After my dad went home, my mom, sister and I met up with my cousin Katie and my aunt for a four day cruise to the Bahamas. The first day was spent on the ship, which was decorated for the holidays. I heard more christmas music in those four days than I have heard in all the Christmas's of my life added together!! haha. Now I thought airports were a great place to people watch.... cruise ships win though! People are running in all different directions having no idea where to go or what to do! You hear lots of screaming kids, college aged people talking about how wasted they are, several fun different accents, with a few clueless elderly folks thrown in there.
The second day we went to "Coco Cay" This is the private island that Royal Caribbean owns. It was chilly and drizzily. Which was really dissappointing. However I did have a Bahama Mama at about 10AM... so that helped. I will have to insert a picture here... to show you the stormy weather we experienced, instead of the happy and sunny bahama weather.
Day three was spent in Nassau, Bahamas. We headed to Atlantis... which in my mind IS the HAPPIST PLACE ON EARTH. The second I saw it, all the fun times that jess and I spent there came back, and I was homesick for one of my best friends. Aw geez... Jess we HAVE to go back there together!! We took the water taxi back to Nassau, and did a quick shopping tour. As we lined back up to get on the ship, the sky began to fall and we got soaked!! Anyway... we spent some time that night enjoying the ship and the whole nine yards. It was alot of fun!
The biggest thing that I got out of the cruise trip was looking at the cruise staff. Yes, it was great to see the job that the activities director has... that looks like fun. But when you look at the wait staff, and the "state room attendants" and you talk to them, and you hear their stories, it just seems so sad to me. We heard stories from our waiters about how they basically work 24/7 for six months straight. They have families at home that they do not get to talk to very often. They have girlfriends/ boyfriends that are at home or on the opposite side of the world. They are not allowed to enjoy any of the fun aspects of the enormous cruise ship that the guests get to enjoy. Obviously they are not allowed to "mingle" with guests, but from my point of view, it is just so sad to "befriend" someone and then never ever see them again.
We got to hear the stories of Santan (our waiter) and Geza (our assistant waiter) and we really got to know these men. I don't know if they act friendly to all of their guests, but I really feel like we got to know them. The waiters all do a little song and dance thing on the last night, and Geza and Santan waved and everything right to our table... It amazes me how big of a difference you can make by just taking a minute or two and talking to people. Instead of asking Geza what kind of roll we were about to eat, but asking him where he was from, if he has family at home, and to hear him talk about his girlfriend that lives in Germany. This morning, we went to breakfast at 7AM, and were greeted by Geza, who had a huge smile when he saw us and was saying "GOOD MORNING LADIES!" You know that look that someone has when you know they just need a hug, and they will be okay? When we said goodbye to Geza, I felt like I should run up and hug him, just to help him get through the next few months of loneliness. Especially this week... he said they do not have any kind of church services regularly, but there might be something special that will happen this week because it is Christmas.
The moral of this story is that we are all human beings. We all share the same kind of feelings. Give everyone a chance. Take time out of your busy day, and ask other people questions. Learn about their lives. Naturally, people like to talk about themselves. Especially if they are lonely. So just take a second... ask some questions... and "fill their bucket!" Because when you fill someone else's bucket, you fill your bucket in return!
I would love to do a "behind the scenes/true life: i work on a cruise ship" and interview and talk to the "help" on these ships. So many different people, so many different cultures, so many different nationalities, so many stories. In reality, no one is better than anyone else. Yes, they may have the job of waiting on us hand and foot, but we are all God's children, we are all equal.
As I was leaving the ship, I was thinking to myself, I wonder if what we said to any of these men made any kind of difference. I wonder if they will ever think about any of us ever again. They remembered exactly what we had to eat and drink the night before, will they ever think back on us? On something we said to them? On the garden gnome that they took a picture with? I wonder if Daio our "Stateroom Attendant" will keep the "Thanks for your great job and Happy Holidays!" note that we left for him.
Like it was said at the Farewell Show, there were about 60 different nationalities getting along together on that ship without drama or war. Why can't we all get along together in the real world?
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