Who's The Daddy: It’s hard work, but it’s never been so much fun
It’s literally all hands on deck for Daughter #2 as she comes to the end of her second week working on one of the world’s biggest cruise ships that ferries rich American tourists from New York to the Caribbean and back.
One day she’s learning how to use a fire hose, the next she’s operating a carousel and then working the giant water slides - making sure the little kids don’t push each other off the top. Actually, that’s pretty much a fraction of what she does in one day. Every day.
To say she’s learned a lot in a short space of time is quite the understatement. You know when you go on holiday and the staff member you saw at breakfast is collecting glasses in the hotel bar at midnight? Well it’s exactly the same on cruise ships.
In one of Daughter #2’s voice notes that she sends to us on WhatsApp, she told us she was up at 5.30am and finished around 1am the following morning - with a couple of breaks thrown in to catch up on washing and some sleep.
Because wi-fi at sea is ruinously expensive ($90 for 30 hours), Daughter #2 has quickly discovered that this is the best and most cost effective way to keep in touch. And me and the Boss live for it. It’s like having your own personal podcast delivered every couple of days.
And because of the five-hour time difference, it’s usually there waiting for us when we wake up.
One day earlier this week she told us of the long day and night she had, entertaining little kids, showing passengers to their seats at the ice show, cleaning the ship, running the carousel, attending a team meeting, organising a dodgeball session and sharing out the week’s tips between the team. And after all that she casually dropped in, “Oh yeah, and we watched the sun set over the Bahamas.”
They say travel broadens the mind, and in less than two weeks of working on a cruise ship Daughter #2 says meeting so many different people in the crew from all over the world has been fantastic, a huge change from her university “bubble” she was in until last month. Plus all her meals are included in the contract so she doesn’t have to cook anything at all for the next five-and-a-half months. Just turn up at the staff canteen (and one or two of the passenger restaurants) and it’s all handed to you on a plate - literally.
Of course, one of the perks of working on a massive ship that sails around some of the most insanely beautiful parts of the world is you get to spend your time off there when the ship docks. Mainly islands that look like something from a Bounty advert from the 1980s and parts of the US you break the bank for to go on holiday with your kids.
My afternoons off are spent dodging the rain taking the dog for a walk. Daughter #2 and her crew have a golden days in Florida, Nassau or CocoCay for the next five-and-a-half months.
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