Memories of Working on a Cruise Ship

Amy, The Card Shark

Recently I found myself watching my screensaver. What can I say, I live a thrilling life. My screensaver consists of photos that were taken on my brief career for Norwegian Cruise Lines America in Hawaii. Pretty much everyone I've shared this with has asked a bunch of questions, the first one usually being "That had to be a lot of fun." I know that's not a question, shut up and enjoy the story :). I typically reply with "It was pretty fun but it was a whole bunch of work too." It didn't really hit me, however, exactly how bizarrely fun it was until I sat there watching this slideshow I'd seen (literally) hundreds of times before. What struck me the most were the people. It seems like they were there and then-*POOF*-they were gone. Allow me to introduce you to some phantoms from my past that still feel like characters from a book to me sometimes.

Katie, Chuck Norris Grade Cool

First, there was Katie. Katie very well could be the coolest person I've ever met. She had these beautiful green eyes, a wonderful smile and enough confidence that she might actually bleed it. "Sounds like you had a crush on this girl," you say? Strangely enough I didn't. I knew she was so far out of my league that the possibility never crossed my mind. "So you were too chicken to ask her out then," you ask? Normally I would say yes, but Katie was so cool that she wasn't intimidating. Although all reason says otherwise, I never did have issues talking to her. The icing on the cake: She was also in a band. If memory serves me (which it usually doesn't) she was the bass player.

I had more flattering pictures of rob,
but where's the fun in that?

Next, there was Rob. He was a few years older than me with lots of tattoos. To be honest, I wasn't sure of what to think about him at first, but before long we were thick as thieves. Rob was the guy that had done it all when it came to the food and beverage industry. He'd worked every position in a restaurant and had even owned his own place. This guy is to this day the slickest server I have ever seen. I have seen him have a table of guests thank him for taking an hour and a half to get their food to them. They thanked him for how fast the service was. He was also almost hit by a car walking to the gas station while on Memory Lane and used to drink with a guy named Justin Case. This was way before those Safe Auto commercials by thew way.

Billy...  Just Billy.

Then there was Billy. Most of my friends reading this will have just said "Oh... Billy..." wistfully. I've probably told more stories about Billy than anyone else I worked with on the ship. I don't think I could ever forget Billy's larger than life personality, those rosy cheeks or that damned fedora he always wore even though everyone and their mother tried to steal it. I have a couple stories he told me that I would love to share here, but anyone who's heard them can testify that there's no way to translate them into writing. One of the most vivid memories I have of Billy is him wandering off one night while we were drinking. I saw him the next day in crutches with one knees swollen almost twice the size. When I asked him what happened he looked at me and said "I found a frog. The frog won." He then walked-err, hobbled away without another word. To this day I don't think anyone, including his doctor, knows what the hell happened. That was Billy for you.

Chris, Sans Optimal Pies.

There were so many others too. There was Chris and his Optimal Pies. They were quite Optimal. The twins that I'm pretty sure used to swap bunks in the middle of the night to screw with us. Amy, the card-sharking lesbian who I was madly in love with (story of my life). Souli (probably not spelled right) who taught me how to swear in Samoan. Franky who taught Rob and I everything we needed to know in order to setup a blanket, towel and toilet paper black market. Sort of like an underground Bed, Bath and Beyond. In the end I miss the people but I know I couldn't have kept up the long hours. So today, I'll raise my drink in memory of my old shipmates. Cheers!