Working on A Cruise Ship in the Caribbean

GETTING TO THE SHIP IN FT. LAUDERDALE, FL

I was fortunate to spend part of this winter working on a cruise ship in the warm weather of several Caribbean islands. I was hired by Princess Cruise Lines to play drums with one of the party bands on board the Ruby Princess. I had many great experiences during this employment contract and enjoyed the itinerary very much.  Especially the people, the warm weather and the great beaches.

I left San Francisco airport very early on the morning of Saturday, October 28, 2012.  I had a non-stop flight to Miami International airport.  The flight passed quickly at just under 5 hours.  After dealing with some logistical issues with ground transportation and where I was going to sleep that night, I ended up at the Sheraton Suites Hotel in Plantation, FL.  Just east of Ft. Lauderdale and the cruise ship terminals at Port Everglades.

EMBARKATION DAY

I slept well in the comfortable bed of my nicely appointed suite.  After an early breakfast, all new crew members were to assemble near the hotel lobby and wait for the bus that would take us to the Ruby Princess which sat docked in Port Everglades.

Ruby Princess docked in Port Everglades, FL.

Ruby Princess taking on supplies at Port Everglades, FL.

Our home port was Port Everglades, FL with the ship leaving every Sunday afternoon around 4:00 pm EST.  The itinerary was Princess Cays, St. Martin, St. Thomas, Grand Turk. The weather was perfect, in the low to mid 80's most of the time. 

