12 days left!
March 31, 2008
Greetings everyone,
We just finished the lava sailing and its time to take aquick break.
Yesterday I woke up around 7:30 am so I could head to theAla Moana mall. I needed to pickup some clothes for Europe and the Jade and a suit for the part B of thetrip.
I showered and got dressed and headed up to the crew messfor breakfast. I had a bowl ofbanana oatmeal and some eggs then I headed to the mall. Most Saturdays I walk to the mallaround 8-9 am and I see all the wide body airplanes taking off heading towardsJapan. The reason I bring this upis today was the last day of operation for Aloha Airlines. The main two Hawaiian airlines areHawaiian air and Aloha airlines. Go! Airlines came in and drove Aloha out of business (part of Aloha’sproblems) so today was their last day of operation. This will probably make inner island travel more expensiveso plan for that. Aloha airlines was the airline that had the flight when the cabin’s roof ripped off in mid air and the pilot still landed. See attached pic.
Anyway I went to the mall and picked up my things and got ahaircut and went to work. Around 4Pm I got ready for passenger lifeboat drill and practiced my Titanic jokelaugh. Drill started and thepassengers started to flood the hallways and something felt different in theair. I didn’t hear the words Roseand Jack Dawson OR Titanic! Abouttwo minutes before drill ended someone did say, “I sure hope Hawaii doesn’thave ice burgs!!” followed by several deep “Auh HA ha Ha yes yes yes muah ha”with the turkey neck bobbles flowing. I loved it. I actually didlaugh for real this time, but not at their joke like they thought. I was laughing in a good way I justloved the setting. You would haveto see this group to get the picture.
After drill I headed towards the Aloha Café and got readyfor us to open. Most Saturdays are crazy for the buffet because when people geton a ship the first thing they do is go to the buffet (myself included) buttoday was pretty slow so I took advantage of it. I observed the sights a little more closely thennormal. Sometimes I forget howlucky I am with this job. Todayfor example as we passed the volcano I started stacking the deck chairs withoutreally looking and realized WHAT am I doing here stacking chairs like its nobig deal that lava is pouring into the ocean from the volcano making thisamazing sight and I’m not even going to take a minute to just watch it. Howmany other people right now would do anything to be able to say they watched avolcano from work. I quickly gotmy own point and watched but more on that later. Anyway I’m a huge Waikiki fan. Just those tall buildings light up at night just makes mefeel so good. I’m really into thatentire thing. When I was in Vegason my last vacation I just spent an hour standing in front of the Bellagio Fountainswatching show after show and people watching it. I loved it..i felt amazing so watching the Honolulu citylights at night always makes me feel warm inside. I can spot the Hilton Hawaiian Village and just wish I wasthere. I don’t keep it a secret thatthe Hilton is my favorite hotel here. Whenever I meet a few people from cruise critic and I ask “where did youstay?” I get a lot of answers “your favorite place!”
Anyway we tossed our ropes and we left 10 minutes early. Irealized that I only had one more sail away till vacation so I justobserved. The rest of the nightwas uneventful so I went to bed, or tried to go to bed but thinking about thistrip to the Norwegian Jade is making that very hard. I’m getting lots of questions to answer from the Jade sokeep them coming!
Today we cruised past the Volcano and saw some great sightsas normal but I thought I would share a story about a guest and my coworkertoday. On cruise critic reviewsyou see everyone commenting about the crew but nobody ever says anything aboutthe fellow guests. I was justreading a entry on John Heald’s blog about something that happened with a rudeguest so I thought I would share my experience with one today. My coworker was refreshing the breadson the buffet tonight when a guest came up and asked her if she had thisspecific type of bread. Mycoworker said “no but it will be ready in 15 minutes” and the guest said “okbut can you deliver it to my room?” and my coworker took down her informationand agreed. My coworker’s job isto stock the bread and the sushi station so this was way out of her jobdescription but she agreed happily. 15 minutes later the bread arrived and my coworker found a pretty metaltray and placed the bread on it with all types of toppings in little bowls fromolives, hummus, roasted red peppers and slices of cheese. She topped it off with a glass bowl inthe middle of diced tomatoes and a balsamic dip. She was really proud of thisexcellent looking dish and abandoned her station at the risk of getting introuble to go deliver this to the guest in her cabin. When she knocked on the cabin door the woman answered andsaid “you said it would be 15 minutes 20 minutes ago so I don’t want it” andslammed the door. My coworker hadto throw out the entire thing and you could tell her feelings were hurt.
That’s all for now.
James
12 days left.
UGH, and now the woman can go back and announce to the world what terrible service she received on the American ship!!!
God bless you dealing with people day after day!!!
hi james
here is another example of a ncl employee going over an above in their jobs. It was not right what this person did, but your fellow employee should be proud of herself they way she stepped up and went over an beyond what her job description is. I think ncl is looking for more good people with her work habits, great job
just brush it off and smile!! you are in hawaii
its alittle bit of heaven for sure!!
I wish I could tell your friend something to make her feel better, but the only thing you can say is that some people are just jerks. I work in the public view as well and see inconsiderate people quite often. I have to remind myself that they are probably miserable all the time and thankfully, I don’t have to live with them nor be around them.
Hope there is still some lava going in September.
Hey James,
What about the pic? Did u have one of the plane with the missing roof? I envy you man… Waking up in Hawaii daily
Yes you are working but do stop to smell the roses when you can
I would’ve eaten the bread!
And loved it!
Sadly, “No good deed goes unpunished” but we have to just dig in our heels and “keep on!”
A very wise lady in Hawaii once told me that we decent people must “Fight the stupids!!!!”
I just can’t wait to hear about your vacation adventure, James!
So sorry about all the ATA and Aloha passengers and employees. These are certainly tough times becoming tougher!
I hope it didn’t Jade her (no pun intended).
I wonder how many people started out like her going above and beyond the call of duty for someone and then after that sort of repeated treatment figured it wasn’t worth it.
What a sin…I soooo dislike obnoxious, inconsiderate snobs and hope there aren’t many in Sept when we’re onboard.
I know you must be so enjoying your vaca!!