Cruise Ship Diaries Part 19

The day had arrived..signing off day, which is weirdly not the day you acutally get off the ship, but the day before. You head down to the crew office and get paid any remaining wages /comission you are owed and bizaarely this was all still cash in an envelope you would receive and then have to hide really well or keep on you the whole day. Then most importantly you had to settle your bar bill and because you no longer had a shipboard account you had to put money on a cash card that you would have to use up fully that day (as they don't transfer between ships) if you wanted a drink on your last night.

You'd tidy up your cabin and pack your suitcases, then be given a time to take them down for security to root through them to make sure you were not stealing anything.

The time seems to drip so slowly on your last day and a common analogy made by crew is that it feels like the end of a prison sentence. Think about it, if your not enjoying yourself onboard it can be like prison, eat the same food around the same time every day, only so many hours of free time ashore / prison yard if your lucky and having to share a space with a complete stranger who you don't know at all until you suddenly going to be spending months upon months within meteres of each other.

It was an easy day as all I had to do was spend 8 hours in the photo gallery handing out DVD's and finishing early as the team who were off had organised a meal for me at the steakhouse (3 times in 12 days!) Trust me this doesn't happen every contract so it was a nice gesture by the team and manager Kat.

The only other thing to take care off was my appraisal and I wasn't sure what to expect as back in 2008 the senior videographer was wholly responsible for writing the juniors appraisal and as I've mentioned we simply did not get on by the end of the contract. My seniors boss was Kat who was overall in charge of the photo department and like some good managers if everyone is happy and doing their jobs you barely see them.

I wasn't even sure if Kat was aware of the issues we were having in the video department because sales were good and we were still professional and did the job despite not liking each other. When Kat called me in she immediately said she knew that we were not getting on and that even she felt that my senior was coasting somewhat and that other department heads and crew had been impressed by my work.

An appraisal had been submitted which was fairly bad and definitely would not get me a promotion but thankfully Kat was smart enough to see it was simply a personality clash and I'm sure a word from the Cruise Director Ron about how much effort I put into the ship events was appreciated. And of course the better relationship between the entertainment staff and the photo department the more they will promote our DVD's and other products. If we no-showed events or half assed it, they were under no compunction to even mention why we were filming events.

I'd built a great relationship with the entertainment department on the Coral and that in turn benefited and helped increase our DVD sales, so forging good relationships with the other onboard departments was key to a succesful contract. Kat told me that she disagreed with the appraisal that had been written and she knew I had been working hard and therefore my senior was given the option to rewrite the appraisal to something more fair, or Kat would include a note on it saying why she disagreed with it.

The appraisal was changed to a fully average one that gave me several backhanded compliments and dented my initial momentum enough that getting a promotion to senior after once contract (which had been mentioned because of how I dealt with a month solo) was no longer on the cards and the best I could hope for was a promotion from junior 1 to junior 2 which was a $200 pay rise.

If I'm completely honest I was burned out and didn't even care at that point and I hadn't even made a decision yet on if I would come back for another contract.

After dinner it was down for a final night in the crew bar and to say goodbye to the friends I had made over the last few months, its always a funny feeling when you leave as because you've been their for 6 months most of the people you started with are long gone and you realise life will go exactly the same tomorrow when you are gone.

Above a last night game of Bear, Ninja, Cowboy, think a more active Rock, Paper, Scissors however I have no memory of who beat who in that game.

So there you have it my complete Coral Princess story from Alaska to the Carribean, over 12 ports of call, an ungodly amount of alcohol and hearing YMCA more times than is responsibly possible. I hope you've enjoyed these blogs which have helped me while away the hours during lockdown and furlough over these past months and given you a bit of an insiders view into whats its like working on a cruise ship.

I always say each contract is different, because each ship is different and how you get on with your team. roommates and managers make a massive difference to your quality of life onboard. Where you cruise and what your guests are like depend on if you'll make any money, and even within the same company each ship and each contract is a completely different experience.

After a little break I'll be back with my second contract on the Sun Princess in 2008