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120 sats \ 9 replies \ @siggy47 OP 13 Mar \ parent \ on: Doing That Retirement Cruise Thing earth

We're heading south to the Bahamas. After a whole bunch of caribbean cruises over my lifetime, I follow the Apocalypse Now "never get out of the boat" mantra anyway, unless it's a port I've never been to. https://youtu.be/YbFvAaO9j8M

86 sats \ 3 replies \ @grayruby 13 Mar

I am sure it will be fun.

40 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 OP 13 Mar

It will. It's really about hanging out with friends.

106 sats \ 1 reply \ @carlosfandango 13 Mar

And eating 6 meals a day lol. Very important that you never miss a meal on a cruise.

40 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 13 Mar

That I don't like. It makes me feel sick watching the cattle line.

96 sats \ 4 replies \ @carlosfandango 13 Mar

All day drinking… awesome!

I’m sure you have done it but one of the highlights of my job was watching for pier runners. All you need to be is on the gangway side as the clock ticks down to departure and watch them come running. Informal awards and shouts are given for effort, loss of footwear or beach items, the man who leaves his girlfriend to ‘stop it leaving’….

All fun until you see the Purser and Head of Security with a brown envelope talking to the local agent (who will organise the trips and is port liaison) you know there is someone taking an expensive trip to the next port…. and their passport retrieved from the safe is in that envelope.

40 sats \ 3 replies \ @siggy47 OP 13 Mar

Yes! I have done that. There have been times when the boat has left people. Passengers start hooting and hollering as they race to the boat.

96 sats \ 2 replies \ @carlosfandango 13 Mar

Fewer get left than deserve it.

My favourite memory was watching a man standing on the back of his wives mobility scooter as she gunned it for all of its worth… we watched them from the port entrance saying ‘are they with us?’, ‘I don’t think they are with us..’, ‘you know I think they may be with us..’ and it was the most painfully slow sprint over a 1/2 mile I have ever witnessed.

Reminiscent of Sir Lancelot attacking the castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail - he then had a go at every member of the crew for allowing the boat to leave ‘early’ before being shown the itinerary.

40 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 OP 13 Mar

Great story! I suspect you have a million of them. Did you work many cruises? I knew a married couple who met working a cruise ship.

182 sats \ 0 replies \ @carlosfandango 13 Mar

No. I did 6-months to see some of the world and practice my languages - I could have stayed but I didn’t want to do a winter season.

Relationships between crew were tolerated but not encouraged and we all fancied the dancers (they tended to date within themselves though).

There are different tiers of employee, usually based on roles, so not everyone mixed in the same crew bars.