It's May 7th 2011. Suitcase is all packed, got my sunscreen, shorts, t-shirts and ready to take in the rays of the sun in Panama. I'm happy, excited, and eager to start working my first real contract as a stitcher and paid! The ship? the Norwegian Star. It holds 2, 348 passengers, 1, 083 crew members, and is 965 feet long (the length of 2 1/2 football fields).
So I'm on the bus to go to the ship, I meet administration, the people I will be working with, and the room that I would be staying in for 2 weeks. Now my new found friends from New York City (Ali and Mariela) and I were ready to go and have dinner (we have now sailed away from port for 3 hours) and I expressed to them that I was so excited to go through the Panama Canal and had asked how long it would take to go through it. They gave me a weird look and said "um....Irene what are you talking about? we are going to Alaska" and I replied no we're not I was told that we were going to Panama". "nooo, we're going to Alaska" said the girls. This went on for about another minute or so and then I figured I should believe them since 2 out of 3 people knew where we were going. What had happened was the Costume Manager of NCL (person who puts wardrobe staff on ships to work) was trying to put 12 people on 4 different ships at the same time and forgot to tell me that she put me on a different ship. Luckily, I had brought long pants, and a couple pair of jeans, and a sweater (the theatre and dressing rooms were cold most of the time).
Continuing on...
As an independent contractor and only staying on for 2 weeks, I, as well as the other girls, were treated like passengers. We got to basically eat, sleep, and play where they do which was awesome! Buffet breakfasts, lunches and dinners, with the occasional restaurant dinning and room service. However, most lunches were spent eating in the Crew Mess. The food is sometimes questionable. It's were you find your fellow crew members from different areas of the ship like engine operators, housekeeping, waiters/waitresses etc. In addition, there are 64 different nations that are represented on the ship. I was the minority. Filipino, Indian, Caribbean, and Eastern European nationalities make up the bulk of the crew. Finding food in the crew mess that was tasty to Canadian taste buds was a challenge, but I pulled through.
But then you get a night off or it's someone birthday and you get to eat DELICIOUS food!
Here is what I ate at a restaurant called Cagney's Steak House for Scott, Ward.Sup. on his birthday.
The costume manager put it perfectly when she said "Working on a cruise ship is like working in a theater... in a resort... on a military base." Ain't that the truth! There are many rules that you must follow in order to be a good crew member and stay on the ship.
Rules:
1. Passengers are always first
2. Have to go through the ships safety training and are assigned a safety duty to be performed
at least once a week.
3. Have to share a cabin with one roommate. Cabins are generally 12 X 10 feet. One word... bunk beds (ok, that’s two words.
4. You have to dress nice at all times when in public
5. Do your job correctly (big one!)
6. Follow correct procedures to get onto port. Do NOT just leave and tell no one, you will get DEPORTED! True story, Sound Technician lol
I am sure there are more rules to come which may or may not be interesting. We will see!
NCL's Norwegian Star 
Deck 13 - Pool and Water slides 
The room I stayed in - Inside room 
Juneau, AK 
Mystical Mountains and Waters 
The main theatre on the ship - Stardust Theatre. 
Ketchikan, AK - Alaska's first city as well as the "Salmon Capital of the World" 
A close-up of a glacier 
A Glacier surrounded by snow-covered mountains 
Deck 13 while the sun is setting 
Snow-capped mountains on our way to Ketchikan, AK with the view of the slides and jacuzzi. 
Sun setting behind beautiful snow-covered mountains. 
The best sunset I have seen! 
