Now, let me tell you; I am your regular girl next door! Born and bred in the south coast of KwaZulu, I am a typical village girl, definitely no glitz and glam. Having schooled in a government school, with IsiZulu as a home language, my grasp of English is as basic as can be. With just High School and no college degree (something I am still sad about), setting sail on a remarkable seafaring adventure was not something I had ever imagined in my wildest dreams. Landing a job in a country as distant as the United States and spending every waking moment on one of the world’s largest floating hotels was beyond my wildest expectations. In fact, I was oblivious to the existence of cruise ships in South Africa until later on when I encountered MSC South Africa. Now I can’t wait to embark on one of their luxurious cruises as a guest someday.
Anyways, how I stepped into the casino industry is a story for another day. For now, let me tell you how I felt starting out as a seafarer. Prior to touching down at JFK Airport in New York, I was gripped by an overwhelming sense of anxiety. Forget the long long flights with even longer layovers, those I handled alright. I endured the endless movies and documentaries while sandwiched between two silent strangers. Even the turbulence didn’t faze me. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what “gravel” in the air was, but it didn’t bother me. My anxiety stemmed from the prospect of landing in a foreign country, and not just any country but the mighty United States – a dream for many. As I drew closer to setting foot on American soil, my mind raced with images from movies, news reports, and stories. I had seen it all, and needless to say, I was filled with worry. What if someone planted drugs in my bag without my knowledge? What if I got to the gate and I found big guys with their huge dogs, waiting for me? What if I were to be deported back to South Africa before even reaching my job? Or, in the worst-case scenario, what if I were arrested in a foreign land for a crime I knew nothing about? Now you see why my anxiety was shooting sky high?
Fast-forward, I landed safely, and my bags were cleared without any issues. They did get inspected by security, but it was no big deal. Connecting to Tampa was also a breeze, and the next morning, as dawn broke, I prepared to head to my new “home” – a floating home, to be precise. And boy, was it enormous!
A passenger cruise ship is a massive marvel. To think that I was on one of Carnival’s smallest ships, yet I still found it colossal! One can only imagine the size of the newer vessels. If you’ve ever wondered just how immense these ships are, let me enlighten you: when I called my brother and he asked about the ship’s size, I replied, “I don’t know. It’s quite huge. Maybe like a mall? Think of it as a floating mall.” But after a while, I realized that Carnival Paradise must be more like a small shopping complex, compared to the likes of Carnival Horizon, Celebration, and the Royal Caribbean ships, which are truly massive! It’s a mystery how the sea can bear the weight of such colossal vessels without sinking them. Carnival Celebration and the new Royal Caribbean ship, Wonder of the Seas, can host over 5000 people at once. These vessels are unbelievably massive, it’s safe to say they are floating cities!
Anyway, I had no idea what to expect when I stepped into my new abode. All I knew was that there was undoubtedly a casino inside, considering my role as a casino dealer, and that the ship would spend 85 percent of its time in the water. I was aware that I would be sharing a room with a colleague, and that half of the people onboard would be as foreign to me as I was to them. Little did I know that there would be so much to learn in just one day. And the diversity was nothing like I imagined.
Being a guest on a ship is relatively straightforward. You need to learn some basics, but you aren’t obligated, and there aren’t a thousand rules to follow. As long as you can navigate your way to your favorite spots, locate the lifeboats, find the food, and return to your room, you’re good to go. However, as a crew member, there’s an abundance of knowledge to acquire, especially during your first week. Starting with the terminology. Within minutes, I discovered that what I thought of as the entrance of the ship was actually called a gangway, the floors (or levels) were referred to as decks – no more saying “4th floor” or “ground floor” as we do in South Africa, it’s all about “deck 4” or “deck 0” and so forth. Ship’s rooms are cabins, which is common knowledge but something I had never paid attention to before. When it came to meal times, I learned that the crew mess and staff mess would open at different times. Yes, apparently, a canteen is called a mess, please don’t ask me why. Then there was the famous i95, a long corridor that was essentially a landing corridor for the crew, the busiest area for crew members. It took me some time to understand why it was called the i95, but later in my career, I learned that it’s named after a highway in America, which suddenly made perfect sense.
Truth be told, finding your way around the ship for the first time can be quite overwhelming. However, once you settle in, working aboard a passenger ship can become second nature, especially if you have a taste for travel and adventure. But of course, homesickness creeps in more often than you’d expect.
And you know what else I learnt in the early days of my seafaring? It is that, every ship has a crew bar and THE OPEN DECK!! And ohh the open deck is like the Vegas of the ship; what happens in the open deck, stays in the open deck… unless of course we take it to the cabin! 😉