Tendering is such Sweet Sorrow

I would like to point out the picture of the week! I have finally had a great snapshot to put up there with two of the most zaniest guests ever! Two sisters: Mary-Kate and Ashley. The man in between them is not me, but a dining room waiter. These two were the craziest, quirkiest girls I have met in a long time and we got on like a house on fire. They had accompanied their mother and a group of her friends on the cruise. Needless to say they were in need of some craziness from me and so we met every day in the library for some scrap booking! That's right Dad, I said it, scrap booking. Please notice the shirts that they are wearing. So much fun!

And now on with this weeks entry!

Anybody who has ever taken a cruise knows about tendering. The act of stepping of the side of the cruise ship onto a smaller boat that will take you to shore. Everyone who has worked on the cruise ship will definitely agree that working a tender operation is long and painful. Especially if that person was schnockered the day before.

The process being long and tedious leaves the guests attitude nothing to be desired. After I have sung every T.V. theme song to entertain or playing the red game or making everyone tell me what color they are feeling, the mood changes from light heartedness to down right treacherous as the Belize authorities have taken two of our large tenders from our ship to another.

Where is the line drawn between hospitality to being walked over? Within the Cruise Industry the guest is not always right as is the case with most service oriented businesses on land. Because we are dealing with far more safety issues then normal, a strong hand must be placed on the backs of the guests who wish to challenge the system. A guest who makes one of our 'family members' cry holds no chance of getting his or her way.

Such was the case with one of the Dancers, Michelle. The scenario was all to familiar. A guest not listening to direction because they are to busy fighting with their spouse or  yelling at their kids for being kids and then throwing a tantrum themselves when they didn't know what was going on.  What would posses this guest to yell in the face of another human being is beyond me, and feeling the need to protect and defend Michelle, I jumped in. Now this is where it gets a bit funny because she had a lazy eye and i wasn't sure where to look. It took care of itself though when she put on her drugstore brand sunglasses on and slung her artificial coach tote over her shoulder and shut up. Of course a guest would never yell at a 6'5'' tall man. That would be just insane. Needless to say the silent punishment for the guest was putting her in the back of the line where she belonged.

Meanwhile, Don has pretty much broken it off with his girlfriend who is vacationing for two weeks and has discovered a mutual love for a dancer, Blanche. Blanche is a nice girl only surprise surprise she has a boyfriend on another ship. Every time she pages him, his eyes light up as if the stars have turned to diamonds and fell from the sky into his lap. The truly unfortunate thing is that she is signing off in a week and then it will be just him...well him and Sue Ellen.

My mother always told me to always muster up enough courage to not talk the talk, but to walk the walk. Well contrary to my mother, I believe it is easier to love then it is to say