Stephans cruise ship diary

2007-12-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

This blog is now discontinued due to me leaving carnival and a lack of interest on my part.

-S

a Quick thank you and things to come.

2007-06-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to thank all those that have recently mailed me with questions and just to say Hi. If you have not done so you can mail me at stephan@cruiseshipdiary.za.net. I promise to reply to all of your emails even if it might take me a while.

Right now im busy with a photo shoot of the ship. Im almost done so in the next day or two I will make that post.

Chat soon
S

Money Money Money :day 29

2007-06-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Good news: got my first pay check today... Bad news... I bought a new Tag Huer watch so im left with 80$ .. hehehe oh well I did say I'm going to treat myself the first few months so what the hell.

On a general note things have been going really well. Met some nice guests on the last cruise so hung out with them pretty much every night they were here. I'm missing everybody at home but having an absolute ball.

Tomorrow we are in San Juan again and i have the whole day off!!! The ships only leaves at 11:30pm so i'm going to have a fun day take lots of pictures and tell you all about it.

untill later
-S

The new watch :D "My precious"

San Juan, Porto Rico. Day 23

2007-06-07T15:03:00.001-07:00

So things over here in the Caribbean are still great. I’m on my second cruise now and im starting to get use to the crazy schedule now. Night before last (Formal night) I dressed up in my suit and some of us went to the passenger disco. Nice vibe nice tunes danced the night away and stumbled back to my cabin… No I wasn’t drunk we had some rough seas ;) . Met some nice South African people , and a girl from the UK and we all hang out together now.

Today I got to get off the ship in San Juan, man its beautifull. They have an old fort 20 mins away from the pier which is amazing and the whole vibe here that of small little touristy party town/ I had to be back at work at 6:30pm so didn’t get to experience the night life but next time ill be able to party till 11:30pm when the ship leaves port.

Gotta go again but here’s some pics of San juan.

Day 15. The people we meet.

2007-05-29T21:45:00.001-07:00

So im 3 days into my first "official" cruise working as a photographer. I briefly saw NYC while driving to my ship and holy cow excrement it is freaking HUGE! i really cant wait till i get some time off in NYC to go and explore all of the dodgy dark little corners the city has to offer. Apart from that i havnt seen much. The ship sails 2 days to get to Porto Rico So the view outside hasnt changed much. I've been working my bum off not going to bed before 2 am on one evening.. and no i know what you are thinking that has nothing to do with the crew bar. Ok one night!! but that is it :D

Anyway to get back to the point of this post. Its funny, I expected to meet lots of people on the ship but bizarre things happened at the hotel i stayed at for my week off. Not only did we party every night (yeah ok thats expected) but we also met some really awesome people. Some work for Carnival others dont. Im going to introduce you to them now.

First up is Erin. Erin is a New York girl now living in Boston. She is a lab technician working one some disease. She like long walks by the beach.. (ok ok i made the last bit up) Erin's flight to Boston via miami was delayed around 1am. Erin ended up at our hotel untill her next flight at 8:00am the next morning. Considering it was only 7 hors we all decided to stay up with Erin and not go to bed. So after a few six packs of beer and a awesome party everybody went with Erin to the airport to go say goodbye.

Neeeeeeext

** Damnzor ran outta time. Its 1:00am now and i need to get to bed because i have training from 8:20 to 6:00pm tomorrow and work from 6:30pm to 11:30pm . Im not sure if ill have time to do the rest of them tomorrow but just hang in there. Damir, Doenya, Donald the duck[yeah seriously],Cynthia. Basko and Steven. will grace this page shortly. :D

Luv ya all
Thank you and goodnight.

Ok enter from the left Steven...

Steven was from the same flight as Erin. They happened to sit next to eachother on the plane and got delayed together. Steven is a really happy and gay guy ;-). Lots of fun. He was planning to stay with us for the week but couldnt get a cheap enough airfaire.

More to come cheers for now.

So what’s been happening?

