the blog

Drugs and dryers

The adventures of Carol Brown, representing Norwegian Cruise Line on a 6-month mission on the open sea to train the crew, explore new ports, seek new friends and experiences, and to boldly go where she has not gone before.

Carol’s log: Cruise Date: May 30 2011 (Ketchikan)

I went back to work today after taking a sick day yesterday. Work doesn’t stop when you are on a cruise ship whether you are sick or not. There were emails to answer and follow-up items from events of the previous day.

I took my morning allotment of drugs but they didn’t kick in before my first meeting so I suffered through the first meeting of the day. My face still hurt and my head still hurt. Each time someone spoke, it was as if they were driving a spike through my head. I was glad when the “taka-taka” ended. I’m sure it was important taka-taka (a Filipino expression) but I couldn’t stand to hear it.

The highlight of the day was the Leadership Luncheon. I had recruited some of my boys to attend the lunch where they could ask the senior management questions. I was pleased to see that they actually showed up and they asked good questions. I sat beside the Captain and he was his normal rascally self. He asked me about the ring I wear on my thumb. I told him I didn’t think it meant anything. He asked why I was wearing it on my thumb and I said because it was the only finger it would fit on. He said he thought that I was advertising that I was single and then he queried me about why I’m single. We chatted about Greece, Toronto’s Greek community and our mutual love of dessert. The Captain is like a mischievous kid. I like that about him.

I return to my cabin for my next dose of medicine. I pull open my cupboard and water pours down from the top shelf where all my clothes are neatly stacked. Everything is soaking wet! The water from the leak in my ceiling travel further than I had thought. I bag my meager belongings up and head to where I think the laundry room is. Because my steward usually takes my laundry I don’t really know where it is. I go through a doorway and somehow end up back at my cabin. I go up a flight of stairs and somehow end up back at my cabin. I wonder how this is happening especially when I can’t seem to find my cabin when I’m looking for it if I take a route different from the normal one. I see one of my boys in the hallway and he points me in the right direction, which is correct in that I should have turned right instead of left.

I’m finally in the laundry room and everything looks simple enough. I follow the directions but the washing machines don’t start. I push buttons and open and close the door but still nothing. This brings back nightmare memories of the iron incident in Miami! Another crew member comes in and sees my confusion. He explains that the machine doors need to be slammed and when you push the button you have to hold it. Only he says it as if everybody knows this and what rock have I been under. Thank you very much dude!

I make the mistake of leaving the laundry room to have dinner and when I return, my clothes are out of the washing machine and sitting on the counter that is none too clean. I have to wash everything all over again. This time I bring a magazine and make myself as comfortable as possible. The dryer proves a challenge on its own because everything is done with pictures that don’t mean anything to me. I randomly push some buttons and away we go. I check the dryer every 15 minutes to ensure that my clothes aren’t being cooked instead of dried. The very helpful guy from earlier returns to tell me that I’m using the wrong temperature setting and pushes a button. The next time I check, everything is dry. Thanks again dude!

There is a band playing in the crew bar tonight. Floyd wants me to stay up until he gets off work at 23:00 and go with him. My head hurts and I want to go to bed. I can’t deal with the smoke in the crew bar and I sure can’t handle the noise of a band. Besides I have training at 09:00.Maybe I’ll just close my eyes for a little bit and I’ll be okay to party. Fat chance!

The voyage continues…