“This is your Captain speaking with an important update.”
Ship life
So here I am again, riding the crest of the waves, almost 5 weeks into my 7 month contract and I feel like I have been on board 3 months already. Surprisingly, I have found it relatively easy to slip back into ship life and must say I feel very ‘at home’ on board the Zaandam. I think that having had the experience of being on a much bigger ship previously (4000 guests and 1500 crew) compared to this one which is a lot smaller (1500 guests and 600 crew) has helped me to settle in quicker than I did on Disney Fantasy (DF). Finding my away around the ship is like water off a ‘whale’s humpback’ (well, I am in Alaska J). I remember spending my first month on DF getting totally lost and confused trying to find my way around the ship (I know some of you will think being ‘lost and confused’ is a pretty normal state for me). The second factor that has helped immensely is the friendliness of the crew who have so far, been warm and welcoming. Apparently, Zaandam ship is one of the best ships to work on in the Holland American Line (HAL) fleet because of the high morale of the crew and the sense of camaraderie. That’s not to say that I didn’t experience this on DF, I just feel that being on a much smaller ship makes it more ‘intimate’. I can’t say I know everyone yet, however, I think that everyone knows who the acupuncturist is, even if they don’t know me personally. That white lab coat is a dead giveaway. Actually, today (Monday 5 August) had an embarrassing funny moment at lunch. There were a mixed group of about 8 of us sitting round a table eating lunch when this complete ‘newbie’ came and sat down beside me and asked if he could join us. I had absolutely no clue who he was or what he did and was merrily chatting away to one of the girls and he picked up on our conversation and joined in. Then one of the girls asked him how long he was here for and he replied, “one week only”, so I piped up and laughingly remarked “so it’s a bit of a busman’s holiday for you then”. The whole table and the newbie burst out laughing. It was at this point I leant over a bit closer to inspect his name badge to see what his position was only to see the title ‘Captain’ on it! You would have thought that the four stripes on his epaulettes would have been a big clue! I couldn’t help exclaiming “oh my God, I didn’t know we had a new Captain on board, I thought you sounded a bit different on the PA system this morning!” (The ‘old’ Captain was Dutch, Captain Wouter van Hoogdam, and had apparently, unbeknown to me, gone on a week’s training somewhere). More laughter. At this point, very red faced, I decided to leave the table after formally ‘introducing’ myself to the Captain. Later on that afternoon, I bumped into Natalie one of the jewellery girls who had been sat at the lunch table and I said to her, “God, how embarrassing was that at lunch time”, and she was like, “it was so funny, you gave us such a laugh and I think you definitely made an impression on the Captain!” Not sure if the impression I made was good, bad or indifferent but at least he knows who I am! Just as well he is only on board for 1 week.
The vast majority of the crew appear to be either Indonesian or Philippino. Most of the officer’s are either Dutch or British (new Scottish staff captain just joined us this week). There are two British pianists on board and the Spa manager is Irish and so is the future cruise consultant, Joanne even though she sounds Australian and has the most annoying droning voice which really grates on you. Talking of voices, one of the Philippino spa girls remarked to me and the girls,
“I love listening to Emma talking”,
so when I asked her why, she commented
“Because it makes me feel like I am watching a Harry Potter movie and I just love Harry Potter!”
This tickled me pink! So I told her I would help her learn to speak the ‘Queen’s English’ J for me, it is just the simple banter like this that get’s you through the ship day and puts a smile on your face.
I was actually asked the other day by the crew office if I would like to give English lessons to the crew, apparently they have a budget for it so I would get paid for it so I thought why not. Just wish I had done a TEFL course (Teaching English as a foreign language).
Ship life
So here I am again, riding the crest of the waves, almost 5 weeks into my 7 month contract and I feel like I have been on board 3 months already. Surprisingly, I have found it relatively easy to slip back into ship life and must say I feel very ‘at home’ on board the Zaandam. I think that having had the experience of being on a much bigger ship previously (4000 guests and 1500 crew) compared to this one which is a lot smaller (1500 guests and 600 crew) has helped me to settle in quicker than I did on Disney Fantasy (DF). Finding my away around the ship is like water off a ‘whale’s humpback’ (well, I am in Alaska J). I remember spending my first month on DF getting totally lost and confused trying to find my way around the ship (I know some of you will think being ‘lost and confused’ is a pretty normal state for me). The second factor that has helped immensely is the friendliness of the crew who have so far, been warm and welcoming. Apparently, Zaandam ship is one of the best ships to work on in the Holland American Line (HAL) fleet because of the high morale of the crew and the sense of camaraderie. That’s not to say that I didn’t experience this on DF, I just feel that being on a much smaller ship makes it more ‘intimate’. I can’t say I know everyone yet, however, I think that everyone knows who the acupuncturist is, even if they don’t know me personally. That white lab coat is a dead giveaway. Actually, today (Monday 5 August) had an embarrassing funny moment at lunch. There were a mixed group of about 8 of us sitting round a table eating lunch when this complete ‘newbie’ came and sat down beside me and asked if he could join us. I had absolutely no clue who he was or what he did and was merrily chatting away to one of the girls and he picked up on our conversation and joined in. Then one of the girls asked him how long he was here for and he replied, “one week only”, so I piped up and laughingly remarked “so it’s a bit of a busman’s holiday for you then”. The whole table and the newbie burst out laughing. It was at this point I leant over a bit closer to inspect his name badge to see what his position was only to see the title ‘Captain’ on it! You would have thought that the four stripes on his epaulettes would have been a big clue! I couldn’t help exclaiming “oh my God, I didn’t know we had a new Captain on board, I thought you sounded a bit different on the PA system this morning!” (The ‘old’ Captain was Dutch, Captain Wouter van Hoogdam, and had apparently, unbeknown to me, gone on a week’s training somewhere). More laughter. At this point, very red faced, I decided to leave the table after formally ‘introducing’ myself to the Captain. Later on that afternoon, I bumped into Natalie one of the jewellery girls who had been sat at the lunch table and I said to her, “God, how embarrassing was that at lunch time”, and she was like, “it was so funny, you gave us such a laugh and I think you definitely made an impression on the Captain!” Not sure if the impression I made was good, bad or indifferent but at least he knows who I am! Just as well he is only on board for 1 week.