2007-05-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

I can think of a million excuses why I haven’t updated my blog in a while and while some parts of my story are completely lost. Too much happening around me could be one, maybe all the excitement overloaded my brain… but more than likely, I have just been a little lazy :D

Anyway here is what’s been happening since the day I first got onto the ship up until now.

Day 1:
The shuttle buss came and picked us up at the hotel and off we went to the ship. Man its gigantic. There where 16 trainee photographers in total that arrived with one little problem. There was only enough space for 10 of us. With a bit of luck my name was one of the 10 who was called to stay on the ship with a slight snag… instead of the usual 90 days of training our training would be changed to only 4 days. Umm yeah quite extreme I Agree. We got keys to our cabins, had dinner in the crew mess (nice food actually expected way worse), had our first safety lesson in the crew bar, and got lost about a million times traveling between all of the above.

Day2.
After an early start we did training for most of the day. We got a quick tour of the ship by our photo instructor and received 2 huge books to study for tests on day 4.

Day3.
We started taking photos of passengers. First up was the dining room. At first it feels quite rude to interrupt people while they are eating. But most people are in good spirits and seem to enjoy it.

Day4.
Some more training and portrait shots. Also got to check out Playa del Carmen. In one word WOW.

Day 5.
Got off ship. And back to hotel.

Ship life is quite a lot of fun but it definitely has its drawbacks. Firstly you make loads and loads and loads of friends. I have gotten close to at least 20 people in the last 10 or so days. Some of them I met on the ship and some of them in the hotel we all stay at. It seems like the joined experience of life at sea just makes people feel closer to each other that much quicker. The biggest drawback is lack of sleep. I cannot recall 1 night where we went to bed before 1am. The portrait setups are open till 11:30pm and after that there is still some breakup and cleanup to do.

Day 11.
Ok so what’s been happening since I left the ship on day 5. PARTY TIME!! My newly assigned ship only leaves on the 27th. Due to this delay I have had almost a week of free time to roam Miami at will. Together with getting drunk almost every night we have gone to south beach more times than I can remember as well as to various malls (bought 80gb ipod, 5 psp games, new cell phone etc ) in the area. Metro busses get you pretty much anywhere in Miami for $2. South beach is nothing like what you’ve seen in the movies and also exactly what you have seen. Geographically it looks nothing like what they portray in the movies but I can fortunately confirm that there are many beautiful girls on rollerblades. In 2 days time I am leaving Miami for New York. My new ship (the Miracle) sails out of New York Harbor so on Sunday I am flying there to get onto my ship.

So in a nutshell everything is going great. I am way excited about going to New York and ill definitely stop being a lazy bum and update my blog more often.

To those people we have already lost to other ships : Tarryn, Harry, Karen, Fifa, and Nina I miss you all and really hope to see you all again someday.

For now, I’m off chat to you all soon.

Our photo team on day 3.

Foties Finally !!!!

2007-05-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

Left to right . Karen From SA. Tarryn From SA. Me. And Jelena from Croatia. In our Hotel lobby in Miami.

Wroar Grrrr :D

Arrival at our ship.

Our little baby in port in Calica mexico

Dining Room.

A beautifull..... Fountain in Playa Del Carmen Mexico.

Playa Del Carmen Mexico.

Playa Del Carmen Beach.

Yay no 2? :)

2007-05-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

Ok got my new ship assignment. Sails outta New York yeehaa.

Having lots and lots of crap with uploading photos. will do asap.

Am i in Heaven???

2007-05-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Wow ok so many things to write I have no idea where to start. I got onto my first ship in Miami 3? Days ago… man time flies when u are having fun ;-) We first sailed to key west where we couldn’t get off but from the few glimpses I caught it looks beautifull. Today we stopped in Mexico and guess what we had off so 3 of us went to playa del carma. OMW it is beautiful.. see pictures attached. Apart from that the job is fun we are working damn hard normally getting to bed at around 1am but u cant really call taking photos work now can you. On a little different and this won’t surprise those that know me… but I have sortoff fallen in love… and out of love again… and then yet again in love… Now I can’t write too much about this now to protect the innocent and the not so innocent but ill be sure to give you a little more info IF and when anything progresses.

