CRUIZIN’ FOR A LIVING
DIARY OF A CRUISE SHIP SPA THERAPIST
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY
A QUICK MINI GUIDE TO WORKING AND LIVING ON A LUXURY CRUISE SHIP
Marie Berdine Steyn
Copyright Marie Berdine Steyn 2011
Published at Smashwords
Copyright
Copyright � 20 October 2011 by Marie-Berdine Steyn. This edition was prepared by MB Steyn.
CRUIZIN’ FOR A LIVING (SERIES NAME)
DIARY OF A CRUISE SHIP SPA THERAPIST - MINI BOOK ONE (BOOK NAME)
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY (SUBTITLE)
AUTHOR: MB STEYN
PUBLISHER: MBS SELF-PUBLISHING.
All rights reserved under International and South African Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of MBS Publishing or MB Steyn (Author).
MBS and MB Steyn are the logo and trademarks of The MBS Initaitive.
CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
MINI BOOK 1
(1) THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
(2) APPLICATION
(3) ACCEPTANCE & TRAINING
(4) WHAT TO PACK
(5) CATCHING PLANES AND NERVES
ALSO AVAILABLE SOON:
MINI BOOK 2 - available 20/11/2011
(6) FIRST DAY ONBOARD
(7) FIRST WEEK
(8) FIRST MONTH
MINI BOOK 3 - available 20/12/2011
(13) THE JOB+REtail
(10) THE GUESTS
(11) CO-WORKERS
(12) THE BOSS
MINI BOOK 4 - available 20/01/2012
(15) SHIP NIGHT-LIFE
(14) SHIP DAY-LIFE
(15) THIS IS life
MINI BOOK 5 - available 20/02/2012
(16) END OF CONTRACT
(17) A ONCE IN A LIFETIME JOURNEY
(18) REFERENCES
(19) SOME HELPFUL HINTS
(20) Cruise ship COMPANIES
*CONTACT INFORMATION
*EXAMPLE-CV&COVER LETTTER
*OTHER
INTRODUCTION
I Started writing this information as an article, but later realised just how much information I have available to share with those who seek to start employment onboard a Cruise ship, or those who have already been accepted but don’t have any idea what to expect.
The Information contained within this book was written to give those individuals some knowledge beforehand of what the Cruiseline Industry is like as an employee and what to expect on your first day, first week and what your experiences might be like.
The Information itself will be presented to you in some instances in Journal format, in a very relaxed and often humerous manner.
I should warn you in advance that every individuals experiences in a given situatian might be different and therefore will my experiences differ from anothers. (an * will indicate name changes)
I have delibrately changed some of the names of those which I shared my experiences with while working on a Cruise ship. Also do not take my word for everything, go and experience it for yourself, and maybe one day you too will write your very own book.
Enjoy the journey with me. I hope you will gain some insight, calm your nerves and realize that the mindset you have when you first set foot on your Cruise ship, will also determine what you’re experiene will be like and what you will gain from your contract.
CHAPTER 1
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
FROM AVERAGE TO TRAVELLING FOR FREE.....
You’re dreaming of beautiful, romantic Islands! Tropical Rainforests! Indigenous tribes! Visiting Paris, Egypt, Mexico, Alaska, the Caribbean Islands, Mediterranean or Greece.
You even smell the incense as you walk through Doha’s Souk, you feel your legs ache as you climb Machu Piccu, or you stand in amazement as you watch the highest waterfall in the world cascade down into the silver-blue depts of a river.
Every known human being has an inner longing to spread their wings and explore the treasures of the world. Especially when we are young and still enthusastic about this universe.
It was the same with me. Since I could rememeber I wanted to explore. See the world through the lens of my own eyes and not the televisions.
“But how to do this?”
I had no clue. So it came about that I settled for an average job, with average pay, with a just as average life. And best of all: no exploring. Nope. Ziltch.....
There was never the money, and no matter how much I saved, it later on became apparent that I would only be able to visit one of my fantasy paradises once every 8 years. OUCH!!!!
‘No Good.’ So, since the day I realized this, I went in search of jobs in areas that would take me to these places, and if possible,for Free.
I explored ‘Tour Guide’, but these it seems in SA is limited to a certain area or game- reserves. ‘No Good.’
