CELEBRITY EQUINOX, SINCE 2009

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

CLEITON BOTELHO

E ai galera td bem? Espero q sim...
What’s up? Hope you’re all fine...

Bem faz muito tempo desde a ultima atualização... No momento estou “fora” da vida abordo. Fiz um contrato no Equinox e outro que comecei no Ocean Village e depois fui transferido pro Aegean Odyssey. Os últimos tempos a bordo foram repletos de trabalho e com as funções que estava exercendo ficou bem difícil manter as atualizações do blog. Vou dividir as ultimas “aventuras e desventuras” em alguns posts.

Well, it’s been a long time since my last update ... Currently I'm "out" of the life on board. I had a contract at Equinox and another one that started at Ocean Village and then I was transferred over to Aegean Odyssey. At the end of this last contract I was full of work and the tasks I was performing made it very difficult to keep the blog updated. I'll share the latest “adventures and misadventures” in some future posts.

EQUINOX IN CARTAGENA, SPAIN

O contrato do Equinox me fez conhecer mais pessoas que espero levar para toda a vida. Foi uma experiência repleta de altos e baixos que me trouxe muito amadurecimento profissional e pessoal. Vou tentar passar um pouco dessa vivência de inaugurar um navio luxuoso de uma das maiores companhias de cruzeiros do mundo. E como eu disse na minha ultima reunião de departamento: “Do Equinox vou usar as situações ruins como experiência e as boas vivências como recordação no meu coração!”.

My contract at Equinox gave the opportunity to meet more people that I could expect and I hope I will take them all with me for a lifetime. It was such an experience full of ups and downs that brought me much personal and professional maturity. I'll try to share some of that experience of opening a luxury ship from one of the largest cruise companies in the world. And as I had just said on my last department meeting: "From the Equinox will use the bad situations as experiences and good experiences as dearly memories in my heart!"

THIS IS REALLY INSIDE A CRUISE SHIP!!!

Bem sai do Saga Rose no dia 22 de junho de 2009, em Liverpool e fui pra Southampton onde fiquei 3 dias ate me mandarem pra Lisboa em busca do meu visto americano, que acreditava-se seria mais fácil e rápido do que em Londres. Com todos os contratempos o visto so ficou pronto em 3 semanas e mesmo com as incertezas de datas pude ir até as cidades de Fátima e do Porto e ainda explorar um pouco mais Lisboa. O Leandro foi um grande amigo que conheci e ajudou muito nesse período.

Well, I left Saga Rose on June 22, 2009, in Liverpool and went to Southampton where I stayed for three days until they sent me to Lisbon to get my American visa, which was expected to get it easier and faster than in London. With all the setbacks the visa was ready in 3 weeks and even with the uncertainty of dates I could manage to go to the cities of Porto and Fatima and still explore a bit more of Lisbon. Leandro was a great friend I met who helped a lot during that period.

EQUINOX SHOP SET UP TEAM

Consegui embarcar no Equinox somente no dia 17 de julho quando a arrumação das lojas já estava quase pronta, mas ainda havia muito pra ser organizado e providenciado. Imagina que não tínhamos nenhum material de escritório. Bem a primeira vista tudo era encanto, o navio e simplesmente lindo e repleto de atrações que muita gente já mais imaginaria em um navio de cruzeiros. Como por exemplo 8 elevadores panorâmicos que vão do deck 02 ate o deck 15, com vista para piscina e mar no últimos andares; campo de golfe com grama natural; bar com balcão de gelo; discoteca moderna; os restaurantes; a decoração entre outros.

I managed to board the Equinox only on July 17 when the loading of stores was almost ready, but there was still much to be organized and arranged. Imagine that we had no office supplies. Well at first glance everything was enchanting; the ship is simply beautiful and full of attractions that many people would never have imagined on a cruise ship. Eg: 8 panoramic lifts that go from deck 2 all the way up to deck 15, overlooking the pool and the sea from the upper decks; a golf course with natural grass, ice bar counter, modern nightclub, restaurants, decoration among others.

WITH LIV AND MORNAY: WORKING A LOT TO MANAGER THE SHOPS

Nas lojas eu já havia sido avisado do que encontraria: 18 lojas, 27 vendedores, 2 assistentes (eu era um deles) e 1 gerente, além da belas apresentação. No Saga Rose era apenas 1 grande loja com 2 vendedoras e eu de gerente. No geral a mudança de navios foi como mudar da cidade pequena para a uma grande metrópole. Afinal a Rose foi desativada no ultimo mês de dezembro e o Equinox traz varias inovações.

Regarding to the stores, I had already been warned that I would find: 18 stores, 27 sale staff, two assistants (I was one of them) and a manager, in addition to the beautiful presentation. At Saga Rose there was just a great store with two staff and I manager. In general, changing the ship was like moving from small town to a metropolis. Rose was deactivated in this last December and Equinox, on the other hand, brings several innovations.