The vast majority of the crew appear to be either Indonesian or Philippino. Most of the officer’s are either Dutch or British (new Scottish staff captain just joined us this week). There are two British pianists on board and the Spa manager is Irish and so is the future cruise consultant, Joanne even though she sounds Australian and has the most annoying droning voice which really grates on you. Talking of voices, one of the Philippino spa girls remarked to me and the girls,
“I love listening to Emma talking”,
so when I asked her why, she commented
“Because it makes me feel like I am watching a Harry Potter movie and I just love Harry Potter!”
This tickled me pink! So I told her I would help her learn to speak the ‘Queen’s English’ J for me, it is just the simple banter like this that get’s you through the ship day and puts a smile on your face.
I was actually asked the other day by the crew office if I would like to give English lessons to the crew, apparently they have a budget for it so I would get paid for it so I thought why not. Just wish I had done a TEFL course (Teaching English as a foreign language).
The Greenhouse Spa
This is where I obviously spend the vast majority of my time (52 hours to be exact). The Spa and salon is a lot smaller than the spa on DF. For a start, we are a much smaller team of 13 compared to 35 on DF. The spa manager is an Irish lass called Tara, however, she is leaving this week and is being replaced by Cedric from France, formerly a hairdresser and typically ‘camp’. Good job I like the French and speak some of the lingo! There is only 1 other English girl in the spa and the rest are all ‘foreigners’. The age range varies however most of the staff are in their late 20’s or mid 30’s, apart from the two fitness instructors who are early 20’s.
I have 2 treatment rooms, one has a sea view and the 2nd room is an inside room. I don’t think I will ever better the view and position of my treatment room on DF. Anyone who was lucky enough to see my room will understand why – I had the best view of the entire ship looking out to sea directly above the ‘Bridge’/Captain’s office. This time, although I have a sea view, instead of a forward facing view, I have a starboard (right side) view so it is not nearly so spectacular. However, I do get to see some amazing scenery and even spotted a whale from my room which was the highlight of the day. One of the positives of being in Alaska is the amount of daylight – in July, the average daylight is 16 hours 20 mins and during August, 14 hours 31 mins so it doesn’t ever seem to get dark in the evenings. I wouldn’t want to be here in November or December though when the average daylight is 7-8 hours.
There is also a gym attached to the spa which is located in the prime spot at the front of the ship looking out to sea (where my treatment room on DF was). I have been frequenting the gym during my time off to practise my yoga as my cabin is too small to even swing a cat, let alone do the cat posture. When I did attempt to try some yoga in my cabin, I couldn’t stretch upwards properly for hitting the ceiling or sideways for hitting the walls. So despite the fact I would prefer to do my yoga in privacy, I have become a ‘regular’ in the gym. The 2 fitness instructors who offer yoga classes were well impressed by my asanas!
This is where I obviously spend the vast majority of my time (52 hours to be exact). The Spa and salon is a lot smaller than the spa on DF. For a start, we are a much smaller team of 13 compared to 35 on DF. The spa manager is an Irish lass called Tara, however, she is leaving this week and is being replaced by Cedric from France, formerly a hairdresser and typically ‘camp’. Good job I like the French and speak some of the lingo! There is only 1 other English girl in the spa and the rest are all ‘foreigners’. The age range varies however most of the staff are in their late 20’s or mid 30’s, apart from the two fitness instructors who are early 20’s.
I have 2 treatment rooms, one has a sea view and the 2nd room is an inside room. I don’t think I will ever better the view and position of my treatment room on DF. Anyone who was lucky enough to see my room will understand why – I had the best view of the entire ship looking out to sea directly above the ‘Bridge’/Captain’s office. This time, although I have a sea view, instead of a forward facing view, I have a starboard (right side) view so it is not nearly so spectacular. However, I do get to see some amazing scenery and even spotted a whale from my room which was the highlight of the day. One of the positives of being in Alaska is the amount of daylight – in July, the average daylight is 16 hours 20 mins and during August, 14 hours 31 mins so it doesn’t ever seem to get dark in the evenings. I wouldn’t want to be here in November or December though when the average daylight is 7-8 hours.
There is also a gym attached to the spa which is located in the prime spot at the front of the ship looking out to sea (where my treatment room on DF was). I have been frequenting the gym during my time off to practise my yoga as my cabin is too small to even swing a cat, let alone do the cat posture. When I did attempt to try some yoga in my cabin, I couldn’t stretch upwards properly for hitting the ceiling or sideways for hitting the walls. So despite the fact I would prefer to do my yoga in privacy, I have become a ‘regular’ in the gym. The 2 fitness instructors who offer yoga classes were well impressed by my asanas!
RSS Feed