Next was ‘Travel Journalist’. Everywhere I applied though, a degree and experience had to be part of the package deal. Since none of those were part of my package, I let it pass.
Then I tried ‘Travel TV Presenter’. Mmmmm, even more tough if you have a lot of pimples and at age 23 still look like a 17 year old girl. Next on the list was ‘Air Hostess’. For this very ‘specialized’ field I realized after 3 tries that no airline employs someone with a size 12 butt. Jip, you guessed it: ‘No Good.’
So what did I do? Mmmmm.... I gave up! What!!! Jip! You heard me! I took a break from trying to reach a dream and unlike the hero Leonides from Sparta or Huckleberry Finn I settled for my average job, with average pay, with average travel opportunities. Which of course consisted of the daily travel to work, the grocery store, the Mall or the occasional picnic in the park. Not very exciting.....
At night though the longing returned and I could feel my heart aching for those dreams so far out of reach. Then I would play those dreams on my minds’ gold board and imagine I was there. I smelled the ocean, I felt the white sand beneath my feet, a Margerita in the one had, camera in the other and prayed my bikini-top was still in place.
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7am. “Dong, Dang Dong, Dong!!!!!”
I stretched an irritated hand towards the alarm clock and pushed the snooze button, nearly knocking it to the floor. With my short blond hair scattered all over, I pushed my face into the pillow and tried to sneak another 10 minutes of sleep.
“Dong, Dang Dong, Dong!!!!!”
“Aggghhh” I groaned. That felt more like 30 second than 10 minutes. And once again I hit the ‘snooze’ button. This time it actually felt like one minute before the buzzer went mad again. At this I finally forced myself out of bed, trying to have a look at what the time was through my one eye. The other still fast asleep.
At the sight though both eyes flew open. 07:21AM!!!! “Oh smokey Cheese” I said in my best english which should not be repeated here. “I’m going to be late.” Again. “Shit.”
With that I dragged myself towards the bathroom for a 2 minunte shower, 2 minute dress-up, 2 minute make-up, then hopefully a 20 minutes drive to work which usually last 40minunites - so that I can be on time for work at 8:00am.
As I entered the bathroom though I nearly did not make it to work. Again.
No wonder the guy who turns my world upside down, have never gone to the trouble of asking me out I thought as I glanced at myself in the mirror. “Good Smokey Ham.” For a couple of seconds I thought it was a blond Wiccan looking back at me with shocked eyes. “Oh Gosh!!!” When did I go from moderately beautiful to beyond average?!
I did not recognize the woman in the mirror! My hair was worse than Chucky’s Bride, a dozen red pimples spotted my face and my hips looked like a size 14. No wonder I was stuggeling these day’s to get into my jeans without breaking a sweat.
Just so quickly though the shock vanished as I pulled my shoulders upwards and said out loud: “Oh well. NO reason to get upset. You’re in the Average-Lifestyle-Boring-Industry anyway.” And with a sigh I turned on the shower and settled for Average just like 90% of the World Population. Again.
-----------------------------------
Although:
To get rid of dreams that leave you depressed and hopeless if you don’t fulfill them is a hard task. “No Good.”
And so one day the universe realized that there is no way it can take my gloomy-depressed face anymore, and conspired to introduce me to *Bob. Now *Bob is the Principle of a Massage School which trains Students in massage therapy and other holistic therapies. And so it came about that I started taking Massage Classes with *Bob. Mind you, a 23 year old for the first time massaging the upper thigh of a very-well built University Rugby player while I have never even seen more than my very Ex-Boyfriends upper torso while swimming.
That reminds me about another very beautiful man and one of the other reasons I decided to leave South Africa (SA/RSA/ZA) for the blue ocean waters. It’s quite a long story, but in a shortened version:
You see I realised after nearly two years of tennis lessons and playing tennis at my Club that I was totally in love with this guy, Shaun. And every Saturday since I made it to 21 he would turn my knees weak, made me stutter like a 16 year old with hick-ups and send red-hot flashes to my cheeks just by looking at him. (don’t mention dreaming about him). He is the most handsome man I’ve ever known. Tall, blond, a body like the greek god Appolo and the most amazing blue eyes that I still don’t know the exact shade of.