Ruby Princess Itinerary

SUNDAY - HOME PORT, PORT EVERGLADES, FL

	Sunday was turnaround day in Port Everglades, FL.  This was the day most crew members went into Ft. Lauderdale to go shopping.  I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to walk into a Publix and buy your favorite snacks, beer, wine or whatever it is that you can't buy on the ship or at any of the stores you find along the itinerary.  The same is true for all your personal needs like shampoo, soap, shave cream, envelopes, pens, etc.   It was also very nice to be grab some coffee or espresso at a Starbucks or go to a restaurant and get some different food from that you eat just about every day.  I had to be back on the ship in time for the Passenger Boat drill that started at 3:15.  After that, we set sail for our first stop on Monday, Princess Cays, Bahamas. Leaving Port Everglades, FL Ruby Princess pushing away from home port in Port Everglades, FL. MONDAY - PRINCESS CAYS, ELEUTHERA, BAHAMAS After a quick overnight voyage, we arrive at Princess Cays, which is a great place to eat, go swimming or walking along the beach.  The only bad part of this stop for a crew member like myself, is that you have to take a tender from the ship to the island.  Tenders are the small motorized lifeboats that the ship carries for emergencies.  They pull double duty as a passenger/crew conveyance at ports that have very shallow harbors or no docking facilities for large cruise ships.  Passengers get first priority on the tenders, so it can take a while to get to and from the island because of the long lines waiting for the next available tender.   I only went onto Princess Cays one time.  But what I found on my long walk were some beautiful places to go swimming and the ruins of an old church.  It was very peaceful walking along the paths and beaches of this island at the southern tip of Eleuthera, the Bahamas. On the beach at Princess Cays
	TUESDAY - DAY AT SEA
	Tuesday was a travel day or what we call a 'sea-day'.  Depending how long you have been working on the ship, sea-days can get a little boring.  There is no shore to go sightseeing on, so you are basically a prisoner on the ship.  Left to your own defenses to figure out how to occupy your free time.  I usually used sea-days for catching up on things like laundry, checking my email, working out, or reading.  Every so often, the band had to learn some new songs, so we would use sea-days as our rehearsal day as well.   WEDNESDAY - ST. MAARTEN / ST. MARTIN The Philipsburg bay in St. Maarten  Ah beautiful St. Maarten.  This was by far my favorite stop of the cruise.  So many things to do, so much to see.  The smallest island in the world ever to have been partitioned between two different nations, St. Martin/St. Maarten has been shared by the French and the Dutch in a spirit of neighborly cooperation and mutual friendship for almost 350 years.   Located midway through the chain of islands in the Caribbean, just as the Antilles begin to curve to the south, St. Martin is sunny and warm year-round, averaging 82 degrees Fahrenheit in summer and just 2 degrees cooler in winter. The island is buffeted by cooling trade winds that keep things temperate all year long. Average annual rainfall comes to about 45 inches, most of which occurs around late summer and early fall.  Cruise Ships docked in St. Maarten My routine in St. Martin was to go for a long walk, buy something cold to drink and then go swimming in the warm and salty ocean.  This was my favorite place to go swimming.  The water temperature was around 82 degrees and the white sand was soft under your feet.  I always tried to get leave the ship as early as I could, so as to spend as much time on land before returning to the ship to get ready for work. Along the beach in Philipsburg, St. Martin
	THURSDAY - ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS St. Thomas was another great stop along the way.  There was plenty to see and do in this U.S. possession.  Lots of places for shopping of course.  There's a huge diamond district in Charlotte Amalie.  If you aren't in the market for jewelry you can spend your time at one of the many fine restaurants in town like the Big Kahuna Rum Shack located directly across from the waters in Long Bay.  This is a great place to take a break from walking and enjoy a called drink or hearty food. My routing in St. Thomas was to take a long walk from the cruise ship in Crown Bay all the way to Charlotte Amalie.  There are plenty of grocery stores to restock your cabin with snacks and drinks.  There's plenty of great beaches too.  Depending on how far you want to travel, from the world famous Megan's Bay on the north side of the island, to the beach I went swimming at on Lindbergh Bay which is very close to the cruise ship, you will find excellent swimming on St. Thomas.
	Long Bay, St. Thomas V.I. I also enjoyed walking around the marina at Yacht Haven Grande and checking out all the huge yachts in the harbor.  Some of these yachts were really impressive. Yacht Haven Grande also offers lots of shopping at stores like Tommy Hilfiger, Bulgari and Diamonds International.  Since I am addicted to espresso and other forms of strong coffee, I was overjoyed when I was able to have a really good cappuccino at a coffee house called Bad Ass Coffee.  It's easy to find among the many stores at Yacht Haven Grande.  If you like coffee, go there, you won't be disappointed.  Private Yacht in St. Thomas
	Unfortunately, we left St. Thomas early so I had to be back on the ship by 3:00pm on Thursdays.  All in all, St. Thomas was a very enjoyable day and I always looked forward to stopping here.  If you've never been here, I'm sure you will be very happy once you make the decision to come.    FRIDAY - GRAND TURK, TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS Cruise ships docked in Grand Turk An any given day, this is what you will see at the cruise ship center in Grand Turk.  This is where you will find just about any water related activity you desire.  Great swimming, scuba diving, boating, para-sailing, etc.  Grand Turk is a step back in time. At just 6.5 miles long, this small strip of land amid the sea is a sparsely populated, tree-covered paradise.  Grand Turc Cruise Center Cockburn Town, the main settlement, is the capital of the country and is lined with buildings that date
	back to colonial times.  I spent my time in Grand Turk going on long walks on the beach, followed by a refreshing swim at Governor's Beach in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean.  I also did some snorkeling here and found quite a wide variety of  small fish swimming close to shore.  There's a Margaritaville located in the Grand Turc Cruise Center offering all of your favorite tropical drinks and foods as well as a large fresh water swimming pool for those who don't like swimming in the ocean. Booby Rock Point, Grand Turk SATURDAY - DAY AT SEA On this cruise, Saturday was the last 'sea-day'.  Most of the passengers would use this day to take it easy and get some rest and relaxation after all the hectic days spent at the various port's of call.  As I said before, sea-days can get a little boring so you have to be creative in finding ways to fill your day besides eating every couple of hours.  I would try to get in some exercise by walking around the promenade deck and then ready to play music that evening.
	SUNDAY - FT. LAUDERDALE, FL If it's Sunday, we must be back at the Port Everglades cruise ship terminal.  Time for all passengers to leave the ship and return to their respective homes.  For those of us who were part of the ship's crew, this was the place to restock all your supplies at the many stores located nearby.  First stop for me, once I got off the ship, was Starbucks.  Because I was working during the holidays, I usually purchased a venti egg-nog latte and a regular coffee and spent part of my morning reading the paper or going online. Next stop was Publix for snacks, beer, wine, soda or whatever it was I needed to make my life onboard a little more like home.  This is very important when you work on a ship month after month.  You tend to get a little tired of the buffet style food they serve on board.  So it's great to have some of your favorite snacks handy. Sunday is a turnaround day, with new passengers boarding the ship for the next cruise.  This means we have to have a boat drill with the new passengers before we can sail.  That means I needed to be back on the ship by 2:45pm at the latest.  Boat drill was at 3:00 or 3:15.  After boat drill I was free until that evenings performance schedule began, usually around 7:00pm.  Rinse and repeat.  Week after week.

Ruby Princess docked at Grand Turk.

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