March Madness

Time: 1:46pm

Weather: 12C sunny with clouds

Location: somewhere in the middle of the East China Sea from Nagasaki to Shanghai

It's coming up to 3 weeks onboard and I'm already finishing up my third cruise alone! The cyclical nature of these 4-5 day long cruises are starting to stick and I'm settling into somewhat of a routine and niche. I do love the dynamic nature of my job though. Extra things always pop up especially in this market and I could be the proctor of an exam one day and the beauty pageant judge on another day.  I have to say I am pretty proud of how far I've come in this time from not knowing anything about shipboard operations at the start. My Chinese has also improved drastically and I'm able to speak with a lot more confidence, seeing as I need to make announcements and/or do presentations every day, it definitely helps. Now that I've gotten my job duties down there are also lots of new safety training I need to learn as I have just been put in charge of a muster station during the drills. 

When you live and work all in the same space day after day you bond with your coworkers quickly. The cruiseship is like a mini city and it's quite amazing how everyone pitches in to ensure everything goes smoothly. Prior to coming onboard I was worried about what to do in leisure time and being isolated from society but so far I haven't had any of these feelings. Technology has come a long way to facilitate digital communication with constant access to news, telephones and Internet, which although is impacted by satellite reception at times is still overall fairly robust. I now have my own pager, yes those handheld things from the 80s and 90s! There are also many fun events planned by the crew club from parties to shows to city tours, and yes there is quite a bit of alcohol flowing in ship life. Basically there is lots going on and with FOMO especially being your first contract it's more of an issue of too many things you want to join in on. So you power nap any chance you get to catch up on sleep. You also learn to become friends with the gym as it's the main way to stay fit and combat weight gain from all that food. I've established a routine of going in in the early mornings when there is hardly anyone there and working out on a machine as the sun is rising is not so bad at all. 

 

Itinerary wise the biggest change we've had to adapt to is that we are no longer able to call at Korea due to the political conflict between China and South Korea. So it's Japan Japan Japan. I've been to both Fukuoka and Nagasaki enough times that I'm starting to remember where things are! From the ornate shrines and delicious ramen, to the heart-wrenching atomic bombing legacy, Japan never fails to impress. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The one time we stopped in Kagoshima we got off the ship just to get on another ferry to check out Sakurajima, a small island nearby where there was a dormant volcano, totally worth the trek!

 

 

 

And lastly here are memories of the one and only time I got to explore a parasitic volcano crater on Jeju. Hopefully things improve and we can start going there again. 

 

 

 

Spring is clearly arriving and I can't wait for all the cherry blossoms to come into full bloom for when we call into central Japan at the end of the month!

The first wave

Time: 1:15pm

Location: in the middle of the East China Sea on the way from Shanghai to Kagoshima, Japan

Weather: cloudy 8C

 

You'll have to read to the bottom to see why there's a cute owl here!

With the huge amount of information I have learned it feels way more than just over a week since I've been on the ship, but time doesn't lie and it is already my third cruise after all, pretty soon I will be completely on my own. Or maybe time does operate differently out at sea? 🤔 There are constant changes between China and Japan/Korea time every few days and I'm still paranoid about being late every time it happens.

My position onboard is the Captain's Circle Hostess/Onboard Sales Manager, Captain's Circle being Princess Cruise's loyalty program. Usually there are two people for these two positions and back on a "normal" ship I would be just the Captain's Circle Hostess, but everything about the Chinese (and later Taiwanese) market operates a little differently. In some ways it's a good thing because it's less busy in this market so I get to ease into it and learn about both positions. Every day is a little different with different start times which definitely keeps me on my toes. Often I start by helping with tour dispatch or disembarkation at one of the lounges if it's a port or turnaround day, which for these short itineraries is almost every day. Funnily enough I had a very similar ground services job back in Canada Place last summer, and at the time I was thinking how awesome it would be if I could go on the cruise. After all the passengers get off I might have some time to go onshore, providing that there are no drills or trainings to attend (of which there are many on a ship). If it's a turnaround day, which means the ship returns to home port to drop off and pick up a different batch of passengers, I also perform passport collection during embarkation. Later on, I open office hours to assist guests with their loyalty membership needs and future cruise bookings. On sea days it's a little easier as I only have longer office hours and sometimes presentations. Overall days are long and I was exhausted the first few days but I'm getting used to the hang of things. Working on a cruiseship you learn to let no time go to waste (another reason why it's good I don't have Internet access) and the work hard play hard motto is truly lived here.

A few days ago I actually got a few hours to explore Fukuoka with some new friends and we found ourselves at a shrine and an owl cafe!