I've been writing these entries without much thought given to how the company that is employing me might feel about it. I sincerely hope they'd be OK with it, because I'm very happy to be working for them and want to continue to do so! The company is, of course, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, also affiliated with Celebrity Cruise Lines.

I've compared notes with other musicians and crew who have worked on different ships for several companies, and Royal Caribbean comes out looking pretty darn good. For one thing, it's the only cruise line that employs a full-time Crew Activities Manager (CAM). There's also a Crew Relations Officer, but that's more of a human resources position. The CAM's sole role is to help us enjoy our time here.

The company also implemented a Crew Welfare Fund for the Mariner and started it off with a $75,000 deposit. The fund is maintained by various charges we pay, such as bicycle rentals, video and DVD rentals, proceeds from lotteries (usually one a month) and so on. The money is spent on things like parties, shore activities, soccer teams, bicycles and so on.

But the fund was increasing - the money wasn't being spent fast enough. So the administrators took a poll (I think, I wasn't here) to see what the crew would like to spend some of it on.

The crew chose to use it to add another laundromat!

That doesn't sound like fun to you? Well, it's great having the additional facilities – five more washers and dryers in addition to the existing staff and crew laundromats. Now you can do your laundry pretty much whenever you want, without having to wait for a washer or dryer to become available. It saves a lot of time. I think this was money really well spent. It's one of those things that improves your quality of life more than you might think.

And there's still plenty of money left for the fun stuff. There's usually one party a week, food and alcohol paid for by the fund. Special ongoing shore activities have been organized for crew, like free horseback riding in Cozumel, swimming with stingrays in Grand Cayman, and swimming with dolphins, also in Cozumel. I've also noticed the occasional catamaran excursion to an island or a remote beach for a crew picnic and swim.

A bulletin-board on the I-95 displays a weekly calendar of events just for crew members.

And if you have any of your own ideas on how to spend some of the money, you're always invited to share them with the CAM.

Boy, I realize I'm starting to sound like a recruiting pitch for Royal Caribbean. I'd better stop now...