Hitting the Ground Running . . . or Sailing

February 7, 2012

No time off is ever without cost. The ship didn’t stop moving nor did the activity cease in my absence. As a result, when I returned I had significant catching up to do. A task made even more difficult by the additional Level 2 duties.

From the time I reached the gangway in St. Maarten to the time I was back teaching was just over an hour. I had just enough time to return to my cabin, rapidly unpack, and head back down to my office to check on email and any backlog of work-related requests that I may have. Fortunately, Laura had opened my office door that morning or I would not have been able to get in. As I said when I left the ship, my APass card was disabled. I would not have time to get that reissued until the evening. After this quick check-in, I grabbed my materials and headed down to Deck 30 (the only below water line deck on the ship) to the Crew Training Room. I had two classes to teach that day. The first was STAR Service Training. Then in the afternoon, I conducted the Cultural Diversity Training. While not fully ‘on my game’ the training seemed to go well, but took 3 hours out of the day that I needed to catch up on paperwork.

Then there was the return of Dancing With the Stripes! The email requesting officer volunteers came through about 4pm. I really did not want to be involved given my backlog of work and having just returned to the ship. But they were short on volunteers, so I promised to at least present myself for assignment, if needed. Sadly, I was needed. Unlike my last encounter, I was not blessed with a natural dancer like Maria from Chile. Instead I was paired with Bonnie, a game and enthusiastic guest more typical of our demographic this time of year. Even though my motivation was lacking, I decided to give it my all. As soon as we were introduced, the adrenaline of the crowd and spotlight fueled my natural performer’s instincts. After six intense dances I found myself in the finals head-to-head against the irrepressible Tsunami, a junior payroll purser from the Philippines. We battled head-to-head with our partners first in an interpretive dance, which Tsunami’s homage to a sanitizing bottle won out, and then Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, where my time clubbing in the 80s paid off as I channeled the King of Pop. With a fairly equally divided vote, Tsunami and partner edged out Bonnie and me.

Unfortunately, again, my efforts were recorded on Cruise Keepsake Videos and played throughout the ship until disembarkation resulting in a notoriety beyond what I was hoping. I’m glad the guests were happy, but now I feel I may be trapped in this role as a DWTS dancing officer, despite my protestations.

I’m thinking that the Norovirus was not the cause of ill guests as much as having to watch me dance!

And the adventure continues . . .