This morning, while relaxing with a coffee on deck 5 aft, I noticed a small bird following behind the ship. It appeared to be working hard to keep up with us. We're pretty far out to sea, and this is not a sea bird, so I don't know what the story is. Perhaps it's built a nest on the ship? I wonder how the bird adapts to life on a moving world. Every time it flies off it's perch it's whole world slips out from underneath it.

Laundry today. It's a sea day, and I usually try to do my laundry on sea days. I can't leave the ship anyway. There's a small staff laundromat I can use for personal items, like socks and underwear. The ship's Chinese laundry takes care of my “uniforms”. There are no charges for either laundry, but you must supply your own detergent in the landromat, and you must pay a little if you want the Chinese laundry to do your personal items for you.

Just a little basic info for you would-be crew out there.

(Aside: I swore that today I would do my laundry and return to my cabin with ALL my socks. But it was not to be. I had one unpaired sock left at the end, as usual. I went back and searched the washer and dryer, checked the route back to my cabin – no sock. Back in the cabin I checked to see if it was hiding in a shirtsleeve or something. No sock. WHY does this happen EVERY time I do the laundry? And where do they go?)

A little more insight for would-be crew: All basic living expenses are taken care of for you on the ship. Of course, you have no transportation costs - no gasoline or automobile maintenance bills, no bus or cab fares (the stage door to the orchestra pit on this ship is four steps from my cabin door). Food costs you nothing. You can eat as much as you can handle from the breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets. Plus, you are spared the effort of having to shop for it. Lodging, of course, is included - no rent or mortgage to pay. No utilities. And you get weekly room cleaning service, and twice-weekly changes of towels. If you wanted to, you could pocket virtually every cent you make on a ship.

But, of course, you don't. It costs to connect to the Internet - $0.12/minute. And if you want to spend an hour or two in the SOB (Staff Only Bar) on deck 5 a beer will cost you between $0.50 and $0.60, depending on the brand. Shots and mixed drinks cost $2.00. But at $2.00 a shot, most crew supply themselves with in-cabin alcohol. A litre of local rum in St Maarten costs only $4.00 with the special crew discount they offer.

The same prices apply in the regular crew bar down on deck four.
Deck four is also where most of the parties are held. Beer and wine is free at the officially sponsored parties. Every department is expected to sponsor a party now and then, and there is usually something going on every week. The different divisions compete to see who throws the best parties. I have attempted to “have some fun” at one or two of these parties, but it's so damned loud that I can only stay for a minute or two.

Back to crew discounts. At most shops and restaurants in port cities you get a 10-15% discount by showing your crew ID card. In some places it's up to 25%. The businesses that offer these discounts hope for crew referrals. But crewmembers better not get caught referring “cones” (guests on ships – more about cones another day) to businesses in return for special favours or payments. That's absolutely verboten.

I think I'll go out now and see if that little bird is still with us.