. Who knows? Anyway, my favorite part of the town is that there's a place called The Slagery Cramer. Yea, I know...

There's also Gronigen. I went in one night... that's all that needs to be said...

So let me tell you all more about this ship.

It's absolutely beautiful. I mean I walked onboard and it was half done, covered in plastic and dust, and now, well, now we start sailing tomorrow and with all the Maimi big-wigs onboard the place is sparkling. The coffee shop is like something you'd see in a chic place like London or Cannes. There's a restuarant in the center of the ship called "Bistro on 5" that's devoted to making soups, crepes, and paninis. I had the best chicken caesar salad there. It's a very market square feel. The theater is beautiful, the balconies are incredible, the night clubs are dowtown Miami posh, and since there have been no guests onboard, every part of the ship is using the crew as test subjects. For example, we've been eating in the main dining room these past few nights, the bartenders are trying out their skills on us, it's been amazing to feel like a guest.

Knowing the right people has its perks, too. Ken Rust is the man in charge of giving us every piece of audio equipment onboard - from the stage set up, to broadcast, to the music in the elevators and the speakers blasting the ipods in the Teen Lounge. He and his right-hand man, Mark, are the greatest set of characters I've come across in a while. Anyway, Ken has a way of getting things for us. It always sounds like a mob scheme, too, what with his New Jersey accent and all. The broadcast team has had dinner in each specialty restaurant this week. Our first night was in "Qsine." Ken, Mark, Laura, Sandy (my manager), Mike (my head boss from Miami) and I shared a great tapas style meal at this funky and hip restaurant. The place is completely designed by Jacques Van Staden - the head of culinary arts for Celebrity Cruises. We did a commercial with him a couple weeks ago and he's a very creative man. Those who know him say this restuarant is like walking itno Jacque's mind. The ceilingiis decorated with upside down table lamps and none of the chairs at any one table match. They serve spring rolls in springs, popcorn shrimp comes in popcorn boxes, disco shrimp comes in a light up glass and the cheesecake comes in a stemless wine glass with crust cookes on the side for dipping. Everything is all you can eat and we definitely did! That night was also the Yard Party. The whole ship went into full working gear to offer a night onboard for all the contractors who built the ship and their families. There was a show and free booze everywhere! I spent most of the night bonding with my broadcast team in the small night club, Quasar. A night that will not be forgotten.

The next night Ken got us into the French dining specialty restaurant, Murano. There was a Murano on the Century that I tried, but to be honest, this one was not as good. I enjoyed it, but I had high hopes for it to match the Century's taste and it didn't. The company was great, though. Same as the previous night. I was starting to feel like we were a family since we were eating practically every meal with one another. Ken tells great stories from being a roadie, and beating up Beastie Boys in Daytona during Spring Break. Mark makes jokes about Ken being old. Mike has dry and sarcastic comments like asking if anyone wants to share the "escargots" (pronouncing every letter, of course). While many people onboard are in fear of their head office bosses, I'm dreading for when mine leave.

Last night we went to Tuscan Grille - the Italian steakhouse onboard. Mike was absent, but instead we had two technicians from the theatre, and the head of entertainment in Miami - Brian join us. The food was excellent. I had the best crab meat casserole and a giant NY strip steak. Ken continued to tell stories about working with George Martin and Paul McCartney and I nearly died. I had to take a look around the table at one point. I was sitting at a table, lady in red, back straight, figuring out which fork to use, sipping my wine pinky up, speaking Hungarian with our assistant waiter, eating with business men who run my department, and I wasn't at all intimidated. I carried on conversations about growing up in Daytona (since most of them have worked there) and asked about the "good ole days" of ships - ignoring as they tried to figure out how I old I was at that time. I had a moment where I realized - whoa, I'm a grown up.

Now that can't be completely true, because this is all in the ship world. You're never really a grown up when you live with the people you work with, and you still sleep in a bunk bed, but I'm getting awfully close.

This ship is great. Like any other ship there are nights of wanting to quit, there are overwhleming 12 hour days, and there are moments on cloud nine. My boss is set on teaching me everything there is to know about our broadcast inculding the ins and outs of the wires. It's intimidating, overwhelming, but I don't absolutely hate it. I kind of miss the simplicity of just cutting a daily and a few commercials every day like on the Century, but this is the perfect time to learn all I can. Head office is here, Eemshaven isn't exactly calling to me, and no guests means free reign to screw up.

Tomorrow the ship is signed over to Celebrity. The big ceremony will take place early and anyone who's anyone will be there. My manager and I will be on roving cameras with the captain and cruise director. There will be ceremonies, shows and moments that will all need to be shot and edited before the day is through. It will be full of stress and anxiety, but it will feel so good to get it done. After that we set sail for Hamburg, and begin our press and travel agent cruises. In a little over two weeks we'll start revenue cruises out of Southampton and hopefully by then things will feel a little easier. The cruise director will want to begin shooting with us soon, along with activity staff and absolutely every revenue partner onboard. Things are about to get even more nuts.

