PCV: Paid Caribbean Vacation

Last night I finally got onto the boat. I am a work-study student so that means I get to get on the boat two days early and get moved in. We do have to work on the ship but it doesn’t seem like it will be too bad considering no matter how bad it might get, it will always be easy to put it all into perspective and remember that I am going around the world and I have nothing to complain about.

I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to see Archbishop Desmond Tutu. We were checking in for the boat and he walked up to Dave (Nash) and I and gave us high fives. Not even a handshake, I guess he is better than that. We thought that he was just coming back from being out, but apparently he was just checking in for the first time. Therefore, Nash and I were the first people to meet the Archbishop as he goes on the boat. Of the 702 students and over 100 faculty, we touched him first. I knew we were getting off to a great start. He seems to be a very nice man and I am very excited to get to know him more as the voyage continues.

The best part about getting on early is the food. Not only do I not have to spend money on food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but also I am getting better food than I would be getting in port. The food on the ship is magnificent! I have only had dinner, lunch, and breakfast thus far but it is something that I have never had before. As nice as the food is, it’s the service that still blows me away. The crew on the ship is amazing. I don’t know how they do it but they are everywhere. When you are eating, there was someone waiting for you at the end of the food line to take your tray and walk you to whatever table you wanted. They then get your drink for you and take away your tray after removing your plate. The best part about it is how fast they are at removing your plate. You will be done eating but still chewing and you look down and the plate is gone. If you get up to get seconds (I do it often) then you have new utensils down on your table when you get back. I don’t think the service will be this great when everyone else gets on the boat but it is very nice to be treated so nicely and have nothing expected in return.

This is very different from the service received in the Bahamas. On Paradise Island, everything has 15% included tip on anything. It doesn’t matter if you buy a candy bar. It will have a tax on it. The nice thing is there is no sales tax, so most of the time it all works out in that regard. The part that really bums me out was the fact that regardless of what restaurant you went to, they all had horrible service. Anything you asked for besides ordering food was pretty much out of the question. Getting a refill was almost a joke. We did not have one good server the entire time we went to anything remotely nice. I think it was because they were already knew they had the tip, so there was no incentive to give good service. As a customer, there is nothing I can do about it either. I didn’t like it because I feel that I will pay good help when I feel I have been served since that is what the tip is about, but I didn’t like paying for something I don’t think they deserve. Not to mention how much the meal is overpriced in the first place.

My job on the boat is Audio/Visual (AV) work. This means that I set up projectors and anything technical that teachers may need. I am excited because we are in charge of playing music for people before classes so I kind of get to be a DJ for the boat in a sense. The work doesn’t seem like it will be too hard, I basically set up a few projectors everyday and then press buttons and record classes. I only work around 2 ½ hours daily and then the extra ½ hour is going to be saved for later times when they might needs us. My supervisor John Paul seems like he doesn’t really care too much but we are just 4 more extra sets of hands to help out whenever possible. I’m still just happy to be on the boat and beat the rush that is coming tomorrow morning when the other 676 people get on the ship.

We got to go out to see and anchor while other cruise ships were coming in and docking today. The reason we got for this was these cruise liners dock once a week and SAS does it once a year. We do not get priority of when we can and cannot get be at the dock. It was my first time actually being out at sea even though we could still see the shore. I was worried about getting seasick but everything seems to be smooth sailing right now. I don’t know if I’ll get sick but I hear it gets worse when we are actually at sea and not in parts of water that slow down the waves due to the shallow water. I got slightly dizzy but seem to be ok and am looking forward to being 2 steps ahead of my peers. Tomorrow is the big day when everyone arrives. It’s going to be crazy. It is about to begin. SAS Spring 2007 leaves for San Juan, Puerto in 24 hours!