Cruise 3

So it’s been longer between posts than I had initially hoped for. I still don’t have my shipboard wifi up and running- I really haven’t had time for that. Here are a few of my thoughts from this week.

October 26, 2009

I’ve been on the ship for 16 days now. I find that hard to believe…in some ways it has gone really fast…16 days is a long time. I’m still not sure I know what I’m doing. I have learned some of my responsibilities really well, so I usually keep doing those over and over again, but I know I have a lot more to learn…I was hoping to have a good grasp on everything by now- maybe that was unrealistic.

I have learned that some of my struggles in my job are not all because of me. Due to all the changes in broadcast, I can follow directions to the letter and think I’m doing everything right, but it still doesn’t work. Since I’m green I automatically assumed that I had done something wrong- that’s not always the case. Sometimes it doesn’t work because I was given the wrong directions or the system doesn’t work as my peers thought it would. I’m glad it’s not my fault, but I still find it frustrating…I waste a lot of time doing things as I was told then redoing them when they change their mind. I did a project twice yesterday for this reason and I need to do it again today, because it didn’t work out. It’s hard enough to learn all of the systems and processes not to mention that I learn them wrong then have to learn them right. I’m trying to be a team player and hard worker and everything I excelled at before, but it’s really hard when all of the work is tedious and is pointless about half the time. I feel like I get blamed for a lot as well. I get blamed for slowing everyone down (and therefore cutting into their drinking time). The only reason it’s taking so long is because I have to redo it for the third time because I originally did it the way you told me too!!!! I want to learn more, but I don’t like feeling like the dumb kid or the slow learner.

I’m in Bermuda today, but there’s “so much to do” in my department that I don’t know if I’ll be able to get off the ship. As I said, I’m all for working hard, but I want to get off the ship when I can. There are times during every sea day that our venues aren’t being used when we can do the needed work. It’s feeling less like an adventure and more like a prison lately.

Later…

Well, I managed to get off the ship today. I went off around 2:30 and I needed to be back by 5:30 so I wasn’t really sure what to do. Last time, I didn’t make it to the ceramic place or the art place so I wanted to check both of those out. That only took about an hour, but I didn’t know what to do with my next 2 hours. I went back to the glassworks place, because I find it fascinating there. I wandered around the same place I had just been two weeks ago before finding a bench to sit and read. While I was there I heard a lady selling glass bottom boat tour tickets talking about the Bermuda Triangle. I always thought that the triangle connected islands in Bermuda, but it turns out that Bermuda is the northernmost point. The other points are Miami and I believe Puerto Rico. She said Americans are way more into all the triangle stuff than Bermudians are. Big surprise…

Back to today:
There are lots of excursions that I would like to try, but I’m not sure how it works yet. I only get my work schedule immediately before hand, so how can I plan ahead? And can I reserve at the explorations desk? In the office? I don’t know yet. I need to befriend someone who works in Explorations…that will make this process much easier.

I got of the ship my second day in Bermuda as well. I was going to go snorkeling and do a glass bottom boat tour, but my friend, the Port and Shopping Guide (a good friend to have), told me that it’s better in the Caribbean, so I decided to wait. I ended up wandering around the city of Hamilton.

There’s not a lot to do in Hamilton I discovered. Lots of shopping. My favorite part was seeing the Bermuda businessmen. Everyone has heard of Bermuda shorts, but I didn’t realize that it is business attire. Business men in Bermuda wear a shirt, tie, and jacket complete with bermuda shorts, knee high socks, and loafers. Only their knees are exposed. It’s really quite comical- seeing them all run around with their naked knees and briefcases. It was great!

The colors in Bermuda are amazing! A lot of buildings are pastel pink, green, or blue. Compare that with the greenery of the country side and the bright blue of the ocean, and it’s beautiful.

I had an extra hour of free time on my last Bermuda day, so I went to the beach. I was alone, so I had no one to watch my thinks while I swam so I decided to keep my backpack on and wade into the water. As I was walking a few feet off the shore, I came across a school of tropical fish. There were about 20-30 all white, Bermuda Bream. Later I came across a few blue and yellow striped Sargeant Majors. Beautiful. I’m hoping to do some snorkeling soon and buy and underwater camera so I can visually share all of this with you.

While I was at the beach, I saw the funniest thing I’ve encountered so far…even better that the bare knee caps. There was a couple at the beach that I recognized from my ship. The wife was swimming and the husband was standing in the water but even closed to shore that I was (he was in his swim trunks and I was fully clothed, so this was odd). His wife kept trying to talk him into coming out where she was and he was getting more and more worked up. Finally he said something about being afraid of water. I understand that people are afraid of water, we’re all afraid of crazy stuff- some of you may remember a song I wrote about asymmetry… But why would you come on a cruise if you’re afraid of water? By it’s very nature water will be involved when cruising. Further more, why would you come on a cruise to a place known for it’s beaches if your afraid of water? I hear Vegas is lovely this time of year. It was all very strange to me. Eventually the guy to go out further than I did and stood on some rocks….then he slipped a little and flipped out. Hilarious.

I just added some photos to Facebook, so check those out if you get the chance:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040426&id=69102139&l=b86a6e9f0e

Hopefully I’ll write again soon, but I’m in the Caribbean this week so I might be too busy working on my tan!