Apart from that things are great. Tomorrow I’m getting reassigned to another ship which is going to go hell knows where but if Mexico is anything to go by im sure it will be beautiful. Anyway only have 10 mins left before I need to go so I need to be off. Family peoples I miss you very much and love you even more. Friends peoples you too :)

Dammit ran out of time... Pics on their way tonight.

In miami!!!

2007-05-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

Yay Im in Miami. Man when they say flying for 20 hours is bad they mean it. My "cheaper" route ticket too me to Germany in 10 hours with a 5 hour stopover in frankfurt and then another 10 hour flight to Miami. The best? (only) seat I could get was in the middle of two other people. One was an obnoxious german who kept an uncanny control over the armrest and on the other side a south african who for most part almost ended up sleeping on my shoulder. Needless to say I didnt sleep a wink. When i got to frankfurt i was stuffed. 5 hours of walking around in duty free... (shopping in duty free is pointless at 35€ for a carton of cigarettes and other things simmilarly priced you are probably better of buying a plane ticket to south africa and buying stuff there. One hectic security check later (2 lighters a steel laptop lock etc got confiscated and the south african customs people didnt even see them probably) and off to miami I go. This time at least i had a really nice seat so i could sleep... But as my luck would have it they showed to really good movies on the plane so yet again very little sleep.

It is now 7:30pm and with almost 25 hours of flying behind me i am properly stuffed.
Miami on first glance is very much like durban. I have allready met up with 2 other photographers (1 also from SA) who happen to stay in the same hotel.

Anyway im off to bed now and tomorrow im off to the ship, Sorry for all the spelling mistaked but im not going to bother with them now.

-Chat soon
S

8 Days encounting

2007-05-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

Contrary to all expectations and previous experiences things have actually been going fairly well recently. I got my American c1/d visa without too much hassle the second time around. On top of that it is valid till 2012. So at least it will be awhile before I need to go through the pain and suffering that is getting a US visa. My airplane ticket adjustment came FREE. Yeah you heard me right 100% free to change my airline ticket by 17 odd days. Thanks again to Kevin at Awesometravel you rock!!

So as things stand (and this time it doesn’t look like they are going to change, knock wood) it looks like ill be departing for Miami on the 15th. Quick stopover in Germany gets me to Miami on the 16th to start work on the 17th.

I’m sure you are as bored reading about me planning to go as I am writing about it. So hopefully very very soon I’ll be able to both astound and entertain you with stories from the Caribbean ;) Until then keep it real and chat soon.

-S

Extra cost of plane ticket R2000, another visa appointment R90, having to wait another 20 days before I get to go overseas… not so priceless

2007-04-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

I’ve been putting off writing this because right now dejected is an understatement to the millionth degree of how I feel. To make a short story long, basically the appointment for a US visa works like this… U fill out some forms online, print them out, pay R90 at a pick and pay branch, get a pin code from them for your R90, phone a visa call centre to make an appointment using your pin , go to appointment and get interviewed. Now to me this all sounded like a bit of hard work so I had everything up to the going to the appointment part done for me.

All fine and well, off I go to my interview. Given the fact that its 7:30 am.. and I normally only go to bed around 5-6am I decide not to even sleep that evening. Ok so I get to the US consulate. You stand in a queue for about 30 mins to get to a window where they check your appointment and your papers. Woman behind window searches… low and behold… there is no appointment for me. *panic* turns out my appointment was for the 4th and I was told my appointment is for the 10th. I buy a pin code to phone visa call centre myself. Next appointment I can get is the 2nd march. *panic* considering I need to start work on the 27th that might be a bit of a problem.

Anyway the outcome of all of the above is this. I have an appointment for my Visa on the 25th. My employment date got moved to the 17 of next month. And now im stuck here for another month. Wooopdeeee fcking dooooooo.

I really don’t know how I’m going to sit here on my ass for another month, but it’s not exactly like I have a choice.

