Pre nego sto se raspisem... nasmejte se malo...
Adjusting back to life on land... Well it might seem like coming back home after months of being away at sea is an easy transition… after all we’re coming home right? Oddly enough, the first couple days after signing off of a ship are the hardest for a cruise ship employee, and here’s why:
Life on the ship is different than life on land – simple as that. Here are a few things we take for granted as part of our regular life.
On a ship it’s not uncommon to work for 10 hours on a Sea Day and still go out and party till the wee hours in the morning in the crew bar.
A party is always just a walk/deck away.
An hour back means there is no excuse for not going out to the crew disco… even if your next shift is at 8am in the morning.
Starbucks is like crack. You will go to any lengths to get it.
Ship Internet is equivalent to watching a hypnotist show: the little rainbow cursor just keeps revolving, and the page keeps loading… but little else happens. Yet this is how we spend a lot of our money.
Coffee in the crew mess is more like muddy water… in fact, that might even have more flavor
Even though you are indeed a grown up, you will eat fruit loops if there is nothing else to eat (and that happens more often than you would think on a cruise ship).
Fresh fruit and berries are like gold.
Just because it’s a cruise ship, does not mean we eat like passengers. Sometimes it’s a toss-up between food and sleep – and nap-time usually wins.
Even if you’re over 30 and still working on a cruise ship, you can act like a teenager and it’s perfectly acceptable. We don’t talk about owning houses or settling down. We like to live in our little ship-bubble and think everyone on land is jealous of our lifestyle.
We refer to all of you back home as “land people”
We are travel addicts
There is always a group of rowdy Serbians at every leaver’s party (and they will appear randomly in all of your pictures).
We can survive on very little sleep for weeks at a time
We actually enjoy our jobs… most of the time
We can have an epic night out and only spend $10 on alcohol
Hugging random people in the crew bar is normal… we’re all just one big family.
Jokes/pick-up-lines that are funny on the ship become creepy when strangers on land say them.
It’s just less creepy if it’s a crew member
Sometimes “good morning” can be interpreted as something else… in which case it’s okay not to smile or say “hi” while walking down the M1.
There will always be a tag-team of St. Lucia musicians on the “prowl” in the crew bar.
Accents are normal. It just wouldn’t be a contract without them.
It’s normal to take the “lift” to the gym.
We will dress up in theme at least once every week – what do you mean there are no weekly theme parties on land?
South Africans will take over the dance floor and put the rest of us to shame.
We always order drinks in multiples of 2 (it makes sense to us)
We make lifelong friends on board - cause we work and live with these people 24-7
Most of our photos are from the crew bar (cause we don’t tend to document when we’re at work – do you?) and our friends/family back home will think we’ve become alcoholic party animals.
