Punta Arenas, Chile

1 February 2008

Punta Arenas, Chile


Hell of a day! I don’t know if I had mentioned this before, but I have been getting ‘called out’ on things I am doing wrong (by a SMALL few of the very-anal-retentive Sr. Officers) ~ little things really; can’t sit at the bar in a passenger area, can’t go to the crew bar in civil clothes, etc. How was I to know? Its not like I got on the ship and I had orientation on the Do’s and Don’ts of an Officer (and I am considered a half-stripe officer) So today we had a full drill; I did my normal duty however, today they did an actual evacuation of the Muster Station out to the lifeboats. Well I had no idea what lifeboat I was supposed to go to. I had memorized my card #, my duties, etc but I didn’t have a boat assignment, so I went to my Muster Station PIC (person in charge) and said “ I don’t know where I am supposed to go” and she went off on me. I was very upset but I held it together and of course broke down later (I met up with Cat at the end of the drill and I lost it) Turns out I don’t actually have a boat assignment! I went back to my cabin and checked my card and under the life boat/raft section it says N/A. So she was wrong to go off on me! I probably worded it incorrectly, but she is the Sr. Officer as well as the PIC and knows what my duties for that station are. (My duty is Passenger Muster Personnel ~ just assisting pax in the right direction when moving them from one place to another) So none of us get an assigned boat, we just get added in at the end to whatever boat she designates for us. Bitch. I am still mad and that was this morning at 10am (its now after 8pm). I went to Jo, Cat’s manager for a 3rd party objective opinion and Jo said I wasn’t in the wrong. So she told me to go see Liz, our PSM (Passenger Service Manager, but was my boss till Buenos Aires) and tell her about it. Liz was very kind and explained both sides of the story to me and said she would have a word with Cheryl-Ann’s (the bitch who went off on me) boss on the side.

Thank GAWD we could get off the ship.. I needed a break. I am still on edge a bit; as one thing like that to upset me and then I easily get upset about everything else. Missing home, being out to sea for so many days in a row (just had 6 days before yesterday, then tomorrow we start for 4 days – UGH!) Don’t get me wrong, I love what I am doing and I don’t regret my decision to come out here for one second. However it doesn’t change the fact that it takes getting used to and getting acclimated to a very different lifestyle.

Anyway, so Cat and I got permission from Jo to go ashore earlier than Cat was supposed to so we could have a nice afternoon – BTW, Jo is awesome.. She is very sweet, very nice and one of the Sr. Officers I look up to (along with Liz). So Cat and I took the shuttle from the ship into town. It was a cute city – nothing major and not as cute and quaint as Ushuaia – but there were fun little outdoor vendors in the square. We met up with Sarah Jane, who is the Art Gallery Director and the three of us milled around town, grabbed some lunch at one of the pubs and then dessert at a chocolatier. I have been good about dessert but hell – after the morning I had, chocolate was in store!

Since we are still without internet access, I can’t blog this or upload the pics; but I have to say I LOVE MY CAMERA. Wait till you see some of the shots I got! I know I am nowhere near professional, but they are great ~ I am thrilled that I am able to play around with the settings a bit too. There were a ton of dogs around so I have quite a few pictures of them. Some of them were so cute and I missed Mugsy even more! I need to print out a pic of Mugs from my laptop and hang it in my cabin :) That’s all for now. Here is the link to the pics: (they are coming out so much better than my other camera!!)

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.ay5mewsn&x=0&y=-j1wz98


Oh and to top off my day - I got my cell phone bill and the effers at AT&T did something wrong when I set up my plan and I was being charged $1.99/min for all my calls .. so my bill is over $600!! In one effing month! I am going to send them an email and see what they can fix. Wish me luck!