SHOPPIES AFTER WORK

O clima da tripulação quando cheguei no Equinox era o melhor possível e mesmo com uma carga horária mais puxada e com varias obrigações tudo era alegria e contentamento. Antes do cruzeiro inaugural que fizemos para a Noruega o navio fez várias viagens curtas de Southamptom ate o meio do mar para convidados e agentes de turismo de varias partes do mundo. E mesmo com algumas restrições, nos que trabalhávamos nas lojas podíamos usufruir varias das atrações do navio.

The crew mood was the best possible when I arrived at the Equinox and even with a demand on the shifts and several obligations everything was joy and contentment. Before the inaugural cruise to Norway the ship had several short trips from Southampton to the middle of the sea for guests and travel agents from several parts of the world. And even with some restrictions, all of us that worked at the stores were able to enjoy many of the attractions.

SHOPPIES @ CREW BAR: ALWAYS TOGETHER!

Antes da abertura para passageiros tivemos um jantar maravilhoso no Silhouette restaurante, seguido da 1ª apresentação do show Equinox (que e algo fenomenal especialmente se comparado com os show que havia visto em outros navios) e que terminou com uma bela crew party na discoteca de passageiros. O Crew Bar so foi inaugurado dias depois e nesse dia acho que quase toda a tripulação estava presente. Houve ainda varias outras cerimônias como troca de bandeira onde o navio foi oficialmente entregue pelos fabricantes a Celebrity Cruises.

Before the opening to the passengers, we had a wonderful dinner at Silhouette restaurant, followed by the first presentation of the Equinox show (which is phenomenal especially when compared with the show I have seen on other ships) and ending with a nice crew party at the passenger disco. The Crew Bar was opened only days later and on this day I think that almost the entire crew was there. There were also several other ceremonies as the banner exchange where the ship was officially delivered to Celebrity Cruises by the manufacturers.

SHOPPIES @ CREW BAR: ALWAYS TOGETHER!

Num navio com cerca de 1200 tripulantes e bem difícil conhecer todo mundo e com o grande número de funcionarios nas lojas eu passava a maior parte do tempo com eles. A tripulação de brasileiros era bem pequena, uns 10 e com o tempo a gente se encontrava no crew bar pra poder falar um pouco de português e com isso fiz novos grandes amigos. Havia ainda aos portugueses (bem legais) além da Sonia da África do Sul e a Victoria do Canadá que falam português por causa dos pais. O Nicolas e argentino (com cara de japonês), mas e praticamente brasileiro embora cisme em torcer pro time do Maradonna.

In a ship with around 1200 crew members it is very difficult to know everyone and with the large number of employees from the stores I used spent much time with them. The Brazilian crew was quite small, about 10 and with time we used meet at the crew bar so I could speak a little Portuguese and with that I made great new friends. There was also the Portuguese (Very cool) and Sonia from South Africa and Victoria from Canada who also speak Portuguese because of their parents. Nicolas is from Argentina (with a Japanese face), but practically Brazilian, although he insists on rooting for Maradonna’s team.

SHOPPIES @ CREW BAR: ALWAYS TOGETHER!

Mesmo com esse pequeno numero de brasileiros conseguimos (com grande ajuda do Humberto de Portugal) fazer a festa da Independência do Brasil, que foi legal, mas como o povo não conhece muito bem nossa cultura acham que éramos malucos pelo tanto que dançamos, cantamos e tomamos caipirinha. Alias o Daniel, um romeno que trabalhou comigo no Escape e já fez temporada brasileira era o encarregado de preparar as caipirinhas e pelo visto ele aprendeu bem a preparar nosso drink e ainda sabe cantar Poeira.

Even with this small number of Brazilians, we managed (with the great help of Humberto from Portugal) to make the celebration party of the Brazil Independence Day, which was nice, but as people do not know our culture very well they thought we were crazy for dancing, singing and drinking caipirinha all that much. By the way, Daniel, a Romanian who had worked with me and had also done the Brazilian Season at the Escape was responsible for preparing the caipirinhas and it looks like he learned how to prepare our drink very well and even sing “Poeira”.

SHOPPIES DURING THE SET UP

Com tanta gente a bordo algumas regalias como serviço de camareiro que eu tinha no Saga Rose são exclusividade de pouco e as cabines são menores que em navios mais antigos. A primeira cabine em que morei além de minúscula (principalmente pra alguém do meu tamanho) era muito quente e nem o ventilador que comprei resolvia. Mas outras coisas como crew mess e os quiosques para depositar dinheiro funcionam muito bem e facilitam bastante. A internet na cabine e as TVs modernas para cada um dos tripulantes também eram ótimas, mas quando falhavam demorava um pouco ate alguém poder vir consertar.

With so many people on board a few perks like the room service I had at Saga Rose is exclusive service of a few cabins at Equinox. The cabins were also smaller than the older ships. The first one I lived was tiny (especially for someone from my size), too hot and the fan I bought did not cool it down. But other things like the crew mess and the kiosks to deposit money were very good. The Internet in the cabin and the modern TVs for each of the crew were also great, but it took quite a while to have someone over to fix it.

SHOPPIES DURING THE SET UP

Vou terminar por aqui pq ainda tem muito mais pra contar e isso fica para o proximo post.

I'll end it here because there is still a lot more to tell, so I will carry on at my next post.