Cruise Ship Diaries Part 18

I was into my 6th and final month onboard the Coral and on the whole I had enjoyed myself, after getting used to ship life, the increase of alcohol, the lack of sleep and working every day for 6 months without an offical day off I couldn't wait to go home.

I'd had 2 senior videographers, 3 photo managers and 4 roommates in that time, I had to deal with being completely out of my depth when I was suddenly the only videographer onboard and then get used to working with a senior that I didn't really get on with. The thing is how you get on with your senior is key to your end of contract apprasial and payrise / promotion chances, and you see it in any job that if you get on with your boss your more liable to get ahead even if you are good at your job.

My relationship with my senior had pretty much broken down by the end and with only a few cruises left I felt that I had worked my arse of that contract and despite not getting along with each other I was sure I'd done enough to get a promotion and a good next contract. So with only a few weeks left onboard I made sure to enjoy the hell out of them!

One bonus of being a videographer is being able to score extra free tickets for shore excursions, so the next Aruba I took my friend Emma from the shops snorkelling over a ship wreck.

It was also time to make the most of the steakhouse on the ship with regular visits there as well.

I'd gone from a nightmare roommate (in being able to sleep terms!) in Raj, who despite all his drunken carnage causing its was still impossible to stay mad at the guy, to a great roommate in Liam who was super chilled, spoke fluent Spanish and was also a football fan and first contractor like me.

Bar my inital trouble with the #cakegate incident, I'd kept out of trouble for the rest of my contract and had found a good balance between learning to enjoy myself and giving myself over fully to ship life!

My last time in Jamaica I went swimming with dolphins and climbed Dunsriver falls with two south american girls from the youth staff Karina and Sarah. this was an honest to god day off in port which meant starting the day with a Red Stripe around 11am.

It was just so nice to be off in a port without a camera for the day and all I had scheduled to film that night was a Peer Factor shoot at 9.30pm, whole day off in port and the chance to acutally have fun and not film other people having fun all day!

After a great day being a passenger sadly we had to go back to the ship and as I was walking back to the ship beer in hand one of the cruise staff said 'you lucky bastard, grab another one mate' before I could ask what he was going on about 'Yeah, mate Peer Factors cancelled tonight' so suddenly a really good day had become a great day. Once I'd confirmed the night off, I made a few enquires and would you believe it...

Another trip to the steakhouse and one of the best days of the contract.

Next time on the cruise diaries - My last day on the Coral