Christmas – 22
Jeff Potts is not the Master of the Seas, but the General Manager of the good ship Regent Seven Seas Navigator. By GM, it means Mr P’s in charge of all 350 crew members other than those who are sailors (the Captain, known as the Master, is in fact the overall boss, and the sailors report direct to him). But everybody else, housekeeping, laundry, food, general look of the place, that’s all Jeff’s domain. He did work in hotels, including at Pan Pacific in his native Vancouver. But seeing so many ships sailing past, cruising past the windows of that august hotel, made him yearn to try it himself. And as they say, he’s never looked back.
But all you land-lubbing hoteliers, if you go to sea, be prepared to work seven days a week while you’re on, and long days. Mostly here on Navigator, it’s four months on and four months off. And it’s tiring. Everybody can be a prima donna, but you have to pander to everybody and anybody. Jeff’s fortunately married to the assistant cruise director on board, Claudia – today they were breakfasting together, a happy twosome at the back of the pool deck. At least they see each other therefore, which is better than in years back when GM left his wife and small children at home. Other members of the team here similarly work long hours and so hard. There’s Dan, one of the dancers. His real family name is Moores, but he works as Scott Thomas – not after The English Patient star Kristin Scott Thomas, but before he first signed with the agent that’s essential if you’re going to work at sea, he was warned that there could be more Moores in the global entertainment business. Try something else, Mr Moores, here’s a list. Therefore, Scott Thomas, he is.
Girlahead thinks there are ten singers and dancers in the main production cast. Some of them are so acrobatic. Backward flips, to be thrown in the air, thrown over others’ heads, all in a day’s work. And it’s every day. They perform at the Captain’s Welcome. They perform at the loyalists’ Seven Seas Society cocktail. And then at general shows, which take place at 6 and or 9.30. Every show has a completely different set of garments. Even the men’s trousers are different one show from the other. They, the garments, are the responsibility of Ginny, a divine and heavily tattooed girl who is oodles of fun. And one wants to spend much more time with her. She’s got two sewing machines on board. Never rely on one of anything, she says. The main production fitting the clothes, decision-making and making, is all done in a production unit in Tampa, Florida. But even so, on board, she has to do – a seam here, a hem there. Clothes are worn by successive cast members. Therefore, if a newcomer is not quite the same size, good girl Ginny is there on hand. She sometimes has to act on, which means do something to, 30 garments a day when at sea. Sometimes you see the same crew members in different places. They pop up here, they pop up everywhere. Honey, serving breakfast, could well be serving lunch in another venue and even afternoon tea in the 11th deck Galileo.
Butlers and room stewards look after about 10 suites each, which is pretty tough if a suite’s got untidy occupants. They work in the same pair the whole time and they’re very carefully defined who does what. Dhiraj, butler for 927 is from Mumbai – NOT Bombay. Mumbai, he says firmly. He worked in the Leela Palace before coming to sea. Then he joined Costa Cruises before reaching a pinnacle of employment here on Navigator. His contracts are six months, after which he has a two- or three-month spell back home before starting another contract. His role is to replenish fruit, handle laundry, bring evening canapés. There’s not much physical work involved. That’s left to his shift partner, Sai, who doesn’t say very much, but smiles very sincerely when he’s doing things, meticulously by the book.
In the good old days there were hard-copy staff appreciation forms that you could fill in during yet another spell of sunbathing. Now it’s all online. Girlahea might be wrong but she thinks there is less takeup. Passengers are just too busy, touring, eatin’ and (lots of) drinkin’ and sleeping, and who knows what. You also have to do your own pre-arrival immigration, online – Thailand a couple of days ago, Singapore yesterday. Sadly it therefore takes definite effort to ‘recognise’ shy Cynthia, the coffee queen. She could noy understand why Girlahead was re-arranging her breakfast table, all the better to shoot her Sunday special, below (Mr and Mrs Potts seemed to be forgoing eggs and bubbles, by the way).
