Payday

For everyone that is payed directly by Royal Caribbean, payday is every 2 weeks. This contract it always falls on the day we are in Costa Maya. Each department is given a window of when to collect their paycheck, and the payroll employees are at it all day, individually handing each person their paycheck and settling their bills for that period. The cruise division, of which I am a part, has to turn up between 7:45 and 8:45am, which means we are all dragging ourselves their half asleep. Today for some reason everything was going really slowly, and I had to wait in line for half an hour to pick up up money. The first thing you receive while you are waiting in line is the dreaded Bar Bill. This is the amount of money you owe back to the ship for anything you may have purchased on board with your card. We always compare them with each other to laugh at whoever did the most damage. If yours is under 100 dollars, you are doing better than most people on the ship, and everyone will give you a hard time. "$40?!! No way!!! How did you do that?? I hate you!!!" Then when you get to the front of the line they give you your envelope, and you have to count the cash inside to verify its the right amount and matches your statement. Everyone is always payed in cash, which means distribution is always under video surveillance and their is a security guard or two hanging around as well. Once you've counted your money you sign to verify you received it, then you settle your bar bill, paying off your bill from your cash paycheck. It can be painful to see your money going right back to the ship. But I did pretty well this time, under 40 bucks. After that you're free to go - but don't forget to leave a few dollars tip for the staff mess attendants, in the box they have right there for your convenience!

My original boss returned last week to the ship after his vacation, and I've started working a little bit more as a result. I really don't mind though - I am learning a lot about what is behind the musical director job. Often times Birks will just have me with him when he does things, so he has someone to bounce things off of as he works out the scheduling around the ship. We sat down a couple of times to plan out the entire week, looking ahead for things like which days to give which entertainers and musicians off, how to even out the schedules for everyone so that they are happy, while covering the necessary lounges at the right times to keep the guests happy. There are a lot of things to keep in mind, and you almost have to hold it all in your head at once in order to make sure there are no conflicts, double checking with cruise staff events, venue bookings, guest group events, and so on. It is tedious work. For example, today we almost scheduled a group for a sound check in the theater, then at the last minute I remembered that the Superbowl is going to be broadcast there, so obviously no sound check. And no matter how hard you plan ahead, there are always going to be something you didn't think of, of something that happens on the day of, that you have to do damage control and sort it out. Like Bingo went late so the band couldn't set up, so guests were complaining...it could be anything. The M.D.'s ship cell phone or "dect phone" is constantly ringing, giving him a new problem to sort out. My friend Dave Riddell was all too happy to pass that cursed phone back to Birks when he returned.

The only other news is that I received an email from the musician scheduler for RCCL asking me about doing another contract. There are only a couple of ships that I would consider doing, that have itineraries that interest me. He will be checking his grids and letting me know in a day or so whether or not I can be scheduled on those ships. My fingers are crossed for one in particular. I'll let you know what happens soon!