I’ll update my blog if and when something else goes wrong or right.
Chat soon
S

The Medical

2007-03-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

You know that feeling you get when you get stopped by a traffic officer and even though you know you did nothing wrong your heart still skips a beat? No? Oh well indulge me anyway ;-) With my medical exam I had very much the same feeling. See the last time I went for a complete medical exam was like… ummmmm… never. Now carnival doesn’t stuff around when it comes to this kind of stuff, extremely thorough would be and understatement. 4 pages of 3 columns of stuff need to be checked for. Hell quite frankly I didn’t even know that much could go wrong with one human being. Everything from blood tests for known viruses to cholesterol gets checked.

Anyway so off I went to Doctor Green to get my medical exam. A little drive to JHB central (joy :-/ ) and I finally arrive at the doctor. Quick checkup of my heart, pulse blood pressure and a urine sample (stage fright here we come, but managed to pull it off) and I get sent off for blood tests and X-rays. 7 little empty vials get stacked in front of me ready to be filled with my blood. Geez am I going to pass out after this… hell does a human even have that much blood. Oh well apparently they are only 5ml each no harm no foul. And another Urine test for the blood lab guys… hell people give me a break here, one human can only Pee that much in the space of 30 minutes. X-rays fairly uneventful, I make sure I check the little box on the X-ray form that says “Are you Pregnant?”. Watch expression of reception lady, doesn’t seem to notice, damn she probably gets that a lot then. Get lost on my way home in the BAD parts of JHB relative term I guess considering 99% of JHB is BAD. Anyway nothing new I get lost all the time, ask directions like any self respecting man shouldn’t and find my way home.

So the waiting begins for my results. Now I’m not saying I stressed my ass off... but hell I stressed my ASS off. Went for medical on Friday, get a call on Monday from doctor. Hearts starts to beat faster; everything is fine, sigh of relief. I can go pick up my medical certificate. Drive to go pickup medical exam, don’t get lost on my way home, fairly impressed with myself cant let it go too my head too much though cause chances are tomorrow I’ll be get lost again.

I start scouring the internet for an airplane ticket to Miami, cheapest I can get is *gasp* R10500 ONE WAY! Hell I don’t want to buy time with the air hostesses I just want a damn trip to Miami. Phone Kevin at www.awesometravel.co.za as suggested by www.cruisealternatives.com. He sends through a quote and its almost R4000 cheaper than the flight I could get. This guys obviously has a few tricks up his sleeve. And here I was thinking its all just a money making scheme to direct people to them. Shame on me, oh well I’ll get over it, in fact I already am.

Anyway one last thing stand in the way of me and Miami and that is my American Visa.
Appointment is set for the 10th April and hopefully it won’t be too much hassle. Apparently they are rude as hell though screening for terrorists and the like. Punching the interviewer is probably not a good way to get into the country so with a little restraint, I don’t think I should have too many problems.

As always I’ll chat to you all soon and let you know how the visa thing went. 29 days and counting…

The package

2007-03-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

So i went an picked up my package today. Inside was a long letter from Cruise alternatives with information on what i need to do now regarding Visa,medical etc.

Also my employment contract from Carnival.. and guess what.. i allready know which ship im going to be on as well as which hotel im going to stay at when getting to Miami. Geez these people are organized.. can you imagine the logistics in doing this for 10,000 odd staff... not even to mention leave etc etc.

Anyway the ship im going on is the Carnival Imagination(pictured above). The ship weighs 70,367 tonnes and hold 2,052 passengers and 920 staff members. Pretty gigantic in anybody's terms. The ship sails all over the carribean(pictures below) I really really cant wait anymore.. considering my date of embarkation is only on the 27th April i might leave on the 20th or so and go for a bit of a holiday in Miami.

Anyway i gotta run again

Chat soon

-S

Leaaaaaaaving on a jet plane, dont know when ill be back again......

2007-03-12T06:09:00.000-07:00

Ok excitement is a bit of an understatement! Guess what... I got my letter of employment... and I need to be in Miami on : Wait for it... *Drumroll* *long pause* 27 April!! That is like 40 days from now.. YAY!!!!!!!!!! There is a "Package" waiting for me at Cruise Alternatives and im not sure whether im more excitited to see whats in the Package or more excited to go. Anyway so barring something crazy happening like me failing my medical or not getting my Visa, in 40 days my blog will actually contain content of me on the ship and not just me talking about going on the ship.