So three weeks in, no sailing yet, and it all starts rolling tomorrow. Three weeks of nights at the church, making more friends from all over the world, bonding with broadcast big wigs, life boat drills on the bridge, conversations with the captain (not knowing he's the captain), walking through guest areas in jeans, dodging giant German contractors, building racks for the broadcast with power drills, lugging heavy boxes, editing videos, creating channel schedules, designing graphic templates, four onboard restaurants, three hangovers, one yard party, two heartshakes (not exactly heartbreak, but still shakes ya up, nonetheless), one season of Rome, late night talks with Sara, e-mails to the Summit, climbing up to antennas, testing patch panels, g-chatting with Mikey, and up before 9 am every day. I'm ready to see something besides pointy white windmills. Eclipse, let's get going!

4/15/10

So I'm going to try and do a moment by moment, day blog with this one. Today's the day the Eclipse is signed over to Celebrity and we sail away from Eemshaven. It all started last night when the four broadcast team members met with our cruise director, Nick Weir. I hear scarey and wonderful thinga bout this man. After a half hour with him I know I'm going to work my ass off, but I know I'm going to love it. He's crazy. He has this desire to do all of his videos off the shoulder, MTV, rock-n-roll style. Fine by me. He's got an energy that gives me the enthusiasm to want to do his videos without a thought to how it might interrupt my port or social time (which is, honestly, some feat!). He's more realistic about things than I thought he would be.

This morning, bright and early, at 7 am Laura and I went to the broadcast to begin preparing and setting up for the signing ceremony. Set up in the Cellar Master's bar, every CEO and department head was crowded into this room to watch the owner of the shipyard sign the contracts to give the Celebrity Eclipse to the CEO of RCL and Celebrity Int'l, Richard Fein. A rather anti-climactic scene of pen to paper and champagne bottles popping, it's still needed for archival purposes.

An hour later we headed to poolside where the same big-wigs lined up on the stage to tell the crew of the Eclipse - all lined around the balcony - that the Eclipse wa officially ours. It was rather funny for me, Laura, Sandy and the two fellows from the photo department. We were center stage in a Coliseum like setting with all of our fellow crew members looking down on us from the upper deck. I did my best to ignore them, but couldn't help smiling up at Sara as the President of Celebrity talked about what a great crew we are. We filmed the German flag being lowered and a small tear came to my eye as they raised the American flag and played my country's anthem. It's always tougher to hear that in a foreign country.

Next Laura and I trailed the captain from Meyer Werft (the German shipyard), and our Captain Skyglianous (probably not the way to spell it) up to the bridge to watch them sign their papers to one another and each make announcements to the crew.

Now I've just come in from filming the bridge during our first sail away. What a thrill! I got to stand right next to the captain and staff captain as they directed and navigated this massivesship out of port. They each smiled and winked at me occasionally, making me feel like the little sister of the bridge. I couldn't believe my luck.

So here I sit now, on my second short break of the day, trying to decipher what to wear tonight and wondering how many days it will take to re-acquire my sea legs. I can feel the waves beneath me, much like on the Century. I'm again at the front of the ship and the first thing I did on my break? Climb to my top bunk, rip open the curtains to my port hole and just smile at the brown shipyard water rushing past my little window. I don't care how brown it is, I can lay in bed and watch the waves roll past. What more do I need?

The Crew Party - that's what I need. Casino was open, Miami big shots serving us drinks, the owner of Royal Caribbean flair bartending! The party band was awesome, the ship was filled with crew having a great time. It was so once-in-a-ship's-lifetime. To look around the Grand foyer and see all the crew, having a great time, in our own clothes, hanging out and enjoying the ship the way we watch others enjoy it all year long. It was remarkable. The ship was signed over to Celebrity that morning, and for the rest of the day it truly belonged to us.

4/26/10

Two nights ago the Celebrity Eclipse had her official naming ceremony. I was in the lighting booth running the switcher watching them name the Godmother of the ship and cut the ribbon to release the massive bottle of champagne. It hit the smoke stack right on our giant Celebrity X with a splash. Just another event to add to the list of off-the-wall things I've been a part of. That night was our first real formal night. I wore a dress, sipped martinis with Miami folk, and was told how confident I looked. Quite an accomplishment considering there were many factors around me to have my knees shaking.

Today is it. We're sitting in the historical harbor of Southampton, England and loading 2,500 guests to sail on our three night Paris cruise. I know what you're all thinking, and shockingly I will not be going to Paris this time. My counterpart, Laura, has never been so I insisted she jump on the crew tour and spend the day in one of my favorite cities in the world. I will be on duty. Oh well. Our next cruise takes me to back to Ireland and she has agreed to help me have time off there. Oh Ireland. I can't wait to be back.

So around 5 o'clock tonight the Celebrity Eclipse wil begin her inaugural cruise. Rather exciting, yea? To be perfectly honest, I'm ready for the fanfare and ceremony to be over and to just be cruising. Here we go!