Sailing to the end of the world

Hi friends,

For those who have not heard the news, I've said my (somewhat emotional) goodbyes to Palmer Station and almost immediately started working on the National Geographic Explorer, which is a expedition ship from the Lindblad company in very tight cooperation with National Geographic. They have a fleet of small and medium sized boats that explore the world while offering luxury food and expert commentary from knowledgeable Naturalists.

I’ve now been aboard the NG Explorer for a week and a half (actually by the time I got around to posting this it is more like 3 weeks) and I must say that it feels much longer. The first 2 days the ship was still at the shipyard in Bremerhaven, where it received all sorts of maintenance on the engines and systems, paint work and received a bunch of supplies. The outside contractors that were working on the ships engines, sailed with us for the first week, to finish their work. They were a specialized bunch of people who do these jobs on a number of different ships, I remember that the first time I saw them, they looked a bit ragged and unkempt, but now I know that they have been working long hours below deck to finish their tasks.

The last day before the passengers arrived in Edinburgh the ship underwent a remarkable transformation from having protective cardboard and plastic everywhere to being a shiny and fresh cruise ship. The IT person who is doing the handover with me had warned me in advance about the fact that things are very, very hectic immediately after shipyard and he wasn’t kidding. Shortly before, several software packages had been upgraded, including our suite of programs that manages everything from hotel bookings, key card programming, passenger information, point of sale and inventory resulting in the fact that a couple of hours before the guests arrived, we found out that the magnetic part on their keycards needed to be encoded again. We barely managed in time.

Troubleshooting access to rooms will be a recurring theme in my trips. All the guest rooms have a TV which has a selection of movies that are hosted in our system, but since there had been a power outage during shipyard we had to visit every one of them and reset them.

Another big part of my job will be to help people connecting to the wifi signal that hooks them up to the internet. They can choose from 3 paid plans. Of course we only have a very small connection that goes through a satellite connection. (4Mb p/s to potentially share with 150 guests and some work computers, while at home you might easily have 10Mb just for yourself). So far it seems that not more than 40% of the couples have signed up.

During the 2nd day at sea, the guest were welcomed in the lounge, where the captain gave his official welcome speech and introduced his officers. During my job interview I thought nothing much of the title IT Officer, but I soon learned that indeed I would be an officer and had to have a uniform with stripes on my shoulders. The last time I had stripes on my shoulders was when I fulfilled my obligatory military service (a requirement they did away with after I fulfilled mine), but it does feel a bit different than wearing a t-shirt. There are a couple of moments in the day where you are expected to wear your uniform (for instance if you choose to dine with the guests in the restaurant area) and introductions by the captain is one of those moments. He did a very nice job of introducing me and told everyone how they went all the way to Palmer Station, Antarctica to find their IT person.

Since the Explorer has visited Palmer Station several times, I thought I had gotten a good impression of how their people interact with each other and I must say that I have been as well received and welcomed as I expected. There are three main groups of people on board; the most numerous are the deck and hotel crew who are all Filipinos (I think foreign workers are the biggest source of revenue for the country), and then there are the Expedition staff  and the Officers.  I recognize a number of the Filipinos from when they visited Palmer Station store where I frequently had to tell them that we did not have any more small or extra small size clothing any more. They sometimes work as much as 9 months on board, while the other folks do a couple of trips (the Naturalists) or 3 months like I do.

This first trip will take us all around the British and Irish isles in 17 days, ending up in Bergen, Norway where our guests will disembark and new guests will embark for our journey in the Norwegian Fjords. I have not had much time yet to enjoy the scenery, because I want to fully focus on the turnover information I get from my colleague. There is so much to learn that I am absolutely knackered at the end of the day. Despite that, I still manage to sleep poorly, because of all the new sounds of rattling and  banging as a result of the cabin being very close to the water line.  Just like at Palmer Station, every room occupant will have something to complain about (even true for some of the guest cabins). Luckily I have a cabin to myself which allows me to have some alone time and recharge a bit. Unfortunately there is not enough space in my cabin to do proper yoga, but I have been able to go to the gym every few days, which is very much needed to keep me sane and at a decent weight, because the food is pretty nice for the crew as well. More on that in a later post.

Gannets in flight.

Fowey, a little speck on the Cornish coast.

Lovely Irish hills, near Donegal

also near Donegal

Holey water well, near Donegal where passersby will add to the collection of rocks.