Chat to you all soon

From a very excited Stephan

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."

2007-03-09T03:12:00.000-08:00

... and willing I am but my word the waiting is killing me. My house and my car is sold.. I have pretty much all the documentation I need bar a Police clearance certificate (1 1/2 month wait?!?! South African public services at its best) and a C1/d Visa (Which I can only get when I have my official letter of employment from carnival.

Things around here are seriously getting boring now... sitting by the phone waiting for that call..
Cmon Carnival...

Yeeeehaaaaaaa

2007-02-28T01:54:00.000-08:00

Ok so ive been gone for awhile... mostly because it took so long for any developments on my looking for cruise work that I almost forgot I even had this blog.

2 weeks ago I got an Email from Cruisealternatives saying the date for the final interviews has finally arrived. This monday we had our interviews. Carnival Cruises sent their Photography manager John Arvenia out to come and do interviews for photographers. John showed us a dvd about life onboard as a photographer and everything looks way exciting. Needless to say I stressed my ass of and out of 20 odd photographers my interview was last. The wait paid off though and i got accepted. I now have in my hand a letter of employment from Carnival. Yeeeeeeehaaaaaaaa!! :D

It looks like I will be leaving somewhere in April. I will be flying to Miami to do training for 5 weeks after which I will be sent somewhere in the world to one of their ships.

Anyway im going to keep you all updated with any happenings and will definately update my blog at least once a week when I finally arrive in Miami.

Chat soon
Stephan

Here are some pics of the crew cabins that I found.. man they looks small.. then again who cares i'll only be sleeping in it anyway.. if I get to sleep :)

There are good and bad times, but our mood changes more often than our fortune. -Thomas Carlyle

2006-09-02T01:42:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have good news and I have bad news.

Good news first… I have a really really good chance to get the photograpy job I originally applied for! Even better I will more than likely be able to choose between the two jobs (photography or IT).

Bad news.. I missed the Carnival cruises representative by 2 weeks… which means… wait for it… the next time I am able to do a final interview is in February!

It is September now which means.. umm .. a wait of basically 6 months. Shit.. im not impressed. Oh well im not quite giving up for now. If I have to wait till Feb then so be it.. but I sent me CV to Princess cruises today. I cannot seem to find an agent in south africa for them but managed to find their recruitment page and mailed them directly.

I’m a little down, but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it is only in February.

Anyway ill let you all know how the princess cruises thing turns out, and keep you up to date on any further developments.

Chat Soon.

So... Im applying for a job on a cruise ship.

2006-08-20T01:38:00.000-07:00

I am sure many of you have been in the situation where you want to apply for a job on a cruise liner but cannot seem to find much information about it. I have Googled my ass of looking for crew accounts of life on board, but most results turned out to be people trying to make money off of job applicants. After extensive searching I eventually came uppon a recruiting agency for carnival cruises in my home country (South Africa). I mailed them requesting info about the “Photographer” posistions they have available and shorty after got a reply requesting my CV. I sent my CV through and the next day received the job outline for Information System officer. With 6 years of pure IT experience on my CV i couldn’t really expect them to offer me the photographer position ,even though I was a little disappointed. Anyway I found this link on Carnival’s Website about the experiences of other Information System Officers on Board carnival cruises. The jobs seems fairly nice, a big plus being that since i am an Officer I get to use the passenger Restaurant,casino, disco etc which doesn’t seem to apply to most other positions on Board.

In 2 days time I am scheduled for an interview with the recruitment agency. If all goes well I will be able to continue my tales and give you a bit on insight into the recruitment process and life on board.

I am really really excited but right now but at the same time there are a million thoughts going through my head regarding selling my house, quiting my job, leaving my family and my love behind.

Hold Thumbs for my interview on the 31st and ill be sure to come back and let you all know how it went.