I finally made it to Paris!!!! Oh my GOSH!!!!! Paris is incredible, but there is WAY too much stuff for me to see, I definitely need to spend at least a week there! I signed up for the crew tour, only 40 dollars, which is measly compared to a 60-euro train ticket. We left at around 9:30. It was a two hour shuttle bus ride, so we all took nice long naps. The bus dropped us off right at the feet of the Eiffel Tower. There were so many people crowded beneath it; I think it is the number one most visited tourist spot. From there, our group of fifty crew members split off for their adventures, I stayed with Cristian and Micheal. We walked beneath the tower and paid for a hop on- hop off tour bus, which would take us to the main attractions.
The entire tour takes two hours, because the buses run every ten minutes so you can hop off at each stop. We were short on time though, we had only four hours since the commute back to the ship is such a long drive. The day had started out a little chilly but I started putting away layers as the sun began to warm us. It was such a gorgeous day, encouraging me to return for an extended vacation so I can enjoy all the sites and have time for a picnic on the lawns of Paris.
The first stop we got off at was the Louvre. I was a bit confused at first; because in all the movies, the museum appeared as the glass pyramids. But the bus had dropped us off at a gigantic square building. We went in through one of the entrances and found the pyramids! I heard a rumor that it takes seven years to see the museums’ entirety, because they are constantly adjusting it. Regardless if that is a true statement, the museum is the largest in the world and is absolutely on my “To-Do List” when I return. Several photos later, we were back on the bus and headed to Notre Dame.
The minute we came around the corner and Notre Dame was towering right in front of me, I almost cried. I don’t know why I was in such awe of it, I guess because I’m a Disney fanatic and I have seen the Hunchback of Notre Dame a million times. It was a dream to see the real thing, a dream I had never thought possible to make into a reality. But there it was! It’s free to go into the cathedral, but there was no time! We had the rest of Paris to see! So after we took pictures of the man dressed as Quasimodo, and picked up a few souvenirs, we caught the next bus.
The rest of the tour we stayed on the bus, but it was good because we were on the top of the double- decker and we could see everything. We passed the Opera house, circled around the Arc de Triomphe, and even drove over the tunnel where Princess Diana lost her life. There is so much history to take in; I was overloaded trying to listen to the radio tour guide on my headphones and take pictures. Like I said, there is no WAY you can do Paris in a day!
When we reached the Eiffel Tower again, we got off and bought some AMAZING crepes. I had a chocolate one (OF COURSE) and the guy folded the warm pastry like an ice cream cone and topped it with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. I don’t think I have ever had anything more perfect! We had just enough time to do a little souvenir shopping before we found our shuttle bus. After all the fuss about being punctual and the threat they would leave us behind if we were late, we had to wait for our driver, and I doubt he got lost. But I have no complaints! I was in PARIS!!!!! GAH!!! :D
I came back to the ship and ate a little dinner before heading up to the Windjammer for my shift. It was actually a pretty fun shift. I was in charge of coffee, which is simple enough, and I enjoyed helping the waitress I was assigned with. Only one guest was annoying, because she insisted on a certain amount of coffee, milk and water, and she kept asking me where the captain was. She asked about one of the officers over and over again and I continued to say “no ma’am, that’s not the captain. He is not in here right now.” She eventually got the message and left.
Last night was a chaotic mess. It was day two of the cruise, and a sea day. We had Broadway scheduled for 9 and 11 at night. But in the morning, we got a call that we had to re-block for Stephany because she had thrown up. So we re-blocked until 4, when we had a full show tech run. Than I got a call at around 7:40, it was Chris asking me to come to the theater to re-block for Maude. She hadn’t thrown up but she has had a nasty cough and her fever has been rapidly increasing. So we had an hour before the show to throw a show together. I only had my hair done, and by the time they were calling 10 minutes to show, I was not stretched and I still needed to do my make up.
