47º 34N 169º 51N, 8-MAY-2026 – During the conversation with the senior staff that manages the hotel and restaurants, a discussion came up about the people who work for the hotel and restaurants. They are generally Filipino, then Malay and Indian. Though I was told that the people who interface with the guests are generally hired because they speak the language of the guests. So, while they were in Asia, they had a lot of Chinese speakers, and they will hire a lot of Mexicans for the Spanish speakers. He was somewhat unclear, or I didn’t understand the tenses of when these people were/would be hired.
He did address that the people who do this must have special talents: they must like people and be happy when they deal with them. They must also be able to work seven days a week for six to nine months at a stretch. There are many corporate incentives that include money, employee recognition, pep talks, etc. There is also a cruise director for the staff who sets up events, special showings of the headliners, etc for the staff. So this is like most customer-facing industries; there is a separate world they live in.
I envy the food: it is international food for the people of each country with their own kitchens and kitchen staff. I will guess their food isn’t bland. This also means there isn’t ‘‘family’’ food produced in the main kitchen for the staff. They have their own.
Each day at 2 pm, the clock is moved one hour forward. There is no hour from 2 to 3. One moment it is 13.59, the next it is 15.00. It was asked why this is done during the day. There was some answer about it being for the staff’s benefit, which is true, but to do it during the night would shave an hour off everyone’s sleep, and we’re going to do this for 8 days; that’s eight hours lost sleep: grumpy, sleep-deprived passengers.
Things we go to: There is a meeting with management every day at 10 am. Some management groups meet in the open mall area outside the 24-hour pizza place, and others meet in the big entertainment venues. This morning it was the management of the hotel/ restaurants in the big venue aft. It was interesting. Some of the answers were very corporate and politik. Some were direct.
Ricky, the cruise director, would step in and give answers that the others were too polite to say: The gym is small because corporate wanted more rooms; it won’t be that crowded on the cruises we normally have, as an example.
This leads me to the cracks between the public face and corporate face. All the help is unendingly happy and polite. I was standing around waiting for Jennifer, and a crewman that I had met the day before came up to me and started speaking. The conversation wasn’t really going anywhere, but he kept speaking to me, and then, as if he had spent the prearranged time, he suddenly broke off and went on his way.
The restaurant that we eat at, the Solarium Grill, had management come in one night and complain to the staff and its management about the temperature of the food for the buffet. When we came back, there was seriously less food out – this was somewhat embarrassing for us because we had brought friends – the staff was still friendly, but there was tension in them. Management was still around; the food wasn’t out as much – the feeling of abundance was gone, and they didn’t say hi when I did. They seemed not to see me. Later they snapped out of it and came by the table. We said Where is all the food, they said Ask for what we didn’t see; they had it all.
In the evening there is always a headliner, a cruise headliner.* We wonder if part of the compensation is the cruise. They’re stuck on the boat for ten days with no income after they do their show.
Last night we saw someone who sang with the Lettermen in the mid-sixties. He is still quite vibrant, though his show is twenty years old. The references are that dated. It did demonstrate the difference between a professional and an amateur. During the day, a group of the crew performed. A backup band of four and one changing singer. They were good, but nothing like someone who does this for a living.
He’ll do another show tomorrow at 1 pm. We’re told that is not part of his contract; he just wants to put it on.† There isn’t much to do on this boat, in general. Trivia competitions are big, as is bingo. There is an art auction I want to go to. So far, everything I’ve seen on board is prints, and none have had anything to indicate that they are limited runs. I’ll try to report back.
Jennifer is reading books, as am I. Yesterday we bought internet. Jennifer was back in touch with the world, and I dealt with students at my house in Atlanta and spent two hours on WhatsApp with some friends.
I haven’t completely relaxed, but I think it may be coming, and I am starting to write: blogs for the most part. This is one of the reasons why I came, enforced relaxation. We’ll learn how beneficial it is.
* Yes, we spoke with a cosmologist, who confirmed that the trip was her payment.
† We missed that show. We were told it was wonderful once he was off script.
