I just got back from a week-long cruise in the Eastern Carribean, and I still feel like the ground is swaying beneath me. I had a good time, except for the 5th day, when I woke up with a 101 degree fever and spent 22 of the next 24 hours sleeping or wanting to sleep. Fortunately, I got better the next day. (It was not Norwalk virus.)
Some notable events/observations/random thoughts:
Baby accomplishments:
* The biggest deal for me by far was that my baby son learned to walk unassisted! Kind of strange that this would happen on a ship with its gently rolling rhythm, but then again, maybe it's all the same to him.
* He also learned to drink from a cup, to eat a bread roll without having it broken into small pieces, and to say "uh oh."
* Another uncanny thing: our head waiter (from Turkey) spent all week trying to get my son to give him a high-five, and only on the last dinner did my son oblige. How did the little guy know?
Employment matters:
* It seemed like just about every crew member I met was either from Southeast Asia (primarily Thailand, the Phillipines, Indonesia, or India) or Eastern Europe (including lots of former Soviet republics). I'm not sure why I didn't see any crew members from South America or Africa. It's possible that it was just a small sample size, of course, but it seems more likely that Carnival targets its recruiting in specific areas.
* The only exceptions to the Southeast Asia/Eastern European predominance were the cruise director and his staff. The director was from England, and the staff members I saw were from Canada, the U.S., and Australia (I think, going by the accent). I think the Captain was Scandanavian, but I didn't actually see him.
* I found myself wondering what it was like for the crew members to work 8-12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 7-8 months straight. Our assistant cabin steward (from Romania) pointed out that when you live and work on a cruise ship, having a "weekend" off doesn't really mean all that much. At least he was just 25 and single. Our main cabin steward (from India) has a 3 year old son back home. When I heard that, I was floored. I mean, I was totally impressed with the self-sacrifice that he was willing to go through to make money for his family, but my gosh, that's such a long time away from your child.
* Our head waiter, though, did it right. His wife also works on the ship. (I guess "weekends off" would mean something, especially if you get to go off the ship to one of the ports of call.)
* On the other hand, when the crew member goes home, he can get two months off without having to work. I suppose you could look at it like this: during those two months, he gets to spend all his time with his family. Compare that to the typical U.S. worker, who spends a few hours a day five days a week with family members and only gets the weekends off.
* Although the cruise director made what I thought were somewhat insensitive jokes at the expense of the crew members' English, I actually thought the crew -- with the exception of the Captain -- were quite easy to understand. That's not surprising, since I imagine that one of the prime attributes you'd look for in employees for a cruise ship catering to Americans would be English-speaking ability.
Customs:
* One thing I was surprised about was the lack of any scanning equipment at the Customs re-entry at the port. We simply handed our customs declaration forms and showed our passports, and we were through, with our carryable luggage. True, it'd be pretty impossible to sneak in nuclear material through carryon luggage, but still, what about drugs and other such stuff? The cruise director's explanation was that the customs officials are trained to look for "ugly and suspicious looking" people, and if you look to the person to your left and the one to your right, and they aren't ugly and suspicious looking, you're the one who's going to get searched.
* So I guess we aren't ugly and suspicious looking.
* Of course, the heavy stuff was sent via the ship's crew and the port's porters, and those were scanned and sniffed. But not everyone did that. Some people opted for "self-assist," meaning they walked off the ship carrying everything of theirs and had no need to wait for their luggage to clear. I wonder how many of them were ugly and suspicious looking. . . .
Meanwhile:
* I'm gone for a week, and "The Law Firm" is canceled? (Via Prof. Goldman) Well, I haven't gotten around to watching the second episode yet. Maybe I'll just keep it on TiVo and wait for Bravo to announce its schedule for burning off the remaining episodes.
* Now Prof. Bainbridge doesn't even have to send his articles out to the law reviews? He just posts them on his blog and offers come rolling in?