So the first show was sloppy and crazy. Everyone was bumping into each other, trying to remember which number of which re-block they needed to go to and what new choreography to do. But we got through it, and we must have performed more than usual to hide our madness because they seemed to really like it. Backstage, Brian was looking pretty awful. He was really gray in the face and his eyes were blackening. He said he needed to throw up. He ran to his room and then had to go to medical because he did throw up, even though he felt better after he did. It was the same thing with Stephany, they both threw up and felt better right after, which is not the case with GI.
But medical declared them not fit for duty because they had “GI” and we were scrambling 20 minutes before the second show to think of what to do. OB was trying to talk us into making an announcement for the guests pre show that one of the singers had gotten injured and then play Brian’s sick track throughout the show. We tried to explain how ridiculous this would be, especially because he does so much partner work with Kristen, including a wedding scene. It would just make no sense. Not to mention, we didn’t think our managers and bosses at the studios in Florida would be too happy if they heard we did a show missing a singer and not having someone stand in but there is a “magical voice”.
In the end, Chris told them there was no way to do a show and we had to cancel. It’s been really frustrating to me that we still have GI on this ship. We sanitize every night. And it feels like a punishment to crew. Tomorrow morning, we have inspection by our supervisors, boat drill, and then inspection by the captain and staff captain and other important officers. Also our food shifts. We now have all these restrictions, like they took away our slop chest, which used to sell candy bars and other treats and now we are only allowed water. Tomorrow we need to throw away all our toilet paper, tissues, cotton balls, and spray all these chemicals to “kill the virus”. The most aggravating part is that it is the GUESTS that have it.
We sailed the transatlantic and never once had a case. When we had our first few cases after we made it to Europe, we immediately sanitized the ship. The new guests come on and guess what, they bring it with them. And the worst of it is, the people in charge think that by setting up hand sanitizers and requiring guests to “wash” before they come to eat, it will kill the virus. How do they not see that this isn’t working! Why have we been in code red for this long and they STILL don’t understand that hand sanitizer is for GERMS. Germs and viruses are two completely different things!!! They are letting guests not wash their hands with soap and water, which HELLO…GROSS, and giving them false security with the hand sanitizers.
Now the officers are trying everything they can think of, which is mainly just affecting crew. But how can they not see that in the current status of about 60 cases of GI, 6 are CREW. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!! WE DON’T HAVE IT. We have easily accessible water and soap areas right when we walk into our mess. There are no sinks in guest areas except in the bathrooms. OMG just put a portable sink in the entrance of the Windjammer and the Dining Hall, rather than the stupid hand sanitizer dispensers, and force them to wash their hands. THEN all our sanitizing won’t go to waste. GEEZ.
So yes, I’m a little bitter at this point because we are starting to be punished for guests not keeping simple hygiene. I’m over being in this Code Red business. The rest of the cast keeps encouraging me that this will never happen on my other contracts. I have had the most intense first contract I think ever, to be honest. We have all been through so much, and just to add another thing, Stephany and Brandon missed the ship. They were on the crew tour with us, but they wanted to take the train back so they stayed later. Our bus came back at about 7, and crew on board was 11. I got a call at about 11:35 from Dave, and he was asking if I had any contact information because they still weren’t back. But I told him we can’t call their cells because we all turned ours off, there was no point in other countries to pay all that money. So we waited, checked our emails in case they had tried to contact us, and sailed away.
We are still in France tomorrow, and I’m told we aren’t too far from the port we were at today. So I’m hoping they will get their passports from the port agents, because our HR people took them off and left them in the port, and they will figure out their way to meet us in Cherbourg. Sometimes, if you miss the ship, it is an immediate dismissal from the captain. But if there is a good excuse, or if you have an understanding officer, you can save your job. Chris said that if we had had a show tonight, they would have lost their jobs right away because they missed their duties. I don’t know if they just didn’t plan out the train properly, or if there was strikes, or what, I just pray that they are ok. Luckily, Stephany has been to Paris a few times and speaks French, so that should help some. But it’s very scary that we can’t call them and I don’t think they know how to call the ship.
I guess I will find out tomorrow what happened. I should go to bed now; I need to be up at 7 am cleaning our cabin. JOY. But hey, I was in Paris, so I am still very, very, very happy!!!! :D
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